Best-Ever Xis - The Eternal Argument

I HAVE NEVER considered myself a Sports Historian; yes, I enjoy looking into the rich history of ourt sporting landscape, it's an enjoyable pastime, but, I have never taken my interest in past glories seriously. Some fanatics can bore for Britain, arguing over Matthews v Finney and so forth, but, I lang syne accepted, when it comes to picking the Greatest XI or Greatest XV within whatever parameters, you will end up with as many selections as there are selectors – it has long been one of my core beliefs: opinions are like erse-holes, everybody has one.

So, when I saw the latest “Greatest Ever British Football XI” named on Facebook this week, I had to have a look. I was not impressed. For my money, about half of the names quoted ought not to even have been in the conversation. But, it got me thinking, what would be my XI of players from these islands? Here is the answer.

As a goalkeeper myself, who gets to wear the gloves is perhaps the easiest queston to answer – that position has to go to Gordon Banks. For me, there is no argument – England has had some superb goalkeepers, Frank Swift, Bert Williams, Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence, to name but four in my lifetime; but, for reasons othr than that save from Pele, I have to go with Banks.

I had to laugh at the selected full-backs: Gary Neville and Ashley Cole!!! Yer 'avin; a larf, nonentities the pair, I could name at least 20 England full-backs who were better than that pair, but none of these 20 make my team. Tempted though I was to go with the legendary Old Firm pairing of Sandy Jardine and Danny McGrain, I am going with legendary Manchester United Captain Johnny Carey and England World Cup winner Ray Wilson as my full backs.

I am actually going to line-up my team in 3-4-3 formation, so, I need a solid centre-back, for this role I have gone with the legendary Welshman – John Charles.

For my four midfielders, I have gone with two exceptional wide men, a midfield creator and a box-to-box engine for the team. My midfield lines-up: Stanley Matthews, Duncan Edwards, Jim Baxter and Tom Finney.

My three strikers will be expected to get goals, so I have gone with an excellent target man and two lightning-fast taker of penalty box chances. My front three are George Best, Tommy Lawton and Jimmy Greaves/Denis Law. I simply cannot decide between Greavesie and The Lawman: statistics favour Greaves, but, as he hiumself said: “If I have to pick a striker to score and save my life – I'm going with Denis” – can they play one half each?

So, my team in formation is: Gordon Banks (England); Johnny Carey (Republic of Ireland), John Charles (Wales), Ray Wilson (England); Sir Stanley Matthews, Duncan Edward (both England), Jim Baxter (Scotland), Sir Tom Finney (England); George Best (Northern Ireland), Tommy Lawton (England), Denis Law (Scotland) [first half], Jimmy Greaves (England) [second half].

I also cam up with a Reserve Team, in 4-4-2 formation, to give them a meaningful warm-up game, before they take on the Rest of the World. This team is: Neville Southall (Wales); Danny McGrain, Willie Woodburn (both Scotland), Billy Wright (England), Eric Caldow (Scotland); Jimmy Johnstone (Scotland), Danny Blanchflower (Northrn Ireland), Sir Bobby Charlton (England), Alan Morton (Scotland); Dixie Dean (England), Hughie Gallacher (Scotland).

I believe, were it possible to have everyone at the height of his powers, putting those two teams head-to-head would be quite a spectacle. I firmly believe, a Star in one era would be a Star in any era.

Now, about the Rest of the World opposition.

I was never a Lev Yashin fan, I still remember him being scared shitless by the physical threat of England's Derek Kevan during the 1958 World cup. So, for that reason, I will given the number one shirt to Italy's Gianluigi Buffon.

The back four will be an Axis Powers production – part Italian, part German, with former Scotland boss Berti Vogts on one wing, with the great Italian, Cesare Maldini on the opposite flank. In the middle of my back four – Der Kaiser – Franz Beckenbauer is pairted with Italy's Franco Baresi.

I am going with what many might see as a strange midfield quartet, but, on the basis, these guys could play anywhere, my selection is: Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi attacking from the flanks, with a third Argentinian – Alfredo di Stefano in central midfield, with another Real Madrid legend, Zinadine Zidane.

Up front, Pele will play, alongside Hungarian maestro Ferenc Puskas, in the first half, with Der Bomber – Gerd Muller taking over for the second half. I will keep the two Ronaldos and Johan Cruyff on the bench, just in case the British team is on top as the game nears its conclusion. Team then:

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy); Berti Vogts, Franz Beckenbauer (both Germany), Franco Baresi, Cesare Maldini (both Italy); Diego Maradona, Alfredo di Stefano (both Argentina), Zinadine Zidane (France), Lionel Messi (Argentina); Pele (Brazil), Ferenc Puskas (Hungary) [ first half], Gerd Muller (Germany) [second half].

Let the arguments begin.

 

Another Blast At The Blazers

I HAVE LONG held in contempt the decision makers to be found along the sixth-floor 'Corridor of Power' inside Hampden Park. They are the proud descendants of the butchers from Kilmarnock, the bakers from Kirkcaldy and the candle-stick makers from Dumfries who spent so-many years running Scottish Football into the ground.

But, fair's fair, they have, after over 150 years of international football, avoided long-held practices and kept faith with the current Scotland Head Coach. Now Stevie Clarke's job is not as much a case of holding a poisoned chalice as the same job with England. The Tartan Army of fans isn't like England's equaivalent congregation, described as “Barmy”. The average Terracing Tam knows, we've been shite at fitba for a long time, and is, unless of course he's one of the dwindling number inside Ibrox who still prefers to be Scottish rather than fake English, fully-aware that, even if we had peak of his powers Busby, Ferguson, Shankly or Stein in-charge, we would still struggle to get beyond being a “mid-table” international team.

Given the strength of opposition, finishing third in our group in the UEFA Nations League was still a good effort. We will discover on Friday where we go from here, with the draw for the Leagues A and B promotion-relegation play-off games, which will be played in late March, 2025.

I missed the win over Croatia on Friday night, but, from what I have heard, it was an old-style night of passion at Hampden, in which we maybe rode our luck a wee bit, before Super John McGinn's late winner sent the Tartan Army off home happy.

I did watch the game in Warsaw on Monday night and, if I had been a neutral, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it, two teams really having a go – a genuine old-fashioned cup tie of a match. We maybe won 2-1, but that game could well have finished 5-4 either way.

The Polish goal was “A Worldie”, while Andy Robertson's winner was probably the best goal scored by a Scottish full back, since John Greig's against Italy in 1965.

To be honest, this is not yet a great Scotland team, but, we have, when you look at those injured players unavailable at the moment, added quality we could bring in. We still need to build a central defensive pairing, we desperately need a reliable goal scorer up front and, longer term, we need to find a replacement for the seemingly ageless Craig Gordon, but, we have in the past got to World Cup finals with fewer resources. We definitely lack squad depth, but, that is improving.

LESS COMFORTING was the statistical piece which emerged at the end of last week, outlining the lack of opportunities being given to young Scottish players in our domestic game.

It was, of course, a Scot who opined: “You win nothing with kids”, but, when you see Celtic – the club which brought nine members of a European Cup-winning squad through the ranks at more or less the same time – adopting a management strategy of scouring the world for under-priced talent, to form a squad which is in Europe to make-up the numbers, in the hope of selling them on to lesser clubs playing in bigger leagues; well you have to wonder, why are they not pro-active in going back to the club's basics and promoting young Scots.

I remember speaking with the janitor at a Roman Catholic high school in a large Scottish town. In his youth, a good Junior with one of the top teams in that tier of football, he had run the school's football team for many years, sending a good number of boys into the adult game, with two of them winning Scotland Under-21 caps.

“I suppose I've done well as a talent spotter,” he admitted. “But, until I produce a boy who plays even one game in the Celtic first team, I'll consider myself a failure.” He was not alone in that view, across central Scotland, there were and probably still are, a lot of jannies and teachers at RC schools, whose aim in life is to provide even one boy for the cause.

In the other camp, another teaching contact, one of the main high heid yins in Schools Football for many years, sent a steady stream of youthful talent in the direction of Ibrox. None of them became Rangers Legends, but, quite a few got to wear the first team strip, while others didn't make the grade, but had good careers elsewhere in the Scottish game.

Scottish kids want to play football – but to keep encouraging them, we need to see Scottish players forming the bulk of the squads at Scottish clubs. We need to have a better player pathway, we need better coaching and until the high heid yins at Hampden sort these failings out, then for all the good work of the likes of Stevie Clarke, we will continue to be a pot two or pot three nation internationally.

We know the SPFL has the lowest “transition rate” of 16-year-old new recruits making it all the way through to the first team, of any league in Europe – I reckon if you look at how many of these new entrants are tossed aside after just one season, the “failures” proportion would be even higher. It's all about instant results, with decisions made too-hastily.

I think back to my old school, which used to have a good record in turning-out players of at least good Junior level. In one of my daughter's year, there were two players – the midfielder, even at 15, was clearly going to be a star. He played for Scotland Schools, went to a top English club, won age group honours and eventually 40-odd full caps.

The striker was generally on the bench at school, but the jannie, himself a former player who had graced the old pre-Premiership English First Division, saw something in the boy and encouraged him to keep going. He persuaded a top English club to take a punt on the kid, who made it through to play a couple of first-team games, before coming back up the road to play for half a dozen Scottish clubs and, along the way, win a few domestic medals and 26 full caps, with a more than decent scoring ration of 0.4 goals per game.

The schoolboy midfield prodigy was a sage punt, but, I would argue, the schoolboy striker had the greater work ethic. We Scots have always had to work harder for recognition, maybe it's time our clubs worked as hard as some of the kids, and had faith in Scottish talent. The results might surprise us all.

 

it's A Sair Fecht Wearing Number Nine Today

WHEN I WAS a boy, back in the 1950s and 1960s, football teams were laid-out in the time-honoured 2-3-5 formation: goalkeeper, right and left full-backs, right, centre and left half-backs, outside-right, inside-right, centre-forward, inside-left, outside-left. Today, in the final year of the first quarter of the 21^st century, those few newspapers who still print teams, still generally use this formation.

The reality is, even in the 1950s, British teams generally played in a loose 3-4-3 formation: goalkeeper, the two full-backs and the centre-half concentrated on defending, the two wing-halves and the two inside-forwards occupied the midfield, while the attacking threat generally came from the two wingers and the centre forward.

The great Hungarian team of the early 1950s mixed things up; centre-forward Nándor Hidegkuti may have worn the number nine shirt, but he was withdrawn to a more midfield role, alongside József Bozsik – providing chances for inside-forwards Ferenc Puskás and Sándor Kocsis to score (although this didn't prevent him from scoring a hat-trick against England in 1953).

Then, in 1958, in winning the World Cup, Brazil further modified formations, by introducing 4-4-2, which involved withdrawing one wing-half to form a double centre-half team, while the other wing-half and one of the inside-forwards took on the midfield creating roles.

The next evolution came with the introduction of the 4-3-3 formation: goalkeeper, two full-backs and two central defenders at the back, three midfielders and three forwards. Evolution continued until today we have seemingly infinite variations around a fairly common template – the flat back-four, five men in midfield and one lone striker.

Some clubs now go with three at the back, two holding midfielders, three attacking midfielders, a “False number nine” and the single front man, These changes perhaps demonstrate, in my life time we have gone from an emphasis on trying to score goals to win (five front-line players) to an emphasis on not losing (packing the back field).

It used to be said, every young boy wanted to be the centre-forward, the guy with the glamour job of scoring the goals. Today's wearers of the number nine shirt, while still expected to put the ball in the net with a degree of regularity, increasingly are being asked to run themselves into the ground against two or three defenders, with little help from his team-mates.

The record books tell us – since the first International, in 1872, 432 players have scored for Scotland in full internationals. In terms of goals scored, the top ten are:

1. Denis Law – 55 games – 30 goals – 0.55 goals per game and Kenny Dalglish – 102 games – 30 goals – 0.29 gpg

3. Hughie Gallacher – 20 games – 23 goals – 1.15 gpg

4. Lawrie Reilly – 38 games – 22 goals – 0.58 gpg

5. Ally McCoist – 61 games – 19 goals – 0.31 gpg

6. Kenny Miller – 68 games – 18 goals – 0.28 gpg

7. John McGinn – 71 games – 18 goals – 0.25 gpg

8. Robert Hamilton – 11 games – 15 goals – 1.38 gpg

9. RS McColl – 13 games – 13 goals – 1.00 gpg

10. Andy Wilson – 12 games – 13 goals – 1.08 gpg

Eight of those top ten goal scorers were out and out strikers, but, it is striking that only five of the ten met the long-established benchmark for an international-class striker – scoring at a rate of above 0.5 goals per game, or, a goal every-other game.

Using this benchmark, since the end of WWII, 19 players have beaten that mark in full internationals for Scotland. Aside from Law and Reilly, these players and their gpg averages are: Harry Morris – 3.00 gpg; Charlie Fleming – 2.00 gpg; Joe Harper – 1.40 gpg; Bobby Flavell, Alex Linwood, Hugh Howie, Alfie Conn Senr, Sir Alex Ferguson – all1.00 gpg; George Hamilton – 0.80 gpg; Alex Young – 0.63 gpg; Bobby Johnstone 0.59 gpg; Jimmy Mason 0.57 gpg; Jackie Mudie 0.53 gpg; Colin Stein 0.52 gpg; Alan Gilzean, Mark McGhee and Ted MacDougall – all 0.50 gpg.

Thirteen of these nineteen players were centre-forwards, which emphasises how putting the ball in the net is still seen as the primary task of the man in the number nine shirt, but, we should perhaps accept, the switch to a back four and twin centre halves has made his job that bit harder.

Five of the 19 are also members of Scotland's far from exclusive One-Cap Wonders Club,which says much about how inconsistent and arbitgrary were the decisions of the old SFA Selection Committee.

The last Scotland striker to hit the 0.50 gpg target was Mark McGhee, who won the last of his four Scotland caps 40 years ago. Whilst, of those with more than a single cap, statistically, Scotland's best post-war goalscorer has been Joe Harper, whose average of 1.40 gpg probably merited him winning more than his five caps.

Thus we should perhaps be rewriting the rules for gauging a striker's worth. Might it be time to recalibrate the benchmark downwards, to perhaps 0.25 or 0.3 gpg, to better reflect the realities of the modern game.

In which case, are we maybe being a bit hard on Rangers' Cyrille Dessers, who has copped some flak for not scoring more than one goal in Thursday night's draw with Olimpiacos, in Athens; or Lawrence Shankland, who failed to find the net in Hearts' home loss to German side Heidenheim the same night.

This pair went head-to-head in the SPL on Sunday, with Dessers coming out on top by scoring the only goal of the game, leaving Shankland ever-deeper in the sort of Couldnae hit a coo on the erse wi' a banjo goals drought which occasionally strikes all but the absolutely elite strikers.

It's a sair fecht wearing the number nine jersey in Scotland today; but, somehow, as a former goalkeeper, I'm rather relishing their discomfort.

 

 

The Lunatics Are Running The Asylum

I HAVE LONG FELT – the management model which the various factions who have had control of Rangers FC since the excrement hit the air agitator back in 2012 has been, regardless of who was in-charge, a classic case of Institutionalised Madness – continually doing the same thing in the vain hope of something changing.

The management model followed has been the same as David Holmes and Graeme Souness introduced what I call “The Viv Nicholson Method” of “Spend, Spend, Spend” in running the club.

The club has been in existence for 150 years, a period which can be broken-down into six different eras:

1. The Early years – 1872 to 1920

2. The Bill Struth Years – 1920 to 1954

3. The Scot Symon Years – 1954 to 1970

4. The Willie Waddell/Jock Wallace Years – 1970 to 1986

5. The Graeme Souness/David Murray Years – 1986 to 2012

6. The Modern Era – 2012 to 2024

The level of success over each of these different eras is:

1. 13 trophies in 48 years – 24.5% trophy wins

2. 30 trophies in 34 years – 50% trophy wins

3. 15 trophies in 15 years – 33.3% trophy wins

4. 16 trophies in 16 years – 33.3% trophy wins

5. 35 trophies in 26 years – 44.9% trophy wins

6. 3 trophies in 12 years – 8.3% trophy wins

Of course, when looking into the history of one or other of Scotland's two dominant football clubs, we journalists are required – for balance – to do a similar job on the other club. The figures for Celtic under their various eras and managers/owners is:

1. The Early Years - 1888 to 1896

2. The Willie Maley Years – 1897 to 1940

3. The Bob Kelly Years – 1941 to 1965

4. The Jock Stein Years – 1965 to 1978

5. The Four Families Years – 1978 to 1994

6. The Fergus McCann Years – 1994 to 1999

7. The Dermot Desmond Years – 1999 to 2024

The level of success over each of these different eras is:

1. 4 trophies in 9 years – 28.6% trophy wins

2. 30 trophies in 43 years – 37.5% trophy wins

3. 5 trophies in 15 years – 9.4% trophy wins

4. 24 trophies in 13 years – 61.5% trophy wins

5. 10 trophies in 16 years – 20.8% trophy wins

6. 3 trophies in 5 years - 20% trophy wins

7. 41 trophies in 23 years – 71.9% trophy wins

The record is a wee bit like looking at a pendulum, one of the clubs is on top for a spell, then it swings back and the other lot have their spell as top dogs. Unfortunately for Rangers, at the moment, Celtic are in the driving seat and, given the current situation, it appears likely that this situaton will continue for some time.

Up until what the press dubbed: “The Souness Revolution” in 1986, the clubs worked in roughly the same way – taking mainly young Scots from Junior Football and bringing them through in-house. Celtic, in the Bob Kelly Years, took in-house training to a new level and, to be fair to them, they, even today, are more likely to give young Scots a chance.

They found and polished some very-good young Scottish players, Bobby Collins and Paddy Crerand being perhaps the best of the Kelly Kids to become Scotland caps and then be sold on to English clubs, however, they held on to enough of their young talent to produce Scotland's greatest club team – The Lisbon Lions, nine of whom came through the ranks.

When it comes to buying-in non-Scots, certainly over the last decade, Celtic also have done it better than Rangers. I still believe, if Rangers had used their years of getting from League Two back to the Preemiership to nurture and train-on young Scottish talent, they might not be as in-thrall to foreign players who are patently Not Rangers Class than they are at the moment. They might also be in a better financial position, given the millionsd they have wasted in NRC players in recent seasons.

Philippe Clement may or may not be the Manager to get the club back to where they aspire to be; the jury is out on that question. However, I would suggest he is better equipped to do his job than some of the players and some of the Directors are to do theirs; and until the club recruits a better standard of player and a better standard of director, they Rangrs will continue to be a poor second to Celtic.

One single player might not make a difference – as for instanbce the arrival of Jim Baxter did back in 1961 – but what the club does need is to have A Real Rangers Man, a player ready to die for the cause, on the park and snarling at the badge-kissing under-performers around him.

The lack of such an animal is the biggest and most-glaring failure in the current under-performing squad.

The likes of Bobby Shearer, Alex Macdonald, John Brown and Lee McCulloch were bang average players, but, they were fans on the park who drove the team on. The lack of such players now, and the lack of a strong spine to the team – a very-good goalkeeper they have, but they lack a dominant centre-half, a midfield play-maker and a truly sharp striker – means the team is vulnerable.

But, perhaps most-crucially of all, they lack someone at the top with a vision for the club and the strength of purpose and character to give it direction and good management. If they don't get that man in-place, things will get even more messy and the lawyers, accountants and insolvency specialists could be in for another bonanza.