Brown has a ball as he tries to evoke spirit of 1966

GORDON Brown yesterday got his hands on a piece of football memorabilia many Scots hold responsible for four decades of English crowing: the ball used in the 1966 World Cup final.

The Chancellor has made no secret of his support for England ahead of their World Cup campaign in Germany. And yesterday he made another play to England supporters when he held the historic ball during a visit to Cologne to watch the team's final group game against Sweden, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

His enthusiasm is in contrast to Jack McConnell, Scotland's First Minister, who caused a storm last month by stating he would not be backing England.

And Mr McConnell risked another football-related cross-Border row

in a radio interview by highlighting clashes in London and Liverpool around big screens showing England's first match.

"The only riots that weekend were south of the Border, with football fans fighting with each other," Mr McConnell said. "Here in Scotland ... we can enjoy the game; we all just chill out about this."

Stephen Pound, Labour MP for Ealing, suggested Mr McConnell was "trying to impugn the reputation of the entire English nation", and said: "I have seen worse things during the day on Buchanan Street in Glasgow."

Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, implicitly chided the First Minister in an interview on Monday, saying he was "irritated" by fans who say they detest other teams.

Meanwhile, five English fans were arrested for drunken behaviour at the stadium after last night's game in Cologne, a German police spokesman said.

• An Inverness businessman who placed Scotland's biggest bet on an England victory - 40,000 at odds of 11/8 - last night lost out on a 105,000 payout when ex-Celtic striker Henrik Larsson scored for Sweden to level the match.