SCOTS TAKE FIRST STEP ON A LONG, ROCKY ROAD

I don’t think — in fact, I’m prepared to stick my neck out and say I’m sure on this one — he had Walter Smith, or Scotland, in mind when he came up with one of history’s best sayings.

However, as he prepares to embark on what we all hope will be an epic voyage of recovery with the national team, ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu’s words are to Wattie what hand is to glove.

You see, although it has been attributed to everyone from Chairman Mao to Bill Shankly, it was actually old Lao who first came up with the magnificently profound “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

Whether or not he said it before the big Shanghai-Beijing derby isn’t clear, but even if he was not talking football, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind us borrowing his saying to sum up what we should be looking for from tomorrow night’s World Cup qualifier between Italy and Scotland in Milan’s magnificent Giuseppe Meazza.

Because, as he tries to save the nation from the mess that was Berti Vogts’ time at the steering wheel, a long and rocky road lies ahead for the former Dundee United coach.

And, given that tomorrow will see him pit his meagre resources against one of the favourites for the 2006 World Cup in Germany next year, we should not expect too much progress on his journey. In fact, even a single step in the right direction would be good and it could be folly to wish for anything more.

The million-dollar question, of course, is just what would represent a single step?

If we were to be pessimistic in the extreme, given the 6-0 loss in Holland the last time we faced one of the game’s major powers in a competitive international away from home, it could be argued even a 5-0 defeat would represent some progress.

That score, after all, was how Berti raised the curtain on his disastrous two-and-a-half year reign — a friendly humiliation in France, three painful years ago this very Easter Sunday.

Realistically, while another defeat looks even likelier than an Old Firm penalty in the final minute of a drawn game, we do have reason to expect a closer score tomorrow.

Wattie is, after all, a decent manager with better tactical awareness than his predecessor, though, that is not saying too much.

As the man himself has been stating this week, what we can certainly look for is a performance, and, now that the Vogts’ nightmare is over, it would be nice to think we will see players running out onto the pitch knowing what the game plan is.

Given what’s available to the manager in terms of selection, we must not expect too much — and the history of this fixture alone should warn us not to expect anything other than defeat.

At international or club level, no Scottish team has ever won in Italy. In six meetings between the two national sides, those in the darker blue have scored just two goals and the only success came at Hampden in a World Cup qualifying group way back in 1965 — we won 1-0 at Hampden, but lost 3-0 in Italy.

Sure, the Italians may be going through a transitional period themselves and they’ve a few injury problems. However, as the presence of Milan, Inter and Juventus in the quarter-finals of the Champions League makes clear, there is no lack of talent available to team boss Marcello Lippi.

Hopefully, though, that single step is not too much to hope for.

And, just think, should we take it, there will only be another 999-plus miles to go on the road to recovery!