28 Jun 2026 14:27:45
Angus I see you playing devils advocate again but this time with Steve Clarke for some odd reason. You say no one had a worse group vape verde had just as bad a group and made it out with Spain and Uruguay and drew with both who are ranked a lot higher than them.
But hey let's just congratulate our team for getting there and failing once again. Only country in the world that celebrates failure it's absolutely disgusting
28 Jun 2026 14:52:28
Can't argue with a word u have said storm absolutely in the nose.
28 Jun 2026 14:56:51
Scotland, as a whole, have got low standards.
Low standards for the national team, low standards for the SFA and the state of the game, low standards for the SPFL and the TV deals we have.
Yes, we qualified, which is good, but with players like McTominay, McGinn, etc., we should be qualifying.
We need a better manager who gets more out of these players.
Clarks done well to get us to tournaments, but he's hit his ceiling. He will never take us further than he has.
I've seen Naismith being mentioned as next manager. This is what I'm talking about, low standards. There's no ambition to go and take us to the next level. There's good managers out there who would want to work with the McTominays and McGinns of the world.
28 Jun 2026 15:02:12
What do u want the fans to do? Pay all the money to go all the way out there, then sit and be angry / look miserable. The fans go for a party regardless.
28 Jun 2026 15:35:19
Far too pragmatic a coach. Only qualified because Denmark were reduced to 10 men, and unfairly at that.
Once there, he knew that we had to get 3 or 4 vs Haiti. But his mantra, like so many other Scots, is to still be in it going into the last game.
Against Brazil!! Absolutely bonkers!
I think we can all accept the pragmatic approach in the qualifiers, but when you're there, take the handbrake off.
It's not like we're going to win it! Show a bit more positivity.
In 3 major tournaments, he hasn't given us one positive memory.
28 Jun 2026 15:44:01
Scoring one deflected goal and having a game with zero shots on target is unacceptable.
28 Jun 2026 16:02:30
Bee,
Fans do go out to party.. but I can tell you first hand we weren't happy about the performances out there!
28 Jun 2026 16:07:35
The problem comes from the root. Junior development, both technically and physically, in Scotland is in the stone ages compared to other countries.
28 Jun 2026 16:10:24
Is there not a difference with acknowledging that it's an achievement to qualify for 3 major tournaments after so long in the wilderness, and saying that it's brilliant that we turn up and play well?
Hopefully, the next manager can take us up another level but we'll have to wait and see.
28 Jun 2026 16:44:04
I agree, Yer Maw. I was at the last Euros. That's my point, people saying we celebrate just getting there. That's not the case, we enjoy the occasion but are unhappy at the results.
28 Jun 2026 17:15:37
Grassroots 100% Blue - no vision, no thinking out the box - go out, pick up kids playing from age 5 into pro youth where they know the dad and keep them in for 15 years until, officially, they are not good enough to make it - joke of a system - Cape Verde, Denmark, Croatia, the list goes on and on, all better than us, some with less population - the fact we are reliant on guys like Hanley, Ralston, McKenna tells its own story.
??
28 Jun 2026 17:21:15
Storm, who has celebrated failure? We celebrated the win against Norway to get us there for first time in 28yrs, rightly so, but nobody has celebrated those 3 games, unless I've missed something.
Ppl going on about we should have scored 2 or 3 v Curacao, do people think we didn't try to? Of course we did, but we couldn't because we aren't good enough. Clark obviously kept it tight against Morocco, hoping we could get a point and qualify. Any manager we had would have done the same, it made sense to do that, or should we have gone toe to toe with Morocco after getting a win in first game and knowing Brazil, is this what some are saying we should have done? We just don't have the player to go toe to toe with teams like that, if we did we'd get heavily defeated like against Germany in Euros, people would be complaining about that as well, no win situation for any manager.
Steve Clark isn't to blame that we don't have good enough players, that falls on the SFA, who've ran our game into the ground with no hope of it ever getting better.
28 Jun 2026 17:35:30
I really struggle to understand anyone who doesn't support their own country or seems to revel in criticising the national team. Clarke did a great job. Scotland got the results that they were expected to get.
They do not have the talent to go for it against these bigger teams. Right time for Clarke to go, but I've not got a bad word to say about him.
28 Jun 2026 18:15:41
Exactly that, Bee, the misconception that as long as we get there we ain't bothered and we just accept mediocrity isn't the case.
I have seen posts on FB saying how Clarke done brilliantly getting us to 3 out of the last 4 comps.
But those performances were dire, and the fans that watched that just had their head in their hands, going.
Wtf is going on!
Smaller teams played far more attractive football than us, and that's down to the manager.
I'm glad he's gone, and hopefully we get one in, and recognises the changes required!
28 Jun 2026 18:18:14
Don't have the talent, don't have the players. What planet do you guys live on? We have an EPL/CL winning lb, a Ballon d'Or nominated cm, another cm who was linked with more top Italian teams, a RW that was sold for £25m.
We have plenty good enough players.
What we had was a manager that didn't pick on form, as he left 2 strikers who outscored any other striker we took, and picked some players who had hardly played any football all season.
The criticism of Clarke's WC performance is totally justified!
28 Jun 2026 18:19:34
Huey, I disagree, to beat Haiti 1-0 with a deflected shot and to not have a single sit on target against Morocco is far from what I expected.
28 Jun 2026 18:54:11
You only have to look at club standard football.
We await European draws, rubbishing ourselves; we may draw Red Imps or any other giants of Europe, when once these teams would have been considered byes. We can point finger at SFA, but we don't give young players enough chances.
28 Jun 2026 18:57:24
Saying we don't have the players is utter nonsense as BbJ has stated also.
Bb4, we didn't play Curacao in World Cup. We played Haiti and we were lucky to get 3 points then. We have celebrated failure in this country since before I was born. Just getting there is good enough and don't say we haven't got fans like that because we have and always had. You can see it all over social media. Cape Verde has a population of 500k. They have made it out the group with a similar group to us by drawing with Spain and Uruguay. The excuses getting made for the manager and players are bordering on ludicrous.
He also took Fletcher, who has hardly played pro football, instead of Miller Barron and whoever else was on the list.
Pointless. Just because he got us to 2 Euros (harder not to qualify that is 100% correct no debate) he is to be applauded? He failed at those two comps as well and we celebrated a draw with England like it was a win. That was embarrassing as well.
Fans deserve better.
The only one I would congratulate him on is the World Cup qualification as we got there on merit by topping the group. Then he failed again. Pleased don't come out with playing 2 countries in too 10 in world it won't wash as I'll tell you to go back to Cape Verde games. ?
Lastly, bb4, Clarke is to blame for tactics and formation etc. Not the SFA.
28 Jun 2026 18:26:38
storm this isn't exactly rocket science so hopefully it won't go over your head. yes Spain are highly ranked at number 1 in world granted but Uruguay are 16th. so Brazil and Morocco were the two highest pot 1 and pot 2 ranked nation in any group.
I have said I would rather have attacked and lost by a few goals than played the way we had. however who we had in our group is relevant
but by god any team who has you as a 'supporter' is doomed. you very rarely have a good thing to say about Rangers and it seems at least you are consistent by not having anything to say about the country we live in.
try at least having a positive outlook about something fgs.
28 Jun 2026 19:24:34
Uruguay are 16th in FIFA rankings; Scotland had the two highest ranked teams from pot 1 and 2.
not an excuse as I would rather have played attractive football and gone out than the way we played.
oh and Cape Verdi may have a population of 500k but most of their players were born in Portugal (4), Holland (6), France (3) and Switzerland (2) with even one from Ireland and the US. More players born in Rotterdam than their own capital city (6/4)
so this diapspora and Africa getting 9 places instead of 5 is why they are there. and yes they did attack but they got 3 points. if Scotland had been in their group they would have finished 2nd as well with the points they won. Uruguay were the only 3rd place team to finish with 2 points.
so yes we were poor but just like with Rangers you seem to just love to girn about everything and not have a positive thing to say. ?
28 Jun 2026 19:53:17
Haiti sorry. Storm you start your post by saying we were lucky to get 3 points against haiti, exactly. Lucky to get 3 points against haiti, but you think we should go all out against Morocco/brazil make that make sense.
What's utter nonsense about saying we don't have the players? Robertson was done a year or so ago, nobody can deny that. The 20 million spent on doak, is over priced, wouldn't sell for that in any other league in world, he's nowhere near world class, Ferguson good player nowhere near world class, mctominay brilliant player, mcginn brilliant player.
We've got a brilliant midfield the rest are absolutely mediocre, tell me who isn't mediocre?
Storm can you point me to any articles of fans celebrating failure, as saying it's all over social media doesn't wash mate.
Just to confirm you wanted him to take the player you described as running about like a headless chicken, in Barron? Instead of fletcher?
Great last post angus ?
28 Jun 2026 20:11:25
Elijah Just scored 3 times the amount of goals Scotland scored but is also out of the World Cup. Also think he was in an easier group though to be fair. Scotland at the World Cup was never going to be pretty, tough draw = tough watch. It was over 70 seconds into the Morocco game when Hanley switched off.
If Stevie Clarke got one thing wrong it was taking a guy who was struggling at Hibs at times last season and thinking he could be the answer at this level. That was false loyalty, he should have brought Luke Graham into the fold and left Hanley home.
28 Jun 2026 20:27:31
Play nice children. ?