Fair Play Scotland

[FatTony]

From the european groups? Who?

Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia

All have either qualified or are still in with a shout, with what could be argued as tougher groups.

[Shaggy]

How could I forget Croatia!

When you look at those nations and compare their achievements, standard of football etc, against the hopeless Scots......

[Craig_H]

Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia

All have either qualified or are still in with a shout, with what could be argued as tougher groups.

Well, since only England, Holland and Spain have qualified so far from europe, out of your list above, NONE have actually qualified yet.

But they're obviously having better campaigns at the moment.

And the comment of 'qualify regularly' which i was disputing, certainly doesnt ring true for most of your list.

[FatTony]

Well, since only England, Holland and Spain have qualified so far from europe, out of your list above, NONE have actually qualified yet.

But they're obviously having better campaigns at the moment.

And the comment of 'qualify regularly' which i was disputing, certainly doesnt ring true for most of your list.

Yes they are.

My point is that Scotland, whilst they shouldn't be qualifiying for every tournament, should have qualified for a lot more than they have over the last decade or so, its been a total underachievement.

[Shaggy]

Denmark, Norway, Croatia, Czechs can all be described as qualifying for major tournaments pretty regularly, and the others such as Slovenia, Swiss etc have all been to tournaments in recent years while the Scots have been cheering for whoever plays England.

[Craig_H]

Denmark have only ever qualified for 3 world cups out of 18 in the entire history of football.

Norway have also only ever qualified for 3 world cups out of 18 in the entire history of football.

Croatia hasnt existed for long, so that's not a fair comparison. It's fair to say though, that since its existence, Croatia has been a very good side, qualifying for each of the 3 world cups since then.

Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia are also obviously a strong side historically, and have done well, qualifying 9 times out of 18.

Scotland, for their own part, have qualified 8 times out of 18.

So their qualification record stands up in comparison to those kind of nations. They're going through a bit of a lull at the moment though, but it's fairly cyclical.

[Craig_H]

Yes they are.

My point is that Scotland, whilst they shouldn't be qualifiying for every tournament, should have qualified for a lot more than they have over the last decade or so, its been a total underachievement.

The last decade has certainly seen a downturn in fortunes for the Scots.

Historically though, they compare fairly favourably to other nations of a similar size, in terms of WC qualification.

[Shaggy]

Aye but we are talking about their failures over the last decade or so, while these other similarly-sized nations have out-performed them, not their overall record. We've said they had great players and the odd decent side.

[rudedog]

Smaller pools of players I meant.

Norway has a smaller population, as does Slovenia, then countries with a similarly sized pool of players to choose from such as Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Serbia, Czech Republic. OK so 'lots' was an exaggeration but they're up against similar sized nations who routinely out-perform them.

out of your list of 'similar sized' countries Switzerland has 50% larger population and Serbia and Czech Republic are double.

so in total, you have 2 countries with smaller populations and 2 with similar sized populations that have fared better.

[FatTony]

out of your list of 'similar sized' countries Switzerland has 50% larger population and Serbia and Czech Republic are double.

so in total, you have 2 countries with smaller populations and 2 with similar sized populations that have fared better.

You can add Croatia to that as well.

Of course it matters, but its not the be all end all of the problem is what we're saying. You have to remember that football in Scotland is a major sport compared to others and if we're going by the population, then Brazil should win it everytime and New Zealand should be rubbish at rugby with France winning the Rugby WC most of the time.

Its underachievement from Scotland not to qualify for anything since 1998 and something needs to change.

I'd rather see them in it personally, I like to follow them in the footy at the majors, they're always my second team (when there), but for people to be using the excuse that its all down to population is just painting over cracks. It needs to be addressed in one way or another.

Their players need to be playing in the EPL or getting out into the rest of europe. They seem to suffer from the same fear of living in foreign lands as our players do, we're just lucky that the money in the EPL has raised the standard.

[Shaggy]

You can add Croatia to that as well.

Of course it matters, but its not the be all end all of the problem is what we're saying. You have to remember that football in Scotland is a major sport compared to others and if we're going by the population, then Brazil should win it everytime and New Zealand should be rubbish at rugby with France winning the Rugby WC most of the time.

Its underachievement from Scotland not to qualify for anything since 1998 and something needs to change.

I'd rather see them in it personally, I like to follow them in the footy at the majors, they're always my second team (when there), but for people to be using the excuse that its all down to population is just painting over cracks. It needs to be addressed in one way or another.

Their players need to be playing in the EPL or getting out into the rest of europe. They seem to suffer from the same fear of living in foreign lands as our players do, we're just lucky that the money in the EPL has raised the standard.

[Guest]

Andy Murray is ****. He's a scot.

[DannyMan2006]

Just watched the Holland game and they were up and at them right until the end .. unlucky to go a goal down and fair play to the fans they were with them right till the end ...

If you had an English team with Scottish fans ... England might go a little further in International competitions

absouloute bollocks.

Of course the Scotland fans kept cheering because they were the underdogs and not expected to beat the Dutch. Scotland fans like any other nation have been less than credible when their team has under performed against the lesser sides.

[DannyMan2006]

You can add Croatia to that as well.

Of course it matters, but its not the be all end all of the problem is what we're saying. You have to remember that football in Scotland is a major sport compared to others and if we're going by the population, then Brazil should win it everytime and New Zealand should be rubbish at rugby with France winning the Rugby WC most of the time.

Its underachievement from Scotland not to qualify for anything since 1998 and something needs to change.

I'd rather see them in it personally, I like to follow them in the footy at the majors, they're always my second team (when there), but for people to be using the excuse that its all down to population is just painting over cracks. It needs to be addressed in one way or another.

Their players need to be playing in the EPL or getting out into the rest of europe. They seem to suffer from the same fear of living in foreign lands as our players do, we're just lucky that the money in the EPL has raised the standard.

Absoloute garbage. Long before sky money rolled in English teams had success in Europe, whilst the national side finished a very credible 4th in the world cup before Sky rolled in. And I don't see much improvement these days on the likes of Lineker, Beardsley, Waddle, Barnes, Walker, etc etc.

[Shaggy]

The very year the Premiership launched, England came bottom of their group at Euro 92 and came home humiliated, having scored one goal in three games against modest opposition. Sweden and Denmark occupied 1st and 2nd. Two years later, we didn't even qualify for the World Cup. I think it's fair to say the birth of the Premiership was a timely one as far as England is concerned.