Gordopolis

Bit of a rambly one this, but bear with me... Firstly, I agree that this isn't the time or place to start throwing caps around, especially when they won't tie anyone down. The place to ease in the likes of this Bruno Davidson (the 18 year old Celtic player) is the under 18/19/21 squad. But then there's the problem we have had for decades with our underage sides. Not only do we recycle shite managers, but also there is a clear disconnect between the unders - particularly the u21s - and the full squad. Fraser Hornby is a good example of this. He was our top scorer at u21 level, yet as soon as he passed the age threshold he basically vanished from the Scotland radar. The obvious reply to that is that "of course he did, because he's barely made a mark in club football either! He was never good enough." But if that was so obviously the case, then you have to ask why we used him as our lone striker for so long. If he was obviously never going to cut it at full international level then were we just burning u21 caps by using him instead of someone maybe more likely to make that transition? Of course you could argue there was nobody more suited to playing u21 #9 during that time - I'll admit I'm struggling to think of anyone. Alternatively you might think Hornby is a decent player who might still develop into a full international. And if that's the case, shouldn't we have a more joined-up and supportive 'bridging' system to guide players towards full recognition, keeping them involved - with perhaps B internationals or something? Or by having the most promising ones join up with the full squad around and for a while after the time of passing the age threshold - maybe not as full squad members, but just to keep them more integrated with things as opposed to just forgetting about them until if/when they hit club form that warrants a full call up? I realise I'm semi-havering there, but it's pretty dire when, for example, you can't really recall a young striker being promoted from the u21s and actually working for the full team. Maybe McFadden was the last? Miller around the same time - both 20 ish years ago. Since then it's always at 24/25/26 our forwards seem to come through.

Think this is the dude: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bruno-davidson-target-new-celtic-28096140

Can't tell if you're at the wind up with Doak? Part of me wants to scoff at the idea, but part of me thinks it'd be quite exciting to see us try someone so young and brimming with potential so early.

It wouldn't be just for the sake of it though, would it? It's the appropriate place to see how he handles playing in goals for his country. If he's going to shit himself and start crying, I'd rather he did it in this friendly than in the qualifiers next year.

Paul Ritchie. Now he had a weird career.

Yep, a travesty.

Anyway... Scotland! Yaaaas!

They were poor results, but Smith's 1-0 defeat at home to Belarus was woeful as well.

Is that being talked about? Last time I was in Istanbul, more than one group of locals told me the majority of Istanbullus were of Kurdish origin or descent. Not sure if it's true or not. Edit: it's not - estimated roughly 2m Kurds in the city's 15m population. Still, certainly enough to make a political noise at a game if they wanted to.

There can only be 'shree', surely?

That was a massive problem for a long time - long before Strachan and after too. I think barring the two wins vs Croatia in 2013/14 (ironically overseen by Strachan), we had failed to beat a higher ranked team in a competitive game since something ridiculous like 2007, all the way through into Clarke's reign , I *think*.

Don't disagree with that angle at all - yet it remains one of the most vulgar attempts at deflection I've ever heard, and that's why, I think, he was rightly ridiculed for it.

Strachan was - in hindsight - a wee fanny who failed in most respects. The only thing I would credit him for is in making us a bit more attacking (than Levein), without being overly open and inviting lots of heavy defeats (as happened with Burley). His patter was angry wee man stuff, and the cherry on the cake was that eugenics line after his final game. He should have been gone before then but as others have pointed out, that very good and unexpected lift in form and 7 game run that nearly got us qualified for WC 2018 kept him in a job until that final, unsuccessful match. All that said, it's worth recalling how it felt 'in the moment', specifically during the middle of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign (I'm thinking of the build up to the Dublin match for some reason). We were well in the mix, and there was a general sense of improvement with the new, faster and more attacking and effective style - something that was dubbed 'the system' a lot on here. Then there were the players that had arrived on the scene in Strachan's reign: Ikechi Anya turned up and showed us that explosive pace is great to watch and very useful in terms of getting results. Cracking wee player. Russell Martin too, I think - for a while he seemed to have 'fixed' our defence, alongside a young Grant Hanley. Anyway, not sure it ever felt anything like as good as it does now with SCC, but it definitely didn't feel like a dark age or anything like that. It's brilliant to be riding this wave of success just now, though I expect a rational and more objective assessment of how well Clarke has done will come a few years down the line, when we're looking in the rear view mirror. Here's hoping we can look back on this period as just the beginning of a mini golden age for the national team.

And in contrast the old system of pointless friendlies* that we persisted with for over 100 years just seems bonkers. *I absolutely detested it when Scotland so often "chose not to take a game" in those bad old days. A few times it was to have a morale building camp or the like, but the majority of the time it was just lack of being arsed.

Isn't there some pish coming in where South American sides will compete in the next Nations' League? Or did I just dream that?