Former Scotland international Kevin Gallacher is hoping the current national team gets a favourable group when the Euro2016 qualifying draw takes place this weekend.
Scotland have not been to a major international tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France and former Dundee United, Coventry City and Blackburn Rovers striker Gallacher has his fingers crossed that they get an agreeable group of teams for this qualifying campaign which kicks off in September this year.
Sunday's qualifying draw in Nice could have a vital say in whether or not the Scots make it to the tournament proper in France in just over two years' time.
"You need a bit of luck and to be drawn with the right teams although I thought the draw for the last World Cup was pretty kind to Scotland," he told the Daily Record.
"We got off to a bad start once again though and that has happened too often.
"The middle and end parts of the campaign were encouraging although by then we were already out of it.
"We need to be quick out of the blocks because it is vital to have a platform on which to build your qualifying campaign.
"Hopefully the draw will be kind to Scotland and I'm sure there are certain teams the players and manager would rather avoid."
Gallacher believes a best-case scenario would see Scotland pitted against Bosnia, Hungary, Israel, Azerbaijan and Gibraltar.
Euro2016 qualifying pots
Pot 1: Spain (holders), Germany, Holland, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Pot 2: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland
Pot 3: Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland
Pot 4: Montenegro, Armenia, SCOTLAND, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus
Pot 5: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus
Pot 6: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar
