His six points are:
1. The death of street football, a modern necessity, killed off the “natural womb†of talent the country once had. Scottish kids once played fitba’ til the dying of the light. No more. I would say this is a decent point, I don't see kids playing "wally" or other games on the street like we used to
- Yes street football is effectively dead due to many more cars being on the road either parked up or moving at greater speeds, even on estates on many corners you'll find many signs stating 'no ball games'
2. Scottish society improved, social conditions were enhanced, and the urchin-footballer went with it. Social deprivation was once a prolific conveyor-belt of gifted players. No more. He's obviously not visited some areas of Scotland recently. the sad fact is, some of the poor areas of Glasgow etc have burned out cars in the football pitch, and needles and broken glass on the pitch
- Not so many cars and needles any more but much more dog sh*t - nasty nasty stuff (dog numbers have effectively doubled since the 70's probably because more people can afford to keep a dog now
3. The Scottish FA endured decades of complacent neglect. While other countries – the Scandinavians – were putting coaching structures in place, the Scottish FA said: “We’re alright, we’re going to all these World Cups.†What a price Scotland has paid. I actually think that this is one of the more poignant issues. The Scottish FA has been negligent for a while, not only in investing in infrastructure and coaching, but also in the internal bickering that had good, Scottish players avoiding playing for the national team.
- Agree, it's well known that Scotland hasn’t qualified for a major competition since '96. Club incomes have not grown and there really has to be a look at where Scotland as football business is going.
4. The modern “idle age†means kids no longer go out to play. At one time you put a jumper down in a park. In recent times you’d open a computer screen while scoffing Monster Munches. Yeah, but this is true of society as a whole...not just Scotland.
5. Rangers and Celtic in part killed the “grow your own†culture of Scottish football by spending two decades buying in “big namesâ€. Other SPL clubs scrambled to keep pace. Patience in rearing young Scots went by the wayside. Ah, blame the foreigner...classic. I think it stems more from infrastructure, rather than singling out Celtic and Rangers. Other teams in England used to scramble to but Scottish players, and they could pay them more than Scottish teams could. Therefore, Scotland had to look abroad because their was no infrastructure bringing the next crop through. in fact...it's all ENGLAND'S fault ( I jest).
6. Football used to dominate school sports – in part unfairly. Today other sports have muscled in on the agenda. Educationally, Scotland has ceased to be a football-orientated country. I could go along with this, it does seem that there are more choices, but it has been close to two decades since I left school, so I can't say. one thing I know is we used to have after school football, usually put on by a teacher. And that has died, presumably by teachers being too scared of a child being hurt?
We also used to play, Student v Teacher games, and I think they have died. Finally, my dad used to rent out teh School Gym in the winter a couple of times a week and we'd play a couple hours of indoor. I remember as I was getting finished, the school told my dad that he couldn't do this anymore until he either became a teacher, or passed certain coaching courses....that killed it. But, again, this all shows lack of options (understand I live on an Island, so options were always limited) outside of school, and again a lack of infrastructure to get kids excited.
Scott
