YESTERDAY, Gordon Strachan named his squad of players for the forthcoming international with England, which may or may not be a must-win World Cup qualifier. I’m sure the national coach will inform us of its status in due course.

Callum McGregor apart, there wasn’t any real shock or surprises in Strachan’s list. The reason for that is that there isn’t anyone who hasn’t been tried, or tested, or just found to be extremely testing. All quite depressing for those of us who recall the days when we had three, or four, or five queuing up to be selected.

If I am feeling slightly more down than usual about our current crop, it is probably entirely because on Saturday evening I watched the rather excellent documentary, Tannadice 87, produced by the equally rather excellent purple TV, and aired on BBC Alba. Yes, they can help themselves to an excellent badge as well.

It tells the story, for those who may not be familiar, of the team (and some might say club) constructed by Jim McLean. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but a hugely respected coach and manager.

What he did over several years was blend Dundee United into an effective, and ultimately winning, team using almost entirely home-grown products. 

And he did so while selling off some of their biggest and best names along the way.

A couple of League Cups and a League title (against all odds) in 1983 was followed by a run to the semi-finals of the European Cup – eliminated under somewhat dubious circumstances by Roma.

All of that, however, might have paled had United won the UEFA Cup in 1987, the subject matter of Tannadice 87 which plots their course to the final and the stories behind their amazing run.

Dispensing with Lens, Universitatea Craiova and Hadjuk Split, the Terrors were then faced with Barcelona, who they beat home and away (not that United fans mention that very often), and then Borussia Moenchengladbach, who they beat 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals. But there was no dream ending, as they went down 2-1 on aggregate to Gothenburg of Sweden.

But enough history. During the film, which I watched with my son, there was footage of the build-up to the game in Barcelona where Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes were interviewed.

“They played for Barcelona? And Dundee United beat them? Who were United’s big-named players?” I got a quizzical, puzzled look when I explained United’s “big-named players” were all Scots. “They were that good?”

In fact they were much better than just good, something you actually appreciate more today than maybe you did at the time, especially when comparing the likes of Billy Thomson, Paul Sturrock, Maurice Malpas, Paul Hegarty, Eamonn Bannon and Dave Narey – all internationalists in their time – against those Strachan has invited to Hampden on June 10.

Who would I rather have? That 30-year-old vintage of course. And that’s not even including some who were seen almost as journeymen, like Jim McInally, Dave Bowman, John Clark, and the immensely talented 
Ian Redford.

This isn’t looking at the world through tangerine-tinted shades. Back then – simply because of the players Scotland produced elsewhere – the United team maybe was seen as a mishmash of those cultivated from the youth ranks, some big buys and cast-offs from other clubs, united by McLean.

But could they play? Boy, yes they could. And Tannadice 87 only confirmed how far we’ve fallen as a footballing nation.

Part of the chat yesterday, as Strachan’s squad was named, was about who would play right-back against England. Having coped last time, Kieran Tierney would probably be co-opted in to that role again. Now, let’s go back to that United team. 

John Holt played right back; hard, dependable, maybe lacking some frills, but could get the job done. But he filled the slot Richard Gough vacated when he headed to Spurs. Gough had been Scotland’s established right-back for a few years, replacing his Tannadice team-mate Dave Narey as the international No.2. Narey, famously, was conscripted to that role during the ’82 World Cup for a game against Brazil, when he scored “that” toe-poke.

Narey deputised for Danny McGrain. However, had things worked out differently, Scotland’s right full-back during the ’80’s could (and probably should) have been Ray Stewart, overlooked by Jock Stein after being sent-off in an Under-21 game against England. Stewart was in the process of clocking up 400-plus appearances for West Ham, who he’d joined from – yes, Dundee United.

One club, with an association to three Scotland international right-backs over the space of six or seven years. And today, we struggle to find just one. What was I saying about falling standards?