SCOTLAND fans are feeling tender enough about things today without Wales following the example of Northern Ireland and reminding them of what they could have won. After Michael O'Neill's side clinched their first appearance at a major finals since 1986 on Thursday night, Chris Coleman's squad require just a solitary point from their two remaining matches to make France 2016 their first showpiece tournament since Sweden in 1958.

With England already there and the Republic of Ireland with at least a play-off place to their name, that would leave us alone from all the teams from these islands with our noses pressed hard against the window. The Welsh qualification equation isn't exactly difficult; while they could well overcome the challenge of Bosnia-Herzegovina away at the first time of asking on Saturday, they also have the proverbial home banker to fall back on, in Cardiff on Tuesday, against an Andorra side who have yet to collect a solitary point during this campaign.

If John Charles was in his pomp the last time Wales featured on the big stage - they even made it out the group before going down in the quarter finals 1-0 to eventual winners Brazil, courtesy of a 17-year-old Pele's first international goal - this time the undoubted star turn is Gareth Bale of Real Madrid. But there is one other systemic advantage this Wales side benefits from which won't entirely have escaped the attention of some Scottish-based football watchers. Bale can comfortably be added to a litany of world class talents reared in the valleys which includes John Toshack, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, and Ryan Giggs but unlike certain past vintages this Wales side are no one-man team.

It wasn't just the agency of Bale which sees them go into tonight's match having conceded just two goals throughout an entire campaign - compared to Scotland's 12 - and as weary of the idea of the Old Firm playing in the Barclays Premier League one day has become, it should be noted that the Welsh are also reaping the dividends of two of their clubs having accessed the riches available there in recent seasons.

Swansea City, a properly progressive club who are one of the real recent success stories of British football, are now in their fifth season in the English top flight, having become the first Welsh side to play in the re-branded top division in 2011-12, while Cardiff City are still burning a hole through the parachute payment they acquired when reaching the English top flight for one glorious season in 2013-14.

Where the Old Firm's dominance over Scottish line-ups has waned, the influence these two teams exert on the Welsh national team is glaring. Of the team which started their previous match, the goalless draw against Israel in Cardiff last month, no fewer than six came to prominence at one or other of these two adopted Welsh/English sides, including the entire back four.

Aaron Ramsey and Chris Gunter left Cardiff's youth policy before they even reached the Barclays Premier League for London giants Arsenal and Tottenham respectively, centre half pairing Ashley Williams and Ashley Richards have been defensive rocks of Swansea's boom years, while there was also room for Swansea's current left back, Neil Taylor, and the one they had before that, Ben Davies, who was valued at somewhere between £8m and £10m in the complicated swap deal which saw Iceland's Gylfi Sigurdsson go in the opposite direction. Also involved in Coleman's plans, thought not available against Israel that day, is Liverpool's Joe Allen, who cost £15m when Brendan Rodgers took him along for the ride when he swapped Swansea for Anfield, not to mention two Cardiff old boys, Joe Ledley and Adam Matthews, whose talents need no introduction to Celtic fans. While these youngsters may have blossomed elsewhere in any case, a reliable outlet to a high level of football has clearly been a major boost to their development.

While Coleman has reaped the benefits, taking over an emotional young squad after the suicide of Gary Speed, another man who deserves a generous share of the credit for all of this is Toshack. He and his Under-21 boss Brian Flynn gave international debuts to no fewer than 11 of the players who beat a star-studded Belgian side back in June.

The Welsh are currently riding at a new high of No 8 in the Fifa World Rankings, a rating which thoroughly validates Toshack's decision to sacrifice the short and medium term for long term gain. It is the kind of approach which some would tell Gordon Strachan or his successor to deploy with Scotland coming into the Russia 2018 campaign, although with Ladbrokes Premiership experience becoming an increasingly devalued commodity, and road blocks continuing to thwart Dermot Desmond's dreams of gatecrashing the English game, guaranteeing Scottish kids access to top level football is becoming increasingly difficult. If our club sides can't get to England, and can no longer be relied upon to reach the Champions League, what about the SFA investing in their own trojan horse club south of the border, there own little London Scottish? Now that really would be thinking outside the box.