Oh Derek! What Are You Suggesting

ONE OF the great things about the Scots language, whether “Braid Scots” “Lallans” of “The Scots Leid” - whatever you call it, is, it is wonderfully expressive. Then, if you delve into the various local dialects, such as Doric, or even Glesca street patter, you find even more examples of the Scots' ability to verbally abuse each other, or anyone else who offends them.

 

 With this in mind, I have a feeling Ross County Manager Derek Adams' ears have been burning this week. The bold Derek is something of an acquired taste, he has a lengthy track record of voicing opinions which may not be widely shared. This, however, has never concerned him before, and, after his post-game outburst following Saturday's defeat to Dundee, he has had every possible term of abuse levelled at him.

I strongly suspect, none of this will unduly worry him. He will let the abuse wash over him and continue to be true to himself. However, rather than join in the pile-on, I believe, Derek has a point.

OK, it is perhaps pushing things a wee bit to suggest that Morecambe, currently the 78^th best team in England, are 100 times better than Ross County, currently the ninth-best team in Scotland. However, by all reports, the Ross County v Dundee game, after which Adams lost it, was a classic case of that old Scottish football cliché: “a draw nae fitba.”

The irony of football is: if both teams in any random football match both played to their best, it would probably finish as a 0-0 draw; since every positive move by an attacking team would be countered by a similarly positive move by the defending team.

So, for football to provide the thrills and more-particularly the goals which are the desired end product, we need to see mistakes made. With the quality of player operating in the top-flight in England, these mistakes are few and far between, whereas up here, with fewer top-quality players on parade, we generally see poorer-quality games, more mistakes and, if not more goals, since we have very-few quality strikers playing in Scotland, we certainly see more chances created, if not always taken.

Adams was particularly keen, it seemed, to talk-up his English side, Morecambe. I see however, their owners are in a bit of bother with the English Football League over financial issues, so the fact they may have been over-paying for players might colour Derek's view.

I did note, Morecambe's squad is 77% English. Ross County's squad is only 55% Scottish. Might we see him importing more English players in an effort to improve the quality?

Or is it, as I suspect, like the majority of our professional managers/coaches today, he is afraid to trust in local talent – or perhaps doesn't have the skills – to coach Scottish players out of their failings and make them better players.

I have long maintained, neither the players, nor the coaches in Scotland work hard enough at improving basic technical skills, getting them to be better, more-accomplished athletes or using better tactics.

This stems from the High Heid Yins of the game, who are simply happy to have their snouts in the Hampden trough and to my mind, not prepared to improve their clubs or their grounds and leave a genuine legacy for the future.

Sure, we hear how – aside from the Big Two, Scotland has one of the most-competitive leagues in the world. Maybes Aye, Maybes Naw, but, you can have genuine competition at a low level of skill – and that's what I see in Scotland today.

So, the challenge for Derek Adams is: if Scottish football is so bad, and your club is typical of this condition – what are you going to do to improve things at Dingwall, and, if you succeed, will anyone else among the diddy teams accept your challenge and do something similar?

Talk is cheap, making a difference is much-harder.

BUT WAIT – redemption might be at hand. It is often said, perhaps rightly: “Scottish football would be a lot better if the Old Firm would bugger off to England, or somewhere else.”

Well, this just might happen, following this week's ruling from the European Court of Justice, which has made the proposed European Super League a possibility.

Sure, I know all the British-based big clubs, the elite members of the English Premiership and the likes of Celtic have said they would prefer to stick within UEFA, wanting nothing to do with any Super League.

Aye Right! When push comes to shove, money will talk and if there is the chance to make money from a Super League, just watch the rush to get their snouts into the trough.

If Middle East interests and the Murdoch organisation throw their weight behind the Super League – it will happen – and the Bigot Brothers will be right in there scrapping for a place.

Mind you, from the little I have read, it appears the men behind the new league are not being bold enough. They are looking at it as a replacement for the Champions' League, with the clubs continuing to play midweek matches, while retaining membership of their individual associations.

This will never work. To work properly, they have, in my view, to see themselves as a European version of the NFL or the NBA – the absolute pinnacle of the sport.

As things stand, if a club becomes one of the 64 teams in the European Super League (henceforth referred to as the ESL, then it is in there, unless it finishes 64^th, in which case another club from the same national association will take its place.

Well, you might then see a situation whereby say Newcastle United doesn't get to be one of the 64 teams, but could win the English Premiership, ahead of the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Arsenal, all of whom would expect to be ESL clubs.

I have always felt, a North American-style ESL would work, and work well. However, I doubt if the true will, to set it up correctly and manage it properly exists in football. No individual football association I can think of runs its affairs properly and has an interest in the long-term good of the game. It's a classic case of small men running so-called big clubs and I don't see things changing any time soon.