Falling Standards?

[PullMyFinger]

Larsson wasn't bought at his peak he was picked up from some 2nd rate swedish team for peanuts.

It was Feyenoord, but the ?650,000 paid was certainly one of the bargains of the century.

FFS!!! So close to having a factually correct post.... where's that knife?

Was it not Barcelona who took him from the Swedish side?

[EWS]

Celtic to Barca then to Helsinborgs (with a loan at Man U in between)

[Sorted]

The players you list performing in the EPL are very average journeymen in real terms (Gordon the possible exception). Going back, not too far in time, the spine of the great Liverpool team (Hansen, Souness and Dalglish), Man Utd (Jordan, MacQueen, Albiston, Buchan), Leeds (Harvey, Eddie Gray, Frank Gray, Bremner, Lorimer and Jordan), Notts Forest (McGovern, Burns and Robertson) and no doubt many others in many teams. We are now delighted to talk about players in "The Championship" which is (no matter how you flower it up or rebrand it) the old English Division Two.

Bottom line is that Scottish activity in English Division One (proper name) is limited at best. Three guys at an over performing Birmingham City and the rest in teams in the bottom six/eight.

This bares absolutely no comparison with the huge Scottish contingents that dominated the top English teams of the 70s and 80s. We even had Stevie Archibald at Barca, idolised in a fashion his replacement Gary Lineker could only dream of. Add to that Jordan's spell at the San Siro, John Collins in Monaco, Eric Black at Metz, Mark McGee at Hamburg, Mo Johnston at Nates even Brewster at Ionikos. Where is our prescence how? Second Division of the Finnish league or Cyprus?

I think we have a huge problem and don't know what the solution is.

Ban computer games!

You make a fair put and mention some great players there. But another relevant point is that the English top flight is now dominated by the best players from around the world. That was not the case in the 70s and 80s and therefore the best Scottish players were able to compete for places in the top English teams. The likes of Dalgleish and Bremner would have held their own against anybody but many of the others you mention would have struggled in today's Premier Division.

A lot of truth in what you say but think that many more than the pair you listed would have coped admirably. Perhaps it could be said that we then produced some of the best players?