You Watch Andy Murray, Then Despair Of Scottish Fitba

Probably the best player Hibs ever missed-out on

I HAVE to admit, I am finding it more and more difficult to blog on Scottish football, at the start of this 2016-17 season. This is because, I despair of our national game.

I am currently number-crunching for a piece I am writing on Scottish football history. I still have work on this to complete, but, I already know, our performance graph is almost entirely moving in a downward direction – and, I have absolutely no confidence in the High Heid Yins inside Hampden doing anything to turn this downward track into an upward one.

Take this week, for instance. Week Two of the 38-round marathon, at the end of which, we discover which of our top 12 clubs will be crowned Champions. Actually, we could all save ourselves some pain, by giving the trophy to Celtic – now.

Sure, the Lap Top Loyal will do everything within their considerable media power to build-up Rangers as genuine challengers, but, I will be amazed if the trophy does not remain at Celtic Park come the end of the season.

The Celtic Family will rejoice, but, the truth is, this is a poor Celtic squad, mind you, the Rangers one which currently leads the league after the first two games – thereby “proving” to the satisfaction of Ra Peepul that – Rangers are back, is even further away from being a genuine Rangers squad than the one across the city is from being a good Celtic one.

Mediocrity rules in Scotland, get used to it.

By the way, well said the impressive Anne Budge, who has pointed out, we have too-many so-called “senior” clubs in Scotland. I have been saying this for years. It has been that obvious for years. The new girl in the Hampden think tank has already noticed, good luck to Anne in trying to persuade the stumblebums around her in the corridors of power to notice this.

And, while I am ranting, BBC Shortbread is frantically trailing a “ground-breaking new series” on what has gone wrong with The National Game. Having watched the trailers, featuring the usual suspects – Stuart Cosgrove, Graham Spiers and Erchie MacPherson, it will be the same-old, same-old; much ado about nothing.

I HAVE been assessing Scotland's international results since the (English) Football Association and Queen's Park invented international football back in 1872. I am still, as I said above, number crunching, but, here is what I have got at the moment.

1870s – Scotland won 66.67% of the internationals played, taking 72.22% of the available points.

1889s – Scotland won 84.62% of the internationals played, taking 88.46% of the available points.

1890s – Scotland won 63.33% of the internationals played, taking 68.89% of the available points.

1900s – Scotland won 50.00% of the internationals played, taking 57.78% of the available points.

1910s – Scotland won 46.67% of the internationals played, taking 60.00% of the available points.

1920s – Scotland won 69.70% of the internationals played, taking 74.75% of the available points.

1930s – Scotland won 52.38% of the internationals played, taking 58.73% of the available points.

1940s – Scotland won 41.18% of the internationals played, taking 47.06% of the available points.

1950s - Scotland won 47.76% of the internationals played, taking 55.72% of the available points.

1960s – Scotland won 46.03% of the internationals played, taking 52.91% of the available points.

1970s – Scotland won 42.05% of the internationals played, taking 49.24% of the available points.

1980s – Scotland won 39.77% of the internationals played, taking 49.24% of the available points.

1990s – Scotland won 41.11% of the internationals played, taking 49.63% of the available points.

Between the end of the Second World War and the end of the 20^th century, Scotland only won 42.85% of their internationals, accruing 50.85% of the available points. I have still to collate the results for the 21^st century, but, we know we have been consistently poor in that period, so, things are not going to improve.

As I have said, I still have numbers to crunch, but, already, it is clear, we have been kidding ourselves for years that we matter in football.

SPEAKING of trying to kid people. Celtic at the weekend opted out of facing Partick Thistle in the SPFL, to pop over to Limerick and face Inter Milan in a glorified friendly. This was insulting in the extreme to the rest of the SPFL.

Aye, it's great that Celtic remains a big-enough name to be invited to participate in such a high-profile game, but, without continued success at home, and annual exposure to European football, such invitations would soon dry-up. Thus, while European football and glamour friendlies are the jam in football – the league grind is the bread and butter.

Celtic then proceeded to field a team some-way short of full-strength. They had enough of their first team squad watching in Limerick, these guys were surely capable of facing Thistle, with all due respect to Alan Archibald's men.

I have been saying it for years, until the rest grow a pair and stand-up to the Bigot Brothers, Scotland will continue to stagnate in football. Never forget, if the English Premiership was to suddenly find a way to invite the Old Firm on-board, we would not see them for dust.

They are bullies, and the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them. Come on Scottish football, grow a pair.

I WATCHED that Andy Murray v Juan Martin Del Potro gold medal tennis match from Rio last night – what an epic. What state would Scottish football be in if Andy Murray, brother Jamie, cyclist Callum Skinner, rower Kath Granger and our other Scottish heroes and heroines of the Rio Olympics had been Scottish boys, who dedicated their lives to being the best footballers they could be?

I like to dream, but, the realist in me accepts, the guys running the game would have managed to have blunted their promise and made it impossible for them to reach their potential, after all, they've managed to do this very successfully for at least the last half century.

And, by the way, that second “deuce point” in game ten of the fourth set was a wonderful rally, more-gripping than any penalty shoot-out. Del Potro was serving for the set, to take the match into a fifth set, but, Murray broke him for 5-5, then went on to win the set 7-5 and the match by three sets to one.

Then I went to the athletics and that incredible 400 metres world record, followed by Usain Bolt's 100 metres master-class Fitba - forget it.

A Scotsman on top of the podium