The Scotland Thread

[scousemouse]

Pre-Italy Matches Postponed

Well done Scotland .

After watching the Scotland players and England players in action this year , it's plain to see which set of players enjoy pulling on their countries jersey's and would do anything to play , and it's nice to see the SPL getting behind the national team .

The chances of the premiership making a similar decision are slim and none.

[game4shame]

Pre-Italy Matches Postponed

Well done Scotland .

After watching the Scotland players and England players in action this year , it's plain to see which set of players enjoy pulling on their countries jersey's and would do anything to play , and it's nice to see the SPL getting behind the national team .

The chances of the premiership making a similar decision are slim and none.

yip, it is a boost but tbh it only helps about half of the squad.

players outwith SPL will still have to play and risk injury - mcfadden, gordon, miller, maloney, fletcher etc.

better than nothing I suppose.

[game4shame]

FIFA Ranking

11 england

13 scotland

32 ireland

36 n ireland

58 wales

[Jockstar]

FIFA Ranking

11 england

13 scotland

32 ireland

36 n ireland

58 wales

Nice. Lets hope we can do Italy. Come on Scotland!!!

[game4shame]

McLeish Tracked For Bolton

[mrtoad]

McLeish Tracked For Bolton

Good job Megson was available of sorts

[johnh101]

McLeish has previously managed Motherwell and Hibs so why would he even contemplate a step down to management of Bolton Wanderers ?

[game4shame]

Scotland Squad v Italy

Scotland Squad:

Gordon (Sunderland)

Marshall (Norwich)

McGregor (Rangers)

Alexander (Burnley)

Caldwell (Celtic)

Dailly (West Ham)

Hutton (Rangers)

McEveley (Derby)

McManus (Celtic)

Naysmith (Sheffield United)

Weir (Rangers)

Brown (Celtic)

Ferguson (Rangers)

Fletcher (Manchester United)

Hartley (Celtic)

McCulloch (Rangers)

Pearson (Derby)

Robson (Dundee United)

Teale (Derby)

Beattie (West Brom)

Boyd (Rangers)

McFadden (Everton)

Maloney (Aston Villa)

Miller (Derby)

O'Connor (Birmingham)

[mrtoad]

Good luck Scotland. Hope you beat the slimey shites.

[johnh101]

Prepare for some of the dreatest dramatics we have ever seen. Italy have to win and will not care how they do it. I hope the ref is on the ball more than they are.

[Jockstar]

Come on Scotland. We can do it. One week to go and i'm getting excited.

[game4shame]

it's going to be some game - even if it's scrappy. winner takes all.

[Sunderland]

Anyone heard any whispers on whether this game is being shown on Thai TV? Doesn't appear to be listed on any of Truevisions' channels. In fact there appears to be nothing but repeats of league games next weekend.

[Jockstar]

Alex McLeish wants his Scotland side to shake Italy's composure as they go in search of the win at Hampden that will secure Euro 2008 qualification.

"We know we face the world champions," the Scotland manager told Tennents.com.

"They've been in these situations many times before and they should be able to handle it with their mentality.

"But it's a football match, 11 against 11, and I'm sure the Italian guys are as human as anybody. If we can rattle them, it should be very interesting."

The Italians sit third in qualifying Group B and a defeat would leave the Azzurri needing France to lose in Ukraine, assuming they win their own relatively easy final game at home to the Faroe Islands, to qualify.

It's been a tremendous campaign, win, lose or draw against Italy

Scotland manager Alex McLeish

McLeish, whose side need a win to ensure their own passage to the finals in Austria and Switzerland, is likely to stick with the defensive system that has made his side surprise contenders.

And he realises that the Italians will arrive in Glasgow knowing he is unlikely to spring any selection surprises.

"I think they know what we're all about," said McLeish.

"They've already beaten us in the campaign, but we've had a tremendous run at Hampden and we'd like to finish with another victory at Hampden, which has been a fortress for us."

McLeish hailed the achievement that has the Scots challenging both World Cup finalists for qualification.

MY SPORT: DEBATE

I never thought I'd live to see the day where Scotland was preferred and talked about more than the English team

youngster09

"I don't think anybody would have believed it at the start of the campaign," said McLeish, who took over when Walter Smith resigned before returning to Rangers in January.

"I'm sure that everybody would have hoped for something like this.

"But I don't think anybody in their wildest dreams would have believed we'd be contesting Italy in the very last game for qualification.

"And I think it's been a tremendous campaign whatever happens.

"I don't think we should even be using the term 'so far'. It's been a tremendous campaign, win, lose or draw against Italy."

[Jockstar]

McLeish bangs Scotland's drum as Wigan keep offer on table

Andy Hunter and Ewan Murray

Wednesday November 14, 2007

The Guardian

Scotland will have more than a place at Euro 2008 at stake against Italy on Saturday, with doubts about the future of their manager, Alex McLeish.

The former Rangers manager is among Dave Whelan's leading candidates to replace Chris Hutchings at Wigan Athletic after the No1 option, the previous incumbent Paul Jewell, yesterday informed the club's chairman that he would not end his six-month sabbatical from the game to return to the JJB Stadium.

Article continues

McLeish is believed to have rejected an initial inquiry from Wigan as he prepares for the crucial European Championship qualifier at Hampden Park. His overriding objective is to lead Scotland in Austria and Switzerland next summer, but that ambition will be thwarted if Italy triumph at Hampden Park on Saturday or, in the event of a draw, Ukraine fail to beat France in Kiev four days later.

Other Wigan targets, such as the England Under-21 coach, Stuart Pearce, remain on Whelan's shortlist but the chairman is content to wait in the hope that McLeish's desire to work in the Premier League intensifies next week. His contract runs out at the end of World Cup qualifying and the Scottish FA has admitted it would be powerless to keep him if he wanted to move on, a position that will alert several Premiership clubs after his successful international reign.

Yesterday he admitted that a fear of failing to emulate the success of his predecessor had almost deterred him from taking over as Scotland manager in January, after the eye-catching work of Walter Smith.

McLeish replaced Smith with Scotland at the summit of their qualification group for next summer's European Championship. Against many people's expectations that form has been sustained - victory over Italy on Saturday would ensure progress from Group B, which also includes France and Ukraine - but McLeish concedes that he briefly harboured reservations about stepping into Smith's shoes.

"I thought, 'We do face many hard games, should I take this job on, what if it goes pear-shaped?'" he said. "But then, the opposite of that, I said, 'What if we can do this? What if we can make a real impact here, compete with Italy, Ukraine and France?'

"I thought about us doing something the Scots haven't done for a long time and that's why I took the job on. It was a brilliant challenge and I looked at the positives rather than the negatives."

McLeish highlighted his team's 3-1 victory over Ukraine last month as the day he felt the Scottish players came of age. "Obviously winning against France was fantastic but beating Ukraine at Hampden was memorable as well," he said. "I really felt we had grown up that day because the expectation levels were at fever pitch and the players had to contend with that."

Scotland's manager is adamant that, no matter what the outcome on Saturday, the nation's fans should pay tribute to a sparkling campaign from a team who have not performed at a major championship since 1998. However, he has reiterated that victory over Roberto Donadoni's world champions is far from unachievable. "It's a football match, 11 against 11, and I'm sure the Italian guys are as human as anybody else. If we can rattle them then it should be very interesting."

[Jockstar]

Fergie hails McLeish

United boss backs McLeish to secure qualification.

Ferguson: Hails old boy

Sir Alex Ferguson says he is not surprised by Alex McLeish's success with Scotland.

Scotland could secure one of their greatest ever achievements if they can qualify for Euro 2008 by beating Italy this weekend.

McLeish has carried on the fine work of Walter Smith, after replacing him as Scotland boss last January.

Ferguson, who worked with McLeish during his time in charge at Aberdeen, has backed his former player to finish the job off against Italy.

Praise

"Alex was always tactically aware," Ferguson said.

"As a young kid at Aberdeen he was one of the few that I would have thought

was going to be a manager.

"He's an intelligent boy who loves the game.

"I'm not surprised by how well he has done. I think he was the perfect man to

follow Walter Smith.

"Walter's early input into the Scottish team gave them that impetus to go forward and they got the country going. Alex has just absolutely taken off the roof.

"I was at the Ukraine game at Hampden and it was without doubt the best atmosphere I have seen at Hampden for many, many years."

Ferguson believes Scotland can get the victory they need against Italy to secure their spot at next summer's finals.

"It's one game and their record at Hampden Park is so good that you couldn't bet against them," added Ferguson.

"I think they have a great chance.

[draggons]

Does anyone know where or if the game will be on in Bangkok. 2 mates going to be in BKK and I don't know BKK

Any help appreciated.

[Jockstar]

Scots saviour McFadden laughs off pressure

Scotland striker James McFadden knows the hopes of the nation are resting on his shoulders but insists he would have it no other way.

The Everton frontman sees no reason why he should buckle under the pressure despite admitting this weekend's clash with Italy will be the biggest game of his career.

Having grabbed a wonder goal to snatch an unlikely victory over France, the 24-year-old is aware he is the man everyone will be looking to fire Scotland to Euro 2008.

He also admits Scotland 'won't get a better chance' to qualify for a major finals and to shed their reputation as nearly men.

But far from being fazed by the burden of being the nation's saviour, McFadden insists he is used to it.

'I've been a saviour for the last five years!' he laughed. 'It's people's jobs to sell papers so it's not going to affect me.

'I think I have to enjoy it. It will be the biggest game of my career.

'With all the hype surrounding it and the fact that if we win we are going to get to the championships, if I look back on it and I don't enjoy it, then I'll regret it.

'So I'll be doing my best to enjoy the game.

'It's the biggest game of my career but, at the end of the day, it's a game of football.

'There is no point building it up into something where you start to fear the game. I'm looking forward to it and I'll be doing my best to make sure I enjoy it.'

But McFadden admits it has been difficult to escape the hype already surrounding the Italy game.

He added: 'We've read about it in the newspapers and, when you meet people, it's all they talk about.

'Even back in England, it's all they speak about. They say good luck for the game. So I have been aware of it but hopefully we can shut it off and concentrate on the game.'

A win against the Italians would secure qualification for Euro 2008 but McFadden admits he gave Scotland no chance when the draw was made and they were grouped among France, Italy and Ukraine.

He said: 'To be honest, I thought, `Well, I'm only 22, I've got a chance of getting to another one after that'.

'It was an impossible task and we couldn't have imagined in our wildest dreams that we would be going into the last game with a chance of qualifying.

'But the games that we've won haven't been a one-off, we've proved over the course of the campaign that we deserve to be where we are.

'We're in with a chance and everybody is excited about it.'

McFadden insists now is the time for the Scots to finally shed their unwanted reputation as glorious failures.

'We won't get a better chance,' he said. 'Although we are up against the world champions, we are one win away from reaching the finals and now is the time when we need to deliver.

'We've had loads of times in the past with Scotland where we have been dramatic failures and everyone has given us a pat on the back for our effort. But this is the time for us to be congratulated for actually achieving something.

'The players have earned the right for people to look at them and say it's not just a team of battlers, we have good players as well throughout the squad, players who want to play football.

'At times, you need to be ugly in the way you play and we've got that but there are times when you have to play football and we've got players who can do that too.'

Having won eight of their 11 matches so far, McFadden is aware Scotland would probably have qualified by now had they been fortunate enough to avoid football superpowers like France and Italy.

He said: 'It's another game that we have to win but that's just the way it is. If we were in another group, we would have qualified by now.

'But we aren't and we just have to knuckle down and get the last game out of the way and then we can start complaining about how many games we had to win to get there.

'It's not impossible now, it's definitely possible, it's achievable for us.

'At the start of the campaign, even the biggest optimist wouldn't have said we were going to qualify but we are in with a chance now.

'We believe in ourselves and, quite clearly, the whole country does as well.'

Asked who frightens him from Italy's impressive line-up, McFadden joked: 'Every one of them! They've got a lot of great players, players who play at the highest level.'

He added: 'But we have come up against players like that before. Everybody keeps harking back to the France games but we have beaten France home and away so the fact that Italy have world-class players shouldn't faze our players.

'I don't see any pressure being on us. If we don't qualify, it's not going to be the biggest disaster.

'If they don't qualify, they are going to get slaughtered for it. The pressure is on them, they need to qualify.

'We would love to do it, and we've got a great chance of doing it, but it won't be seen as a massive failure if we don't.'

[scousemouse]

I suppose you lot will be happy about this :

In Italy, the number 17 is considered unlucky. Some Alitalia planes have no row 17, some Italian hotels have no room 17 and in Roman numerals XVII is an anagram of VIXI which translates into "I have lived" with the implication "my life is over" or "I am dead". Italy play Scotland in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier at Hampden Park on Saturday, 17 November with kick-off at 1700 GMT - for the record, Italy have won four of their 11 matches played on the 17th of a month in the last 30 years. (Various)

[game4shame]

I suppose you lot will be happy about this :

In Italy, the number 17 is considered unlucky. Some Alitalia planes have no row 17, some Italian hotels have no room 17 and in Roman numerals XVII is an anagram of VIXI which translates into "I have lived" with the implication "my life is over" or "I am dead". Italy play Scotland in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier at Hampden Park on Saturday, 17 November with kick-off at 1700 GMT - for the record, Italy have won four of their 11 matches played on the 17th of a month in the last 30 years. (Various)

that's decided - my prediction at the bookies:

17-0 to scotland.

[scousemouse]

I suppose you lot will be happy about this :

In Italy, the number 17 is considered unlucky. Some Alitalia planes have no row 17, some Italian hotels have no room 17 and in Roman numerals XVII is an anagram of VIXI which translates into "I have lived" with the implication "my life is over" or "I am dead". Italy play Scotland in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier at Hampden Park on Saturday, 17 November with kick-off at 1700 GMT - for the record, Italy have won four of their 11 matches played on the 17th of a month in the last 30 years. (Various)

that's decided - my prediction at the bookies:

17-0 to scotland.

I was thinking 1-7 , in favour of Italy

[mrbojangles]

Good luck Scotland. Hope you beat the slimey shites.

Interesting, quite a few of us English have wished Scotland luck but I haven't spotted a single post in which the Scots wish us luck. Maybe the hatred is deeper than i thought

[game4shame]

I suppose you lot will be happy about this :

In Italy, the number 17 is considered unlucky. Some Alitalia planes have no row 17, some Italian hotels have no room 17 and in Roman numerals XVII is an anagram of VIXI which translates into "I have lived" with the implication "my life is over" or "I am dead". Italy play Scotland in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier at Hampden Park on Saturday, 17 November with kick-off at 1700 GMT - for the record, Italy have won four of their 11 matches played on the 17th of a month in the last 30 years. (Various)

that's decided - my prediction at the bookies:

17-0 to scotland.

I was thinking 1-7 , in favour of Italy

could be number 17 to score the winner - previous squads suggest it's most likely to be shaun maloney.

possibly a trademark free kick?

actually, I just remembered his performance in georgia.

[Sunderland]

Does anyone know where or if the game will be on in Bangkok. 2 mates going to be in BKK and I don't know BKK

Any help appreciated.

Yes, the game should be on in a number of pubs as it is on live on Truevisions Channel 61 at midnight according to their website.

[johnh101]

Good luck Scotland. Hope you beat the slimey shites.

Interesting, quite a few of us English have wished Scotland luck but I haven't spotted a single post in which the Scots wish us luck. Maybe the hatred is deeper than i thought

You dirty horrible sassenach piece of Shi.................Oh ! its Mr BJ.....................Sorry !

[draggons]

Cheers sunderland.

Good luck against Austria

[Jockstar]

Just spoke to my mate over here. Looks like we are going to Star City to watch the game which is on about 3or4 am. Should be fun. Come on!!!!!

[Spit the Dog]

I'm not sure why they've decided to make it a 5pm kick off. Perhaps it is something to do with this 17 thing. That extra couple of hours drinking time will surely be good for Saturday afternoon beer sales throughout Scotland.

C'mon Scotland!!!

[mrbojangles]

Good luck Scotland. Hope you beat the slimey shites.

Interesting, quite a few of us English have wished Scotland luck but I haven't spotted a single post in which the Scots wish us luck. Maybe the hatred is deeper than i thought

You dirty horrible sassenach piece of Shi.................Oh ! its Mr BJ.....................Sorry !

I'm also half Irish now (as of a couple of months), with Irish citizenship and passport. So that must count for something, what i don't know but it must do

[mrtoad]

Good luck Scotland. Hope you beat the slimey shites.

Interesting, quite a few of us English have wished Scotland luck but I haven't spotted a single post in which the Scots wish us luck. Maybe the hatred is deeper than i thought

You dirty horrible sassenach piece of Shi.................Oh ! its Mr BJ.....................Sorry !

I'm also half Irish now (as of a couple of months), with Irish citizenship and passport. So that must count for something, what i don't know but it must do

MrBoj, you can be classed as a Celt, just like us lot from Cornwall. I'm just waiting for my Cornish passport.