I’m not exactly overjoyed that Scotland beat World Cup finalists France while England surprisingly failed to get the better of Macedonia.

As a patriotic Brit, nothing delights me more than to see a home victory against overseas opposition. But where Scotland are concerned, I draw a line. In fact, I even take a little pleasure at seeing them lose. And my feelings have nothing to do with the team or their manager Walter Smith, now being hailed a national hero.

The problem is that their followers are to my mind the most bigoted, over-patriotic supporters on earth when it comes to football. I know, I’ve lived and worked with them on both sides of the border. And, almost to a man (and woman), they stand totally united whenever England play – in support of the opposition.
Where does all the anti-English bias stem from? Who knows?

I can only guess that it dates back to the Treaty of Union in 1707, before which Scotland was an independent country. Then the English parliament, using a mixture of blackmail and bribery, persuaded a powerful group of Scottish aristocrats to vote for the union of the two countries’ legislatures.

If that’s the reason today’s Scots want to see the English get their come-uppance in the sports arena, then their logic defies logic. However, I suspect the super-hype of the so-called ‘British’ media in the build-up to England games also plays a part.

The back benches of London-based national newspapers would undoubtedly deny it, but there’s no question that other home nations always play second fiddle when the European Championship and World Cup come around. So perhaps it’s the media the Scots want to see humiliated rather than the England team. You tell me.

My own anti-Scotland feeling developed when I was working in Glasgow in the early 1990s. My Scottish colleagues were always angling to take a dig at the English -- and they showed their true colours when Bobby Robson’s highly-rated team played Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final.

On the day of the game, I was working in the busy newsroom of one of Scotland’s top-selling tabloids. To my amazement, many of the staff came in to the office adorned with German-related regalia, from the black, red and yellow Bundesflagge to a stick of bratwurst and, in one unbelievably tasteless instance, a pair of jackboots.

The whole point of this Jocky horror show was to tell any English supporters around that they were united in the cause…of the opposition. And when missed spot-kicks by Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle saw Germany win in a penalty shootout, the office exploded in a bizarrely unnatural celebration.

It’s not that Scots particularly like Germans. Indeed, Deutchlanders would come pretty low on their list of worldwide favourites. However, they hate the thought of English success even more. I mean, a Scot and an Englishman will share a drink and a few jokes at any time. It’s just that as a nation, the Jocks have this paranoid desire to see England suffer. And in this instance the idea of the Auld Enemy reaching the final, when Scotland had failed to get through the group stage, was just too painful to imagine.

Only once did I ever encounter that sort of phobia in my native Wales – and that was when Germany equalised in the last minute of the 1966 World Cup Final. I watched the game at the home of a young male friend, who was so paranoid in his hatred of the English that he leapt into the air with delight, grabbed the light fitting – and caused a power cut.

At the age of 20 I left Wales for London, and later Manchester, without ever encountering another example of extreme bias against the English. Apart from the three years or so I spent north of the border. OK, England are not exactly flavour of the month in the other home countries – but the Scottish obsession with hating the English defies belief.

What I find really unfair is that when Scotland are playing, many English fans wish them well. Indeed, I am sure a large proportion were absolutely delighted at Saturday Hampden Park result.

But perhaps that’s because they dislike the French even more than the Jocks.