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17 hours ago, JS_FFC said:

Livramento called up by England 

Shame, I thought he was the one most likely to play for Scotland, and with decent Scottish credentials as well.  Ah well. 
 

At least Hickey will be back soon… oops 😬 

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It’s frustrating to see so many Scottish-eligible players slip out of our grasp and into England squads (Anderson, Hackney, Quansah, Gray, Livramento, Gordon et al.) 

It’s fair to say that most of them would have chosen England anyway, but we did have a couple of them in the Scottish system for a while at least. As England are stockpiling options for the future, our options appear to be dwindling.

Amongst the fans at least, we’ll likely never know what went on with the curious case of Anderson’s call up to, and quick call off from, the Scotland squad, but if the rumours have any substance, it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of the Scotland camp’s welcoming attitude towards newcomers. 

For many years, Republic of Ireland and Wales, who like us have relatively shallow resources, were very proactive (and successful) in pursuing dual-eligibles to join their squads, and reaped the benefits in terms of progression at international tournaments, something that frustratingly continues to elude Scotland. We did persuade McTominay (recruited before Clarke’s tenure), Adams and more recently Gunn to join up, but overall (and recent instances cited of Scottish-born or raised players being syphoned off for Polish age group squads before they’ve been spotted by Scotland reinforces this), we don’t seem to be particularly aggressive in persuading dual-eligibles to play for us.

As other contributors have said, you can’t abduct players and force them to play for Scotland, but what you can do is sell them the idea, and make a case for joining our project (assuming we even have one). Given Clarke’s increasingly dour and defensive press conferences (I know he’s not employed to spread positive vibes, but ****ing hell, he makes the Reverend I.M. Jolly seem like Funtime Frankie), I’m doubtful that he could sell water to a man dying of thirst, so I’d be earmarking someone else for that role (John Carver would surely have been perfect for approaching the Newcastle-based contingent, and I’d be shocked if he hasn’t at least sounded out Barnes).

I’d certainly be trying (or continuing to try) to persuade Harvey Barnes to nail his colours to the Scotland mast. I know others assume he’s still hoping for an England call up, but realistically, with their depth, that isn’t going to happen. I interpreted Barnes’ recent press interview, when he mentioned that he was still eligible for Scotland, as a low key ‘come and get me’ invitation (others have interpreted it differently, but we have to compete for these players, and in this case at least, the competition - England - isn’t going to snap him up anytime soon, so the ball’s in our court). The distinct impression I get though, after the Anderson humiliation (Clarke’s demeanour when questioned about that withdrawal was even more surly than usual), is that Clarke won’t be ‘coming and getting’ anyone anytime soon, and that dual-eligible players will have to come knocking on his door in future. If my suspicions are correct (and I really hope they’re not), this mindset has to change.

Given the shallowness of our player pool, and the abiding feeling that this group may have peaked in qualification for the Euros, I’d be drawing up a list of eligible Scottish players and aggressively pursuing the best of them (in addition to Barnes, Karamoko Dembele - assuming he continues to impress at QPR - and the Fletcher brothers - one of whom is still representing England - would certainly be on that list). We won’t win them all, but all it takes is one or two notable gains to create some positive momentum. Given the negativity surrounding the national side since the Euros, reinforced by Clarke’s dismal performance at his recent press conference, we desperately need some positivity right now.

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1 hour ago, JS_FFC said:

That England under 21 squad would give our full team a run for their money 

I’d single out Alex Scott in the midfield.  She’s the weak link imo 

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2 hours ago, Frankie S said:

Amongst the fans at least, we’ll likely never know what went on with the curious case of Anderson’s call up to, and quick call off from, the Scotland squad, but if the rumours have any substance, it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of the Scotland camp’s welcoming attitude towards newcomers. 

It's well documented what happened.

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8 minutes ago, Barry Ferguson's Hat said:

It's well documented what happened.

I didn't get the sense at the time it was to do with the atmosphere or his welcome - that seems made up of late to sit with a post Euro's anti-Clarke narrative. Unless I am missing something. I was under the impression that he came into the camp still a little indecisive, felt it was the wrong decision and left on that basis......

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18 minutes ago, Pocketman said:

I didn't get the sense at the time it was to do with the atmosphere or his welcome - that seems made up of late to sit with a post Euro's anti-Clarke narrative. Unless I am missing something. I was under the impression that he came into the camp still a little indecisive, felt it was the wrong decision and left on that basis......

The rumour about his departure was flying about long before the Euros. 

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4 hours ago, JS_FFC said:

Trafford, Hinshelwood, Quansah, Wharton, Elliott and Rogers would all start for Scotland imo. 
 

Quansah, Anderson and Hackney in that squad are all eligible to play for us.

I don’t see how Hinshelwood would start, given he has largely played full back at Brighton - when our full backs are actually fully fit of course. He certainly wouldn’t start in central midfield. 

On the Anderson stuff, given loads of players have came into the squad and there have been no reported issues - it always seemed like nonsense. 

It is quite clear from his comments that Clarke needs to do more on the dual nationality front, Livramento is the perfect example of someone who can genuinely feel an attachment to several countries and someone that would need to be actively pursued to an extent. 

Edited by No_Problemo
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Gunn,Dykes, adams and Conway have all been persuaded to play for the senior scotland team under clarke. You could argue that they didn't have other international options but dykes certainly did.

Hackney and anderson were in the system and clearly fancied going with their country of birth and are highly ranked. I don't see a big scandal in that. If we were having guys choose wales or ireland over us I would perhaps be more concerned.

Like others have said you can only put forward a case and if they decide to go another path then so be it.

With the guys at under 21 wouldn't be surprised if maybe one ends up playing with scotland seniors at some point down the track.

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