Scots_Wha_Hae

Absolutely. There was a point (at least in my mind) when we had Hickey, Patterson and Ramsay all playing (relatively) often and well plus Johnstone breaking through and the prospect of Gray and/or Livramento possibly playing for us too. It seemed an embarrassment of riches, and now we are scraping the barrel.

Twitter suggesting a hamstring injury. Not good at all. What’s the typical recovery time for a hammy? 6+ weeks?

If Patterson doesn’t start another game this season then he won’t be match fit either. I’d rather Hickey than Patterson if I’m choosing between two players who’ve barely kicked a ball this year.

Never ever ever bet against Germany showing up at a major tournament. Ever.

The crazy thing about that is that Hickey is still eligible for the team, as is Calvin Ramsay. I agree there is little chance of any of them making the Euro. Barron will be a good few years if only because the competition is so fierce in that central area. I could see him taking the Ryan Jack squad role in time, but he probably needs a big move first too. That'll come this summer it seems. King is very good and very much the modern centre-back with his technical ability and his ability to step out. I really hope he isn't the next in a long line of standout OF youth players who fail to make the next step and become a top player.

That was much better, albeit against a very weak team. The next game is September (I think), quite a few of these boys could have quite a different outlook by then - let's hope it's positive and those who are ready but not currently getting a lot of football are at least out on loan (looking at you King). I could see David Watson and Lennon Miller pushing hard to break into this side over the next year too, so promising at least from a depth perspective. I thought Barron was the best player on the pitch by a country mile. So tidy with the ball, impeccable technique, always available for a pass even under pressure and willing to show a bit of bite when the ball was lost. His body shapes on receipt of the ball are fabulous, always moving the ball into a good position with his first touch. Really really impressed by him. On the other side of the coin, Mebude (who is a player I was excited about for a while) looks like a guy with zero confidence. He got involved which was good, but so much play broke down around him.

Looking at the teamsheet what I *think* he has done is prioritised the ones getting gametime in senior football. So Bavidge, who is playing a lot on loan, started because he is playing at every week at Kelty hearts. I would happily say a player (like Miller or Watson) playing every week in the Scottish Prem should be picked over a PL2 player, but not one playing at that level IMO.

Stark has been in post for about 6 years now so has presumably been extended at least once which is baffling. At 67 though you would think retirement is now on the horizon. The sum total of his time in charge is 3 elite round qualifications, which is the best 28 in Europe. Gemmill, even more bafflingly, has been in charge of the 21s for 8 years, so probably extended twice now. We have not qualified for a single tournament in that time. He has won 12 of the 38 competitive games he has managed, that's under 32%. 12 games in 8 years ffs, baffling.

Absolutely correct. David Watson's goal in the second half came out of the only half-decent bit of coordinated pressing we saw all game. I presume it happened by accident, as most of the game we sit deep in our own half in a compact 4-5-1 and punted the leather off any ball that came near us. The Italians were instantly rattled when pressed, so we obviously sat off them all game.

I think there also needs to be some thought given to the chance of actually progressing to a tournament. I don't see much hope for the U21s to progress but the U19s have a chance. The 19s haven't progressed past the elite round since 2006 and have a decent chance to do so this time. That would put them into the top 8 sides in Europe at the age-group, and as we saw with the 2006 group only a couple of good performances from a major youth football final. Playing in a tournament like that at U19 level has more value in my opinion than the U21 qualifiers.

If he’s interested I think there is a strong possibility he comes into the squad in the upcoming games, but as a right back not left back. Patterson is getting very limited gametime and Hickey is going to come back from his injury worryingly close to the tournament (if he manages any more league games this season at all). We need another backup; Johnstone isn’t playing too much in Austria and neither is Ralston at Celtic. His ability to play on the left would give us an ‘extra’ squad place too, much like Hickey.

Probably. Having said that their coach (Allegri) is expected to move on from Juventus this summer and Motta is being heavily linked so perhaps a bit more weight there too.

Rumours around Lewis Ferguson being tracked by Juventus again with the ban of Pogba potentially leaving a gap in their squad. Not sure I believe it myself and I would fear him being a bit-part player in a bigger club over the heart of a smaller club. Nevertheless, great to see our players interesting clubs like that if true.

I would say at the current scale it's a relatively new phenomenon. There have always been kids who moved down south of course, but the active scouting and signing of kids in the 15-17yo age bracket by the biggest EPL clubs is pretty new and the signing of kids on their first professional contract of any type is definitely new. I first really became aware of it with Gilmour 5 or so years ago. Arguably Gilmour and Hickey are the two successes so far, with Hickey obviously different having played professionally before he left. Most of the high profile transfers I can think of are 20 and under so it's probably too early to say if this has been advantageous or not to our youth development aims at a national level. Looking at our youth squads we should start to see a number of these break through soon though if they are good enough. Some to look out for in my opinion (some more obvious than others) U21: Doak, Mebude, Bowie, Ure, Morrison, Kerr Smith U19: Rory Wilson, Gabe Forsyth, Ethan Laidlaw, Charlie McArthur, Ryan One, Dylan Reid U17: Lewis Pirie, Aidan Borland

Really interesting to get some insight from someone who has been there, thanks for sharing. How did your journey work out? I hope you managed to stay in the game through your experiences even if not at EPL level. Out of interest, if you still have links to the game, what is the feeling amongst young Scottish players based at Scottish clubs with regard to player development? Do they believe there is a real pathway to first team and ultimately elite football or is there a perception that development is secondary in Scottish football? Of course every club is different but I get the sense that there is growing distrust of the ability of Scottish clubs to develop elite talent or even to properly prioritise development of our own players.