Gordon is the man in possession of the number one shirt at the moment but has been put under pressure in recent months by the Rangers stopper who saved a penalty in last month's goalless draw against Northern Ireland at Hampden after coming on as a second-half substitute.

For a period in the late seventies and early eighties, England manager Ron Greenwood solved the dilemma of having two great keepers by rotating them before Shilton emerged as number one for the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain.

Butcher is helping boss George Burley prepare for the World Cup qualifying double-header against Macedonia and Iceland and again a spate of call-offs has disrupted their plans.

However, the former England captain believes the goalkeeping department is a strong part of the Scotland squad - with Gordon number one at the moment.

"We have a great choice of goalkeepers," said the former Motherwell boss.

"Craig Gordon, Allan McGregor, Jamie Langfield - who is in the squad now - and David Marshall are all good young keepers with experience at their clubs and in international football as well.

"In particular, you look at Craig Gordon and Allan McGregor, they are two excellent goalkeepers.

"England were in that position many years ago with Shilton and Clemence and it's nice when you have got that.

"As a back-four, it's nice when you look round and you have got a good goalkeeper behind you, it gives you a lot of confidence - although I still got a rollicking from Peter Shilton when I wasn't doing my job."

But asked if rotation of keepers would be a way forward, Butcher replied: "No. It's George's decision but at the end of the day, when you have got two good goalkeepers, they are fighting to be number one, as are all the players fighting for their position in the team."

The FIFA world rankings announced this morning show Scotland one place behind England in 16th position, with Macedonia in 56th spot.

However, Butcher is taking little heed of those rankings and stressed how difficult a task it will be in Skopje against a side who drew against England in the last European Championship qualifiers.

He said: "I've had a few phone calls about that to be honest but I am not concerned about FIFA rankings.

"What are Macedonia, 56th or something? They are well down the list.

"FIFA rankings are just a list. As far as we are concerned, it is about how we perform.

"You could be the worst team in the world as far as rankings were concerned and still qualify.

"It would be nice to go above England though but that means winning games and that means doing well in qualifying games."

Butcher added: "I think Macedonia are better than when they played England a couple of years ago.

"The system they play is well bedded down and their players know that they are doing and confidence comes from that.

"Macedonia beat Croatia away last year and confidence must comes from that as well, so they will be confident.

"It is a difficult task for us but this squad is focused."