Mike Wilson, an experienced observer of Scottish football, gives theirview of this week's joint bid for the 2008 EuropeanChampionship

Ever used to plucking defeat from the jaws of victory, Scotland's phlegmatic soccer community is this weekend somewhat bemused by the latest last-minute nail-biter which saw Scotland and Ireland submitting a joint bid for the prestigious Euro 2008 Championship.

And, as has so often been the case on the field of play, it had all looked so good for so long for Scots fans and administrators alike.

Despite two separate sets of consultants' reports confirming the benefits to the Scottish economy from hosting Euro 2008 alone by far outweighed the risks, Scotland's First Minister McConnell played safe, hoping for a joint bid with Ireland, by declining the opportunity of going it alone.

Lex Gold, chairman of the Scottish Premier League and president of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said of that decision: "Scotland has lost her best ever opportunity of landing the biggest sporting prize in her grasp."

Just to fan the flames a bit more, Glen Kirton, the man who led England's successful Euro '96 campaign, added: "Surely that is precisely what the Scottish Parliament was set up to do, to promote Scotland as a nation."

Following frequent trips between Scotland and Dublin by both politicians and sports officials, the ground for the joint bid was brokered by the Irish Government on Wednesday of this week, but the Scotsman newspaper was not impressed, its lead story headlined "Euro 2008 bid mired in farce".

Meanwhile, across the country in Glasgow, the sports editor of rival broadsheet the Herald, Donald Cowry, said: "There is no doubt that the Scottish Football Association was hopeful of a solo bid, and therefore a joint bid with Ireland is a compromise, and a stand-alone Scots bid was seen within UEFA as a compelling one. There is no doubt that a joint bid with Ireland is weaker, and the Nordic bid is probably favourite now, with Scotland/Ireland still in the running."

Some commentators have tried to suggest that a joint bid with Dublin has caused great resentment in one section of Scottish football, namely the largely Protestant Rangers support, but Cowry dismissed that saying: "I think that the cultural affinity between Scotland and Ireland is strong, but, had a joint bid been on the cards from the outset, it might have been seen as a stronger, first-choice option."

Perhaps it is ironic that the Scots not only see themselves as the senior partner, but they are hosting the majority of the showcase matches, including the final, which will be held at Hampden Park if the bid is successful.

The Scots understand all too well how major sporting events are at the beck and call of politicians, although the Irish political dimension, even the fact there is a general election due in the Republic this summer, is lost on the majority of Scots.

Once the subtler politics being played out involving the GAA and IRFU come into the equation, as a nation, us Scots are, frankly lost.

The Euro 2008 debate has so far generated more heat than light, with political parties and the media unable to agree, or even agree to disagree, on party or demographic grounds.

What is ironic is that the endgame, a joint bid with Ireland, was the Conservative opposition's favoured option, one on which Henry McLeish, the previous Scottish First Minister, heaped scorn when it was first mooted.

The media have been equally confused, unclear whether the story is a political, sports, news or even business one, with all sections of the broadsheets nibbling away without anyone making a significant mark or having serious influence.

What is clear, however, is that while the majority of Scots would have preferred a solo bid, as a nation Ireland is a most welcome and comfortable partner, and, if the politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea can keep their collective acts together, the lifeblood of confidence needed to turn such a late bid into a winning one can, one must hope, be breathed into what, arguably could have been the best bid by far from the outset.

There are seven bids, with only Hungary and Russia making solo bids, and Greece and Turkey seen as the complete outsiders. Full submissions need to be in by the end of May with a decision from UEFA expected in mid-December.

Whether there will be any fallers among the declared riders and runners between now and then, and whether the Scottish/Irish bid might be still among them, is anyone's guess.