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ASSISTANT coach Alex Miller is playing a key role in Scotland's World Cup campaign, but he does not have happy footballing memories of Hong Kong.

 Miller was brought to Hong Kong by South China late in 1982-83 season and was not there long enough to halt the slide that brought the famous Caroliners' relegation to the Second Division.

 Hard to believe? It happened all right, but First Division football without South China would have been unthinkable, so the club never went down.

 One man who did not know about Miller's Hong Kong experiences was Scottish coach Craig Brown.

 'I don't think he's got that on his CV. I certainly did not know about it,' said Brown.

 Miller, who was in Hong Kong for four months, recalled the visit with decidedly mixed feelings.

 'I think most people who go there like the place and I was no exception. But it was very tough at South China and there was not much fun in it at all,' said Miller. 'But I met some good people and, outside football, it was much more fun.'  But Miller is definitely an important figure in Scotland's plans.

 Said Brown: 'He is much closer to the players than I am - and that is the way I like it. We work very well together.'  It's amazing the difference 20 years makes.

Cameroon coach Claude Le Roy has the look of a dishevelled university professor and he is fluent in several languages.

 FIFA employs interpreters to give translations at post-match press conferences that are conducted in the coach's native language.

 In Le Roy's case that is French, and he gave his assessment of Cameroon's game against Italy in Montpellier and listened while it was translated into Italian and English.

 With a smile and a wagging finger he corrected the English interpreter.

 'No. I did not say that Italy were a great team. I said that they were a good team,' stressed Le Roy.

There are many banners draped round the stadia of France 98, but one of the more surprising was spotted in Montpellier.

 Just quite what a banner from Portadown, a town in Northern Ireland that featured significantly in the 30-year-long disturbances there, was doing at a game between Cameroon and Italy in Montpellier is one of the World Cup's little mysteries.

 Chinese language banners supporting England are just about understandable. After all, there are a lot of Chinese restaurants in Britain.

Amid the mayhem of Marseille, England coach Glenn Hoddle kept a cool head before, during and after the opener against Tunisia.

 His post match comments were succinct and admirably to the point.

 'This was simply a game we had to win and we are not getting carried away with this result. It was nothing more than a start,' he said.

 Britain's near-hysterical mass media would have been better taking their cue from Hoddle. What the reaction will be if England do advance and beat someone meaningful, is impossible to guess.

 And if Argentina and Germany are to be tackled along the way, one can fear the worst.

Enduring images surrounding the frenetic game between Scotland and Norway in Bordeaux come from before and long after the match was over.

 In mid-morning two lusty pipers were rousing the faithful with renditions of a number of Scottish airs and ballads in the main centre of the city.

 And right behind them, holding the biggest Norwegian flag it seemed possible to get were two opposing fans. Except nobody seemed to be in opposition - this was simply fun for all.

 The scene shifts to around 2 am, long after the game was over, with a bonnie Scots lassie, complete with boyfriend, trading her Scottish scarf - and a kiss - for a Norwegian scarf.

 The party went on until dawn and there were still Scots planning the trek to Saint-Etienne two days later.



Miller's SAR memories pale in comparison