Arbroath1320

The book must have an author and a title. A copy may still exist, in the National Archives. Bear in mind that a game called "football" is older than 1633 so what you are talking here is the technique of passing the ball - of which, I think, the Scots were the pioneers . In England, for example., the technique was "backing up." In other words, a player ran with the ball until he lost it at which point the player "backing up" took over.

King James I (the real King James I, that is, not King James VI & I who is constantly called James I by the British media) banned football in 1424. Not enough people were practising archery or swordsmanship - how was the king going to fight a war with England? Football was banned by royal decree and then by an Act of the Scottish Parliament; this has never been repealed.

Dodgy penalty against us in the first game, stonewall penalty denied in the second game and a penalty saved in the third game is re-taken. We will not win these matches until we become a real country.

Players we lost because of booze, bad luck and bad attitudes. And... are we the best in the world at this? 1. Bob Wilson. He was Arsenal's No. 1 for ten years but was not good enough for the 1974 World Cup squad because of those goalkeeping greats Thomson Allan, Jim Stewart and David Harvey (who was about to be dropped by Leeds). 2. Darren Anderton. Scouted by Andy Roxburgh but deemed not good enough, he was at least compensated by 30 caps for England and was part of the England team that beat Scotland in Euro 96. 3. David Robertson. Yes, if you want to be a world class full-back, it helps if your name is Robertson. He fell out with Craig Brown and never got near a Scotland squad again. 4. George Connelly. Scotland's Beckenbauer. A world-class centre-back who seemed to suffer from mental health problems and kept walking out on Celtic. His career was over, aged 25. 5. Willie Young. He played for Aberdeen, Tottenham and Arsenal and would have been the obvious replacement for Gordon McQueen in the 1978 World Cup had he not been banned for life after a riotous night in Copenhagen. 6. Alex Cropley. He got his first cap for Scotland, aged 20. A series of injuries meant he got his last cap for Scotland, aged 20. 7. Ralph Milne. Scotland's George Best. Yes, he could drink a bottle of brandy for breakfast and have another for lunch. He nearly got Alex Ferguson the sack because Fergie signed him for Manchester United not realising his legs had gone. 8. Ian Durrant. Arguably the most promising midfielder of a generation that included Paul McStay and Paul Gascoigne. Then came that robust tackle from Neil Simpson... 9. Gary O'Connor. Capped for Scotland, age 18. Now more famous for cocaine and running away from policewomen. 10. Peter Marinello. Scotland's George Best. Have I heard that before, somewhere? A record-breaking transfer to Arsenal induced him to take the high road to London and, well, disappear... 11. Eddie Gray. The best left-winger ever to play for Scotland? He had the skill of John Robertson and the physique of Oliver Burke. He would have played in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups but for a bad tackle on his knee. Instead, Tommy Hutchinson played in 1974 and Willie Johnston got one game in 1978 before being sent home in disgrace.

Who's Pat McKenna? Scott's brother..?

We needed to be more positive and play higher up the park so Hazard could hit us on the counter-attack with lots of space to run into. Great idea.

Some people are impatient but OMG! Clarke has to be given time to get to know the players.

What flavours of milk shake do you like?

An ex-girlfriend of mine was born in London and her father had been born in Burma. She had to go back at least to the grandparents to find a Scottish link. But she had a Scottish name and always considered herself Scottish. It was a shock to her when she came to Scotland and discovered that everyone else thought she was English. I'm not saying this applies to Fredericks but let's not write a guy off before he's even kicked a ball for Scotland.

Fredericks passes to Forrest who passes to Fleck, to Fletcher and then to Fraser and finally Phillips. I hope the commentator doesn't have a lisp.

What's a sqaud?

The days of the British Empire when we stole the wealth from colonies are over. Get used to it.

It will come to an end when Scotland is an independent nation again. We do not have long to wait.

He was always a good central defender for Scotland and it is sad to see him depart in this way. If he had been in the defence against the USSR (Spain, 1982), we would have been spared that comical cock-up that put us out. His nutmeg set Jim Bett up for the cross that resulted in Richard Gough's winning goal against England in 1985. His managerial record at Motherwell, Hibernian and Rangers was not that of a dud - it's unfair to call him that. All he did in 2018 was to answer the call from his country - it's not his fault if he was already over the hill.

Benny Hill wants a dick to be Scotland manager. Why am I not surprised?

The SFA, like everyone else, are subject to Employment Law. Disciplinary action is conducted in private and the employee has a right to state his case and, after that, appeal if a decision goes against him. If they did leak anything to the newspapers, that would prejudice a tribunal. Apart from that, it would be unprofessional of The SFA to publicly undermine one of their own employees - which is what McLeish is. To be honest, I am less concerned about the so-called "incident" and more concerned about the team performance in Kazakhstan. McLeish had 80 minutes to turn things around with substitutions and changes of tactics.

If we've only got one style of play then we get predictable and it's easy for other managers to pick their team selections against us. If Fletcher and Christie are out, it's disappointing but it's also an opportunity for other players.

Instead of working hard to improve his game and eventually getting into the Scotland team, he'd rather take the easy option of a cap for Australia. But... has nobody noticed that this might be a good sign? Is it harder, now, to get a cap for Scotland than for Australia? Most certainly, that was not the case 10 or 15 years ago. Surely this suggests that the standard of Scottish football is improving?

What is stopping Che Adams (or anyone else) phoning up McLeish and saying he'd like to be considered for a Scotland cap? There's no dignity in a national manager chasing after players who are, at best, partially interested.

I think you will find that my posts are written with proper spelling and grammar.

If it is true that Gauld wants Portuguese citizenship, it does not sound like he's committed to playing for Scotland.

Alan Rough played for Scotland with a fractured toe; Pat Nevin played with a fractured ankle. Dalglish played one hundred games for Scotland and never pulled out of a squad. Nobody does that any more - whether born in Scotland or not. Players nowadays are soft.