Is there ANY sympathy for Scotland?

[Billy the Fish]

Scottish sport is going down the toilet, they have no talent coming through and it'll only get worse.

Scotland is more interested in junkfood, smack, super t and buckfast than it is in being a professional sportsman

 

[supaseagull]

Put it this way - who would you rather have watched (and had the chance of meeting) next year in the Euros ? Czech Republic ? Romania ? Montenegro ?

Or Scotland ?

No brainer. I'm no sweatie-cuddler. But it would've been FAR more fun having them there next summer than some grim eastern-european no-marks, and a meeting with England would have been an EPIC prospect. For that reason I'd love them to have had a shot at the playoffs (even though we know they'd have bollocksed it up anyway).

This- I enjoy it when the home countries do well - if they win then we celebrate that their British and if they lose we can take the piss out our celtic friends!


Sent from my iPhone using a goat

 

[Bwian]

No sympathy from me. Long may they fail-along with Wales and Ireland.

 

[stugbhafc1]

I bet they had the same sympathy for us when lampards "goal" wasnt counted in the world cup last year.

 

[Seagull Steve]

I am not bothered about any of the home nations except England. The plus for Scotland going out for me is that CMS will be rested over the summer. I did watch the game last night, and I think they started off like rabbits caught in the headlights. But after the first goal went in, they seemed to settle for a while, until the inevitable happened and they conceded a second. But they didn't lose it last night, they lost in in the Czech Republic. England wouldn't of beaten Spain last night either, so the sweatys will find some comfort in that.

 

[LABHA]

Fck em

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Why is there this sudden suggestion that they've narrowly missed out again, that they're somehow a wee bit unlucky and have played well recently?

Let's get this right...they were HAMMERED last night by a Spain team who didn't even bother playing Iniesta or Fabregas, who toyed with them for fun and smiled benevolently as they slotted countless chances into the stand behind the goal. Granted, the Spanish beat everyone, but last night there was a totally overwhelming gulf in class. As it was, Spain could have scored ten: imagine what it'd have been like if they actually cared about the game? England wouldnt beat them either, fair enough, but let's not start thinking Scotland are suddenly on a roll that will see them qualifying for the next World Cup because they pluckily (it's always plucky with Scotland isn't it?) lost to Spain.

Secondly, they only won two or three games in the whole campaign. And two of them were against Liechtenstein, FFS. The winner in the first one took them 97 minutes to score. Beating Liechtenstein 1-0 doesn't warrant national celebrations IMHO. And I bet there are a fair few European nations with a smaller population than
Scotland who, relatively speaking, perform better on the pitch. Montenegro?

To be fair, I think many Scots recognise the above. Perhaps it's just the English media who want to paint their team, eternally, as the spirited, always-unlucky minnows.

 

[chucky1973]

Not a frigging chance......shame it was not 10-0 as that would have provided me a bigger laugh.
Did they feel sorry for us last week, when we got knocked out the world cup or would they have felt sorry for us if we had not got through, not a chance, they hate us, we hate them, move on.

 

[Simster]

Scottish football suffers from some of the same problems as the English game, and some problems of their own. They too suffer from a lack of qualified coaches at grass roots, some shite refereeing owing to a lack of respect and a governing body even more dinosaur-like and incompetent than our own FA. And of course I haven't mentioned the elephant in the room that everyone knows still blights Scottish football.

For a country of their football resources and tradition in the sport they bloody well ought to be punching above their weight, in my opinion. Even the population size is a misnomer. Granted, they are a nation of just under 5m people, but their player pool extends way beyond that because of the shared history of the people of the British Isles. For example, if CMS had been, say, half-Swiss, can you imagine him trotting out for them?

I feel a bit sorry for their support I suppose, but not massively so.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

That is the biggest pile of crap I've seen on here for ages!

We are a different class to Scotland.

You must be having a giraffe (see what I did there) - there is not much between England and those-from-the-North, I could easily see them beating us in a one-off game at a tournament.

 

[Badger]

they pluckily (it's always plucky with Scotland isn't it?) lost to Spain.

As Mr Cholmondley-Warner says:
"Spare a thought for the plucky losers, bad luck Scotland"

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Their result last night was irrelevant once the Czech Republic were winning. The Scots lost out on qualifying when they failed to beat the Czechs.

 

[k2bluesky]

............and you wonder why the rest of the hates you, you arrogant, english, bastards!

 

[Simster]

............and you wonder why the rest of the hates you, you arrogant, english, bastards!

How is asking the question "any sympathy for Scotland?" being arrogant?

 

[Gwylan]

Scottish football suffers from some of the same problems as the English game, and some problems of their own. They too suffer from a lack of qualified coaches at grass roots, some shite refereeing owing to a lack of respect and a governing body even more dinosaur-like and incompetent than our own FA. And of course I haven't mentioned the elephant in the room that everyone knows still blights Scottish football.

For a country of their football resources and tradition in the sport they bloody well ought to be punching above their weight, in my opinion. Even the population size is a misnomer. Granted, they are a nation of just under 5m people, but their player pool extends way beyond that because of the shared history of the people of the British Isles. For example, if CMS had been, say, half-Swiss, can you imagine him trotting out for them?

I feel a bit sorry for their support I suppose, but not massively so.

Valid points except the one about the shared history. Yes, they play people with just a hint of Scottish blood but that's the same for every team. Look at the threads on here last year about how 'German' the German team was. And there was a lot of debate in France when they won in 1998 with the National Front complaining that the team wasn't really French.

Or look at England. I don't think Owen Hargreaves had even set foot in England before he was picked for the national team, his connection was very tenuous. And the current English cricket and rugby teams both have several players born outside England. It's a fact of international sport and, yes, Scotland have benefited - but so have other teams.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

............and you wonder why the rest of the hates you, you arrogant, english, bastards!

Seriously. Where is the arrogance? It's like one poster has said: he gets Scots hammering him re 1966...I can't even tell you when that came up in conversation in my life. It's utterly irrelevant. Only stupid tabloid newspapers bang on about it, and only usually when we play Germany (and lets face it, they wheel out plenty of embarrassing cliches when that fixture comes around, not just World Cup ones). England have been utterly dreadful lately, yet somehow they've still qualified without losing a game. I can't stand the vast majority of the England team, but on paper they are still better than Scottish players. It's just a fact. How many English strikers would Capello call before he got around to giving Craig Mackail Smith a ring, great little player though he is? If you think that's arrogance then you're a bit deluded I fancy. Or your judgement is clouded by some other emotion...

 

[Simster]

Valid points except the one about the shared history. Yes, they play people with just a hint of Scottish blood but that's the same for every team. Look at the threads on here last year about how 'German' the German team was. And there was a lot of debate in France when they won in 1998 with the National Front complaining that the team wasn't really French.

Or look at England. I don't think Owen Hargreaves had even set foot in England before he was picked for the national team, his connection was very tenuous. And the current English cricket and rugby teams both have several players born outside England. It's a fact of international sport and, yes, Scotland have benefited - but so have other teams.

I don't agree. There was NO debate in 1998 about how French their team was - in fact the national front suffered a major backlash because of it. And your Hargreaves example of England benefitting is tenuous. There simply aren't many examples of England cherry picking from abroad because they don't need to. Hargreaves is one example and I suppose you might say John Barnes (although he grew up here and in those days, there was nothing to gain really from playing for Jamaica) and maybe the two channel islanders, but really that's about it.

On the other hand, Scotland are a very limited side these days and can benefit hugely from being able to pick British players with Scottish roots, not unlike the Irish in the 90s. Nothing wrong with that, but the fact is that this must be far more commonplace than elsewhere in Europe because Scotland are part of a 400 year old union.

 

[Bwian]

............and you wonder why the rest of the hates you, you arrogant, english, bastards!

That's a racist comment.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Whoever put the argument that Scotland do relatively well considering their small population is wide of the mark too.

A quick search suggests Scotland's population as of the last census was about 5.2 million.

An equally quick search reveals the following...

Denmark (qualified automatically as group winners) 5.3 million
Montenegro (qualified for play offs) 0.6 million
Republic of Ireland (play offs) 4.2 million
Estonia (play offs) 1.4 million
Slovenia (recently qualified for World Cups) 2.0 million
Slovakia (ditto) 5.4 million
Croatia (play offs, have reached WC semi finals in recent memory) 4.5 million
Bosnia & Herzegovina (play offs) 3.9 million
Armenia (narrowly missed out to Irish) 3.2 million
Norway (missed out to Portugal on goal difference) 4.9 million

I accept you could also use population as a stick to beat England with, so it works both ways, but spare me the "we're only a wee nation" rubbish. Ireland don't even have a league worthy of the name, and not a single member of their squad plays for an Irish team, but they still made it.

 

[Gwylan]

I don't agree. There was NO debate in 1998 about how French their team was - in fact the national front suffered a major backlash because of it.

You're entitled to your opinion but this bit is bollocks. The National Front suffered such a backlash after droning on about the cup-winning teams of 98 and 00 that Le Pen won through to the run off to the presidency (and that's after the FN suffered a split with Bruno Megret departing in a huff and setting up his own party). Some backlash.

There simply aren't many examples of England cherry picking from abroad because they don't need to. Hargreaves is one example and I suppose you might say John Barnes (although he grew up here and in those days, there was nothing to gain really from playing for Jamaica) and maybe the two channel islanders, but really that's about it.

Luther Blissett, Tony Dorigo, Terry Butcher ... but you're right, there aren't many. But the fact is that countries can stretch nationality when it suits them to do so. You'd think Germany wouldn't need to cherry pick from abroad but they do so. I really don't see why Scotland should be singled out for doing it. Scotland's a small country and needs all the help it can get.

On the other hand, Scotland are a very limited side these days and can benefit hugely from being able to pick British players with Scottish roots, not unlike the Irish in the 90s. Nothing wrong with that, but the fact is that this must be far more commonplace than elsewhere in Europe because Scotland are part of a 400 year old union.

The Scottish argument for this would be that the reason there's a Scottish diaspora is because they went where the work was. But that opens up a whole new can of worms and before long there will be mutterings about the Culloden and the Highland Clearances. There's no-one quite like a Scot for bearing a centuries-old grievance.