LAWRIE McMENEMY is backing England to triumph over Scotland in the Battle of Britain.

But the former Saints boss is sad that it is not possible for both countries to qualify for next summer's Euro 2000 finals in Holland and Belgium.

As Kevin Keegan prepared to do battle with Craig Brown at Hampden Park today in the first leg of the clash, McMenemy said: "It is a poor draw. Neither would have wanted to play each other and it is a pity for Britain that one of them has got to go out.

"In a one-off game I would say it would be very even but over two legs I think England will win. They have the ability and experience at a high level of football week in week out.

"But the Scottish players will be fired up. If they can beat England it will be the highlight of their career because these games mean so much.

"When I was manager of the England Under-21 side we beat Scotland in the Toulon tournament and even all that distance away the match was full of passion so I know both these games will be great occasions."

And McMenemy, who is a former England assistant manager under Graham Taylor and who has just stepped down as boss of Northern Ireland, hopes today's game and Wednesday's second leg at Wembley will pave the way for the return of an annual Battle of Britain.

Ideally he would love to see the Home International Championships resurrected to include Wales and Northern Ireland.

But if that proves unfeasible, then he would enjoy seeing the Auld Enemy meet each season.

He said: "One of the reasons that the tournament was scrapped was that England did not want to play Wales and Northern Ireland and the Scotland fixture was because of the police. But I would love to see the Home Internationals brought back.

"If that is not possible, then England could play Scotland each year - and it would be a great gesture if they gave a proportion of the gate receipts to Northern Ireland and Wales.

McMenemy is currently waiting for the opportunity to get back into football after deciding not to renew his contract as Northern Ireland manager.

He can take heart though from the success and popularity of Bobby Robson who is proving at Newcastle that age is no barrier and that experience can sometimes be cast aside too easily in football.

He said: "There is nothing concrete in the pipeline. The Northern Ireland job would have been for another two years and after weighing up the pros and cons I politely turned it down which leaves me and the other coaches open to other things.

"There is nothing to talk about at the moment - but I'm available if anyone wants me."

Full coverage of the Battle of Britain in tonight's Pink.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.