I think David Moyes would be a great choice, just look at what he's done with that shower of sh!t at Everton? It's no good blaming Berti for the demise of the National game, don't forget they did beat Holland at one stage? It goes far deeper, to the roots of the game, the academies and the lack of funds invested in the youth! The only good thing about Jockies demise, is that morale will be lifted by a new broom - I don't see Walter Smith as a saviour, it needs a younger man, with fresh ideas - Moyes, Strachan, Souness, or..................hold on a minute...............how would you like a Swedish titwank?
He hasn't hit the nail on the head at all. Let me put it like this. For the past couple of years, we've had a poor team and a poor manager, hopefully now, we can geta good manager for our poor team. A good manager can acheive reltive success, even with a limited squad of players, that is what we want!!
I'm talking about in general. They're not great at international level but these guys can all play football and they're all athletes, a great manager couls do things with these players, they are not hopeless. Until we do sort the game at grass roots level, are you perfectly happy to endure embarassing defeats to nothing countries or would you rather get in a manager who would organise the team and, at least, make us competitive?
I don't think Berti suffered embarassing defeats to nothing countries in competitive games did he??? I'd rather we let Berti see out his contract and then appoint a manager who will effect the change we need for the long term future of the game. I really don't care if we finish 3rd instead of 5th in the qualifying groups because we are crap but well-organised. Whoever we get now is, im afraid, going to be another short term appointment with limited support from the fans because there is no clear candidate with the skills, track record and fan backing that actually wants the job.
Lithuania? Teams like the Faroes, Moldova and Lithuania all have worse players than we do and he couldn't even get good results against these teams. But finishing 5th instead of 3rd does make a difference. The **************** our results, the lower down the coefficients and World Ranings we go. This could mean dropping into the 4th or even 5th pots for qualifying groups. Any new manager coming in would be facing a nightmare scenairo if that happened. Vogts was not up to the job, therefore, he has to go. It's as simple as that. You've probably got a point. I've been saying that this is the most important decision the SFA will have had to make in a long time. We need to look at who's available and make the right choice. I'd love to see George Graham get the job. There's a passionate manager who is famed for organisation and making his teams incredibly hard to beat, he was got amazing results from teams full of players who were not big signings and big names and he's been a success at every club he has been at, to varying extents. Appointing Walter Smith would be a mistake. A monkey could have won the league with Rangers in the early 90s, he threw money at the team and acheived success in Scotland but when he was up against teams who had spent similar amounts (in Europe) he made an embarrsment out of himself at Rangers and, as far as I know, he did nothing at Everton.
Your criticism of Walter Smith is a bit wide of the mark. He did an excellent job with Rangers and when he had a settled team (remember 1992?) he did do well in Europe. Admittedly at the end of his reign he did make a lot of rash foreign buys but everyone makes mistakes, besides most of the people he did buy turned out in the end to be good players (Jorg Albertz, Rangers fans?). I agree with you on George Graham though, why hasn't the press been suggesting him more? To be honest I'd forgotten about him!
Excellent? He dominated the Scottish League at a time when Rangers spent way, way beyond what any of their competiors could spend. Murray was ploughing money into the club, Celtic were a joke and the other clubs could not compete financially. Fair enough, he wasn't a failure but I'd hardly call that "excellent". "When he had a settled team"? Smith was at Rangers for years, did he only have a settled team in one season? That season was a very good one for Rangers in Europe and Smith has to take credit for that but not even (a sane) diehard Rangers fan can deny that Rangers, overall, European record in the 90s was shambolic. Aye, he bought good players, because he spent lots of money on them. Personally, I thought Albertz was a fantastic player, certainly in the SPL but he didn't come cheap. A Scotland manager cannot go out and spend millions on a new player. Walter Smith is a classic example of a cheque book manager and when his cheque book was not as big as the other teams (at Everton) he was a failure. I've seen him mentioned a coulpe of times in the press but I suppose his name hasn't been banded around as much as Stachan and Smith because he's been out of the limelight recently and isn't as 'media friendly' as the other two. He also has never managed in Scotland.
That shows me huh!? No matter what anyone thinks about his buying policies, a lot of players have a lot of respect for him and surely that's important?
I think that's true. You could see that he had the respect of the Rangers players during his time there and instilled a great team spirit. However, I think the same applies to Graham and Strachan. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather take Smith than have kept Vogts, I just think it will be an oppertunity missed to appoint 'one of the boys'.
I have to say Smith would be further up my list than George Graham. Last thing we need is another dour, defensive coach with zero charisma. We might as well get Craig Broon back.
I didn't like Craig Brown, but he really shown up Berti to be a real loser! His record was magnificent compared to Berti's. He didn't get us embarrased constantly! Ach, i'll settle for anyone Scottish!
You don't mean the same Craig Brown who, with probably the least talented group of players than any man before him, came away with the best record of any other Scottish manager? Oh aye, heaven forbid we get someone like him. I'd absolutely hate it if the next manager led us to the next two major championships, then came within a whisker of the third after a heroic victory at Wembley. Your statement is baffling. When you don't have world class options in attack, you have to make the team, organised, get the tactics right and make sure every player knows his role and does it. If that means playing with 5 at the back of 5 in midfield, that's what you have to do. Brown did that and Graham would do that. I bet the Greeks are glad they didn't go for that dour, defensive manager, Otto Reihagal.
Craig Brown did not have the least talented set of players ever though. The man with that title just got fired. When Broon DID start to lose some of the better players he was just as inept as Berti was and we didn't qualify for anything! He was also supposed to be in charge of developing the game/players in Scotland which he failed woefully to do....thats why we dont have any decent international players now!! If you are comparing records of those before him then you also have to consider that the qualification process is much different these days. Its easier to get into the finals since they are expanded from the good old days. The previous bosses didn't have the benefit of getting to play San marino, Faroe Islands, Estonia, Latvia etc etc etc either, that's got to bump up your wins tally.... although Broon struggled to get wins in these games too. He also gave Matt Elliot international caps - a hanging offence. Craig Broon got the dunt for a reason....his time was up. He got better results than Berti but then he had better players. Was he a better manager? Dunno....but Broon never won the Euro Championships.
I said "than any man before him" and I think you'll find that looking at any reports from the time, that was the general consensus. Brown was never as bad as Berti. Can I remind you that this man had the best record of any Scotland manager ever. It was not Brown's job to develop young players in Scotland, that is the job of the SFA. Brown's job was to caoch the national team. He did that and did it well. There were mjore ******** teams but you still have to qualify with a 1st seed. Do you not think 2 out of 3 major tournaments was a fantastic record? That's a pretty poor argument.
Berti was hated by Germans and was sacked by Germany Berti was hated by Leverkusen fans and was sacked by Leverkusen Berti managed to get Kuwait there worst ever finish in the Gold Cup in the middle east. Berti is completly inept To say what Berti worked with is much worse than Brown is insane! Just look at some of the line-ups when he was in charge!
Which lineups are you referring to? In goals.... Broon had Leighton and Goram to choose from. Vogts gets a Celtic reserve in Douglas, and two bairns. Broon wins. Defence... Broon has Weir, Calderwood, Boyd, Hendry, Dailly and a few others. Vogts gets Pressley, Webster, WILKIE, Dailly, and a selection of one-hit wonders like Crainey and MALKY MCKAY!!!! FFS! Broons wins. Midfield.... a settled midfield with Lambert McAllister Burley pulling the strings. Players like Billy McKinlay and Barry Ferguson cannae get a game!! Vogts gets a selection of players from the English reserves leagues a few teenagers with about 2 and a half first team games between them and the over-rated Ferguson is the lynchpin of the team. Advantage Broon Forwards...From McCoist, Durie, Jackson, Gallacher, McGinlay, Shearer, Dodds, Booth, Jess, Hutchison you could pick 2 players that would walk into the current squad. Vogts gets Paul Dickov and Steve Crawford. 4-0 Broon. How can you possibly claim that Vogts doesn't have a weaker squad??? I'm not trying to claim that Vogts is a great boss but the idea that Craig Brown is the best Scotland boss ever doesn't sit well. Also, as Scotland manager and SFA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR he had a responsibility to ensure that there was a future generation of players coming through. He failed. What was your other point? Berti never did as badly as Vogts?? Well the only thing Vogts has done in a competitive tournament was lose to Holland in a playoff for the Euro Champs. I think the last time Broon attempted to qualify he lost to England in a playoff. Sounds the same to me.
Missed this one. What do you mean by best record? If you are talking about wins draws and losses then you'd have to agree that playing san marino and estonia makes it easier to rack up some points in the wins column. No? If you are talking about qualification then you'd have to agree that its easier to qualify for tournaments nowadays than it was in the past because they are bigger. Its nigh on impossible to compare modern day managers to managers of the past so I think its a pretty academic exercise trying to claim that one was better than the other. The point is that Brown was sacked after failing to make 2 tournaments in a row (it was only 2 right?) Berti has been sacked after failing to make 1 and making a piss-poor start to #2. How long do we give the new man before we decide he's not good enough either? What do we do if we appoint Smith and he loses his first 2 or 3 games in charge (not an impossibility)?? Will we blame the manager again or will we finally admit that there are more deep-rooted problems in the game? Oh and qualifying for 2 out of 3 tournaments would be a pretty good record....unfortunately its not one that Broon can lay claim to since he failed to qualify for Euro 2000 and WC2002.