I WAS FACED with something of a crisis of choice at lunchtime on Saturday. Reviewing the possible television-watching choices for the afternoon, I had choices:
The Scottish Cup Final on BBC One Scotland
The FA Cup Final on STV
The Investec European Rugby Champions Cup Final on TNT Sport
In the end, I went with the Rugby – Leinster v Toulouse, two quality sides, with the added bonus of seeing the best contemporary player, Antoine Dupont of Toulouse weave his magic. It was an easy choice, I honestly cannot warm to Manchester City, they play too-perfect a game for me, while watching the present-day Manchester United, it's always a case of wondering which team will turn up – the rubbish one, or the half-decent one.
It was also a wise choice to go with the Rugby, as the two teams produced a cracking final, won, after extra time, by the French side.
I find I can no longer watch Old Firm games. The over-hyping of our domestic football media, who have, to a man, to try to sell us the lie that this is good football. The reality is, this was a piss-poor Celtic squad taking on a rank-rotten Rangers one.
If serious commentators, who had any knowledge of the history of both clubs were to sit down and come-up with the definitive Rangers and Celtic teams, the only player from the 2024 squads who would get into the conversation would be Rangers' goalkeeper Jack Butland. The overwhelming majority of the players on both side are simply neither Rangers nor Celtic Class.
I did watch the highlights. If these were the highlights, then God help us; the game was, to use that great past Rangers' fan Lex McLean's dismissive term: “Mince”.
These two clubs have, with the honourable exception of the long-suffering Geordies and Makems along the Tyne and Wear, the most-committed fans on these islands. Unfortunately these fanatics are being taken for a ride by club managements who don't give a toss for the body of the kirk.
Like our politicians today, they care only for themselves and keeping their snouts in the trough. They get away with this, because, the similartly, except less well-off troughers who run what Chick Young memorably tagged: “The Diddy Teams” - Scotland's other 40 so-called “Senior” clubs would rather let the Big Two do what they like and accept crumbs from their table, than use their numerical advantage to bring about the root and branch reforms which Scottish Football needs if it is ever to prosper.
The two clubs each listed 20-player squads for the final. Only ten of these listed players (25%) were Scottish. Celtic, the team which famously won the European Cup – when it was a Champions-only com petition , with a squad, all drawn from within 40 miles of their ground, had three Scots in their starting line-up and a further three on the bench.
Rangers, the club which has produced more full Scotland caps than any other, didn't have a single Scot in their starting line-up, and only four on the bench.
In all, the 40 players who suited-up for the game were drawn from 18 different countries. It is true, there were more Scots in the two squads than any other nation, but, only just; the breakdown by nation was:
10 Scotsmen
8 Englishmen
4 Japanese
2 Nigerians
2 Portugeuse
2 Republic of Ireland Irishmen
1 Belgian
1 Canadian
1 Dane
1 German
1 Honduran
1 Ivorian
1 Northern Irishman
1 Pole
1 Senegalese
1 Turk
1 American
1 Welshman
OK, you could argue, the fact so-many players from outwith Scotland are strutting their stuff in Scotland demonstrates the health and drawing power of our domestic game. I say this is pish, I reckon it merely shows the contempt the decision-makers at our two leading clubs have for Scottish talent.
Only four of the ten Scots in the two match-day squads actually got on the park: Celtic's Greg Taylor and Callum McGregor both played the entire 90-plus minutes, James Forrest played for 71 minutes while Scott Wright, the solitary Scot to get on the park for Rangers, played a mere 16 minutes or so.
So of the entire 1980 playing minutes (90 x 22) available, Scots contributed a mere 267 minutes – or 13.5%. The game was certainly played in Scotland, by two Scottish clubs, but, that statistic demonstrates how little Scottish content there was.
It isn't just the big two who are ignoring or under-valuing Scottish talent. In compiling this piece, I checked-out the websites of the 12 Premiership clubs who played in that league in the season just ended.
The 12 clubs listed a total of 293 “First Team” players. Of these only 117 – (40%) were Scottish. Only three clubs had a majority of Scots in the squads they listed:
Kilmarnock – 12 Scots among 17 players - 71%
Dundee – 12 Scots from 20 players – 60%
Ross County – 16 Scots from 28 players - 57%
Figures for the other nine clubs are:
Heart of Midlothian – 13 Scots from 29 players – 45%
St Mirren – 9 Scots from 21 players – 43%
Motherwell – 8 Scots from 19 players -42%
St Johnstone – 12 Scots from 30 players – 40%
Livingston – 7 Scots from 18 players – 39%
Aberdeen – 10 Scots from 31 players – 32%
Rangers – 7 Scots from 29 players – 24%
Celtic – 6 Scots from 27 playeres – 22%
Hibernian – 5 Scots from 24 players – 21%
In comparison with our clubs, the SFA is – as should be expected – much more wedded to picking Scotsmen. I have no problem with us making use of FIFA rules and tapping into the world-wide Caledonian Diaspora, by selecting players born outwith Scotland, to Scottish parents or grand-parents. Since at least 1603, or probably earlier, our brightest and best have left Scotland in search of greater opportunties, we would be daft to ignore this talent.
Stevie Clark recently named his provisional 28 man squad for next month's European Championships. This squad will be cut to 26 for the actual event. Of the 26 men chose only five were not born in Scotland, and again, only five were not developed by a Scottish club.
IF THE NATIONAL TEAM CAN BE 82% HOME-GROWN (born in Scotland, developed by a Scottish club) WHY ARE OUR CLUB SIDES BEING ALLOWED TO IMPORT NON-SCOTS, TO THE DETERIMENT OF HOME-GROWN TALENT?
In Rugby Union, in England's Gallagher Premiership and France's Top 14, the governing body insists on at least 70% of a 23-man match-day squad being English or French developed. That means at least 16 of the players suited-up for each game have to come through the official Academy system. Football had, for a time, in European games, what Chick Young dubbed: “the eight diddies rule” - this meant there had to be 11 Scots on the park at all times. That rule was another 70% one.
WHY NOT BRING BACK THE “EIGHT DIDDIES RULE” INTO OUR DOMESTIC GAME AND GIVE OUR YOUNGSTERS A CHANCE TO SHINE?
There are only ten of the Scotland squad playing with Scottish clubs (36%). Twelve of the 28 (43%) earned big-money moves out of Scotland – so, talent will still be recognised.
Perhaps, rather than paying agents fees etc to import cheap ready-made foreign players, our clubs should be improving their coaching and development departments, giving young Scots a chance and prospering when they move them on to bigger clubs in richer leagues.
OR, DOES THAT SOUND TOO-MUCH LIKE HARD WORK FOR THE GUYS RUNNING OUR GAME AND OUR CLUBS?
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