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So, Sean Maloney becomes Martinez new assistant at the Belgian National team, great news for the fella, Belgium come third in the WC, showing that bringing through young coaches with new ideas is the way forward, meanwhile the SFA bring in an alky dinasour who tells press that Scotland shouldn’t expect to win games, oh to have Ally MacLeod back .

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A bit sad tha5 national team means little to some. Growing up it was the biggest high for me, going to Hamden. Packed watching great plAyers wearing the shirt. I was at 2 games France 1998 and it was up with the best ( maybe even better) than the best killie away days. Fans from different nations partying. Hard to beat. Like all small nations we are at a dissadvantage. But is not impossible. But getting the right team at the top is important. And we’ve never had that. Until we get it right at the very top of the organisation, we doomed to staying outside the top 30 nations in the world.

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7 minutes ago, Thebigguy68 said:

A bit sad the national team means little to some. Growing up it was the biggest high for me, going to Hamden. 

Same with myself.  The set up changed with the travel club just as Scotland got nowhere in international tournaments.  Means a few fans will have been to most of the games, but the majority rarely attend. You see that with declining overall interest n the national team, outwith the hardcore core membership card bearing support, who get preferential ticketing to the key games on their direct debit card subscriptions.

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36 minutes ago, Killiepies said:

When have Scotland ever had a successful international team ?

1974-98 was decent.  Most scheduled games are qualifiers, unless you actually qualify, then there's the real deal - which Scotland are never (these days) at.  We just have to make do with disappointment and friendlies!

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On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 4:44 PM, bute-killiefan said:

Our national team is lying dormant, and I see no signs of improvement. Our game is catered to maintain OF dominance and nothing else.

I actually do but not because of anything the SFA have done. After a good positive season in the top flight in Scotland and players getting moves to England I just feel there's a crop of good players under 25 who seem to have come to prominence over the past couple of seasons. Not a huge fan of McLeish but young guys like Robertson, Tierney, McGregor, Fraser, McGinn, McKenna and McTominay among others should make his job easier going forward if they continue to play at the level they have over the past year.

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21 hours ago, Killiepies said:

When have Scotland ever had a successful international team ? Is getting the 1st plane home from any major tournament really success .Wales ,Northen Ireland and Ireland have all managed it but  we have never got to the knockout stages even when we had players playing for top teams .

When qualifying for the WC in 1978 we put out the reigning European Champions. In other campaigns when we were qualifying we were beating the likes of France and Spain. Those were successful teams 

Edited by historyman
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43 minutes ago, trenwick said:

did us not beating france with mo johnston scoring  to go to either worldcup or euro cause them to change the youth setup which in turn won them the world cup in future years

I don't think so.

They won the Euros in 1984 and started to build the national football centre at Clairefontaine in 1985. It opened in 1988.

Scotland beat them in 1989.

 

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Really pisses me off how short sighted it was letting Strachan go. They screwed up the Michael O Neill approach and then we end up with Mcleish. Strachan was starting to get performances and were it not for that horrendous draw with a Lithuania at Hampden we'd have made the play offs - the away games against Slovenia and Slovakia were always going to be difficult . Mcleish was great firs time round but part of me wonders if he was just lucky coming after Walter Smith 

Edited by heynow2005
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44 minutes ago, DuncD said:

Of course they do. More games you attend the easier it is to get tickets. Simple 

Correct.  But has there been a pool of say 100,000 folk that attend Scotland games over the last 20 years?  I'd say probably so.  Thus the amount of folk going to see Scotland games is a tiny pool of people compared to before it was a travel club.  Just my opinion, but I reckon that's why you're now seeing very low attendance.  Unless you're in the minority of football fans who's in the habit of being a card carrying member - you're probably not in the habit of going or even looking for tickets.

Edited by RAG
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  • 1 year later...

Elite Brain: 

Shaun Maloney: Belgium's elite brain on his journey from Celtic academy to Cruyff Institute

While his home nation make heavy weather of reaching the Euro 2020 finals, it's been plain sailing for one Scot who is now guaranteed a place at a tournament being partly hosted in Glasgow.

It's not long since Shaun Maloney gave up on his dream of playing at a major finals, but two years after hanging up his boots with Hull City, the 36-year-old has made it as part of the coaching team guiding the world's top-ranked side.

Maloney views working under Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez as a natural progression in his football philosophy, influenced by an upbringing steeped in Celtic's Lisbon Lions - and one that sparked a love of Matt Busby's Manchester United, the Johan Cruyff-inspired Ajax, and Barcelona under the Dutchman then Pep Guardiola.

Here, the former attacker talks to BBC Scotland about being described by Martinez as having "an elite brain" and his ambitions once he completes his masters in coaching from the Johan Cruyff Institute.

Deep-thinking student of football history

That elite brain comment came as Martinez explained why he had added the Scot as an assistant alongside former Arsenal and France forward Thierry Henry last year.

Martinez's season as a player with Motherwell coincided with Maloney's breakthrough into the Celtic team. And the Spaniard thought at the time that the 18-year-old's "appreciation of space and technically ability" set him apart from players normally brought up in "the British system".

Having been born and spent his early years in Malaysia as the son of a Scottish mother and English father before moving to Aberdeen, Maloney has always come across as more worldly wise than your average footballer and, after later signing him for Wigan Athletic, Martinez also found him to be "a deep thinker".

Ask the quietly-spoken, ever-modest Scot for his reaction to those remarks and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat but does admit to having a long appreciation of football at its most beautiful.

"I really enjoyed the history of the game even when I was a younger player - different eras of the game," he says. "At Celtic, you are brought up with the Lisbon Lions and their European Cup win in 1967.

"It was just fascinating watching some of the footage of that, then going through into the Busby teams, Ajax teams of the 70s, Barcelona under Cruyff and that led to Guardiola. That is the same philosophy - Roberto has grown up with that."

Positional play's lightbulb moment

Maloney was an established Scotland international, had won five Scottish titles and eight cup winners' medals in two spells with Celtic, and had a less productive six months in between in England's top flight with Aston Villa before heading to Wigan.

However, he admits: "When I worked with Roberto as a player, it was like a light coming on. I knew there was a way of playing that other teams had. Now I had a manager who wanted to play that way."

That way is "positional play" - a style of possession football based on organising the team structure to defend and attack collectively in a way that "generates superiority" in crucial areas of the pitch.

The roots of what the Italians call Giochi di Posizione and the Dutch call Positiespel are disputed, some even suggesting it was adapted from the teachings of a Barcelona handball coach, but Guardiola is the most celebrated of its converts following his successes with the Catalans, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City.

"I've got huge admiration for teams that do it other ways," Maloney concedes while citing Livingston as a contemporary success story for a more direct style. "There's not one specific way to win a game.

"Leicester won the league playing a counter-attack system that was just so effective, but positional play is a style that inspires me. I think it's the best way to win games - and the most attractive and exciting."

Standing at just under 5ft 6in, Maloney was always more suited to a style of play that combines caressing the football with nimble footwork and it's no surprise to hear that it permeates his coaching, first with potential stars of the future in Celtic's youth team and then with Belgium's squad of superstars under Martinez.

"Roberto is a good man and an incredibly good head coach/football manager," he says. "The lovely detail he goes into, it's incredible, the passion he has, the style of play - that never changes whether he is at Swansea, Wigan, Everton, Belgium.

"It's been an amazing year I've been there and the amount I've learned under him is exceptional."

Joining the next generation of leaders

While still based in Glasgow, Maloney's own desire to learn has taken him to Arnhem and Amsterdam as part of the online and campus-based institute founded by former Netherlands forward Cruyff to educate "the next generation of leaders in sports management".

"The course I'm doing means you are learning from different sports and it has opened my mind to the coaching process," Maloney said. "It is a huge learning curve.

"It is a masters in coaching and it's been an amazing experience. I started it in February and hopefully I'll finish that in May. The professors there are from different sports with different ideas on coaching and it's been eye-opening."

Maloney is too streetwise, or just typically coy, to make any predictions about where all this gathered knowledge may eventually take him in his career.

"When I spent the year at Celtic at the academy, I had an idea and path where I wanted to go and how I was going to get there. And then, within 12 months, Roberto had phoned me and asked me to join him," he recalls. "So that path was not something I expected.

"I'm very happy in the role I'm in now and very motivated to do the best I can at that and I've committed to Belgium for two years. After that, I can't plan for anything specific."

Belgian mentality & Scottish knowledge

From Nou Camp to Anfield, Bundesliga to Serie A, Maloney traverses the world between international breaks assessing the form and qualities of Belgium's wealth of talent before assisting Martinez in ensuring their side are tactically aware, fit and mentally attuned for match day.

While their charges have marched imperiously to the top of Scotland's qualifying group with a 100% record, Maloney has had half a pained eye on his home country's failure to challenge for the two automatic spots leading to the Euro 2020 finals - and their reliance now on a possible backdoor entry via the play-offs.

Asked what Scotland could learn from Belgium's ability to punch above their weight in terms of population, he replies: "The players I played with at Scotland had a really good mentality. But when I watch the Belgian squad each day and when I watch the matches, in addition to the tactical intelligence and the technique, the one thing that impresses me is the mentality - no matter what the weather is like, the conditions, the opposition, they give 100% every day."

Maloney retains a belief that current head coach Steve Clarke will turn Scotland round in the way he did with Kilmarnock but suggests that the Scottish FA set-up could do a better job of helping upcoming coaches "tap into" the wealth of knowledge gathered by past top-class managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Gordon Strachan and Walter Smith.

However, when it is suggested that his own footballing education might one day result in him leading his country, Maloney goes no further than to reply: "It is an amazing job, but that's too far to be thinking about. Competing in next year's Euro finals and preparing for that - that's as far as I'm looking."

 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49944760

 

 

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I read it earlier. If Scotland want to move on from continual failure they should be employing coaches like Maloney and Cathro to coach our young players through the age groups to full international level. The facilities should be in place too, but we have the old excuse that we can't provide the right facilities because we don't get the revenue from qualifying. A Catch-22 situation that we have to change if we want to succeed. Spend the money, at least if we fail we have given it our best shot. 

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1 hour ago, Prahakillie said:

Elite Brain: 

Shaun Maloney: Belgium's elite brain on his journey from Celtic academy to Cruyff Institute

While his home nation make heavy weather of reaching the Euro 2020 finals, it's been plain sailing for one Scot who is now guaranteed a place at a tournament being partly hosted in Glasgow.

It's not long since Shaun Maloney gave up on his dream of playing at a major finals, but two years after hanging up his boots with Hull City, the 36-year-old has made it as part of the coaching team guiding the world's top-ranked side.

Maloney views working under Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez as a natural progression in his football philosophy, influenced by an upbringing steeped in Celtic's Lisbon Lions - and one that sparked a love of Matt Busby's Manchester United, the Johan Cruyff-inspired Ajax, and Barcelona under the Dutchman then Pep Guardiola.

Here, the former attacker talks to BBC Scotland about being described by Martinez as having "an elite brain" and his ambitions once he completes his masters in coaching from the Johan Cruyff Institute.

Deep-thinking student of football history

That elite brain comment came as Martinez explained why he had added the Scot as an assistant alongside former Arsenal and France forward Thierry Henry last year.

Martinez's season as a player with Motherwell coincided with Maloney's breakthrough into the Celtic team. And the Spaniard thought at the time that the 18-year-old's "appreciation of space and technically ability" set him apart from players normally brought up in "the British system".

Having been born and spent his early years in Malaysia as the son of a Scottish mother and English father before moving to Aberdeen, Maloney has always come across as more worldly wise than your average footballer and, after later signing him for Wigan Athletic, Martinez also found him to be "a deep thinker".

Ask the quietly-spoken, ever-modest Scot for his reaction to those remarks and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat but does admit to having a long appreciation of football at its most beautiful.

"I really enjoyed the history of the game even when I was a younger player - different eras of the game," he says. "At Celtic, you are brought up with the Lisbon Lions and their European Cup win in 1967.

"It was just fascinating watching some of the footage of that, then going through into the Busby teams, Ajax teams of the 70s, Barcelona under Cruyff and that led to Guardiola. That is the same philosophy - Roberto has grown up with that."

Positional play's lightbulb moment

Maloney was an established Scotland international, had won five Scottish titles and eight cup winners' medals in two spells with Celtic, and had a less productive six months in between in England's top flight with Aston Villa before heading to Wigan.

However, he admits: "When I worked with Roberto as a player, it was like a light coming on. I knew there was a way of playing that other teams had. Now I had a manager who wanted to play that way."

That way is "positional play" - a style of possession football based on organising the team structure to defend and attack collectively in a way that "generates superiority" in crucial areas of the pitch.

The roots of what the Italians call Giochi di Posizione and the Dutch call Positiespel are disputed, some even suggesting it was adapted from the teachings of a Barcelona handball coach, but Guardiola is the most celebrated of its converts following his successes with the Catalans, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City.

"I've got huge admiration for teams that do it other ways," Maloney concedes while citing Livingston as a contemporary success story for a more direct style. "There's not one specific way to win a game.

"Leicester won the league playing a counter-attack system that was just so effective, but positional play is a style that inspires me. I think it's the best way to win games - and the most attractive and exciting."

Standing at just under 5ft 6in, Maloney was always more suited to a style of play that combines caressing the football with nimble footwork and it's no surprise to hear that it permeates his coaching, first with potential stars of the future in Celtic's youth team and then with Belgium's squad of superstars under Martinez.

"Roberto is a good man and an incredibly good head coach/football manager," he says. "The lovely detail he goes into, it's incredible, the passion he has, the style of play - that never changes whether he is at Swansea, Wigan, Everton, Belgium.

"It's been an amazing year I've been there and the amount I've learned under him is exceptional."

Joining the next generation of leaders

While still based in Glasgow, Maloney's own desire to learn has taken him to Arnhem and Amsterdam as part of the online and campus-based institute founded by former Netherlands forward Cruyff to educate "the next generation of leaders in sports management".

"The course I'm doing means you are learning from different sports and it has opened my mind to the coaching process," Maloney said. "It is a huge learning curve.

"It is a masters in coaching and it's been an amazing experience. I started it in February and hopefully I'll finish that in May. The professors there are from different sports with different ideas on coaching and it's been eye-opening."

Maloney is too streetwise, or just typically coy, to make any predictions about where all this gathered knowledge may eventually take him in his career.

"When I spent the year at Celtic at the academy, I had an idea and path where I wanted to go and how I was going to get there. And then, within 12 months, Roberto had phoned me and asked me to join him," he recalls. "So that path was not something I expected.

"I'm very happy in the role I'm in now and very motivated to do the best I can at that and I've committed to Belgium for two years. After that, I can't plan for anything specific."

Belgian mentality & Scottish knowledge

From Nou Camp to Anfield, Bundesliga to Serie A, Maloney traverses the world between international breaks assessing the form and qualities of Belgium's wealth of talent before assisting Martinez in ensuring their side are tactically aware, fit and mentally attuned for match day.

While their charges have marched imperiously to the top of Scotland's qualifying group with a 100% record, Maloney has had half a pained eye on his home country's failure to challenge for the two automatic spots leading to the Euro 2020 finals - and their reliance now on a possible backdoor entry via the play-offs.

Asked what Scotland could learn from Belgium's ability to punch above their weight in terms of population, he replies: "The players I played with at Scotland had a really good mentality. But when I watch the Belgian squad each day and when I watch the matches, in addition to the tactical intelligence and the technique, the one thing that impresses me is the mentality - no matter what the weather is like, the conditions, the opposition, they give 100% every day."

Maloney retains a belief that current head coach Steve Clarke will turn Scotland round in the way he did with Kilmarnock but suggests that the Scottish FA set-up could do a better job of helping upcoming coaches "tap into" the wealth of knowledge gathered by past top-class managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Gordon Strachan and Walter Smith.

However, when it is suggested that his own footballing education might one day result in him leading his country, Maloney goes no further than to reply: "It is an amazing job, but that's too far to be thinking about. Competing in next year's Euro finals and preparing for that - that's as far as I'm looking."

 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49944760

 

 

He wouldn't get a chance here if it wasn't for him being Scottish ane an ex player and ex of. 

They dont like outsiders with new fangled ides. Especially trumpets like Miller and Preston. 

I see Austin MacPhee is getting the same treatment Alessio got. 

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Asked what Scotland could learn from Belgium's ability to punch above their weight in terms of population, he replies: "The players I played with at Scotland had a really good mentality. But when I watch the Belgian squad each day and when I watch the matches, in addition to the tactical intelligence and the technique, the one thing that impresses me is the mentality - no matter what the weather is like, the conditions, the opposition, they give 100% every day."

Hmmm, is he putting a little dig in that the current Scottish players are not "giving their all"? 

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