Scotland's World Cup squad began their period of adjustment yesterday to the hard-line refereeing that has been promised for the finals in France when they begin next month.

A team talk at their New Jersey hotel from manager Craig Brown spelled out exactly what will be demanded from the players and this will be emphasised in every training game, as well as the two matches the team will play here against Colombia and the USA. Already the players fear that the tournament could become a farce if the referees follow FIFA's new regulations to the letter.

The Leicester City defender, Matt Elliott, said yesterday: ''We could see the competition being spoiled by the refereeing crackdown. Teams could be down to eight-a-side and, when the later stages arrive, you could find top players being out of action through suspension and that can't be right.''

Midfielder Billy McKinlay, of Blackburn Rovers, added: ''The whole thing will become a farce if the referees follow through on these FIFA recommendations. This can ruin the tournament and I don't think it is going to favour the British style of play, so that ourselves and England will be at a disadvantage.''

Elliott went through last season in the Premiership collecting just six bookings, while McKinlay was yellow-carded nine times, but both realise what is at stake for them in France if they are chosen to play - especially in the opener against Brazil. Says McKinlay: ''That is the game all of us want to play in, but it is also going to be the game where the referee will attempt to set the pattern for the rest of the World Cup games and so it will be difficult.

''I do put in tackles and it is so much a part of my game that I won't be able to change very much. But, as far as dissent is concerned, we will be well warned by Craig. I just hope that the whole thing doesn't turn into a farce, because that could happen very easily.''

Added Elliott: ''The tackle from behind is going to be a worry for all defenders. Basically, the new rules mean that you cannot risk making a challenge unless you are 99% certain that you are going to get the ball.

''People look at me because I am big and have a short haircut and assume that I am the kind of player who goes about clattering opposing forwards, but that's not true. The last time I was sent off was four years ago playing for Oxford when I committed a professional foul early in the game.

''I was yellow-carded six times last season, but I was not suspended for even a single game. There are obvious problems for defenders here and we shall all have to be very careful.''

Like the other players, the power-ful central defender realises that the cautious approach must start this weekend against Colombia at the Giants' Stadium tomorrow night. He recalls previous jousts with Tino Asprilla, who may be in the Colombian team that will face the Scots.

Elliott says: ''Asprilla is a box of tricks, but I felt that I handled him okay the couple of times I played against him when he was at Newcastle. It will be a test for all of us this weekend.''

The Colombians, of course, see the game being just as vital to their preparations for France as Scotland do. They will meet England in France and this is their sampling of British football, while Brown sees the game as a build-up to the match against the Brazilians, giving his players a refresher course on meeting a side from South America.

Interestingly, the Scotland captain, Colin Hendry, posed the question that the Scotland manager had asked some weeks ago.

''What,'' asked the Blackburn Rovers man, ''will happen to a forward who tackles a defender from behind? All we are hearing about is the problems that defenders face, but if I am guiding the ball over the bye-line against Brazil and Ronaldo whacks me from the back, will he be sent off? ''Under the new rules he should be, but we will have to wait to see exactly how they are going to be applied.''

Brown has already indicated that he will be taking no chances as he re-educates his players and he is aware of the worries that will also surround forwards. ''We are a team who defend as a unit and that often means the front players coming back to make challenges,'' he muses,'' so we will have to make sure that they pick up the same lessons as the defenders do. That is vital for us.''

As to suggestions that Richard Gough, the former Rangers captain had been invited to assist him in preparing the side in the States, Brown insisted: ''In no way shape or form was Richard Gough invited along to assist our prep- arations. I spoke to him casually and invited him to one of our games if he was in the vicinity. That was all there was to it.''

Gough, of course, is now playing in California, several thousand miles away from the Scots' training headquarters outside New York.

qReal's new era - Page 47