Caledonian Craig Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 With Euro 2020 almost upon us I have compiled some stats on the nine Scotland squads to compete in major tournaments. The stats show that squad's average age, average caps won per player and average goals per player. Obviously, the 2020 squad will improve its stats as it has yet to play two friendlies before Euro 2020. TOURNAMENT Average Age Average Caps Average Goals Major Tournaments Experience 2020 26.76 16.84 1.26 0.00 1998 29.22 23.00 2.00 1.04 1996 29.31 23.31 2.36 0.90 1992 27.15 19.15 1.75 0.70 1990 27.00 20.90 1.77 0.45 1986 27.09 21.90 1.59 0.50 1982 26.90 22.86 2.54 0.40 1978 27.40 19.09 2.59 0.27 1974 25.72 13.95 2.36 0.00 The stand-out squad on paper had to be the 1974 World Cup squad. It was laced with several players who are recognised as Scotland legends such as McGrain, Bremner, Jimmy Johnstone, Dalglish, Jordan, Lorimer and Law. Surprising it was the most experienced squad to be sent to a major tournament by Scotland but then when you think about it there were less international matches played to qualify so less caps on offer. It was also the youngest squad to play in a major tournament too even beating our current squad. The glaring and not unexpected stat our current squad is a lack of goals in it. I hope that doesn't come back to bite us. The major tournaments stat is worked out on how many major tournaments each player in the squad had played in prior to the tournament. The current squad does have a claim to fame over all the previous squads in that Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour are the first teenagers named in any Scotland squad for a major tournament. I hope you enjoy the stats. All a bit of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breeks_mctavish Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Great stats Craig, thanks for sharing. The average goals is quite frightening! Hopefully it's just a reflection of the years of underachievement of the recent past rather than an indicator of what to expect moving forwards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Always think is a bit unfair to compare squads. Some of the players in 74 in were past their prime and others hadn't reached theirs. If all those players were at their prime in 74 we might have won it. We might be looking back in 30 years thinking we had a great squad this time round but we would be basing it on Gordon being a great keeper(which he was), Gilmour and Patterson and Turnbull being great internationalists which they aren't yet,and Tierney being world class without taking into account he was playing out of position. I do like the average age though I think players are at their peak from 23-27 which a lot of ours are. Truly great players can start this peak sooner and make it last longer maybe Tierney and the newbies can. Hopefully we will have the core of this this squad in Qatar and the average number of caps per player will be over 25 Although average caps is more interesting when it comes down to players who actually play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 1 minute ago, breeks_mctavish said: Great stats Craig, thanks for sharing. The average goals is quite frightening! Hopefully it's just a reflection of the years of underachievement of the recent past rather than an indicator of what to expect moving forwards! You would think with the San Marinos's and the likes about now our goals average would be far better these days than it was years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 3 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said: Always think is a bit unfair to compare squads. Some of the players in 74 in were past their prime and others hadn't reached theirs. If all those players were at their prime in 74 we might have won it. There was a good blend in the 74 squad. Sure you had players in their 30s such as Bremner and Law but there was a strong batch of youngsters destined for great things such as Dalglish (23), Jordan (22) and McGrain (24). The odd thing was it had potent strikers yet we crashed out by not scoring enough goals against Zaire and failing to beat Yugoslavia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said: There was a good blend in the 74 squad. Sure you had players in their 30s such as Bremner and Law but there was a strong batch of youngsters destined for great things such as Dalglish (23), Jordan (22) and McGrain (24). The odd thing was it had potent strikers yet we crashed out by not scoring enough goals against Zaire and failing to beat Yugoslavia. Pity we were so sure we would bet Yugoslavia..................... And we hadn't beaten Brazil........................... Edited May 24, 2021 by ceudmilefailte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan blood Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 (edited) 41 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said: Always think is a bit unfair to compare squads. Some of the players in 74 in were past their prime and others hadn't reached theirs. If all those players were at their prime in 74 we might have won it. We might be looking back in 30 years thinking we had a great squad this time round but we would be basing it on Gordon being a great keeper(which he was), Gilmour and Patterson and Turnbull being great internationalists which they aren't yet,and Tierney being world class without taking into account he was playing out of position. I do like the average age though I think players are at their peak from 23-27 which a lot of ours are. Truly great players can start this peak sooner and make it last longer maybe Tierney and the newbies can. Hopefully we will have the core of this this squad in Qatar and the average number of caps per player will be over 25 Although average caps is more interesting when it comes down to players who actually play That's a very good point. It's always far more nuanced. A good example might be looking at our squad circa 2003. On paper, it looks good based off their careers. But the likes of Darren Fletcher, James McFadden and Shaun Maloney were teenagers at that point. Kenny Miller and Craig Gordon were youngsters as well. Where as the likes of Paul Lambert and David Weir were nearing retirement. We had pretty much no one at their peak at that point, barring maybe Barry Ferguson and Jackie MacNamara, but we actually had decent international players around the squad in that period. Our current team aren't peaking yet. Far from it. But half a dozen will possibly peak around the same time in a few years, having spent years playing together. Edited May 24, 2021 by Tartan blood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 Its more about balance in my opinion. You can have a squad with not the most caps but with more talent say, than one with more experience throughout. Perfect balance would be experience through the spine of the team - in goal, central defence, centre of midfield and up front with a lot of young players too whose best is yet to come. So a mix of experience and young talent is the ideal blend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor1996 Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Can't have enough statistics! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Lanark Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Well done, Craig, for going to all that trouble. I wouldn't have known where to begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 (edited) With Scotland's current squad having played their pre-tournament friendlies picking up more caps and goals the stats of this squad now looks like this:- TOURNAMENT Average Age Average Caps Average Goals Major Tournaments Experience 2020 26.84 18.53 1.38 0.00 1998 29.22 23.00 2.00 1.04 1996 29.31 23.31 2.36 0.90 1992 27.15 19.15 1.75 0.70 1990 27.00 20.90 1.77 0.45 1986 27.09 21.90 1.59 0.50 1982 26.90 22.86 2.54 0.40 1978 27.40 19.09 2.59 0.27 1974 25.72 13.95 2.36 0.00 Edited June 6, 2021 by Caledonian Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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