It is a typical day in Scottish football's slough of despond

JAMES TRAYNOR

22 Nov 1993

SANDY Clark.

Master of understatement.

"Wasn't the best game to watch," he said after Hearts had taken a point from Celtic in a depressing match deviod of charm and guile.

It was, in fact, a no-scoring draw which should tell us a lot about ourselves, provided any of us remain bold enough to look.

Depression lies over Scottish football like a shroud.

We won't be able to combine holidays in America with watching our national team in the World Cup finals next summer, and although there are signs of hope in the fragile, almost ethereal, shapes of Jess, O'Donnell, Booth -- and perhaps even Wright, although his progress has slowed alarmingly -- it is difficult to trot along to the football these days wearing a smile.

The premier division is naff, all of us, even the game's inept politicians and administrators have been forced to confront that truth, but it gets worse.

Turgid, colourless matches like Saturday's at Celtic Park are becoming the norm and the more points sides with fewer resources can collect from such encounters the greater the credibility that will be attached to their efforts.

Clark has devised a system of defending which he claims works away from home, but while he is entitled to be pleased that he took away from Celtic a point, that is only half of the matter.

Generally, teams defend because they are afraid of losing and believe their only hope is to build a human barrier between the opposition and their own goalkeeper.

Preventing goals requires a degree of skill just as putting the ball in the net does, but by its very nature, it is a negative style.

Any system which puts the emphasis on defence cannot be considered good for the game.

However, we have to study the motives of managers like Clark, people who have to work with limited resources, and try to understand that survival is the driving force in his world.

It is a simple matter for anyone who is not at the mercy of whimsical chairmen with unreal expectations to demand more entertainment and decry defensive tactics, but the fact is Scottish football is on its knees because of negative tactics which encourage stamina rather than skill.

It is easier to rear powerful players who can charge around for 90 minutes closing down spaces, making it difficult for the more gifted to strut their stuff.

It doesn't cost a lot of money and often they can save a manager's job.

However, this smothering desire to be safe rather than flamboyant is driving football deeper into decline.

Was Clark, who says it is up to the home side to take the attack, wrong to take the safer option at Celtic Park? The draw tells him he was correct, but the poverty of the play says otherwise.

There is no doubt that Clark and others like him who must compete against managers with better players would prefer to see their own sides pushing forward, trying to makes passes and looking for goals, but until the administration provide an environment which encourages more open football we will be forced to watch dull, untidy games.

Neither Pat Bonner nor Nicky Walker were called upon to make saves of any note and that the Hearts keeper was not overworked speaks for more than the Edinburgh side's defensive qualities.

Walker's idleness also suggests a lack of creativity on Celtic's part.

They were unable to distance themselves from the physical aspect and engineer openings by using their heads.

Indeed, the gifted Paul McStay, a player with the touch and the vision, allowed his frustration to surface and after a second crude challenge he was booked.

Others, like John Collins and Pat McGinlay, also couldn't produce enough of the skills they possess to make a difference and only the occasional intrusions of Paul Byrne offered respite from the drudgery of it all.

Perhaps, if Celtic had more pace up front, where work is often ponderous, they would have found a way through and caused greater problems.

They may have gone five games without defeat since the arrival of Lou Macari as manager, but he knows they are still short of the required quality.

He needs players and his search continues.

"We had a lot of pressure and although some in our dug-out thought we would score I never felt we would," he said.

"It never looked on the cards." Macari suggested that if the Scottish game adopted the English system of three points for a win, perhaps then more teams would be inclined to open up and try for goals away from home.

"I'd prefer to see more teams come out and try to play," he added.

Taken from the Herald