By Kyle Sharkie

Pic by Kyle Sharkie

Throughout the generations Scotland have had an interchanging and switching stereotype. The Tartan army have endured endless suffering yet their hopes are kept high. The passionate old heads would chew your ear off about the “unofficial world champions” that beat England in sixty-seven and Archie Gemmel’s sensational solo goal beating the Dutch in seventy-eight. What do this new era of fans have to get excited about? They’ve had two dazing draws against the English and Portuguese that were hailed as wins in the eyes of the Scots. However on the tournament front there hasn’t been anything that thrills. Next week it will be do or die for the Scots as we face the Greeks with the support’s expectations set incredibly low. It seems as though we have lost that typical Scottishness being lost in a limbo of national identity. In the past we were the side that you would dread facing on a cold wet windy night at Hampden Park. In recent times they’ve swapped that courage for cowardness. 

Fans are scratching their heads. Sometimes the players turn up. Other times they are posted missing. It’s not the Scottish thing to not turn up for work. If the ordinary punter doesn’t turn up in this day and age you’re sacked. Is this a generational thing? Or is it simply players trying to get caps and nothing more?

I interviewed Tony Barr who is a fifty-four-year-old long-time fan of Scotland who has fallen away from the once great love he had for the country and now considers himself just an avid onlooker. He said:

“Scotland was always a tough team to beat, but they struggled to score goals. A lot of teams didn’t batter them, it made it difficult to break them down, now they are just the same as any other team. I don’t think there is a typical Scottishness anymore, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a wet windy night in Scotland, teams can handle that now.”

I then spoke to Finley Inglis who is a seventeen-year-old Scotsman with some strong feelings on Scotland’s style of play. He said:

“Scotland are meant to be the team that do the hard fighting and win, but now I feel it’s just loft the ball and hope. It feels like they squeeze the game majority of the time. They aren’t really exciting to watch which is why there might be less young people going to games.”

Lastly I spoke to Jack Simpson an eighteen-year-old fan whose comments also follow the theme of disappointment, he stated:

“We are supposed to be the heart of Loch Lomond, but now we look scared, do you know what I mean? From what I’ve heard there isn’t as much of a fight as there used to be in the past, it’s all a bit lazy now.” 

It’s apparent what the general consensus is towards the national team from people all across the age spectrum. There has to be a change. We need to identify who we are going to be as a nation. Do we want to be the dour faced sarcastic Scots? Or the cunning cut-throat country that’ll batter you no matter the weather? As the great Bill Shankly said: “If your first your first, if your second your nothing.”