True - you see it with the Low Countries in particular. I'm sure the Scottish reasons are wide and complex but they seemed to thrive in a smaller pool of decent international nations, then totally nose dived as soon as the wider pool of teams, in general, improved.
Just watched 1978 Scotland a love story about their world cup games. The incompetence by the Scottish FA and Ally Macloud was staggering. When the players asked him about the opposition Peru and Iran he just said ,, I don't know youre better than them anyway. And the Hotel defied belief.