These pages have seen Gordon Strachan written off many times since those four days in August 2005 when Celtic conceded nine goals to Artmedia and Motherwell. Last night, as Scotland manager, he got the breaks. First, at the most ridiculous dive for a penalty ever perpetrated by a player on a yellow card (and I have seen Steven Naismith), then, when tired defensive limbs contrived to concede a late winner for Scotland.
If he gets a result away to Slovenia on Sunday, he will have earned whatever grudging appreciation goes his way. A generation of adults have never seen Scotland at an international tournament. They don’t know the joys of losing 3-0 to Morocco, watching a defensive wall shirk at a free kick, or celebrating as an Iranian scored an own goal to deliver a point. It’s time they learned.
Little about Scotland’s success is good news for Celtic. Should we win the league, our first qualification round will start two weeks after the tournament kicks off. Although that round is unlikely to provide a particularly stiff challenge, consider what happened to Newco when they arrived unprepared against Luxembourg semi-professionals.
Even if Scotland don’t reach the finals in Russia, a second place finish in the group for Scotland would see the players face two play-off games in the middle of our Champions League group games, and the possibility of a League Cup final.
Brendan Rodgers will wish his players every success, but he would surely not be too distressed to share hard luck stories with them when they return to training next week. The club-v-country debate has kicked around for decades, but I doubt if any club/country combo has seen it as acute as it is for Celtic and Scotland right now.
Catch up with this CQN Podcast from last month when we interviewed Celtic star from the Centenary season, full back Chris Morris. It’s a great listen…
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Game Set Match!
WGS devoid of ideas.
THETIMREAPER on 8TH OCTOBER 2017 6:29 PM
FTSFA anyway. Squirm in your seat Regan.
*light at the end of the tunnel as Melania’s team give the trumpet’s ancestral one the runaround.
Snodgrass coming on, obviously going for pace now???
Changes needed immediately.
Some shocking comments on here,
if they were made about Ireland threre would be outrage,
outta here
Only one man to blame for this defeat.Strachan.To sit and watch,Mc Arthur,Philips,Bannan,for 75 minutes,is beyond belief.Mc Ginn,and Calmac,sitting on the bench,watching this,must be soul destroying.FFS,just saying Snodgrass is warming up.
I give up.
Good for Celtic,so no great harm done.
Embarrassing to watch these coaching and management failures.
How the ef Phillips still stays on the park is anyone’s guess
THETIMREAPER
Those charlatans at the sfa will still be there at the world cup.
And another English based B player comes on for McArthur.
Wee fearty is awful.
Thankfully our lingering pain will soon be over. Hard to believe that Slovenia had nothing to play for at half time
Shambles of a second half performance. In all honesty the gap between Slovakia , Slovenia and Scotland is paper thin. The sad fact is that they look hungrier than the team with alll play for? This has all the hallmarks of one of the reasons why I stopped enjoying our own clubs performances under WGS.
It’s not nice but that’s how I see it. Personal favourites constantly being played and the occasional moment of pleasure.
Scotlands best player taken off for Steven Fletcher.
Scotland have the flair players, sadly our coach just doesn’t have a clue who they are
GORDYBHOY64, you can back the sevco fa if you like but i see them for what they are no friends of celtic
EPL benchwarmers over invincibles. Arrogant little …,, strachan
Really poor management tonight. Stubborn does not even begin to describe it.
Wee Callum would have been the perfect foil for Darren Fletcher.
Resign Gordon, frankly not good enough.
OVERSEASBHOY on 8TH OCTOBER 2017 6:40 PM
EPL benchwarmers over invincibles. Arrogant little …,, strachan
——–
Me and Wee BGFC just saying the same thing.
Calmac v Hibs – compare to Fletcher saying it over the bar. Composure
Disgraceful from Strachan..To totally isolate Griff for the second half in a must win game is unforgivable.
Playing nonentities struggling in England has been our downfall.A stubborn little twat.
Haha game on
2-2 snodgrass
2-2
FFS, what if they actually score again
Glorious failure incoming.
WGS has done no better or worse than the previous SFA wage collectors.
To be honest I would prefer if we declared UDI from FIFA and just gave all this shite a bye. I know we have just equalised but the evidence all points to abject failure.
Slovenian sent off
Is Matt Philips in fancy dress??
Ref dishing out the cairds.
Send Craig Gordon up for free kick
They won’t
FTSFA.
Strachan should go now, and half the team should be finished at international level as well. Time for a younger manager and a younger squad of players for the next campaign. Unfortunately the press campaign for Big Eck starts tomorrow!!
Should have picked the in form Celtic players in the earlier games !
We so missed Broonie to boss the midfield
Typical Scotland build you up to let you down
HH
Goodnight WGS, Phillips, McArthur, Fletcher, Snodgrass, Mulgrew, Berra and assorted championship benchwarmers.
Question for FTSFA……are you happy with the direction your leadership is taking Scottish football in?
Only consolation is I’m delighted Celtic’s resources will not be overstretched by qualification.
The young fella asked me in the week who I thot would be the next coach, a hun I said, that’s all the qualification needed
Ah well, got a run for your money.
Back to real football now
Good thing is Broony will chuck it and CLQualifiers games not affected too much next season
How did Bannon and Phillips play 90 mins in last 2 games?