I Was The Only Englishman In A Scottish Pub Last Night

[EricL]

Needless to say i was very embarrassed by the whole limp game.

I see McClaren has finally been given the boot by the FA this morning.

I have lived in Scotland for 8 years now and enjoy the banter that comes with it - but this was just toe-curling.

I think Scotland played with more conviction throughout the qualification and deserved to go through more than England.

yup

Well - look at the quality and experience thay have in the players. I think they should be qualifying without too many issues for every major tournament. It's the job of the manager to get them to gel together as a team - something which he just could not do for some reason.

We are a football daft nation after all.

We should be getting at least two of the UK national teams through every time.

It's appalling.

again, yup.

Twas like watching Man City

and that........my dear MN friends - is why we watch Rugby in this house and not football

we watch both

tis very bad for our hearts

It's not a pleasant experience when you're the only one supporting a certain side is it. I was once in a pub watching an England-Wales 5 Nations (as it was then) match (I am Welsh). Wales scored a try early on and I went very loudly bonkers and was all smug. England then proceeded to systematically grind us into the ground and we lost by about 25 points. I was very quiet and left the pub as quickly as possible after the end of the match.

Commiserations to England fans - I would have liked them to qualify, even though they didn't really deserve it.

Next summer will be quiet whilst the rest of Europe is kicking off!!

i was once the only person cheering for portugal in an english bar in peurto banus (sp). that wasn't the nicest for a while.

Eric - whereabouts are you? Dp and I are english but live just outside G'gow.

I was in a bar in Bavaria when Man U scored 2 goals in the last minutes against Bayern Munich. It was the Champions league final 1999, Bayern scored in the 6th minute but lost in extra time.

DH went to loo at the beginning of extra time, everyone was celebrating. He came out of the loo and the pub was quiet as a tomb.

Just me cheering

Was not popular that night

Ha, I remember that one kinder. We were watching the match at home with a friend of ours who hates football and had come round to persuade us to go the pub. When Man U scored the equaliser he was distraught because it meant extra time (and thus longer to wait until we got to the pub). DP and I were screaming when Sheringham (was it?) scored the winner, and our friend was completely ecstatic because it meant we could get straight to the pub after all.

Sheringham equalised, Solskjaer scored the winner.

And no, I am not a freak, I googled that information.

so you'll all appreciate this , then.

i've stopped going to the pub to watch international football after 17 years in scotland. I've been the only one too many times and my skin just isn't thick enough.

I didn't mind the match tbh. it's a shame we got punted, but football isn't really about deserving to win, it's purely about goals. we just didn't play a good enough side. part of supporting a team, to me is being sporting in defeat. not blaming the conditions, or the pitch or an individual. we just didn't hack it.

I shall be supporting France in the european championships as our nearest qualifying neighbour.

(greetings geordiemac, I'm an english expat in Glasgow as well)

And tell me, what was the reaction of the other (Scottish) pub goers.

Was it sympathy tempered with disappointment. Or could they barely contain their glee? I think I know the answer. Just what is that all about?

I have been here 8 years now so i enjoy the banter. It was strange getting used to it for a while. There were a lot of different nationalities i grew up with down south and i lived with two scots in a house before i moved up so i was used to it all.

The things that surprised me though when i moved up was the amount of times that it would get mentioned. It was a real eye-opener to have a lot of people saying 'where you from then?' after about two sentences - like they were really surprised to hear a different accent.

There are fewer people from different countries here though. When i was at school there were lots of different coloured faces and it was just normal, and my best mate was Asian. Up here there is only two Indian kids in the whole of my eldests primary school.

I don't get aggressive hassle since i am quite a big guy and well-built (everyone calls me 'big man' which tickled me for a while too) but i do get in some sticky situations. I used to go to my local regularly and made friends but i had to stop going when the footie was on after a few dodgy incidents. You are not allowed to wear football shirts in the pubs so you never know who supports each team. When Rangers or Celtic were playing one section of the pub would cheer when the opposing team scored and the other would start insulting them. Then i would get a couple of the locals i knew would come over to me and ask why i was seen talking to this guy or that one. i would say - 'Huh? But he's just a guy i know like you two from coming here' 'yeah - but he's a celtic supporter'. Oh dear God.

I had made the glaring error of making friends with random people without knowing what side they were on. Imagine that. What a crime. I stopped going when the footie was on after that. I have some decent friends now who are not so narrow minded but there are still some around that are like that even today i'm afraid.

And yes - they do cheer and felt really pleased at Englands demise. I feel i am a freak just for supporting any UK team that plays a foreign team. I support Scotland, Celtic and Rangers when they play as they are the home teams but a lot will never support any team that is not 'theirs' and instead actively cheer on the opposing team.

I now know the right places to go to when these games are on so i don't get hassle. Plus i have some English mates now to go out with to watch the England games - although i do still watch some like the other night with the Scots.

It is enjoyable banter most of the time and i have a lot of fun with it - but you have to know the rules and be confident i guess or you would get freaked out by it.

Whereabouts are you Eric?

I'm Scottish and I'm glad England didn't qualify. I know that sounds really vindictive but allow me to explain.

What would have really stuck in my throat would have been the fact that Scotland, placed in a group that nobody gave them a hope in hell, played extremely well by beating France home and away and still had a chance to qualify in the last game. England meanwhile were below average nearly all of the way through and thanks to Israel's result against Russia had a clear chance to get there.

Had England got there then the dodgy qualifying campaign would have been forgotten about and we would have had eight months of banging on about how it was 42 years of hurt, how England had a God given right to be there anyway and how dare Germany/Italy/Portugal/France/Spain stand in your way.

As it stands the national post mortem starts here. It's nothing to do with how many foreigners are in your league and everything to do with the fact you picked a manager who was only considered for the job because Middlesborough had a fluky UEFA Cup run in which they were found out by Seville in the final. McClaren was never the man for the job no matter how many times the FA say he was first choice. Scolari would have been ideal had the English media not hounded him before he'd even signed a contract.

Please don't think I'm being anti English for the sake of it. My Dad's English, my Wife is English and I have a lot of respect for all the players in that team. England should be at the finals because they are one of the best teams in Europe on paper but due to horrible mismanagement you won't be. I feel sorry for all those fans who packed into Wembley the other night because they didn't deserve the shambles that was put before them.

As a Scot I'm looking forward to the World Cup qualifying draw as I reckon the national team have made great progress over the last 18 months. My only hope for England is that the men in suits actually manage to get it together this time.

The best of luck to you, I really mean that.

My DD could manage the England football team. "Right, lads, all you have to do is go out there and score more goals than them. Hands up anybody who doesn't understand?... Yes, apart from you, Wayne."

I nearly switched the match off when our fans did the usual booing of the Croatian national anthem. Then Motty says "our fans have shown their anthem a lot of respect". I think he's on drugs.

I agree - Scotland showed more conviction throughout the campaign and i was gutted when they didn't get through.

I saw every match out with everybody and it was a fantastic atmosphere right up until the last one.

England looked like they couldn't be bothered.

Now they are moaning that they are not seeded high enough for the world cup and may have to face teams like 'Italy, France and Germany' in the play offs to get there.

Huh? You mean just like Scotland did then? I bet they won't do as well as them that's for sure.

I do hope they sort themselves out though cos i do want more UK teams to get through to these tornaments.

he he UD.

Although not English myself, through living here most of my life I have supoprted England for a long time, but to be honest i was more gutted that Scotland went out. They were in a genuine group of death, played with a lot more heart, they beat France home AND away, but failed to qualify after a late goal from the World Champions Italy. Genuinely unlucky.

We just played utter shite against some embarrassingly average opposition, aside from Croatia, and simply didn't deserve to go through. We would have stunk out the tournament.

Fortunately i care more about league football! And I have a french nationality that i revert to at times like these.

Who to support now at the actual tournament though?

Italy as they put Scotland out or take up my brother in law's nationality and go with Greece?

The problem with England is that everyone expects too much. One World Cup win a generation ago and everyone thinks our time has got to come again, as if these things happen by law of averages.

Scotland don't expect anything and so are pleased when they get a win.

England have been in the FA's top 10 a few times in the last decade. So they aren't totally rubbish, but you don't win tournaments by being no.8 in the world. To get to three quarter-finals in a row is actually running to/above form - or it would be seen as such by Romania, Spain or Norway. Having said that, to fail to qualify for a tournament is a bit rubbish.

Just shows it's true what they say about lucky managers. Robson, Venables and Eriksson were all lucky up to a point. Taylor, Hoddle, Keegan and Maclaren were all unlucky. Although Hoddle didn't help things by listening to some weird faith-healing woman.

But if they'd squeaked that 2-2 draw, then a lucky Maclaren would still be in the job and there probably wouldn't be the soul-searching there is going to be now.

Let's be honest, though. Are the overpaid boys going to examine their faults over the summer, or are they just going to take it as a bit of a paid break in which to race Aston Martins and go spitroasting nubile wenches in hotel rooms? Most of them are so thick they probably won't even remember they were supposed to be in Austria.