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I know nothing about rugby whatsoever so I can't help you there. If you think nutrition/conditioning has nothing to do with success in football then I think we should just leave it there.

 

If nutrition, conditioning and how much you drank were the most important things for success in football, then the obvious thing to do would be to copy guys like Baxter, Greaves, Best, Gascoigne, Maradona, Tony Adams etc, etc. Maybe the 9 in a row guys are a good template...

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Remind me the last time Scotland reached a major tournament? Remind me the last time England came close to winning one? I think it's quite clear our approach doesn't work and nutrition/conditioning is a key part of that.

 

Yes it is a part but so is the decimation of grass roots football. Remind the school pitches being sold off? The 'No ball games' signs that pop up everywhere. Booze can be blamed for a lot of things but it is not the sole factor of our lack of qualification.

Scottish football went through a period where the top teams only brought in foreign players, meaning home grown players got pushed out. England may not be winning matches but neither do Portugal and they have Ronaldo. Even Brazil, a country that provides some of the greatest ever footballers had a mare last year. These things are cyclical, brought on by several environmental factors and not just a couple of pints on a night out.

 

I mean our own youth academy hasn't exactly had the investment it deserves and is only just getting back on track now. Add to that, with us being down in the leagues and our scottish players not getting the opportunity to play for Scotland I think we can see it is more than drinking & eat a Macdonalds

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Thing is we can super analyse all the most drunken but successful footballers, and in the end you don't know whether it was beneficial to them at the time or not. Sometimes it's better to burn out than fade away. Part of the point is that if Gasgoigne was tee total, would he ever have played for us? Or maybe he wouldn't have been the same player, and instead being a solid predictable, safe type of top journeyman player.

 

But what we're missing is the plethora of very successful players whom you would expect, at an opportune part of the week - say just after a game, liked a few drinks to relax and enjoy themselves. I have no idea who that would be, but I suspect the vast majority of them.

 

You don't hear of too many teetotallers and it makes news when they are. You can be very professional AND have a drink. Getting pissed mid season or drinking the night before a game seems to be something obvious to avoid, but even then, I think we've all had a few drinks the night before and been perfectly capable in a Sunday league game or some other sport the next day, as well as in our job. I had about a bottle of wine the night before a 100 mile cycle and still averaged my best ever century at 18.1 mph for an averagely hilly route.

 

Some of our support seem to really be becoming a puritan lot when it comes to the players - but without even allowing a player a day off on a Sunday... There seems to be a massive lack of empathy for the players as real people.

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Jim Baxter was the most talented Rangers player I've seen in my lifetime but heavy drinking cut short his playing career and also reduced his chances of playing at a much higher level. I hope the drinking culture in Scotland is not as bad as it was in my youth but I doubt it.

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If nutrition, conditioning and how much you drank were the most important things for success in football, then the obvious thing to do would be to copy guys like Baxter, Greaves, Best, Gascoigne, Maradona, Tony Adams etc, etc. Maybe the 9 in a row guys are a good template...

Is this the 9 in a row team that routinely got the run around in Europe apart from 92/93? I never said 'they were the most important things', I said a 'key part'. Poor coaching techniques, outdated ideology, a lack of kids participating regularly in football etc being other key aspects.

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Maradonna ,Gascoigne, best, law ,giggs etc etc all drank didn't do them much harm nor arsenals invincibles.They all had determination to succeed and train as hard as they played.

Maradona is one of the greatest players of all time but his career went downhill at quite a young age. I'm not sure how anyone can say it didn't do Gazza harm with a straight face. As rbr just said, Best retired at 27, though came back to play for much poorer teams. Regarding Law, I've no idea what quantities he drank but things were very different then with much less emphasis on fitness. All I can really find on Giggs is articles from a few years ago where he says he doesn't drink much anymore. There are of course going to be some players who still achieve a lot of success regardless of what they do.

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