Where do we go wrong?

[SMEE]

Got to thinking (based on another thread i started), where are we going wrong that we cant produce class players in this country? Is the answer as simple as going to the likes of Holland, Italy, France etc and emulating the systems they have in place? We are technically light years behind these countries

[KingBeastie]

Right SMEE - you've got my back up right away with such a negative and IMO nonsense post.

It wasn't long ago our under 21's got to the final of the Euro championships only getting beat by a fantastic Spanish side.

I go to pretty much every Scotland game and have watched the team make steady and solid progress since the bad days under "that german."

We are 15th in the world.

We beat the world cup runners up home and away.

We were in a qualifing group with the world cup winners and runners up and ran them very close right until a ridiculous desicion in the last minute.

We have good, young players playing in our top flight on a regular basis, this is only good for the future.

Teams have learnt their lesson by paying too much to cr@p foreigners and several nearly bankrupting themselves in the process.  Even the OF now have more Scottish players than foreign and they are making more progress in Europe.

We can see with the english the situation that so many foreign players will (and already is) have a detremental effect on their national team, we seem to have learnt from these mistakes.

Please don't take this personally but your post is (purely in my opinion) un-thought out nonsense.

We have a lot of good, young players, with more to come and we ARE making progress.

What more do you want?

[FortressICT]

I think it's safe to say you just got done there SMEE!

[CaleyD]

I think KingBeastie has been a little harsh on SMEE.....Whilst we have improved a lot over the last few years and our position isn't as bad as many perceive, there's no doubting that we still have a fair bit of catch-up to do in order to emulate the more successful nations.

For the Size of Scotland in comparison to these other guys I think we're doing pretty darn well though.

[KingBeastie]

Did not mean to be harsh on SMEE, I generaly like his posts and agree with what he says, I just found the post very negative and dismissive of what IMO is important with our national team - that is as you have already said "we have improved" and we are continuing to improve.

[SMEE]

OK KingBeastie...when was the last Championship our Full National Team (THE one that matters) even qualified for? And in the ones they have done in the past...they fall flat on their faces! The ONE instance of NEAR sucsess at all levels you highlight does NOT constitute sucsess by any stretch of the imagination.  And here is a challenge for you KB...name me 3 Scottish players that most teams would happily have on their teamsheet?

[SMEE]

Also.....I think you are confusing progress with re-finding our feet after a very low point in Scottish football history.

[KingBeastie]

15th in the world is progress - it's the highest we've ever been (well 14 last month but...).

We are not likely to be getting to the last 4 of euro champs and the last 8 of world cups, there are more people in London than in Scotland.  We are a small country, we will never have the depth or resources of the nations you mention.  Not many people do have resources and talent the like of Holland, Italy and France.

As for 3 players - Craig Gordon is international standard, with keepers such as Italys Buffon saying he's an outstanding keeper.

Scott Brown was magnificent in our last campaign, Alan Hutton has been in amazing form (will it last tho?) and McFaddens goal ratio at international level is wonderful.

Sorry if you don't agree and no personal offence was meant in my first post.

[SMEE]

No offence was taken KB.

[Alex MacLeod]

The whole point is we aren't going wrong. We did go wrong when the bigger teams thought they could win europe by filling thier squads with foriegners. We did go wrong when we couldn't see that a national youth policy was a must. We did go wrong when we brought Bertie Voghts into the picture. Now we are going right. We have all teams supporting the youth academies. We have some government funding. We have looked at the Holland set up and taken a great deal from it. We are a long way behind other countries but are now beginning to see the fruits of our labour. As has been pointed out our youth squads, both at club and country level, are doing very well. Some of those youngsters are starting to filter through to the national squad. Scotlands is at its highest ranking ever. Development takes time but it is happening.

[broomie boy]

i know it'll never happen, but we need to go back to limiting foreign players