An England fan in Scotland is usually rarer than the Loch Ness Monster herself - but not anymore
Paddy Power's Euro 2016 outright book says there will be plenty of Scots cheering on Roy's Boys this summer
Don’t be surprised if there are a couple of muted celebrations around Scotland if England get off to a flyer in Euro 2016. While the northern neighbours might not like to admit it, we’ve taken a look into Paddy Power’s outright book for Euro 2016 and England are taking a whole lot of Scottish support.
We’re not saying that our Celtic brothers will be swapping their kilts and deep-fried Mars bars for fish and chips in a bowler hat, but England are the third most popular team for punters to back in Scotland. Roy Hodgson’s men are in the betting, and apparently it looks like that price is good enough to throw away centuries of fierce rivalry.
Particular in Edinburgh, where 15 per cent of all the cash on Euro 2016 is riding on the Three Lions – more than double the money on the much-hyped Belgium! The English support isn’t as strong in Glasgow, where just seven per cent of cash is resting on Roy Hodgson and co. while a whopping 47 per cent of it is on the hosts France.
While Paddy Power’s very own ‘Vindaloo ad with a twist’ suggested that Scottish fans were going to be backing England to lose, it would appear that quite a few of them will be hoping for plenty of success in this year’s tournament. Scotland’s exit in qualifying might be tough to take for the tartan Army, but an England victory won’t be the kick in the plums we all expected, as the Scots swap Braveheart for Love Hearts and start spreading the goodwill.
The best result in Scotland would be a victory for the French. The hosts’ squad features a bucket-load of talent including Paul Pogba and Antoie Griezmann, and 43 per cent of all the Euro 2016 outright cash in Scotland is riding on Didier Deschamps’ men. Germany are also being very well supported by the Scots, as they look to add to their World Cup success two years ago in Brazil.
Just three per cent of Scottish cash is heading the way of Northern Ireland, while a measly one per cent is on the Welsh. It could be worse however as just 0.2 per cent of Scottish money is on an Irish victory in Euro 2016. That’s what we get for knocking them out in qualifying we suppose…