UKC

it's genetic, according to Gordon Strachan. We're just not tall enough, apparently

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41546717

but hang on a minute:

"Genetically, we are behind," said Strachan. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain.

Spain? World cup and double euro winners Spain, who've just topped their qualification group again, ahead of Italy, scoring 35 goals and conceding 3? Are you sure that height is the problem, Gordon?

Still, at least we're back to narrowly missing out on qualification for major tournaments, progress is progress i guess...

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

All the big boys are playing shinity.

https://lifeattheendoftheroad.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/0304.jpg

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

This will fit well with Gordon's repertoire:
youtube.com/watch?v=N59Z9KOCmUY&

In reply to Greenbanks:

that was very funny indeed- i'm guessing that he had his tongue in his cheek then.

this campaign has definitely been better than recent ones, 5 wins vs 2 losses must be our best record in ages. Had the full time whistle blown a few seconds earlier against england we'd be in the play offs, which is the sort of marginal 'if only...' scenario that we traditionally excel at...

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

I like Strachan (and Keane for that matter): as managers they may have tecnical shortcomings (though who am I to judge?). But they both present as passionate, thinking, sometimes obtuse and irritable - to my mind infinitely preferable to the corporate England manager presented by Southgate

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

He should quit with the wise-cracks. Most folk can see through them and are pretty pissed off with the excuses.

Time to go Gordon

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

England over-achieved in the 60s, Scotland over-achieved in the 70s, simple as that.

The normal order of things is that England will qualify but not get beyond the last 8, whilst the other home nations won't qualify. Occasionally you'll get anomalies, but in the end it comes down to the depth of your talent pool. Slovakia and Scotland have very similar populations, so the fact that there were level on points, with Slovakia edging it on GD, is no surprise.

Pleased to see Strachan hasn't lost his sense of humour though

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Strachan is diminutive and it never did him any harm....

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Scotland’s best run was in the 90s- qualifying for 4/5 finals from Italia 90 through to France 98. Euro’s were harder to qualify for too, only 8 at the finals in 92. Only missed out on euro 2000 at the play off stage - I can’t quite remember who we lost to...



In retrospect we were spoiled. I certainly didn’t think we’d still be waiting for a finals 20 years later...

In reply to drunken monkey:



I disagree. We're just shite at football these days, we don't have enough good players. You just need to look at the teams the Scotland players come from. How many are playing for Chelsea, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid?

In reply to Removed User:


Correct.

I'm actually surprised we came so close to qualifying.

Seems to me that most of our players play in the Championship.

I'll be honest and say that I had never heard of some of those players on Saturday.

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

This is all nonsense (apart from the bit about being s***e at football)
It’s obvious the reason we didn’t qualify was that the team hasn't recorded a World Cup song yet.