The last act of possibly the most exhilarating night in the history of the national team fell to McLean. When the ball came to him in his own half he took it for a little spin, unsure of what to do with it.

“I didn’t initially think about the shot,” he says. “I take a few touches and see support arriving either side and I’m aware the game’s going to finish, whether I pass it or not.

“I was looking around to see if I had any pressure on me, to see if I had time. And I heard some noise from the crowd that sounded like ‘shoot!’. It was the crowd that first put the idea in my head. And, obviously, I took them up on the offer.

“I hit it and it felt like slow motion after that. It felt like everybody went quiet. The ball started half a yard outside the post, but then it started turning. The goalie was in a bit of trouble. It cleared him and it was inside the post. It bounced and went in and that’s when I started running.

“It was bedlam after that. Absolute chaos. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.”

Ferguson recalls the moment the ball found the target. “The relief and euphoria that goes through you – the place erupted, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I had nothing left in the tank but then we all just sprinted about 100 yards into the corner chasing after Kenny. Pure adrenaline. It was like a dream.”

The party carried on and on, everybody with a story to tell, everybody euphoric that the older members of the squad would now have their crowning glory of playing in a World Cup.

All going well, Craig Gordon, at 43, will become the second oldest player in history to appear on the biggest stage.

He’s been on the road as a Scotland player for a staggering 22 years. Hanley won his first cap 15 years ago. Robertson made his debut a dozen years ago. For McGinn and McLean, it’s been a decade.

For Clarke, it’s been a whole lot longer. He’s never made any secret of his dream of leading Scotland to a World Cup and with this group of players he’s now done it.

As the celebrations roared on, Naismith had cause to remember how it was in his day as a Scotland player – 51 caps over 12 years. He speaks about the bond between the current squad and how times have changed.

“The boys now can’t wait to meet up,” he says. “We lacked that in my career, that togetherness. There was a bit of self-interest, I think. If a player didn’t start the first game in a campaign and you were going away to, say, Macedonia in the midweek – ‘oh, I’m injured, I’m not going’. There was too much of that. Not now.”

The final words to McLean, mayor of Norwich and now King of Scotland.

“Every player says it – and a lot of the time it’s said for the sake of it – but we really are like a club side, we’re like a family. Honestly, the connection between these boys is like nothing I’ve ever been involved in. No cliques. Everybody as one.

“If you can be a good team-mate then it goes a long way. That’s what I’d always want people to say about me and I’d say it about all of those boys. They have fantastic ability but above all they’re brilliant team-mates and brilliant people.”