Andy’s Sting In The Tale (25/09/26) "Is Belgian Magic Dust Really Our Answer?"
None of us knows what will happen during the Sebastien Pocognoli reign.
The history books tell us that with 25 managers since our very first in 1954 they last for an average of less than 3 years.
Stevie Clarke had just 7, and statisticians and historians tell us he will be regarded as a success, albeit an unexciting one.
I’ll always be a big Stevie fan.
We were great as a team against Denmark at Hampden but even then and there, compared to the Danes we looked uneasy on the ball and much more wooden and less skillful in tight situations.
The deep truth is despite the sometimes ridiculous waves of Tartan Optimism, and incredible Tartan Heart, and now our new magician on the bench that our players have been left significantly behind in personal skill levels on a world context.
That is how we’ll be judged.
Our new Freshman pool has now met up and had a little get-together time in La Manga.
So we are heading for Slovenia and will have a Saturday, Tuesday Saturday, Tuesday routine.
4 Games in 11 days.
By the end we’ll have more of an idea of whether we really are better and on the up as individuals and as a team.
Eleven vs eleven, no hiding place and all FREE on the Beeb.
The bottom line question is ‘Does our Nouveau Belgian have the magic to reinvent us?’
Will we see a transformational upgrade?
We certainly will see new and previously uncapped players and Steve’s Squad has been reshaped, for sure.
I’m older and wiser, don’t believe in magic, and worry that Warren Buffet’s thoughts are particularly pertinent, and I’m cogniscant about our disastrous interlude with Mr Vogts.
“It takes years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it”.
Googling for that memory to ensure accuracy, Warren Buffet’s quotes have become a bit of a rabbit hole for me today.
The man says things about what we all know but have forgotten.
And here is another that is nothing to do with football but sums up why ahead of our next set of adventures I’m ever optimistic but also ever fearful.
“We’re sitting in the shade today because someone else planted a tree a long time ago”.
Scottish Football needs to plant more proverbial trees.
But as I said, I’m an optimist who can say I was there in June ’77 when we stole the goalposts and won against England’s thoroughbreds at Wembullee.
(Danny McGrain was the best player on the park that day. Sad recent news about our hero).
I was also there in 1980 when we murdered Portugal 4-1 in front of a packed Mount Florida.
And who can forget our 6-1 Hampden-Humbling of Yugoslavia, in 1984.
And OK I’m being uber selective and memories can be inaccurate but back then we also looked as comfortable on the ball as any team we faced.
I think we have been systematically failing our kids for 50 years and Mr Pocognoli is 100% reliant on shade from other people’s trees.
I don’t believe in Santa, or short term fixes, but hope I’m wrong.
Andy’s Sting in the Tale
1. Scottish Football’s Shame
2. Different Kind of Fans to Andy
3. That Bloody Man is Fighting
4, Irish Stupidity, Ignorance and Hypocrisy
5. The Real Rules of Watching Football
1. Maree, Football is Complicit
Scottish Football and sport in general shares its Sports Minister with a broader Health Portfolio and this week Maree Todd had to front up some disastrous but very real statistics on drug mortalities from regimes before her time.
We are the worst in Europe.
Some humans simply happen to be susceptible to addictions and those of us lucky enough to be free don’t seem to be affected to the same extent.
We’re lucky.
Here’s a few statistics for you.
Scottish gamblers spend the most per head in the UK and as such are targeted by incredible multiple algorithms from
clever gambling suppliers every day of the week.
Addiction often comes slowly, is hidden. Covered up too, but is real and estimates are that around 1 gambling addiction death happens in Scotland per week.
Our men’s game is commercially riddled with gambling revenue because of the hard reality that it struggles to monetise itself in other sectors and gambling cos like the close link.
All they want is our money
they don’t give a bugger about the game.
Our women’s game has a creditable ‘no gambling policy’ but our men’s game in the full light of day ‘hides-behind’ their revenue streams.
Streams that are milking our game, normalising harmful interactions leading for some to addiction, causing misery for many more and quite simply killing real people especially males between 30 and 45 years old.
My own boyhood team now have a gambling company on their shirts and my recent gift of a top will never be worn or replace my non branded vintage top.
2. Someone Sent Me
A Union Bears call to action for a square go with the Green Brigade.
I don’t do social media because I don’t want that bloody South African to know everything about me but I think this was/is real.
I’m happy to be different to them and prefer to be united by the game and all that is good in it rather than separated by particular colours or petty hatreds.
3. I Don’t Know Where This Will End Up
This week Infantino is seemingly openly recognising there is a need for an independent audit.
In response to growing calls to pay $10 Million or even more to every member country from the current Fifa Cash Surplus.
He didn’t like that because that was always his ace card.
So, is he calling a bluff?
Yes.
But did/ds it take the wind out of his plans?
Yes.
Is he in the fight of his life?
Yes.
My instinct is he will survive and buy his way to extended Fifa control but than Uefa will eventually walk away elsewhere.
And the Sponsors will follow as will the other big football economies.
A split seems inevitable.
4. We Were Half Lucky
Our Women’s team sensibly got to play in neutral Hungary in front of nobody but fortunately our men’s ream didn’t draw Israel in The Nations or World Cup qualifiers.
Ireland a country with inherent leanings towards the rights of the Palestinian People now have a game on the next two Sundays and their home game is in Serbia.
Not sure what county that’s in.
Their coach, Heimir Hllgrimson had said, “We’re playing against genocide”.
Here is what the Israeli FA said.
“We have contributed to the world and humanity earning Nobel Prizes. Unfortunately we have not found a cure for the stupidity, ignorance, and hypocrisy displayed by @IrelandFootball team coach.
As I said I’m glad it’s Ireland’s knitting and not ours.
RTE will show the game but have stripped back coverage and build up.
Furthermore sponsorship and commercial links will be minimalised/removed completely.
A non-game, game I hope they win.
5. For Our American Newcomers
I read an article somewhere explaining the game to new watchers post World Cup.
Here is a summary of the 6 guidelines.
i) Don’t watch the ball, watch the player
ii) Look for space
iii) Look for triangles
iv) Pay attention to the details
v) Going backward is sometimes the best way forward
vi) Always assume there’s a plan
vii) It’s OK to feel like some matches are boring!
So now we can enjoy ‘Soccer’ on TV.
Sting is:
An ever-hopeful fan’s Friday thoughts mostly about stuff beyond the gossip that fills our constant media barrage.
And this is a good week to think deeper with our new front man starting.
Deeper Thinking is something that Scottish Football hasn’t been too good at for a long, long time because short termism always gets in the way to work alongside Self Interest.
The Scottish Football Union accepts that gossip is currency and can be entertaining and fun too, but the reality is long term understanding and infrastructure is more important than the chatter.
When fans voices are properly listened to the game makes better decisions.
It’s our game and we need you and all your pals too.
Andy’s Album of the Week
Plainsong: In Search of Amelia Earhart
I hadn’t played this album for a long time but in today’s Friday weekly Madness I was on the M74 near Rutherglen, heading east, when a manic flatbed truck and driver in some kind of rush to beam himself through the congestion tailgated dangerously and my grey matter remembered the old ‘Jim and Jesse’ Bluegrass song. “There’s a Diesel on My Tail.
The words tell you why.
Well I’m huffin’ and puffin’ and I’m trying to make the grade
And I wish I had some pedals on this car
There’s a diesel on my tail a-making ninety miles an hour
My reflection in my mirror is mighty pale
I can hear St Peter calling I can almost smell the flowers
Can this compact take an impact there’s a diesel on my tail?
I first heard that song sung by Iain Matthews on ‘Plainsong’s’ wonderful debut album.
Yes it was back in the day.
The band, a collection of assembled session musicians were sadly short lived and really always just a vehicle for the ex-Fairport, and Matthews Southern Comfort musician and singer who always had a ‘country bent’ running through his work.
One of my favourite haunts back then was The Other Record Shop on Union Street in Aberdeen, when Union Street was still a retail haven.
I was so regular I always got a coffee from Mike, while I browsed and I first heard the album being played while killing an hour between whatevers.
I even saw a vinyl for sale in the window of a specialist charity shop in Morningside for £70 just a few weeks ago.
I’d guess its cult.
The whole album is balanced and my favourite tracks are Raider and Louise but if you’ve never listened then I’d recommend this link to YouTube.
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