The tales of Tartan Army campaigns down the years are legendary.

Now there is a new one to tell – and it’s an epic.

From the old biennial pilgrimages to Wembley, to Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Italy, Sweden, France and Germany, travelling Scotland fans have made friends everywhere.

I listened to the stories, promising myself: I’ll get there one day.

And now I have. In the towering cathedral of sport that is the Gillette Stadium, I experienced with my brother a spiritual moment that will live with me for the rest of my life.

The fervour, passion, colour, pageantry, humour and all-round brilliance of being among a congregation of 45,000 fellow Scots was everything I dreamed it could be. And so much more on top.

We entered the stadium early to soak it all in and those first steps into the deep, steep-sided bowl of the Foxborough stadium brought a lump to my throat.

With a confluence of so many conflicting emotions, I’m not ashamed to admit that, standing with my brother after waiting 36 years to see Scotland in a World Cup finals, tears were shed.

I was thinking of my wife and daughters watching back home and how much I would have loved them to be there, of my mum who still........

© The Courier