Smith to take over Scotland

[ButlerBob]

It looks like Smith is going to be named the new manager. Below are a couple of articles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4053193.stm


http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=317913&cc=5901

[Scottish_Morton]

:(

Well at least he's Scottish

[OttawaBear]

Bad, bad move for Wattie. Why????????

We have no quality in our National team outside of Ferguson, possibly Fletcher and McFadden (if he keeps his head straight and starts getting a game for Everton) with not a whole heck of a lot coming through (spare me the Beattie, Wallace, Hughes, Hutton, etc, talk. Long way off for those lads).

We can't score goals and we don't have a top keeper to rely on.

Scottish Football = Oxymoron

Tough days ahead Mr. Smith, tough days indeed.

OttawaBear



:(

Well at least he's Scottish

[Scottish_Morton]

Bad, bad move for Wattie. Why????????

We have no quality in our National team outside of Ferguson, possibly Fletcher and McFadden (if he keeps his head straight and starts getting a game for Everton) with not a whole heck of a lot coming through (spare me the Beattie, Wallace, Hughes, Hutton, etc, talk. Long way off for those lads).

We can't score goals and we don't have a top keeper to rely on.

Scottish Football = Oxymoron

Tough days ahead Mr. Smith, tough days indeed.

OttawaBear

Walter has no record of working well with not so good players, he was a failure at Everton.

Never heard of Jackie McNamara? He's the best Scottish player at the moment. Paul Dickov has also been fantastic of late. I have no doubts that Craig Gordon will be a world class 'keeper, with Marshall not far behind. If you're on the outside looking in you have no right to judge. Xander Diamond is looking one of the best young talents at the moment, didn't say anything about him did you?!

Take your ignorance of Scottish football elsewhere. Although I shouldn't expect anything other than ignorance from a hun.

FTOF

[Teso Dos Bichos]

It will be interesting to see who his assistant will be. Archie Knox was confirmed as Gough's number two for Livi today. There was a rumour of him working with Scotland on a part-time basis, but we will need to wait and see.

[OttawaBear]

Err, OK, whatever you say Morton.

Ignorance? What ignorance? Oh, you probably had a wee look and saw that I lived in Canada and thought 'Well that guy knows less than me coz I live in Irvine, Scotland'. Seriously, man grow up! It's small minds like yourself that make us the laughing stock of world football.

I stated an opinion, MY opinion. From watching 5 or 6 EPL games a weekend to, yes, watching Rangers each and every week live on satellite (however what that has to do with it other than giving you the satisfaction of calling me a h*n I have no idea), I believe that our game is at an all-time low. MY opinion. Sure, disagree if you want but being bitter and self-glorifying certainly doesn't impress anyone here, I'm sure.

You made some interesting comments that you obviously believe in. I don't, but you are definitely allowed to make them, as I am mine. That's what these forums are about.....for opinion and discussion. I'm afraid your attacks tend to leave you looking like an immature little boy that thinks he's right all the time. Pity that, as I would have been more than willing to discuss with you further.

Oh well, enjoy your parochial little empire down there in Irvine and all the best.

Thanks,

OttawaBear


PS: In 2004 alone, Scotland have won 2 (Estonia and Trinidad & Tobago), lost 6 (Wales, Romania, Denmark, Hungary, Sweden and Norway) and tied 3 games (Slovenia, Moldova and Spain - which doesn't really count as it was canned after an hour). I guess THAT lot makes me ignorant and you a visionary.

PSS: Thought I'd include the definition of 'Parochial' in case you had trouble looking it up: narrowly restricted in outlook or scope; "little sympathy with parocial mentality"; "insular attitudes toward foreigners"

PSSS: Some related terms for 'Pariochial' straight from the on-line dictionary: authoritarian, biased, bigot, bigoted, borne, closed, confined, conservative, constricted, conventional, cramped, creedbound, deaf, deaf to reason, dogmatic, ethnocentric, exceptional, excluding, exclusive, exclusory, fanatical, geographically limited, hidebound, illiberal, immovable, inadmissible, insular, intolerant, intractable, isolated, limited, little, little-minded, local, localized, mean, mean-minded, mean-spirited, narrow, narrow-hearted, narrow-minded, narrow-souled, narrow-spirited, nearsighted, of a place, one-sided, opinionated, partial, petty, preclusive, prejudiced, prescriptive, preventive, prohibitive, provincial, purblind, regional, restricted, restrictive, rigid, seclusive, sectarian, segregative, select, selective, separative, shortsighted, short-sighted, small, small-minded, small-town, snobbish, stiff, stiff-necked, straitlaced, stubborn, stuffy, topical, unchangeable, unchanging, uncharitable, uncultivated, uncultured, ungenerous, unliberal, unsophisticated, unworldly, vernacular, xenophobic.......enjoy :)




Walter has no record of working well with not so good players, he was a failure at Everton.

Never heard of Jackie McNamara? He's the best Scottish player at the moment. Paul Dickov has also been fantastic of late. I have no doubts that Craig Gordon will be a world class 'keeper, with Marshall not far behind. If you're on the outside looking in you have no right to judge. Xander Diamond is looking one of the best young talents at the moment, didn't say anything about him did you?!

Take your ignorance of Scottish football elsewhere. Although I shouldn't expect anything other than ignorance from a hun.

FTOF

[Scottish_Morton]

Looking at results and not looking at why results happen is ignorance of the why :D

You were giving an opinion based on the Old Firm and the Premiership. I've seen the opinion before, it stinks of ignorance of the rest of Scottish football.

Scotland lost so many games because of Berti Vogts. Now, people who don't know Scottish football that well say it is because we have crap players. But we were actually so bad because Berti liked to play Central Midfielders at Right Back, Centre-halfs at left back etc etc. Anyone who knows the Scottish players and watches the Scotland matches will know that Berti had terrible tactical sense. Things will improve now he has gone.

The game has not reached an all time low. On the contrary, it's in better condition than it has been in a long time. Look at Hearts in the UEFA cup, with a team full of Scottish players. That's the thing, Scottish players are now playing in the SPL. Look at Aberdeen's success this season, I doubt the've started a game this season with less than 8 or 9 scots. The same goes for the rest of the clubs. We are no longer over-run with foriegners like we have been for about the past decade. Oh, but that's right, you wouldn't realise that from watching Rangers, their foreign policy is almost as strong as ever!

And why should I expect anything other than ignorance from a 'gers fan?! Every day I see how the impact of the Old Firm has a bad influence on Scotland.

The old firm are bad for Scottish football and are bad for Scotland. How anyone would want to attach themselves to one of them is beyond me.

Oh look you used a big word and then made an attempt to belittle me by giving the definition. Well done. I'm sure your very proud.

And how dare you be slanderous towards my town, although for the most part you're probably right. Most of them are neds and Rangers fans :D

For the record I know many Scotland fans who are very unhappy with the appointment of Smith. Some who are considering not going to games anymore. I understand that view although I will still be in the North stand with the rest of the tartan army on match day.

[OttawaBear]

See, now wasn't that a more enjoyable post to do????

I actually agree with most of it.

My original post was two fold. One, Walter isn't the man for the job. This is a task of monumentous proportions. We have a lot of players (you mentioned Diamond and I agree) who are not quite ready to make that step up to international football yet. Talented, yes but still needing a lot of top-level coaching AND patience and Walter isn't the one to provide that, I'm sorry. I think it depends on who he selects as his assistant. For me it needs to be someone who can COACH AND RELATE to younger players (as you pointed out, something Walter failed to do at Everton). Time will tell, but I hope we are not looking at things in two years time and we are asking and discussing the same questions.

Two, we are woeful up front and in goal. In the games of 2004 I mentioned, we have scored 9 goals. McFadden has 4 goals and Thompson, one. That's it for strikers in 11 games! We have given up 18 goals in those same games, with two clean sheets against only Slovenia and Estonia. Marshall and Gordon may well be the answer but they both have been shaky in recent matches. We need to improve dramatically in those two areas of the park before we can even begin to string together some good performances.

There was an interesting debate on another thread about Scotland v Northern Ireland and such. Law, Dalglish, McCoist, Johnston are just some of the great strikers to have graced our National team. Know what? Only Dalglish came up through the Old Firm. Why can't that happen now? Same with keepers, Goram coming to mind. The OF are easy targets but the rest of Scottish Football must pull up their socks too. Aberdeen are starting with the two Jimmys, Hearts possibly with Levein and Robertson and Hibs have a terrific young squad that hopefully Mowbray can take higher.

Thanks, Morton. Enjoyed putting that one together much better than my first.....:):):)

OttawaBear



[QUOTE=Scottish_Morton]Looking at results and not looking at why results happen is ignorance of the why :D

[Gordon EF]

Reading this thread and from football in general from the past couple of years, I'm a little bit sick of people accpting scandalous results because we have ******** players. Teams like Greece and, to a lesser extent, Latvia have shown that you do not need teams full of world class players to succeed.

Surely this 11 has the potential to do something under the right management.....

Craig Gordon - (First choice at Hearts, young but has a lot of talent. Experience in SPL, Europe and international already)

Jackie McNamara - (One of Celtic's most reliable performers for years, huge experience both domestically and in Champions League)
Steven Pressley - (Experience at top level in Scotland and England, captain at Hearts, loads of experience)
Christian Dailly - (Lots of experience at top level in England, played in loads of internationals, including World Cup)
Gary Naysmith - (Has over 100 appearences for Everton in EPL)

Darren Fletcher - (Great young prospect, already has quite a bit of 1st team experience at Man Utd)
Barry Ferguson - (A lot of experince at top level in Scotland, in EPL, in Europe and internationals)
Nigel Quashie - (Shitload of experince with Portsmouth in EPL, one of their best players)
McFadden - (Maybe inconsistent and isn't getting a regular game but anyone who's seen him play knows that he has bags of talent and has shown at the highest level)

Paul Dickov - (PLaying and scoring goals in the EPL)
Steven Thompson - (Again, not playing regularly, but has a not bad scoring rate for Rangers and they paid £1 million for him)

Surely, surely, surely, a good manager would be capable of getting this team to 'do something', as the Sned would say?????

[OttawaBear]

But hasn't this pretty much been our team for the last year or so? Doing something is what we can all hope for.

And let's be perfectly honest......Greece were a total fluke as recent results have proven!

OttawaBear



Reading this thread and from football in general from the past couple of years, I'm a little bit sick of people accpting scandalous results because we have ******** players. Teams like Greece and, to a lesser extent, Latvia have shown that you do not need teams full of world class players to succeed.

Surely this 11 has the potential to do something under the right management.....

Craig Gordon - (First choice at Hearts, young but has a lot of talent. Experience in SPL, Europe and international already)

Jackie McNamara - (One of Celtic's most reliable performers for years, huge experience both domestically and in Champions League)
Steven Pressley - (Experience at top level in Scotland and England, captain at Hearts, loads of experience)
Christian Dailly - (Lots of experience at top level in England, played in loads of internationals, including World Cup)
Gary Naysmith - (Has over 100 appearences for Everton in EPL)

Darren Fletcher - (Great young prospect, already has quite a bit of 1st team experience at Man Utd)
Barry Ferguson - (A lot of experince at top level in Scotland, in EPL, in Europe and internationals)
Nigel Quashie - (Shitload of experince with Portsmouth in EPL, one of their best players)
McFadden - (Maybe inconsistent and isn't getting a regular game but anyone who's seen him play knows that he has bags of talent and has shown at the highest level)

Paul Dickov - (PLaying and scoring goals in the EPL)
Steven Thompson - (Again, not playing regularly, but has a not bad scoring rate for Rangers and they paid £1 million for him)

Surely, surely, surely, a good manager would be capable of getting this team to 'do something', as the Sned would say?????

[Scottish_Morton]

But hasn't this pretty much been our team for the last year or so? Doing something is what we can all hope for.

And let's be perfectly honest......Greece were a total fluke as recent results have proven!

OttawaBear

A lack of organisation and motivation has been a huge problem in these matches.

[OttawaBear]

Then why is Burns still involved in the National team set-up?

I would assume as Assistant Manager he would have been a huge part of the LACK of organisation and motivation, if not moreso than Vogts!

OttawaBear



A lack of organisation and motivation has been a huge problem in these matches.

[Scottish_Morton]

Then why is Burns still involved in the National team set-up?

I would assume as Assistant Manager he would have been a huge part of the LACK of organisation and motivation, if not moreso than Vogts!

OttawaBear

Why Burns is still involved is a real mystery, he isn't very popular. Actually I shouldn't be surprised he is still involved, head of the SFA David Taylor is as unpopular as Berti. He actually wanted to get rid of 'The Flower of Scotland! The favourite songs at the sweden game were David Taylor get tae ********, Sack the board and SFA wank wank wank :D.

Burns should've left with Berti.

[Gordon EF]

Then why is Burns still involved in the National team set-up?

I would assume as Assistant Manager he would have been a huge part of the LACK of organisation and motivation, if not moreso than Vogts!

OttawaBear

Because he's one of the boys, the same as Walter Smith.

I blame Burns as much as Vogts. He was supopsed to be the man who had the knowledge of Scottish football and Scottish footballers which would help Vogts. If he was doing his job properly, why did Vogts cap over 60 players in 3 years?

[Holyjoe]

If he was doing his job properly, why did Vogts cap over 60 players in 3 years?

I guess that's what many people wanted Vogts to do though at the outset, and it's also what many people are now crucifying him for.

They wanted someone would would pick new, in-form players, accusing Craig Brown of being too loyal to players who just weren't cutting it and never giving youth a chance.

This is the full list of players given their Scotland debuts by Vogts:

1.Stephen Crainey (Celtic) V France (a)
2.Gary Caldwell (Hibernian) V France (a)
3.Steve Thompson (Dundee U.) V France (sub) (a)
4.Rab Douglas (Celtic) V Nigeria (h)
5.Robbie Stockdale (Middlesbrough) V Nigeria (h)
6.Kevin McNaughton (Aberdeen) V Nigeria (h)
7.Gareth Williams (Notts. Forest) V Nigeria (h)
8.Graham Alexander (Preston) V Nigeria (sub) (h)
9.Michael Stewart (Man. U.) V Nigeria (sub) (h)
10.Garry O'Connor (Hibernian) V Nigeria (sub) (h)
11.Maurice Ross (Rangers) V South Korea (a)
12.Scott Dobie (WBA) V South Korea (a)
13.Kevin Kyle (Sunderland) V South Korea (sub) (a)
14.Lee Wilkie (Dundee) V South Africa (sub) (n)
15.James McFadden (Motherwell) V South Africa (sub) (n)
16.Paul Gallacher (Dundee U.) V Hong Kong XI (sub) (n)
17.Warren Cummings (Chelsea) V Hong Kong XI (sub) (n)
18.Derek McInnes (WBA) V Denmark (sub) (h)
19.Russell Anderson (Aberdeen) V Iceland (sub) (a)
20.Paul Devlin (Birmingham C.) V Canada (h)
21.Ian Murray (Hibernian) V Canada (sub) (h)
22.Jamie Smith (Celtic) V Rep. of Ireland (sub) (h)
23.Andy Gray (Bradford C.) V Lithuania (sub) (a)
24.Andy Webster (Hearts) V Austria (h)
25.Brian Kerr (Newcastle U.) V New Zealand (sub) (h)
26.Darren Fletcher (Man.U.) V Norway (sub) (a)
27.Stephen Pearson (Motherwell) V Holland (sub) (h)
28.Graeme Murty (Reading) V Wales (sub) (a)
29.Paul Gallagher (Blackburn R.) V Wales (sub) (a)
30.John Kennedy (Celtic) V Romania (h)
31.Malky Mackay (Norwich C.) V Denmark (a)
32.Peter Canero (Leicester C.) V Denmark (sub) (a)
33.David McNamee (Livingston) V Estonia (a)
34.Richard Hughes (Portsmouth) V Estonia (a)
35.Nigel Quashie (Portsmouth) V Estonia (a)
36.Craig Gordon (Hearts) V Trinidad and Tobago (h)
37.Jamie McAllister (Livingston) V Trinidad and Tobago (h)
38.David Marshall (Celtic) V Hungary (h)
39.Lee McCulloch (Wigan A.) V Moldova (sub) (a)

Granted there are a few in there who probably shouldn't have got anywhere near the Scotland squad (Jamie McAllister :eek:), but he's given folk a chance.
It's just obvious that he wasn't able to get them playing together properly...

[-cman-]

I could make some attempts at humor here but why bother when I have the matchless wit of the Guardian's Fiver as close as Ctrl-V...

BLESS AND PRAISE HIS MATCHLESS MIGHT

Somewhere amid the dank and cavernous depths of global sport,
somewhere far, far below Mali (47th!), Uzbekistan (51st!) and
Guatemala (62nd!), lies a lugubrious land of fallen footballers, a
frigid enclave where tartan-clad fantasists cling fiercely to bygone
glories like chicken-chokers with rigor mortis. Today, this tribe
called questionable found a new chief: Walter Smith.

Putting a brave face on missing out on the top job in war-ravaged DR
Congo, Smith spoke of his unrivalled joy at being given a four-year
deal to manage the side ranked just one place below the battling
Congolese: Scotland - the 77th-best team on the planet. "I am
delighted the board have appointed me as manager," he said, with an
apparent straight face. "I am really looking forward to getting
started."

That start - in competitive terms at least - will come next March,
when the Scots, currently writhing obscenely at second-last in Group
5 with two points from three games, will attempt to prod their World
Cup campaign to within reasonable proximity of the track as they
travel to ... oh dear, Italy.

Strangely for a former Rangers boss, Smith seemed unaware of the rules
of mob-management and declined to warn against utterly unwarranted
optimism: "Even if our last two home games have not gone as we would
have liked [that'll be the draw with Moldova and the defeat to Norway
then], I think Scotland have a chance of qualifying for the World
Cup. I've certainly not given up hope," he blaahed, before adding
that he expects Charles Kennedy to be the next Prime Minister and
Colin Hendry to be the next James Bond.

[Gordon EF]

The person that wrote that is an arse hole as well as an idiot.

What great journalism on display here, getting one of the fixtures wrong and using the Coca Cola Fifa World Rankings as fact, or even a credible estimate shows what a poor attempt at slagging us off that really is.

This'll be one of these English wankers who tries to look down on Scots who enjoy seeing England lose and proudly claim to all who'll listen that he couldn't give a ******** about Scotland then goes and write something as needlessly derrogatry as that.

You won't find tripe like that in the Scottish press, even from garbage like the Sun or the Record.

[sendorange]

I think Walter Smith is on to such an easy job here. He's got absolutely no expectations on him as everybody is saying before he was even appointed that he has no good players and should be praised just for taking it. Every positive result he gets will get put squarely into his credit.

When you look at the squad he's got, virtually all of the best players are young and they're looking in better shape than they were 3 years ago. He just needs to play people in their proper positions, get the confidence back and recruit a few more decent players with Scottish ancestry like Quashie to fill out the squad. Then he is sorted.

[Scottish_Morton]

I'm not delighted with Smith's appointment but i'll back him 100%.

He might be able to bring back experienced guys like Duncan Ferguson and David Weir which might help.

He's sure to be better than Berti anyway :D

[Bruiser]

Today @ Royal League

SK Brann - Malmö FF 4-1

0-1 Rosenberg 3'
1-1 Miller 7'
2-1 Miller 10'
3-1 Haugen 55'
4-1 Winters 75'

Goals: http://www.vg.no/video/

Again, our two Scotsmen show class.

You know, you're not completely blooded for strikers. I'm sure they can strenghten your team, as they are performing very well at the highest Scandinavian level through several matches.