Players’ ageing process is a huge hurdle for Gordon
THE willingness of the Tartan Army to celebrate failure is a perennial national embarrassment.
But if the demand for a lap of honour after last week’s 6- 0 thrashing of Gibraltar persuaded Gordon Strachan to stay on as Scotland manager, then let us cut these kilted warriors some slack. He remains the best man for the job.
None of which means everything is suddenly hunky-dory. Or that a return to international respectability is just around the corner.
Because the task of ending Scotland’s dismal run of qualifying failures may now be harder than ever.
Anyone who doubts it should study a picture of the starting XI in Faro and ask themselves this: How many of those players will be around to do it all again in two or three years time?
Scan the faces on the top row and there is Alan Hutton, the first choice right-back. The Aston Villa man is 30 and was preferred to 31- year- old Steven Whittaker.
Beside him stands Gordon Greer, a 34-year-old centre-back. His left arm is draped around Allan McGregor, 33, the goalkeeper who kept 30-year-old rival David Marshall and Celtic’s 32-yearold Craig Gordon out of the team.
Move down to the front row and Christophe Berra has an arm on the shoulder of his fellow 30-year-old Scott Brown (replaced late in the game by Darren Fletcher, 31).
At the other end of the line is Shaun Maloney, a mere stripling at 32. Of the 14 players who featured, seven were 30 or older. Steven Naismith, a substitute, was 29.
Had there been anything to play for, Russell Martin would have played and he is 29. Even hat-trick hero Steven Fletcher and midfielder Graham Dorrans are 28.
It is not time to call Age Concern. Not yet. These guys could see Scotland’s national team through the World Cup qualifiers if they feel fit and willing.
Maloney and Greer have already said they will be there. Brown — juggling domestic, European and international demands — is said to be considering just how much more punishment his body can take. Celtic pay his wages. The SFA don’t.
There will be plenty willing to shut the door behind them. Scotland have hardly been a roaring success on their watch. And the cry goes up after every failed campaign to ‘bring in the kids’.
But therein lies the problem. Scotland — and Strachan — have precious few kids to call on.
England, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Lithuania await in the World Cup group, with just one automatic qualification place available.
It is widely accepted Strachan is on a hiding to nothing. Unless they form part of a NATO task force, few expect to see Scots in Russia in 2018.
The European Championships in 2020 — when Hampden hosts three games — offer a better hope of ending two decades in the wilderness.
But how many of the players who showed modest signs of progress in the recent qualifiers will be around then? And if they go, who replaces them?
The SFA performance review is geared towards producing the first elite group of performance school graduates in five years’ time. But no one is holding their breath in expectation.
The cupboard is not completely bare, though. At 21, Andy Robertson is already a very fine left-back. Beyond that? Robertson’s old Dundee United team-mate Ryan Gauld has spent two critical years of his career in Sporting Lisbon’s reserve team. Celtic have stockpiled Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven, Scott Allan and Ryan Christie, and could add John Souttar from Dundee United soon enough.
How many of those five will actually be playing in the Parkhead first team in four years’ time, however, is impossible to predict.
How Strachan manages any quality control when the production line has seized up is now a real challenge. Had he left it to someone else, no one could have blamed him.
A poor start to the World Cup campaign against Malta, Lithuania and Slovakia next September and all of this will be someone else’s problem soon enough. This week’s goodwill be a distant memory.
But irrespective of who the manager is, the core problem remains. Scotland are an ageing team.
We should all be thankful that a man of substance and standing has agreed to remain at the helm.
But it’s not really ageing Gordon Strachan the manager Scotland needs most right now. It’s Gordon Strachan the young, firebrand player.
He is best man for the job but production line has seized up