As I watched Scotland defeat Macedonia 2-1 on Tuesday night, a strange feeling came over me. I was suddenly nervous about winning the game and getting three points, despite Scotland's World Cup qualification chances having long since ended. I cared about the Scotland national team again.
Since Scotland agonisingly lost 2-1 to Italy in an attempt to qualify for Euro 2008, in November 2007 I have really struggled to conjure up much interest in caring about how Scotland did as a footballing nation. That's how much enthusiasm was drained from me during the reigns of both George Burley and Craig Levein.
Sure there were moments over those years where I celebrated with every Scotland fan like beating Iceland twice under Burley or drawing level with Spain under Levein at Hampden. However, by the end of each of the aforementioned bosses I had given up and very much become a club focused man.
And this was tinged with sadness. Growing up I had always struck a balance between my club (Rangers) and my country. I remember as a young lad getting kitted out ready to watch Scotland kick off the 1998 World Cup against Brazil. I cheered beating England at Wembley, was delighted when we beat Holland and celebrated wildly those two brilliant wins over France.
But it wasn't just the fact that the reigns of Burley and Levein were bad. They were catastrophically demoralising for national morale and I can vividly remember when it came to breaking point in both their reigns. For Burley, it was the 4-0 hammering in Norway. I didn't even care that we beat Macedonia three weeks later after that result. For Levein, there were endless moments but the final, final straw was the 0-0 draw against Serbia at the start of this doomed World Cup 2014 qualifying group. It proved I was wrong to expect different from a new campaign with the same manager in charge.
However, let's stop that negativity right now because Scotland are slowly but surely progressing under Gordon Strachan. Three wins in seven games is hardly tremendous for Gordon Strachan's CV but the signs are there that Strachan has got Scotland doing the basics right again and that's what pleases me most. Managing Scotland isn't rocket science which is something Burley and Levein failed to realise which was so frustrating as a fan.
Strachan is slowly finding a system which suits the eleven players he puts on the park. We don't have top,top players. We have some good, perhaps some very good players in the shape of Steven Fletcher, James Morrison and Shaun Maloney but we're not going to do major damage to a lot of teams. However, Strachan knows that with a bit of spirit and easy instructions Scotland are a nation that can rise again on the international arena.
Hampden should be a fortress yet we've scored two goals there in this qualifying campaign. On Tuesday night, admittedly away from home, I saw a system in which the Scottish players understood each other and players from midfield were much more willing to help out the lone striker. On a dodgy pitch Scotland passed the ball well, looked organised and scored two cracking goals. That's the way it should be home and away although with winners coming preferably earlier than two minutes from time!
Now I'm not going to get carried away but away wins over Croatia and Macedonia as well as the performance against England at Wembley should be celebrated. I've said for years Scotland have decent players, particularly in midfield.
All we needed was a manager that was a winner that could inspire them to go above their usual standards. Strachan has shown that we can compete with big nations again and the win over Macedonia was a genuine sign of progress.
Hopefully there is more to come and dare I say it, I'm looking forward to the Croatia game at Hampden next month.
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