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To stay or go?


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Just now, DizzyVizion said:

Donkey Dave?

 

14 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

 a number of good players for Scotland

 

 

Centre of defence at 2 finals qualifies as a good team player for Scotland

Regardless, concentrate on McPherson to deflect the point if you wish

 

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4 minutes ago, DizzyVizion said:

I'm out of here. Take care and I respect all viewpoints.

 

One of the many reasons I love being a Scotland supporter is that you can have a Rangers supporter hugging and jumping up and down with a Celtic supporter and neither of them would have the faintest idea of the others religion or club loyalties. Where else in the wonderful world of football would that even be possible? Where else in the world of football can bridge that divide? Only Hampden Park can do that.

 

C'mon Scotland!

Take it easy, comrade. I am perhaps fortunate in that I no longer have strong feelings for a club, saving all my footballing passion for my country. Easier as I now live abroad but go to club football games and do not care who wins and can thus enjoy the game. Sad to say that I have made Scotland games so important that I am not sure if 'enjoyment' is fitting word. Love going to the games though but by f##k it puts blood pressure through the roof!! Should not mean so much but it always will. Like millions of others I suppose and it is probably true to say that the large majority of us support unsuccessful teams. Funny old game...............

?

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3 minutes ago, ParisInAKilt said:

:lol:

You’ve hooked a couple so far. Well played. 

Cheers mate.

 

Let's wait for the dust to settle and see where we are. 

 

I think that's what Strachan is probably doing. If he believes another candidate could do better then he'll probably call them up himself to offer them the job.

 

I'd expect he'd probably also come to the games to cheer them on too.

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6 minutes ago, duncan II said:

Come on. Come on!

276 appearances for Rangers

294 appearances for Hearts

Aye he was a right donkey eh ?

How the fvck did nobody realise that and let him play all those game ....

McPherson was first selected to play for Scotland against Cyprus on 26 April 1989, a match Scotland won 2–1 at Hampden Park. Despite remaining a relative novice at international level, he was selected in the Scotland squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, appearing in all three group games as Scotland just missed qualification for the knockout stages. McPherson's solid performances resulted in him then becoming a fixture in the national side, missing only one qualifying game as Scotland reached the 1992 Euro Championships. He started all three group matches in Sweden but again Scotland failed to qualify for the knockout stages.

McPherson's international form began to waver the following season, though, and when Scotland were thrashed 5–0 in a World Cup qualifying game in Lisbon in April 1993, the Scottish press and public called for radical surgery. McPherson was one of several older players to be dropped, never to play for the national side again.

 

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5 minutes ago, Jacques Hunt said:

Take it easy, comrade. I am perhaps fortunate in that I no longer have strong feelings for a club, saving all my footballing passion for my country. Easier as I now live abroad but go to club football games and do not care who wins and can thus enjoy the game. Sad to say that I have made Scotland games so important that I am not sure if 'enjoyment' is fitting word. Love going to the games though but by f##k it puts blood pressure through the roof!! Should not mean so much but it always will. Like millions of others I suppose and it is probably true to say that the large majority of us support unsuccessful teams. Funny old game...............

?

Yep, I'm a Hibby. But Scotland is a whole other dimension when it comes to being a supporter. 

 

It's weird. You're right about how it shouldn't mean so much. The feeling when Griffiths 2nd free kick went in is something I can't recreate. The only chance I'll ever have of getting that feeling again is to  continue going to Scotland games.

 

Cheers pal

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5 minutes ago, DizzyVizion said:

Yep, I'm a Hibby. But Scotland is a whole other dimension when it comes to being a supporter. 

 

It's weird. You're right about how it shouldn't mean so much. The feeling when Griffiths 2nd free kick went in is something I can't recreate. The only chance I'll ever have of getting that feeling again is to  continue going to Scotland games.

 

Cheers pal

You being a Hibee reminds me of another thing about being club- neutral. I fully appreciate passionate or 'proper' fans as I call them. Sunshine on  Leith being belted out at Hampden cup fijnal for example.

 

Listened to Taffies belting out their anthem tonight on radio. Really impressive.

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11 hours ago, dave said:

If you look at our (NI) squad we have two fantastic players in Davis and Evans who would walk into most premier league sides. McAuley and Brunt know what it's about and we've also got Cathcart  out injured at the minute. 

Big Kyle seems to have lost a bit of pace in his legs and hasn't been playing that well for us hence why he was dropped last night for Washington. What MON has is a settled team and a settled system that everyone buys into. I don't rate Josh Magennis but he turns up works his socks off for the team and scores the odd goal.  we had 3 millwall players in the team that finished the game yesterday!!! 

 

I watched your game yesterday and not sure the players have the same desire or work ethic. It all seemed very slow and pedestrian. The worrying thing for me would be that Strachan doesn't seem to know his best team or system after 5 years in charge. 

Aye, Steven Davis is a class act too (I intended mentioning him as well but I typed my previous post during the dying seconds of this morning's tea break and ran out of time!).  I picked out J Evans, McAuley and K Lafferty to try and highlight that Norther Ireland have players who can cut it at international level playing in key areas, central defence and attack - two areas where we are short of quality.  I hope it didn't read like 'Northern Ireland have only got three good players', as that wouldn't be fair and wasn't what I was trying to say.

Anyway, Strachan.  I still can't make my mind up.  I was pleased when he got the job after Levein left and in this campaign there have been signs of improvement: he has a decent win ratio, he took us to a third place finish from fourth seeds in the group (I think we were anyway) and the players seem to be on his side.  Bringing someone new in at this point is a gamble.  The last thing we want to do is see ourselves back at square one - see George Burley undoing Walter Smith and Alex McLeish's work over the course of one campaign.

But Strachan has made some glaring tactical errors (I think he got it wrong yesterday), is prone to bouts of bizarre behaviour (see his genetics comment yesterday and his Barry Bannan fixation) and there is still a certain brittleness about the side (when did you last see an international side go 2-1 up in the 91st minute and end up drawing the game?!).  After the game yesterday he had the air of a man whose race had been run, so it wouldn't surprise me if he just left.  

If he did go, I wouldn't be adverse to Sam Allardyce getting the job.  The only thing about big Sam is that he's all about the £, which the SFA very much are not, and a string of good results could easily see him being lured back to a club job down south.  Michael O'Neill would be a good shout, if he feels he has taken Northern Ireland as far as he can (I believe he still has a home in Scotland).  I think Derek McInnes is a good young manager but the Scotland job might be too soon for him at this stage.  Tommy Wright - another Ulsterman - has done well with St Johnstone and might make us harder to beat but I thought the same about Craig Levein!  Davie Moyes' career has been on a downward trajectory since he left Everton and I can't see Paul Lambert offering much more than Strachan.

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He has to go.

He has a reasonably good record as manager, and I believe a huge reason we came back so strongly in the group is more thanks to Celtic and Brendan Rodgers than anything Strachan could have done. I believe the players like him, and want him to stay ; and some could aruge that we have been unlucky again - missing out on the playoffs by a late Polish levlller last time and now it may well be goal difference that knocks out.

He's tactially naive, too slow to change, picks his favourites, stubborn, favouring English based players over SPL one,  and can be a prickly arse when he's asked face-value questions by the press at times. I quite admire some of his contempt for the press if it is the likes of Daily Record or some nonsense, but when it's about the team, or from the fans then he should answer. We all know how much people pay to follow our national side.

Sad thing is I think he'll have to walk as the SFA won't have the balls to sack him! We really should be demanding the SFA go too! Not just because we didn't qualify this time ; but how we put up with the corrupt, jobs for the lads, mafioso regime and suck it up and all pay their riddiclous priced tickets for some of the dross we are served up at times. And then you have fuds like Regan in charge of it all.

Basically, cheers Gordon - you could argue unlucky at times but others will say naive, too slow. Time for someone new. Twice now we've had qualification in our hands or the playoffs and whilst he's not on the pitch, he/they have failed to deliver. Let's give someone else a change now, preferably not a Scot - cast the net wide.

There is a lot to be optimistic about. Plenty of talent in the squad. The only downside is it'll be the SFA selecting the next manager and no doubt it'll be either Lambert, Moyes, or McLeish.

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A good manager gets the best out of his players. Looking at our squad, I think it was impressive to get to last day with a chance of playoffs. Also unlike other times there weren`t any matches where we get less points than we deserved though obviously draw with Lithuania and manner of losing late equaliser against England merit criticism. In fact we probably got more points than our play justified, surely a  sign of a good manager?

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5 hours ago, DizzyVizion said:

Strachan would've been slaughtered if he'd played an inexperienced player in such an important game who then choked under the pressure of the occasion. First half he got his tactics right. Second half was iffy to say the least, but hardly enough for him to be effectively sacked as some here would like him to be.

 

We need Strachan to continue. He might not be perfect, but you can't deny the quality of his leadership. He loves Scotland. He loves leading Scotlands national team. He loves his players and his players love him. He has built a tight-knit squad who are capable and hungry to succeed for him, and for us! He is now very experienced at an international level and he has built international experience in the youngsters in his squad. To throw all of that away right now would be very bad for oor lovely wee country...

 

Strachan is the man for Scotland. Nobody is better for Scotland than Strachan. I know some will disagree. But I know more will agree.

 

I will likely only hear from those who disagree but hey- that's just how the internet works!

I guarantee you’re a Hun.

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7 hours ago, Duncan Blackheart said:

I can foresee a Craig Levein style coup and Malky Mackay taking over from Strachan, who will presumably pick up a position as Professor of Eugenics at Trump University. The good news is they can probably both stay in touch and pass on hints and tips for each other.

Let's hope not

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The ball is firmly in the SFA's court here.

Strachan is out of contract now so there is no compensation issues here so the SFA wouldn't even be sacking him. It is up to them to have the balls to say no new contract Gordon and start looking elsewhere. But will they? It is their decision. A majority of fans will say Strachan should walk but from what as he is out of contract technically now. All up to the SFA and again you worry about their competence to make the right decision.

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I said before the game that regardless of what happened on Sunday, I think he should be kept on.

I'm not entirely convinced that there are many managers out there, that are in our budget and would be willing to come, that would make a significant difference.

His overall record is actually pretty decent, and his win rate is better that the vast majority of managers we've had. During his two full campaigns we have scored 22 (2016) and 17 (2018) the previous three saw us score 8 (2014) 9 (2012) and 6 (2010) so that side of things have clearly improved. Even factoring in that in the 2010 and 2012 campaign we had only 8 games and in 2016 we had a poor Gibralter team it's still an improvement of where we were.

Where I think that he's underperformed is organising the team defensively. in each of his two campaigns he has conceded 12 goals which is pretty much identical to the number conceded in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 campaigns. This is clearly an issue as losing an average of 1.2 goals a game (or greater in the 8 game groups) will always hold us back.

I'm not 100% convinced that a different manager would be able to address these issues as our defenders in particular are pretty poor. Someone may come in and shore the defence up but we could end up making ourselves less effective up front as a result.

I take on board all the points regarding his tactics and team selection and can be frustrated at times with his decisions. Again though I'm not convinced we wouldn't be saying the same things about Moyes, O'Neill, Wright etc in 2 years time.

Ultimately if Strachan goes then I'd not be overly bothered and would hope that someone else could bridge that gap between where we are and qualification for a tournament. If he stays then, again i'd not be overly bothered as I think he does have the ability and players to get us there if we get a bit of luck with our group.

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2 minutes ago, Lion Rampant said:

I said before the game that regardless of what happened on Sunday, I think he should be kept on.

I'm not entirely convinced that there are many managers out there, that are in our budget and would be willing to come, that would make a significant difference.

His overall record is actually pretty decent, and his win rate is better that the vast majority of managers we've had. During his two full campaigns we have scored 22 (2016) and 17 (2018) the previous three saw us score 8 (2014) 9 (2012) and 6 (2010) so that side of things have clearly improved. Even factoring in that in the 2010 and 2012 campaign we had only 8 games and in 2016 we had a poor Gibralter team it's still an improvement of where we were.

Where I think that he's underperformed is organising the team defensively. in each of his two campaigns he has conceded 12 goals which is pretty much identical to the number conceded in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 campaigns. This is clearly an issue as losing an average of 1.2 goals a game (or greater in the 8 game groups) will always hold us back.

I'm not 100% convinced that a different manager would be able to address these issues as our defenders in particular are pretty poor. Someone may come in and shore the defence up but we could end up making ourselves less effective up front as a result.

I take on board all the points regarding his tactics and team selection and can be frustrated at times with his decisions. Again though I'm not convinced we wouldn't be saying the same things about Moyes, O'Neill, Wright etc in 2 years time.

Ultimately if Strachan goes then I'd not be overly bothered and would hope that someone else could bridge that gap between where we are and qualification for a tournament. If he stays then, again i'd not be overly bothered as I think he does have the ability and players to get us there if we get a bit of luck with our group.

Totally agree.

I totally get why fans want rid of him but I can also see reasons for keeping him as we are now on our longest unbeaten run in 20 years - that says we are in a very good run of form.

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What is it with these idiots saying we can't have a foreign manager because of "our traditions" and "just because, Berti and aw that, ye know ?".

The arguments of a complete idiot.

Listening to the radio and they were all just blindly suggesting Moyes, McInnes and co for Scotland, Michael Stewart was correct in pointing out it was time to consider a foreign manager. Why the fück is it so hard for us to comprehend a non-Scot managing our team ?

Why do we always have to stick with mediocre home grown candidates out of "tradition" ?

Fück yir insular, narrow minded "tradition".

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