LIKE most Scots, I have slightly masochistic tendencies - can anyone offer me a more-plausible reason for the continuing healthy attendances at Hampden internationals? On international match days, such as today, pre-kick-off I can offer an outward show of confidence and belief, whilst within: forward tho ah canna see, ah guess an fear.
So it goes today. I shall, of course, switch on BBC1 Scotland tonight at 7.30pm, although I cannot guarantee I will still be watching when the final whistle blows on the Serbia v Scotland game.
The Serbs, even when they were the core team of the Balkans-wide Yugoslavia, were almost the Scotland of continental Europe - veering erratically between superb teams, able to beat anyone, and cringeworthy outfits who couldn't beat a carpet. Like us, they have always produced brilliant individuals, then singularly failed to build a team platform within which they could play effectively.
If Celtic and Rangers could occasionally produce club sides able to compete with anyone in Europe, so too could Red Star Belgrade; and, of course, particularly during the Yugoslav days, the national effort was often undone by dressing room unrest and in-fighting. Perhaps, they lacked an England to hate, for, like we Scots, if they lacked a common enemy, they, the Serbs, liked and still apparently like, nothing better than to fight amongst themselves.
So, tonight we face opponents who just might click and severely embarrass us, but who could, just as easily, prove even more inept than we are. Should be interesting.
I am not, for now, joining the movement to have WGS start experimenting and building towards the next European Championships, in the process effectively writing-off our current apparently doomed World Cup qualifying campaign.
It is a tough call for the wee man; does he pull the plug now, or does he wait until it is arithmetically impossible for us to qualify for Brazil - even though, results could conspire to leave us hanging-on by a thread and hoping other results will go for us right up until the final games?
However, it is to make such decisions that the SFA pays the wee man so much.
FORGIVE me if I continue to flog a horse which is, at best, on life-support. But, to me there just isn't a system in place to effectively run the national side.
Some years ago I did a statistical comparison of the various Scottish international team managers, it never saw the light of day, after it emerged that Scotland had performed better under the old system of the selectors picking the team, then leaving it up to the captain and the trainer to get that team onto the field, than we had under most of our highly-paid managers.
Back then, however, there was a system in place; that system was flawed, but, it worked better than today's non-system does.
Basically, players were selected in most cases, firstly for the Scottish League XI, or for the Anglo-Scots, who played a Home Scots selection most years. This latter exercise pitted potential Scottish internationalist against potential, or in many cases established Scottish internationalist, thereby giving the selectors a notion of how the new guy might do - an idea they also got from selection for the Scottish League XI.
So, if a young player did the business for the Scottish League, then he in due course got his cap. Then, in the 1950s, the selectors had the extra try-out levels of the Scotland B team or the Under-23 team.
I have long maintained, an Under-23 side is a better barometer of how a player might do internationally than an Under-21 side. Even though UEFA went down the route of Under-21 sides rather than Under-23, we ought to have maintained such a side, playing friendlies or doing end of season tours.
Germany has its Futures XI, to bridge the gap between the Under-21s and the big team and Berti Vogts tried this when he was Scotland boss, unfortunately he never got the full support of the SFA blazers and when he took over, Walter quietly dropped that notion - which was, in my view, a mistake.
Take as an example, Paul Caddis's late call-up into the squad to travel to Serbia. Back when he was eligible for the Under-21 team, from his first such cap in 2008 to turning 22 in 2010, Caddis won 13 Under-23 caps; in the same period he played 28 first team games, 17 for Celtic, 11 for Dundee United.
He then joined Swindon, for whom he has played 77 league games in the last two seasons; add a further 19 appearances during his current loan spell with Birmingham City - a spell interrupted by a dislocated shoulder - and it is clear he has enjoyed more regular football whilst out of the international reckoning than when in it. But, he has had almost no experience of playing against foreign opposition during this spell.
Had there been a system which kept him involved, integrating him into the national side tonight, should he be needed, would be less of a risk. Mind you, he mainly plays right back for his clubs - why has he been called-up as left-back cover? Or, maybe WGS will use Steven Whittaker, who has played left-back for Scotland, if needed.
There was that short-lived Celtic Home Nations tournament in Dublin, there might be a revival of the Home Nations next season, to celebrate the FA's 150th anniversary. Why not an Under-23 Home Nations as a means of further developing Under-21 talent.
I accept, such a tournament could become a long-ball, typically British cup tie sort of event, hardly ideal preparation for facing continental possession football, but, it is surely better than sending Under-21 players who become too old into the wilderness, there to sink or swim until perhaps needed three, four or more years down the line.
See the bigger picture, nobody at Hampden does.
Some years ago I did a statistical comparison of the various Scottish international team managers, it never saw the light of day, after it emerged that Scotland had performed better under the old system of the selectors picking the team, then leaving it up to the captain and the trainer to get that team onto the field, than we had under most of our highly-paid managers.
Back then, however, there was a system in place; that system was flawed, but, it worked better than today's non-system does.
Basically, players were selected in most cases, firstly for the Scottish League XI, or for the Anglo-Scots, who played a Home Scots selection most years. This latter exercise pitted potential Scottish internationalist against potential, or in many cases established Scottish internationalist, thereby giving the selectors a notion of how the new guy might do - an idea they also got from selection for the Scottish League XI.
So, if a young player did the business for the Scottish League, then he in due course got his cap. Then, in the 1950s, the selectors had the extra try-out levels of the Scotland B team or the Under-23 team.
I have long maintained, an Under-23 side is a better barometer of how a player might do internationally than an Under-21 side. Even though UEFA went down the route of Under-21 sides rather than Under-23, we ought to have maintained such a side, playing friendlies or doing end of season tours.
Germany has its Futures XI, to bridge the gap between the Under-21s and the big team and Berti Vogts tried this when he was Scotland boss, unfortunately he never got the full support of the SFA blazers and when he took over, Walter quietly dropped that notion - which was, in my view, a mistake.
Take as an example, Paul Caddis's late call-up into the squad to travel to Serbia. Back when he was eligible for the Under-21 team, from his first such cap in 2008 to turning 22 in 2010, Caddis won 13 Under-23 caps; in the same period he played 28 first team games, 17 for Celtic, 11 for Dundee United.
He then joined Swindon, for whom he has played 77 league games in the last two seasons; add a further 19 appearances during his current loan spell with Birmingham City - a spell interrupted by a dislocated shoulder - and it is clear he has enjoyed more regular football whilst out of the international reckoning than when in it. But, he has had almost no experience of playing against foreign opposition during this spell.
Had there been a system which kept him involved, integrating him into the national side tonight, should he be needed, would be less of a risk. Mind you, he mainly plays right back for his clubs - why has he been called-up as left-back cover? Or, maybe WGS will use Steven Whittaker, who has played left-back for Scotland, if needed.
There was that short-lived Celtic Home Nations tournament in Dublin, there might be a revival of the Home Nations next season, to celebrate the FA's 150th anniversary. Why not an Under-23 Home Nations as a means of further developing Under-21 talent.
I accept, such a tournament could become a long-ball, typically British cup tie sort of event, hardly ideal preparation for facing continental possession football, but, it is surely better than sending Under-21 players who become too old into the wilderness, there to sink or swim until perhaps needed three, four or more years down the line.
See the bigger picture, nobody at Hampden does.
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