Hearts v Rangers

[ger147]

That was very much the point I was making at the outset.

Mind you whilst Scotland may no longer have the likes of Baxter, Law, Bremner etc; England does not have players to match the likes of Moore, Charlton or Greaves.

Being from north of the wall I'm hardly in a position to throw stones, but I don't think England have anything close to a world class player these days.

As for Scotland, I'd struggle to name more than or two Scotland players that would even pass as "decent."

Both situations make me quite sad compared to the standard of player both countries could boast when I was growing up.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Wanyama and Van Dijk are two hot shots in the EPL.....only a couple of years ago they were in the SPL.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Being from north of the wall I'm hardly in a position to throw stones, but I don't think England have anything close to a world class player these days.

As for Scotland, I'd struggle to name more than or two Scotland players that would even pass as "decent."

Both situations make me quite sad compared to the standard of player both countries could boast when I was growing up.

I would agree with you as an England supporter. We have some good players, but how many world class or game changers? The only difference is, the English press still think we are capable of winning the world cup

 

[Val]

There are plenty of teams in the Championship with the same level of international player - the championship teams are full of international players but that doesn't make them all good enough to play in the Prem.

Yes because of the money they could generate they would attract the better players over time which would move them from Championship to mid table Prem but even then it wouldn't be the top players . But for me right now that squad looks to me to be a Championship squad

We'll have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. I'm also sure the current crop at Man City would disagree having let 3 goals sail in past them a few weeks ago. That said, given this Tuesday is now a dead rubber we'll probably take a tanking in Manchester

Are any team in the championship capable of negotiating 6 European qualifiers before their season starts to make the champions league?

Probably not.

 

[Val]

Wanyama and Van Dijk are two hot shots in the EPL.....only a couple of years ago they were in the SPL.

Forster also, England's 2nd keeper

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Spot on. Where's the next Bremner etc?

Modern life I'm afraid now Bri, read an article a few years back saying how English scouts would spend weeks travelling around Scotland trying to find the next bunch of stars, now it's videos from abroad or day trips to the continent, the world has become a much smaller place and the recruiting pool is huge.

 

[Val]

Depending what rumours you listen to, Dembele could well be on the way to the PL in January. He'll be a massive player for whoever he signs for (and he'll go in the summer if not January). I haven't seen enough of the others regularly

Summer I reckon, not January.

 

[Val]

Modern life I'm afraid now Bri, read an article a few years back saying how English scouts would spend weeks travelling around Scotland trying to find the next bunch of stars, now it's videos from abroad or day trips to the continent, the world has become a much smaller place and the recruiting pool is huge.

Scouts just need time and a good DVD player now

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Scouts just need time and a good DVD player now

Agreed Martin, it's to the detriment of the English game as well,

 

[Hobbit]

We'll have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. I'm also sure the current crop at Man City would disagree having let 3 goals sail in past them a few weeks ago. That said, given this Tuesday is now a dead rubber we'll probably take a tanking in Manchester

Are any team in the championship capable of negotiating 6 European qualifiers before their season starts to make the champions league?

Probably not.

Did City play their first team against Celtic? Not from kick off they didn't, but Celtic did. Celtic were up for it but City didn't pay them enough respect. And the final group standings tell a more comprehensive story. Man City 8pts, Celtic 2pts...

 

[Val]

Did City play their first team against Celtic? Not from kick off they didn't, but Celtic did. Celtic were up for it but City didn't pay them enough respect. And the final group standings tell a more comprehensive story. Man City 8pts, Celtic 2pts...

They had the big guns out Bri, Stones, Sterling, Silva and Aguerro all started.

I don't disagree with the table, our game against the Germans at home has been our killer. We expected nothing from either Barca game

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Forster also, England's 2nd keeper

Not once Butland is fit again.

 

[NWJocko]

So that's it then, they are now the equal of Man City. Behave yourself!!

As for some of the players you have listed I would point out that neither Sinclair nor Boyata attracted interest from EPL clubs at the time of joining Celtic. I would, however, agree that if they had the same income as their English counterparts they would become competitive, just not with their current squad.

In any event the original post is more broadly based and referred to the overall strength in the SPL and my surprise at how poor (on last night's performance) the 2nd and 3rd placed teams appeared to be.

Who said that?!

I think people's views are distorted by what the PL has become, which was the point I was trying to make to Phil but it's impossible.......

Yes, Scottish football is worse than in previous times but it probably looks even worse because of what the PL has become. Celtic and Rangers, pre PL, used to be much closer to the top teams in the First Division (probably not as good as but not far off). Now they are absolutely light years away.

Even at Rangers peak they weren't signing world class players and/or players from the very top of the English game so their level hasn't dropped as far as the top English clubs has increased.

 

[shewy]

As a mad Aberdeen fan I can say Scottish football is rubbish, it does lag behind the EPL, always has, I remember Fergies Dons team playing Liverpool, 4 or 5 - 1 if I recall, but you got to remember England 65M Scotland 5M, bigger pool of players to choose from.
Anyhow IMO if you take out all the foreign players out of the EPL the standard would be a lot lower than that in Spain or Germany so the money certainly distorts the quality there.

 

[NWJocko]

As a mad Aberdeen fan I can say Scottish football is rubbish, it does lag behind the EPL, always has, I remember Fergies Dons team playing Liverpool, 4 or 5 - 1 if I recall, but you got to remember England 65M Scotland 5M, bigger pool of players to choose from.
Anyhow IMO if you take out all the foreign players out of the EPL the standard would be a lot lower than that in Spain or Germany so the money certainly distorts the quality there.

Trust another Don to post some common sense

Still, don't let the English fans miss out on their crowing over how bad Scottish Football is. Again.

Your last point is a good one though, the PL would be a very different place without all the foreign players as English players aren't exactly the cream of the crop at the moment.

 

[Val]

So that's it then, they are now the equal of Man City. Behave yourself!!

Not at all, you quoted our poor CL record this year and I merely gave you the facts, not lies. What did anyone expect when we get drawn against Barca and City? It's easy to look at things in isolation.

Scottish football has been poor on the whole for many years. All I'm saying is too many people underestimate the Celtic team, they are most definitely not as bad as are made out.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

As a mad Aberdeen fan I can say Scottish football is rubbish, it does lag behind the EPL, always has, I remember Fergies Dons team playing Liverpool, 4 or 5 - 1 if I recall, but you got to remember England 65M Scotland 5M, bigger pool of players to choose from.
Anyhow IMO if you take out all the foreign players out of the EPL the standard would be a lot lower than that in Spain or Germany so the money certainly distorts the quality there.

I agree 100% with your second point.

The EPL may (or may not) be one of the strongest but the national team does not reflect that. In how many of the EPL teams are the best players English?

 

[NWJocko]

I'm very much not a child of the Sky/EPL generation



I remember when I was living in Peterhead in the 80's and watching Aberdeen a few times during the Ferguson era and at that time there was a good number of times that were strong - Aberdeen won in Europe , Dundee United in finals and Semi Finals and Celtic and Rangers were also winning titles - far better than right now and yes money is a big reason and no one would disagree with that

Probably just aswell being a Liverpool fan

Re the European thing, Rangers and Celtic both got to finals in the last 10/15 years aswell remember.

And Aberdeen had Fergie. Looking at some of the teams he won the PL for Utd with shows how good a (domestic before you start that argument) manager he was.

 

[Val]

I agree 100% with your second point.

The EPL may (or may not) be one of the strongest but the national team does not reflect that. In how many of the EPL teams are the best players English?

What we at work found tough not long ago was picking an England team with subs, most of us had to look players up, likewise Scotland.

Very sad state of affairs

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Trust another Don to post some common sense

Still, don't let the English fans miss out on their crowing over how bad Scottish Football is. Again.

Your last point is a good one though, the PL would be a very different place without all the foreign players as English players aren't exactly the cream of the crop at the moment.

Not all of us😃