Andy's Sting in the Tale (03/07/26) "Who’s Next?"

Let’s talk first about the man.

I’ve only met Steve Clarke once, at a photo shoot but he was more than helpful and came across just as I had expected.

I immediately liked him and integrity was baked into everything he did.

That’s why his loss is problematic and more than tactical.

Looking at the other teams in the World Cup you can see how comfortable they all seem to be on the ball.

We’re not.

It’s simples.

We have been left behind by the way we play and need to reinvent ourselves the way we did in Victorian times when creating the ‘Passing Game’.

Our wonderful Tartan Army and future Scotland managers deserve better.

Steve had the oldest squad in the tournament and I can’t think of players who could have brought us a better outcome.

An ultra-competitive arena and with nowhere to hide.

So here’s a wee question.

How many of our team would Start for Engerland on Sunday?

On strict population ratios we’d average 1 but right now I think we’d maybe at best have 3 or 4 bench warmers/ pool players.

Some might even get some game-time.

In the same way he did at Killie where his first and major task was to stop losing and avoid relegation, Steve’s Scotland became a tight team. We never quite looked good enough but delivered way above our talents.

Over the pond, in the land of King Donald, we had a horrible tough group.

In hindsight being beaten by Morocco and Brazil was as predictable as showers in April in Ardnamurchan, or wind in November in Wigtown.

The even harder realities are that Scotland now faces a few years of continued relative decline with no quick fix.

Or Not?

Maybe I’m the wrong one?

Maybe it was all Steve Clarke’s fault, dour Ayrshire man that he is?

Maybe it’s ‘Good Riddance?

Our wonderful qualification and two week adventure was predictably over-hyped and in the inevitable failure-vacuum our natural reaction is to shout loud for change, without thinking what that really means or needs.

Our Starting Point

It’s all about talent.

Always has been.

It really is that simple.

It’s Kids’ Stuff

We don’t create enough who are good enough.

Even worse, Steve’s team is already veteran and his/our key cornerstone players may decide soon to concentrate on club football to prolong their careers.

Our ‘instant success’ brigade thinks Steve obviously never had the right tactical ‘magic wand’.

But it’s reassuring to see that finally, some of the better commentators and writers are recognising that the issues to be addressed run rather deeper than a change of coach.

Michael Grant and Tom English are two who have written well about the real failures.

So a Question for All

How do create a genuine movement for the change?

And as for needing a new manager?

Commentators I’ve read think the SFA might squeeze a salary of £700K at the very, very, very, tops.

Well paid but significantly less than a squad player at Celtic or Rangers.

Most ‘names’ fans wax lyrically about are way beyond that financially and our very bare Mother Hubbard’s cupboard comes with huge reputational risks.

I also think we need to split the role into Coach and Talent Director.

One to manage the current team and one, with the fullest power, to look further ahead for the game as a whole.

Scots fans into the future deserve more than our occasional pastiche, ‘Central Casting’ walk-on part as ambassadors for a country reimagined in some kind of parallel, Brigadoonish, far-off land. A landlocked football film set where all the statues wear traffic cones and pubs are full of happy, singing, kilted warriors.

But.

With Steve gone, everyone is starting to watch the SFA and this is more than just changing the driver on the 23 bus.

Time For Decisions Beckons Guys

Andy’s Sting:

No Apologies, This Week is Infantino and Other World Cup Stuff

(The Absolute Disgrace of Self Rewarding Power)

Let’s Start With

The Trophy with His Paws On Twice

Will be co-presented in front of the world by a convicted sex offender.

Is that acceptable?

Fifa’s Own Ethics Committee Still Live

European Parliament, NGO FairSquare, and Norway are like a terrier with their charge that Infantino broke his duty of political neutrality over the Peace Prize.

(Yes, that’s like jailing Al Capone for tax evasion. But maybe it’s a start).

Fair wind to them but long grass awaits.

Cynical Funding Model for Power

Well, what a surprise, Fifa shouts about record crowds and revenues from more games, bigger stadia.

But silence on the biggest fan financial-fleecing ever.

Real dollars needed to pay out to the complicit, cash-reliant, and silent, minor associations to buy their precious votes.

We also already have fans including the Scots back home too soon but with great camaraderie, memories, and deserved ‘badges of honour’ for being there.

Even though the costs made it plain daft.

The horrible truth is for many including my three guys, it was lubricated by eye-watering credit card debts or with money that they really need for other things.

Football needs to be fair to fans and stop taxing loyalty.

I hope there is a schism by the associations who see how wrong this all is.

A Fifa walk-away by the good guys would be even better.

Outrageous

We already know some US Attorney Generals are going legal with Fifa over ticket prices.

Now Stub Hub are letting down fans because they can’t provide tickets they have sold.

Imaging paying for flights and accommodation at premium prices and getting told there is no ticket?

Fifa are the culprits.

Fans Across Europe Shout ‘No More’, to Dynamic Pricing

Here is this Week’s statement from Football Supporters Europe.

“We call on legislators to introduce a ban on dynamic pricing and ensure that ticket prices are clear, predictable and clear”

Tickets have become playthings for rich like in poor countries like Mexico, not for ordinary fans at

$36,000, on Sunday.

Badness, Madness and Plain Wrong.

Jahnnie and Vlad’s Old Pals Act?

The Inaugural Under 15 Boys and Girls World Cup

It all kicks off in Azerbaijan in October and he wants his Russian pal there.

But 44 Members of the European Parliament and a growing list of Fifa countries have called on Fifa to keep Russia out until the country enters peace talks with Ukraine, agrees to a ceasefire and returns Ukrainian children taken from occupied territories.

FIFA had recently confirmed the boys’ and girls’ Under-15 World Cups will be open to all member associations.

Unless FIFA backs down, that leaves the door open for Russia to appear at one of its tournaments for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

If no change I smell rebellion from the theatre floor.

“We urge FIFA to stand on the side of peace and not appease the aggressor – Russia,” is what the politicians said.

Andy’s Album of the Week

It had to be.

The Who : Who’s Next

Late summer 1971 I had even pre-ordered it from our local shop, The Record Rendezvous, which had recently relocated to Church Street just round the corner from its old Bridge Street site, next door to the Wimpy Bar where my first job had been ‘dishwasher extraordinaire’.

The shop’s later remembered claim to fame was it had been graced in its Bridge Street days by the early Beatles meeting local fans a few years before.

(A wee smile, - the now tenants of their new site in Church Street, a café, have a proud plaque celebrating the visit to their site by the Mop Tops even if it was a different building, 150 yards away and round the corner). (Triggers Broom)

I had been captivated by The Who since I saw them on the Woodstock film.

I inhaled the pre-launch hype about the new concept album, Life House, and back then Townshend even predicted the internet, virtual reality and governmental lock downs.

‘Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss’, a truly great line that is still a genius insight about absolute power corrupting absolutely.

The Guradian were lukewarm called it ‘insubstantial’, but Rolling Stone were more insightful. “Intelligently conceived, superbly preformed, brilliantly produced and sometimes even exciting”.

Still one of my top 5 favourite albums, one I haven’t played for yonks and it’s been on repeat.

“Bargain, Baba O’Reilly, The Song is Over, Behind Blue Eyes, My Wife’ and the forever hope that links all optimists, till the truth beckons.

‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’.

Even the album cover of a Space Odessey-ish concrete pillar protruding from a northern slag heap being autographed by the band, spoke volumes to a much younger Andy, even if I never understood it.

Sting is:

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