Next Scotland Manager

[Falcor Roar]

4 minutes ago, red23 said:

"BUT WIT ABOUT THE RANGERS MEN"

I don't think Clarke likes ****. 

[Aufc]

Christie??

Seriously?

Build the team around a midfield of

Mcgregor Mctominay/mcginn

Forrest. Christie. Fraser


Get griffiths fit. Then do something that gets the best out of andy robertson. That is the starting point

[Falcor Roar]

8 minutes ago, Aufc said:

 

Build the team around a midfield of

Mcgregor Mctominay/mcginn

Forrest. Christie. Fraser


Get griffiths fit. Then do something that gets the best out of andy robertson. That is the starting point

 

Aye thats the side right there. Clarkeball. 

[MickeyPaul]

I was genuinely really pleased with the Clarke appointment until seeing this at 0:24 
 

:( Here we go again...

[Dindeleux]

57 minutes ago, Falcor Roar said:

I don't think Clarke likes ****. 

I was just talking to a guy in work about the issue Clarke has with Sevco and, whilst I don't for a minute think he would let that affect his own job by not picking players, this will be one of the things being jumped on by their fans if he doesn't pick any of their players.

However, and maybe @The_Kincardine can give his opinion, with McGregor retiring I'm not sure what players would make the team.  Ryan Jack is a player I like but I wouldn't swap Alan Power for him and I've already stated that Power probably (if he was Scottish) wouldn't get into our squad based on central midfield being our second strongest position for choices currently.

[Falcor Roar]

Let their fans jump on it. They don't have any players worth picking. 

[Aufc]

Mccrorie could be a player for the future. But they dont really have anyone for the current team

[GordonS]

2 hours ago, Kuro said:

We're miles better than pish like n Ireland and Iceland.  Absolutely MILES.  That's just reality.

I could have sworn I saw them both playing in the knock-out stages of the last European Championship, and saw Iceland top their qualifying group for the World Cup and then keep the world's best player quiet in a draw at the finals. Must have been someone else then.

[GordonS]

1 hour ago, craigkillie said:

 

 

 

 

 

This just pointless defeatism though, isn't it? Generally the mediocre teams who have qualified for the World Cup haven't beaten *us* "fair and square", they've qualified through completely different groups.

 

To suggest that Scotland have "no chance" in the future based on our performance in the past is a bit weird. The same teams don't qualify for every tournament, so every World Cup has several European teams that didn't qualify for the previous one. A lot can change in 4 years. And it's not as though we're constantly finishing near the bottom of groups - we're regularly one place outside of the qualifying spots and often only one result (or even one goal) away from the play-offs.

 

You enjoy eulogising about the women's team on a regular basis - they were basicallt hopeless for years, but have managed to turn things around fairly quickly.

That's nearly a perfect point you make - it wasn't fairly quickly, there were years of rubbish with only Julie Fleeting any good, then there were years of agonising play-off defeats, before the breakthrough came three years ago. You could see women's football in Scotland slowly and steadily improving over the course of many years, especially with the dedication and professionalism at Glasgow City (how many men's part-time teams train four nights a week?). They gradually developed better young players, who headed off to the USA, Sweden and England where they improved with full-time football while another crop developed beneath them. Now we have a third generation coming through who can mix it with most of them.

Boy's football on the other hand... eech. I've been lamenting that for 20 years. The set-up is appalling, the focus is all on the wrong things and there are only small and isolated signs of improvement. We value running about more than technique. The reason I'm so defeatist is because I've been watching age-grade football. 

FWIW, I think there's a big danger of other countries passing us in the women's game in the next couple of decades too. The standard is improving everywhere in Europe and UEFA are making a big push now. Attendances are shooting up in lots of places, many more girls are playing and more clubs are investing in coaching and facilities. Argentina, well below us in the world rankings, is launching a full-time league this year. We're still stuck with crowds of 200-300, part-time football and the more the SFA gets involved, the worse it is likely to get. 

[Kuro]

21 minutes ago, GordonS said:

I could have sworn I saw them both playing in the knock-out stages of the last European Championship, and saw Iceland top their qualifying group for the World Cup and then keep the world's best player quiet in a draw at the finals. Must have been someone else then.

Irrelevant.  We have much better players than both.  Spurs are in the cl final they're hardly the best team in the competition are they?  All you've done is illustrate Scotland are perfectly capable of something similar.

[ftk]

Stevie Clarke has zero experience managing in European football. Probably one of the most inexperienced managers to ever manage Scotland.

Have a feeling he will do well though [emoji846]

[IggyStooge]

The absolute best we could've hoped for from the Scottish candidates and now we look to the future with renewed hope... Yes, that stuff that almost always kills us.

Good luck, SSC. Here's to the journey hopefully ending up with us in Euro 2020 Group D under the Hampden lights.

[IggyStooge]

1 hour ago, MickeyPaul said:

I was genuinely really pleased with the Clarke appointment until seeing this at 0:24 
 

Here we go again...

He did, however, answer correctly at 0:14.

[Bairnardo]

I don't expect miracles from Clarke. What I do expect is that he is someone who players will respect. When they turn up for national duty, they will be working for someone who has a vision, and who commands at least the equal level of respect as any of their club level managers (IMO that was sorely lacking) and his methods will be simliar and as such, understandable. I expect a methodical and pragmatic approach to setting our team up, sans stupid shoe horning of players. 

This is a guy who carries himself well, has high managerial and coaching stock, and seems to be well renowned for his relationship building with players. Its as good as we could do IMO and I am really pleased it's him. He is not afraid to tackle big issues aswell, so the serial call offs might think twice, and I would expect Clarke to push the SFA into invoking the appropriate rules on clubs he sees as taking the piss. 

Pretty happy tbh. The one and only bad point I see in this personally is the removal of Clarke from the league

[Kuro]

59 minutes ago, ftk said:

Stevie Clarke has zero experience managing in European football. Probably one of the most inexperienced managers to ever manage Scotland.

Have a feeling he will do well though

Aye except Craig Brown and roxburgh.

[ftk]

Aye except Craig Brown and roxburgh.

Well if does as well as them I'll be happy.

[Blootoon87]

So is this the thread for speculating on the manager after Clarke now?!

[Bairnardo]

So is this the thread for speculating on the manager after Clarke now?!

Neil McCann for me.

[D.A.F.C]

3 hours ago, GordonS said:

I could have sworn I saw them both playing in the knock-out stages of the last European Championship, and saw Iceland top their qualifying group for the World Cup and then keep the world's best player quiet in a draw at the finals. Must have been someone else then.

At present we are miles behind Iceland and behind Northern Ireland. We may have a few good players coming through but in terms of recent results we aren’t close.

Scottish football needs to wake up and realise that the future isn’t in changing the manager it’s in youth investment and providing the best facilities. That’s the long term solution imo.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want Clark to do well, I like him and I hope he keeps speaking his mind.

[Ira Gaines]

Is there wilful ignorance of the points being made about what Scotland COULD be capable of? Or are people genuinely this stupid?