Scott Banks

[vanderark14]

8 minutes ago, Taylor1996 said:

Rather sounds like you just did:

"So those getting their fannies in a twist about this guy were doing so for no real reason."

By the sounds of that, you were suggesting that the player isn't good, not does he have the potential of being good enough to play for Scotland.

There you go again making assumptions. 

[Diamond Scot]

3 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

See above. None of those players  apart from bannan and mctominay made it in the epl from their clubs youth set ups. A player will learn more from playing first team football at a lower level than playing Epl2 even if it's spl. 

The evidence clearly shows that by the fact you can barely name more than 2 or 3 players that have made it at epl first teams straight from the youth set up in the last 15 years. 

Phil foden is a special talent who get played because he's clearly good enough even at his young age, same as Gilmour. I am all for our young players going to big Euro clubs if they will play in the first team. If they are just going to sit in the youth set up then it's not that great and I would prefer they went to a team that will give them first team opportunities. Like Hickey for example, he wouldn't of seen any first team football had he gone to bayern. Bologna might be a lesser team but hes getting first team experience there. 

Thats not disproving my point though. Im saying that we are great at producing decent players. Guys like McGinn and Armstrong. Solid players who become established for mid table EPL sides. Both players have improved immensly since going to England. 

My point is that if they had went to a top side much younger they might have had a chance of being better than decent. Foden isnt a special talent. England churn out Fodens all the time. Sancho and the Birmingham boy who has just went to Dortmund being examples. Alot of English sides spend top money on academies and like most things in life, you get what you pay for.

Of course the vast majority of players that go to a top youth academy wont make it. The same player could have stayed at Dundee Utd for example and more than likely break into the 1st team, maybe even go on to be a decent player. But thats not what im talking about. Im talking about trying to create top top players. 

Gilmour might have played 50 games for Rangers by now had he stayed (although I doubt it) but he wouldnt be half the player he is at Chelsea and more importantly wouldnt have the opportunity (key word) to go on and become a top top player.

[mccaughey85]

13 hours ago, Diamond Scot said:

Thats not disproving my point though. Im saying that we are great at producing decent players. Guys like McGinn and Armstrong. Solid players who become established for mid table EPL sides. Both players have improved immensly since going to England. 

My point is that if they had went to a top side much younger they might have had a chance of being better than decent. Foden isnt a special talent. England churn out Fodens all the time. Sancho and the Birmingham boy who has just went to Dortmund being examples. Alot of English sides spend top money on academies and like most things in life, you get what you pay for.

Of course the vast majority of players that go to a top youth academy wont make it. The same player could have stayed at Dundee Utd for example and more than likely break into the 1st team, maybe even go on to be a decent player. But thats not what im talking about. Im talking about trying to create top top players. 

Gilmour might have played 50 games for Rangers by now had he stayed (although I doubt it) but he wouldnt be half the player he is at Chelsea and more importantly wouldnt have the opportunity (key word) to go on and become a top top player.

Your suggesting Mcginn or Armstrong might be better players had they went to an epl youth set up and played youth football when they were 19-22? 

We have just established that 2 out 40 or 50 have made it to an epl first team through that pathway in the last 15 years. The evidence clearly shows that our young talent don't benefit greatly by going to epl/big Euro clubs youth set ups. If they did then you would be able to name more than 2 guys who have made the transition from epl youth set up to the first team. 

Its hard to tell whether Gilmour would be a better player or not had he got 50 plus appearances for rangers. Also when did Gilmour become "top top" player. He's a young player at Chelsea who's had a few appearances but who's career could go anywhere at the moment. 

I also have no problem with Gilmour being at Chelsea because it's clear he's going to get chances in the first team. Would you be happy for Gilmour to spend the next 2 years playing youth football instead of playing first team football at a lower level than epl?

I am only against young players going to epl/euro clubs clubs youth set ups where they will spend their time playing youth football at the age of 20 as opposed to playing meaningful football at spl or English championship/league 1. 

George Johnston and fraser Hornby are both prime examples of guys who have barely played professional football at the ages of 22 and 21. How is that good for their careers? 

 

[ProudScot]

McTominay had barely played professional football till he was that age also. 

It’s not rocket science that young players being coached by better coaches at better facilities will develop better than with lesser coaches and poorer facilities. 

Some of these guys will make it, some won’t. The ones that do should be better than previously as they are going to make it at better clubs on the back of better development. 

Loans are usually utilised and work well, Gilmour for example should go on loan now but only to another EPL club and not back to Scotland. 

[mccaughey85]

4 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

McTominay had barely played professional football till he was that age also. 

It’s not rocket science that young players being coached by better coaches at better facilities will develop better than with lesser coaches and poorer facilities. 

Some of these guys will make it, some won’t. The ones that do should be better than previously as they are going to make it at better clubs on the back of better development. 

Loans are usually utilised and work well, Gilmour for example should go on loan now but only to another EPL club and not back to Scotland. 

Yeh McTominay's made the transition but thats just 1 guy. As I said 2 guys out of 40 or 50 is not a great return. 

Its not rocket science to suggest young players playing first team football at 19-22 is better than youth football. You can have the best coaches in the world but nothing beats first team experience even if it's at a low level. If it was the other way round we would have loads of players coming through at epl clubs. 

The stats clearly show our young players are not making it at epl/big clubs. If they were then there would be more than 2/3 players in the last 15 years. 

Do you think Armstrong or christie would be better players had they played youth football at the ages of 19-22 rather than first team at Dundee United and inverness/Aberdeen?

[ProudScot]

4 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Yeh McTominay's made the transition but thats just 1 guy. As I said 2 guys out of 40 or 50 is not a great return. 

Its not rocket science to suggest young players playing first team football at 19-22 is better than youth football. You can have the best coaches in the world but nothing beats first team experience even if it's at a low level. If it was the other way round we would have loads of players coming through at epl clubs. 

The stats clearly show our young players are not making it at epl/big clubs. If they were then there would be more than 2/3 players in the last 15 years. 

Do you think Armstrong or christie would be better players had they played youth football at the ages of 19-22 rather than first team at Dundee United and inverness/Aberdeen?

What are you on about? 

The youth players at EPL clubs being spoke about are 16-18, sometimes younger. 

Gilmour who is 19 should now go on loan. 

Nobody thinks not playing 1st team football is a good idea. 

[vanderark14]

25 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

What are you on about? 

The youth players at EPL clubs being spoke about are 16-18, sometimes younger. 

Gilmour who is 19 should now go on loan. 

Nobody thinks not playing 1st team football is a good idea. 

I never felt chelsea was the right club for a youngster. Gilmour looked great last season as did other chelsea youngsters however lampard was forced to play them because of their transfer ban.

Im happy to be proven wrong but id be surprised if a new chelsea manager would give Gilmour much chances

[mccaughey85]

27 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

What are you on about? 

The youth players at EPL clubs being spoke about are 16-18, sometimes younger. 

Gilmour who is 19 should now go on loan. 

Nobody thinks not playing 1st team football is a good idea. 

The original point I made was about ppl on here getting excited by young players being at epl clubs. Just because some 15-20 year old gets snapped up by an epl club doesn't mean he will make it big and most of the time the player would of been better staying in Scotland or lower league level in England rather than making the move as shown by the fact that our best players have come through at small teams or lesser leagues where they got the necessary first team experience to make it in pro football.

This is easy to see by the fact we have just 1 player in our squad that has made the transition from an epl youth set up to the first team of their club. 

Every other player we have that plays in the epl got there by playing spl/lower English league football before they made the step up to epl. 

 

[ProudScot]

25 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

I never felt chelsea was the right club for a youngster. Gilmour looked great last season as did other chelsea youngsters however lampard was forced to play them because of their transfer ban.

Im happy to be proven wrong but id be surprised if a new chelsea manager would give Gilmour much chances

You could well be right.

Gilmour will be an interesting one, he’s our most outstanding youngster in many generations so it may be that he is an exception but it may also be he has to go for a loan to get the games he needs. 

[Diamond Scot]

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Your suggesting Mcginn or Armstrong might be better players had they went to an epl youth set up and played youth football when they were 19-22? 

We have just established that 2 out 40 or 50 have made it to an epl first team through that pathway in the last 15 years. The evidence clearly shows that our young talent don't benefit greatly by going to epl/big Euro clubs youth set ups. If they did then you would be able to name more than 2 guys who have made the transition from epl youth set up to the first team. 

Its hard to tell whether Gilmour would be a better player or not had he got 50 plus appearances for rangers. Also when did Gilmour become "top top" player. He's a young player at Chelsea who's had a few appearances but who's career could go anywhere at the moment. 

I also have no problem with Gilmour being at Chelsea because it's clear he's going to get chances in the first team. Would you be happy for Gilmour to spend the next 2 years playing youth football instead of playing first team football at a lower level than epl?

I am only against young players going to epl/euro clubs clubs youth set ups where they will spend their time playing youth football at the age of 20 as opposed to playing meaningful football at spl or English championship/league 1. 

George Johnston and fraser Hornby are both prime examples of guys who have barely played professional football at the ages of 22 and 21. How is that good for their careers? 

 

Im not disagreeing with your 2 in 50 observation. Im not suggesting that top level coaching means that more than 2 in 50 will come through. What im saying is that the 2 that come through have a much better chance of being top top players than if they had stayed in Scotland. To answer your question maybe McGinn and Armstrong wouldnt have made it if they had moved to a top youth setup earlier. But 2 out of the other 48 kids would have like you say and these are the players we need if we want to reguarly qualify for tournaments.

We can produce Armstrongs and McGinns all day long. Players like McGreggor, Christie, Jack etc etc. They are good players but not anywhere near top end. 

Using your observation of 2 in 50, would it not be better if we have a hundred kids at top clubs around Europe, or 200, or 300. Then 2 would become 4 or 6. Top end footballs about quality not quantity.

Gilmour has the potential to be our best player in 40 years. He is lightyears ahead in terms of technique and game awareness.

You see it with McTom aswell. Compare what he does to McLean or Fleck and its all much faster, much more accurate etc etc

[vanderark14]

39 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

You could well be right.

Gilmour will be an interesting one, he’s our most outstanding youngster in many generations so it may be that he is an exception but it may also be he has to go for a loan to get the games he needs. 

If he goes out on loan id hope it was a decent side like a top end championship or lower prem side

[mccaughey85]

8 minutes ago, Diamond Scot said:

Im not disagreeing with your 2 in 50 observation. Im not suggesting that top level coaching means that more than 2 in 50 will come through. What im saying is that the 2 that come through have a much better chance of being top top players than if they had stayed in Scotland. To answer your question maybe McGinn and Armstrong wouldnt have made it if they had moved to a top youth setup earlier. But 2 out of the other 48 kids would have like you say and these are the players we need if we want to reguarly qualify for tournaments.

We can produce Armstrongs and McGinns all day long. Players like McGreggor, Christie, Jack etc etc. They are good players but not anywhere near top end. 

Using your observation of 2 in 50, would it not be better if we have a hundred kids at top clubs around Europe, or 200, or 300. Then 2 would become 4 or 6. Top end footballs about quality not quantity.

Gilmour has the potential to be our best player in 40 years. He is lightyears ahead in terms of technique and game awareness.

You see it with McTom aswell. Compare what he does to McLean or Fleck and its all much faster, much more accurate etc etc

We don't produce loads of Armstrongs and mcginns. We currently have about 10 other players who play at the level those do consistently. If we had more Mcginn and Armstrong level players we would be a really good side with a full squad of players who play at a high level. Currently we have about 12/13 guys who can cut it in a top league. We need a full squad of Armstrongs and mcginns. 

Chances of having 100 plus kids at epl/euro clubs is slim. Epl clubs can already cherry pick the best talent from Scotland and they have had loads of Scottish talent over the years only for 2 to make it to their first team in 15 years. Epl clubs are not going to buy 100/200 Scottish Young players. Also who's to say that the kids who have been at epl clubs could of progressed better had they got first team experience at lesser clubs/leagues. Perhaps Ruben sammut or George Johnston might be top players had they gotten first team experience instead wasting away in youth set ups. Ryan Gauld would probably be much further along had he done what he's doing now 3 years ago. He's went to a small team in the second flight of Portugal and is finally starting to get his career going at the age of 25.

Mctominay isn't alot better than mcginn or Armstrong imo. He's a good player but I wouldn't necessarily say he's our best. Just because he's at man utd doesn't mean he's better than our other epl players. Your pinning alot on 1 player who made it at man utd as a reason for our youth to go to epl clubs. The only other was Barry bannan and he's been in the championship for most of his career. Billy Gilmour has only made a few appearances so the juries still out on what level he will make it at. 

If the success rate was 6/7 in 50 I would agree with you but the success rate is too low for me to get remotely excited by guys like Scott Banks or Barry Hepburn. 

I prefer to get excited by guys like Kyle Joseph or josh doig who are playing proper football at a meaningful level. 

[Diamond Scot]

1 hour ago, mccaughey85 said:

We don't produce loads of Armstrongs and mcginns. We currently have about 10 other players who play at the level those do consistently. If we had more Mcginn and Armstrong level players we would be a really good side with a full squad of players who play at a high level. Currently we have about 12/13 guys who can cut it in a top league. We need a full squad of Armstrongs and mcginns. 

Chances of having 100 plus kids at epl/euro clubs is slim. Epl clubs can already cherry pick the best talent from Scotland and they have had loads of Scottish talent over the years only for 2 to make it to their first team in 15 years. Epl clubs are not going to buy 100/200 Scottish Young players. Also who's to say that the kids who have been at epl clubs could of progressed better had they got first team experience at lesser clubs/leagues. Perhaps Ruben sammut or George Johnston might be top players had they gotten first team experience instead wasting away in youth set ups. Ryan Gauld would probably be much further along had he done what he's doing now 3 years ago. He's went to a small team in the second flight of Portugal and is finally starting to get his career going at the age of 25.

Mctominay isn't alot better than mcginn or Armstrong imo. He's a good player but I wouldn't necessarily say he's our best. Just because he's at man utd doesn't mean he's better than our other epl players. Your pinning alot on 1 player who made it at man utd as a reason for our youth to go to epl clubs. The only other was Barry bannan and he's been in the championship for most of his career. Billy Gilmour has only made a few appearances so the juries still out on what level he will make it at. 

If the success rate was 6/7 in 50 I would agree with you but the success rate is too low for me to get remotely excited by guys like Scott Banks or Barry Hepburn. 

I prefer to get excited by guys like Kyle Joseph or josh doig who are playing proper football at a meaningful level. 

Over the past 30 years we have produced non stop McGinns and Armstrongs. Thats not a slight on them. They are good players.

Its an impossible discussion to come to a definitive conclussion on. Players will take different paths. Much like in life some people will be very succesful coming through public school and not all people coming through private school will make it big, however im a firm believer in the notion that the best teachers, coaches and enviroments increase somebodys potential to flourish. At Chelsea, Gilmour had dedicated training plans, diet plans, strength and conditioning plans. He had dvds made up for him to study and learn specific attributes. All this was done due to money. I believe that the above increased his chances of making it big however if he had none of that and played full time football from 16 years of age against journeymen maybe he could still have found a path like Robertson.

I just know where id want my child to go if he was talented enough. 

 

[mccaughey85]

20 hours ago, Diamond Scot said:

Over the past 30 years we have produced non stop McGinns and Armstrongs. Thats not a slight on them. They are good players.

Its an impossible discussion to come to a definitive conclussion on. Players will take different paths. Much like in life some people will be very succesful coming through public school and not all people coming through private school will make it big, however im a firm believer in the notion that the best teachers, coaches and enviroments increase somebodys potential to flourish. At Chelsea, Gilmour had dedicated training plans, diet plans, strength and conditioning plans. He had dvds made up for him to study and learn specific attributes. All this was done due to money. I believe that the above increased his chances of making it big however if he had none of that and played full time football from 16 years of age against journeymen maybe he could still have found a path like Robertson.

I just know where id want my child to go if he was talented enough. 

 

We haven't produced Mcginns and Armstrongs non stop. If we did we would have a Mcginn for every position. We have not produced enough Mcginn level players for the last 20 years. We have about 13/14 guys who can cut it in a top league consistently. We need more than that as it doesn't provide us with a player for every position. If we had more Mcginns and Robertsons over the last 20 years we would of qualified for most of the tournaments we missed out on. 

You can give a lad all the training plans and top class coaching in the world but what really matters once they get to 18/19 is playing first team football. 

If I had a 17/18 year old son and he had the opportunity of playing regularly for Aberdeen or hibs or going to Chelsea or Liverpool youth set ups then I would be genuinely torn between the options assuming the money was the same. 

I could understand your argument if there was dozens of examples. Infact every good player we have bar mctominay has come from lower teams or lesser leagues like the spl and championship. Arguably our 2(Tierney and Robertson)best players have come from lower leagues like the spl where they played competitive football.

[Diamond Scot]

10 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

We haven't produced Mcginns and Armstrongs non stop. If we did we would have a Mcginn for every position. We have not produced enough Mcginn level players for the last 20 years. We have about 13/14 guys who can cut it in a top league consistently. We need more than that as it doesn't provide us with a player for every position. If we had more Mcginns and Robertsons over the last 20 years we would of qualified for most of the tournaments we missed out on. 

You can give a lad all the training plans and top class coaching in the world but what really matters once they get to 18/19 is playing first team football. 

If I had a 17/18 year old son and he had the opportunity of playing regularly for Aberdeen or hibs or going to Chelsea or Liverpool youth set ups then I would be genuinely torn between the options assuming the money was the same. 

I could understand your argument if there was dozens of examples. Infact every good player we have bar mctominay has come from lower teams or lesser leagues like the spl and championship. Arguably our 2(Tierney and Robertson)best players have come from lower leagues like the spl where they played competitive football.

Look at our starting line ups over the past 20 years. The vast majority of places are made up by Old Firm mid table EPL / championship players. Thats what im saying about producing decent players. We have ever really struggled to produce these types of players.

In the last 20 years we have had 2 top top players. Darren Fletcher and Andy Robertson. Both took very different routes to the top however id submit that Robertsons is a very unique case that happens once in a blue moon. 

We havent had the numbers in the youth setups previously so numbers of successes were going to be low. With the creation of our performance schools the numbers have increased dramatically. I cant remember a time when big clubs both in England and abroad have taken so many of our promising young player. My expectation is that most wont make it at that level but the few that do should be of the standard of Fletcher and Robertson.

Theres early signs that McTom has established himself in Man Utds squad and plays most big games. Gilmour imo will be even better although he will likely go to another EPL club for the rest of the season.

[mccaughey85]

9 minutes ago, Diamond Scot said:

Look at our starting line ups over the past 20 years. The vast majority of places are made up by Old Firm mid table EPL / championship players. Thats what im saying about producing decent players. We have ever really struggled to produce these types of players.

In the last 20 years we have had 2 top top players. Darren Fletcher and Andy Robertson. Both took very different routes to the top however id submit that Robertsons is a very unique case that happens once in a blue moon. 

We havent had the numbers in the youth setups previously so numbers of successes were going to be low. With the creation of our performance schools the numbers have increased dramatically. I cant remember a time when big clubs both in England and abroad have taken so many of our promising young player. My expectation is that most wont make it at that level but the few that do should be of the standard of Fletcher and Robertson.

Theres early signs that McTom has established himself in Man Utds squad and plays most big games. Gilmour imo will be even better although he will likely go to another EPL club for the rest of the season.

Our starting line ups over the last 20 years have very rarely had a full team of epl level players like Mcginn and Armstrong. Just look at our line ups from our last games, we played dykes, considine, palmer Gallagher, o donnell, Marshall. None of those guys would consistently make it at a high club level except maybe Marshall. For the last 20 years we have been forced to play guys who can't cut it at international level due to the fact we don't have a Mcginn or Armstrong for their position. We need a full squad of Mcginns and Armstrongs. We would all love to have 6 or 7 of our starting line up to be playing for top epl club sides but that's very unlikely and it's unlikely its going to come about by having a handful more kids at epl/euro clubs. The very fact every one of our epl players barring mctominay has come through the lower league route should be evidence enough. 

Andy Robertsons situation isn't a once in a blue moon or an accident. He was at celtics youth set up, he fell by the wayside played for queen's Park and Dundee utd before getting signed at 19/20 by hull and then playing epl/championship before going to Liverpool. Robertson and countless our other players who have reached the epl have done so through playing lower level football like I have been saying. The fact you are trawling up fletcher who came through 18 years ago shows how few have come through the route your advocating. 

We have always had young players at big European clubs. I can literally off the top of head without Google name 15 who failed to break through at a big club. Watt, Harper, Gauld, mackay Steven, foy, Wilson, Stewart, sammut, St clair, Gilmour, Hornby, Johnston. Caldwell. 

Thats just big clubs, theres probably dozens more at epl clubs that I  haven't heard of in the past 15 years. 

Fair enough there has been a small upserge in scots youngsters getting picked up be epl clubs but its hardly massive and with 1 in 40/50 of them making it then I fail to see the excitement. 

I would rather be more excited by an 18/19 year old like josh doig or kyle joseph rather than some 18/19 year old who plays Epl2 for Leeds United etc. 

[Diamond Scot]

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Our starting line ups over the last 20 years have very rarely had a full team of epl level players like Mcginn and Armstrong. Just look at our line ups from our last games, we played dykes, considine, palmer Gallagher, o donnell, Marshall. None of those guys would consistently make it at a high club level except maybe Marshall. For the last 20 years we have been forced to play guys who can't cut it at international level due to the fact we don't have a Mcginn or Armstrong for their position. We need a full squad of Mcginns and Armstrongs. We would all love to have 6 or 7 of our starting line up to be playing for top epl club sides but that's very unlikely and it's unlikely its going to come about by having a handful more kids at epl/euro clubs. The very fact every one of our epl players barring mctominay has come through the lower league route should be evidence enough. 

Andy Robertsons situation isn't a once in a blue moon or an accident. He was at celtics youth set up, he fell by the wayside played for queen's Park and Dundee utd before getting signed at 19/20 by hull and then playing epl/championship before going to Liverpool. Robertson and countless our other players who have reached the epl have done so through playing lower level football like I have been saying. The fact you are trawling up fletcher who came through 18 years ago shows how few have come through the route your advocating. 

We have always had young players at big European clubs. I can literally off the top of head without Google name 15 who failed to break through at a big club. Watt, Harper, Gauld, mackay Steven, foy, Wilson, Stewart, sammut, St clair, Gilmour, Hornby, Johnston. Caldwell. 

Thats just big clubs, theres probably dozens more at epl clubs that I  haven't heard of in the past 15 years. 

Fair enough there has been a small upserge in scots youngsters getting picked up be epl clubs but its hardly massive and with 1 in 40/50 of them making it then I fail to see the excitement. 

I would rather be more excited by an 18/19 year old like josh doig or kyle joseph rather than some 18/19 year old who plays Epl2 for Leeds United etc. 

How many Scottish players have been on the books at clubs outside the SPL and went on to play champions league football in England or abroad on a consistent basis? I may be wrong but I can only think of Robertson within past 20 years.

You are correct in saying we have always had players from smaller teams in our starting line up however my point about Armstrong and McGinn is that we reguarly produce these standard. Barry Ferguson, Charlie Adam, Ryan Christie, Scott Brown, Callum McGreggor, Ryan Jack, John Fleck, Paul Hartley etc etc just off the top of my head. All decent players who would be lower to mid EPL. 

Again I could be wrong but it does seem to me that there is substantially more Scots signed up with top clubs than ever before. Every setup seems to have at least a couple. That seems to be a shift in the right direction for me.

As ive said previously there will be different routes however maybe I just place a greater weight on proper coaching / investment.

[Jim Beem]

On 1/25/2021 at 10:04 AM, GHfaeGTA said:

Completed a loan move to Dunfermline. Would expect him to do well in Championship. Would have loved to have seen him back at Tannadice 

Got a feeling he will end up going down the pan. Another victim of his own agent and greed. ☹️

[Guest ElChris04]

I hope the banks lad has his head screwed on and goes with his heart. 
 

Why should we be worried losing a born and raised scotsman to wales? It would be absolutely fucking mental if he does.

If he does decide to go with Wales, then I’m sorry, but it’s on him and will be due all criticism coming his way. I don’t care how shite Gemmell or Stark are is coaches, I think everyone on this form realises how out of touch with modern football they are aswell as SFA’s shambolic set ups in general. 
 

But international football should never be treated for career gain, you look past that, well at least how I view it anyway, I’m only a few years older than banks myself and if I was to put myself in his boots, I have family from Ireland. But I’m a born and raised Scotsman who’s only interest would be playing for my country. 
 

And on the final note we’ve just qualified for our first tournament in over 20 years, things are finally looking up, there’s absolutely no reason we lose the likes of banks or any other of our promising youth players to pandering countries anymore. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by ElChris04

[stitch]

1 hour ago, ElChris04 said:

If he does decide to go with Wales, then I’m sorry, but it’s on him and will be due all criticism coming his way. I don’t care how shite Gemmell or Stark are is coaches, I think everyone on this form realises how out of touch with modern football they are aswell as SFA’s shambolic set ups in general. 

So he decides to play for another country and its his choice. We have had plenty of players over the years play for us who weren't born in Scotland. Get over it not everyone feels the same about where there loyalties are. I'm of the thinking that you are where you were born and that's who you should represent. The rules let people play for whatever reason and I have to go with them. I still think we could do more to get players to stick with us but I'm not going to moan if they decide not to. 

[vanderark14]

4 hours ago, ElChris04 said:

I hope the banks lad has his head screwed on and goes with his heart. 
 

Why should we be worried losing a born and raised scotsman to wales? It would be absolutely fucking mental if he does.

If he does decide to go with Wales, then I’m sorry, but it’s on him and will be due all criticism coming his way. I don’t care how shite Gemmell or Stark are is coaches, I think everyone on this form realises how out of touch with modern football they are aswell as SFA’s shambolic set ups in general. 
 

But international football should never be treated for career gain, you look past that, well at least how I view it anyway, I’m only a few years older than banks myself and if I was to put myself in his boots, I have family from Ireland. But I’m a born and raised Scotsman who’s only interest would be playing for my country. 
 

And on the final note we’ve just qualified for our first tournament in over 20 years, things are finally looking up, there’s absolutely no reason we lose the likes of banks or any other of our promising youth players to pandering countries anymore. 

Great post 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[Taylor1996]

6 hours ago, ElChris04 said:

I hope the banks lad has his head screwed on and goes with his heart. 
 

Why should we be worried losing a born and raised scotsman to wales? It would be absolutely fucking mental if he does.

If he does decide to go with Wales, then I’m sorry, but it’s on him and will be due all criticism coming his way. I don’t care how shite Gemmell or Stark are is coaches, I think everyone on this form realises how out of touch with modern football they are aswell as SFA’s shambolic set ups in general. 
 

But international football should never be treated for career gain, you look past that, well at least how I view it anyway, I’m only a few years older than banks myself and if I was to put myself in his boots, I have family from Ireland. But I’m a born and raised Scotsman who’s only interest would be playing for my country. 
 

And on the final note we’ve just qualified for our first tournament in over 20 years, things are finally looking up, there’s absolutely no reason we lose the likes of banks or any other of our promising youth players to pandering countries anymore. 

Sorry, but that's an idealistic view of the world. The real world doesn't work like that. I'm not saying you're wrong.

Declan Rice and Jack Grealish played a combined 40 matches for Ireland, at youth level. Rice even played 3 senior matches. Before both of them defected back to England.

Those two played a nation that they probably had no infinity with, and yet they played 40 matches for them, at youth level.

It's a romantic prospect that a player is going to wait for his nation to call for him, whilst rejecting the advances of others. It doesn't happen, or when it does, in it's rare. Harry Souttar jumped at the chance to play for Australia. McCarthy and McGeady with Ireland.

Look at Dembele. He grew up in Scotland, made friends, has no attachment to England, and yet he's nailed his colours to the Englsh mast. (Not that I'm saying he'll go on to play for them, or us, for that matter)

Terry Taylor, a Scottish kid who came through the ranks at Aberdeen. He's Scottish. And yet he's a regular in the Wales u21 team. Scott Banks was included in the stand-by for the international at the end of last year. Wouldn't surprise me if Banks and Taylor were in the Wales u21 first XI in the near future.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Taylor1996

[Taylor1996]

Infinity = affinity.

Unless they wanted to collect the infinity stones. 😛

 

[sjd1972]

Scott Banks named in the Under 21 squad.  Panic over ??😁

[Burj_Alba]

2 minutes ago, sjd1972 said:

Scott Banks named in the Under 21 squad.  Panic over ??😁

Decent squad but its a friendly. Hopefully Scott and others can take  step forward in their careers.