GORDON McQUEEN, the former Scotland defender, has urged the Tartan Army to give Aiden McGeady and James McCarthy a "horrible" time when they return to the country of their birth in the green of the Republic of Ireland.

The participation of McCarthy is in doubt after he picked up an injury playing for Everton against Sunderland yesterday but he and McGeady will both expect to receive a hot reception from the home supporters should they feature in Friday's European Championship qualifying match at Celtic Park.

McQueen, who won 30 caps, said he could hardly believe that two boys brought up in Scotland would choose instead to play for the land of their grandparents and encouraged supporters of the national side to barrack them from start to finish.

"You're born in Glasgow, but then you go and play for somebody else," remarked McQueen. "What's that all about? I'm not having that at all.

"I hate that. I've got no time for these players. Will it be hard for them coming back here with Ireland? I really hope so. I hope they get a horrible reception because they deserve it. I'm sure somebody must have asked them to play for Scotland at some stage.

"You're either Scottish or you're not and you should know that by the time you're 12 years of age. I played alongside the likes of Bob Wilson and Bruce Rioch, who were born in England, but they always considered themselves Scottish.

"That's all I want. If you feel Scottish, you're Scottish, but I hate these guys who think: 'I can't get a game for England so I'll play for Scotland'."

McQueen believes Scotland must qualify for their first major finals since the 1998 World Cup with the European Championship having been extended from 16 to 24 teams for Paris in 2016, and he is optimistic of victory against the Irish.

"I think we'll beat Ireland at Celtic Park," he stated. "I thought that Celtic had some very average sides at times, but European teams coming to Parkhead were intimidated by the atmosphere there.

"There are certain grounds where the crowd just gets to the opposition.

"Personally, I think we will qualify for the finals, but I would be ashamed if we didn't because just about everybody gets to these finals. There will be 24 countries there. Surely we can do that."

McQueen worked as a scout for the Scotland coach, Gordon Strachan, at Middlesbrough and has been impressed by the job he has been doing since taking over the reins from Craig Levein in January 2013.

Strachan's stay at Middlesbrough was an unqualified failure, in which he effectively tore up his contract with two and a half years to run and leave without compensation, but McQueen is not surprised to see him rebuilding his reputation.

"I think he underestimated the challenge at Middlesbrough," said the former Leeds and Manchester United player. "He'll say that to this day.

"He brought in all these guys he'd worked with at Celtic - Scott McDonald, Stephen McManus, Barry Robson, Willo Flood and Chris Killen - plus other guys from Scotland such as Kris Boyd, Kevin Thomson and Lee Miller.

"Gordon thought they would cruise the Championship, but it just didn't happen. People within the football club can understand why he's doing so well now, though, because they rated him and believed in him.

"I think he's the ideal man for the Scotland job."