Alex McLeish Is Sacked.

[Malcolm Malcolm]

What the hell is going on?

[Savage Henry]

What the hell is going on?

At this point it screams “Keith Jackson has jumped the gun”.

[Malcolm Malcolm]

1 minute ago, Savage Henry said:

 

At this point it screams “Keith Jackson has jumped the gun”.

 

I suspect so, and if he has the McLeish family are probably furious with him.

[Savage Henry]

I suspect so, and if he has the McLeish family are probably furious with him.

It has a very bad aftertaste, at the very least.

[Malcolm Malcolm]

I was no advocate for giving McLeish the job, and I was pretty appalled by the Kazakhstan result, but the way fans hound Scotland managers isn't healthy.  McLeish is a symptom rather than the cause.

[Monkey Tennis]

22 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

 

At this point it screams “Keith Jackson has jumped the gun”.

 

I thought he was just referring to the direction taken by the thread.

[Savage Henry]

I thought he was just referring to the direction taken by the thread.

I’ve had five pints, so you are probably right.

[Monkey Tennis]

53 minutes ago, Tartan Tammy 1297 said:

I never used any 

Inexplicable.

[Billy Rubin]

5 minutes ago, Malcolm Malcolm said:

I was no advocate for giving McLeish the job, and I was pretty appalled by the Kazakhstan result, but the way fans hound Scotland managers isn't healthy.

They really don't.   One of criticisms of the TA is they celebrate 'glorious failures'  even George Burley and Berti Vogts weren't chased by the Tartan Army.    

 

[Monkey Tennis]

1 minute ago, Savage Henry said:

I’ve had five pints, so you are probably right.

No, I think the mistake was mine.

[Malcolm Malcolm]

5 minutes ago, Billy Rubin said:

They really don't.   One of criticisms of the TA is they celebrate 'glorious failures'  even George Burley and Berti Vogts weren't chased by the Tartan Army.    

 

There's few managers that seem to escape from the job who aren't bitter and scarred by the experience.

[7-2]

3 hours ago, Marr1 said:

Campaign isn't a right off until the Russia games (unless we lose to Cyprus)

Other than the usual names, Clarke (sorry @craigkillie) and Neil - I would suggest a bold appointment in Shaun Maloney - I suppose he's never managed before but he's Assistant to Roberto Martinez at Belgium. So he knows the current crop of Scotland players and he has some experience of the international scene with a team that made the World Cup semi-final.

Would probably need an experienced assistant to help him, but could be worth a shot.

He could maybe ask Thierry Henry and Graham Jones for some advice.

[forameus]

5 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

Did you watch the Israel and Kazakhstan away games? at Hampden we were a cracking Alan McGregor save away from chucking away a two goal lead against Israel and finishing second/third, Albania at home also gave us a fright. Albania away was a rare bright spot. We have hardly sparkled under McLeish. History suggests this will continue, and we'll be lucky to finish fourth in the group and be praying that the likes of Serbia qualify directly so we can avoid them in the play-offs.  Belgium and Russia away could be very painful indeed.

Nothing is certain, but on the balance of probabilities we'll finish well outside the top two and 50/50 to qualify via the play-offs. Time to make a change is now IF we can get the right man in charge,

And none of that really changes what I'm getting at.  I can completely understand people saying "I don't think we'll get anything from either game in Russia".  That's fine, and, let's face it, you'll probably be proved correct (particularly away).  But it's the hysterical consternation when anyone thinks the opposite I don't get.  I know it's the internet and everything, but come on...

4 hours ago, 7-2 said:

Exactly which recent history are you looking at? My recent history, and longer, shows Scotland failing to qualify for a tournament since 1998 with part of the reason being the failure to beat so-called smaller nations they were meant to win in. We've started this campaign in a manner that suggests we are going to match our recent history yet again, perhaps worse given the level of performance. I'm completely at a loss to understand why anybody would think it would be different this time.

It's probably the history where in every campaign, we get a result no-one probably saw coming prior to the game.  A point against England (which should have been more, our fault), a point against Poland (which should have been more, our fault), beating Croatia twice.  

It's almost like no matter how shite our campaign starts (and it always starts fucking dreadfully), a single game is never a foregone conclusion.  And, I know this might be shocking, but it's almost like saying we might get a decent result in a one-off game doesn't really say much about the entire campaign.

4 hours ago, Marr1 said:

Campaign isn't a right off until the Russia games (unless we lose to Cyprus)

I'd say this.  Put simply, the next time we lose (that isn't to Belgium) we're all but mathematically eliminated.  I suspect we'll look unconvincing, but ultimately beat Cyprus, so it's at least good for us that the Russia game is at Hampden.  Lose that, and we're left needing wins against Belgium (which is very, very, very, very, very, veeeeeery unlikely to happen), so we'll either be pretty much done.

I think I looked at all the fixtures on another forum and worked out exactly when we'd probably be fucked, but I can't be arsed going through that again.  Defeat against Cyprus would have us on death row until September, and that window could seal our fate.  If we somehow survive out of that one, it's mission to Moscow/wherever we're playing a month later, and that very well could be it.

Edited March 29, 2019 by forameus

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, Malcolm Malcolm said:

There's few managers that seem to escape from the job who aren't bitter and scarred by the experience.

That's because it's difficult, high profile and has been the scene of failure for ages.

[Malcolm Malcolm]

41 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

That's because it's difficult, high profile and has been the scene of failure for ages.

I get that, but it adds to all of those negatives and makes the job even less attractive. I am not a fan of the culture of hounding managers at all. McLeish will not remain in post for very long in present form, and he'll know that. He doesn't need people accusing him of being an alcoholic.

I actually think the squad are underperforming significantly, but the negative atmosphere around the national team is part of that. 

[swing_kinker]

On 29/03/2019 at 23:25, Malcolm Malcolm said:

I get that, but it adds to all of those negatives and makes the job even less attractive. I am not a fan of the culture of hounding managers at all. McLeish will not remain in post for very long in present form, and he'll know that. He doesn't need people accusing him of being an alcoholic.

I actually think the squad are underperforming significantly, but the negative atmosphere around the national team is part of that. 

Agreed. It's all a little unsettling how so many seemingly reasonable people are OK with this culture of personal abuse for someone who is just struggling in his job. I want him out and will.talk about his abilities but all this alkie talk and lack for any basic human empathy is a little sad. 

Edited March 31, 2019 by swing_kinker

[Jacksgranda]

21 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Keith Jackson in "guess a story in the hope you're the first to break it" shocker, he has the easiest job in the world, just make up absolute shite all the time, and make sure most of it is Old Firm related.

McLeish clearly isnt well, folk can talk about how it's not nice to speculate about if they wish, but its staring you right in the face. He needs to quit, hes not doing anyone any favours at all, including himself, by staying in this fucking boiling pot.

Bizarre to see folk, @craigkillie, claim the chances of qualifying isnt over as we could "pick up four points against Russia". When did we last beat a World Cup Quarter Finalist a year after the tournament?

1967?

[suitsuit]

22 hours ago, John Lambies Doos said:

France 2007, yet they were the finalists, and we took 6 points. Hth

 

Ukraine 2007 too. 

[Bairnardo]

Devils advocate here... If you think it is/was always going to be impossible to get results off Russia, how exactly were we ever going to qualify out of this group anyway?

Losing to Kazakhstan makes at least 4 points off Russia a must now. Mayne even need 6 which is a huge ask no doubt, but surely if we all simply took the results agaisnt the smaller nations to the bank, we still would have needed 4 off Russia?

This is assuming Belgium skelp everyone.

[Monkey Tennis]

21 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Devils advocate here... If you think it is/was always going to be impossible to get results off Russia, how exactly were we ever going to qualify out of this group anyway?

Losing to Kazakhstan makes at least 4 points off Russia a must now. Mayne even need 6 which is a huge ask no doubt, but surely if we all simply took the results agaisnt the smaller nations to the bank, we still would have needed 4 off Russia?

This is assuming Belgium skelp everyone.

Is the point not that having seen our respective results in Kazakhstan, taking a decent return from Russia looks far less feasible than it did before the group got underway?