Lex Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 With their qualification this evening, Hungary have became the latest European team to join the long list to have qualified for a major finals more recently than Scotland. Here's the full list (I don't think I've missed any but I could be wrong):GermanySpainHollandEnglandFranceItalyLatviaNorwayPolandAustriaSwedenDenmarkPortugalSwitzerlandCroatiaIcelandSerbia and Montenegro (also as Yugoslavia)BosniaWalesNorthern IrelandRepublic of IrelandSloveniaSlovakiaAlbaniaCzech RepublicBelgiumGreeceRussiaTurkeyUkraineBulgariaRomaniaHungaryI make that a remarkable 33 European countries to have qualified for a major finals since 1998. 33 out of 54 current UEFA members, most of Europe have qualified more recently than us. When you consider of the 21 who haven't qualified since 1998 a good portion are no hopers who will never qualify like Gibraltar, Lichtenstein, Andorra etc... It really gives a bit of perspective of the company we are keeping.The most prestigious nations not on the list are the likes of Finland, Cyprus and Israel... Desperate times indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinkinFighter Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 We're shite and we know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinclair Street Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Bosnia have never qualified, and you've counted Poland twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Co.Down Hibee Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 This list really does mean the end of the small nation,no climate for sport rubbish thats been used over the years.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Co.Down Hibee Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Bosnia have never qualified, and you've counted Poland twice. Bosnia were in the last world cup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 Bosnia have never qualified, and you've counted Poland twice. Them pesky Poles, edited. Bosnia were in Brazil last summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcastle broon Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Bosnia have never qualified, and you've counted Poland twice. Does it really matter,I think he's got his point across. Unbelievable stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinclair Street Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Bosnia were in the last world cup Them pesky Poles, edited. Bosnia were in Brazil last summer. Oops, didn't see the 'major finals' bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 I haven't checked the list, but as I was saying on the Euro 2016 thread, every European nation which has qualified for a finals tournament has done so more recently than we have. Due to the qualification of countries like Wales, Northern Ireland and Hungary for Euro 2016 we are the only nation which qualified during the 20th century but has not done so in the 21st. (Israel qualified for WC1970 but while Asian members). It's a fairly sobering statistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Kirin Cup Winners 2006 They Bulgars never knew what hit them, I tells ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Something that occurred to me lately; you could make a case that our nation's fortunes started declining around the time of the 1994 World Cup qualifiers (although it probably started well before that), and the 5-0 defeat to Portugal, which came as a huge surprise. It seemed like a horrific low in a miserable campaign, and to a country that didn't even qualify in the end. The thing that's always stuck with me was the commentator saying that the 5-0 defeat would stick to Scotland's name until we managed to defeat another major European nation by a similar scoreline. Twenty-two years later and that has never looked remotely like happening, but I think that defeat has been largely forgotten because we've seen so much worse since then. We're all well aware that our national side is quite poor these days, but it's worth thinking about exactly how far we've fallen. Back when we played Portugal, they were considered to be in the same group of countries as us - not quite on the 'A' list, but still considered a dark horse when the tournaments came around. We're now a dark horse to qualify, and nobody would be remotely surprised to see us ship five goals in Lisbon, even to a stuttering Portuguese side whose fortunes rest on a single player. If you want to really depress yourself, consider this; as we know, Scotland used to be something of a laughing stock in world football due to our ability to screw up in games where we were considered to be overwhelming favourites. Nobody's laughing any more; if they ever think of us at all, they're wondering where we went. We're world football's Third Lanark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordopolis Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Cheers Lex, I was a bit down what with it being Monday morning and all that. Feeling ACE now! Seriously though, surely there can be no lingering doubt: we've regressed footballing-wise as a nation while the majority of other nations seem to have taken big strides forward. Are we the new Hungary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Absolute embarrassment considering how popular football is here. Find it funny were still getting charged £42 to watch us play a game against Gibraltar when we've been utter shite for 20 years. Value for money eh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawfieldAggro Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 You only got charged that, because you paid it!! The prices are merely a symptom, certainly not a cause and even less of a cure. Yoy could step further back, and note that Estonia and Montenegro have both competed in play-offs since our demise, provided of course you look at it from a 2003 perspective....given that both made theirs a lot more recently, it's hard to argue the case for saying we are better than either currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 You only got charged that, because you paid it!! The prices are merely a symptom, certainly not a cause and even less of a cure. Yoy could step further back, and note that Estonia and Montenegro have both competed in play-offs since our demise, provided of course you look at it from a 2003 perspective....given that both made theirs a lot more recently, it's hard to argue the case for saying we are better than either currently. I didn't pay it. f**k that, on a Sunday night as well. They can gtf. I won't be getting a membership for the next campaign either. It will be the same old story once again like it has been the last 15 years I've been going religiously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Seriously though, surely there can be no lingering doubt: we've regressed footballing-wise as a nation while the majority of other nations seem to have taken big strides forward. Are we the new Hungary? Yes, only they've had a successful side in their history. So, really, not even that. We've carved ourselves a whole new niche, I think - the country that promised much but delivered little, until even the promise wore away. Not sure who else fits into that category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawfieldAggro Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 The inevitable question has to be.....what is at fault?? It's abundantly clear that it isn't an accident.....prices have risen out of all inflation, salaries are larger, there is much more external involvement, and many other things: but these aren't Scottish problems, they are issues for every country. Much as i'm eager to blame those making the appointments when they go tits up, the common factor, indeed the only one, is quite simply the players. They are being raised in this country with a deep paranoia of everyone....diving foreigners, dodgy refs, even a negative mentality going into fairly straightforward matches. Fuelled by managers, media and fans who absolutely love a tear-jerking twist. Ultimately, if they fucking well grew up, they'd be able to change this mindset, which for me has stuck since Burling was in the job. Prior to that, a ten year slump was seen as a much bigger disaster than the twenty-year one we now are in the midst of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledSaint Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 It seems to me that countries like Wales and Iceland are greater than the sum of their parts, whereas Scotland are most definitely less than the sum of their parts. That said, take Bale and Ramsay out of Wales and they are just as gash as us, so maybe the issue is that we lack a truly world class performer. However, I can see absolutely no sign of that changing anytime soon. Robertson who started off like a house on fire has tailed off and is now languishing in the English Championship, Gauld was our Mini Messi but hasn't really kicked on from where he was when he was playing for Sporting during cup games and in fact is now often not playing for the B team, and Jack Harper who was going to be our next superstar has left Real Madrid for Brighton and hasn't even been mentioned at all since doing so (injured?). The future's bleak! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1320Lichtie Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Harper played and scored a good goal for the under 21s v Norwich. Hope he breaks in first team soon. And I think we have quite a decent team just now, certainly no worse than a whole host of teams that will be at the euros. We are just bottlers. The line Shaggro used 'a negative approach to fairly straightforward games' is so very true IMO and shows what kind of mentality we have as a nation. Can never get past that final hurdle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I suppose Lex has to bring his crying over here after being an embarrassment elsewhere. Still revelling in Scottish failure big chap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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