20 For 20 - The Next Generation of Scotland Players

Now the Euro 2016 campaign has ended with the damp squib failure of missing out of France and a dead rubber against Gibraltar, it’s time to turn to the future. Friday’s blog focused on the need to switch out sights straight on to Euro 2020, given it has the best chance of qualification for a major tournament - far more so than Russia 2018.

So, if that was the why, this is the who - what players could be coming into the squad to refresh, replace or even improve upon what we have today. The rule is that the player simply has to have under five Scotland senior caps.

Goalkeeper

1 - Scott Bain



Currently at Dundee

It’s made easy to do this sort of thing when you can look at one of the very best players of the lot first. Scotland are lucky enough at this point to have a lot of good goalkeepers and being kept out of the side by players the quality of Allan McGregor, Craig Gordon and David Marshall is nothing to be ashamed about. Much like the latter of those three, it’s the reflexes of Bain that are key, with saves such as the incredible fingertip save that saved the Dundee Derby part of his repertoire. He has been called up before and if one of the current top three retire, then he’ll be straight back in the squad. Getting from there to Scotland number one will be difficult but, for a player who was part time just a couple of seasons ago, it’s not much further for him.

2 - Zander Clark

Currently at St Johnstone

Having the SPFLs most consistent keeper in front of you is, no doubt, a bit of a pain. One would be hard pressed to see Alan Mannus as anything other than Mr Reliable. That meant Zander Clark went on loan to Queen of the South last season and he flourished. Now back in Perth and seriously challenging for that first team place, the succession plan of Clark integrating into the permanent goalkeeper’s jersey is nearing completion. That would leave Clark as one of the few Scottish keepers in the SPFL Premiership, but it’s a high class company to be in. If he can make the step past Mannus (an international for Northern Ireland in his own right) then the step to Scotland recognition isn’t far away.

Potentially creeping into contention would be Rangers’ Robbie McCrorie. He would only be 22 in 2020, but having been scouted by many decent clubs, it’s clear he is a player with a potentially very bright future indeed if he’s allowed the game time at Rangers to actually develop. Chances are that, like so many, he’ll need to move on loan or move away permanently to actually realise his development, but the talent, by all accounts, is certainly there.

Defence

3 - Graeme Shinnie

Currently at Aberdeen

It’s sometimes odd that two quality players can come round for one nation at once, but in the same position meaning that one is left in the doldrums somewhat while the other ends up with a boat load of caps. If there were any candidates in the Scotland side to end up like the tartan equivalent of Dani Alves and Maicon, it would have to be Andy Robertson and Graeme Shinnie. Shinnine carried an Inverness side on his back to be one of the outstanding players of the division last season and the move to Aberdeen hasn’t slowed him down, earning his first call up in the most recent qualifiers. His clear issue is that he has Robertson, who is one of the best young full backs in the world, in front of him.

Which makes the shift to defensive midfield Derek McInnes has sometimes employed him in in big games a real refreshing move as it gives him a Charlie Mulgrew-like ability to shift between positions and cover different jobs when needed. Even though he will likely end up as somewhat a forgotten man as second choice left back or second choice holding midfielder, few would argue he didn’t deserve his call up nor that he should be a mainstay of the side for some time.

4 - Callum Paterson

Currently at Hearts

Without a doubt, the most man-scaped of any contender for the Scotland squad, Paterson has, like Shinnie, been there and done that in that he’s made it into a Scotland squad before, while still in the Championship. With a good cross and good physicality, there are still rough edges to his game that clearly need rubbing out when it comes to the mental aspect of the game and judging timing and how aggressively to play as he can get caught out. That should come with experience, however, and while Gary Locke did his career no favours by sticking him up front and out of position for most of a season, the more football he plays, the more these aspects of his game, which ultimately boil down to decision making alone, should be ironed out and he becomes a more complete player.

Or, at least, better than Alan flipping Hutton.

5 - Jordan McGhee

Currently at Hearts

McGhee skipped the U19’s straight to the U21s where he became captain and, while he hasn’t definitively broken into the Hearts first team, he’s had enough football to bring him on a little and get him ready. Able to play competently across the entire defence, he was offered the chance to go down south to Ipswich (presumably to be groomed as the successor to Christoph Berra), but sensibly turned it down so he could acclimatise to the more physical demands of playing Premiership football without the helter skelter pressure of the English Championship. It’s impossible to say that he will make it, before having even made a place at Hearts his own, but he is in the position where he can slot in regularly at club level (in case of injury to others, etc) and get the opportunity to progress much further at Tynecastle.

6 - Jason Naismith

Currently at St Mirren

One of the few good things about St Mirren last season, Naismith clearly appears to be a bit better than the side he’s in currently. Impressive against multiple sides being more defensively solid and competent than simply the outright aggression and attack of the other right back in this list, Callum Paterson, Naismith could certainly do a job at a slightly larger side if they have the funds to bring him in, such as a Dundee who can give him the Premiership experience without the issue of having to worry about relegation - a better environment for development than the one in Paisley at the minute. As for Scotland recognition, he has had Under 21 call ups but his real chance will be in the senior side - with Alan Hutton and Steven Whittaker near the end of their usefulness, there is more than one Right Back slot available. Paterson is a shoo in for one, Naismith can lay claim to the other.

I’ll leave it here for the defenders only to explain a couple of other things. The first must be the complete lack of recognised centre backs. Scotland are lucky in the sense that the current first choice partnership of Grant Hanley and Russell Martin is young enough to take us through 2020 which gives us 4 years to find a decent centre back somewhere in. Danny Wilson just misses out, as he has the 5 caps that’s the limit here, but it’s a real worry of a position given the amount of full backs available. One is realistically looking beyond even the Under 19s for potential centre backs - in short, it’s Hanley and Martin for us until potentially even 2022 unless John Souttar drops back to defence from the holding midfield role Dundee United have preferred to employ him in or his brother Harry develops at one hell of a pace. Coll Donaldson is another who has an outside chance but is so raw, it’s hard to see where his potential lies yet - 2020 may even be too soon.

In terms of full backs, you could easily throw in Stephen Hendrie, Kieran Tierney and the more utility player of Stephen Kingsley into this list as well, but then that would give us (incl Robertson and Shinnie) five potentially international class left backs. Which is more than anyone would really know what to do with.

Midfield

7 - John Souttar

Currently at Dundee United

The brightest true homegrown prospect at the most renowned production line in Scotland fits one of the holding roles in the squad. Given that Midfield spots, including both holding roles, will be up for grabs in the not too distant future, Souttar must be aware that consistent good performances will get him a full Scotland call up before he’s 21. Having started at centre back, the move forward was made permanent after some extremely impressive cameos towards the end of last season. His contract is coming near it’s end without sign that he is going to sign the deal he has been offered and Celtic have long been linked with him. It would be a fairly obvious next step for him albeit would mean an important decision - to become a proper ball playing centre back or to become an effective and defensively aware midfielder as he will have to specialise to truly become the first name on the teamsheet for his country that his potential could demand.

8 - Adam King

Currently at Crewe Alexandra on loan from Swansea

Taking a trip down the M6 to one of England’s most well regarded development clubs leads you to Adam King. While Crewe may be struggling, it’s Adam King who is giving them hope. When played in his preferred position at the top of midfield, he is able to dictate games, scoring and creating, and is quite unique in that he is about the only player at the club who isn’t getting slated by the fans. Defensively, he is lacking but playing at a relegation threatened club will force him to develop those attributes. He has under 21 caps and is playing alongside fellow under 21 alumni at one of the best development setups in England on loan from one of the best development setups in the EPL - if any player is in the right environment to grow into the national set up in spite of being behind others now, it’s Adam King.

9 - Ryan Jack

Currently at Aberdeen

The natural successor to Scott Brown, the real surprise is that Jack hasn’t been called up to the senior side already. After always showing potential, he had his breakthrough year last season, earning a place in this site’s top 5 players of last season. He is utterly essential to how Aberdeen play as the work he does is that of the one man double pivot and it frees up a second central midfielder to either purely hold or attack more freely. His Aberdeen colleagues Graeme Shinnie and Mark Reynolds may have been in Gordon Strachan’s thoughts more and have earned call-ups already, but they both have the hindrance in that there would seem not all that much hope they could cement a starting place in the national side due to the players already there - Ryan Jack doesn’t have that issue. He has been linked to Napoli in the past and Celtic are surely nailed on to try to take him at some point but the man who is the beating heart of an exceptional Aberdeen side simply needs to continue on the path his development is on now to potentially become the beating heart of his nation.

10 - Craig Sibbald

Currently at Falkirk

There aren’t many 20 year olds who have scored goals at Hampden in Cup Semis. There are even fewer who have over 120 senior appearances at that age. Sibbald is, unusually for Falkirk, the one that didn’t get away. Their production line with Stephen Kingsley, Conor McGrandles, Botti Biabi and more is well enough regarded to see many big clubs from England put trust in it and spend. Some might see that Sibbald is still there is to his detriment, but with a contract to 2017 and a side that is capable of promotion this season, the slow burn that his career has taken is likely to result in the Premiership sooner rather than later. Given how a player who similarly hung around and learned everything at the Bairns, Rory Loy, has flourished at the step up, the time Sibbald has had at Falkirk can surely only have done the same for him - made him more than ready to take a step up in class. As we’ve seen with the cream of the Championship (Scott Bain and, later on, Greg Stewart), those who learn their trade there and are good enough have the tools to shine in the Premiership and get themselves into Scotland reckoning - for a player like Sibbald who stayed in Scotland, that may well mean he will get a head start on his fellow Falkirk alumni in getting international recognition.

Halfway through and it makes sense to take a little look forward into the rest of the twenty for one big reason - there are so many midfielders. It would be entirely plausible to create a list of 20 for 20 entirely made of midfielders as one could include picks that would be extremely safe such as Stuart Armstrong, GMS, etc - slightly older players who are slightly nearer recognition. In compiling this list, I’ve genuinely had to whittle down a list of about 25 midfielders to actually make a coherent list. One thing is for certain, if Scotland wanted to play 4-6-0 on a regular basis, it’s very doable. If anyone else is putting together a similar effort, the entire midfield area (as I’m lumping wingers in with it!) could be completely different and few would argue. For the sake of brevity and to fit my self-imposed guidelines, I will have to actually include some strikers so if your favourite midfielder wasn’t included, it’s not because they weren’t considered and, once I come to the end of the midfielders who have made the cut, I’ll list the ones who were considered but didn’t.

11 - Ryan Fraser

Currently at Ipswich on loan from Bournemouth

What’s the perfect present to receive as thanks for helping your club getting promoted to the promised land for the first time in their history?

If you answered “Getting sent on loan back to the division you just got promoted from”, have a gold star. But while that sounds like a bad thing, Ryan Fraser is showing how to make the most of that opportunity. Becoming a regular in a Bournemouth side that were promoted, he has gone to an Ipswich side with similar aspirations and, a year older, is repaying them with his most productive hear so far. While he may have Ikechi Anya in front of him currently in the senior side, he should surpass James Forrest (he is already more productive) and it would a surprise were he not to be included in a Scotland side and soon. The only issue for him is the intense competition but one can’t argue with his last 2 seasons and he fits into the Ryan Jack category in that you can’t quite believe he’s not made the step up already.

12 - Ryan Gauld

Currently at Sporting

Does Ryan Gauld really need an explanation? Good enough to be on the brink of a first team spot at Sporting, smart enough to have gone to a club where he’d actually play and well advised enough to be out of the metaphorical goldfish bowl. The labels of mini-messi and things like that were sheer hyperbole but the fact is that if he can make it at Sporting, his next step would be a first team spot at one of the world’s largest sides. Does he have a chance of doing that? Definitely. One would still put him slightly behind similarly positioned players (Naismith, Fraser, etc) simply due to how game hardened they are, but it gives Gauld the opportunity to be introduced to the senior side over a couple of years with friendly and Sub appearances. Will definitely be around for 2020 and beyond - if Scotland play it smart, they’ll ease him in now when he’s not number one choice and there is no pressure on him, rather than wait for him to break through at Sporting and throw everything at him all at once.

13 - Greg Stewart

Currently at Dundee

Stewart, one of the very best attacking players in the SPFL, is a conundrum when it comes to national recognition. At Dundee, he has the benefit of being allowed to roam as so much of their thrust is based around him finding space, cutting in and shooting with accuracy. He makes defenders make decisions and then punishes those who choose wrongly. It’s not just the ability to play across the attacking midfield that gets him in this list due to his shooting coming from the right wing cutting in on his left is a real weapon, as multiple sides have found out to their cost. It’s the fact that he seems to have a real ability to perform at his best in the big games, particularly the derbies. Playing against an international side that will naturally sit off a little bit more than a club side will give him the little bit of extra space that he has proven, time and time again, is all he needs.

14 - Ryan Christie

Currently at Inverness CT, on loan from Celtic

The penultimate proper attacking midfielder on the list, Christie also possesses his fair share of versatility but has one key attribute that no other player in this list has. While players such as Greg Stewart or others have responsibilities, no other player is relied upon so completely to be the creative fulcrum of the side as Ryan Christie. Having grown into the responsibilities put on to his young shoulders, he more than earned his move to Celtic - sniped before teams from England made their move. In one sense, he’s a must pick for this list. In another, he’s not. To explain, we have to look at the left wing position - currently, Scotland have Ikechi Anya and James Forrest. Coming through, Christie can play there, Gauld can play there, Greg Stewart can play there, Ryan Fraser plays there permanently. Christie’s advantage is that he can play in the middle, but then one is putting him up against Gauld, Stuart Armstrong, Steven Naismith and more. In that sort of company, if everyone develops as you’d expect them to, then Christie is the sort of player who will have a decent little international career picking up around 30 caps as he goes without ever truly being number one for a prolonged period - much like Graham Dorrans or Barry Bannan. By picking 20 players, one can’t avoid having players who would, essentially, be “squad players” but it’s important to recognise that Christie would be one by default, not because he’s any less of a player.

15 - Kenny McLean

Currently at Aberdeen

The proper Steven Naismith replacement, McLean may be a midfielder, but as Aberdeen and St Mirren last season showed, he is most effective right at the head of the midfield almost playing in the hole, where he offers an effective threat from distance. Gary Teale compared him to Barry Ferguson, which puts one image in the mind, but McLean is far from that - if one was picking a Rangers player to compare him to in style, it would be a certain Paul Gascoigne - thumping shot, effective from a dead ball and seriously attacking minded. That’s high praise, but the best reflection of this is in his Aberdeen career so far - his first half season was spent struggling after Derek McInnes asked him to play in a deeper role to the extent many fans saw him as a dud. This season, McInnes has shifted him back forward to his preferred role and he scored 3 in 5 European games and scored the winner vs Dundee united on the opening day. The difference is obvious. Much like Christie, he would have a hard time breaking through from squad player to first choice, simply due to the competition around him but, particularly if you consider Ryan Jack a definite pick, then picking his team mate and having that solid understanding in midfield would be a sensible option to keep available.

16 - Lewis Macleod

Currently at Brentford

If any player caused me a bit of internal conflict about picking, it’s Macleod. His move to Brentford has, simply, gone wrong from day one thanks to injury, internal club squabbling and personnel changes which have left a player who some touted as Scotland’s next great prospect out in the cold. Macleod is more suited to, if you’re playing 4-2-3-1 as the creative half of the two. If one has, in this mock up of a side, Ryan Jack doing the water carrying, Macleod would be the quarterback, getting the side moving up the field. There is a top class player within Macleod, but there are two key aspects holding him back, neither of which are under his control. The first is his total lack of game time - Brentford don’t seem to fancy him but, at 21, he needs more than development league games to actualise his potential. The second is that he seems to be an expert at breaking mirrors given his bad luck and injury record. A player can’t get the requisite game time if he has fitness issues and is at a club who don’t seem to be too keen on him and it’s that that’s the big hurdle for him to overcome - if Lewis Macleod can stay healthy and get minutes under his belt, then there is a position waiting for him. If not, then a promising career could have peaked already. He’s here over Scott Allan only because of a hope that things will turn around soon.

17 - Ali Crawford

Currently at Hamilton Accies

Ali Crawford is an outside pick, I know, but he’s a player you just want to watch as part of a team who play football the right way. He makes himself space and worries defences. People will naturally think “Well, why would one want him in the Scotland squad” which ties into what he can be - the new Kris Commons. Given space, he gets shots away and they’re generally good ones, closed down he sucks players in and makes space for others. He doesn’t necessarily have to have the physical attributes or have to be asked to drop back and cover players, he simply has to be an outlet. As time has ticked on, he’s grown more important to his team and become more productive with it. Like Greg Stewart, he’d be a brave pick simply because of how completely unfashionable his club are, but I personally can’t see him being ignored by larger clubs for long and if you were to posit the question of which player of these 20 would be the one that would fashion the most space for team-mates, it’d be Crawford. If, for argument’s sake, you have an attacking midfield three of Christie-Crawford-Stewart, then the necessity to close Crawford down to prevent him from getting shots away makes the space for his more dangerous team-mates to drift into. Right now, a Scotland cap would be fair reward for his play in the SPFL and would tell us all we need to know about his long term capability to make the step up. Much like Kris Commons, there are weaknesses, but Crawford’s strengths would, against the right opponent, be well worth the risk.

If you’d pick instead one of Jay Fulton, Greg Kiltie, Conor McGrandles, John McGinn, Charlie Telfer, Tom Cairney, Billy King, Sam Nicholson (and, if this was 21 for 21, Nicholson would have been the extra player), Scott Allan, Stuart Armstrong, GMS, Aidan Nesbitt, Jason Holt, Aidan Connolly, Scott Fraser or Blair Spittal over any of these players, then fair enough. There are so many good young midfielders out there, it’s pretty ridiculous and that’s before you start really delving into those who are currently in youth set-ups and may make an early breakthrough before 2020.

Strikers

It likely won’t have escaped your attention that the strikers Scotland have at the minute are all actually quite young (ish) and, aside from Ross McCormack, none of them will really be off the scene come 2020. Yet even our “Fresh young thing” in the squad now, Johnny Russell, is pretty exposed - he now has 4 caps whereas, at his age, a certain Mr W Rooney had 69. It’s a cluster of good strikers, all of whom will likely be around until just after 2022, who aren’t likely to give up many places unless due to injury or ill fortune. So, these picks are based around one factor - are these players better than the last Scotland B one cap wonder that didn’t make it to the senior side? These final three picks, all strikers, have one thing in common: they’re all better than Craig Dargo. And they’re all worthy contenders for (realistically) one place that’s up for grabs.

18 - Michael O’Halloran

Currently at St Johnstone

Our strikers start, naturally, with the lead man of a side with a reputation for being solid and dour. While St Johnstone have defied that somewhat this season, it’s a reputation that takes a long time to bury. But O’Halloran can do it. Better with the experience of Steven Maclean next to him, he has the pace and work rate to threaten when teamed with a striker like, for example, Chris Martin who can flick on or hold up to allow O’Halloran to do the leg work and break past defenders. The issue with that sort of player is that he’s never going to score loads of goals and he needs to be in a side playing two up front, which Scotland almost never do. It’d be unfair to rule O’Halloran out completely given that he has noticeably improved in Perth, but he needs either to kick on again or circumstances and philosophy need to work in his favour to make the step up to international level.

19 - Tony Watt

Currently at Charlton Athletic

It’s been a long time since Tony Watt guaranteed immortality with that goal vs Barcelona. In that time, he’s gone off the rails but, at Charlton, appears to have an environment at last that is helping him to realise his talent while also keeping him grounded. If we’re entirely honest, and if Watt is honest with himself, had he not had issues in terms of mentality, etc, then he’d have broken through already. His Championship scoring record is modest so far, but few doubt that the ability is there, but it’s a case of keeping his head in the game 24/7 that’s the issue. Physically, he has the strength and pace to do what he wants in his career but a call up is still some way down the road until those talents are better harnessed.

20 - Eamonn Brophy

Currently at Dumbarton, on loan from Hamilton Accies

Controversially picked here over Jason Cummings, Lawrence Shankland and Craig Wighton, Brophy is here tipped as almost a Stevie May type player insomuch as that he is doing his apprenticeship in the lower leagues and then will get a season in the Premiership where he will bang everything in and get his Scotland caps based on that. Brophy had cameos in the Accies side last season but is on loan at Dumbarton in a low pressure environment for him with little in the way of competition for places. Some will point to Cummings’ scoring record last season and to him averaging about 1 in 2 since the start of last season but that ignores the fact that he’s been playing in a side that has allowed him to do that. Shankland has been afforded plenty of opportunities at Pittodrie and is at the stage where his next chance may be his last to really make himself a Premiership striker. Wighton is slightly younger but the jury is still out on him as he hasn’t had the prolonged game time to actually show what sort of eye for goal he has. Brophy, on the other hand, has. While it’s always hard to predict just how a prolific development league striker will do at a senior level, if Brophy can get himself up to 6 or 7 goals by the time his loan spell at the Sons ends in December, then there’s enough evidence to say he’ll make the grade in the Premiership (as 1 in 2 at Dumbarton is better than 1 in 2 at Hibs). As he’s slightly younger than Shankland and Cummings, it’s a fair bet to say that the development left in him may take him past both but, between Brophy, Wighton, Shankland and Cummings, it’s a devilishly close equation as to who will end the better player, but all should have it in their minds that that is their competition.

So that’s that then - a whole bunch of player predictions that you can remind me of for being a complete idiot in about 5 years time when I’m proven to be completely wrong. There is a lot of potential in the Scotland set up, that much is clear. The issue, as this entire piece shows, is that it’s concentrated in a couple of positions - somehow, Scotland have an entire generation coming through who are all most comfortable on the left hand side as left back and left wing are quite monstrously over supplied, yet the striking ranks and centre backs don’t seem to be in such great supply. I’d argue that says more about the coaching of players than anything - particularly as so many will have come into contact with Ian Cathro. The argument has been made that perhaps players are railroaded into positions at too young an age and that we may be better off allowing kids a bit more strategic and tactical freedom. Building your game around getting 1,000 touches a week or something like that is all well and good, but a child would get the same (and be more expressive doing it) playing on the street with their mates. Certainly, when you see things that have stopped being excesses and started being normality, such as clubs scouting and signing up 8 year olds, it feels like things have gone a bit too far.

The presence of players like Greg Stewart and Scott Bain in this list, I think, validate that opinion to an extent. These are players who were forced out into part-time football, out of the pressures of the full time development system, much as Andy Robertson was, benefitted them - it taught them realities of life, gave them more freedom to play the game how they wanted to play it with less pressure and it made them grab the opportunity of full time football with both hands and with more desire than many players who have been full-time all the time. I wouldn’t dare type this and say that that’s the right way, but I think it’s important to realise that there is no such thing as a right way, there is simply the way that is best for that individual player. When you put such a focus on a certain type of technical training, then you end up with every player at a similar technical level (as one can see from the amount of midfielders produced) who are much of a muchness aside from the occasional freak of nature or a player who simply has a bit of stardust. No-one went to an 8 year old Kenny Dalglish booting a ball against a wall and said “You’re doing it wrong”, but somehow that’s become accepted now and we see youth football as, if not a factory, then certainly something akin to a production line - that players must be equipped with certain skills and attributes and that that’s all that’s acceptable. You see a focus on certain skills (or, dare I lower myself to street terminology, the “tekkers”) that mean they can do 50 stepovers or 200 keepy uppys, but can that player beat a man? Can that player react in a nano-second to thrash a volley in the top corner? Do they have the unpredictable spontaneity that can only be learned in a pressureless environment where one is playing for fun? The answer is generally no and, as such, we end up with lots of midfielders who are all technically similar and who are differentiated by mental processing, flexibility and physical dominance alone and no centre backs or strikers because we’ve started ruling out the selfish kid who just wants to go up front and hit hard or the kid who’s a bit odd that just wants to be physical.

Having 10 midfielders and being able to name 10 others close suggests that we aren’t nurturing individuality enough and that might just be why we aren’t performing as well as we used to. Our reaction to failure under Berti Vogts, etc was to modernise, industrialise and biologise development, which is fine except that it’s impossible to ask players to play naturally in an unnatural environment where competition is placed at the forefront. If I look at my local youth team, they play in a LEAGUE ENVIRONMENT (for impact) from Under-8s and above. I won’t swear, but that’s insane and you can insert an expletive anywhere you like in that statement. Asking children who should be learning from mistakes, experimenting with their environment and the boundaries of what is physically and technically possible for them to simply play in a competitive environment where, first and foremost, you must win and only equipping them with the skills to win isn’t the way to teach children how to be good at football, it’s simply a way to drive individuality out of the game. The difference between this and just playing games in your lunch break or on the street is that you have more fun and try more on the street because the mental driving force between “I want to show off and beat my mates” is different to “The team must beat the other team”.

That’s obviously gone way off topic but I hope it somehow explains why the generation coming through are so heavily concentrated in a couple of positions and that we do need to amend something, if not in the way we teach young players, but in the philosophy behind doing it to get a generation once more that is excellent across the park. The concept of, as with Andy Robertson, being “too small” to make it is madness - talent is talent whatever the physical attributes and we have to bring individuality back into our youth development a bit to take a step further and bring back a generation like those in the 70s. Times are different now and I’ll freely admit that other nations have caught up (and passed) us, but there is an element of Scotland going in reverse in that also.

So that is the 20 for 20 - players will have been missed out that I’ll have been mad to do so but, the crucial point is to note that things aren’t that bad. The sheer volume of talent coming through (that’s based in the SPFL as well) is too high to make our international outcast status last too much longer. I hope you enjoyed this extended view through our future, and I hope I was at least right about someone on it.

For Scotland’s sake.