Same again Scotland, we need to get on the front foot more. new signings will come, be patient.

[Joe O'Rourke]

I cannot say I get overly excited about International Football, the World Cup can be exciting depending on the nations taking park, like Brazil and Argentina, they bring open attacking football. But these tournaments take part normally in our close season when our top players need a rest to recharge their batteries, and we saw plenty of evidence of that already in Germany at the Euro’s, the real problem is, the drive to maximise the income to FIFA/UEFA, they don’t care about player welfare, all they care about is making piles of cash for their organisation, and in some cases, themselves as well.

I was disappointed that Scotland didn’t manage to win last night, and especially for our own players out in Germany, Callum, Anthony, Greg, and Jamsie, although you’d need to ask Steve Clarke why James Forrest never featured at all in the three games, and last night he replaced Andy Robertson with a midfield player, Kenny McLean, when Greg Taylor was available. I have to say I’m not a big fan of Steve Clarke, I think he is a “let’s not get beat” type of manager, rather than go and try to win a game, and there are teams out there that look for that type of manager, but last night was a “Must win game” and we didn’t.

I spoke last week about sour face Souness having a dig at Callum McGregor, when if he knew as much as he thinks he does, he would be having a dig at the manager who isolated Callum in the game versus Germany. Clarke didn’t play a 5-4-1, Clarke played a 5-1-3-1, with Callum in front of a back five, but with a big gap between the back five and the middle three, he was playing against three of the best midfield players in world football on his own. Did Stevie come out and defend Callum? Absolutely not, because then he would need to take the blame himself. I’m not trying to slaughter Steve Clarke, he has a dearth of international class players to pick from, but he was predictable in his team selection, always picking the safe solution, well Stevie it didn’t work, you now need to blood a new generation of players, I just don’t know where you’re going to find them..

I note as well that some of our supporters are getting agitated because we haven’t signed anyone yet, it’s not about who can make a signing first, it’s about who can make the right signing, do we want to be signing a pile of young players that nobody has heard of, give the manager the time it needs to get it right. Another point to think of, of course you want players in early to get them acclimatised to their new surroundings, but good players can come in and play, that’s why they are good. Another consideration, say we sign five good players on 25K a week at the beginning of June, they won’t kick a ball in earnest until August, which means we will be shelling out half a million pound a month to players lying on a beach in Dubai. I’m very confident that between Brendan, Michael Nicholson, and Chris McKay, they’ll get it right, so just be patient and give them the time to do so. Enjoy the rest of the summer.