A nation waits as two Rangers ready themselves…

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A nation waits as two Rangers ready themselves…
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 04: Ryan Jack and Kieran Tierney of Scotland and Eran Zahav of Israel after the UEFA Nations League group stage match between Scotland and Israel at Hampden Park National Stadium on September 04, 2020 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

We’ve barely mentioned Thursday at all, but with Ryan Jack and Jon McLaughlin both in line to start, we will discuss the playoff with Serbia.

It is of course an international break now, with these crucial fixtures for Scotland and indeed Steven Davis’ Northern Ireland upon us, and in a rare break from tradition here on Ibrox Noise we have to say we want Scotland to win.

That’s right, we’re behind the team to make it and we want them to.

It’s not just Jack and McLaughlin, nor even a little feeling within Scottish football that the goliath of Rangers is rising up and starting to glue itself slowly again to the top of our game.

No, it’s just the simple truth that whatever we think of how Scottish football has treated our club, and it’s not good for sure, we’re better than that, and a whole generation of Scots has never experienced the privilege of our country at a major championship.

And that basically includes anyone under the age of about 22, which was of course France 98 and Scotland’s headlining opener with Brazil where only a Tom Boyd OG actually stopped us getting a point.

We still vividly remember the absolute joy of John Collins smoothly putting that penalty away, of the look on his face of scoring for his country, against Brazil, and it didn’t matter what team he played for, it mattered that he scored for Scotland.

So yes, we do want this nation to experience the joy, despair, exhilaration and general gamut of emotions that a major tournament brings, because it’s frankly about time.

22 years without a finals, 22 years of failure – whatever we think of the SPFL and the SFA doesn’t matter – hundreds of thousands if not millions of our nation have never experienced being invited to this particular party.

And that’s what these things are – like a huge party for the whole world, except Scotland.

So yes, we want to have McLaughlin and Jack represent their nation next summer (or whenever the hell the finals actually are) but we also want the people in this country to live a championship at last.

Because it’s about time they did.

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1 COMMENT

  1. It’s unlikely Jack will play with Christie, Mcgregor, Armstrong, McTominay, McGinn (do you see where I’m going here?) all likely to be chosen first. I suspect that Gordon would probably also play before McLaughlin (you must see where I’m going now).
    C’mon Serbia!!!
    And I’m old enough to have seen Scotland play in these big tournaments and take my word for it the tournament is much better without having to worry about Scotland failing at every turn. Zaire, Peru, Iran, Russia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Morocco.

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