It's gearing up to be a monumental night in Mount Florida as Scotland welcome Spain this evening. A place as outright leaders of Group A in Euro qualifying is at stake. And with Super John McGinn in goalscoring form after taking his international tally to 16 against Cyprus, the Tartan Army are confident. Well some of them are.
Neil Renton, Edinburgh, said: “John McGinn deserves a statue outside Hampden. He’s the best Scottish player of his generation and could easily walk into top international sides.” David Kirkpatrick, Glasgow, added: “Steve Clarke deserves huge credit for the transformation of McGinn into a Scotland goal machine. He saw the value of moving him into a more advanced midfield role and McGinn is now potentially our most dangerous player. If he and the likes of Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and Stuart Armstrong hit top gear against Spain it could be a famous night.”
Right, that’s enough positivity. After our U21s, U18s and U17s were all dumped by Wales last week, Paddy Gowans emailed: “Let's face it Scotland's young guys don't get a chance at their clubs due to all the foreigners. So long as this continues we will be also rans. What will Spain do to us?”
It was the dodgy Hampden pitch that led Dr Robert Pender, London, to call when he said: “It’s a total disgrace the quality of the playing surface at Hampden. Albion Rovers’ playing surface is better.” The doctor also reckons Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou is a serious contender for the Tottenham job after Antonio Conte’s departure, adding: "It is the buzz down here in North London that Daniel Levy, the Spurs owner, is prepared to let the Celtic manager finish season before he joins Spurs.”
Which takes us on nicely to club football. Namely Celtic, Rangers and VAR. Chris Lowe, Yoker, said: “Celtic have conceded the same amount of penalties this season as they have for the last two combined. But we keep hearing from Celtic fans that Rangers have benefited from VAR. Well the camera doesn’t lie and this is exactly why VAR is needed. However it still doesn’t sort out the vastly imbalanced foul to card ratio they hold over every other team in the league and have done so for successive years now.”
Duncan MacIntyre, Greenock, pointed to St Mirren’s penalty against Dundee United and St Johnstone’s let-off against Kilmarnock when he said: “The Curtis Main and Andrew Considine incidents clearly show that with or without referee involvement, VAR can and will continue to make clear and obvious errors. Such blatant failures should be open to appeal by the wronged club and appropriate punishment meted out.”
Sticking with officials and John Caw emailed with a complaint against the appointment of Sunday’s SPFL Trust Trophy referee. John said: : “Colin Steven, the most incompetent referee in Scotland, is rewarded with a cup final - albeit not a major one. He should have the pea removed from his whistle and cards ripped up. His red card for Accies against Raith is disgraceful. Two yellows prior to this, never. He makes Kevin Clancy look like a world class referee and that takes a lot of errors.”
Finally and the row over Celtic fans targeting Steven Gerrard with missiles after the former Rangers boss celebrated a goal in front of them at Saturday’s charity match in Liverpool rumbled on. Arrin Geddes, Irvine, said: “The easily offended will be complaining about missiles being thrown at their previous manager but after scoring his spot kick he decided to goad the away fans. Or was it just friendly banter?”
Liam Birney, Paisley, added: “I had to laugh at Hotline caller Irwin Houston claiming Celtic fans were ‘throwing bottles and coins’. Well I was at the game and have spoken to dozens of other fans who saw paper cups and programmes - albeit wrongly - thrown on the park. There is no footage to suggest otherwise.”
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