That, for a nation that provided two of the last decade's UEFA cup finalists, is not good enough. Add in the history of producing players like Kenny Dalglish, Denis Law, Jim Baxter, Jimmy Johnstone, Davie Cooper, Graeme Souness, Billy Bremner and Joe Jordan and things looke even more grim by comparison.
Yes, for every Dalglish or Law produced, there have been three or four Scott Dobies, Dougie Freedmans and Robbie Winters.
Specifically, the real problem seems to be the gulf opening up between us and supposed big brothers England in terms of the competitiveness of the top flights. Discard the Tottenham - Hearts result, Spurs are a top-four team and had hundreds of millions of pounds of talent on display compared to millions of pounds of debt at Tynecastle.
The SPL can't compete financially, in terms of fanbase, marketing or audience to the Enlgish Premiership - it just can't.
With that positivity in mind, here's fellow writer, Dougie Wright, author of the cracking Puyol's Pinky blog, found here and his picks for the season ahead.
Champions: Rangers
The incumbent champions have strengthened well over the summer, with any notable departures (Bougherra, Foster, Diouf and Weiss) being directly replaced with other quality players (Goian, Wallace, Ortiz and Bedoya, to name a few). As well as this, crucial players such as Allan McGregor and Steven Davis have agreed new bumper deals at the club, bringing an element of stability within the Ibrox corridors. Despite a somewhat ropey start, the team have been getting more fluent with every passing match, and alongside the championship mentality knitted throughout the squad, I think this will see McCoist win his first title as manager come May.
Runners up: Celtic
In just a few months last summer, Neil Lennon transformed Celtic from a bunch of also rans into a young, talented, hungry group, who looked like they would bring the title back to the East End last season. However, a collapse in the Highlands towards the tail end of the championship handed the initiative back to their city rivals, Rangers, who went on to win the league without breaking stride. Celtic have made a couple of decent additions to a very strong first team squad, and will be desperate to make up for last year, but Lennon is yet to show that he can win the matches which really matter. If he can change that, then it could be a different story, but for now it seems that the title will most probably remain in Govan.
Relegation dogfight: Inverness CT and Dunfermline
The Highlanders may well struggle this year. Having lost most of their veteran players in the summer, alongside star striker Adam Rooney, they have so far only managed to replace them with unproven youngsters. As has been shown time and time again, you need old heads to win a relegation dogfight, and Butcher may well come to regret this transfer policy.
Newly promoted Dunfermline look the league’s weakest, in my book. A manager with no SPL experience and key players leaving without being replaced definitely counts against them, but the team spirit that Jim McIntyre has fostered at East End Park may well see them stay up.
Players to watch:
Johnny Russell- After the departure of Goodwillie, Russell will be expected to take on the goalscoring burden for the Taysiders. The Scotland under-21 internationalist had a decent year last season, and will surely want to build on that as the limelight shifts his way.
Danny Buijs- With over 200 appearances in the Eredivisie, and coming into the prime of his career, the Dutchman’s signing was a real coup for Killie. He’ll bring steel and quality to the midfield, and should he impress, may well win a move to one of the bigger teams in the league before too long.
Garry O’Connor- The one time Scotland internationalist is now back in Leith, at the same club where he made his name in the early noughties as one of the crown jewels in a youthful Hibs team. A move to Russia didn’t work out, and neither did an EPL experience with Birmingham, but in his first matches back in the SPL have given an indication that he may be able to recapture his form from earlier days.
Tomorrow - What makes a great F1 course and should refueling be brought back into the sport?
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