Scotland FTQ -Again

[Arginald Valleywater]

Oh dear, how sad, the mighty SPL, sorry Old Firm Registered Charity fails to produce enough players to get Scotland to the World Cup.
Years ago you had a mass of Scottish players in Rangers and Diddies squads and even more playing for the elite English teams. So where is the modern Hansen, Dalgliesh, Souness etc?

[Jonone]

Argentina may not make it and they have much better players than Scotland.

Other countries - Portugal with Leidson and Italy with Amauri - are investigating the 'naturalised' route however talent doesn't stick around long enough in Scotland for this to be a goer. Maybe they should look at Canadian, American, New Zealand bloodlines, however those national teams are getting better and better and will surpass Scotland where they haven't already.

The world has changed since Dalglish, Hansen et al. Scotland did well for a number of years inasmuch as they qualified for World Cups. Now they're working with the same kind of resources as Northern Ireland and Wales so maybe expectations should be reined in accordingly ?

[Arginald Valleywater]

It is worrying though, my family has Scottish roots and they are seriously peeved at the level of talent coming through. Scotland has a population of 4 million and has not produced a truly class player for what seems like a decade. What has gone wrong?

[Peter]

Maybe the class players of the past were just a blip of over-achievement, and the current situation is actually normality?

[Jonone]

Darren Fletcher's a good player. He'd get in most Prem squads. Maybe if he played for other top four teams he wouldn't be a regular just as he's rotated at United, but I think he's good enough to play at Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool.

[supsim96]

Don't such factors tend to be cyclical? E.g. Germany get Steffi and Boris at the same time and nobody in the 10-15 years since.

I think I once read that Scotland has the "most-spectated" Football League in Europe re. attendences vs populus - the passion that you Scots have for the game must yield hope that kids will always be playing the sport in droves up there.

It's surely only a matter of time 'til it all "comes together" again.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Most watched? If Celtic play at home their gate exceeds all the other league games in Scotland.

[the man, the legend]

It probably exceeds 90% of the games in England too mate. Likewise when Rangers play at home.

You're forgetting that the population of London is bigger than the whole of Scotland so to say we're punching above our weight is an understatement.