IT is fair to say Euro 2016 will be a difficult watch for the average Scotland supporter. Tuning in to witness the other home nations battling it out in France while we are left on the sidelines promises to be about as cheery and uplifting a way to spend your evenings as settling down to a double bill of Broadchurch and A Clockwork Orange, then poring through your Joy Division and Nine Inch Nails collections. But if it will be bad for the fans, just think how unpleasant the experience will be for the players themselves.

Not only does James McArthur have three Crystal Palace team-mates - Wayne Hennessey, Joe Ledley and Jonathan Williams - in the the Wales squad, his midfield mucker Yohan Cabaye has made the cut for hosts France and old pal James McCarthy will do likewise for the Republic of Ireland. Lord knows the 28-year-old must be tempted to switch off from the event, but instead he will be glued to it all, as much to derive motivation for the next campaign, and he feels the other member of the Scotland squad will be just the same.

"Watching the Euros this year I think everyone will get that extra drive," said McArthur. “The fact that you have team-mates going there, it shows you what might have been. Watching the teams in our group, and all the home nations, will push us on and hopefully make us stronger. There are a few guys in the squad as well who are getting older, so this is their last chance to say 'lets have a go, do everything right and do everything it takes to get to a major competition'."

The final insult in what has been a fairly brutal season for both club and country where McArthur is concerned arrived in last weekend's FA Cup final. Seeing Scotland's European Championship qualifying hopes clutched away by that scrambled last-gasp strike by Robert Lewandowski was one thing, being just 12 minutes away from a remarkable FA Cup double was another.

Victory for Crystal Palace would have been the first major honour in the club's history, just as it had been when McArthur helped Wigan Athletic win the 2013 FA Cup against Manchester City, and Palace manager Alan Pardew was dancing away on the touchline in celebration of Jason Puncheon's opening goal as the game reached its closing stages. Unfortunately for McArthur, Manchester United came roaring back, ignoring the dismissal of Chris Smalling to take the cup in extra time.

Perhaps that is why, despite being a veteran of the Craig Levein era 5-1 friendly defeat to the USA in Jacksonville - an encounter held up as the high watermark of the meaningless summer international friendly - McArthur appears desperate to prolong his season for as long as possible. Supposedly out for the season when he injured his ankle ligaments in early February, he is desperate for games and keen to cement his place in the national team, and the next two outings - against Italy in Malta on Sunday night then France in Metz next week - could hardly have come at a better time. The next time he will encounter the likes of Smalling and Wayne Rooney at Wembley will be when Scotland take on England in a crucial World Cup qualifying tie in November and McArthur is keen to make himself a mainstay of a successful Scottish team.

"Obviously, the FA Cup Final was disappointing, but you need to move on quickly in football," said McArthur. “I now have two very good games to try and move on. So It IS a positive end to the season. Had you asked me six weeks before the final that I would have played four, five or six games, I would have bitten your hand off.

“These games have come at a brilliant time," he added. "They are not a pest for anyone. It’s an opportunity to show what you can do against two great footballing nations. Maybe in other countries they might be seen as that, but not in Scotland. We are players who want to play for their country at every opportunity and you will see that over the next two games.

“There are a lot of young players in the squad, which is great for Scottish football. The opportunity is there to go in and show what they are made of. Also the experienced guys want to play in the big matches and these are two big ones.

“That America trip two years ago is in the past. I don’t see these matches as a risk. I see them as an opportunity to test yourself against the best players. In European Championship qualifiers or World Cup qualifiers, you are going to be facing great teams, so why not test yourself against the best and take confidence from doing your best against them?"