As the World Cup looms once more there is a Scot whose contributions in three successive finals in West Germany, Argentina and Spain were recognised throughout the world, who will be taking a professional as well as a patriotic interest in what is happening in France this summer.

Joe Jordan, the man who terrorised defences with his power in the air, is now assistant manager of Northern Ireland, working there as right-hand man to Lawrie McMenemy and with the pair of them, so far, able to chalk up two Belfast victories as they work together to build a team for the European Championship qualifying games which begin next season.

But, in the summer, Jordan will criss-cross France watching German who are the major opponents for Northern Ireland in their European group and watching Scotland, too, because the heart still rules the head, and because, too, Jordan believes that for success with the Northern Ireland team he must follow the lead of Craig Brown with Scotland.

Jordan said: ''I have been impressed at the way Scotland have gone about their business in the major tournaments. They qualified for Euro96 and now they have qualified for the World Cup finals in France and that has happened because Craig Brown has put together a team.

''He has looked at the way the game is today and he has decided that first of all he has to have a solid defence and he has to add to that an understanding among the other players in the squad.

''He has been able to do that and you have only to look at his results to realise what he has been able to achieve. I don't think there is any doubt that when you are one of the smaller nations then you have to work harder than the more talented teams, and you have to try to be better organised than they are. Craig Brown has done that and we are working on that with Northern Ireland.''

The two victories McMenemy and Jordan have had came against Slovakia and Switzerland and the second against the Swiss gave the old Southampton partnership - Jordan played for the club when McMenemy was manager there - special satisfaction.

Jordan explained: ''The previous month the Swiss had played England and gained a good result and so all our lads and all our fans were aware of that. And then we go out against the same team - 10 of the players were in the team against England - and our lads beat them. So now we have something to build on and there is a bit of belief among the players.''

Jordan had been lost to the game for some time because he is a man of high principles who would not brook interference from the board room when playing matters were involved. He was working for Middlesbrough, assessing opposition teams, when the call came from McMenemy.

He said: ''I thought this was the right way to go. OK, I don't have day-to-day involvement with players but I do work with the lads when we have get-togethers for games. I missed that before. I missed the training and the coaching.

''Now Lawrie leaves a lot of that to me but every day the team is preparing for a game I sit down with him and we discuss what is going to happen. I knew Lawrie, of course, from the spell I had at Southampton as a player and we always kept in touch and just to be able to rely on his experience is tremendous for me.

''He was with England, of course, and he knows the international scene and I can lean on him a little when I need to. He leaves the coaching and the training to me and I like to think that we are proving ourselves a good team. But the next game will tell us the levels we have to reach.''

The Northern Irish will meet Spain in Santander in early June as the Spaniards prepare to head for France and Jordan needs no-one to tell him that the opposition have earned the right to be among the favourites in the tournament,

However, he pointed out: ''We have to play Germany in the European Championship qualifying games and so we have to find out exactly what we have to achieve. Spain will allow us that opportunity.

''Then, afterwards, we start our group games with a game against Turkey away from home. That is the type of game we must try to get something from. ''

Jordan, though, will watch his own country in France as well as the Germans and he said: ''Nothing can replace the feeling of playing for Scotland at the World Cup and the way the fans behaved. Now I have a job to do and I'll use the guidelines from Craig Brown to start us off.''