| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? 11:57 - Mar 22 with 3091 views | Illinoisblue |
Funny though their defeat was y/day, a look at the line-ups makes you wonder why the jocks no longer produce any real quality. Dalglish, Wark, Hansen etc... how can a country go from being very competitive in the 70s and 80s to being a laughing stock. Are all the young jocks smacked up on irn Bru and fried mars bars? |  |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:16 - Mar 22 with 3041 views | wkj |
Nah, they're busy with proper sport like Rugby |  |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:20 - Mar 22 with 3042 views | Darth_Koont |
Simply, the Scottish pyramid is nowadays too small to challenge the players in the same way as the young English players. Back in the 70s and 80s it was all part of the same pyramid and the difference between English and Scottish teams was much smaller even outside the Old Firm.
Think it's the same for the other smaller home nations but then we've missed the standout class of a Bale and we've been weighed down by expectations that are no longer valid. I think Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic go into the English pyramid early on but they've also managed their minnow status and outlook far better than us.
There's certainly a lot of room for improvement even if we're unlikely to ever challenge at a higher level consistently. There's a huge link between the size of the pyramid and footballing success, with sides like Uruguay, the Netherlands and Sweden bucking the trend over the years but essentially it's countries with 40+ million who are the powerhouses and can even qualify with a supposedly weaker generation and no standout players such is their overall strength in depth.
In rugby for example the player pool is much, much smaller than England's but Scotland get closer because of how they adapted and used their 2 pro clubs that are almost entirely set up as feeder clubs for the international team. |  |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:28 - Mar 22 with 3026 views | Illinoisblue |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:20 - Mar 22 by Darth_Koont |
Simply, the Scottish pyramid is nowadays too small to challenge the players in the same way as the young English players. Back in the 70s and 80s it was all part of the same pyramid and the difference between English and Scottish teams was much smaller even outside the Old Firm.
Think it's the same for the other smaller home nations but then we've missed the standout class of a Bale and we've been weighed down by expectations that are no longer valid. I think Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic go into the English pyramid early on but they've also managed their minnow status and outlook far better than us.
There's certainly a lot of room for improvement even if we're unlikely to ever challenge at a higher level consistently. There's a huge link between the size of the pyramid and footballing success, with sides like Uruguay, the Netherlands and Sweden bucking the trend over the years but essentially it's countries with 40+ million who are the powerhouses and can even qualify with a supposedly weaker generation and no standout players such is their overall strength in depth.
In rugby for example the player pool is much, much smaller than England's but Scotland get closer because of how they adapted and used their 2 pro clubs that are almost entirely set up as feeder clubs for the international team. |
it just struck me looking at their line-up.... that team would struggle to win a Championship game.
I'm sure a lot of Scottish fans look at Iceland - and the Irish - and wonder why they can't do what they're doing in terms of being somewhat competitive and at least qualifying for tournaments. | |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:29 - Mar 22 with 3022 views | MattinLondon |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:16 - Mar 22 by wkj |
Nah, they're busy with proper sport like Rugby |
Rugby union is for meatheads |  | | |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:29 - Mar 22 with 3020 views | Swansea_Blue |
Did they put out a second team yesterday? I've paid no attention to it - wouldn't have known they played/lost if it wasn't for this place. |  |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:35 - Mar 22 with 2990 views | wkj |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:29 - Mar 22 by MattinLondon |
Rugby union is for meatheads |
Given your avatar it should be right up your alley then! | |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:37 - Mar 22 with 2978 views | MattinLondon |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:35 - Mar 22 by wkj |
Given your avatar it should be right up your alley then! |
To be fair that was quite a good comment. | | | |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:38 - Mar 22 with 2973 views | Darth_Koont |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:28 - Mar 22 by Illinoisblue |
it just struck me looking at their line-up.... that team would struggle to win a Championship game.
I'm sure a lot of Scottish fans look at Iceland - and the Irish - and wonder why they can't do what they're doing in terms of being somewhat competitive and at least qualifying for tournaments. |
I think they use other countries' better-performing pyramids (the Scottish one is flawed by the gap to the Old Firm in resources that still doesn't see many players break through there anyway). And also they have low expectations and turn that more to their advantage.
But these sides are still pretty cyclical and will disappear for a generation too. Scotland's cycle is just one of disappointment since we nearly broke through the punitive seeding structure around 10 years ago. Our best team in a while got drawn in the same Euro Q group as France and Italy who'd just played each other in the World Cup final!! And we got pipped right at the end. | |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:40 - Mar 22 with 2957 views | Bluebell |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:29 - Mar 22 by Swansea_Blue |
Did they put out a second team yesterday? I've paid no attention to it - wouldn't have known they played/lost if it wasn't for this place. |
I was multi-tasking yesterday (as usual) with the television on but didn't recognise the names of any of their players.
I had to check that it was Scotland as it could have been any team! |  | | |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:40 - Mar 22 with 2943 views | SpruceMoose |
Man, they need a Duncan Ferguson. Now he was a centre forward. |  |
| Pronouns: He/Him/His.
"Imagine being a heterosexual white male in Britain at this moment. How bad is that. Everything you say is racist, everything you say is homophobic. The Woke community have really f****d this country." | | Poll: | Selectamod |
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| on 12:46 - Mar 22 with 2919 views | _ |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 13:13 - Mar 22 with 2865 views | chicoazul |
It is genuinely weird. Only 30 years ago there were several genuinely world class Scottish footballers. It's probably because the route of coming to England to improve is blocked now by other nationalities getting the opportunities they used to get. |  |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 13:33 - Mar 22 with 2827 views | ParisBlue |
Ryan Fraser and Callum Patterson "were excused prior to this afternoon's Euro 2020 qualifying loss to Kazakhstan due to the Astana Arena's plastic pitch"
Andy Robertson "stayed behind in Glasgow when the squad left on Sunday night to have an operation on an abscess in his mouth"
Whilst not eh calibre of Dalglish they still have some decent players but looks like they don't want to play. |  |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 14:56 - Mar 22 with 2732 views | Illinoisblue |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 12:40 - Mar 22 by SpruceMoose |
Man, they need a Duncan Ferguson. Now he was a centre forward. |
he's the type of player WE need. | |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 15:00 - Mar 22 with 2706 views | SpruceMoose |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 14:56 - Mar 22 by Illinoisblue |
he's the type of player WE need. |
I was convinced Big Fat Joe was going to sign him. | |
| Pronouns: He/Him/His.
"Imagine being a heterosexual white male in Britain at this moment. How bad is that. Everything you say is racist, everything you say is homophobic. The Woke community have really f****d this country." | | Poll: | Selectamod |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 17:38 - Mar 22 with 2596 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
They have a few good players coming through.
Billy Gilmour, Cm at Chelsea really good player, think Fabregas
Greg Taylor, Lb like a young Andy Robertson really good
Glenn Middleton, Lw lightning fast and a top prospect
Will be a decent team in a few years |  |
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| on 17:58 - Mar 24 with 2321 views | _ |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 17:38 - Mar 22 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
They have a few good players coming through.
Billy Gilmour, Cm at Chelsea really good player, think Fabregas
Greg Taylor, Lb like a young Andy Robertson really good
Glenn Middleton, Lw lightning fast and a top prospect
Will be a decent team in a few years |
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| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 18:02 - Mar 24 with 2314 views | gtsb |
| Why don’t Scotland have any top class players? on 13:13 - Mar 22 by chicoazul |
It is genuinely weird. Only 30 years ago there were several genuinely world class Scottish footballers. It's probably because the route of coming to England to improve is blocked now by other nationalities getting the opportunities they used to get. |
100% this. |  | | |
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