New Largs Thistle manager Bryan Slavin has gone one step further than the national football side - by qualifying for the later stages of a European championships!

The 37 year old gaffer has skippered both the Scotland and British police football teams, and was proud to lead the UK team to Greece in 2009 where they qualified from their group, only to be beaten at the semi-final stage.

Unfortunately the UK team missed out on a bronze medal after losing 2-1 to the Swiss at Panathinaikos’s stadium.

Bryan, who is an intelligence officer with Police Scotland, said: “My first involvement was not long after I joined the police and I got picked for the Scottish police squad. My first cap for the Scotland team was away trip was to play Wales at Barry Town’s ground, and I scored twice on my debut as we ran out 4-0 winners.” Bryan has skippered the Scotland side to a number of trophy victories in the UK triangular tournament involving Engalnd and Wales.

The Largs manager actually scored the cliching goal to take the UK team through to Greece in a midweek game against Romania at the new Falkirk stadium in May 2009, just four days before he led out Auchinleck Talbot in their Scottish Cup victory over Clydebank.

“I remember the game against Romania was a hard, hard game and I scored the only goal with 15 minutes to go, managing to get in front of my man to score a good header. It was a cracker, and that got us through. I think that week was the making of me and my career. I remember near the end of the Clydebank match I was flat out on the pitch, and couldn’t move. I was absolutely shattered!“ Bryan recalled he was joined by Craig Feroz who played with Rob Roy in that triumphant UK police team, but there were doubts as to whether the finals in Greece would get the go-ahead due to the global recession, as financial problems were emerging.

However, it was a case that the show must go on, as Bryan headed out to Athens, but unfortunately the squad had to endure ‘the worst hotel accommodation’ he had ever experienced!

Bryan said: “It was like Fawlty Towers - and all seven teams were lumped together in the same accommodation, while Greece were up the road and in a cracking hotel, with a big pool, and all the facilities. It had a 1970s style decor amd the rooms were very cramped - twin rooms just had another bed added so you were really crammed in, there was barely enough space to move! It was pretty comical but it didn’t bother me as long as we were fed- we were just glad to be there - and give it our best shot! The conditions during the game were swelteringly hot. The matches kicked off at 5pm - when it was touching 100 degrees farenheit. It didn’t bother me too much as the matches were so brutal and you had to stay focussed.” The first match was against Bulgaria and the UK team nearly let slip a three goal advantage, as they held out to win 3-2. “It was a brutal match,” recalled Bryan, “I don’t know if the Bulgarians thought we would lie down given their physical tactics, but coming from Ayrshire Junior football, it was no problem and a case of ‘Bring it on!’. There were a number of angry exchanges and fall-outs!” “We played the French in 2nd game and the French scored right at the start of the game. We got a pen just before half-time but Craig Feroz missed it. We had best of the 1st half and had been pounding them but couldn’t get an equaliser. They scored right at start 2-0, and I managed a consolation goal with a header.” Again it was a charged atmosphere between both sets of players, and ‘tackles were flying all over the place’.

“I recall the referee saying afterwards that he found it difficult to believe it was police officers who were playing. It was a cracking battle and they just had that wee bit extra quality. The French were a really good outfit and I enjoyed it, and the difference was that they had a very skillful frontman who was able to turn the game.” The least fiery of the fixtures came in the final game of the group stages against hosts Greece.

“We needed to win it, and the Greeks just needed to draw,” said Bryan, “and that was the fairest game of the whole section and played in good spirit. One of our Irish boys scored om the hour mark and we were through to the semis which was a really terrific feeling.” The semi-final against Germany turned out to be a battling encounter with both midfields and defences very similar in quality but the opponents had a stand-out striker who had the quality to cup open the UK side. The Germans ran out 2-0 winners, and unfortunately for Bryan, he suffered a ligament tear in his knee after tackling a German forward. “I was gutted as I missed out on the third/fourth play-off against the Swiss which was actually played at the Panathinaikos stadium. I went in for a solid blocked tackle and we bounced off each other. I sat in the dressing room and the physio gave my knee a wee ‘shoogle’ and I nearly hit the roof with the pain. I would really have liked to get through to the final to play France, as I would have liked another crack a re-match. On saying that, it might have started World War 3!”