John McGinn insists Scotland have learned lessons on and off the pitch 12 months on from World Cup play-off heartbreak.
The Aston Villa captain - named Scottish Football Writers' Association International Player of the Year - is confident the national team setup has been sufficiently elevated over the past year since defeat to Ukraine at Hampden.
Among the changes has been a move to Lesser Hampden for the recent international break along with plans for a training camp.
“It was a completely unusual experience for all of us having such an important game and the gap in between," said McGinn reflecting on the World Cup play-off semi-final loss.
“We didn’t do a training camp last year, so this year we are doing it.
“That’s the sign of the growth of the squad. Not only on the park, but also off the park. We are learning from our mistakes.
“That’s everyone. That’s us coming together. When we have a positive result, we go back and see why. If we have a bad result, we’ll go back and see what we can we change as players. The staff will get together and say the same.
"If we want to get to the major tournaments, we need to just park the excuses.
“There will be absolutely no question that the players, whether some need a rest more than others and some need to train more than others, we’ll be extremely prepared for that game against Norway on June 17.”
Serious questions were raised over the £33m Oriam training base in Edinburgh, used since 2016, after a move to Lesser Hampden for the internationals in March. And the Scotland squad will again be based in Glasgow ahead of qualifiers in June.
For McGinn, it's a top-class facility and played its part in the successes over Cyprus and Spain earlier this year.
“It definitely does make a big difference," he said.
“Obviously, there are a lot of us who are spoiled down here with facilities, hotels and everything else. It’s absolutely perfect.
“We’re not expecting that one bit with Scotland as we know we are from a small country.
“But we also know the impact the perfect preparation can have. We were delighted with the changes in the last camp."
