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They gathered in hushed tones around the entrance to an hotel in the centre of Glasgow yesterday. From the ever-growing kerfuffle that developed, any innocent passer-by might have thought that the Second Coming was imminent.

“Have you seen him?” someone asked. “Yes, yes . . . he passed by that doorway five minutes ago.” When Diego Maradona is in town, the natives evidently stir. Glasgow was grey and wet — “dreich” to use a colloquialism — but it didn’t stop the locals, the media and anyone else who fancied a peek from descending on the plush hotel where Maradona’s Argentina team are based for tomorrow evening’s friendly against Scotland at Hampden Park.

And a “peek” is about all they got. I maintained a two-hour vigil, which incorporated a coffee, a chilled beer and then — marvel of marvels — a 20-second flash of Maradona as he sauntered across the lobby for lunch at about midday.

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“Don’t approach him,” we were warned. Whatever else has come and gone from his life, it is good to report that the mullet is as bushy as ever.

He was a bit grumpy, too: no photographs, no autographs, and certainly no pesky children getting in his way, so the word went out. A few of the television hacks were brassed off at being told that no one — save for an official Argentine film crew that is following him this week — could film Maradona near the hotel.

That did not stop one schoolboy from meeting the coach, though. Maradona’s mood appeared to lift as he hoisted Adam Brown into the air to pose for pictures with the 13-year-old after he found a St Christopher medallion that Fernando Gago, the midfield player, had lost on the field in training at Celtic Park.

It captured the spirit of goodwill and Tartan Army well-wishers will congregate at Hampden tomorrow to offer Maradona their very, very best wishes. In Scotland, anyone who does what Maradona did to England that hot, sultry afternoon in Mexico City in June, 1986, is guaranteed a warm reception.

The “Hand of God” goal in the Azteca Stadium produced a split reaction in Britain that resonates to this day. In England, the screeching and sheer bleating over what Maradona did to Peter Shilton was so loud and prolonged that you can still hear its echoes. In Scotland, however, there was nothing but hearty guffaws at the former player’s cheek.

Terry Butcher, the Scotland assistant manager but a hapless England central defender at the time whose job was to huff and puff fruitlessly after Maradona, claimed that he would “never forgive him for what he did”. From memory, Butcher attempted two lunges at Maradona as he slalomed past England for his wondrous second goal that day and he is evidently still bearing the mental scars.

Butcher’s grief was not helped by Maradona writing in his biography: “I sometimes think I preferred the goal I scored with my hand . . . it was a bit like stealing the wallet of the English.”

Meanwhile, the Tartan Army are just happy to quote Barry Davies, the BBC commentator that afternoon, even if they juxtapose commentary and respective goals: “You have to say that’s magnificent!”

The truth is that this has become a bit of a circus. Faded geniuses in sport are always a bit complicated. Past greatness and present sadness are always the unspoken themes.

Given his impulsive and faintly reckless nature, it seemed a bizarre decision when the Argentine FA appointed Maradona as Alfio Basile’s successor three weeks ago.

Six months from now — even six weeks — will he still be in the job? In the meantime, Glasgow is playing host to these first, improbable moments.

The Argentina coach will give a press conference this afternoon, where he will be asked yet again about Butcher, England and 1986. It is like Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky all over again.