A nation divided as Brown pledges his allegiance to the wrong flag

Raith Rovers fan Gordon Brown is telling anyone who will listen how much he wants England to win the World Cup. They won't be dancing in the streets of Raith but it's an admirable sentiment, if a mite politically transparent.

It was something else he came out with that really stuck in the craw. Mr Brown told the Sunday Telegraph that one of his best football memories is England's goal against Scotland in Euro 96, when Gazza made a tartan twit of Colin Hendry. I loved that goal so much I left the stadium during the players' irresponsible, lets-all-get-drunk celebration, hit the West End and got irresponsibly drunk.

Should Scots want England to win the World Cup? I wondered what those posh Jock sophisticates who lurk everywhere in the national media think. Jim Naughtie and Andrew Neil are right behind Sven's boys. Neil will be supporting them "fervently". He says: "It's the country I've lived in for 35 years, so I'd consider it mad and petty NOT to support England." Naughtie hates the "anybody but England" mentality, although he won't be flying a flag from his van.

One of the country's leading comedy writers disagrees: "There may be a few who will support England, but they're not the ones who keep the passion of the game alive. If I stopped feeling intense rivalry, it would mean I didn't care any more. It's like saying Hearts aren't playing, why don't you go and cheer on another Edinburgh team?"

A respected current affairs editor says: "No. They're the big guy in the British playground. You can't enjoy occasionally putting them on their faces, then turn round and enjoy them pasting Paraguay." A TV executive tells me: "I will be supporting Argentina as I think they have the best chance of wiping the smile off the face of white van man, who represents everything truly awful about the English. The English just can't accept they have no flair, no humility and no chance."

Me? I just want football to be the winner.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer