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Scotland can reverse rankings decline, says Pat Nevin

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments13

Scotland players

Former international winger Pat Nevin believes Scotland's slide down the Fifa rankings is reversible.

The Scots, who are currently without a national coach, have slipped two places to 72nd.

And Nevin, who 28 caps and scored five international goals, is more concerned about which pot Scotland are drawn from in qualification campaigns.

"There's the capability of Scotland getting back up slowly but surely but it will be slowly but surely," he said.

"I actually take these rankings with a pinch of salt most of the time. But, really, it's not a total and utter lie. We've obviously dropped a huge distance, certainly from our peak of a few decades ago.

"If you look at those rankings, some of them do stand out as a bit silly. Brazil apparently are 18th and Switzerland are 10th. So, let's not get too excited about it.

Pat Nevin
Nevin believes the amount of Scots playing in England is good for the national team

"We've had a tough year, we've slipped down the rankings slightly, more again.

"But, a couple of wins in those rankings gets you really far back up. What you're more concerned about is falling down the pot and that's what you really don't want to do.

"If you do that, which Scotland have done, then you really struggle to get into competitions because you're against harder teams in your groups.

"It is so much easier if you're starting from a higher level in the group. If you're a first pick or second pick out of the pots, then it's much, much easier because you've got two or three 'minnows' playing against you in each campaign.

"Have a look at England's groups in the last two or three competitions they've taken part in. They've been a piece of cake. I'm pretty convinced Scotland would've either got through or probably got second in any of those groups."

BBC pundit Nevin hopes the next Scotland management team make the side "difficult to beat" and also feels there's plenty of positives in the current Scottish game.

"The league's pretty good in the SPL," he added. "I think if you look at what Celtic have done in Europe, you've got to be pleased with that as well.

"But, as for the national team, we've got plenty of players. If you look at the amount of players that are playing down south in England at a decent level and some of them at a very good level and we've got some decent quality players there."

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13 comments

  • Comment posted by Smeghead, at 23:43 19 Dec 2012

    72nd really is no more than they deserve of late. What's really appalling about the whole affair is the listings right ahead of us.

    Togo are 71st. The Cape Verde Islands, with a population of half a million, are 69th. Iran and Libya both are ahead of us, as are Haiti.

    I know I live abroad, but last I knew Scotland hadn't been invaded or suffered a devastating earthquake, so what's the problem?

  • Comment posted by TheJags, at 15:04 20 Dec 2012

    The SFA has been failing for years. It's too bloated to adapt and so riddled with cronyism that it'll never change without a drastic shake-up. The first thing we need to do is cull the majority of the "executives" there and focus all investments on youth coaching.

    We'll never be big enough to consistently compete at the top level, but there's no reason we can't make most major tournaments.

  • Comment posted by User0595320439, at 12:26 20 Dec 2012

    #1 A White
    3 of the top 4, Spain, Germany and Italy, have leagues littered with foreign players.
    England are 6th.

    Yer talking xenophobic nonsense.
    Players improve by playing against better opposition, regardless of from where it comes.

  • Comment posted by Jimmy, at 17:41 19 Dec 2012

    @ Morbhoy And how exactly did it fail? We were up to 13th in Fifa rankings after Smith & Mcleish. We definitely want the "team that's hard to beat" tag as that is best suited to the players we have available and always has been (with exception to the mid 1970's). Brown, Smith and Mcleish knew how to put out an organised Scotland team and we got results. The likes of Vogts, Burley & Levein failed.

  • Comment posted by User0595320439, at 12:15 20 Dec 2012

    Scotland's recovery is possible, dependant upon whom the SFA appoint to replace Levein.
    Btw, contrary to BBC's propaganda, SFA did not honour CL's contract.
    CL was contracted to be Scotland manager. Removal of his duties = constructive dismissal, and I fully expect, and hope, that CL wins.
    CL is far smarter than Mowbray, and Lawwell's snidey tricks won't wash with him.

  • Comment posted by A White, at 14:57 19 Dec 2012

    Pat sorry to disagree and I don't want to be negitive but we need to get real a declining fan base and too many players from abroad is not helping our game but ironically is helping their countries. Also England is going the same way 20-30 years ago they had their pick of strikers now if Roony gets a cold its panic station we need fewer clubs and more home grown talent and a Nordic league

  • Comment posted by morbhoy, at 21:42 19 Dec 2012

    @Jimmy. We were rubbish to watch and what did we achieve or which tournaments did we qualify for?
    There's more to football than being hard to beat.

  • Comment posted by User0838716079, at 15:46 19 Dec 2012

    We need to address the fact the domestic game in Scotland is worse than mediocre - start to address that and you'll start to see improvement. Not that I care, I support any team who are playing Scotland with the noted exception of England - while I'm sure none of you lose sleep over that it pleases me greatly watching Scotland getting pumped! My national team plays at Murrayfield!

  • Comment posted by morbhoy, at 15:58 19 Dec 2012

    The rankings do matter because while teams such as Brazil will win matches and shoot back up the table, remember they play more internationals than any other country, Scotland won't and will remain in the bottom pots when draws are made.
    We don't want "a team that's hard to beat", we had that starting with Brown and carried on with Smith and to a lesser extent with McLeish and that failed.

  • Comment posted by Jimmy, at 15:12 19 Dec 2012

    I think Pat is right. In 2005, just after Berti Vogts era, we fell down to 88th. By 2007, we were as high as 13th (2 places behind England)! If we pick the right manager who can make use of the limited player resources we have, then we will continue to struggle.

  • Comment posted by User0646720262, at 22:30 19 Dec 2012

    Deep fried tatty on shoulders ..... Scotland ARE a minnow

    USA 5 - Scotland 0 ....recently,and scrapped a win v Luxemberg 2 -1

    Nevin is wee man ...with rose coloured glasses

  • Comment posted by OddJobLot, at 15:54 19 Dec 2012

    Scotland have been lower than that..... I'm sure we dropped to 86th under Berti Vogts...
    Anyway, with the number of Scots playing in the EPL across ALL positions there should be no difficulty in selecting a team. IMO we should be looking at the style of play of the team each successful player is in and selecting similar - not just bowing to media and fan expectation.

  • Comment posted by User0646720262, at 22:17 19 Dec 2012

    Just back from Christmas shopping ....

    Pat Nevin .... cannae understand him .... is he going to play ?

    1998 is a long time ago .... no wonder Scotland are ranked so low

    The SPL is the problem it is c..p .... Inverness CT playing St Jimmy Johnstone 4 times a year .... yawn!

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