Ryan Gauld

[IrishBhoy]

2 hours ago, paul-r-cfc said:

2 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

I would imagine if Miller was coming through at this current time there would be much more of a fuss made about getting him into the squad, as seems to be the way when anyone shows even a glimmer of potential. 
 
I suppose in 2000 Scotland had qualified for the previous World Cup so there wasn’t as much unrest around the team at that time. Did Scotland put up a good show in qualifying for Euro 2000? 

Narrowly beaten by England in the play offs

Jeez I did know that. Can actually remember watching those games. Hutchison scored late on at Wembley to give Scotland a slight chance if I remember correctly. 

[Gordopolis]

Around that time (1999-2000) there was a bit of a cull of the older guys like Durie, Jackson and Gallacher... Bubbling under were Booth, Freedman, Donnelly and Winters(!)... Billy Dodds became the main striker... But the young hopeful at the time was Mark Burchill who - believe it or not - was touted as 'the Scottish Michael Owen' by some wildly overoptimistic pundits (no doubt the same kind of twits who labelled John Fleck as 'the Scottish Wayne Rooney' or that big winger whose name currently escapes me as 'the Scottish Gareth Bale').
Miller won a solitary cap in 2001 after he had already joined Wolves and did not become a regular until 2003.
*Edit: After checking, it seems he may still have been at Rangers when he won his first cap (a 10min sub appearance in a 1-1 friendly against Poland). He was sent on a three-month loan to Wolves the same year before they paid £3M to get him in the December.

Ha, my reply and yours are spookily similar!

[HoBNob]

2 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

Jeez I did know that. Can actually remember watching those games. Hutchison scored late on at Wembley to give Scotland a slight chance if I remember correctly. 

David Seamen pulled off a wonder save later in the game aswell. 

[IrishBhoy]

1 minute ago, Grant228 said:

David Seamen pulled off a wonder save later in the game aswell. 

Was it Paul Scholes that absolutely ran the game at Hampden in the first leg? Comparing those two teams England were much the stronger team. For Scotland to still have a chance at the end of the second leg they must have played well. 

[Snobot]

Was also there, right behind the goal where Hutchison scored. We played them off the park in the second leg. Keegan played Sol Campbell at RB and Neil McCann destroyed him. Seaman saved a point blank Dailly header, if he’d put it anywhere else on target he would have scored. I spent all afternoon before the game getting pished next the lions in Trafalgar Square - it was a brilliant atmosphere. 

2 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

Was it Paul Scholes that absolutely ran the game at Hampden in the first leg? Comparing those two teams England were much the stronger team. For Scotland to still have a chance at the end of the second leg they must have played well. 

Yes, I think Lambert was either suspended or injured which was a big loss and gave Scholes room to operate. Barry Ferguson was very good in the second leg. Don Hutchison was hugely under-rated, if we had him now we’d be a much better team.

[invergowrie arab]

Poor c**t finally hits a bit of form and football gets stopped. 

He is absolutely cursed.

[IrishBhoy]

17 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Poor c**t finally hits a bit of form and football gets stopped. 

He is absolutely cursed.

At least he has his supervisor job in Burger King to fall back on, majority of players aren’t so lucky. 

[IggyStooge]

18 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

23 hours ago, IggyStooge said:

Around that time (1999-2000) there was a bit of a cull of the older guys like Durie, Jackson and Gallacher... Bubbling under were Booth, Freedman, Donnelly and Winters(!)... Billy Dodds became the main striker... But the young hopeful at the time was Mark Burchill who - believe it or not - was touted as 'the Scottish Michael Owen' by some wildly overoptimistic pundits (no doubt the same kind of twits who labelled John Fleck as 'the Scottish Wayne Rooney' or that big winger whose name currently escapes me as 'the Scottish Gareth Bale').
Miller won a solitary cap in 2001 after he had already joined Wolves and did not become a regular until 2003.
*Edit: After checking, it seems he may still have been at Rangers when he won his first cap (a 10min sub appearance in a 1-1 friendly against Poland). He was sent on a three-month loan to Wolves the same year before they paid £3M to get him in the December.

Ha, my reply and yours are spookily similar!

Indeed, hah. We both remember the SS Mark Burchill Great Young Hope; the wreck of which is currently marooned at the SuperScoreBoard offices in Clydebank.

I remember being shocked that Broon actually picked a youngster - He must have had a stormer of an Old Firm debut which led to the OTT clamour for him to be drafted in. Something similar happened with Maloney (albeit with far less hype around him initially) who became one of those you referred to; only truly blossoming later in his international career, becoming a pivotal player in the 2016 campaign.

Edited March 26, 2020 by IggyStooge

[BB_Bino]

But the young hopeful at the time was Mark Burchill who - believe it or not - was touted as 'the Scottish Michael Owen' by some wildly overoptimistic pundits

One of my low points in life was being a highly pissed young sailor in the Black Bull pub in Malta, arguing with a group of Liverpool fans that Burchill would become a better player than Owen.....dear oh dear. I didn’t even believe half the pish that was coming out my mouth at the time [emoji85]

[craigkillie]

2-0 up away against a really good Czech team but shat it with late 3-2 winner for Czechs. I was there. Think Czechs qualified unbeaten and we were second

The Czechs won every single qualifier. I doubt we'd have got anywhere near then even if we'd won in Prague.

[The Algebraist]

 

10 hours ago, Geez a Braco said:

Thing was Burchill was potentially an excellent player but through work rate and improved intelligence Kenny Miller became a far better player.    

Burchill, O'Conner and Tony Watt should have been mainstays of the national team - but let themselves down via their lack of motivation to better themselves.  

Thankfully our young players seem to be largely over this attitude. Young people in general are changing and they are all so connected they think of themselves as part of a far bigger world.  The best are taking their cues off Guardiola and Robertson while previously Glasgow was the height of their education. 

I think there are a few reasons for the clamour around getting youngsters in the team. 1. People watch and can follow far more football so are more aware of them. 2. The glamour around playing for Scotland is largely gone and the best are perceived to have options, whether it is playing for another country or just focusing on club football. 3. We still haven't really settled on what the post Strachan era looks like. 

One thing you can say is at least everyone picked looks like an athlete and there is some real inspiration being provided by Robertson McTominay and others. 

[BB_Bino]

Burchill, O'Conner and Tony Watt should have been mainstays of the national team - but let themselves down via their lack of motivation to better themselves.  

Would totally agree with this, although to be fair on Burchill, he did get a bad injury down at Portsmouth and never really kicked on from that.

I would also throw Derek Riordan into that group as well. Watt still has time on his hands to be fair, but at 26, time could start to run out for him very quickly if he doesn’t establish himself at a club soon.

[craigkillie]

I never got the feeling Burchill had a bad attitude, he just wasn't actually that good once the surprise factor wore off.

[Gordopolis]

I never got the feeling Burchill had a bad attitude, he just wasn't actually that good once the surprise factor wore off.

Yeah Burchill always seemed a decent athlete and keen to do well. The injury at Pompey might have shaved an edge off his pace but I don't think it was the difference between him being Michael Owen and, well, Mark Burchill

[DA Baracus]

Burchill was brilliant at us in 05/06. Scored a decent amount of goals in a poor team fighting relegation.

[Ludo*1]

He was very meh for us. He was nowhere near the level of Nacho Novo, Fabian Caballerro & Stevie Lovell who were all on our books at the same time as Burchill and were within a 3 year age period as him. Even Sebastian Kneissl who we had on loan at the same time contributed roughly a similar amount.

Honestly never showed anything of his early promise at Dens - yet Jim Duffy started him ahead of Novo in the cup final. A decision many Dee's still hold against Duffy to this day.

[Gordopolis]

Burchill was brilliant at us in 05/06. Scored a decent amount of goals in a poor team fighting relegation.

If I remember rightly he was being touted (here and there in the media) for a Scotland recall at the time?

[DA Baracus]

8 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

9 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Burchill was brilliant at us in 05/06. Scored a decent amount of goals in a poor team fighting relegation.

If I remember rightly he was being touted (here and there in the media) for a Scotland recall at the time?

I believe so.

[craigkillie]

He was hopeless for Killie, but he did recommend us to Dieter van Tornhout so all was forgiven.

[Crawford Bridge]

On 25/03/2020 at 04:38, IrishBhoy said:

When Kenny Miller came onto the scene at Hibs, and then got the move to Rangers around the millennium, was there a clamour from Scotland fans to get him into the squad? Asking because I was too young at that time and not taking much notice. I know he was impressive at Hibs and I believe he was good for Rangers as well as he got a good move, but I don’t remember him being in Scotland squads around that time, I only really remember him being in the team as he got older. 

Mark Burchill "burst" on to the scene at the same time coming of the bench for the last 10 minutes when Celtic were 4-0 up.

The bias that has always existed when it comes to Scotland selection meant Miller had no chance despite clearly being the better player who was starting every week for his club.