Corby’s Tartan Army faithful set off for the Euros ahead of Scotland’s opener against hosts Germany

Germany plays Scotland at 8pm tonight (Friday) in the opening game of the tournament.

The five fans from the Scotland supporters club at the Grampian, the ‘Corby Grampian Tartan Army’, are among many from Corby who will have travelled to see their team play.

The supporters club has been running for many years, being passed down as new members join and leave.

Grampian Club secretary Paul Mckenna has been attending games since 2012 and attends all games, home and away.

He said: “2012 was my first game going to watch Scotland so I’ve been going since then. Some of the lads before that have been going from around 2008 onwards.

"It’s a good number of years that we’ve been following through the good and the bad, mostly the bad - but we’ve been there and hence that’s why we’ve got 27/28 points on the system.”

By attending more games, the club receives more points which gives them a better chance of receiving the opportunity to buy more tickets.

Paul said: “Every game for us is an away game really. Last Friday when we went up to Hampden we travelled by train from Rugby to Glasgow, it’s a 600/700 mile round trip, it’s not round the corner.”

Despite the huge travel commitments, Paul and the other members of the supporters club love going to watch Scotland.

He said: “Especially the away games on the road when we go to other countries, when the locals come and meet us and have a good time. We have a drink with the locals, we’ll sing, we’ll dance, it’s brilliant.

“Up at Hampden as well when we’re round Glasgow it’s the same, some pubs have things on for us, and the amount of stuff that’s going to be on in Germany through the fan zones and other parts, we’re going to be well-catered for and looked after.”

They’ll be at every one of Scotland’s group games, with Paul adding: “Where we finish in the group depends but we will be looking at going back out for the last 16 if we do happen to get through, which we will, fingers crossed.”

Scotland have qualified for the FIFA World Cup on eight occasions, and the UEFA European Championship four times, but have never progressed beyond the first group stage of a finals tournament.

Scotland have now qualified for the Euros on back to back occasions but prior to the 2020 Euros, which was postponed due to Covid and took place in 2021, Scotland had not been to a major tournament since 1998 so for many fans this will be their first chance to go and watch their team play at one.

Paul said: “When Scotland played England at Wembley I think there were only about 20,000 there so this is the first Euros after that where Scotland’s qualified again where there’s going to be full capacities. So for that purpose it’s going to be fantastic.”

Paul says that there could be anywhere up to 150,000 Scottish fans travelling to Germany, including a good few from Corby.