Former manager Craig Brown says Scotland’s failure to qualify for a major tournament for some 20 years is due to picking players from the likes of Derby County, Motherwell Times report.
Scotland gear up for their first European Championships since 1996.
It is the Scots’ first major tournament since the 2002 World Cup. Young players like Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour and Celtic’s David Turnbull were only toddlers back then.
Scotland have been out in the wilderness for far too long.
When asked the reason behind Scotland’s long absence from a major tournament, former manager Brown used a Derby County analogy which will resonate with supporters.
MORE DERBY STORIES
“I don’t think the players were as good as the players I had. I was very lucky, I had a good crop of international players, picking players from the champion team of England – three from Blackburn Rovers – Colin Hendry, Billy McKinlay and Kevin Gallacher – who won the league. Subsequently, we’ve been picking players from – no disrespect to these clubs – Bournemouth, Derby County, teams that are nothing like the champion teams. We had the likes of Gary McAllister, and he won three trophies with Liverpool. Paul Lambert won the Champions League,” Brown explained.
Derby’s struggles since 2002:
Brown certainly didn’t mean to disrespect Derby. However, his comments ultimately tell its own story. The Rams haven’t had any top-quality players in a long time.
Derby have only spent one season in the Premier League since the Rams’ relegation back in 2002.
Derby have had good players for Championship level. Yet, the only top internationals such as Mason Mount, Harry Wilson and Fikayo Tomori ultimately belonged to other clubs.
Craig Bryson, Chris Martin, Johnny Russell, Kris Commons, Chris Maguire, Ikechi Anya, Russell Anderson, Craig Forsyth, Graeme Shinnie and David Marshall are all Scotland internationals who have featured for Derby in the past 12 years or so.
But as popular as some of the above mentioned are with the Derby supporters, there is a reason why none have managed to forge out a career at Premier League level.
Also see: Opinion: Derby should sanction sale of top talent to Brighton on one condition
Also see: Player Derby sold last year named among current top 50 best youngsters in the world