The financial condition of Scottish football is such that fans there are bound to look a little enviously south of the border at the rich rewards earned by promotion to the Premiership. However, this interesting article takes a different angle. It points out just how many Scottish players there were in the Blackpool and Cardiff squads and points to beneficial spin offs for the Scottish national team.
The financial condition of Scottish football is such that fans there are bound to look a little enviously south of the border at the rich rewards earned by promotion to the Premiership. However, this interesting article takes a different angle. It points out just how many Scottish players there were in the Blackpool and Cardiff squads and points to beneficial spin offs for the Scottish national team.
From the very early days of the Football League, Scottish players (and managers) have become a key ingredient in the success of teams in the English leagues. When I started watching football, Scottish players had a reputation for being particularly tough customers to play against. As the value of footballers as assets has risen, referees have given them more protection and bookings and sending offs have risen (particularly since the onset of red and yellow cards). The tough ‘no nonsense’ style I can remember from players like Jock Campbell no longer goes down well. But that is not to imply that Scottish players are only useful as defensive cloggers: Scotland has also produced some very skilled and talented players who can do wonders with the ball.
In the 1950s and 1960s, there were very few ‘foreign’ players in the English game. Charlton Athletic was quite unusual at the time in its extensive use of South African players. Because Scotland had a difficult league system and the rivalry of the England v. Scotland clashes which intensified over time until they were abandoned, there was a sense in which Scottish players were seen as ‘different’. Scotland has increasingly forged its own national identity, but like many smaller countries, competing at Champions League level has been a challenge. As a graduate of a Scottish university, I would like to see Scottish football revive, but I am by no means sure what the way forward is given the overwhelming financial presence of the Premier League to the south.