A profoundly depressing way of spending a Friday night! Not long after the start of the second half, I was flicking through all the other channels to find something else to watch! No point in saying the Celtic players were any better than anyone else, for they were all alike tainted with the death wish that is Scotland! Dedryck Boyata was without doubt the best Celtic player on the park, with even Kieran Tierney (who seemed incidentally to have a problem about singing Flower of Scotland – did you notice that?) brought down to the level of everyone else. Scotland were simply awful from top to bottom.
It is simply not good enough to say that Belgium are good. It is surely up to Scotland to put up some sort of a performance. People paid money to get in to see that – or maybe they didn’t, for the attendance was a shocker and it is difficult to see there being a lot more at Hampden on Monday to see Albania.
The one good thing about that game however is that it will be a game with none of those absurd substitutions which, frankly, reduce the game to a training session.
Scotland remains a proud football nation. I recall the lift given to the whole nation in April 1967 when we beat England (yes, yes, I know it was a lot better for Celtic in May of that year) and the autumn nights of 1973 and 1977 when we beat Czechoslovakia and Wales to qualify for the World Cup. The whole nation got a boost. And how I would love once again to wear a tartan scarf and cheer on the players of my country, aye, even those who normally play for Rangers! Sadly I am not being given the chance.
As it is, how I hate International breaks! Thank goodness the real football begins again next Friday night at St Mirren!
David Potter
The Celtic Noise is supported by three of the Celtic fans websites – The Celtic Star, The Celtic Blog and Video Celts and more are likely to follow.
It’s time to make some Noise for the Bhoys…
