Source: FOOTYMAD
Passion Back For Scotland
Hot-shot Peter Lorimer sses a much improved Scotland of late. Peter Lorimer can see an improvement in the national side since the arrival of Craig Levein as manager. He believes Levein has brought passion and belief back to the team and given Scotland hope for the future. The Leeds legend - who won 21 caps during his peak in the 1970s - admits he did not even want to watch the national side in action in recent years. But he has been impressed by the job Levein has done so far since taking over from George Burley in December 2009. Lorimer said: "In the last couple of years, since Craig came in, I can see far more passion than I'd seen for quite a few years before. He is instilling the passion back in the team and belief. I'm now quite happy, when Scotland are playing, to say I'm watching the match this afternoon. It was getting to the stage where that wasn't the case and that's not nice. For the game it's not nice because you want Scotland to do well and you want people to be proud of watching Scotland playing. Certainly, I've seen more passion in the last couple of years and I think there has been a great improvement." Levein is guiding his side through the next four key EURO2012 qualifying games, as they try to secure second place in their group which brings a crack at the play-offs. Lorimer went on: "The players want to be playing if something is good and successful. A few years ago, watching Scotland playing, I didn't see a great deal of passion because I think the players weren't enjoying the way things were going. But I certainly see, since Craig took over, a total transformation in the attitude of the fans and the players. They look like they are enjoying it again." Lorimer considers it to be essential to have a Scotsman in charge which has been the case since the ill-fated involvement of Berti Vogts in the national side. He said: "I'm a believer that, if you're Scottish, then the manager should be Scottish. I'm not a believer that foreign managers can come into a country and have the passion that's necessary to do the job and to let the players know just what you feel about your country. I think that's the most important thing." Referring to England manager Fabio Capello, he added: "Capello is obviously a great manager and he has done well managing teams in Italy and elsewhere. But to manage England is a totally different thing. The style of play that he wants to play is a little bit negative and not great on the eye. When you go to watch a football match, you want to watch your team out there giving it everything they've got for the badge and for the country. I think foreign managers find it hard to establish that because they don't have that passion themselves."
