albagubrath

Yeah, really disappointing how it has worked out for him. The loss of Klopp could be another nail in the coffin of his Liverpool career. He may need to find a way to reset and start again as he is undoubtedly talented. Having said that things can change very quickly. He has clearly had real injury and illness issues. He might have been better staying at Liverpool and playing at EPL2 to rebuild than going back out on loan and that option may still be open to him. Get back fit and a good pre-season and things could change very quickly; just look at Billy G going from a failing bit-part midfielder at a relegation certainty to a key cog in one of the best midfields in the country all in the space of a few months.

I'm just going to throw this name out there as I'm not particularly advocating for him (over say Fraser) but if you are looking for a player with broadly similar attributes to Ferguson (and I'm not sure we necessarily are) then Andy Irving is closer than Fraser. He had a bad injury last year but has come back into the Klagenfurt team in the last 3 or 4 months. I'll leave others to comment on whether he is playing well and what the standard is like in Austria but I presume he was doing well enough for West Ham to buy him last year.

Putting the money to the side for a moment, what would seem more likely is he would be interested if he wants to build his own CV as a manager rather than a coach. He had one gig so far (Hearts) which was less than successful. If he wants to build credibility as a manager in his own right this might be a good way to go about it. Take the U19 job for a couple of years and show he has the skills, move onto a smaller club with those transferable skills and build from there. At the moment I'm not sure he is particularly employable as a manager, if that's the role he would like.

He was previously with the U21s was he not? I don't know anything about him or his coaching philosophy but appointing a near 60 year old doesn't scream progressive up-and-coming coach to me. Someone put my mind at ease, please?!

If you think that qualifies as wanky business speak you'd struggle in my office The kid in question is a celtic youth so presumably is at their affiliated school (St Ninian's?) rather than a performance school. I think you are right that the Performance School kids may have access to that kind of stuff (i really hope they do) but I can't imagine they'll have much SFA contact at non-affiliated schools other than when they turn up to national squads. That is the gap that could be filled with, frankly, not that much effort. There are probably fewer than 100 boys in any given year who are in and around national team unders squads but not in performance schools.

Scotland should be clearly setting out things like: The philosophy and system of the national teams and the place of each player in it including the position the SFA see them playing in, the kind of attributes important to the way that we play and the skills we expect to see delivered within the system employed A set of shared goals and KPIs that are understandable and achievable at each step in the development of the player, covering physical, mental and skills based development so both player and coaches are clear on what is required and when A clear outline of which resources the player will have access to and when through that development journey A talent development specialist who the player has as a key SFA contact that will monitor their development closely and constantly, keeping in touch on their progress and providing feedback on how they are progressing towards shared goals Generally I kind of agree that the full pathway isn't required for international football, that should be the responsibility of the club more than anyone as they are broadly in charge of their development. Nevertheless, showing a player why they are more likely to succeed in our system of another nation's is important because it shows we know what we are doing. The problem, of course, is we appear to have no fucking idea what we are doing and everyone can see it, hence the steady stream of talented players leaving our game in their early teens.

Great debut for Mellon today for Dundee. A goal and two assists in 30 minutes. Should be in and around the 21s, but might not get a game as he’s competing with Conway. Wilson also scored for Villa in PL2, he seems to be getting a few starts at that level now after mostly playing at U19 level. For me, despite his promise, he will probably play U19 for Scotland this year given the quality of Conway.

He's had two injuries in his career. In 2021 he was out a couple of months with a hamstring strain. He also suffered a knee injury which kept him out since around this time last year due to it needing surgery. More recently he had covid. It's not exactly the injury history of a permacrock.

Whit? Gilmour is younger than Ferguson. Gilmour - 22 Ferguson - 24 McTominay - 27 (just) McGinn - 29 McGregor - 30 All will be available for the next campaign and only McGregor is realistic to drop out for the one after that (Euro 2028). Given qualification will likely start in March 2027 (?) with the tournament in June 2028 I expect all to be around for both. McGregor being 35 at the tournament will hardly be ancient for a top Scotland player. Whether he is good enough at that point we will have to wait and see.

If we concentrate on ourselves there is a decent probability the other teams all take points off each other. Whether that turns out to be good or bad for us I have no idea!

I think we're only short a real stand out attacking player from being a side of that quality. Wales with Bale and to a certain extent Georgia with Kvaratskhelia are good examples of how much one player can elevate a team.

I thought Patterson somehow managed to be both our best and our worst player at the same time last night, a real curates egg of a performance mixing some fantastic moments with some awful. Generally, thinking about the Euro I would say Shankland, Ferguson and Porto improved their chances of being on the plane, Ralston and Taylor reduced their chances of going and the rest are probably secure enough that there is no change. In terms of the starting 11 I think Dykes and Christie both harmed their chances where Clarke, McLean and Patterson won't be in the starting 11 in any case.

That's basically an 11 - Steele - Targett - Binks - ? - Liveramento - Hackney - - Steele - Anderson - -Gordon - Barnes - - Grant - I'd have Barnes, Gordon, Anderson, Hackney or Liveramento...but if we had them all I'd be pretty uncomfortable about basically being England B.

Yeah, he was playing semi-regularly for Dundee United before Villa signed him. Already a big unit even then at 16 and technically (for a Scottsih centre back) very good. He has been doing well at Villa - pretty sure he has captained their 21s a number of times and is very much a mainstay in the side. Villa have a good crop of decent Scottish youngsters, not just Wilson and Smith but also Ewan Simpson (signed from Hearts) and Aidan Borland. Josh Feeney (also a CB) is also Scottish Qualified but very much in the English age-group system.

In many respects this might prove to be correct. Have we had another player so comfortably excellent at top 5 level at 20 years old? He will move to an elite team either this or next summer and stay there for a decade. Is he the most exciting attacking player? No. Is he the best out and out defender? No. Is he the best technical player? Possibly, but probably not. Is he the most tactically engaged and aware? Again, possibly but probably not. Is he the fittest and most athletic? No. Is he really fucking good in ALL these respects? Absolutely yes!