Scotland

[B.H.F.C]

Been said a million times but we just need a complete overhaul in terms of coaching, structure and ambition.

It’ll never happen though and we’ll be having the same conversation in ten years.

I actually think there is some decent young players available to us who we should be moulding in to a team. Robertson, Tierney, McTominay, McGregor, McGinn and Fraser should all be playing together for the next 10 years and that is the basis of a good team. Obviously we are short in other areas but that is a good starting point. There is no plan to what we are trying to do under the current management and players don’t even want to turn up really.

We should have really been building towards Euro 2020 which is a once in a generation (possibly lifetime) opportunity with games actually being played in our own country. Not us, just over a year to go and we have players retiring from international football, refusing to play on plastic pitches etc.

[Ringothedog]

I had to laugh this morning, they were interviewing an England fan on 5 live about their win last night and how much they have improved in the last 3 years. The England fan then says that a 5-0 win back then would only have been possible against minnows like San Marino , Andorra, Luxembourg and Scotland. And it’s so true and before anyone says” a but we drew 2-2”, the point is that it highlights how far we have fallen and to most of the top nations we are just like an annoying fly which just needs swatted

[Since452]

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I had to laugh this morning, they were interviewing an England fan on 5 live about their win last night and how much they have improved in the last 3 years. The England fan then says that a 5-0 win back then would only have been possible against minnows like San Marino , Andorra, Luxembourg and Scotland. And it’s so true and before anyone says” a but we drew 2-2”, the point is that it highlights how far we have fallen and to most of the top nations we are just like an annoying fly which just needs swatted

Thats the problem. Football has moved on. Counties have evolved and we've stood still (occasionally copied England). This affects not only the national team but also filters through the domestic game too. Like an addict the first form of making things better is honesty. We're a million miles from competing with the likes of England, Belgium or Denmark. I get the impression the media and fans still think we are. Our level is Lithuania and Moldova. Sooner we as fans and the governing body/media accept that the better and we can try and make changes to address it. The SFA needs a huge overhaul. Stuck in the dark ages as the whole Hampden fiasco showed.

[Diclonius]

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Thats the problem. Football has moved on. Counties have evolved and we've stood still (occasionally copied England). This affects not only the national team but also filters through the domestic game too. Like an addict the first form of making things better is honesty. We're a million miles from competing with the likes of England, Belgium or Denmark. I get the impression the media and fans still think we are. Our level is Lithuania and Moldova. Sooner we as fans and the governing body/media accept that the better and we can try and make changes to address it. The SFA needs a huge overhaul. Stuck in the dark ages as the whole Hampden fiasco showed.

On that note - what has actually happened to "we understand, you don't like it, we're going to redevelop it"? That got swept under the carpet pretty quickly, no ****ing surprise.

[Pretty Boy]

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On that note - what has actually happened to "we understand, you don't like it, we're going to redevelop it"? That got swept under the carpet pretty quickly, no ****ing surprise.

I'm sure it was recently reported there was an issue with both Queens Park and one of the financial backers.

If only anyone at all could have foreseen that happening....

[theonlywayisup]

I'm surprised that no paper has come out hyper critical of the SFA about how they have developed football over the last twenty to thirty years.

I recall a TV programme when we missed out on qualifying for the World Cup in 1994, with Gordon Strachan telling us his views. I would love to hear that interview again to see if anything has changed. Remember that was our first failure to qualify since 1970.

Since then we've had Ernie's Think Tank and McLeish's review. With each review we get worse.

We all laughed at England when their top guy said that their aim is to win the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. Well a Semi Final is a good start for them and they now seem to have a conveyor belt of good young players.

What about Scotland? We are an embarrassing joke and what are the SFA saying about it. Well.......

[angus hibby]

I’m a volunteer coach with a local kids team and have coached them since they were 5 years old. They’re now 13/14 and we’re amongst the top 5 teams in our age group in our area. Opponents and referees often comment on how good a side we are to watch, we try to play out from back as much as we can and we have some great wee players.

In the 8 years I’ve had them, senior clubs have looked at only four of our team. One club was Aberdeen and they wanted the 2 kids they asked about to be at Aberdeen for 4pm on a weekday for trial/training (Aberdeen is over an hours drive from us so how they expected kids to be there for 4pm on a school day?!).

The other 2 kids looked at were by Dundee and the 2 kids concerned were good players, the strong and athletic type. Neither was taken on after their training stint. One was told by the youth coach at Dundee to go and some press ups to build up some muscle. He was 11 at the time, tall and slim.

We have one kid in particular whose technique is absolutely outstanding. He can do anything with the ball, his first touch is unbelievable for someone at his age, and he’s also a tenacious wee player, protects the ball well when under pressure. Not one senior club has enquired about him. The only reason I can think for this is his size. He’s small for his age but honestly, I’ve yet to come across a kid in our league who has better technique. And despite his size, he is deceptively strong so I’ve no idea why senior clubs aren’t all over him.

Then again, having heard some stories about coaches at academy level at senior clubs, maybe it’s not a bad thing.

The pricing of coaching courses is horrendous too. I’ve achieved C Licence and that was over £300 IIRC. B Licence would be my next step and that’s about £1000 I think!

[theonlywayisup]

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I’m a volunteer coach with a local kids team and have coached them since they were 5 years old. They’re now 13/14 and we’re amongst the top 5 teams in our age group in our area. Opponents and referees often comment on how good a side we are to watch, we try to play out from back as much as we can and we have some great wee players.

In the 8 years I’ve had them, senior clubs have looked at only four of our team. One club was Aberdeen and they wanted the 2 kids they asked about to be at Aberdeen for 4pm on a weekday for trial/training (Aberdeen is over an hours drive from us so how they expected kids to be there for 4pm on a school day?!).

The other 2 kids looked at were by Dundee and the 2 kids concerned were good players, the strong and athletic type. Neither was taken on after their training stint. One was told by the youth coach at Dundee to go and some press ups to build up some muscle. He was 11 at the time, tall and slim.

We have one kid in particular whose technique is absolutely outstanding. He can do anything with the ball, his first touch is unbelievable for someone at his age, and he’s also a tenacious wee player, protects the ball well when under pressure. Not one senior club has enquired about him. The only reason I can think for this is his size. He’s small for his age but honestly, I’ve yet to come across a kid in our league who has better technique. And despite his size, he is deceptively strong so I’ve no idea why senior clubs aren’t all over him.

Then again, having heard some stories about coaches at academy level at senior clubs, maybe it’s not a bad thing.

The pricing of coaching courses is horrendous too. I’ve achieved C Licence and that was over £300 IIRC. B Licence would be my next step and that’s about £1000 I think!

Backs up my comment that a good big player will get more of a chance than a very good wee yin.

Yet how come Scotland are sorely lacking big strong skilful players. Is it because we focus more on strength rather than skill? Eventually, our big strong laddies are found out when they come up against skilful players.

[DetroitHibs]

What we need first and foremost is a committed manager and more so, committed player. Robertson, McTominay, Snodgrass and Mccarthy basically didn’t fancy the trip and Eck should have tore them a new one, rather than justify it. If these welts don’t want to play in these games, they shouldn’t ever be picked at all. Niggling injuries and such should be played through, just like they are at club level. Until we have commitment from all parties, we are always going to be that diddy side that never qualifies.

[Allant1981]

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What we need first and foremost is a committed manager and more so, committed player. Robertson, McTominay, Snodgrass and Mccarthy basically didn’t fancy the trip and Eck should have tore them a new one, rather than justify it. If these welts don’t want to play in these games, they shouldn’t ever be picked at all. Niggling injuries and such should be played through, just like they are at club level. Until we have commitment from all parties, we are always going to be that diddy side that never qualifies.

mctominay was there but on the bench, dont think snodgrass was picked and mcarthur retired from internationals about a year ago

[heretoday]

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England brought an 18 year old off the bench in a 5-0 win last night whilst we gave a Sheffield Wednesday player who once had a half pint of Tennents his debut at 27 years old.

That nicely sums up the difference in mentality between both managers.

Good post. It's a laugh isn't it?

[Stonewall]

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I’m a volunteer coach with a local kids team and have coached them since they were 5 years old. They’re now 13/14 and we’re amongst the top 5 teams in our age group in our area. Opponents and referees often comment on how good a side we are to watch, we try to play out from back as much as we can and we have some great wee players.

In the 8 years I’ve had them, senior clubs have looked at only four of our team. One club was Aberdeen and they wanted the 2 kids they asked about to be at Aberdeen for 4pm on a weekday for trial/training (Aberdeen is over an hours drive from us so how they expected kids to be there for 4pm on a school day?!).

The other 2 kids looked at were by Dundee and the 2 kids concerned were good players, the strong and athletic type. Neither was taken on after their training stint. One was told by the youth coach at Dundee to go and some press ups to build up some muscle. He was 11 at the time, tall and slim.

We have one kid in particular whose technique is absolutely outstanding. He can do anything with the ball, his first touch is unbelievable for someone at his age, and he’s also a tenacious wee player, protects the ball well when under pressure. Not one senior club has enquired about him. The only reason I can think for this is his size. He’s small for his age but honestly, I’ve yet to come across a kid in our league who has better technique. And despite his size, he is deceptively strong so I’ve no idea why senior clubs aren’t all over him.

Then again, having heard some stories about coaches at academy level at senior clubs, maybe it’s not a bad thing.

The pricing of coaching courses is horrendous too. I’ve achieved C Licence and that was over £300 IIRC. B Licence would be my next step and that’s about £1000 I think!

Doesn’t surprise me in the least. There is a tendency to pick the big, strong boys and try to make them into footballers. Although to be fair the stand out talent in my son’s group has got a full time contract with Dundee Utd and he wasn’t one of the bigger boys. He has a good chance of making it I think.

One of the others ended up at Livi and got binned at 15 as was too small. He’s now 18 and just under 6 foot. In general the others who spent time in the pro youth system were the big athletes who were never going to make it and were actually just making up the numbers as the clubs churned through players looking for a diamond.

[Besties Debut]

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England brought an 18 year old off the bench in a 5-0 win last night whilst we gave a Sheffield Wednesday player who once had a half pint of Tennents his debut at 27 years old.

That nicely sums up the difference in mentality between both managers.

Englands 18 year old was Hudson Odoi. One of the most valuable and highly regarded young players in world football. We can only dream of having a player like that. . When it comes to resources the English are on a different planet to Scotland. We have to cast the net far and wide because our pool of available players is so small. Sure we should have guys like Snodgrass, and McCarthur in the squad but comparing us to England is like comparing Yeovil Town to Man City. It has nothing to do with the mentality of the managers.

[Sir David Gray]

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Englands 18 year old was Hudson Odoi. One of the most valuable and highly regarded young players in world football. We can only dream of having a player like that. . When it comes to resources the English are on a different planet to Scotland. We have to cast the net far and wide because our pool of available players is so small. Sure we should have guys like Snodgrass, and McCarthur in the squad but comparing us to England is like comparing Yeovil Town to Man City. It has nothing to do with the mentality of the managers.

James McArthur retired from international football several months ago.

[Besties Debut]

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James McArthur retired from international football several months ago.

I know and in an ideal world guys like him Snodgrass, Hutton, Brown, Fletcher, and McGregor would still make themselves available but because they don't they make a small group of players even smaller and things just get even more difficult.

[Allant1981]

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I know and in an ideal world guys like him Snodgrass, Hutton, Brown, Fletcher, and McGregor would still make themselves available but because they don't they make a small group of players even smaller and things just get even more difficult.

Snodgrass was available for selection, fletcher is also playing every week, they haven't retired from internationals

[Diclonius]

This whole "comparing us to England thing" is false equivalence. They're a country eleven times the size of us and with far greater resources than we have. Certainly, for the last 50 or so years they've also underachieved and you can argue that they've now got their **** together re their setup - something we've failed to do. I expect them to win a major tournament in the next ten years.

Instead we should be comparing Scotland to teams like Wales, Ireland, N. Ireland, Croatia, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia and Iceland. But we won't because no one ever criticises the SFA other than the fans who will keep paying the extortionate ticket prices regardless.

[BILLYHIBS]

Woke up this morning and thought Nooooooooooo!!

We go again

Surely we can beat the worst team in Europe?

[cleanyman]

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Woke up this morning and thought Nooooooooooo!!

We go again

Surely we can beat the worst team in Europe?

In the world

I want San Marino to just score a goal tonight. That would be humiliation in itself.

[Scottie]

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In the world

I want San Marino to just score a goal tonight. That would be humiliation in itself.

Wow just wow.

[cleanyman]

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Wow just wow.

Can't cheer Scotland on

All for the greater good

[Sir David Gray]

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I know and in an ideal world guys like him Snodgrass, Hutton, Brown, Fletcher, and McGregor would still make themselves available but because they don't they make a small group of players even smaller and things just get even more difficult.

Darren Fletcher and Robert Snodgrass haven't retired from international football, they just weren't selected.

However Fletcher is now 35 and has hardly played this season for Stoke so it's no surprise that he isn't playing for Scotland. He hasn't played for Scotland in nearly 18 months.

[Onion]

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I'm surprised that no paper has come out hyper critical of the SFA about how they have developed football over the last twenty to thirty years.

I recall a TV programme when we missed out on qualifying for the World Cup in 1994, with Gordon Strachan telling us his views. I would love to hear that interview again to see if anything has changed. Remember that was our first failure to qualify since 1970.

Since then we've had Ernie's Think Tank and McLeish's review. With each review we get worse.

We all laughed at England when their top guy said that their aim is to win the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. Well a Semi Final is a good start for them and they now seem to have a conveyor belt of good young players.

What about Scotland? We are an embarrassing joke and what are the SFA saying about it. Well.......

Surprised ? It's friggin astonishing and perplexing. If something similar was happening in England, the popular press and commentators would be at the FA's throats until they either had ideas and concrete plans to fix it or they'd be hounded out. No question about it. What has happened to our national team and game as a whole in Scotland is a national disgrace. The SFA are only mobilised when forced to do so, never on their own volition. They never have ideas to improve the game. Just look at the latest Hampden fiasco.

Why the media are giving these blazers an easy ride is anyone guess. Perhaps they're only interested in the well-being of the OF, and any proper development of players would just threaten that ? Maybe they get well "taken care of" by the SFA on the understanding that they leave them alone ? Who knows.

[Besties Debut]

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Snodgrass was available for selection, fletcher is also playing every week, they haven't retired from internationals

Snodgrass changes his mind more than i change my y fronts

[Besties Debut]

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Darren Fletcher and Robert Snodgrass haven't retired from international football, they just weren't selected.

However Fletcher is now 35 and has hardly played this season for Stoke so it's no surprise that he isn't playing for Scotland. He hasn't played for Scotland in nearly 18 months.

I didn't realize Darren Fletcher was still playing. I was meaning Stephen. As for Snodgrass he changes his availability on a game by game basis

[Pretty Boy]

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Englands 18 year old was Hudson Odoi. One of the most valuable and highly regarded young players in world football. We can only dream of having a player like that. . When it comes to resources the English are on a different planet to Scotland. We have to cast the net far and wide because our pool of available players is so small. Sure we should have guys like Snodgrass, and McCarthur in the squad but comparing us to England is like comparing Yeovil Town to Man City. It has nothing to do with the mentality of the managers.

Talking of James McCarthur.

He, along with James Mccarthy, was playing 1st team football at 16 year old. Yet neither player got a look in at international level at any age group. McCarthur finally got a couple of under 21 caps whilst Mccarthy was snapped up by Ireland (Ironically he was then called out as a 'traitor' rather than anyone asking why the SFA missed a talent right under their noses).

I accept that Scotland have to search a bit further for talent but there's a criminal lack of being able to see what is right in front of us as well. Would many other countries have ignored 2 players who were integral parts of a successful team literally days after their 15th birthday? It's not just international level either. Hibs had Marc McNulty as a youth; now we are facing losing him after a loan spell because he's moved out of our price range.

[Besties Debut]

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Talking of James McCarthur.

He, along with James Mccarthy, was playing 1st team football at 16 year old. Yet neither player got a look in at international level at any age group. McCarthur finally got a couple of under 21 caps whilst Mccarthy was snapped up by Ireland (Ironically he was then called out as a 'traitor' rather than anyone asking why the SFA missed a talent right under their noses).

I accept that Scotland have to search a bit further for talent but there's a criminal lack of being able to see what is right in front of us as well. Would many other countries have ignored 2 players who were integral parts of a successful team literally days after their 15th birthday? It's not just international level either. Hibs had Marc McNulty as a youth; now we are facing losing him after a loan spell because he's moved out of our price range.

If you want to talk about our failure to nurture young talent then have a look at the team who got to the final of the U16 world cup in 1989 and see how many of them made it as pro players.

[hfc rd]

Surely the ones that have to be the main brunt of the blame for the mess we have been in for the last number of years are the SFA? They are in charge of the Scottish game.

Can’t see anything getting better than what it currently is just now with our game run by a bunch of headless chickens.

[Sir David Gray]

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If you want to talk about our failure to nurture young talent then have a look at the team who got to the final of the U16 world cup in 1989 and see how many of them made it as pro players.

Saudi Arabia were the winners of that tournament so that's maybe not the best example.

[The 90+2]

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Saudi Arabia were the winners of that tournament so that's maybe not the best example.

The Under 17 Euros that lost to Spain then?