Start Planning Now For Campaigns To Come

AT LEAST, the manager's position has been settled, and Wee Gordon Strachan will continue as the Gaffer until at least the end of our 2018 World Cup Qualifying Campaign.

 

The consensus is that the unsuccessful 2016 European Championships Qualifying Camaign went rather well. WGS has, according to the commentators in the mainstream media (msm), put the smile back on the faces of the Tartan Army. 

 

In reality, however, we, at best, stood still during the campaign which has just ended in our failure to get our of our qualifying pool. The campaign which has just ended was our ninth, since UEFA introduced the concept of seeded draws.

 

Our best was the 2008 campaign. Coming from a low start of a ranking of 27, we reached the play-offs, finishing ranked 15.

 

Second-best was the 1996 campaign. We began ranked 19th in Europe, finished the qualifying campaign ranked 12th, and qualified for the finals in England.

 

Next came the 1992 campaign, during which we started ranked 13th in Europe, but finished as the 7th ranked side, and, for the first time, we qualified for the final tournament in Sweden.

 

Our 1988 campaign is now seen as something of a non-event; we went into it ranked 24th in Europe, and finished it in position 22. This is the same two-place advance which we have just made in our "good" 2016 campaign!!

 

Next best was the 2004 campaign, under Berti Vogts. We didn't qualify, but, in starting and finishing in 20th position in the rankings, we at least stood our ground. Then comes the 2012 campaign under Craig Levein. This period is viewed as an unmitigated disaster; maybes aye, maybes naw, but, in sliding from a starting ranking of 24 to finish-up as the 27th best in Europe, well, we've been worse.

 

We certainly were in 1984, the first time the draw was seeded. We went into that campaign with an experienced squad - Leighton, McLeish and Miller, Alan Hanson, Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish etc., managed by Jock Stein. We were ranked 15th, finished in 25th place, a drop of ten places.

 

That was the low point, until the 2000 campaign. When the draw was made, we were right up there alongside the big boys in Pot One. The pecking order, from one to nine, was:

Germany, Spain, Romania, England, SCOTLAND, Yugoslavia, Italy and Norway.

 

We might have started off in sixth spot, but when th qualifying campaign was over, we were down among the also-rans in 17th spot. OK, we finished second in our qualifying group to reach the play-offs. But, while losing out at that stage was bad enough, the fact we lost to England, after beating them at Wembley, well, that was adding insult to injury.

 

I appreciate, some might say: "Ah but, we reached the play-offs". Maybe so, but, we still did not qualify, we did not perform as we should have.

 

That's the history. How can we turn things around for the upcoming campaigns, for World Cup 2018, then Euro 2020?

 

I worry about these campaigns, because, there does not appear to be a plan of campaign inside Hampden.

 

We do not have a meaningful fixture between now and the start of the 2018 campaign, 11-months away. OK, it may well be that we end up with a clutch of friendlies, as warm-up opposition for some of the 24 nations who will be playing in France next summer. And, as long experience has taught us, Scotland does not do meaningless games too well.

 

One of Berti Vogts's ideas when he was hired was to play a lot more development internationals, as a bridge between the Under-21 and A squads. Sadly, the Hampden blazers and the msm never bought-into this idea.

 

This is a notion which I feel we should re-assess. Also, may I bring-up one of my pet notions - bring back the Home Internationals. I do not, in this instance, mean full-blooded, A squad games, as were for so-long the mainstay of international football on these islands.

 

Why not make these Under-23, or Under-25, "B internationals", "Development Internationals". Call them what you will, but, make them low-key games, as a means of bringing through fresh talent.

 

I reckon the other countries in the British Isles would buy into such a tournament, which would surely attract both television coverage and sponsorship.

 

With such a tournament, WGS might find team-building easier and we would have a lot fewer examples of previously unknown players from the English Championship being capped.

 

It is, I feel, worth considering.