Craig Brown to be given his just rewards I'm getting a wee honour at the weekend but maybe the biggest honour I got was when I was the part-time manager of Clyde in the Second Division and working as a teacher. I was at the college in Ayr when I was called out of my class and told there was a phone call. "It was Fergie, who said, "Hey Broon, how would you like the holiday of a lifetime in Mexico - the SFA's paying?" He took Archie Knox, Walter Smith and me to the World Cup finals. That was a real honour. It was also a reminder that Brown is unique amongst Scotland managers as having been at three World Cup finals, having followed Mexico in 1986 by going to Italia "90 as assistant to Andy Roxburgh and then to France "98 as the man in charge - and the last manager to take the Scots to the later stage of either the Euros or the World Cup. Does he believe that Gordon Strachan will be the next? Yes, for two reasons. One is the way the team is playing and the feel good factor in the country. The crowd is positive now - very positive. The other reason is that more teams will qualify for the Euros. There will be 24 teams out of 54 countries, which means that nearly half will qualify - and we've always been in or near the top half in Europe. Everybody is positive about Gordon's team and his tactics. I don't want to imply criticism of the previous manager because we had that game in Wales where a legitimate goal was chalked off. What a difference that one decision made to the whole scenario. But that's all done now and Gordon has come in and got the team going again. And with that, Brown was on his way, having declined to expand on his admission that he once had a major fallout with Ferguson. It might have referred to the occasion when Brown was working for Roxburgh and a tabloid newspaper spun a mild comment by the Scotland manager to yield the headline, "Shut your mouth, Fergie!" It was the assistant's misfortune to pick up the phone when the inevitable thermonuclear strike was launched from Old Trafford. If they give Broon a medal at his dinner on Sunday it should be engraved with two apt words: For Valour. Ghost goal did not spook Mullan Hoffenheim remain aggrieved about the "ghost goal" awarded against them last Friday when Bayer Leverkusen's Stefan Kiessling headed through a hole in the side of the net for what proved to be the winner in a 2-1 defeat for the home side. A similar controversy erupted in Scotland in December 1970 and, needless to say, Albion Rovers were at the centre of the storm. Alloa Athletic were the visitors to Coatbridge and took the lead with a Willie Allan shot in the 24th minute. As Willie Mullan, the referee, made his way to the halfway line for the restart he was surrounded by Rovers players, who pointed out that the ball was lying on the track behind their goal. The greatest book ever written about Scottish football - The Boys From The "Brig - takes up the tale. After a lengthy inspection ofthe net by referee, linesmen, groundsmen and players, no one could find a hole big enough for the ball to go through the net and the goal was promptly disallowed. With only a few minutes left to play, the magnificently named Sid Sage scored what was ruled to be the only goal of the game to what the book calls "the utter disgust of the Alloa team and Support." Willie Mullan, meanwhile, had departed the proceedings some time earlier, having collapsed and been replaced by his senior linesman. Mind you, the fiasco did his career no harm and he took charge of the European Championship semi-final between West Germany and Belgium the following June. Whether or not Felix Brych - the ref for the England v Scotland friendly in August and the man in charge last Friday - survives his gaffe so profitably.