Texas Pete

God no. It’s time to look to the future, not backwards. Ryan Porteous should be called up as cover for Mulgrew and McKenna who should either start as the centre halves in a back 4 or in a back 3 with Tierney against Albania and Israel. We also have Jack Hendry so there’s no need to go back to the likes of Hanley who has had his day.

He’s only definitely going to miss one match for us as he is suspended for Albania anyway. Hopefully he’ll be back and match fit for the qualifiers starting in March. I still hope McLeish ditches the three at the back though.

He did go back to Hearts after the Israel game saying he was injured. Seemed ok as he was walking off after the red card but he must have picked up the injury at some point.

Absolutely but they haven’t done that as part of a mass boycott. Crowds have steadily been declining for years due to us not qualifying and the ridiculous prices the SFA like to charge. We will still get decent crowds in our qualifiers against the bigger teams next year, particularly if we are competing in the group.

We beat Albania easily enough at home. We actually looked pretty good in the first half against both Belgium and Portugal. McLeish has selected some young players and looks to have possibly solved the central defensive worries (if Souttar and McKenna work out) that we have had for years. Winning our Nations League group is still well in our own hands. If you had asked the majority of the TA at the start of the campaign if they would have taken needing a point in Albania (or maybe even a narrow defeat) and a win at home against Israel to top the group, I think most folk would have taken that. Ok so there are also lots of negatives but people are talking as if we were fantastic under Strachan and McLeish has suddenly turned us into a shite team. We’ve been shite for years ffs. As I have said countless times, if we lose in Albania and fail to beat Israel at home then McLeish has failed and should be sacked. Most folk on here want him sacked now when we can still, and probably will in my opinion, win our group and reach the playoffs.

Well I’m not going to stop going to games and I’m sure thousands of others won’t either. I’m all for change though and will be happy to participate in protests against the bigwigs etc. but I will always support the team.

It was his second competitive game and first away from home. Most of the friendlies we have played haven’t been much more than B internationals. The overreaction on here to one bad (admittedly it was terrible) performance/result is ridiculous.

It will be unacceptable. If it actually happens. Even if we had beaten Israel it would still be possible for us to get relegated at this stage. It would be far less likely obviously but still possible. We do still appear to have this unwarranted arrogance about us in that we seem to think Israel etc. have no right to beat us as we are too good and we should be sweeping these teams aside. Those days are gone.

Are you @bonny78 in disguise?

Did you do the survey? It was mainly about the match day experience against Portugal and how much you know about the Nations League and playoffs etc. There is a space for comments at the end so no doubt people will have a moan about the Israel game and McLeish in general but I don’t think that’s what they’re looking for. No doubt we’ll get an email in a few months telling us not much is changing about the match day experience as the results of the survey were positive or some such nonsense.

I don’t see a major problem with it. This type of thing happens quite often in normal qualifying in groups of 5. Could actually work in our favour if they don’t have a match to experiment with players/formations etc. I doubt a friendly where they can make lots of changes would exactly knacker them anyway.

Why exactly are you wanting people to boycott? We could still end up qualifying for Euro 2020 you know. Nothing is fucked here. If you or others are looking to protest the appointment of McLeish, I would suggest that it would be best waiting until he actually fails. If it’s the perceived mismanagement of the SFA that you want to protest then what exactly are you wanting to happen? Attendances are down because we are shite at the moment. If we start competing again then the crowds will go back up. I can’t see there being any sort of official Geoffrey anytime in the near future but if we continue to flounder then the crowds will end up so low we might end up playing at lesser Hampden. Let’s hope McLeish succeeds then, eh?

Aye that was when Wales were still pish as well. That was pretty much the moment I knew we were in danger of becoming a footballing backwater.

Coaching at youth level is definitely a problem in this country. Or at least it used to be. I have heard things have improved over the last 10 years but I’m not sure if that’s true or not. There used to be an obsession with winning at all costs and the actual style of football played didn’t matter. Hopefully this isn’t the case any longer. A lot of countries focus on individual achievements in terms of youth tournaments rather than whether the team wins or not. FIFA don’t take kindly to governments interfering with football associations so I’m not sure what the government could do except withdraw any funding the currently provide. As far as I can remember, the majority of government funding for the SFA is to do with community projects and grassroots type programmes. If the government were to stop funding these things then we would only be making things worse.

One youngster for another? What’s the point in that? I get that Hendry has made mistakes but all young players do. I think McLeish has a decent blend of youth and experience in his squads. It’s what he does with the players that’s the problem at the moment.

Naming young Welsh players isn’t relevant to us though. Which young Scottish players should be in our squad that McLeish hasn’t selected? The ones you have mentioned should be nowhere near the first team yet. Are there any realistic options?

Yeah I know what you meant but I wouldn’t call it intelligence. Composure is what a lot of our players are lacking. The football always seems to be heavier as well when a lot of our players have it compared to when better players have the ball.

Which young promising players would you pick that McLeish hasn’t? I don’t think personnel is our problem at the moment. Tactics are the issue. If McLeish can sort those (a big if obviously) then we’re not in as much shit as people are saying.

I don’t remember anyone from the SFA saying or even suggesting that. The SFA are certainly guilty of mismanaging football in this country for years though and should have been investing the money we have all ploughed into their coffers over the years in grassroots facilities instead of relying on clubs to develop youngsters. Things are improving though and hopefully we will have a decent crop of youngsters coming through in the next 10 years or so. The fact is though the SFA have nowhere near the same resources as the FA or the DFB etc. People keep citing Croatia but what about all the other countries with populations similar to us that are just as shite as us or worse? Its not easy to achieve what Croatia have achieved. We should seriously look into their model and copy it if we can. I’m not sure the SFA would be interested in doing that though.

The U21s haven’t exactly set the heather alight recently.

I get what you’re saying but some of the best players I have ever seen have been as thick as pig shit. Paul Gascoigne immediately springs to mind. Even from a Scotland point of view, Barry Ferguson could read a game beautifully and he’s not too bright. Same goes for Scott Brown. I realise these players aren’t defenders but it still applies. There’s a difference between intelligence and having good football brain and good awareness. I really don’t see the benefit in continuing with a back 3. Tierney just isn’t that good as a CB so what’s the point? Get an actual centre back in there. It’s a dangerous position to play someone in that isn’t used to it. Tierney’s impressive OG is evidence of this. Robertson isn’t a great wing back either. McLeish has turned two exciting young players into nervous, average players in one fell swoop. I would rather Robertson at LB and Tierney at left mid. Why not give that a go? It could work out well.

I don’t disagree that they have limited ability compared to most of the players you have mentioned. What does their intelligence have to do with it though? Wanting to play a back three so there is someone extra to get in the way of shots and/or opposition strikers is quite silly in my opinion. All, or at least most, of the defenders in our squad play in a back 4. This is what they are used to and what they should do when playing for Scotland. The only, and I do mean only, reason McLeish has played a back 3 is so he can play Tierney in the same team as Robertson. Teams should only play a back 3 if they have good wing backs, which we don’t. We do have a fantastic left back though. In fact we have two of them. It’s a pity neither of them is getting to play in that position for Scotland though (except the Portugal game when Tierney wasn’t playing).

This may be the most clueless thing I have ever seen posted on here and I’ve seen some pish on this forum in my time (a lot of it posted by myself to be fair).

Both freak results. Demmark didn’t even qualify for Euro 92 and Greece are utter horseshit now. Smaller countries can produce good teams but it tends to be a lot rarer than bigger countries producing them and not as sustainable. Large countries don’t produce top teams if they don’t invest in the game. The USA is a prime example. If football was the national sport in the US, they would probably have won the World Cup several times. They don’t invest in grass roots football, coaching and training facilities and most small countries can’t afford to.

Name one other country with a population of less than 40 million that have won the World Cup. I’ll save you some time, there isn’t one. Uruguay are really the exception to the rule. Having a bigger population doesn’t necessarily mean you will automatically have better players. What it does mean is there will likely be more money to spend on coaching and facilities which will lead to better players. The top clubs in Europe all come from countries with large populations. That’s because that’s where the money is. They nurture the best players. Sure, every now and again a smaller country, like Belgium, Denmark or Croatia will do very well at a tournament or will have a rich vein of players to choose from but it is quite rare. Belgium were shite 15 years ago and will probably be shite again in 15 years. Germany, Brazil and Spain will always be good at football.