Hugh Keevins: Postpone the Post-Mortem

We're not very good. That's the bottom line.

When we left France in 1998 after being eliminated from the World Cup finals Scotland started a journey into decline that was based on not having as many talented players as were once able to call upon at international level.

It took Martin O'Neill and Dick Advocaat, with Celtic and Rangers respectively, to illuminate the gloom with appearances in European finals that were gained through the efforts of teams built largely on players born outside of Scotland.

But the truth is the Old Firm is still composed of players from outwith this country and the national team suffers from that fact and the dearth of quality among the Scottish players earning their living South of the border.

Even those who are with clubs in England's Premier League are irregular starters for their sides and some, like Sunderland's Steven Fletcher, seem to have lost what once gave them a multi-million pound transfer value.

I mean, four goals in twenty-one international appearances, three of them against the 'might' of Gibraltar ?

Who's kidding who about winning a place from the start on merit ?

But nobody does recrimination like Scotland and if failure to qualify for the Euros in France next year becomes a reality then the blood letting will be on a savage scale.

The SFA will get it for allegedly bumbling incompetence. Gordon Strachan will get it on the basis that the manager is always first in line when it comes to the hunt for a scapegoat. And, of course, the media will get it for building up the hopes of a nation with bombastic headlines that couldn't be backed up by combative performances on the park.

It's as if any failure on the part of the national team is taken as a personal affront by those who allow their hopes to be built up by other people instead of thinking for themselves.

What will they do if we don't get to France next year ?

Will they place themselves under house arrest, withdraw from public life and becomes recluses on the basis that an un-successful national team means life can not go on as normal ?

But what did they expect after eighteen years of consistent failure at international level ?

Didn't they get the hint while watching years of undignified exits from European competition ?

We don't have a strong enough domestic league to sustain a successful international team, and the players we export down South are unable to command a regular game for their clubs.

And when we delve into the world of made up Scots, able to play for us because of parental qualification, it is with hit or miss results.

No harm to him, but when Chris Martin becomes the answer to anything then the question posed must have been an extremely difficult one.

The Derby County striker is, by Strachan's own admission, seriously lacking mobility up front and on that basis is extremely unlikely to pose the world champions, Germany, any threat at all.

But postpone any post-mortem.

We used to be a country who produced genuinely gifted players in abundance. We used to be able to say that Celtic were the first British side to win the European Cup.

We could have thrown in that Rangers were good enough to win a European trophy in 1972 while being unable to win their own domestic league.

And we could point to Aberdeen beating the world renowned Real Madrid to claim their European triumph in 1983.

But those days have gone and we need to take our pleasures where we may find them.

There'll be fifty thousand people at Ibrox for every home game between now and the end of the season, even though Rangers will win the Championship by the length of Sauchiehall Street and score a hundred goals or more against vastly inferior opposition.

Celtic will be involved in a game against Aberdeen on Saturday that will remove all thoughts of international disappointments and prompt talk about the possibility of the first genuine title race for years.

In other words, life will go on and the game will come to terms with Scotland's international standing.

At least there'll be one satisfied Superscoreboard listener, the one known as Andy from Dumbarton.

The one who hoped Scotland would fail to qualify for Euro 2016 because being beaten leaves him feeling traumatised.

The one who called for the disbandment of the national side because they are such a persistent disappointment.

He is the one man equivalent of the Monster Raving Looney Party because he refuses to recognise the very essence of football.

And that is that with the good must occasionally come the bad, and there was never bad but there was worse.

That's what makes the game the enigmatic puzzle that it is.

There can only be one winner of a game, only one champion in a league and only the requisite number of qualifiers for an international competition.

If you fail to make the cut then you try again. All the shouting and bawling that goes with it is just part of the fun.