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Next Scotland Manager


eljaggo
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With Strachan now gone, the BBC have O'Neill as the favorite to succeed him, but with some difficulties for the SFA to sort out regarding compensation and salary. A possible risk to Thistle is that the SFA won't pay for a top quality manager with international credentials, and instead recruit a club manager, and that starts a domino effect that sees Archibald move.

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It's odds on that we will have the same discussion in four years time. For that to alter, the league set up must change, but the old firm will not allow that to happen. Europe must come first for them. We also need to find some way of getting more Scottish youngsters playing in our leagues, Thistle included.

I know this will never happen, but what I would like to see is

1/ A sixteen team league with no relegation for three years. To get this passed, we need someone with better brains than me, so that the 12 teams at the moment would not lose out in gate money

 

2/The SFA to give grants to cover the wages of any player under 21, who plays for clubs in the 1st and 2nd division, with some provision that they play at least 3 and they are Scottish.

Me being one of the older generation can remember many top players coming out of the old 1st division and some going onto represent there country. John White and Eddie Mc Creadie just to name two.

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It's odds on that we will have the same discussion in four years time. For that to alter, the league set up must change, but the old firm will not allow that to happen. Europe must come first for them. We also need to find some way of getting more Scottish youngsters playing in our leagues, Thistle included.

I know this will never happen, but what I would like to see is

1/ A sixteen team league with no relegation for three years. To get this passed, we need someone with better brains than me, so that the 12 teams at the moment would not lose out in gate money

 

2/The SFA to give grants to cover the wages of any player under 21, who plays for clubs in the 1st and 2nd division, with some provision that they play at least 3 and they are Scottish.

Me being one of the older generation can remember many top players coming out of the old 1st division and some going onto represent there country. John White and Eddie Mc Creadie just to name two.

Ron Years, Charlie Cooke, Ian St.John and our own Alex Forsyth.

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I too would like to see a root and branch review and subsequent reform of Scottish football, but I very much doubt whether the search for a new manager will be the trigger to set that in motion. The only hope for change would be if they managed to attract a really top-flight international manager who had sufficient leverage to demand changes as a condition to accepting the job. The chance of Scotland attracting such a person is vanishingly small, and I think we will end up with the status quo in terms of coaching and league structure, with SFA talking up another manager that their limited budget can afford.

 

The split in responsibilty (I use that word loosely) between the leagues and the SFA is a huge impediment to change, and the Henry McLeish review was an opportunity wasted (perhaps the choice of Macleish was a way of limiting expectations of radical change).

 

We have become a poor footballing nation, and nothing will fundamentally change unless the Old Firm's grip is removed. Why the chairmen of the rest of the clubs cannot grow the cojones to sort this out is beyond me.

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I thought the policeman's whistle was really meaning the old 2nd division tho' I think Falkirk were in the top tier when John White went south. I like the idea of financial incentives for clubs in the first division to play younger players. Provided it's not just a token sum it could work whereas a compulsory demand on clubs would no doubt be shunned upon.

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My only footballing claim to fame was playing against John White, while he was doing his national service at Berwick upon Tweed. Unbelievably quick.

 

My God - Kudos fellow!!

 

That won't be bettered on this or any other forum for sure!

 

For those who don't know, John White died in 1964 due to a lightning strike on a golf course.

 

He played for Alloa, Falkirk, Spurs and Scotland. At the time of his death he was Scotland's eminent 'inside forward' alongside Jim Baxter.

 

The nature of football has changed so much since the sixties, but if you want a rough comparison (and it can only be a rough comparison) then Stuart Armstrong is today's John White with a bit more speed, and a little less class. And that's meant as a compliment to both players.

Edited by Barney Rubble
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As Barney says, eljaggo. Kudos!. Was the regiment by any chance the KOSBs?

 

May well have posted this before but my first international match I attended was a 2-0 win for Scotland v England at Hampden in '62. I'm not the least bit superstitious but when Scotland came back out for the lap of honour the only player to have swapped his top was John White.

 

Unlike other famous Scottish players I've never heard anyone say anything other than White was a magnificent footballer. Suppose it's easy to eulogise about someone who died so young and under such circumstances but, tho' different types of players, it wouldn't be out of place to think of White as our Duncan Edwards.

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Yep LIB, it was the QOSB regiment he was in, and I have to come clean and say that it was a bounce game between the squaddies and my school's army cadet force. Surprisingly the squaddies won. My only recollection is trying to tackle White, and before I had worked out what foot to use he was past me.

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Fantastic example to use for Let's Kick Racism!

 

Whole red card thing is a joke up here while one club's fans are allowed to chant about hating catholics very week with no sanctions. Racist bigotry bad ... religious bigotry - we don't hear anything is the SFA/SPFL rule apparently. I laugh ironically (or would if I knew how you actually do that) when I see pictures of TRFC players holding up these red cards.

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Whole red card thing is a joke up here while one club's fans are allowed to chant about hating catholics very week with no sanctions. Racist bigotry bad ... religious bigotry - we don't hear anything is the SFA/SPFL rule apparently. I laugh ironically (or would if I knew how you actually do that) when I see pictures of TRFC players holding up these red cards.

Last night being a textbook example ten minutes after holding those silly card up we were treated to the usual Sevco songbook which anyone who was at Firhill a few weeks back would be only too familiar with?

Edited by stillresigned
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Malky Mackay, David Moyes, Paul Lambert...we’d have been better keeping Strachan right enough. Mistakes were made and 2016 was a disaster. However 2017 delivered 14/18 qualification points.

Michael O’Neill is an interesting candidate but he has been given longer than any Scottish manager to turn things around for The Failed Statelet. Like other (relatively) successful smaller nations he’s now got a settled core through the team. This was lacking with Scotland, especially last season. In fact only one player started 75% of our Euro qualifiers, Andy Robertson of Liverpool. This also dispels the old pals act to a degree aimed at Strachan. (Which manager doesn’t have favourite players, to a degree, though?)

O’Neill has won as many games as Strachan but in 12 more games. Norn Ireland have done well in last two qualifiers but Euro place was secured via a third place finish and they had a pretty favourable group this time. I guess I’m not totally convinced but if he can take his team to Russia via the playoffs he’d be worth serious consideration.

Anyway, International Football is sh1te :P

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