Gordon Strachan has predicted the Scottish people will make the Commonwealth Games a success - just as the Brazilian public made the World Cup.
The Scotland football manager spent several weeks in Brazil as a television pundit and he believes his own country is about to experience something similar.
Strachan carried the Commonwealth Games relay baton around a revamped Hampden today and used his Brazil insight to let Scots know what to expect when Glasgow 2014 kicks off tomorrow.
"It wasn't so much the football, it was the excitement it generated," the former Manchester United player said.
"Brazil was a place I had never been to and everyone who went out there thought the Brazilian people made the event. They joined in, they were welcoming, they were humorous, they were good fun.
"I'm sure you are going to get the same here.
"The weather's going to get good as well, so everything points to good fun. And when tourists get here, they should get themselves about Scotland, not just Glasgow and Edinburgh, there is wonderful scenery elsewhere in the country.
"It's great that people can come here and see Scotland at its best."
Strachan hopes the sporting action provides a lasting legacy for the people of Scotland.
"I think it's a chance for Scotland to grab a hold of sport and use it as a tool to help us," the former Celtic manager said.
"I think everybody can play a sport, it's finding what sport you are good at. No matter what shape, size, height, there's a sport there for you. What we need to do as a country is give children the opportunity to find that sport.
"When asking politicians to do anything, I always say 'do something about the sport because it can help your country no end'."
Strachan admitted he was honoured to be asked to carry the baton around the newly-installed athletics track at the famous home of Scottish football.
"I came here as a kid, I think it was 1970, there were 137,000 people in here," the 57-year-old said.
"So I'm back again now all these years later carrying a baton for the Commonwealth Games. That's life, you never plan these things but it sometimes ends up wonderful.
"I have got asked to do one or two wee things and played in big games, but the moment I got asked to do it was 'yeah, brilliant, wonderful'.
"It's not much time, it's only 15 minutes, but it's something that will stay with me."
Strachan was of the final group of people to pick up the baton as its journey across 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth comes to an end with the opening ceremony at Celtic Park tomorrow.
The baton, which contains a message from the Queen, has travelled throughout Scotland carried by thousands of baton-bearers including famous faces, charity workers and community volunteers.
The symbol of the Games was sent on its way by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on October 9 last year.
Its final destination will be the opening ceremony at Celtic Park tomorrow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article