albagubrath

I presume you are talking about the Troubles but I'm honestly not sure what you are getting at? The only issue I can see would be that Windsor Park was already recently redeveloped and is too small. There were some issues with the original redevelopment of that stadium as it is owned by Linfield and other teams claimed state aid but those were overcome and presumably could be again. The other options would be to expand/redevelop Ravenshill (the Kingspan) or to build a new stadium outright to be owned by the IFA.

A few of the suggestions in this thread most likely won't be allowed. Croke Park is unlikely as it would need temporary seating on the terrace which is not allowed under the rules (no temporary seating allowed). I find it unlikely they would allow a stadium to operate with a full stand (around 10-15k of total capacity) empty. Similarly any Aberdeen stadium would need to be permanent, not temporarily expanded. I don't know how flexible the rules are around this sort of thing but as far as I can see they are definitely in place (https://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/download/officialdocument/uefaorg/regulations/02/46/30/61/2463061_download.pdf for Euro 2024, page 66). I would be surprised if there was no Belfast option in a bid - surely a purpose built 30,000+ stadium would be ideal there? In terms of multiple stadiums in one city, there is a lot of regulation around that too to ensure the stadium can manage two games that overlap. I don't know if Dublin would meet those requirements or not. Undoubtedly London would. In terms of (complete) stadium renovations, these have to be in place at least 2 years prior to the commencement of the tournament. I wonder if Hampden would meet the requirements for hospitality etc. at this point or if it would require an upgrade. If the later they will have to get moving pretty fast as a complete rebuild would take several years. Realistically they would need to have spades in the ground in 2024/5 to have it done 2 years early. I very much hope this is part of the plan and that the upgrade is funded by the central government (ala the Millenium Stadium and the Olympic Stadium). We definitely have the worst stadia in the UK here. Finally, if Murrayfield is part of the bid (and I hope it is), it would probably also benefit from a new east stand to make the full BOWL and bring the capacity up to I would presume 70k+, possibly 80k+. There is a running track in front of the West Stand that would allow the pitch to move westward and a tighter BOWL to be built. A roof would also be a good addition but that's probably a bit optimistic!

The journalist didn't say he was rubbish, they said he is a very good player being asked to play the wrong role.

Definitely heavily influenced by Tifo (and others) who have been pretty strong on that view.

I'm not sure I agree with that. He is sometimes a bit rash with the ball in posession in phases of play when building out from the back but is generally a very good distributer. I would say he is an above average distributer for a CB, average for a CDM/CM. He is very poor when out of posession when his team are building from the back though, often taking up position in the shadow of an opposition player thereby essentially taking himself out of the game. That should be very easy to coach out of him by a good coach though.

There's a really good rundown here from Tifo: Essentially he plays a 'back 3' but it is highly fluid drawing in players from the back four and a holding mid (i.e. CB-CB-LB or HM-CB-RB or whatever). It might actually suit McTominay really well with his ability to transition between CB and HM/CM. He is best suited to a role where he can cover a lot of ground IMO so this system might allow him the freedom to do that. Of course Ten Hag might set up his united team in a completely different way so we'll have to wait and see.

Do you work for the Sunday Post

Highlights of the U17s here: https://twitter.com/ScotlandNT/status/1506708212413870095?s=20&t=yf4MAmlUSIGgskzG54kJsw

Lowry the standout for the U19s. Doak the standout for the U17s.

A year in the Championship did Andy Robertson no harm at all.

That's not what the article says. It says he has been identified as an option, but since they are looking for a squad player who can bench behind Ferland Mendy, the asking price which will be over €30m is too much. They are basically saying they are willing to pay up to €30m for their squad player, not that Tierney is valued at €30m

Folk were saying it last week. With impeccable timing he IS ACTUALLY playing right wing back tonight for Bologna! Which just goes to show you are bang on!

It was a joke on the basis of the number of posters on this forum who seem to think he should be in the squad for Scotland at right (wing) back despite, as you say, the fact he basically hasn't played in that position before.

I heard they want him as a right back...!

Not that I am aware of. The eldest PS players are around 20, 21. Those that went to a PS that I am aware of that are amongst our best young forwards are probably Kai Kennedy (Rangers, was on loan at Dunfermline, more of a winger), Stuart McKinstry (made his debut for Leeds late last year, more of a winger), Dapo Mebude (Watford, on loan in League 1 at Wimbledon where he has played 12 times scored twice). Others kicking around who might be considered out better prospects but who didin't attend a PS are Glenn Middleton (Rangers, on loan at St Johnston, more of a winger), Aaron Pressley (Brentford, on loan at League 1 Wimbledon, played 19 times and scored twice), Ewan Urain (Bilbao B, plays regularly) and Kyle Joseph (Swansea, on loan in League 1 at Cheltenham where he has 19 appearances and 4 goals). Nobody really stands out there (yet) as being in the class that the likes of Gilmour, Patterson and Ramsay are/will be.

Haha, true. It's also probably survivorship bias - here are four that are great and forgetting all the ones who are now league 2 jobbers or not even professionals. We could take a better stab at answering if that is true if the SFA released any kind of information on outcomes, but they don't.

With all the press about Calvin Ramsay over the last few weeks, it's worth pointing out that he is also a Performance School graduate. Of our most coveted young players most (Gilmour, Patterson, Ramsay) are Performance School graduates. There has also been quite a bit of interest in the press about Kerr Smith moving to an EPL team again - he is also a PS graduate. The only of our in demand young players who didn't attend a PS that I can see was Aaron Hickey, however he came through the Celtic system at Ninian High School which I believe is a similar setup. All very promising I think.

For the benefit of anyone else reading, I wasn't!

Davie Hay is his grandad apparently.

100% agree.

How much does an assistant international coach earn? Martinez as manager is earning c.€1m, but Henry as one of the coaches is apparently earning only €50k. Presumably the SFA could offer more than the c.£40k Henry is getting. What does a Scotland U21 coach earn?

Almost certainly true, but the SFA are remarkably poor at releasing data on the value of the PS system so we'll never know. They used to do annual reports but haven't published one in years, they also rarely update their own web pages. The PS system is their flagship programme, if the conversion rate was anything like 5% of graduates having a top (i.e. becoming an established Scottish international) career (and I would be surprised if it is even that high), they should be shouting from the rooftops about it. They should also be benchmarking themselves against top club/international systems around the world to know where and how they can do it better. Obviously it's very early days for production of full internationals, but where is the data on graduates going on to professional contracts, youth internationals etc. It should all be analysed and published, but it almost certainly won't be.

Why do you think second generation immigrants would help produce an international level striker? It's not just a numbers game, or China, India, Nigeria, Japan, Russia etc. would all be footballing powerhouses. All have substantial football playing communities but not world beating football teams. My own view is that the problem in Scotland is that we are not very good at teaching people how to play football. That is beginning to change, and we are now creating skillful and well rounded athletes who can compete in the modern game. We still have some way to go to reach the level of football coaching available in other countries such as some of those you have mentioned. Why aren't we very good? It could be a number of reasons, but being on the edge of the biggest football economy in the world definitely doesn't help. Not only do our best players move to England, but our best managers, coaches, sports scientists, analysts, scouts, physios etc. all move to England too. Our entire infrastructure is at the mercy of the English system. So, despite being very pro immigration myself, I don't think that is in any way likely to be a silver bullet. We'll just be teaching people with different ethnic/national backgrounds to be equally shite footballers.

The U16s lost 1-0 away to Northern Ireland in the Victory Shield. You'd be hard pressed to find any information on it at all, even on the SFA website (or at least it's not immediately obvious). Northern Ireland live streamed it (the stream is still available to watch if you are super interested) - I watched a bit and though the boys did well. They were keeping possession and dominating but were repeatedly caught on the break. To my eye our boys were technically superior, but the Northern Irish boys were better set up and played very well to their strengths.