If you Think Things Got Bad Under Dean Smith........

[Thirsty Lizard 3,205]

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

Its a way of keeping warm.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,196]

I suppose getting knocked out of the Scottish Cup by a sixth tier side probably has not helped matters........

[nutty nigel 7,826]

Next stop...

[AJ 1,330]

The manager was sacked just 19 minutes after full time. Wonder if they made him travel back on the team bus 😂

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

I see they've got Marley Watkins who has managed 3 goals in 29 games.

God the SPL really is sh*t isn't it.

If Cantwell can't find form there then he's finished in professional football.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

7 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

It's Championship standard

Its definitely not.

Look at all the players who are SPL standard in Scotland but proved to be League 2 standard in England. 

Alan Gow, Jason Cummings, John Sutton.

That Aberdeen squad would not survive in the Championship, no chance, they've got Ross McCrorie and Joe Lewis who are Championship quality and that's it. 

[Mr Apples 1,386]

No-one's mentioned Kenny McLean? 🤔🤣

Apples

[Robert N. LiM 5,755]

2 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

Staying with Aberdeen, have you heard of Connor Barron? 19 years. His next move will be the championship and probably the EPL. But saying that, Bologna and Lazio have been scouting him.

There's a few Scots in Serie A now.

I'd say the same for Jack Mackenzie. They also produced young Calvin Ramsay (Now at Liverpool).

Aberdeen also polished James Maddison.

How about the players who have graduated from the Scottish football: Ryan Fraser, Virgin van Dijk, Schmeichel, Krull, Andrew Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Scott McKenna, John McGinn, Doak, Patterson, Aaron Hickey, etc.

And let's not forget that players like Aaron Ramsay, Amado Diallo, Teemu Pukku flopped.

I'm not saying the SPL is good. God I'm not saying that! But it's a tough School. And let's just say that is still has its soul.

I think you chose your avatar very wisely. Any time anyone sends up the anti-Scotch bat signal, there you are, responding in seconds. Truly super-heroic. 😉

Edited January 29, 2023 by Robert N. LiM

[hogesar 10,387]

There is definitely championship quality footballers in the SPL but the majority of teams overall are third tier English quality.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

2 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

Staying with Aberdeen, have you heard of Connor Barron? 19 years. His next move will be the championship and probably the EPL. But saying that, Bologna and Lazio have been scouting him.

There's a few Scots in Serie A now.

I'd say the same for Jack Mackenzie. They also produced young Calvin Ramsay (Now at Liverpool).

Aberdeen also polished James Maddison.

How about the players who have graduated from the Scottish football: Ryan Fraser, Virgin van Dijk, Schmeichel, Krull, Andrew Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Scott McKenna, John McGinn, Doak, Patterson, Aaron Hickey, etc.

And let's not forget that players like Aaron Ramsay, Amado Diallo, Teemu Pukku flopped.

I'm not saying the SPL is good. God I'm not saying that! But it's a tough School. And let's just say that is still has its soul.

But we could list a load of players who came out of League One or even League Two couldn't we.

Don't doubt that it's been a decent breeding ground, a good place to blood youngsters and worth scouting for talent, just highly doubt the club in 24th in the Championship at any given time would finish in the bottom half of the SPL and this about the quality of opposition Cantwell would be facing, not a denial that some of these clubs might have the odd diamond amongst the rough.

Ps. Think Schmeical is a stretch, played 15 games there on his third loan away from Man City, if Scottish football gets any credit for him then might as well give us the credit for Harry Kane. 

Edited January 29, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten

[hogesar 10,387]

Speaking of rubbish Scottish players, Gilmour has come on for Brighton and looks as awful as he was for us.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

16 minutes ago, TheDarkKnight said:

In fairness, an English football fan dissing/evaluating Scottish football is akin to Elon Musk mocking a Supermarket shelf-stacker's residence. 😛

I actually enjoy watching Scottish football, reminds me of English football in the 90s, and if I were a League One / lower Champs player I'd definitely want a Hibs/Hearts/Aberdeen on my CV

Just being realistic about the level of most opposition, if Cantwell can't succeed in Scotland then he's done. I'm sure he will though.

[TIL 1010 5,122]

On 28/01/2023 at 17:28, nutty nigel said:

Next stop...

Is that their equivalent of St Andrews Hall ?

[nutty nigel 7,826]

30 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

Is that their equivalent of St Andrews Hall ?

It was always a safe bet in Scotland.

[paddycanary 571]

2 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

In fairness, an English football fan dissing/evaluating Scottish football is akin to Elon Musk mocking a Supermarket shelf-stacker's residence. 😛

Interesting to read your comment there. My young lad was just commenting about Elon Musk complaining about the ads & pop-ups on YouTube! One of the richest people on the planet - maybe that's how you get rich?!

[littleyellowbirdie 3,047]

2 hours ago, paddycanary said:

Interesting to read your comment there. My young lad was just commenting about Elon Musk complaining about the ads & pop-ups on YouTube! One of the richest people on the planet - maybe that's how you get rich?!

Space X'' starlink system was 90 euros a month when it was first released, with a hardware cost of over 600euros. It's now 50 euros a month  with hardware at less than 500 euros. They are following a philosophy of making the service more widely available rather than maximimising profits on each unit.

Contrast that to Google's philosophy of corporate maximisation that's demonstrated by making the service less enjoyable with irritating adverts or pay a subscription for a service that was already making plenty of money without the adverts and subscriptions.

That said, the sooner he gets out of Twitter the better for everybody.

Edited January 30, 2023 by littleyellowbirdie

[wcorkcanary 4,609]

19 hours ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

19 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

 

I actually enjoy watching Scottish football,

When i read that , it read like....

" i actually enjoy going to the Dentist"

[chicken 3,004]

On 29/01/2023 at 12:21, Mr Apples said:

No-one's mentioned Kenny McLean? 🤔🤣

Apples

Or Wes Hoolahan... 

[wcorkcanary 4,609]

18 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

In fairness, you could say that Scottish football has its soul intact.

The EPL is about 85% foreign owned. American and Middle Eastern owners make up the majority.

The trade-off? Being able to over-spend on players. £100m for Grealish whose main trick in doing a jig with the ball be before he gets tackled. £50m for a striker who scored 10 goals in 56 (Timo Werner), etc.

It's not a worthy trade off for having owners whose morality and laws are highly questionable.

And that's even before I mention that the numbers of English players that make up EPL clubs is 35%. And that will shrink once Newcastle start splurging.

A farmer's league vs an Oil league. Excuse me whilst I feed the Pigs. 😛

I wasnt casting aspersions on Scottish footy Darko,  it was just the way  @TeemuVanBasten said that he 'actually enjoys' Scottish footy....as if most people dont !!! 

[wcorkcanary 4,609]

1 minute ago, TheDarkKnight said:

No. I get it. 😉

I do miss English football when it was all home owned , though.

Sure, but thats like missing yer mams cooking  and shes passed away..... 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

18 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

In fairness, you could say that Scottish football has its soul intact.

The EPL is about 85% foreign owned. American and Middle Eastern owners make up the majority.

And that's even before I mention that the numbers of English players that make up EPL clubs is 35%.

Just looked at the Aberdeen squad again and count 7 Scottish players out of 27 (25.9%), its 6 out of 29 at Celtic (so 20.7%), and it's 10 out of 32 at Rangers (31.2%).

Meanwhile neither Rangers or Celtic have a Scottish manager, and Aberdeen are in-between managers but the one they just sacked was Irish.

Meanwhile 8 out of 22 in the Man City squad are English (36.4%), 13 out of 30 at Newcastle (43%) and they have an English manager. At Man Utd it is 13 out of 32, or 40.6%. Even at Arsenal where they haven't had an English manager since 1986 it is 30.4%.

The largest shareholder at Celtic is not British, he's Irish and lives in Gibraltar, one of Rangers biggest shareholders is Danish, the Aberdeen owner is an American citizen who lives in the US. Dundee are owned by Americans and Dumbarton are owned by an obscure holding company registered in Belize.

So could you kindly tell me what the f*ck you are going on about?

Edited January 31, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

9 hours ago, TheDarkKnight said:

I apologies. I wasn't clear. I was comparing the foreign percentage of the EPL to the foreign percentage of equivalent leagues (La Liga, Serie A, etc)

The problem is my opinion is that historic unwillingness of English players to go and play overseas. That's certainly the issue with the national team. 

That seems to he changing now with lots of talented kids going to Germany.

Unfortunately a couple of internationals have gone to Italy only to then be completely disregarded by the national team manager, despite doing very well, so that won't encourage further emigration (sack him).

Although the fact that players probably earn more money to rot and go backwards on the bench at Chelsea or Man City like Ross Barkley than going to play week in week out at Roma or Dortmund is probably a factor.

Spanish players going overseas was credited for delivering them their period of dominance and their 2010 World Cup win. For two reasons. Firstly, it meant that many of their best players weren't domestic rivals so didn't spend all season hating each other before  a major tournament. Secondly, it meant them leaving Spain made room for another youngster at their clubs to graduate to first team football.

Their 23 man World Cup 2010 squad contained 3 players who played their club football in Spain. 

Edited February 1, 2023 by TeemuVanBasten