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Scottish Players in Action 18/19


PASTA Mick

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2 hours ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

Let's hope this isn't an indication of things to come

 

Jeez what is the boy doing with that draped round him. Can never fathom out the thinking behind Old Firm fans brought up through that neck of the woods. Even if I was a Celtic or Rangers fan that would be getting thrown to feck and a Saltire quickly wrapped around my neck before my faither saw me and booted my erse

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Just now, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

Yep, grandparents. And they have already approached him

Just seen now looking at old reports. I'm torn over whether he should be called up in the next squad, not to tie him down or anything, just that he's probably been one of the best wide players in recent weeks behind Fraser & Forrest

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11 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

Jeez what is the boy doing with that draped round him. Can never fathom out the thinking behind Old Firm fans brought up through that neck of the woods. Even if I was a Celtic or Rangers fan that would be getting thrown to feck and a Saltire quickly wrapped around my neck before my faither saw me and booted my erse

Tbf alot of ppl in the west of Scotland have an Irish parent or grandparent and Celtic definitely has a huge Irish diaspora supporting it. Personally I don't really feel like draping myself in an Irish flag despite the surname but then I wasn't brought up in the west of Scotland and my Irish heritage (if you could call it that)is very far back.(great great grandparents I think). Having recently moved to Glasgow about 9 months ago it's defo been a shock to me how much pro IRA and rebel songs are sung by the general population here and it's no surprise to me that McCarthy and mcgeady chose Ireland having been brought up in the west of Scotland. Johnston I think is very committed to Scotland as shown in his performances for the youth sides but I reckon if we don't call him up in the next two years then his agent or other influences may start whispering in his ear to play for Ireland and let's face it they don't fuck about when it comes to offering players a chance.

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8 minutes ago, csinclair said:

Just seen now looking at old reports. I'm torn over whether he should be called up in the next squad, not to tie him down or anything, just that he's probably been one of the best wide players in recent weeks behind Fraser & Forrest

I can't think of many wingers who deserve to be called up over Johnston. We actually don't have many young wingers coming through at all. Burke has been dire recently and Middleton hasn't been playing all that much. It wouldn't harm us to include Johnston as backup to Fraser or Forrest.

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35 minutes ago, csinclair said:

Just seen now looking at old reports. I'm torn over whether he should be called up in the next squad, not to tie him down or anything, just that he's probably been one of the best wide players in recent weeks behind Fraser & Forrest

Surely he should be a regular starter for Celtic before he gets called up to the international team?

I doubt Ireland would consider capping him until he’s playing regularly for his club. 

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7 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

Surely he should be a regular starter for Celtic before he gets called up to the international team?

I doubt Ireland would consider capping him until he’s playing regularly for his club. 

I think they would. why should he be a regular starter, can you name me any other wingers worth calling up ahead of him apart from Fraser and Forrest( Ritchie if he wants back). Better to get him involved from a young age as he is clearly a talent and could be huge in a couple of years.

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28 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

I think they would. why should he be a regular starter, can you name me any other wingers worth calling up ahead of him apart from Fraser and Forrest( Ritchie if he wants back). Better to get him involved from a young age as he is clearly a talent and could be huge in a couple of years.

Big hope I have about Clarke is that he does start bringing young players along rather than the "old experienced pro" sort of cover in the shape of Shinnie, Russel and the likes.

Main reason I wanted Bilic is because that is exactly what he did with Croatia, Then I thought Gemmill could do the same.

Clarke to me was much of a much with Moyes or McInnes but since he has been appointed it has become obvious he is by far the best candidate, doubt if we would have got the same passion from any one  else.

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2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

I think they would. why should he be a regular starter, can you name me any other wingers worth calling up ahead of him apart from Fraser and Forrest( Ritchie if he wants back). Better to get him involved from a young age as he is clearly a talent and could be huge in a couple of years.

International footballers should not be benchwarmers. Just my opinion. 

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17 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

International footballers should not be benchwarmers. Just my opinion. 

He's a young and up coming player who could potentially be lost to Ireland. Why take the risk when we could just throw him on in the last ten minutes if we are beating Cyprus comfortably or getting gubbed off Belgium. It's not like we have lots of young wingers to choose from or even lots of quality wingers apart from Fraser and Forrest.

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Just now, mccaughey85 said:

He's a young and up coming player who could potentially be lost to Ireland. Why take the risk when we could just throw him on in the last ten minutes if we are beating Cyprus comfortably. It's not like we have lots of young wingers to choose from or even lots of quality wingers apart from Fraser and Forrest.

That’s one point of view.

You’re not necessarily wrong but I still think that playing for Scotland should be the pinnacle of any Scottish footballer’s career and call ups should be earned by fighting your way into your club starting 11 and being consistent enough to stay there.  

Caps shouldn’t be handed out like smarties. 

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13 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

That’s one point of view.

You’re not necessarily wrong but I still think that playing for Scotland should be the pinnacle of any Scottish footballer’s career and call ups should be earned by fighting your way into your club starting 11 and being consistent enough to stay there.  

Caps shouldn’t be handed out like smarties. 

I would normally agree with you but I think the fact we don't have alot of quality outside of Fraser and Forrest plus we are probably going to lose out on dembele it would be ashame to lose out on Johnston as well when we can easily put the situation to bed and cap him early on.

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22 minutes ago, csinclair said:

Who else do we call up?

Burke? Morgan? Mackay-Steven? 
 

They're all recent call ups for us.

Johnston deserves to be in on merit at this point as he's done more than any of them of late

He’s only started a handful of games and was rank rotten when he started against Rangers but yeah let’s cap the boy since he started Celtic’s last game and scored a couple of goals.

We don’t need 3 or 4 wingers in the squad. 

I won’t have a major problem if Clarke likes what he sees and thinks he’ll add something to the squad but I’d rather he was starting regularly. Once Forrest is back he won’t get a look in at Celtic.  I don’t even think Johnston made the bench at Ibrox or Pittodrie so saying he deserves a call up now seems a bit strange to me. 

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1 minute ago, Texas Pete said:

He’s only started a handful of games and was rank rotten when he started against Rangers but yeah let’s cap the boy since he started Celtic’s last game and scored a couple of goals.

We don’t need 3 or 4 wingers in the squad. 

I won’t have a major problem if Clarke likes what he sees and thinks he’ll add something to the squad but I’d rather he was starting regularly. Once Forrest is back he won’t get a look in at Celtic.  I don’t even think Johnston made the bench at Ibrox or Pittodrie so saying he deserves a call up now seems a bit strange to me. 

The previous poster is right though. We don't have another winger that has been playing regularly at a high level. I guess Russell is another option but he's more of a striker/right winger. Therefore, we need a player to cover Fraser on the left wing.

Burke hasn't been starting for Celtic and when he has had the chance he hasn't been good enough. 

Morgan hasn't been starting regularly for Sunderland and doesn't seem to have been playing well. 

GMS is only just back from fitness. Can't expect him to play at international level. 

Matt Ritchie has apparently been asked to be left out previously.

Matt Phillips is another who is only just come back from injury and has only been coming off the bench for WBA.

The only other option is to pick other youngsters like Hastie (who's a right winger) or McLennan (who's also just back from injury!). Don't think I've left anyone out so Johnston justifies a call up - especially if he plays well in the cup final. 

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5 minutes ago, Super_Scotlandfan said:

The previous poster is right though. We don't have another winger that has been playing regularly at a high level. I guess Russell is another option but he's more of a striker/right winger. Therefore, we need a player to cover Fraser on the left wing.

Burke hasn't been starting for Celtic and when he has had the chance he hasn't been good enough. 

Morgan hasn't been starting regularly for Sunderland and doesn't seem to have been playing well. 

GMS is only just back from fitness. Can't expect him to play at international level. 

Matt Ritchie has apparently been asked to be left out previously.

Matt Phillips is another who is only just come back from injury and has only been coming off the bench for WBA.

The only other option is to pick other youngsters like Hastie (who's a right winger) or McLennan (who's also just back from injury!). Don't think I've left anyone out so Johnston justifies a call up - especially if he plays well in the cup final. 

Johnston hasn’t been playing regularly at a high level either though.

Someone who hasn’t even made the bench for two of Celtic’s last three games (in fairness he could have been injured?) should be nowhere near the Scotland squad. He only started against Hearts because Lennon was resting players for the cup final. 

Now if Johnston does start on Saturday and plays well then I’d maybe agree he should be considered. He won’t start the final though. He’ll probably not feature at all. 

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9 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

He’s only started a handful of games and was rank rotten when he started against Rangers but yeah let’s cap the boy since he started Celtic’s last game and scored a couple of goals.

We don’t need 3 or 4 wingers in the squad. 

I won’t have a major problem if Clarke likes what he sees and thinks he’ll add something to the squad but I’d rather he was starting regularly. Once Forrest is back he won’t get a look in at Celtic.  I don’t even think Johnston made the bench at Ibrox or Pittodrie so saying he deserves a call up now seems a bit strange to me. 

I would say we do need 3 or 4 wingers, or inside forwards whatever you want to call them these days as this is usually where our primary creativity or goals come from. Behind Forrest and Fraser we don't have any real decent back up so putting in Johnston or Glenn Middleton as backup ahead of Morgan or Burke I would agree with

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1 minute ago, Texas Pete said:

Yes we can. 

I suppose we'll see how accurate that is over the next few seasons. In the years prior it's been clear that we need all the help we can get. If that includes picking players who aren't regulars, or just calling players up so they don't use any dual nationality rule, then I'm all for it.

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3 hours ago, Tartan_McCole said:

I suppose we'll see how accurate that is over the next few seasons. In the years prior it's been clear that we need all the help we can get. If that includes picking players who aren't regulars, or just calling players up so they don't use any dual nationality rule, then I'm all for it.

In fairness there probably will be times where Clarke will need to pick someone that’s not starting regularly but I don’t believe Johnston deserves a call up yet.

He’s only started the last couple of games because Celtic are resting players. He scored two goals against Hearts but was rotten at Ibrox and was subbed early in the second half and wasn’t even on the bench at Pittodrie. 

Now if we’re talking about giving him a cap just to trap him then I suppose that’s another matter but it’s a bit unfair to do that. What if he fails to fulfil his potential and is never capped again? If Ireland fade back into obscurity they won’t be able to pick him. 

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46 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

In fairness there probably will be times where Clarke will need to pick someone that’s not starting regularly but I don’t believe Johnston deserves a call up yet.

He’s only started the last couple of games because Celtic are resting players. He scored two goals against Hearts but was rotten at Ibrox and was subbed early in the second half and wasn’t even on the bench at Pittodrie. 

Now if we’re talking about giving him a cap just to trap him then I suppose that’s another matter but it’s a bit unfair to do that. What if he fails to fulfil his potential and is never capped again? If Ireland fade back into obscurity they won’t be able to pick him. 

I agree with your first 2 points. I'm not suggesting Johnston has done enough to be called up, I was merely saying I've no problem with players not getting a game week in week out being included in squads. If you're a good option and will benefit the team then I'm none too fussy about your club affairs.

On the second point, I suppose it shouldn't really be a concern for Scotland to have to look after potential players best interests. If we approach a player who is keen to jump aboard the Scotland bus then fails to fulfil any promising potential then that's tough luck. As harsh as it sounds there isn't much room for sentimentality here.

Again, none of the above is relating specifically to Johnston.

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