Socrates MacSporran

Socrates MacSporran
No I am not Chick Young, but I can remember when Scottish football was good

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Hope Springs Eternal In Scottish Football

JINGS, crivvens, help ma Boab - we only went and won!!
 
I was all-set to watch last night's game from behind the settee, through the gaps between the fingers I had covering my eyes, but, WGS's men did rather more than pleasantly surprise me. They were magnificent and deserved to win.
 
The manner of the victory was also pleasant; and will perhaps still the old call for Scotland to start producing bigger, more-athletic players, considering it was Ikechi Anya and Shaun Maloney, the two closest things we had to the stereotypical Scottish player - ok, I concede that Anya's skin pigment doesn't fit.
 
The two goal-scorers were wee, tricky ball players, you know that quintessential Scottish product which allegedly has no place in today's more-athletic, power game. Two superb finishes too.
 
I was particularly happy for Anya.The Castlemilk Kid did good. But, we have been here before. He is not the first lad to come from nowhere, make an instant impact in the Scotland team and not kick-on to greatness. Let's hope he can build on his superb start.
 
I saw one cyber-warrior this morning bemoaning our back luck, insisting that but for a crap linesman and that cheating, diving, over-rated Welsh tart Bale, we would have finished at least third in the group.
 
Maybes aye, maybes naw. Had we had the rub of the green we deserved in Cardiff, maybe Craig Levein would have survived. Can we honestly say he's have got as much out of the squad as WGS and Co have? I think not.
 
The trick now is to build on this, get consistency of selection and performance and have a real go at things when the European Championship qualifiers kick-off in a year's time. Let's hope we can use the next 12 months to get stronger and prepared for these.
 
I am not in favour of raising the number of teams in the Euro finals to 24 - there simply are not that number of quality teams in Europe; but, that said, a well-managed, committed Scotland MUST be in the top 24 Europe in any season.
 
With our heritage, we should be permanent members of at least the top 16 countries in Europe. Getting us back there and keeping us there wil not be easy, but, WGS can surely do it - IF the Hampden Blazers can remove their digits from their arses and give him the basic structure.

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