THE
ENGLISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION are,
as always when there is a major football tournament going on,
currently in full-on Ingurlund,
Ingurlund, Ingurlund mode
– determined to cheer The
Lionesses, with
their three leopards on their left breast, to global glory.
England
v USA, who
do you want to win? Both being thrown out of the tournament for some
obscure breach of the rules would suit me splendidly, I must confess.
Actually,
the fitba has been not bad, about Scottish Championship standard when
it comes to tactical naivety, wrongly-weighted passes and wrong
options taken. The players' behaviour is generally better, but, you
can see the dire effects of professionalism coming-in, diving,
dissent and so forth. Still, the games are probably played in a
better spirit than men's games.
I
actually fancy, whichever side wins between The
Netherlands and
Sweden will
win the competition.
Kim Little - looks to be heading for her second Olympics
However,
England reaching the last four has guaranteed Team
GB a
place in the football competition at the 2020
Olympic Games, in
Tokyo. This
is already making waves among the Little
Scotlanders of
the football world – who do not want our world-class talents such
as Jenny
Beattie, Kim Little, Caroline Weir or
Erin Cuthbert
to
be allowed to augment Phil Neville's already
strong England squad.
The
thing is, back when football entered the Olympic movement, over 100
years ago, it was the (English) Football
Association who
joined the British
Olympic Association, the
body which runs the Olympic Games from a British perspective. OK, you
can argue, the SFA with the Northern Irish and Welsh associations
should, long ago have insisted, if the game of football was to be
represented, it should be on an all-British basis.
There
are other sports in which the four UK nations compete separately at
international level, but, these sports: hockey, curling, badminton,
basketball to name but a few, all initiated “British”
or
“United
Kingdom” bodies,
specifically to deal with the Olympics. Football didn't.
In
fact, the SFA
has
never bought-in to the Olympic ideal. Back in the days of amateurism,
it was not unknown for Queen's
Park to
pull players out of Great
Britain squads
to play in Scottish League games. Maybe if some of our great
legislators had had access to the wider and deeper troughs open to
the great and good of the Olympic movement, Scotland would have been
keener, but, it never happened.
Neither
am I too bothered if we do get one or two of our girls into the final
Team GB squad for Tokyo. I am convinced this will be the last Summer
Games at which the UK will enter as a single entity. By the 2024
Games, Scotland will again be an Independent nation, hopefully with
full membership of the Olympic Movement and able to send a Team
Scotland to
the Games.
I
CANNOT say
I was surprised when St
Mirren changed
managers last week; and I certainly wish Jim
Goodwin well
in his new role as boss of the Buddies.
Jim Goodwin - a top six demand is maybe excerss pressure
No
harm to the guys who would have to go, but, I have always felt that
the best St Mirren teams have a spine of home-bred players. Love
Street used to produce a regular load of players good enough for
Scotland Under-23 and Under-21 teams, many of whom were sold-on to
bigger clubs.
I
spent an enjoyable few years on the Sports Desk of the -Paisley
aily Express, during
which I got to see a lot of young Buddies featuring in Scotland age
group teams. During my spell on the PDE:
Derek Scrimgour, David McNamee, Martin Baker, Norrie McWhirter,
Sergei Baltacha, Jamie Fullarton, Brian Hetherston, Hugh Murray,
Barry Lavety, Ricky Gillies and Steven McGarry, plus Simon Lappin and
Burton
O'Brien, all
earned Scotland
Under-21 honours;
that's a fair array of talent. But, all St Mirren won in my time
there was the First
Division, now
The
Championship in
1999-2000 – huge potential was never turned into real success.
They
have a good, committed home support, and the opportunity, as Alex
Ferguson demonstrated
when he was there, the potential to grow that support – if the club
is run properly.
I
noted Tony
Fitzpatrick's statement
this week that new boss Goodwin should be targeting a top-six finish
for the Buddies. Actually, if I was Goodwin, I'd be looking no
further than tenth place – thus avoiding the promotion/relegation
play-off this season. That would be progress. Get that out of the
way, then look to progress to the top six.
Here
are St Mirren's finishing league positions over the past 25-years,
beginning with season 1994-95:
1994-95
- 7th
in Division One (17th
in Scotland)
1995-96
- 6th
in Division One (16th
in Scotland)
1996-97
- 4th
in Division One (14th
in Scotland)
1997-98
- 6th
in Division One (16th
in Scotland)
1998-99
- 5th
in Division One (15th
in Scotland)
1999-2000
– First in Division, Promoted (11th
in Scotland)
2000-01
- 12th
in Premier League (12th
in Scotland) – Relegated
2001-02
- 8th
in Division One (20th
in Scotland)
2002-03
- 7th
in Division One (19th
in Scotland)
2003-04
- 7th
in Division One (19th
in Scotland)
2004-05
- 2nd
in Division One (14th
in Scotland)
2005-06
– First in Division One, Promoted (13th
in Scotland) also won the Scottish League Challenge Cup
2006-07
- 11th
in Premier Division (11th
in Scotland)
2007-08
- 10th
in Premier Division (10th
in Scotland)
2008-09
- 11th
in Premier Division (11th
in Scotland)
2009-10
- 10th
in Premier Division (10th
in Scotland) Reached League Cup Final
2010-11
- 11th
in Premier Division (11th
in Scotland)
2011-12
- 8th
in Premier Division (8th
in Scotland)
2012-13
- 11th
in Premier Division (11th
in Scotland) Won League Cup
2013-14
- 8th
in Premiership (8th
in Scotland)
2014-15
- 12th
in Premiership (12th
in Scotland) Relegated
2015-16
- 6th
in Championship (18th
in Scotland)
2016-17
- 7th
in Championship (19th
in Scotland) Reached final of the League Challenge Cup
2017-18
– First in Championship, Promoted (13th
in Scotland)
2018-19
- 11th
in Premiership (11th
in Scotland)
Taking
that record and averaging it out over the 25 years, St Mirren's
average final position has been in the top two of the Championship.
The last time the Buddies finished in the top six was in season
1984-85,
when they finished fifth. So, I would say, asking for a top six
finish is putting unnecessary pressure on the new manager.
In
the last ten seasons, the club has twice – in 2012 and again in
2014 finished eighth in the top division, their best performance in
the decade, perhaps asking for a repeat of that would be a good
target for the new boss.
I
like St Mirren, they are a fine club. I also like Fitzy, a St Mirren
man to his core and a man I have a lot of respect for. But, come on
Tony, you've been where Goodwin now is, lift the pressure a wee bit
please. Small steps at first.