Why cant scotland produce a world class player?


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Whether we like it or not we are never producing "World class" players here in Scotland, our players will need to leave Scotland at a young age if they have any chance. Andy Robertson I wouldn t say is a World class full back, a very good player. Next player who looks to have a chance is Billy Gilmour
Many reasons, but one not yet covered is the tendency to spunk time and money on projects that in no way benefits the game. I give you the compliance officer and the whole charade surrounding the role and process.


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Me either. Very good player, but far from world class.
Andy Robertson was named in the EPL Team of the Season and Champions League Squad of the Season as the ONLY out and out Left Back.

So it begs the question, who is the World Class LB being kept out the CL Squad of the Season by the very good but not as good as the World Class left back that UEFA and PL bosses seem to have overlooked?

We talk here about why we don't produce WC players but the Scottish nay-saying mindset is also a massive negative. We see a guy who has went from Amateur to CL winner, captaining his National Team within 6 years and some, not all, are poo-pooing his achievements, partly because he's a Tim and partly because they know square root of zero about football.

Our young players need to understand that if they have ambition, self-belief, hard work and determination then the sky's the limit for them, and all of us!

Commit to the mindset of the top footballers and with a slice of luck, you can make the grade too!
Personally I think the two things missing from our better players that could elevate them to a higher level is.

Decision making

We are still light years behind other nations in producing players that can make effective decisions under pressure. And as importantly have an awareness of what is going on in the pitch around them.

Our players can only pass pretty much in the direction they are facing. Only run in straight lines effectively and can only seem to use the runs of players in front of them.

It's an overall lack of awareness for me that really is the root of our problems.

Robertson I feel is close, as he has show at a high level he can effect the game and has a handle on the game around him.

Weird though, that consistently in the goalie position we have produced players who I believe could well be considered word class, on purely individual ability.
Robertson is tremendous, but not world class, not a chance.

The argument that there are few better left backs playing, doesn’t automatically make him world class.

Thinking of genuine world class full backs of yesteryear, Maldini, Brehme, Lahm , Carlos etc, Robertson is a level below that.
We are less than a month removed from a Scottish player, playing in and winning the CL and being a key member of the team who won it.

If you take a step back and asses Robertson the football player for what he is - he is living in a world of world class football players.

As an aside I think we also overlook how small a country we actually are in the grand scheme of things - the likes of ROI and Norther Ireland, and plenty other countries of similar size don't have World Class players.

I appreciate there are examples of countries of similar size or smaller do but to become a "world class" football player means being better at football than fucken millions of people around the world, loads and loads of millions of people.


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That’s not true. As a coach of grassroots team, there are many points which can be improved but I’ll list some things I think are pertinent.

1. Refereeing is rubbish at every level.
2. We are so partisan that long term development is sacrificed in the name of winning.
3. Our love of alcohol.
4. Our horrific diet.

There will be a plethora of other reasons but personal self belief and positivity is so important if you want to make anything of your life.

The Scots used to lead the world, now we are a nation of moaners.

Lack of facilities with councils selling land off.
Games consoles, kids sit on the sofa playing FIFA instead.
Good coaches at all levels
Cost of renting pitches keeps going up

I'm sure there are more.


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The Dominic Oduwa situation crystallises why Scotland struggle.

Trying to injure him was encouraged, allowed and condoned by all, just because he tried to show a bit of flair and a bit of ability on the ball.

It’s a backwards mentality and it always has been.
Think as a country we’ve got a brutal combination of things that work against producing world class talent in any sport: terrible weather, bevvy culture, diet, poor facilities, etc.

The biggest issue is the collective mentality where glorifying failure is acceptable (think William Wallace or any national team qualification campaign on the past 20 years) and it’s ok to vilify people who achieve success or have talent (think Morelos).
the league is too small in scotland therefore the managers in the leagues tend to take less chances with players or tactics because they fear for their jobs. that is my honest opinion. up until 19/20 our players are on par with other european nations.

it’s when they move to first team football their development stalls with old school hammer thrower tactics and a fear of losing.

could argue the other end teams like us & celtic are less likely to give youngsters a proper run of games because we HAVE to win every game. it shows with celtic that they have been able to bring through tierney, mcgregor and forrest while we have been in the lower leagues.
On the Robertson point , I think he is a very good player , but I think that a lot of it is down to his coach and the system Liverpool employ , is it a coincidence that the other full back looks like a world beater as well is it just luck ? Robertson would have a very good career wherever he played , but I doubt he would be as good elsewhere , churlish I know but he is not the second coming as some would have him .but he is by some distance the best Scottish player by a long distance , as to why we don't have any world class players I think it's down to hard work and dedication to getting better, players in say Belgium are not born with more talent than their Scottish counterparts, we no longer excel at anything our education system has collapsed into accepting mediocrity and excellence is not promoted ,we have a hive mentality where the best are held back by those less capable , children have different skill sets instead of trying to find these skills and honing them we cannot treat every child as if they are going to be a brain surgeon or the next Eusebio this ideology is holding back whatever talent we do have , sorry for the rant but it boils my piss.
Said already in the other related thread;

Shite footballing quality - promoting thuggery and long ball
Shite managers at SPFL level - outwith us anyway
Shite coaches at SPFL level - again outwith us
Shite governing body - hate us and wanted the biggest club to die
Shite refereeing standard - too main taigs to ref a game fairly and see point 1 re thuggery, you get sent off for blowing kisses but not a 2 footed off the ground tackle

There's legitimately 1 coach across Scotland that is at that 'Elite' level, Beale, and he won't ever be allowed his say on the Scottish game.

As for world class, Robertsons the only one in that category as he would walk into top level club right now, his stock extremely high right now.
The next potential one to come through will be Billy Gilmour assuming Chelsea don't %^*& him out on loan 71837 times to nobodies.
I blame the Scottish system, there's no think tank, no brains to drag the game forward. 3rd world countries used to be laughed at, now they laugh at us. No plan from grass roots to senior. There's very few school teams now, nothing is promoted here, only ridiculed by bigoted journos and corrupt politicians. We are well over the edge now
I think it has something to do with such a small league set-up. We used to produce world class players before we reduced our top league to just 10 teams. Also, our young players do not playing against top young players outside Scotland enough. Wales, a much smaller country, can produce world class players. However, in football terms Wales is really part of England. Welsh youth players are regularly coming up against top talent from Chelsea, Man Utd etc.
How much of the Welsh thing is down to their clubs being in the English structure?


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I’d say the players you mention are the level above world class.

World class, I’d say is the ability to perform well at the highest level - something Robertson has demonstrated for 2 years now.

Semantics :D


Semantics :D
There’s no level above world class, the absolute highest echelons of the game are defined as world class.

Robertson isn’t at that level yet, in my opinion obviously, he’s a tremendous player but I doubt he will be remembered and revered like the players I have previously mentioned.
I think it’s mostly to do our mentality, our league being as unique as it is and the fact most of our teams aren’t willing to change from the hammer thrower style. You can see by looking at barisic’s face that he is struggling to come to terms with the way our game is played whilst clearly being a player who has genuine talent. And I think that’s what hampers players of genuine quality, other social aspects are also to blame but I won’t get into that.


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1. Our culture here. Basically as soon as kids hit about 14/15 they're out boozing.
2. The weather doesn't help, especially nowadays when everyone will just stay in to play their Playstation's / XBOX's.
3. The pro youth setup is rubbish. Hated it.
4. Facilities in this country are awful. Need more places like Toryglen.

It is fascinating that countries like Uruguay, Croatia, Belgium etc can all produce top players in a fairly regular fashion whereas we're lucky if we get one every decade.

Re: Robertson. I think he's a brilliant player for Liverpool. But I don't think he'd shine as much in another team / another system / without Klopp.
We've never grasped or believed in the concept of mastering technique at the expense of victory. This carries on right the way through to senior level.

We had much better players up til the 90's but I think that was more down to the amount of working class boys playing the game on the streets. A sign of the times. As a nation our culture and mentality is an embarrassment.
Football should be free to play for all kids. In the past great players didn't have to pay money to get a game. You only needed a ball and jackets for goal posts. Now kids get taken by cars, to training and playing for organised clubs, that have expensive running costs. In the past, schools had teams, as did BB's, churches and streets even had teams. Practice makes perfect and if you are not out playing you aren't going to a world class player. Anybody fancy a 10-21 er?;)


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For my tuppence worth..........The SPFL doesn't help.

There's last season, 7 games against Kilmarnock!

It stifles talent. It's easier to put a team out to stop another than to create. Also, we need meaningless games so coaches can say to young kids "away you go out and enjoy yourself" as there's not much riding on it.

Also, the SFA have a lot to answer for. They've had think tanks, Mark Wotte, Brian McClair.........Jim Fleeting...............and we still end up with patching up the international set-up which hasn't shown any rewards for 21 years.

I went into some website a while back. Think it was the SFA. It had coaching drills............honestly, just looking at them would have bored me to tears.

It's been updated since then. Videos now rather than cartoons.


Featuring "skills" coach Joe McBride and Sports Scientist Seamus McCafferty among others.
Because our talents lie in the drugs and alcohol industry, that’s where Scottish people thrive.

Part of which is down to the absolute lack of investment in grass roots football or willingness. Even if you try get a kick about down the local park when it’s empty the police will come move you and kids are forced to pay 50/60 quid for a pitch which some parents just can’t afford every couple of days unfortunately.