WHEN I went away with Scotland to play in Euro 96, our manager Craig Brown invited some of the country's most promising players along to be hamper boys.

Broonie felt the experience of being involved with the national squad at the Finals of a major tournament would be beneficial to a select handful of our best youngsters. Hampden all set to roar for Diego SCOTLAND'S game against Argentina at Hampden tomorrow night has caused a media frenzy.

It is great to see the legendary Diego Maradona back at the stadium where he scored his first goal in international football as he takes charge of his country for the first time.

I saw the goal Diego scored in the 3-1 victory over us in 1979 repeated on TV the other night - what a wonderful talent he was.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that we could win. Remember, my old Scotland room-mate Stewart McKimmie scored the winner against Argentina the last time we played them at Hampden in 1990.

It is a shame Lionel Messi and Riquelme are missing. But they still have players like Carlos Tevez, Gabriel Heinze and Javier Mascherano. It should be a cracker.

One of the kids who joined us in England was Paul Hartley. He was at Millwall at that time and played up front as a striker. But it was easy to see he was a talented lad who could go far in the game.

As well as helping out with the kit, Paul and his mates played against the senior squad in practice matches. He showed in those games he was a very skilful boy.

He has changed position a few times since then. Billy Stark moved him into central midfield when he was at St Johnstone and he went from strength to strength there in his successful spell at Hearts.

Now he is a player at Celtic, Hartley is no longer the dynamic, goalscoring, box-to-box midfielder that he was at Tynecastle. He is older now and is playing a different role altogether.

But he showed once more against Hamilton on Sunday, when he popped up and rifled home a vital winner with just a few minutes remaining, what an important player he has become for the Scottish champions.

He cannot get up and down the park the way he used to. He is now playing more of a holding midfield role. But he has still got an eye for goal and will weigh in with a few over the course of a season.

He took his goal well at the weekend to ensure that Celtic stayed four points ahead of Rangers.

There have been spells in the past where he has been left out of Gordon Strachan's team. But he is an experienced pro and every time he gets the nod, he plays extremely well.

I am sure that, after his recent displays, he will be the first name down on Gordon's teamsheet every week and will be a key figure in Celtic's bid to land their fourth consecutive SPL title.

I don't agree with people who say the victory Celtic achieved against Accies at New Douglas Park on Sunday was a fluke. The players deserve praise for keeping going right until the death.

Yes, Hamilton played well and they will probably feel aggrieved they didn't, at the very least, pick up a point. The penalty decision against them which led to the equaliser was very harsh.

I felt sorry for the referee Steve Conroy. As I have said before, our officials have a hard job to do. They have a split-second decision to make and TV cameras can analyse an incident from different angles afterwards. Officials are not going to get every decision right.

But all that matters for Celtic at the end of the day is the final score. They keep churning out result after result: 10 league wins in a row now. They are making winning a habit. That they do it right at the death is irrelevant - even if it is a bit of a Celtic tradition. Murray mint spurred Celts

IN my opinion, Sir David Murray, who celebrates his 20th anniversary as Rangers owner this weekend, has been good not just for the Ibrox club but also for Scottish football.

He has stumped up a lot of his hard-earned cash over the years to bring some great players - Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup being two of the best - to this country.

I was a player at Celtic when he was spending big money across the city and the Gers were dominating our domestic game. But, ultimately, his investment meant Celtic had to get their act together.