What an abysmal performance last night against Belgium. Yes, I know they're one of the best teams in the world at the moment. Yes, I know we competed okay until the Gordon/McGinn moment of madness.
For those who grew up watching the teams of the 70s and early 80s, it's very difficult watching such displays. Back then we at least competed against the world's best. We always get the story about the next batch of u18s or u21s that will turn our fortunes around for us only to get worse.
When will our leaders start to resolve years on wrong decisions?
I've always thought the decline of Scottish football in the 80s coincided with two actions that changed how football was managed in this country.
The first being our teacher's decision to cut back on extra curricular activities. Up until then we had school teachers who took time to train and manage football teams. There was no option but to work with the age group you had. In my day, we had training once a week, a match during the week and one at the weekend. The teacher's rarely had their own child in the team, so every one got a fair chance. For the boys, you played as a team and the bond was strong. There was none of this joining another team of things didn't go well for you.
The second being the Ranger's revolution that allegedly saved Scottish football when Souness started to splash the cash. Up until then you had great sides such as Aberdeen and Dundee United competing in Europe with home grown talent. After that date, teams were more likely to be filled with overseas players many of whom were not that much better than the Scottish players.
I've got no idea how to correct all that is wrong with Scottish football. We've had initiatives since the early 90s, but it's not working. How are we going to correct this?
Thoughts?
Results 1 to 30 of 423
-
08-09-2018 08:36 AM #1
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
- Posts
- 5,840
Decline of Scottish National Football Team
Last edited by theonlywayisup; 08-09-2018 at 08:46 AM.
-
-
08-09-2018 08:45 AM #3
The SFA are failing in just about every area they operate from football governance to youth development.
There is no evidence to suggest it’s going to change anytime soon.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
08-09-2018 08:46 AM #4
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
- Posts
- 5,840
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
-
08-09-2018 09:00 AM #5
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
- Posts
- 22,627
The more young kids that go down south to academy’s the better. SFA coaching is brutal.
-
08-09-2018 09:00 AM #6
I don't think kids play enough football. It's been a policy for 15-20 years now. The old 'S' form system saw guys sign with a pro club but they stayed with their boys club until they were 16. Under the current system, or an early variation of it, I know guys who signed with pro teams at 12 or 13 who were stopped from playing school football and onlt seemed to play a glorified bounce game once every couple of weeks. Obviously developmemt was key but there was almost no preparataion for competitive football at all. Too a man they all now hate playing football. At between 28 and 33 all of them have dropped out the game whilst the guys who hung around in the juveniles are all having a ball playing EOS, Lowland and Juniors.
I understand that clubs can't risk missing out especially the potential cash from unearthing a superstar but we seem great at producing guys who are good athletes, they just don't seem to be great footballers.
As an aside I think there is a weird bi polar thing going on in Scottish football at the moment. Fans are reclaiming the club game in many ways. The jibes about 'pub leagues' and so on from England seem to be increasingly fallimg on deaf ears and guys I know who 'wouldn't pay to watch that *****' are increasingly going back to watch their respective clubs. On the flip side the national team seems to invoke a sort of antipathy. All the guys in my work are big football fans and we are all regulars at ER, Tynecastle and Celtic Park respectively; not one is interested in the national team and the only discussion about last nights game this week was moaning that it was happening. Part of that is obviously the performance over the last 2 decades but it seems to run deeper than that.
-
08-09-2018 09:03 AM #7
Everyone laughed at Strachan but looking at both teams lining up before kick off our team looked like midgets in comparison??
-
08-09-2018 09:04 AM #8
Did anybody seriously think anything other than a total humping was on the cards for yesterday's game?
Belgium were genuine contenders for winning the World Cup this year. Scotland haven't qualified for any final for 20 years.
-
08-09-2018 09:08 AM #9
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
- Location
- Livingston
- Posts
- 2,200
Nowadays there are more children in Scotland play football on games consols than on football pitches.
Until we get back to tanner baw fitbaw in back greens, I'm afraid we will continue on a downward trend!!!
-
08-09-2018 09:10 AM #10
Another example of how badly Scottish football is run:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32052408
-
08-09-2018 09:13 AM #11This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Further decline is more likely, still at least there's less chance of the uglies latest starlets transfer value being inflated by their plethora of Scotland caps.
Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
"I did not need any persuasion to play for such a great club, the Hibs result is still one of the first I look for"
Sir Matt Busby
-
08-09-2018 09:15 AM #12
- Join Date
- Mar 2018
- Posts
- 2,809
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
-
08-09-2018 09:17 AM #13
I think there is evidence of change and there are promising players coming through.
Robertson is a world class player, Tierney could reach that level too (unfortunately for Scotland, they play the same position - so you get a manager trying to shoe-horn them into the team, as they probably both lose a bit of their game as a result).
We have a few midfielders who are holding their own in England, and while many don't want to admit it, the quality of the players down there is excellent in the main, so we're obviously able to produce players that have the necessary tools for the job.
There are players like Gilmour as well, who has been picked up by Chelsea and looks like he has a real chance of making it.
There's still a way to go, but I don't think it's right to say that there's nothing to suggest that the SFA are making improvements. I'm no fan of their's, but I would say that there are grounds for optimism.
The concern is we don't seem to produce top class strikers/forwards, and I can't think of a really highly rated young keeper playing at a good level just now.Follow the Hibs podcast, Longbangers, on Twitter (@longbangers)
https://longbangers.hubwave.net
-
-
08-09-2018 09:23 AM #15
The clear things have happened since we last qualified for a major tournament.
1 The new redeveloped Hampden was completed in iirc 1999
&
2 We ditched Umbro for our kit supplier in 2000ish
Fix those two things - quite easy really - and all will be well
-
08-09-2018 09:26 AM #16This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
-
08-09-2018 09:32 AM #17
I think the main problem was actually scheduling last night's match in the first place.
What possessed the SFA to arrange a friendly against one of the best teams in the world when the national team is already getting a bit of a kicking is anyone's guess.
Last night's match should have been played at Easter Road, Tynecastle or Pittodrie and our opponents should have been against a team like Austria or Sweden.
Both countries are in League B of the Nations League, so still better than us on paper but it would have been a better test going into the Albania game than the demoralising humping that we got last night and will have taught us absolutely nothing.
-
-
08-09-2018 09:33 AM #19This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
-
08-09-2018 09:50 AM #20This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteThere is no such thing as too much yarn, just not enough time.
-
08-09-2018 09:51 AM #21This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
08-09-2018 09:56 AM #22This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuotePM Awards General Poster of The Year 2015, 2016, 2017. Probably robbed in other years
-
08-09-2018 09:58 AM #23
Bring back red ash pitches and footballs with leather patches hanging off. Had to be a real man to header them with a 50% chance of being blinded. None of these fancy balls nowadays. The fear of falling on those pitches and getting a piece of broken glass in your leg was fantastic for learning how to avoid tackles. Lets go back the way. Forward clearly isn't working.
-
08-09-2018 10:00 AM #24This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
08-09-2018 10:01 AM #25
I think the whole reason that the SFA arranged a game against Belgium was to highlight how bad we are and to totally drain any confidence from the Players, Manager and Fans.
I can't think of any other purpose it could have served.
-
08-09-2018 10:02 AM #26This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
-
08-09-2018 10:04 AM #27This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
That put his gas at a peep!
-
08-09-2018 10:06 AM #28This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
08-09-2018 10:06 AM #29This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
This guy is well down the pecking order.
-
08-09-2018 10:10 AM #30
Sadly the reason I decided to watch Hibs ladies over Scotland last night. Just extremely difficult to raise any excitement when it comes to the national team as they are rank.
Log in to remove the advert |
Bookmarks