Texas Pete

I see the spelling police are in attendance. 😂😂😂

Yeah get Archie back. WOOOOOOOF! Seriously though, Sky could get someone like Rob McLean or Paul Mitchell easily enough if they really wanted. They are obviously happy with Crocker though. Michael Stewart is a bellend.

No, not at all. I completely understand why people would be put off going to Scotland games at the moment. Most people who post on here are or were regular attendees of home games (I know some only go to away games as they live abroad or whatever and some people don’t go to any games at all) and I was just interested to see how many of us were there. I have noticed a lot of people commenting recently about how they won’t go back to Hampden until McLeish is sacked or until we start qualifying again or whatever. It’s just a sad reflection of where we are at the moment I suppose that so many of our core support have stopped going. Plenty of us still go of course, including myself. I certainly don’t think I’m a better supporter or person than anyone who wasn’t there last night or who doesn’t go at all anymore. Hopefully we will be competitive in our qualifying group next year and we qualify for Euro 2020. If we do that then our attendance will get back to where they should be.

In what way was he lucky last night? Or in any of our NL games? You could argue that we were lucky against Albania with the penalty but that’s about it. McLeish was unlucky with getting Souttar sent off in Haifa and with all the injury call offs (if that’s what they are). Maybe he’s just a decent manager? Just a thought.

Clarke wasn’t really available. He was announced as Kilmarnock manager 2 days after Strachan was sacked so the SFA would have had to have worked quickly to gazump Killie and most folk would have accused the SFA of dirty tactics and rushing into an appointment. If Clarke had been out of work by the time the SFA we’re ready to appoint a manager he would possibly have been interested but the sad fact is most young managers are not interested in international management as it is part time work so he might have said no anyway. As far as I can tell, the only reason he was so heavily touted for the Scotland job by our fans in the first place was the fact that he was doing so well at Rugby Park.

Muslims also don’t eat bacon or have foreskins. Black Bra’s post was still offensive and unnecessary but it was still technically accurate. 😂😂😂

I suppose that’s not too bad but considering it was one of our most important matches in years it’s a little disappointing. We’d have easily got 35,000 for that match 10 years ago. Maybe even more recently than that. It’s sad that many people that have been going to Scotland games for years just aren’t up for it at the moment. I’m sure that will all change if we qualify for Euro 2020.

The playoffs have always been after the qualifiers so this is not a new concept. Having the playoffs before the qualifiers would be impossible. It will be good going into the qualifiers safe in the knowledge that even if we royally fuck things up (or if we get a very tough group) we are in the playoffs at least. It will be quite strange I think. As I’ve said elsewhere, hopefully the players can play with a freedom that will allow them to perform at their best and we might not actually need the playoffs at all.

It’s hard to say how things are going to go in the long term but I’m certainly optimistic about qualifying for Euro 2020 and having a huge party in Glasgow and possibly London (and who knows where else if we get out of the group). I don’t think things can get worse than they were under Burley and Levein and I hope they never get that bad again. We can go into the qualifiers next year safe in the knowledge that we have the playoffs already in the bag and can hopefully relax and play with a freedom that we’ve never really had before. It will always be difficult for us to qualify for a World Cup now, even with 16 European teams guaranteed a spot. There aren’t enough international dates for 8 European groups I don’t think so there will probably still be playoffs which we are unlikely ever to be seeded for. Hopefully we can have a wee purple patch like Wales and NI though starting with qualification for 2020.

How many people on here were actually at Hampden tonight? Not many I’d be willing to bet. Go on, admit it. We’re you there?

In fairness he was never getting on against Albania so I can’t really blame him.

It’s not a fact. It’s your opinion. Presenting your opinion as fact is not only arrogant, it makes you come across as someone whose opinion isn’t worth listening to. If we win tonight, we have a brilliant chance of qualifying through the playoffs, in my opinion. I think we will also struggle to finish second or better in our qualifying group next year regardless of who the manager is. I am basing this on our current players and recent qualifying record. We would still have a chance though if we perform well and other results go our way.

We’d be initial favourites at least until we knew where the final was to be played given we would have topped League C and would be playing the ‘weakest’ team at home in the first playoff. You don’t need to be psychic to work that out.

Psychic now are you? If we win tonight we will be favourites to qualify for Euro 2020 from League C, should we need a playoff.

You’re right, not many people did want him. The SFA did though and they’re not going to sack him if he succeeds in his first task of winning our Nations League group. I have a feeling some people would still want him sacked if we win our qualifying group next year.

So we could finish the best of all teams in League C with 3 wins out of 4 and secure a home playoff in the first game (assuming we need one) and you would still want him sacked? Talk about clueless.

Ridiculous is a bit strong. I’d rather have Hendry at RB than McBurnie or someone obviously. Now that would be ridiculous. The fact that McLeish went for Paterson , a guy that hasn’t played at RB for years, ahead of Hendry and refused to replace Paterson with him when he was exposed after the booking speaks volumes though.

They’re pretty much guaranteed a playoff spot unless something amazing happens. All League A and League B teams are more or less guaranteed a playoff if they need one.

It’s hard not to get carried away isn’t it? I remember being excited before the Slovenia game last year and that went tits up. We would have got murdered in a world cup playoff as well if we had made it. This time we have a real chance. I don’t want to bring you down or anything but remember we would need to beat two teams in the playoffs and only the first match would be guaranteed to be at home.

True but they’ve still got a decent chance of qualifying directly. They’ll be in pot 2 right enough. Its a pity they didn’t scrape into pot 1 as they would have been a great pot 1 team to get.

It’s an absolutely massive match. Just a pity a lot of people don’t realise this and will sit at home tomorrow night.

I doubt any League A teams will need a playoff. Hollland maybe, based on their recent qualifying record but that’s about it. How Holland ended up in League A in the first place is a bit of a mystery right enough.

I’m sure Hendry has only played at RB for Celtic twice and one was as a sub at Ibrox when Celtic where controlling the match (although I could very well be wrong as I’m not a Celtic fan). I’m sure he was an absolute bomb scare at RB in the other game. I don’t have a problem with Hendry and I’m sure he could develop into a very good centre half but I wouldn’t have him anywhere near the RB position for us at the moment unless there was genuinely no better option.

The 16 best ranked teams in the Nations League that don’t qualify directly will be involved in the playoffs. Assuming all League A teams qualify (highly likely) and 8 League B teams qualify (less likely but possible) then there would only be 4 League B teams in the playoffs so there would need to be 4 League C teams (not the group winners) involved in the League B playoff path. Of the 55 UEFA teams, 36 will either qualify or will be involved in the playoffs. As we are guaranteed to finish 32nd at worst we have a good chance of a playoff even if we lose tomorrow (although it would be against League B or even League A opposition). A draw would increase our chances. Let’s just win tomorrow though and we won’t need to wait nervously until after the qualifiers.

We’ve known we had to beat Israel at Hampden to top the group since they beat Albania at home the night we played Portugal.