Uefa’s Nations League, a competition too far

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There is every chance you do not know if tonight’s Czech Republic – Scotland game is competitive or a friendly (it’s Nations League, so somewhere in-between), but, like me, you will be concerned that during European qualification, several Celtic players will take the field against the remaining Czechs who have not tested positive for Covid.

This disease has an incubation period of up to 14 days.  The Czechs have lost their first team due to infection and we now roll the dice hoping there has been no cross-contamination around Czech football circles in recent days.

Nothing about this is right.  The Nations League should have been one of the many things we have sacrificed due to the pandemic.  It required international travel and sporting bubbles to be mix.  What happened to the Czechs following their win over Slovakia on Friday will have consequences for both nations and for clubs across the continent.  I know the SFA are far from competent at most things, but the issue here lies at Uefa.

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369 Comments

  1. I suppose the only way to look at it is , that’s three points Steve Clarke wouldn’t have planned for ,so a brucie bonus …

     

    Back to the real stuff now

  2. Could we just not hire the Czech U21 manager?

     

    He got a pub team to tally out play us the point of embarrassment.

     

     

    JF and KMcL were just shockingly bad.

     

    Scotland away is just a beer trip.

  3. At the risk of repeating myself😀😀😀

     

     

    Clarke earns his corn by being difficult to beat, snatching a win is deep joy for his approach.

     

     

    This is good when you play France, crap when you play Isreal and utter crap when you play the 3rd Prague girl guides!

     

     

    He is flat, uninspiring and depressing .

  4. There where guys in that Scotland team tonight I had genuinely never heard if, or completely forgotten about. Speaks volumes fir the bowling club blazers.

  5. Mad itch – you probably make a point for me – who the heck was JF tonight?

     

     

    Our very own invisible version wasn’t playing.

  6. Presopans

     

     

    I watched the 77 game in a pub in Greenock (The Melrose _ for those in the know)

     

    Brilliant game, place was jumping, followed by an after match party – oh what a night (It also helps when your 19 at the time😀}

  7. Israel 1 Slovakia 1

     

    Czech 1 Scot 2

     

    no 1 Norway 5

     

    Bosnia 1 Poland 2

     

    Aus 2 Romania 3

     

    Holland 0 Italy 1

     

    Albania 0 Lithuania 1

     

     

    results

     

    hh

  8. JF = John Fleck

     

     

    TFOD boy wonder in the dim and distant past.

     

    He looked like a plod directing traffic tonight.

     

     

    On the ESPN stream CB said he had been playing well for SU in the EPL.

     

    No wonder the EPL teams got gubbed in the CL this season if that was the case.

  9. WBC @ 10.04

     

     

    The Scottish NT is finished if that bis the best we can do.

     

    Random Czech blokes picked on the street gave us a football lesson tonight.

     

    Only DM and the woodwork kept us in the game.

     

     

    Bad set up / bad attitude / bad genes / bad selections — take you pick.

     

    We were dross.

  10. John Fleck of course, I remember now, nice lad, always so polite when he left the Tesco order. Has he got a relative who plays football?

  11. Prestonpans – my first real underage can was on the way to the Czech game at Hampden in ‘73 – think I had four cans – can’t remember anything till I graduated in 1980😀

  12. prestonpans bhoy.

     

     

    that 77 team was quality.i was at that game too,as I was in 74.i thinker we peaked early that year,I think we won home internationals,beating England at wem-bal-lee with Gordon McQueen scoring and Kenny Dalglish “meggin” Ray clemence.(might be wrong) Scotland went on south American tour,beaten by Brazil,beat chile and drew with Argentina a year before world cup.

     

     

    cheers for the memory:-))

     

     

    HH

  13. There is a real local rivalry between Clydebank and Yoker.

     

    It made me smile when the Clydebank Tim replaced the Yoker hun tonight.

     

    Like a Clydebank/Yoker microcosm. 😜👍

  14. Belmont Brian

     

     

    Thanks mate.thats my next hour sorted:-))

     

    I recall that night as a 7 y.o vividly.

     

    The highlights you share were on the night of the game.not as sportreel or sportsnight but as “association football”.it confused the life out of me as all I wanted to know was are they showing Celtic? weird the memories triggered.the joy afterwards etc :-)

     

     

    hh

  15. glendalystonsils on

    Meanwhile , Henry McLeish’s blueprint for the development of Scoddish fitba lies , dusty and forgotten , in some dark corner of SFA HQ…………………….

  16. Belmont Brian – thank you for that link – I will pour myself another and watch.

     

     

    That game was the threshold of my youth. I was 12. I was old enough to bat the ball with the great men of the Greenock Celtic Supporters Club. Many of them war veterans and, soon to be discarded shipyard workers. A coming of age, I was wee, I was crushed, I got to the front, I saw the goals – I will never forget that night and those men.

     

     

    My hero destroyed the pride of England that night, my real heroes took me to the game and got me home safe.

     

     

    HH Sanny Kennedy and the old GCSA

     

     

    Apologies fir that self indulgent wee memory😀