Blethering about football, from Scotland and across the world
A story foretold. Of a young Scottish footballer who signs for a reputable European club only to make a handful of appearances from the bench before disappearing from the public eye and then, many months later, surfacing at some English lower division team or middling Scottish Premiership side some time later. Allan Johnston at Rennes,... Continue Reading →
Since roughly 2001, as a fresh/acne faced teenager I have been making the trip to Hampden Park for Scotland home games. Initially with a large group of friends, taking the train through, blagging our way into Vicky Wine for a few cheeky pre-match cans and revelling in being part of the "Tartan Army" with all... Continue Reading →
Downstairs in the impressive, vast, modern transport hub that is Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Hbf), the 09.17 Euro City train rolls onto the platform on its way through to Budapest. The train is, uncharacteristically for European transport, a few minutes late but that doesn't seem to bother any of the passengers waiting to board, ahead of trips... Continue Reading →
A popular theory as to why the Scotland national team has been in decline for the last twenty years plus or so is that Scotland are no longer producing top quality players. As a Hibs fan, I disagree with that as in the early 2000s there was a conveyor belt of good young Scottish players... Continue Reading →
April 23rd 2017 will forever be remembered as a tragic day for Czech and indeed Turkish Football. The events of this day shook the Turkish city of Gaziantep and reverberated back to the Czech cities of Plzen and Příbram. The Turkish Football Club, Gaziantepspor, were training when players noticed that their Czech international teammate František... Continue Reading →
As with much of Europe, the Czech First League is in the middle of it's winter break and on recess until February. The top level of Czech Football, consisting of 16 teams competing in a 30 game season, is a highly competitive and entertaining league made up of a mix of larger and smaller scale... Continue Reading →
At the time of writing, it is almost 3 months since Gordon Strachan left his post as Scotland Manager after another failed attempt to qualify for a Major Tournament in October 2017. Since that point a small number of names and candidates have been mentioned with regard to potentially filling the vacant post, without very... Continue Reading →
The Scottish Football Association have recently announced their plans to review their current lease on Hampden Park, due to expire in 2020. The review has come amidst outcry from owners Queens Park FC, fan opinion and of course the background of a “business” decision with regard to what is best, financially, for the organisation. At... Continue Reading →
The Scottish Premiership is not a league without its detractors. Whether this be due to the one sided (two sided before Rangers' implosion) nature leading to an overly predictable end result; or the number of meaningless games for clubs safe from relegation at an early stage but without the staying power and/or stamina to challenge... Continue Reading →
As is well documented within this blog and as is common knowledge, Scotland have a recently woeful record of qualifying for Major Tournaments such as the World Cup or European Championships. Reasons behind this including bad managers, bad players, bad luck, lack of investment, lack of youth development and even the break up of the Soviet... Continue Reading →
On Monday 11 December 2017, the draw for the last 16 of this season's Champions League took place. Amid the fanfare and over-hyped ceremony, the draw threw up some intriguing and exciting ties, but also an insight into the future and potential problems or issues that we may be faced with in the coming years.... Continue Reading →
The amount of free to air football on television has decreased significantly over the last few years, accelerated by the well documented riches provided through multi million pound/Euro TV deals spanning most major European Leagues , European club, International and worldwide competitions. Many arguments could be made both for and against the power of television... Continue Reading →
For a number of years now, encompassing World Cup and European Championship qualifying campaigns where Scotland have failed to qualify, much focus or source of worry for fans has been the lack of any top quality, reliable centre backs within the Scotland team and even the Scotland squad. In the most recent qualifying campaign, Scotland's... Continue Reading →
A lot has happened since May 2015. We have had two full football seasons, an international tournament at Euro2016 and Scotland have (again) failed to qualify for major international tournaments in the aforementioned Euro2016 and the upcoming Russia2018 World Cup. May 2015 did however offer a clear illustration of how football and indeed other cultures... Continue Reading →
Football fans need rivalries. Whether watching teams at the lower end of the league system such as Linlithgow Rose v Bo'Ness United or games at the very top such as Barcelona v Real Madrid; rivalries add to the fan's experience, add interest, add passion and add a point of reference as well. Scotland have England.... Continue Reading →
There is a distinct irregularity to my attendance at football matches. There is no routine to speak of, no club football season ticket offering the same surroundings every second week, the same weekly or fortnightly pre match ritual or the same religious focus on a single team throughout each season. This is due to a... Continue Reading →
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