Scotland’s dire results show radical reboot needed

In the early hours of the same day a charter plane touched down with a bump at Glasgow airport, depositing a squad of weary footballers back home. They had helped Scotland blaze another trail, by becoming the first team in Europe to be eliminated from the World Cup qualification process for Brazil 2014.

Of course, there is little blame that can be attached to this particular group. The seeds for the harvest of this dark destiny were sown long ago. It is notable that there wasn’t a single player from the Scottish Premier League in the team that started Tuesday’s night’s 2-0 defeat to Serbia, one that has left Scotland so bereft. It was mostly a selection of English league-based players, only some of whom are performing regularly for their club sides.

The experimental team selected by Gordon Strachan hadn’t played together before, and won’t probably play together again. They did their best, but a couple of new caps, a promising young striker and long-time absent goalkeeper, could not disguise the reality: Scotland are worth their place at the foot of Group A.

It is likely to get worse before it gets better, with the next competitive appointment for Strachan and his men being an unpromising-looking trip in June to Zagreb, where Croatia await.

Who would bet against a fifth consecutive competitive loss being racked up against Igor Stimac’s team, at the end of a long season and when there is little to play for?

Strachan is the sixth permanent manager since Craig Brown to be handed a challenge of taking Scotland to a major championship, though, in truth, the most pressing target has now become a more meagre one. Scotland must now ensure they remain in pot 4, prior to the draw for Euro 2016. One win from their remaining four qualifying fixtures should secure this status.

However, many are left wondering where the next victory might come from. Macedonia away? After what we witnessed in Novi Sad, the chances of securing three points in Skopje – if, indeed, that is where the fixture will be played – do not look good at all. Home ties with Croatia and Belgium also look problematic in the extreme.

Strachan is as aware as anyone of this. As much as a win might be hugely satisfying, and beneficial, it is the longer-term that we – and he – have become rightly obsessed by. “If we were still in it we’d be looking to win, just win,” said the manager. “But the players have an opportunity to look at it now and say: ‘let’s be ready for what’s to come.’

“That’s not just the next campaign but for the next three or four years. If I can leave with a legacy of good players, and a half-decent system, then that’ll be fine by me.”

Strachan looked genuinely dazed late on Tuesday, as he stepped outside the main interview room. His official post-match conference had been interrupted by a burly steward, who walked straight in and started complaining about something or other in Serbian, and didn’t stop even when it was pointed out to him that a press briefing was under way.

From being shapers of world football to this; to being taken to the second city of Serbia, to a stadium that resembled Airdrie’s old home at Broomfield. And then the national manager, one whose own career is littered with genuine achievement, is so blatantly disrespected.

It might be alarming, but the truth of the matter is inescapable: Scotland are now regarded as minnows. At the same time as desperately searching for the road back to respectability, the football team are being nudged ever further down by-ways; treated by others the way we treat the likes of Estonia.

Strachan cannot disguise a certain dismay at what he has let himself in for, although he does still appear willing to lead the salvage work that he knows is necessary. However, he has admitted that, three months into his reign, some aspects of the job have come as an unwelcome surprise.

“I really didn’t realise you could get as many injuries for various reasons,” he said. “We also have a lot of good players with bad injuries at the moment.

“I’ve got to keep in mind that they’ll come back, while the younger players will get better,” he added, accentuating the positive, the way he has to. “If we can get an understanding and a system with everybody else then that’ll be fine.”

It sounds easy when put simply like that, but predecessors, from Berti Vogts to Craig Levein, have also sought to do this. While Walter Smith and Alex McLeish tasted some success, and inspired some fine one-off victories, there has been no steady improvement.

After only two competitive games in charge, Strachan felt the need to stress that he has not become dispirited, at least not yet. However, he did accept that last Friday’s defeat to Wales had been a particularly hard one to take.

“But I’ve been to these kind of places before,” he added. “It’s only enthusiasm for players, as well as the support from round about, that keeps you going.

“But you also need your own feeling of ‘right, let’s go.’ Somebody asked me the other day about being frightened of losing, but once any game starts I think: ‘come on, let’s win this’.

“Even before the second half in Serbia I said that to the players. It was the same against Wales. When we were 1-0 up, I told the players we could make it two.”

The trouble is, rather than make significant headway, Scotland proceeded to fall apart on both occasions, conceding twice in the second-half against Wales and then Serbia.

Perhaps the root problem is as basic as Graeme Souness’s observation last weekend about Scottish school-children queueing up to eat at fast food  takeaways each lunchtime. A familiar theme from Strachan’s press conferences over the past week has been his genuine  concern about the lack of physicality in the Scotland ranks when compared with their opponents.

Again on Tuesday, Serbia looked far ahead of Scotland in technique and conditioning. Of course, Strachan himself managed to scale the heights, despite his diminutive stature. At least when he played, however, those such as Souness were able to provide the stamp of authority when required.

After watching the way in which Scotland have been chewed up and spat out in this qualifying group, it is more apparent than ever before that something drastic has to be done to reverse a once proud football nation’s dire fortunes.