And that’s it. 23 years without a major tournament and Scotland crash out in a similar way to how their 1998 campaign ended. A valiant loss followed by an unlikely draw followed by an excruiating knockout blow. Back in France ’98, the team suffering that valiant loss were up against none other than defending champions Brazil, where we were beaten 2-1. The unlikely win came against Norway with a solitary goal proving enough before being thrashed 3-0 by Morrocco. Rankings back then were as follows:

Brazil – No. 2

Norway – No. 16

Morocco – No.17

Scotland – No. 23

It’s bizarre that the squad could prove a threat against Brazil, beat Norway then lose so terribly to the second lowest ranked team in the group.

But this is no one-off. This is the Scotland way. If we take Euro 2020, the results are almost as baffling. A 2-0 defeat to the Czech Republic, a draw against England then a right good thumping at the end with a 3-1 loss to Croatia. Rankings for this group are:

Czech Republic – No. 40

England – No. 4

Croatia – No. 14

Scotland – No. 44

Between these two tournaments, we can see a bit of a pattern. The highest ranked side gets the biggest effort whilst the lowest ranked gets less effort. The variance is that Croatia were the only ones who, rightfully, thrashed Scotland whereas Norway should have as well, if we go purely on rankings.

It’s something Scotland’s footballers have excelled at. Playing the gallant loser. The almost winner. The supporters and commentators don’t help much either with comments along the lines of ‘We’d have have won that game if only…(insert arbitrary reason).’

The national rugby team went through this phenomenon as well. After winning the final Five Nations tournament in 1999, the team spent the next 15 or so years being dismal to watch yet, somehow, managing to pull out enough good results against better sides to mostly keep their Top 10 spot. I’m glad the First XV have been on the up in recent years.

The same can’t be said for the national football squad. The lack of major tournaments and exposure to tougher opposition since France ’98 has seen them slip down the rankings hard, the worst of which being 88th in 2005 before a brief resurgence under Alex McLeish saw them as high as 13th in 2007. Since then, the national side has been floating around somewhere between the two.

I want to get back to the ‘Scotland way’ I mentioned earlier. What I mean by it is that there is this tendency, mostly in sport, to look like we’re trying really hard…to not lose by much. Great effort is made to throw bodies at attacking opponents only for those opponents to, just, get past and score. It’s a bizarre mentality where the implication is that Scotland could win if theywanted to but rather than actually do so, we deceive ourselves into thinking we’re letting them win. It’s this false nobility that costs us dearly in football and a very grave lesson should have been learned from this latest attmept at a major tournament. Scotland didn’t want to win.

Anyone watching the Scotland-England game who is of neither country would most likely be bemused as to why the Scotland fans would celebrate a draw. My flatmate, who’s Russian, certainly thought Scotland had won when she heard all the commotion outside our city centre flat in Glasgow. When I explained we drew 0-0 against England, her query was “And they celebrate that?”

Yes. Yes we do. Because, in football, the bloody-minded Scots are ecstatic when England don’t win. And when England don’t win against us, forget the Euro trophy, because that, to the fans is the only result that mattered. England didn’t beat Scotland at football. Whilst no player or manager would admit it, I think it’s the only result that mattered to them too. The facts speak for themselves. Scotland played their best against the team they hate the most and have the most history with. It is this narrow-minded mentality that will continue to plague Scotland as a footballing nation. We have been emabarrased by the farmers and fisherman of the Faroe Islands and humiliated by Kazakhstan who were, as of April 2019, 117th in the FIFA rankings. The Kazakhs beat Scotland 3-0 at a time when they were 50th. Such a beating by a lowly side says little about how the Scots conduct themselves on the pitch. In the same year of 2019, similar thrashings were dealt by far superior sides. Belgium (Ranked 1st) played Scotland twice and beat us both times 3-0 and 4-0 respectively whilst Russia (Ranked 44th) managed gubbings of 2-1 and 3-0. That was June 2019 and Scotland had risen to 45th. You see why I find Scotland’s results baffling. A team outside the top 100 can thrash with the same score as the world’s best side whilst our ranking equals also manage similar feats. Why didn’t Belgium put twelve passed us? Why didn’t we put twelve passed Kazakhstan? And why weren’t the games against Russia less one-sided when they should have been are best chance for victory?

My answer. I come back to mentality. Sloppy, lazy, complacent mentality. Against a lower ranked side, they don’t think they need to make any effort whilst that lower ranked side plays their hearts out and gets a much needed result. Against the higher ranked sides, we put in more effort but are beaten by lack of discipline and a desire to win. And when it comes to those pretty equal in rank? Your guess is as good mine.

With Euro 2020, the Czech Republic were Scotland’s one and only realstic chance of a win. They gave it away. The fight they put up against England, whilst valiant, came to nothing when a shock win was on the cards. And then Croatia. Oh, Croatia. They put Scotland right in their place. At the very bottom.

Why? Because Scotland, in the end, will have spent more time celebrating their return to a major tournament more than focusing on embracing that opportunity. An opportunity they got through the back-door entrance. I don’t think they deserved to be there if the only thing the team and the fans can take from it is that England didn’t beat us. If Scotland is to truly return to the international football stage, it must expand its collective mind and learn from those at the top. That’s what the rugby team started a few years ago and, this year, required them to score 8 points in their games against Ireland (3) and Wales (5) to win a Grand Slam. Next year, they might do it. But to have raised their game so much, they brought in coaches from Australia and New Zealand before settling on the home-grown talent of current head coach, Gregor Townsend. But his coaching team are all former international players from Scotland and France. And I think that’s a key thing the football team is missing. Coaches who were players at international level.

Another issue that plagues Scottish football is the monopoly of Rangers and Celtic. In England, the Premiership is big enough to allow several top flight clubs to exist alongside some very good to good clubs. The competition is real. Years ago, Manchester City were the poor sibling to Manchester United, but that’s changed. Middlesborough and Chelsea used to be rivals fighting it out around the middle of the league. Chelsea went up and Middlesborough have left.

In Scotland, the changes aren’t as regular. Yes, Rangers were sent all the way to bottom rung of the league ladder, but they came back a few years later to continue hashing it out with Celtic, who were winning everything since their only true competition was absent. Other than that, it’s Rangers won this or Celtic won that. Not since Alex Ferguson led Aberdeen to win the league in the 1984-85 season has anyone outside the Old Firm won the league and fourteen of the last twenty Scottish Cups have been won by one of the Old Firm. For that trophy, you have to go back from 1960 and beyond where it wasn’t at least 80% likely Rangers or Celtic would get their hands on that piece of silverware.

And that level of sustained dominance causes problems. Like a forest with two overgrown trees, there’s little resource left for the others to allow them to grow and flourish. This leads to less competition and the overgrown trees getting a further foothold in the forest to the point where they start to control everything. There was talk in the early 2000’s of sending the Old Firm to England and allow the Scottish Premier League to grow and thrive. Unfortunately, Scottish football is in such a sorry state that, without Rangers and Celtic, it would only wilt and die as it’s the Old Firm that sustains this particular forest.

The other issue is that many of the players for the Old Firm aren’t Scottish and tend to use the Scottish league as a place to cut their teeth before moving down south to play for clubs they really want. I have no issue with foreign players coming over and playing but it’s at the expense of opportunities for home-grown talent to really develop. A foreign player is more exotic and will draw in the fans compared to a pale Scotsman with a familiar name. Growing up, the only Scots of any real note were the ones on the field in 1998. Ally McCoist, Andy Goram, Colin Hendry, Jim Leighton, John Collins, etc. But put them up against their club teammates like Jorg Albertz, Paul Gascoigne, Mark Hateley, Henrik Larsson, Brian Laudrup, Marco Negri and, every lady football fan’s favourite, Lorenzo Amoruso then they seem plain, somehow. Even when I was at school, the boys spoke more of the foreign players than the Scottish. In retrospect, I wonder why.

Certainly, in rugby there’s a big push on supporting and nurturing home talent with the vast majority of international players playing for Scottish teams with only a few playing in England, Ireland, Wales or on mainland Europe. Scottish football could follow this model, but it’ll likely see the destruction of the game in its current form due to those overgrown trees. It could be argued that the Old Firm’s grip has polluted and corrupted the state of Scottish football and I’d be inclined to agree. I enjoy playing it but I can’t stand watching it. Grown men, allegedly athletes, spending most of 90 minutes walking around, missing goals then falling down dramatically when someone runs by them. But when you’re being paid upwards of tens of thousands a week, why bother? Where’s the incentive to be a team player or have any kind of sporting integrity. This doesn’t just affect Scottish football. That’s an issue with football in general.

Anyway, back to Scotland. I was sad to see them out. When Scotland played in France ’98, I was at primary school. Euro 2020, I’m 34 and an established career man. Christ knows where I’ll be if it’s another 23 years.

There’s a wee saying I’ve developed over the years and it goes: ‘It’s easier being Catholic than a Scotland fan. At least your faith is rewarded more.’ After that latest display, unfortunately, I’ve been proven right. However, credit where credit’s due. Scotland has been through a lot but did manage to scrape their way in. It’s a start and long may they continue their journey upward.