The draw

GROUP 1

France, Romania, Poland, Israel, Slovakia, Azerbaijan.

GROUP 2

Denmark, Spain, Belgium, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus, Armenia.

GROUP 3

Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Iceland,

Turkey.

GROUP 4

Italy, Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia.

GROUP 5

Holland, Norway, Czech Republic, Belarus, Malta, Luxembourg.

GROUP 6

Republic of Ireland, Portugal, Northern Ireland, Austria, Latvia,

Liechtenstein.

GROUP 7

Germany, Wales, Bulgaria, Georgia, Albania, Moldova.

GROUP 8

Russia, Greece, Scotland, Finland, Faroe Islands, San Marino.

* WINNERS of each group automatically qualify for finals. They will be

joined by the best six runners-up from the eight groups. Two worst

runners-up, judged on results between top four teams in each group, will

play off on neutral ground in December, 1995.

SCOTLAND manager Craig Brown and SFA chief executive Jim Farry will

meet the representatives of their European Championship opponents in

Finland where the dates for all the qualifying matches will be set, but

already the Scots are steeling themselves for the most concentrated

series of matches they have ever experienced.

The workload will be so severe, in fact, that Brown intends speaking

with Scottish League secretary Peter Donald today, seeking to have six

free Saturdays next season prior to the home and away matches against

Russia, Greece, and Finland.

''Some might think I am being greedy, but having the players free from

premier division football before these qualifying ties would allow us

ideal preparation,'' Brown said.

The league should be able to accommodate Brown's request because there

will be four divisions of 10 clubs each next season which means

premier-division sides will play only 36 league matches.

UEFA have decreed that qualifying matches will not be permitted in

December of this year or in February and May of next year, which means

Brown's side will have to play 10 matches in as many months.

The obvious months in which to play the Group 8 qualifying ties are

September, October, and November of this year and March, April, June,

August, September, October, and November of next year, but the SFA may

have to consider playing one of their matches this coming December even

though they are not in favour of playing internationals in that month.

''I warned about the difficulties before the draw,'' said Farry, who was

not happy when UEFA made their decision about certain months.

However, he has no choice but to make the best of working out a

schedule which won't harm Scotland's chances of qualifying for the

finals to be played at eight English grounds in 1996, and he and Brown

will travel to Helsinki on Saturday, February 5. That day and the

following one will be used to arrive at agreements with the people from

Russia, Greece, Finland, Faroe Islands, and San Marino on when the

various ties will be played.

''The schedule will be extremely tight and intense,'' said Farry.

''There will be no time to relax. Hopefully, though, that will focus

everyone's attention on the job in hand.''

The chief executive added that all of Scotland's home matches will be

played at Hampden and all four sides of the stadium, still in the

process of extensive refurbishment, will be used. Given the unglamorous

look of Group 8 it will be difficult to fill the national stadium. Even

the dangerous sides in the section, Greece and Russia, who finished

first and second respectively in Group 5 of the World Cup qualifying

campaign and will play in the finals this summer, are unlikely to

attract full houses.

The SFA say they will reward loyalty to the national cause by offering

concessions to supporters. For instance, fans might be able to buy three

tickets for the price of two. But offering attractive incentives might

be the only way to have enough people in to form a supporters' quorum

when Finland, the Faroe Islands, and San Marino come calling.

When Saturday's draw in Manchester came down to two last balls inside

of which were the names of the world champions, Germany, and Russia the

SFA's commercial director Bill Wilson, who thinks in sterling, was

praying for the Germans. ''When we were drawn with the Russians I saw

#1.25m, which is the amount a game against the world champions would

have generated, disappear,'' he said.

However, for Brown, Farry, and the supporters the real reward will be

in qualifying for the European finals and, in fact, Wilson's department

also would benefit immediately by as much as #2m for a place in the

final stages.

Amassing enough points from the games even though they will come in

rapid succession is the priority and, therefore, perhaps the best thing

Brown could do is adopt John Major's way and return to basics. Apart

from their performances in the 1990 European Championship finals in

Sweden, Scotland have not been among the most inspiring sides in world

football, and there were times, especially before the last European

finals, when we were in danger of boring the fans.

Instead of continuing where they left off in Sweden, the Scots

experienced a bad night against Switzerland in the first match of the

World Cup qualifying series and the campaign slipped downhill from

there.

The Scottish game is badly in need of the surge of excitement which

would be brought on by a good and successful qualifying campaign this

time around, and the best way to ensure that would be to use FIFA law's

to the full to ensure release of players and to operate with a compact

group. But that is easier said than done.

Brown's most significant contribution, however, would be to send out

teams committed to attacking. There is nothing positive to be gained by

curbing the instincts of Scottish players or by spending too much time

talking about the other sides.

The manager should be seeking to combine natural aggression with

whatever skills he will have around