Decline of Scottish National Football Team

[theonlywayisup]

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?

[Diclonius]

The "Old Firm first" policy.

[Ozyhibby]

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.


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[theonlywayisup]

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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.


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That's what worries me! No quick fixes.

[Brightside]

The more young kids that go down south to academy’s the better. SFA coaching is brutal.

[Pretty Boy]

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.

[BILLYHIBS]

Everyone laughed at Strachan but looking at both teams lining up before kick off our team looked like midgets in comparison??

[Keith_M]

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.

[where'stheslope]

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!!!

[Diclonius]

Another example of how badly Scottish football is run:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32052408

[Bostonhibby]

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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.


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Therein lies the problem and there's no way these well heeled and blazered turkeys will be voting for Xmas anytime soon.

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.



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[Greenbeard]

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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.

Aye, totally daft fixture to arrange. The powers that be need to bite the bullet, accept that we are sh*te and have a long series of fixtures against opposition that is even more sh*te than us, get the team winning regularly, akin to our few years in the Championship. Pitch a lower level team that is on a winning streak, playing positively and high in confidence against a higher level team that is used to getting humped and low in confidence and I know who I would bet on.

[matty_f]

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.

[BILLYHIBS]

We should beat Albania.........surely ???

[Purple & Green]

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

[SirDavidsNapper]

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We should beat Albania.........surely ???

Albania will be saying the same about Scotland

[Sir David Gray]

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.

[BILLYHIBS]

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Albania will be saying the same about Scotland

[makaveli1875]

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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!!!

Theres alot more kids play football than tennis yet Scotland has turned out 2 world class tennis players that made No1 in a golden era of the sport . Its all about the coaching , those 2 had to go abroad to spain to learn how to play at that level .

[Moulin Yarns]

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You laugh but they are 'only' 18 places behind us in the ranking.

[Ozyhibby]

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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!!!

You think they don’t have games consoles in Belgium?


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[Pretty Boy]

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You laugh but they are 'only' 18 places behind us in the ranking.

And qualified for the last Euros.

[SirDavidsNapper]

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.

[Ozyhibby]

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Another example of how badly Scottish football is run:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32052408

Harper currently playing in Spain’s 4th division so not exactly proving them wrong.


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[Keith_M]

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.

[Billy Whizz]

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Harper currently playing in Spain’s 4th division so not exactly proving them wrong.


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He’s playing for Malaga in the 2nd tier, although they are top, scored for them on Monday

[Keith_M]

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He’s playing for Malaga in the 2nd tier, although they are top, scored for them on Monday

That put his gas at a peep!

[Ozyhibby]

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He’s playing for Malaga in the 2nd tier, although they are top, scored for them on Monday

Ah, sorry I hadn’t realised he had been promoted to their A team.


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[CMurdoch]

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He’s playing for Malaga in the 2nd tier, although they are top, scored for them on Monday

His first professional goal at almost 23 years of age and he is a striker.
This guy is well down the pecking order.

[BullsCloseHibs]

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.