ErsatzThistle

A few days ago Cameron Burgess ditched us for Australia after playing a number of Under 19 games for us. In the last several years we've seen players turn out for us at Under 17 and Under 19 level but also at under 21s in Pearce's case, only for all of these guys to say get lost to us: James Henry, Sam Gallagher and Matt Targett went to England. Alex Pearce went to Ireland. Fraser Aird to Canada. Jackson Irvine and now Cameron Burgess have gone to Australia. Any I've missed out ? Whilst I recognise FIFA allows for changes in nationality I just don't understand why when we're recruiting these lads for Scotland's under age teams no-one at the SFA asks them the question "If your native country (England, Australia...) was to call you up, would you accept it ?". If the answer to the latter is yes or "I'd have to think about it." we should walk away there and then. If a lad says he only ever wants to play for Scotland then great ! It just really winds me up when this happens because they are taking the place of other young players who would run a million miles just to represent Scotland at any level, not to menion wasting their coaches time. Grrr. Rant over.

er yir macaroon I was wondering what you meant about Burgess then I just went on google and feckin read this http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/football/australia-wins-battle-with-scotland-for-promising-football-star-cameron-burgess/story-fnii0fc4-1227050386264 Another bloody timewaster.

The man lives in some weird 1930's fantasy bubble where Britannia still rules the waves and quarter of the world is coloured pink on the atlas. Feck him. Is this true or not, did Major not once say that Scottish devolution would end "1000 years of British history" ?

I can see where your coming from. The lad has improved from his nervy first displays. Some people are too harsh on him when we lose a goal. His positioning and tackling have improved in the last few games plus as others have said plenty of times before, Russell Martin is a good partner for him to play alongside. Defenders, centre backs in particular get better as they get older. I'm confident we'll see this with Grant Hanley. Colin Hendry didn't make his Scotland debut until he was about 27 and still got 51 caps. Funny that he was Blackburn captain too ! Hanley could well equal that or better.

It would be interesting to play a nation like Turkey, Greece or Bosnia. Nations we haven't played for a while (in Turkey's case not since 1960 !) Strachan will probably learn more about his players and get his ideas across better if we just had a few training squads of about 30 players which includes a couple of the more promising lads from the Under 21s. Unless we get the opportunity to play good/new opposition, we should play the bare minimum of friendlies.

That reminds me of reading the Daily Fail comments section the other day. An article mentioned that amongst others (Polish, Lithuanian etc.) there was a pro-Ja group organised by German citizen's living in Scotland. The comments were hilarious. Mostly along the lines of "Their trying to do to us in 2014 what they failed to do in 1940".

We can't get independence quick enough. Really need our own solely Scottish sports programmes. Both highlights and live broadcasts. Anya's run and finish was just amazing. Up against the world champions and the worlds best goalkeeper he was totally unfazed and was so cool with the finish. In the year he's been a Scotland player so far he's been 10/10 with regards to effort and determination. He also clearly loves pulling on his Scotland jersey and doing his best for the fans and his teammates. Words can't express the love I have for this wee guy

Good luck to Wales. Would be a great to see them qualify I think memories of the 4-0, 3-0, and both 2-1 defeats from the last ten years live on strongly in the minds of some

Anyone else see the report from Embra tonight on the BBC round about 18:00-19:00 ? Interviewed four voters. Two Scots, one English and one Northern Irish. Both Scots were pro Yes. The Northern Irish guy was a No who just kept saying "I think we're better together", he probably wanted to but was too scared to say "us proddies should stick together you know". The English girl was also a No who said she felt "threatened by independence" (never elaborated on what she meant by this) and that she was "more British than English". Ach, some you just can't win.

Just wonder what the slippery auld bugger would want from us in return if we became independent ?

But I thought they were all moving to Wales if we voted Yes ?

Please tell me your joking here If Stark had been in charge of club side they'd have sacked him years ago.

I think we should go for a foreigner as our next Under 21s manager. Or at least someone who's not disposed toward including the unofficial quota of four or five Old Firm reserves or ignoring English based players. As genuinely concerned fans we might need to take matters into our own hands to get rid of Stark if his dismissal isn't forthcoming.

Some great stuff from McGarvey in this October 2012 interview: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/frank-mcgarvey-on-celtic-st-mirren-and-scotland-1-2590095

It's just a fact that quite a few in the Yes camp are centre-left or radical left. They have also been excellent at persuading some undecided voters to vote Yes. I don't care if someone's of conservative, socialist or liberal politics, as long as they are voting and campaigning for a Yes vote, then that's good enough for me. Our countries' independence is the big prize here. Nothing should distract us from that.

Team of eight of them round our street tonight. Total idiots. One of our neighbours has a big Yes poster in his window and some gormless Labour Student type asked him at the door how he's planning to vote

If I have my way it'll be on a special ballot ten years or so from now

Oh FFS the Unionists are now going absolutely mental because of that awfully bad man Alex Salmond once again. He congratulated Billyand Kate on the kid by calling them both by their Scottish titles, Earl & Countess of Strathearn, and this somehow is a huge insult to the royal family on his part . Feck the royal family a thousand times over. Republic of Scotland is the way to go

Have heard and read quite a few stories like that about the UKOK brigade chatting to guys in Rangers gear and automatically assuming they must be die-hard no voters only to get told "fück off I'm voting Yes"

BBC presenters bouncing with excitement at this news. Can see Billy and Kate having three or four more kids to be had at our expense.

It was good to see the fight and desire in the second half. Strachan's team talk must have been spot on. Would remove Whittaker from the set up, not good enough. The ref we had tonight was completely Is there any other team in Europe that gets more incompetent officials assigned to our games than Scotland?

Definitely. Let's have a friggin go for it ! Steven Fletcher looks more fit and confident than he did last season. Got to love wee Anya. Never stopped trying, gave 110% for us tonight. Delighted he scored, only wish it had got us a point. Anya's a terrific example to young Scottish players. Just my opinion but I think Strachan made a mistake not bring Phil Bardsley into the squad for tonight's game. Whittaker was just simply awful tonight. We should be starting to phase him out of the team with the number of Scottish left back's available now.

If Steven Fletcher plays, I can see Strachan bringing Chris Martin on to replace him at some point. Just to keep the attack fresh. Have a wee feeling that Callum McGregor might get some game time. Bad news is Russell Martin has a groin strain and is 50/50 for the match.

Is it possible for the Mods to trace an IP address back to a Better Together branch ?

"Cause that pure fatso Alex Salmond hates the Rangurz." Seriously.