The auld enemies meet again – but do we care?

The two sides met every year for more than a century in the British Home Championship, before the competition came to an end in 1984.

Scotland against England was the oldest international fixture in the world, but the two sides have not met since 1999, when Scotland won 1-0.

The fixture became famous for enthusiastic members of the Tartan Army celebrating wildly – most famously in 1977 when a 2-1 win for Scotland prompted a famous pitch invasion.

Will next Wednesday’s match see passions run as high as they did in the 1970s.

Many fans and former players mourn the old rivalry, but some commentators feel the political upheavals that have left Scotland on the verge of an independence referendum mean the old spark might be lacking.

The Scottish poet, novelist and football fan William McIlvanney told Channel 4 News: “I feel much calmer on this occasion.

“I think for a while the conflict with England on the park gave Scotland a stronger sense of its own identity.

“I think the referendum and our own parliament has made the game closer to just a game. It still matters, but not with the intensity that it formerly did.”