Tam McManus blog on Strachan

[ShugtheBuddie]

Very good and worth a read. IMO spot on.

 

http://www.tammcmanus.com/

[Malcolm Malcolm]

Content is very good but fucking hell, Tam needs to lose the novelty layout.

[ShugtheBuddie]

 Reading a few of his blogs writes well  who would have thought it.

[Cerberus]

He is a decent writer but he needs to stop calling himself Tam.

A complete jakeball name if there ever was one.

[Gordopolis]

Tomothy carries much more of a literary ring

[BigBadBoaby]

Realy good article from Tam think the same.

[AyrExile]

Great article. Wish more of the footballing community and pundits were as honest with their views. 

[ShugtheBuddie]

10 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

Tomothy carries much more of a literary ring

 

10 hours ago, Cerberus said:

He is a decent writer but he needs to stop calling himself Tam.

A complete jakeball name if there ever was one.

 

Magnificent snobbery you boys must be from Newton Mearns or perhaps the suburbs of Aberdeen. Or maybe Possil

[Monkey Tennis]

Good to see an ex-player departing from the party line.

Let's not pretend that we're dealing with a gifted writer here though.

[SpoonTon]

I don't agree that we got things spot on against England. It wasn't just defending the crosses, it was giving far too much space out wide. Our deficiencies were far too easy to exploit. 

[Malcolm Malcolm]

15 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

Tomothy carries much more of a literary ring

[ShugtheBuddie]

9 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Good to see an ex-player departing from the party line.

Let's not pretend that we're dealing with a gifted writer here though.

Don't think he or anyone else is claiming him to be Tolstoy to be fair. Good honest read. 

[Monkey Tennis]

9 hours ago, ShugtheBuddie said:

Don't think he or anyone else is claiming him to be Tolstoy to be fair. Good honest read. 

"Writes well", "decent writer" were among the comments.

I don't particularly agree, although much of the content is sensible enough.

[Gordopolis]

"Writes well", "decent writer" were among the comments.

I don't particularly agree, although much of the content is sensible enough.

Got his point across well, I'd say. And, compared to how wooden he sounds (don't know if he's improved recently) on the radio, his article flows nicely enough.

[Monkey Tennis]

10 minutes ago, Gordopolis said:

Got his point across well, I'd say. And, compared to how wooden he sounds (don't know if he's improved recently) on the radio, his article flows nicely enough.

Yes, it's fine.

That's all though.  I thought the couple of comments that highlighted the skill in the writing were a bit much.

[Frankie S]

I don't have any issue with McManus' style - it's clear and consistent enough, but I do take issue with the content. There seems to be an ever-growing consensus amongst the fans that we do have the players, and our underachievement is largely down to our stubborn, inflexible manager. I think this is grossly simplistic, and just as inaccurate as the opposite view - that Strachan is making the best of the limited resources at his disposal. The truth, as ever, lies somewhere in between. 

Just as I don't seek to exculpate Strachan, who has been guilty of numerous inexplicable selections and omissions of late, I don't see the point in blaming him for everything. I think Strachan feels embattled, settling into a paranoid, highly defensive frame of mind and he should have walked or been sacked by now, but let's face facts - his removal is unlikely to unleash a potent, exciting new Scotland team onto the international stage. 

Few would dispute that, overall, we have a higher standard of player than Northern Ireland, but their relative success is predicated upon having three highly experienced English Premiership central defenders, any one of which would walk into our first team. Their greatest asset is our most glaring weakness, but it's a department that is vital at international level. Theirs is hardly a squad of all the talents, though Steven Davis would certainly strengthen our midfield, but they play to their strengths. 

I would dispute that Republic of Ireland have a weaker squad than ours, but concede that there is not that much in it. However, ROI have always exhibited a strong collective willpower and belief that enables them to exceed the sum of the parts. For whatever reason, the Scottish international football team has always underachieved, even when we had manifestly superior players than we do now. There is a mental brittleness about Scotland that does not apply to the Republic, and this is not all down to Strachan, it's an historical trait.

The Ireland cricket team have also consistently over-achieved compared to their Scottish equivalent over the last couple of decades or so, despite a broadly similar standard of elite player (once again Ireland probably have the edge, but not by much) and Scotland possessing a deeper player pool, and stronger domestic league. The Irish cricket team have claimed some notable scalps (England, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh) in World Cups and even in 2020 competitions (decidedly not their natural format), while Hong Kong is the only nation that Scotland has defeated in the finals of an ICC tournament: you can pretty much guarantee that Scotland will contrive to throw away strong positions with a brittle batting collapse or a needlessly expensive bowling spell at the critical point of the match. 

Iceland have been excelling compared to the Scots for a number of years now, at various levels. Anyone who was at Easter Road in Oct 2010 for the second leg of an aggregate 4-2 defeat in the Euro 2011 playoffs will acknowledge that Iceland had a manifestly superior group of players to ours, irrespective of their transfer values in an inflated English Championship market that disproportionately rewards mediocre (but geographically convenient and culturally similar) Scottish talents (Rhodes, Hanley etc.)

There are those who make the case that we should be weeding out our English Championship journeymen for Scottish Premiership journeymen, but in a free market there is invariably a reason why players play at the level they do and not at a higher level. As in other walks of life, football players invariably gravitate to the level (and salary) of their own incompetence. We're not going to improve significantly by replacing limited players with even more limited players, though there are clearly a number of players playing at a halfway decent level that, for whatever reason, do not fit the Strachan mould. 

I would have sacked the stubborn, intransigent, p***kly, under-achieving Strachan by now, but I certainly don't expect any sudden Scottish international footballing Renaissance to follow his departure.

[Monkey Tennis]

I don't think many are claiming that Strachan is responsible for all our ills.

It's pretty clear that he's done badly and that there are wider problems.  Recognising that both views can sit alongside each other is not difficult and I don't think it's beyond many of Strachan's critics on here either.

[ShugtheBuddie]

33 minutes ago, fat larry's band said:

8 paragraphs of blah, blah f**king blah.

At the end of it, sack Strachan.

Not one suggestion about who to bring in.

Bawbag.

Was a bit long winded that

[Malcolm Malcolm]

8 hours ago, Frankie S said:

I don't have any issue with McManus' style - it's clear and consistent enough, but I do take issue with the content. There seems to be an ever-growing consensus amongst the fans that we do have the players, and our underachievement is largely down to our stubborn, inflexible manager. I think this is grossly simplistic, and just as inaccurate as the opposite view - that Strachan is making the best of the limited resources at his disposal. The truth, as ever, lies somewhere in between. 

Just as I don't seek to exculpate Strachan, who has been guilty of numerous inexplicable selections and omissions of late, I don't see the point in blaming him for everything. I think Strachan feels embattled, settling into a paranoid, highly defensive frame of mind and he should have walked or been sacked by now, but let's face facts - his removal is unlikely to unleash a potent, exciting new Scotland team onto the international stage. 

Few would dispute that, overall, we have a higher standard of player than Northern Ireland, but their relative success is predicated upon having three highly experienced English Premiership central defenders, any one of which would walk into our first team. Their greatest asset is our most glaring weakness, but it's a department that is vital at international level. Theirs is hardly a squad of all the talents, though Steven Davis would certainly strengthen our midfield, but they play to their strengths. 

I would dispute that Republic of Ireland have a weaker squad than ours, but concede that there is not that much in it. However, ROI have always exhibited a strong collective willpower and belief that enables them to exceed the sum of the parts. For whatever reason, the Scottish international football team has always underachieved, even when we had manifestly superior players than we do now. There is a mental brittleness about Scotland that does not apply to the Republic, and this is not all down to Strachan, it's an historical trait.

The Ireland cricket team have also consistently over-achieved compared to their Scottish equivalent over the last couple of decades or so, despite a broadly similar standard of elite player (once again Ireland probably have the edge, but not by much) and Scotland possessing a deeper player pool, and stronger domestic league. The Irish cricket team have claimed some notable scalps (England, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh) in World Cups and even in 2020 competitions (decidedly not their natural format), while Hong Kong is the only nation that Scotland has defeated in the finals of an ICC tournament: you can pretty much guarantee that Scotland will contrive to throw away strong positions with a brittle batting collapse or a needlessly expensive bowling spell at the critical point of the match. 

Iceland have been excelling compared to the Scots for a number of years now, at various levels. Anyone who was at Easter Road in Oct 2010 for the second leg of an aggregate 4-2 defeat in the Euro 2011 playoffs will acknowledge that Iceland had a manifestly superior group of players to ours, irrespective of their transfer values in an inflated English Championship market that disproportionately rewards mediocre (but geographically convenient and culturally similar) Scottish talents (Rhodes, Hanley etc.)

There are those who make the case that we should be weeding out our English Championship journeymen for Scottish Premiership journeymen, but in a free market there is invariably a reason why players play at the level they do and not at a higher level. As in other walks of life, football players invariably gravitate to the level (and salary) of their own incompetence. We're not going to improve significantly by replacing limited players with even more limited players, though there are clearly a number of players playing at a halfway decent level that, for whatever reason, do not fit the Strachan mould. 

I would have sacked the stubborn, intransigent, p***kly, under-achieving Strachan by now, but I certainly don't expect any sudden Scottish international footballing Renaissance to follow his departure.

Good read until you unleashed this steamer – 'As in other walks of life, football players invariably gravitate to the level (and salary) of their own incompetence.' 

[1320Lichtie]

I don't have any issue with McManus' style - it's clear and consistent enough, but I do take issue with the content. There seems to be an ever-growing consensus amongst the fans that we do have the players, and our underachievement is largely down to our stubborn, inflexible manager. I think this is grossly simplistic, and just as inaccurate as the opposite view - that Strachan is making the best of the limited resources at his disposal. The truth, as ever, lies somewhere in between. 

Just as I don't seek to exculpate Strachan, who has been guilty of numerous inexplicable selections and omissions of late, I don't see the point in blaming him for everything. I think Strachan feels embattled, settling into a paranoid, highly defensive frame of mind and he should have walked or been sacked by now, but let's face facts - his removal is unlikely to unleash a potent, exciting new Scotland team onto the international stage. 

Few would dispute that, overall, we have a higher standard of player than Northern Ireland, but their relative success is predicated upon having three highly experienced English Premiership central defenders, any one of which would walk into our first team. Their greatest asset is our most glaring weakness, but it's a department that is vital at international level. Theirs is hardly a squad of all the talents, though Steven Davis would certainly strengthen our midfield, but they play to their strengths. 

I would dispute that Republic of Ireland have a weaker squad than ours, but concede that there is not that much in it. However, ROI have always exhibited a strong collective willpower and belief that enables them to exceed the sum of the parts. For whatever reason, the Scottish international football team has always underachieved, even when we had manifestly superior players than we do now. There is a mental brittleness about Scotland that does not apply to the Republic, and this is not all down to Strachan, it's an historical trait.

The Ireland cricket team have also consistently over-achieved compared to their Scottish equivalent over the last couple of decades or so, despite a broadly similar standard of elite player (once again Ireland probably have the edge, but not by much) and Scotland possessing a deeper player pool, and stronger domestic league. The Irish cricket team have claimed some notable scalps (England, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh) in World Cups and even in 2020 competitions (decidedly not their natural format), while Hong Kong is the only nation that Scotland has defeated in the finals of an ICC tournament: you can pretty much guarantee that Scotland will contrive to throw away strong positions with a brittle batting collapse or a needlessly expensive bowling spell at the critical point of the match. 

Iceland have been excelling compared to the Scots for a number of years now, at various levels. Anyone who was at Easter Road in Oct 2010 for the second leg of an aggregate 4-2 defeat in the Euro 2011 playoffs will acknowledge that Iceland had a manifestly superior group of players to ours, irrespective of their transfer values in an inflated English Championship market that disproportionately rewards mediocre (but geographically convenient and culturally similar) Scottish talents (Rhodes, Hanley etc.)

There are those who make the case that we should be weeding out our English Championship journeymen for Scottish Premiership journeymen, but in a free market there is invariably a reason why players play at the level they do and not at a higher level. As in other walks of life, football players invariably gravitate to the level (and salary) of their own incompetence. We're not going to improve significantly by replacing limited players with even more limited players, though there are clearly a number of players playing at a halfway decent level that, for whatever reason, do not fit the Strachan mould. 

I would have sacked the stubborn, intransigent, p***kly, under-achieving Strachan by now, but I certainly don't expect any sudden Scottish international footballing Renaissance to follow his departure.

Brilliant post