I AM now 65-years-of-age; I finished my formal education at 17, therefore I have done 48-years in the workplace, during which I have been fortunate enough to work in the area which was my dream as a child. I have four children and six grand-children; unfortunately I have lost my wife of 40-years, but, fortunately, I now have another lady in my life.
I have a nice car and enough money to continue to live in a style which suits me. I could drop dead tomorrow, however, since my Old Man abused his body terribly and still made it to 81, I am hopeful, with my more-sensible life-style, of at least lasting as long - but not banking on this.
I ought to be content with my lot, but I am not. For my entire adult life, sport has been a consuming passion. I have written about some 60 sports, from American Football to Yachting, but mostly about football. It is the current state of Scottish Football which concerns me - we are going to Hell in a hand-cart, and to my mind, nobody is giving a shit about this.
The weekend just past was pretty-much the nadir for me. The on-going, snail-like progression towards the Rangers Train Wreck finally ploughing through the buffers at the end of the line is still THE big story; but, in the early hours of Sunday morning, things got a whole lot worse: USA 5 Scotland 1. That we should live to see this, to Scots of my generation and those still alive of the generation before us, 'tis unthinkable - this cannot happen.
But, it has. And what is the reaction of Scotland? Ach! it wis only a freendly. Whit dae ye expect - Levein couldnae pick his nose - noo, whit's happenin at Ibrox? Who are ra Sellik gonnae sign? Back tae oor ain wee middens.
I have written at length on Rangers. I now propose to abstain from further comment until something happens which is worthy of comment. Suffice to say, I still see liquidation as the only sensible outcome, no other option makes sense.
But the Scotland debacle - that's different. That I do feel free to comment upon. That result isn't a single calamity, to be taken in isolation. We've been on the slippery slope for years. Since Scotland re-joined FIFA in 1946 there have been 30 major international tournaments (16 World Cups and 14 European Championships); Scotland has qualified for the finals of a mere 10 of these - the World Cups of 1950, 1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1998, and the European Championships of 1992 and 1998.
OK, we chose not to travel to Brazil in 1950, while we didn't enter the European Championships of 1960 and 1964, but these were abberations on behalf of the SFA - or maybe inspired decisions, made on the basis of: "If we go we'll get thumped, better to stay at home and keep the fans believing we're good".
Along the way we've had a few (perhaps over-) celebrated wins: Jimmy Cowan's Match in 1949, beating Austria in Vienna in 1955, defeating reigning World Champions West Germany in Stuttgart in 1957. The Wembley wins of 1963 and 1967, beating Spain in Madrid in 1963, our Hampden wins over the Czechs in the World Cup qualifying campaigns on 1974 and 1978 - and that's about it.
In fact, if you look at that list, just about the only two games which really mattered - which were "Must Win Six Pointers" (ok we only got two for each one, I know), were the two against the Czechs. These were, to my mind, the last time the Tartan Army has assembled at Hampden knowing: "This one matters - we HAVE to win tonight".
The others, froth. Sure, we felt good afterwards, but, in the grand scheme of things - they meant little or nothing.
Once we were Kings - or thought we were. Now we are being gubbed by a nation, albeit a very big nation, to whom Soccer is just another minor sport, coming far, far behind Baseball - the national obsession - basketball, grid-iron and ice hockey in public consciousness of professional sport. Except, the USA has a superior record to Scotland in World Cup terms and they do have a national, long-term strategy for the development of football (real as opposed to grid iron) in their country.
One year ago, Henry McLeish published his review into Scottish Football. OK, fair's fair, some tinkering has gone on around the edges - the SFA Board, for instance, has slimmed-down from 11 members to 7, there are now independent bodies where once Buggins & Co ruled by committee - but, the in-bred tribalism of Scotland still finds fault, and let's be honest, that isn't difficult.
No, we're in a rare old state and I don't see things getting any better, soon. However, I live in hope that the combination of the Rangers mess, defeat in Jackson, the fall-out (which is coming) from the London Olympics football debacle and other issues, simmering away just beneath the surface, might lead us to a brighter tomorrow.
But then, I've always been a glass-half-full kinda guy.
Embarassment is the only word that sums up this debacle. I'm 45 and my first memories of Scotland were from the 74 world cup. Since then it all seems to have been downhill.
ReplyDeleteTHe SFA and the clubs must take a lot of the blame for this. For decades it's been business as usual, as we have stood still or gone backwards while other countires have invested in their home grown talent and youth football.
OK I know we're a small country and statistically we have a lesser chance of producing quality players than bigger nations. But that argument doesn't always stand. Uruguay (about 3.5 million) and Greece (about 11.5 million) have won world cups and European cups, and even the Scandavian countires do consistently better than us.
Why are we so far behind?
I've heard it said that kids these days are more interested in computers and technology and we just don't produce as many good footballers. Fair enough we don't produce as many good footballers, but not because the talent isn't there. There are many reasons why Scottish kids are not prorgessing into football.
In my footballing days - the 70s and 80s, every secondary school had a football team. Even most primary schools had football teams. How many primary and secondary schools today have football teams?
I don't know the numbers, but I'm willing to be there's quite a few secondary schools without football teams and an even higher proprtion of primary schools. And I'm not even taking into account all the other youth football that was about in those days - boys brigade leagues, scout leagues, youth club leagues, and boys club leagues. How many of these are still going strong?
Ok there are a lot more interests for young males these days, but we're a passionate football country and I believe that if you give young boys the opportunity to play in football teams at every primary and secondary school, they won't be slow at the uptake.
Then, for the few talented Scottish youngsters that do get past this hurdle and into the game and progress to the notice of professional teams coaches there are more hurdles to jump.
I'm a rangers fan and a big fan of Walter Smith, but his approach to giving home grown Scottish players a shot in the first team during his whole time at Ibrox was abysmal. - the same goes for Neil Lennon at Celtic today.
If I was a talented youngster I would not go to rangers or celtic. Your chances of getting into the first team are small. How may talented youngsters have we lost to the game from their going to Rangers or Celtic youth setups with stars in their eyes and then being demoralised or drifting out of the game as it becomes evident they will not be given a chance.
The whole setup needs to be looked at, from school football upwards - but that would require vision and an ability to go against vested interests - something which our sfa and our clubs seem to have very little time for.
Unfortunately I believe it will be business as usual and we will continue to slump down the world football rankings.
However there may be a way forward - e.g. Rangers predicament has led to quite a few youth players getting a game in the first team - and surprise surprise - they're actually quite good.
But if that's what it's going to take (a club almost going to the wall) before we give young players a chance it still doesn't look good. What do you think Rangers will do if they ever get back on their feet financially. Stick with their homegrown players or go out and fill their first team with overseas players? no points for guessing the answer...