The Hour

Former Rangers and Scotland goalkeeper Andy Goram says the abolition of the three foreigner rule led to the national team’s failure to qualify for major tournaments.

Restrictions on the number of foreign players Scottish teams could include in their starting line-ups were lifted in the mid-1990s, coinciding with Scotland’s last appearances on the world stage at the 1998 World Cup and at Euro 1996.

With clubs splashing out on big names for short-term gain instead of investing in youth development for the long-term, Goram believes that a generation of players was lost to the influx of foreign stars to the Scottish Premier League.

“When we played there was a three foreigner rule,” Goram told STV. “So there were a lot of Scots boys playing at the time.

“Now the foreigners have come in and since the three foreigner rule came out of existence, Scotland haven’t qualified for anything.

“We were the only country in the world to qualify for five World Cups in a row. Nobody else has done that.”

The national squad went through a transition after France ’98 with several key players – including Goram – coming to the end of their careers. With a decline in the number of young players being given the chance to star in the Scottish top flight at the turn of the century, Goram says that the talent of Scots from years gone by is missing from the current crop.

“I think there’s something amiss talent wise,” said Goram. “In years gone by you had the likes of Souness, Dalglish, Baxter and people like that. The quality has certainly gone. The passion’s not gone though.”

Goram spoke to STV before George Burley was sacked as Scotland manager but gave a compliment to his former boss Walter Smith that teed him up as the perfect candidate for the post he vacated in 2006.

Speaking about the lows in his career, including being left out of the Scotland team throughout World Cup 1998, Goram pointed to Smith as the man who picked him back up from one of the lowest points of his career.

“Allan McGregor has gone through a bad time at Rangers recently and it’s how you react,” Goram said. “It’s easy when you are doing well. But Walter Smith knows how to get a reaction out of you. He did it with me.”