I was very interested to read in the newspapers that Berti Vogts had publicly voiced his concern over Ian McCall’s decision to drop Paul Gallacher. Making his opinions known is a good thing – but that word that Motherwell fans are all too familiar with, “consistency“, seems to have risen it’s ugly head again.
I cannot believe that Ian McCall is coming under fire from the national boss for dropping Scotland’s second choice keeper but Vogts, it seems, does not feel the need to question Martin O’Neill’s decision to drop Robert Douglas, Scotland’s number one keeper. The Celtic boss then proceeds to bring in Broto, making Douglas almost certainly third choice goalkeeper at Parkhead.
If Berti Vogts is so concerned with his players not playing first team football for their club, why did Kevin Kyle manage to get a call-up in the first place!?
The Scottish Youth
Again and again we are told that we need to get young footballers into the game to improve Scottish football – but no wonder they don’t want to play.
In the past, a young footballer could get noticed playing for his local side, sign on with a bigger club, work hard, play well and maybe finally reach his dream of playing for Scotland.
Nowadays, it’s a lot more complicated.
A footballer will need to be outstanding at a young age to attract the attention of bigger clubs, who would normally be searching throughout the world for a foreign star. Then the player will need work even harder to burst into the first team – something young players of today find very difficult (unless you’re at Fir Park). A few years later they may be playing first team football for their club, picking up awards every month and modelling the latest hair gel – that still won’t be enough.
Now starts the long journey to international football.
First of all the player will need to start banging in goals every week, skinning the life out of the opposition and posing a real threat to the Old Firm. At this stage either Rangers or Celtic will splash out, say, a few hundred thousand on the player. At this point, it seems all hope is lost as the player finds himself at the very bottom of the ladder – sharing team hotel rooms with the Dariusz Adamczuks and Rafael Scheidts of their club.
Working hard and playing well will not be good enough at this stage – the only solution is to wait for an injury crisis to hit the club. If this does eventually happen, the player will have their one chance to get into the Scotland squad. Have one good game for an Old Firm side and they are guaranteed a spot in Berti Vogt’s squad. If they have a rubbish game, not all is lost. If Martin O’Neill or Alex McLeish plays a Scot, they must be good enough for the international side – so the likely event is that the player will find themselves in the Scotland under-21s (if they haven’t been left to rot at Ibrox or Parkhead until their 34) and a new journey begins.
The player will need to really impress in maybe ten or eleven under-21 games. At this point, instead of getting their chance at full team level, the player will find themselves in the “future” squad. If they manage to impress at that stage, they could eventually find themselves being called up for the full Scotland side. It is at this point the player needs to perfect their English accent in order to fit in and impress Berti Vogts. If all goes well in the training sessions, and the player happens to mention they play for an Old Firm side every so often, they will eventually reach their dream – to play for Scotland.
Unfortunately, soon the player will find themselves training with the Old Firm reserves, picking up wages to do nothing, and joining the list of players like Kenny Miller and Mark Burchill. In their late 20s they may find a move to a lower league English club, before a stint in the S.P.L. and then retirement.
And they wonder why Scottish football is in such a mess…
The Shaun Fagan League
Since we hammered Celtic and crushed Rangers at Fir Park, I’ve read a lot in the newspapers (and from the mouth of Terry Butcher) that we would win in a league with the Old Firm. On Saturday we will once again thrash Celtic, so I thought it’s about time we see exactly where we stand in the Shaun Fagan league – dedicated to wee Shaun’s diving header.
Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
Rangers | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 7 |
MOTHERWELL | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
Celtic | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 4 |
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