Azzrentice - Task One, Team One - Team 1

To follow - Nadz

Under the previous manager, several players made themselves unavailable for selection. Steve Clarke has initially said that those players need to be getting in contact either with himself or the SFA to make themselves available again.

Our opinion is that it would be wrong to undermine our new manager on this stance. So for us, while there is talent out there that could be of benefit to the squad, it is best that these players are not included initially.

We also think that it would be wrong to make a false assumption that players who have not officially declared their allegience to Scotland are available. Having said that, there is definite talent in England who we may be able to get to be a part of our squads for the future.

We'd also have someone monitoring Jack Harper and John Bostock, who are currently playing in Spain and France. Players with some international experience are always welcome in the squads. Ryan Gauld is another who we don't feel is quite there yet for a call up, would be monitored.

Given this, our current squad would be as follows (assuming all players are fit):

The SFA's lease with Hampden Park expires in 2020 - and had been in negotiations with Queens Park who own the ground to purchase Hampden and develop Lesser Hampden alongside the main stadium as their new ground.

The cost is estimated at around £5m for the purchase of the ground - but talks halted in November 2018 - due to the Glasgow Council refusing to waive a floating charge unless it has a say on how the stadium is run.

This would also seem to be around the fact that Hampden has been selected as one of the 13 stadiums at the Euro 2020.

There seems to be some murmurings that Hampden costs £800k per annum to lease. But Queens Park has said it is less than this.

A BBC poll on "Where should Scotland play their home games?" came out as:
Hampden Park - 45%
Murrayfield - 39%
Other - 16%

Now there are two trains of thought - we remain at Hampden which is "spiritual home" of Scottish football, and hash out the deal with the Council, and play all games here.

Or, secondly, continue with the purchase and share games across the country at different stadiums. Attendances at Hampden have been poor (the last outing saw 21,281 turn up in a 51,866).

This was supported by Steven Naismith, after their game against Albania, back in September 2018. Stating "Scotland should forget moving to Murrayfield and stay at Hampden but move some games to smaller grounds to "gain advantage"."

Perhaps this would be the thought of most in the playing group. In which I would then propose, as per the fixtures on the Scottish FA webpage, the following ground shares:

06/09/2019 - Scotland vs Russia - Hampden Park
09/09/2019 - Scotland vs Belgium - Hampden Park
13/10/2019 - Scotland vs San Marino - Rugby Park (17,889) - Kilmarnock
19/11/2019 - Scotland vs Kazakhstan - Tannadice Park (14,223) - Dundee

Note that it would be inadvisable to change the Cyprus fixture this week, so we would leave that as it is.

To summarise - our proposal is to continue to Hampden Park, but also have games in other stadiums around Scotland, to help make cities across the country feel a part of the team.

We have identified Angus Gunn as a potential number one goalkeeper for years to come, and would be our top target. Ethan Hamilton, Billy Gilmour and Charlie Gilmour are all highly rated by the Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal academies respectively. Sam Gallagher is another who I'd like to see getting involved, particularly with our lack of options upfront. All of these players would be contacted and encouraged to play for Scotland.

Also there was a list of young Scottish players posted earlier in this chat we should probably incorporate in the future.
Bit of a starting point, can you continue this Dolph please?

U21 Fixtures
We want to move the U21 games to be more in line with the senior side. If possible, we'd like both games to be at the same stadium. To play two games in one day, while possible, is certainly not preferable to the stadiums and adds a lot more difficulty around logistics. Therefore, we'd propose that U21 games are played the night before the senior team as much as possible.

05/09/2019 - Scotland vs San Marino
10/10/2019 - Scotland vs Lithuania
15/11/2019 - Scotland vs Greece

They are listed as "UEFA European Championship" - which I am presuming is the qualifiers for the U21 Europeans in 2021 - seeing as the 2019 Championships are to be played later this year.

5th Sept - would be a great opportunity for the U21's to play at the 'Spiritual home of football' in Scotland, the night before the mens.

10th Oct - The next game for the U21's would be four days later in the Czech Republic, so moving the date would be impractical. But hosting the game at the same location as wouldn't be a stretch in my imagination. Perhaps the idea of setting up a National Team village from the 10th to the 13th in the City would help connect the supporters with the National teams again.

15th Nov - Take the idea mentioned above, but I would hope to move this fixture closer to the Senior game. Ideally to the 19th Nov - almost like bringing the party to the town of Dundee.

In addition to the benefits from a fan point of view, we feel that moving these games would help to integrate the young players with the seniors. For example, they could be used as opposition in a training game if the manager was inclined to do so.



Television Rights
Our rights surrounding the Nations League are restricted, as Sky Sports has all the coverage. There isn't much we can do about that. However, we feel that we get sufficient funds from that to ensure that all other international games are available on free to air television.

To counter this, we would put some of the Scottish Cup games on pay TV, be it Sky or BT Sport. This would be similarly run to the FA Cup, with first choice games remaining on the BBC.

There is little we can do to interfere with the SPL and their television rights, but we'd recommend a full inquiry into the last sale as we do not feel that full value for money was gained from the most recent deal with Sky and BT. Our recommendations would be to ensure that all of the live games are on one network, to help the fans afford it rather than paying for two subscriptions. In addition to this, the SPL highlights are on Sportscene which does not reach the viewership it should. We'd also like a Match Of The Day Scotland to be on the new BBC Scotland channel. This would ideally be on before the English MOTD, possibly at 9pm.

It is a dawn of a new era for Scotland. We believe we have assembled a squad that can fulfill all the tasks that Steve Clarke would want.


We will be going for two sets of tactics. One against smaller/equal nations and one against teams which are higher rated in the world, respectively. We feel we must utilise Steve Clarkes' strengths as he has worked as assistant manager to the likes of Jose Mourinho.


AGAINST EQUAL/LOWER RANKED NATIONS

We will be playing a traditional 4231 formation. This formation is well balanced in defence and offers an attacking outlet through the wingers and the attacking midfielder. We will look to start the game with a quick tempo and try and win the ball off the opposition as quick as possible. We must not give them time to breathe and settle into the game. Close them down and pressurise them from their GK. This is a new Scotland and they will not be expecting the fire and passion that will be burning in our hearts.


------------------------------- Bain------------------------------------------

Tierney-------Souttar---------McKenna---------Robertson

---------------- McTominay----------McGinn-------------------------

Fraser----------------------------------------------------------Forrest

------------------------------- Cairney---------------------------------------

-------------------------------- Griffiths---------------------------------------


With the above lineup we feel we are adequately prepared in attack and defence. We have a young back four with Andrew Robertson being the most experienced of them. We have decided to play Tierney at RB as he is versatile enough to play there. The fullbacks will be given the freedom to attack as we must take advantage of the attacking threat that Robertson and Tierney both possess. We want the defence to push up when we have the ball as this will force the opposition attackers to have less space to play into, so if they win the ball they will either only be able to hoof it long or play it from the back, which we will not allow them to do.

We have some good players who are adapt at keeping possession, so the strategy would be to build play up from the back and work our way to the opposition's box, sometimes slowly and sometimes fast. This change of pace will unsettle the opposition and help us create goal scoring opportunities. When the opportunity arises and our fullbacks make a penetrating run from the wings we want them to whip in crosses for Griffiths. Griffiths is an aerial threat and we must play to his strengths. McGinn and McTominay will be the shield the protects the defence. They must be ready to cover for our fullbacks when they are making forays forward.


Ryan Fraser has had an incredible season at Bournemouth. and will be one of the focal points of our attack. His connection with Tierney on the right flank will be a huge asset for us and we must utilise it to its full potential. Cairney will look to help us in the attacking third and we will be looking to him to unlock the opposition's defence if they are on the defensive.



AGAINST STRONGER OPPOSITION

There will come a time where the above 4231 tactic will just not work. While we must not show fear against stronger opponent's, it would be foolish to try and take them head on. That is where our Plan B comes in. The 343 formation makes our defence an unbeatable fortress and no one will be looking forward to trying to break through it. We would be moving Tierney to CB so he can use his pace to help the defence and bringing in Mulgrew into the starting lineup so he can use his experience to marshal the defence. We will be looking to play on the counter and will have to be ruthless in attack as we will not get a lot of chances. Defend deep and frustrate the opposition. Steve Clarke will be an expert at this as he has learnt from one of the best defensive managers in the world, Jose Mourinho.


--------------------------------------Bain---------------------------

-----------------Mckenna-------Mulgrew-------Tierney-------

Palmer-------------Armstrong-------McTominay-----------Roberson

-----------Fraser------------------------------------------Forrest--------

------------------------------------Griffiths-----------------------------------



With these two sets of tactics we feel we are well prepared to overcome any challenges that we will face.

Under the previous manager, several players made themselves unavailable for selection. Steve Clarke has initially said that those players need to be getting in contact either with himself or the SFA to make themselves available again.

Our opinion is that it would be wrong to undermine our new manager on this stance. So for us, while there is talent out there that could be of benefit to the squad, it is best that these players are not included initially.

We also think that it would be wrong to make a false assumption that players who have not officially declared their allegience to Scotland are available. Having said that, there is definite talent in England who we may be able to get to be a part of our squads for the future.

We'd also have someone monitoring Jack Harper and John Bostock, who are currently playing in Spain and France. Players with some international experience are always welcome in the squads. Ryan Gauld is another who we don't feel is quite there yet for a call up, would be monitored.

John Fleck said that he was unavailable for the current squad due to prior commitments, but is keen to play in the future. Liam Cooper has also expressed an interest in playing for Scotland. Both have impressed in the Championship and we feel would be positive additions to our side.

Given this, our current squad would be as follows. It is reasonable to expect a couple of injuries and such when preparing a squad, so we have a slightly larger squad with the assumption this would be around the 23 mark.

GOALKEEPERS
Scott Bain, Liam Kelly, Jon McLaughlin

DEFENDERS
Stephen O'Donnell, Liam Palmer, Stuart Findlay, Scott McKenna, Charlie Mulgrew, Liam Cooper, John Souttar, Greg Taylor, Kieron Tierney, Andrew Robertson

MIDFIELDERS
Scott McTominay, Stuart Armstrong, John Fleck, Callum McGregor, Tom Cairney, John McGinn, Ryan Chrstie

FORWARDS
Oliver Burke, James Forrest, Ryan Fraser, Leigh Griffiths, Oliver McBurnie, Marc McNulty, Lewis Morgan

The SFA's lease with Hampden Park expires in 2020 - and had been in negotiations with Queens Park who own the ground to purchase Hampden and develop Lesser Hampden alongside the main stadium as their new ground.

The cost is estimated at around £5m for the purchase of the ground - but talks halted in November 2018 - due to the Glasgow Council refusing to waive a floating charge unless it has a say on how the stadium is run.

This would also seem to be around the fact that Hampden has been selected as one of the 13 stadiums at the Euro 2020.

There seems to be some murmurings that Hampden costs £800k per annum to lease. But Queens Park has said it is less than this.

A BBC poll on "Where should Scotland play their home games?" came out as:

Hampden Park - 45%
Murrayfield - 39%
Other - 16%

Now there are two trains of thought - we remain at Hampden which is "spiritual home" of Scottish football, and hash out the deal with the Council, and play all games here.

Or, secondly, continue with the purchase and share games across the country at different stadiums. Attendances at Hampden have been poor (the last outing saw 21,281 turn up in a 51,866).

This was supported by Steven Naismith, after their game against Albania, back in September 2018. Stating "Scotland should forget moving to Murrayfield and stay at Hampden but move some games to smaller grounds to "gain advantage"."

Perhaps this would be the thought of most in the playing group. In which I would then propose, as per the fixtures on the Scottish FA webpage, the following ground shares:

06/09/2019 - Scotland vs Russia - Hampden Park

09/09/2019 - Scotland vs Belgium - Hampden Park

13/10/2019 - Scotland vs San Marino - Rugby Park (17,889) - Kilmarnock

19/11/2019 - Scotland vs Kazakhstan - Tannadice Park (14,223) - Dundee

Note that it would be inadvisable to change the Cyprus fixture this week, so we would leave that as it is.

To summarise - our proposal is to continue to Hampden Park, but also have games in other stadiums around Scotland, to help make cities across the country feel a part of the team.

The Scotland team has been too far behind the other home nations  when it comes to identifying potential players. Players with dual nationality have ended up representing other nations. Wales and Ireland in particular have been quick to get youngsters to pledge their allegience to their countries, so we need to do the same. Scott McTominay is a recent example of where we have done something right, as he could have potentially joined the England set-up.

Given this, we have searched English football for potential players.

Angus Gunn certainly has potential to be our number one goalkeeper for years to come, and would be our top target. Ethan Hamilton, Billy Gilmour and Charlie Gilmour are all highly rated by the Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal academies respectively. Sam Gallagher is another who I'd like to see getting involved, particularly with our lack of options upfront. All of these players would be contacted and encouraged to play for Scotland.

Pat Nevin and Darren Fletcher are players who have a very good knowledge of the English game and are hugely respected figures South of the border. These would be our top two targets to work in our new set-up, making contact with players in English football.

Looking ahead to the future, we have identified the following young talent as players for the future. Where we can, we'd try to get them into the first team for a couple of games as soon as possible. Our shortlist is Jack Hendry, Ryan Christie, Glenn Middleton, Jake Hastie, Jack Grimmer, Alex Iacovitti, Robby McCrorie and Ruben Sammut.

U21 Fixtures

We want to move the U21 games to be more in line with the senior side. If possible, we'd like both games to be at the same stadium. To play two games in one day, while possible, is certainly not preferable to the stadiums and adds a lot more difficulty around logistics. Therefore, we'd propose that U21 games are played the night before the senior team as much as possible.

05/09/2019 - Scotland vs San Marino

10/10/2019 - Scotland vs Lithuania

15/11/2019 - Scotland vs Greece

They are listed as "UEFA European Championship" - which I am presuming is the qualifiers for the U21 Europeans in 2021 - seeing as the 2019 Championships are to be played later this year.

5th Sept - would be a great opportunity for the U21's to play at the 'Spiritual home of football' in Scotland, the night before the mens.

10th Oct - The next game for the U21's would be four days later in the Czech Republic, so moving the date would be impractical. But hosting the game at the same location as wouldn't be a stretch in my imagination. Perhaps the idea of setting up a National Team village from the 10th to the 13th in the City would help connect the supporters with the National teams again.

15th Nov - Take the idea mentioned above, but I would hope to move this fixture closer to the Senior game. Ideally to the 19th Nov - almost like bringing the party to the town of Dundee.

In addition to the benefits from a fan point of view, we feel that moving these games would help to integrate the young players with the seniors. For example, they could be used as opposition in a training game if the manager was inclined to do so.



Television Rights

Our rights surrounding the Nations League are restricted, as Sky Sports has all the coverage. There isn't much we can do about that. However, our top priority is to ensure that all other international games are available on free to air television. To counter this, we would put some of the Scottish Cup games on pay TV, be it Sky or BT Sport. This would be similarly run to the FA Cup, with first choice games remaining on the BBC. We feel that the books would be sufficiently balanced, and would increase the interest and passion for the national game.

There is little we can do to interfere with the SPL and their television rights, but we'd recommend a full inquiry into the last sale as we do not feel that full value for money was gained from the most recent deal with Sky and BT. Our recommendations would be to ensure that all of the live games are on one network, to help the fans afford it rather than paying for two subscriptions. In addition to this, the SPL highlights are on Sportscene which does not reach the viewership it should. We'd also like a Match Of The Day Scotland to be on the new BBC Scotland channel. This would ideally be on before the English MOTD, possibly at 9pm.