Former Georgia captain Giorgi Nemsadze has died at the age of 54 after suffering a heart attack. The midfielder, became a cult hero with Dundee supporters during his three years at Dens Park, earned 69 caps for Georgia between 1992 and 2004.

Nemsadze began and ended his club career at Dinamo Tbilisi, while also playing in Germany for Hamburg, Turkey for Trabzonspor, Switzerland for Grasshopper Club Zurich and Italy for Reggiana.

The cultured midfielder joined Dundee in 2000 and spent three seasons with the club, where he also captained the side. He was inducted into Dundee’s Hall of Fame in 2010. His time in Scotland came towards the end of a playing career that also included spells at Georgian clubs Guria Lanchkhuti, Shevardeni Tbilisi and Lokomotiv Tbilisi.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze led tributes, describing Nemsadze as “an outstanding professional and a leader with a fighting spirit” and calling his death “a tremendous loss for Georgian football”.

Dundee issued a statement following news of Nemsadze’s death, “Everyone at Dundee Football Club is deeply saddened by the passing of former player and Hall of Fame inductee Giorgi Nemsadze aged 54…. Everyone at the club extends their condolences to Giorgi’s friends and family at this incredibly difficult time.”

Nemsadze later continued to be involved in Georgian football as sporting director of Dinamo Tbilisi and worked with young players, including Khvicha Kvaratskhelia during the Paris Saint-Germain forward’s teenage years.

He is survived by his family, with tributes continuing to arrive from former clubs, teammates and supporters in both Georgia and Scotland.

Celtic produced a devastating response to their defeats to Rangers and Benfica, demolishing Hearts 7-1 at Celtic Park to move four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership on Sunday. In the first meeting since last season’s dramatic final-day title decider, Martin O’Neill’s side turned a potentially tense occasion into a procession.

Hearts arrived with momentum and title aspirations, but their resistance lasted seven minutes. A Mika Baur corner was flicked on by Liam Scales and Kieran Tierney arrived unmarked to head Celtic in front.

Three minutes later, another Baur set-piece caused chaos. Dane Murray hooked the ball back into the danger zone and Benjamin Nygren’s effort deflected beyond Beau Reus to make it 2-0.

Celtic then struck the post through Haissem Hassan, while Reus produced a fine save to deny Nygren a second. The warning signs were everywhere, yet Hearts could not slow the tide.

Callum Osmand, handed his first Celtic start, made it an afternoon to remember with two goals in two minutes. He swept in the third on 36 minutes before nodding home the fourth shortly afterwards, sending Celtic 4-0 ahead.

Laurent Mendy briefly gave Hearts hope with a fine curling finish to make it 4-1, but any thought of a comeback evaporated in first-half stoppage time. Baur glided through the Hearts defence, Stephen Kingsley’s attempted clearance rebounded off Jamie McCart and rolled over the goal line to hand Celtic a 5-1 half time lead.

Camilo Durán made it 6-1 just four minutes after the restart, finishing off a flowing Celtic move with a composed first-time strike. Nygren then completed the scoring in the 83rd minute, lashing in Celtic’s seventh to cap a relentless, ruthless performance.

The result lifts Celtic four points clear of Rangers at the Premiership summit, while Hearts remain third and now eight points adrift of the league leaders.

For O’Neill, it was the ideal answer to four defeats in their previous five matches, including Thursday’s loss in Lisbon. For Wouter Vrancken, it was a brutal introduction to Celtic Park, with defensive errors and two early set-piece failures proving fatal.

O’Neill said: “I thought we played really well, really well in the game. Once we got a goal, players got a lot of confidence from that and we carried it on throughout the 90 minutes.”

Vrancken admitted: “Two set plays killed our game at the start of the game. All of their goals even, when I go back, individual mistakes and then it’s difficult to win a game.”

Rangers denied at Dens as Dundee stop Ibrox side going top of the table

Rangers’ seven-match winning run ended as Dundee twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Dens Park, denying Derek McInnes’ side the chance to move top of the Scottish Premiership.

Bradley Fink put Dundee ahead after a disjointed first half from Rangers, before Badredine Bouanani levelled just before the break. Nicolas Raskin’s stunning long-range strike looked set to make it eight wins on the spin, but Dan Neil’s misplaced backpass was pounced on by Callum Jones to earn Dundee a deserved point.

Rangers remain second, now four points behind Celtic, who host Hearts on Sunday. McInnes admitted the error felt “like a balloon popping” and criticised his side’s failure to turn dominance into goals.

Aberdeen end home drought to sink St Mirren

Aberdeen ended a three-game run without a home goal as they beat St Mirren 3-1 at Pittodrie, easing the pressure on Stephen Robinson after last weekend’s defeat by St Johnstone.

Brad Lyons opened the scoring with a superb 25-yard effort after two minutes, but St Mirren controlled long spells of the first half and Eseosa Sule swept in a deserved equaliser before the interval.

Kevin Nisbet restored Aberdeen’s lead from the rebound after his penalty was saved following a VAR review, and substitute Ayoub Mouloua made sure of the points with a smart finish shortly after coming on. The Dons move above St Mirren into seventh, while the Buddies have now lost five league games in a row.

Kiltie double lifts Kilmarnock off the bottom

Greg Kiltie scored twice as Kilmarnock edged a five-goal thriller against Motherwell, winning 3-2 at Rugby Park to climb off the foot of the table.

Kiltie put Killie ahead after just 68 seconds after a poor pass from Motherwell goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, but Alex Lowry levelled before Seb Palmer-Houlden put the visitors in front early in the second half. Tyreece John-Jules equalised two minutes later, and Kiltie’s low finish from Jamie Brandon’s cross proved decisive.

The result saw Motherwell slip to a fifth straight defeat and remain level on points with Kilmarnock. Neil McCann’s men now sit 11th, one point clear of bottom club Hibernian.

Falkirk deepen Hibs’ Easter Road misery

Jacob Murrell’s double gave Falkirk a 2-1 win at Easter Road, leaving Hibernian bottom of the Premiership and extending their miserable home record to seven consecutive top-flight defeats.

Hibs created plenty and had spells of control, but individual errors proved costly as Falkirk took all three points. New manager Marink Reedijk, two games into his reign, described the manner of the defeat as leaving him with a “sick feeling”, despite insisting his side had shown progress.

Falkirk move up to ninth, while Hibs remain rooted to the bottom on seven points, with questions now mounting over whether they are being dragged into a genuine relegation battle.

St Johnstone and Dundee United share the spoils

St Johnstone and Dundee United played out a 1-1 draw at McDiarmid Park, with United recovering from an avoidable goal to take a point.

St Johnstone’s opener was gift-wrapped by a combination of United errors, but Jim Goodwin’s side responded well and had the better of the second half. The draw keeps both sides in the top six, with St Johnstone fifth and Dundee United sixth on 12 points.

Saints remain difficult to beat at home, having lost only once in five Premiership matches at McDiarmid Park this season - a narrow defeat to Celtic.

On Sunday, Scottish Champions Celtic can stretch their lead at the top to four points when they host Hearts on Sunday, while Hearts could close the gap on second place Rangers if they manage to secure only their third away win in the league since January 2025.

Hearts were denied a winning start to their Conference League campaign in the cruellest fashion, as Nicklas Rojkjaer’s 86th-minute deflected strike snatched a point for Nordsjaelland at Tynecastle.

After an opening quarter-hour in which the visitors carried the greater threat, Hearts gradually asserted themselves.

The breakthrough arrived on 33 minutes. Calvin Miller’s corner was hooked into the air by Laurent Mendy, Jamie McCart nodded the loose ball goalwards and Oisin McEntee reacted quickest, stabbing home from four yards for his first European goal.

Hearts should have added a second before the interval. Claudio Braga fizzed a shot just over, while McEntee and Josh McPake were both denied by Nordsjaelland goalkeeper Andreas Hansen, who was fast emerging as the away side’s standout performer.

The second half followed a similar pattern of Hearts pressure without reward. McPake saw a low, curled effort tipped round the post by Hansen, before the winger spurned the game’s clearest opening a one-on-one chance that he sliced well wide under pressure.

At the other end, Beau Reus produced two fine second-half saves to keep Hearts in front, while Amoako continued to trouble the home defence down the left.

But with five minutes remaining, the resistance broke. Substitute Rojkjaer collected the ball at the edge of the box and his shot took a wicked deflection off McCart, wrongfooting Reus and nestling into the net.

Head coach Wouter Vrancken cut a frustrated figure post-match, lamenting his side’s failure to kill the game off.

“It had to be 2-0 or 3-0 at half-time,” he said. “Even in the second half, we had moments we have to exploit and do better. Then you kill the game, and you’re confident and comfortable.”

He also questioned the impact of his substitutes, noting: “I expected a bit more energy there, when you make substitutions. We lost energy instead of gaining it.”

This dropped point could prove costly in a campaign where nine points may be the benchmark for progression. For now, Hearts must regroup quickly. The performance, particularly in that dominant first half, offered plenty of encouragement. The result, though, will sting.

Hibernian have banned their Block Seven ultras group from the club’s next three fixtures following disorder in the away end at Tannadice after Saturday’s Scottish Premiership defeat to Dundee United. The sanction covers home games against Falkirk and Celtic and the trip to St Mirren.

Pictures emerged of some visiting fans clashing with police and stewards at the end of Hibs’ 1-0 loss, which came in Marink Reedijk’s first match as head coach. Police Scotland arrested two men following the incident.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Hibs said initial investigations had led them to bar Block Seven from the next three matches. The club confirmed it had discussed the sanction with the Scottish Professional Football League.

“Following initial investigations, Hibernian Football Club can confirm that the Block Seven supporter group has been banned from our next three fixtures - against Falkirk and Celtic at Easter Road and away to St Mirren,” the club said.

Hibs added that the three-match ban follows a one-match suspension handed to the group earlier this season. The club said its investigation into the Tannadice events remains ongoing and that further action, either against individuals or collectively, could follow.

The club stressed that supporter safety was its priority and warned that behaviour which puts others at risk would not be tolerated.

“No-one should feel unsafe or uncomfortable when supporting Hibernian and behaviour that puts others at risk is unacceptable,” Hibs said.

The statement also thanked the wider support and pledged to continue addressing unacceptable conduct so it does not undermine the matchday experience for other fans.

The announcement from the Easter Road club came on the same day Police Scotland revealed that 10 more people had been charged in connection with disorder following Hibs’ away match against St Johnstone last month.

Hibs had said on Monday that they would take “appropriate action as necessary” once they had established the full circumstances of the Tannadice disorder.

Block Seven will now be absent as Hibs host Falkirk and Celtic at Easter Road, before travelling to Paisley to face St Mirren.

Celtic’s Europa League hopes were left hanging by a thread last night after a damaging 4-1 defeat to Benfica in Lisbon, with three first-half defensive lapses proving fatal against Marco Silva’s slick hosts. Jhon Durán scored twice, Alexander Bah added a third, and although Camilo Durán gave Celtic brief hope after the break, Vangelis Pavlidis’ late strike sealed a comprehensive win.

The night began badly for Martin O’Neill’s side after only five minutes. Dane Murray caught the back of Jhon Durán’s leg inside a crowded box, and the former Aston Villa striker confidently chipped home a Panenka penalty.

Benfica doubled their lead in the 23rd minute when Sebastian Tounekti switched off, allowing Alexander Bah to volley past Viljami Sinisalo. The third arrived in the 36th minute after a costly mix-up involving Auston Trusty and Sinisalo, with Durán squeezing the ball in from an almost impossible angle to leave Celtic 3-0 down at the interval.

Celtic could easily have changed the shape of the game before Durán’s second. Kasper Høgh struck the post from close range, before Camilo Durán curled the rebound against both the crossbar and the opposite post in an extraordinary passage of play.

Those misses proved pivotal. Instead of returning to 2-1, Celtic found themselves three behind, and Benfica’s clinical edge repeatedly exposed the gap in quality between the sides.

Celtic improved markedly after the interval and pulled one back in the 63rd minute when substitute Haissem Hassan crossed for Camilo Durán, who headed home bravely. Durán, then struck the post from 12 yards as Celtic pushed for a lifeline.

But the Scottish champions could not find a second goal. Benfica substitute Andreas Schjelderup also hit the woodwork, before Pavlidis ended any lingering hope of a Celtic fight back in the 89th minute with a clinical finish from the edge of the box.

Despite the scoreline, O’Neill was encouraged by Celtic’s response after the break. “We could have capitulated but I thought the second half performance was really terrific,” he told TNT Sports, insisting his side created “chance after chance” and that qualification remains possible with six games still to play.

Celtic remain pointless from their opening two Europa League league-phase matches, and the defeat extends a worrying run of four losses in their last five fixtures in all competitions. Up next for Celtic are Hearts in the league at the weekend, before playing host to Celta Vigo next week.

English football’s financial success is masking widespread dependence on wealthy owners and rising debt, according to a major report from the Independent Football Regulator, which warns that two-thirds of clubs could not survive beyond 90 days without fresh owner funding.

The regulator’s draft State of the Game report finds that 94% of clubs across the top five men’s divisions in English Football were loss-making before tax in 2025/26, despite the game generating around £9 billion in revenue. Its central warning is that growing income has not produced greater sustainability as clubs are spending more, borrowing more and leaving themselves exposed if an owner withdraws support or results deteriorate.

The report sets out a six-point action plan covering revenue distribution, financial losses, National League oversight, risk management, fan engagement and corporate governance. It also puts clubs on notice that meeting the regulator’s full licensing requirements by May 2030 will require significant changes to how many operate.

In their joint foreword, IFR chair David Kogan and chief executive Richard Monks describe “an underlying fragility - a game loaded with risk that can no longer be ignored”.

The document remains a draft, with consultation responses due by 8 December 2026. Its 2025/26 financial analysis uses a mixture of actual results and forecasts submitted by clubs, an important qualification to figures that nevertheless point to deep structural problems.

Clubs living from one funding injection to the next

Among respondents to the regulator’s financial information request, 66% said they could not survive for more than 90 days without new owner funding. A further measure of the immediate vulnerability is that 29% could not last beyond 30 days.

That dependence is often built into day-to-day operations rather than reserved for exceptional spending. Between March 2025 and March 2026, 67 clubs received at least six funding injections, while 28 received 12 or more. Most EFL and National League clubs did not have a contingency plan for their owner becoming unable or unwilling to continue financing them.

The IFR identifies owner dependence and inadequate contingency planning as recurring features of financial distress, citing clubs including Bury, Derby County, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday. Its proposed response is to require clubs to prepare for trouble before missed payments become a crisis.

Plans to meet the “Appropriate Financial Resources” requirement are to be agreed before the start of the 2027/28 season. By May 2028, all clubs must also produce stress tests and mitigating action plans covering relegation, falling revenue and the loss of owner funding. Some will need larger cash reserves; others may need to curb borrowing or reduce existing debt.

Parachute payments face renewed scrutiny

The report places revenue distribution at the centre of the reform debate, particularly the divide between the Premier League and Championship.

In 2025/26, Premier League clubs received between 10 and 17 times as much in domestic competition distributions as Championship clubs without parachute payments. A club in its first year of parachute support received around five times as much as a non-parachute Championship rival.

The payments cushion relegated clubs against a sharp fall in income, but the regulator finds that they also encourage other Championship clubs to overspend in pursuit of promotion. Non-parachute clubs spent an average of 84% of revenue on player wages, compared with 57% among those receiving parachute payments.

Even with that protection, relegation remains financially severe. Clubs dropping out of the Premier League in 2024/25 experienced an average £70 million reduction in revenue, while wage costs fell by only £29 million.

The sporting evidence is more nuanced than a simple claim that parachute payments determine promotion. Clubs receiving them took 17 of the Championship’s 30 promotion places over the last decade, but the IFR says that performance is broadly in line with comparable relegated clubs in European and lower-league competitions. Its strongest concern is the financial incentive the system creates.

The regulator wants a new distribution arrangement that reduces those distortions while protecting clubs against relegation. It also warns that sending more money down the pyramid will not solve the problem if the additional income simply feeds higher costs.

The problem extends beyond excessive player wages

The financial deterioration is particularly striking below the Championship. Between 2021/22 and 2025/26, average annual losses in League One rose from £2.4 million to £7.5 million. In League Two, they increased from £600,000 to £2.7 million. Over the same period, player wage costs rose by 71% in League One and 63% in League Two.

But the report challenges the idea that wage restraint alone can repair every club’s finances. At 17 clubs across the EFL and National League, non-playing operating costs exceeded total revenue. Those clubs would have lost money even if their players had played for free.

That finding broadens the challenge from squad budgets to the underlying business model - how clubs generate income, maintain facilities and cover the costs of professional football. The regulator calls for stronger National League governance, noting that 23 of its 24 clubs are now professional despite the competition operating with comparatively limited central resources.

It also questions whether existing league rules will sufficiently constrain spending. New Championship squad-cost rules could permit an additional £460 million in squad expenditure, according to the report’s analysis. The IFR says it will consider using licence conditions to drive change and may discuss additional powers with government if financial risks are not addressed.

Debt adds another layer of risk

The regulator’s measure of debt rose from approximately £2.8 billion in 2020/21 to £4.1 billion in 2024/25 and is forecast to reach £5.1 billion by 2026/27. That measure excludes non-interest-bearing shareholder loans.

Borrowing is not inherently evidence of mismanagement, the report recognises its role in infrastructure investment, recruitment and working capital. The concern is the combination of rising obligations, persistent losses and exposure to sudden changes in income. Aggregate interest costs increased from around £97 million to £455 million between 2020/21 and 2024/25.

The report also highlights transfer factoring, through which clubs turn future transfer instalments into immediate cash. Around £1.2 billion of transfer receivables have already been monetised through such arrangements, reducing the future cash available from those player sales.

Supporters must be heard, not simply consulted

The proposed changes extend beyond balance sheets. Although fans are generally positive about opportunities to engage with clubs, supporter groups are less convinced that consultation influences decisions. Only 39% were satisfied with how their views were considered, while 37% were satisfied with communication and transparency around decisions.

Clubs will be required to produce annual fan consultation reports showing how they have gathered, considered and responded to supporter views. By May 2030, they must meet the statutory fan-engagement threshold, including consulting supporters before relevant decisions, explaining their thinking and taking feedback into account.

Licensed clubs must also publish corporate governance statements every two years from October 2027, providing greater visibility over how they are run and the steps they are taking to improve boardroom and senior leadership diversity.

What it means for English football

The immediate consequence is not a blanket spending cap or an enforced redistribution deal. It is a clearer timetable for clubs to demonstrate that their finances can withstand setbacks, coupled with a warning that football’s existing arrangements are not adequately controlling risk.

For owners, that means proving the durability of their funding rather than relying on repeated emergency injections. For leagues, it means finding a distribution settlement that supports stability without triggering another spending race. For supporters, it means more formal evidence that consultation affects how their club is run.

The next stage is consultation on the draft. The regulator has made its intended direction clear: financial resilience must become part of the way clubs operate, rather than something considered only when an owner stops paying.

A ticking time bomb?

English football is not short of money; it is short of resilience. The IFR’s report describes the game generating around £9 billion in revenue, yet one in which 94% of clubs across the top five divisions were loss-making in 2025/26 and two-thirds said they could not survive more than 90 days without fresh owner funding. That is not the profile of a healthy industry. It is the profile of a system held together by wealthy benefactors, short-term borrowing and the assumption that the money will keep flowing.

The time bomb is not a single explosion waiting to happen. It is a chain of vulnerabilities - clubs dependent on just-in-time owner injections, wage bills that rise faster than income, relegation cliff edges that can remove tens of millions from a balance sheet, and debt that increasingly has to be serviced at a far higher cost. When 29% of clubs say they could not last a month without new funding, the margin for error is dangerously thin.

The most obvious trigger is an owner walking away. The report found that most EFL and National League clubs have no contingency plan for that scenario, despite many receiving repeated injections throughout the year. A club can appear stable while its survival depends on one individual’s continued willingness, or ability, to fund losses. Bury, Derby County, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday are not historical curiosities; they are warnings.

Relegation is another detonator. A newly relegated Premier League club lost an average of £70 million in revenue, while wage costs fell by only £29 million. Add relegation covenants, which can increase repayment obligations or borrowing costs after relegation, and a club that expected to compete for promotion can quickly find itself fighting for solvency instead.

A weaker broadcast market could be the wider shock. The report warns that future media-rights growth is uncertain, while clubs remain heavily reliant on broadcast income. If revenues flatten or fall, clubs cannot simply cut their way out of trouble overnight - player contracts, transfer instalments, stadium costs and debt repayments are already locked in.

Transfer debt adds a further fault line. English clubs reported £4.8 billion in transfer payables against £1.5 billion in receivables in 2025/26, creating net transfer debt of roughly £3.4 billion. The growing use of transfer factoring converts future income into cash today, leaving clubs with substantial future outflows. If one club cannot meet its obligations, the financial strain can travel through the system to other clubs, owners and lenders.

The greatest danger is that English football mistakes growth for stability. More revenue has not stopped losses, debt or owner dependence from rising; in many divisions, it has simply raised the stakes. Unless revenue is distributed more effectively, cost growth is controlled and clubs are forced to plan for shocks, the next financial crisis will not begin with a dramatic collapse. It will begin with a missed funding injection, a relegation clause, a transfer instalment or a broadcaster paying less than expected and then spread quickly through a pyramid already running on borrowed time.

Scotland surrendered a first-half lead to suffer a second successive home defeat under Sebastien Pocognoli, as Slovenia exposed their defensive frailties on a dispiriting night at Hampden.

Ryan Christie’s improvised opener offered the Belgian an opportunity to claim his first home victory. Instead, second-half goals from Aljosa Matko and Danijel Sturm turned a promising position into another uncomfortable examination of Scotland’s direction under their new head coach.

An evening that began by celebrating Andy Robertson’s 100th cap ended with the captain delivering a blunt assessment of a performance he felt lacked more than quality.

“As Scotland, we might lack quality or make mistakes, but I don’t think people accept being outfought,” Robertson said. “I think that’s what happened tonight.”

Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and Steve Clarke returned for the presentation marking Robertson’s milestone, bringing three of Pocognoli’s predecessors together before kick-off. What followed offered little evidence that the problems familiar to those former managers had been resolved.

Scotland went ahead when Ben Gannon-Doak’s cross prompted a scramble inside the penalty area and Christie supplied a clever flick to finish. It was an opportunistic contribution, but not the beginning of the sustained attacking display the home support wanted.

The hosts remained disjointed, struggling to produce the intensity and energy Pocognoli has promised. Their lead disguised a performance short on cohesion.

Having seen his home debut end in defeat against Switzerland, Pocognoli needed Scotland to build on their advantage. Instead, the visitors increasingly exposed the gaps in their defensive organisation.

The equaliser came when Sturm threaded a pass through Scotland’s defence and Matko slipped his finish beyond Angus Gunn.

It was a warning Scotland failed to heed. Matko subsequently had another effort correctly ruled out for offside, but the reprieve lasted only a minute.

Slovenia cut through down the right, with Matko turning provider and finding Sturm in acres of space. His finish completed the turnaround and drained what remained of the atmosphere inside Hampden.

The two goals reflected the visitors’ greater cohesion. Where Slovenia combined with purpose, Scotland looked uncertain about their positioning and vulnerable whenever their opponents moved the ball through the spaces between them.

A late response owed much to debutant Josh McPake. The Hearts winger brought urgency from the bench, giving the hosts a threat that had been missing for much of the evening.

Penalty appeals involving McPake and fellow substitute Findlay Curtis were waved away, however, and Scotland could not find an equaliser.

For Robertson, the contrast with Saturday’s performance was difficult to explain.

“Not good enough,” the captain said. “We didn’t do the good things we did on Saturday, I don’t know what that’s down to.

“We wanted to kick on from Saturday because we had a really positive feeling about what we were doing and where we were going. We didn’t do that.”

Although he raised the possibility of fatigue after a lengthy camp, Robertson acknowledged that Slovenia had faced the same demands.

“It’s been a long camp, I don’t know if it was down to tiredness, but Slovenia have played the same amount of games as us,” he added. “They looked a lot fresher, more hungry.”

Pocognoli offered no defence of the result.

“We didn’t deserve to win, that’s the reality,” he said. “On the ball and off the ball we were below the level we expect. On the ball we were not clever enough. We were far from strong enough in the duels.”

His assessment of Scotland’s defensive shape was equally revealing.

“It’s a process about being brave, trying to defend forward and we were not compact in our defensive shape.”

The defeat leaves Scotland facing the prospect of pot three in the draw for Euro 2028 qualification later this year, and potentially a more demanding route to the finals.

“The reality is each game teaches us some information,” he said. “We will try to go through the process we want and learn from this one and do better in the next one.”

Scotland: Gunn, Robertson, Binks, Welsh (Hickey 66’), McGinn (Ure 87’), Gilmour, McBurnie (Bowie 66’), Christie (McPake 71’), Hendry, Gannon-Doak (Curtis 71’), Ferguson

Unused substitutes: Bain, Kelly, Doig, Graham, Miller, Montgomery, Patterson

Slovenia: Oblak, Bijol, Brekalo, Gnezda Cerin, Janza, Karnicnik, Matko (Kuzmic 89’), Sturm, Vipotnik (Celar 79’), Zabukovnik, Zec

Unused substitutes: Vidovsek, Vekic, Balkovec, Urbancic, Lovric, Begic, Elsnik, Svetlin, Horvat, Drkusic

Scottish football has long inspired writers, broadcasters and commentators as much as it has players and supporters. Its clubs carry local histories, family traditions and identities that frequently find their way into novels, journalism, memoirs and public life. So if we ever need a side capable of winning the ball, protesting a refereeing decision in immaculate prose and producing a 900-page match report before full-time, we have the answer.

The squad contains enough crime fiction to make VAR feel underfunded, enough Kilmarnock heritage to require its own stand, and surprisingly one man from Maine whose affiliation with Buckie Thistle is surely the biggest coup in the history of the Highland Football League.

Goalkeeper

Iain Banks (Greenock Morton)

The late Iain Banks was one of Scotland’s most distinctive modern writers. His literary fiction, published under the name Iain Banks, includes The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road, Complicity and The Steep Approach to Garbadale. As Iain M. Banks, he became internationally renowned for the Culture series, beginning with Consider Phlebas.

A Greenock Morton supporter, Banks takes the goalkeeper’s jersey in this side. It is a position for someone who sees the wider picture, makes quick judgments and is prepared to operate independently when the rest of the team is under pressure. His imagination and originality make him a fitting choice to organise the team from between the sticks.

Defence

Stuart Cosgrove (St Johnstone)

Stuart Cosgrove is one of Scottish football broadcasting’s most recognisable voices. A journalist, editor, broadcaster and cultural commentator, he is widely known for Off the Ball, where his knowledge of Scottish football is matched by a sharp eye for argument, detail and character.

As a St Johnstone supporter, Cosgrove is selected at right-back. It is a position requiring discipline, concentration and an ability to assess what is developing in front of you. He may not be inclined to take every overlapping run, but few opponents would get down the wing without having their intentions thoroughly questioned.

He is the author of a widely praised body of non-fiction exploring soul music, Black American culture, politics and sporting history. His acclaimed Soul Trilogy -Detroit 67: The Year That Changed Soul, Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul and Harlem 69: The Future of Soul - uses three defining years and cities to examine how music developed alongside profound social and political upheaval in the United States. Cosgrove has also written Young Soul Rebels: A Personal History of Northern Soul, Cassius X: A Legend in the Making, on the young Muhammad Ali, and Hey America!: The Epic Story of Black Music and the White House.

Hugh McIlvanney (Kilmarnock)

Hugh McIlvanney was one of Britain’s greatest sportswriters, celebrated for writing about football and boxing with rare depth, precision and humanity. Born in Kilmarnock, he worked for the Daily Express, The Scotsman and The Observer, and his work is collected in books including McIlvanney on Football and McIlvanney on Boxing.

McIlvanney is the natural captain at centre-back. His work understood that sport mattered because of its people, pressure and emotion rather than merely its results. In footballing terms, he would be the composed organiser, commanding in the air, assured in possession and capable of restoring order when a match begins to lose its shape.

William McIlvanney (Kilmarnock)

William McIlvanney was a novelist, poet and short-story writer whose work helped shape modern Scottish fiction. Born and raised in Kilmarnock, he wrote the influential Laidlaw novels - Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch and Strange Loyalties - as well as the celebrated working-class novel Docherty. He is often described as the “godfather of Tartan Noir”.

Alongside his brother Hugh, William gives this XI a strong Kilmarnock central defensive pairing. He would play at centre-half with intelligence and resilience, a defender more interested in positioning and anticipation than grand gestures, but entirely capable of making a difficult challenge when the situation demands it.

Val McDermid (Raith Rovers)

Val McDermid is one of Scotland’s most successful crime writers, known internationally for the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, the Karen Pirie novels and standalone work including A Place of Execution and The Distant Echo. Her writing combines careful research, narrative control and a strong sense of place.

Her association with Raith Rovers has been significant. McDermid was a lifelong supporter, sponsored the club and had the McDermid Stand named in recognition of that relationship. She ended her support and sponsorship in 2022 following Raith’s signing of David Goodwillie, a decision that highlighted the seriousness with which she viewed the club’s responsibilities.

In this team, she takes the left-back role. Her crime-writing background makes her an ideal reader of danger, someone able to identify a developing problem early, close off the obvious routes and make sure nobody gets away with anything cheaply.

Midfield

Chris Brookmyre (St Mirren)

Chris Brookmyre is one of Scotland’s most original contemporary crime writers. His novels combine thriller plotting with black comedy, politics, action and social commentary. His work includes Quite Ugly One Morning, Boiling a Frog, A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, Pandaemonium and The Cut. He is also a prominent St Mirren supporter.

Brookmyre fits naturally on the right side of midfield. His fiction is energetic and unpredictable, often moving quickly between humour, danger and surprise. That translates neatly to a wide player capable of changing the rhythm of a game, creating something unexpected and ensuring that even a routine fixture retains an edge.

Ian Rankin (Raith Rovers and Cowdenbeath)

Ian Rankin is the creator of Inspector John Rebus and one of the defining figures in Scottish crime writing. His work includes Knots and Crosses, Black and Blue, Set in Darkness, Rather Be the Devil and A Heart Full of Headstones. The Rebus novels have made Edinburgh a central location in modern crime fiction, combining police procedure with politics, class and social change.

Rankin’s football loyalties are rooted in Fife, with family connections to both Raith Rovers and Cowdenbeath. He has written about this divided allegiance, noting the unusual mix of family support around those two clubs.

He is selected in central midfield because he is the side’s problem-solver. He reads situations carefully, notices details others miss and keeps the game moving. If there is a loose ball, an unexplained gap between the lines or an opponent attempting something suspicious, Rankin is likely to be first to it.

Irvine Welsh (Hibernian)

Irvine Welsh is one of the most influential Scottish novelists of the past three decades. His debut, Trainspotting, became a major cultural phenomenon, while later work including Filth, Glue, Porno, Skagboys, Crime and The Blade Artist cemented his reputation as a bold and uncompromising writer.

A Hibernian supporter, Welsh has consistently drawn on Edinburgh, Leith and the people who inhabit those worlds. He occupies the second central-midfield role as a player with imagination, force of personality and the willingness to take responsibility in high-pressure moments. He may not always choose the conventional pass, but he is unlikely to be ignored.

Billy Connolly (Celtic)

Billy Connolly is best known as a comedian, musician, artist, actor and storyteller, but his work has also appeared in memoirs, travel writing and illustrated books. His published titles include Windswept and Interesting, Tall Tales and Wee Stories and Made in Scotland. Across stand-up, television, music and writing, Connolly became one of the most important and distinctive voices in Scottish popular culture.

A Celtic supporter, he operates from the left of midfield in this XI. His role is to provide imagination, width and an element of surprise. Every football team needs someone who can lift the atmosphere, make difficult things look straightforward and remind everyone that sport is also meant to be enjoyed.

Attack

Stephen King (Buckie Thistle)

Stephen King is among the most commercially successful and influential writers in modern publishing. His novels include Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, It, Misery, The Green Mile and 11/22/63. Across horror, fantasy, crime and suspense, he has produced a body of work remarkable for its scale, popularity and consistency.

King’s association with Buckie Thistle began in 2020, when he included the Highland League club in the title story of his collection If It Bleeds. King reportedly chose Buckie Thistle after looking through Scottish clubs and being drawn to what he called its “gorgeous name”; in the story, American boys become Jags supporters through a pen-pal link with pupils in Scotland. After the book’s release, King donated two signed copies to the Moray club to support a fundraising auction. Buckie responded by sending him club merchandise, and King was pictured wearing the green-and-white shirt and scarf, prompting the club to declare him a “fully fledged Jags fan”. He has continued that connection, including making a further donation to the club during its recent financial difficulties.

King’s connection with Buckie Thistle gives the side a Highland League flavour and an international dimension. He is selected as the principal striker for one obvious reason - output. Few writers have been as consistently prolific, and few forwards would be better equipped to turn limited opportunities into goals.

David F. Ross (Rangers)

David F. Ross is a Scottish novelist whose work combines music, humour, working-class life and an eye for the emotional detail of communities and relationships. His novels include The Last Days of Disco, The Rise of Miraculous Vespas, Welcome to the Heady Heights and The Man Who Loved Islands.

A Rangers supporter, Ross is the second striker in this formation. He offers energy, movement and a willingness to link the play. While King provides the ruthless final touch, Ross is the player who drifts into space, brings others into the game and ensures the attack has a connection to the midfield rather than relying entirely on individual moments.

Substitute

Doug Johnstone (Arbroath)

Doug Johnstone is a novelist, journalist and musician whose fiction regularly explores family, class, loss and violence. His books include Gone Again, Fault Lines, The Big Chill, Breakers and the Skelfs series, beginning with A Dark Matter.

An Arbroath supporter, Johnstone is named on the bench and provides depth across the squad. His writing has a strong sense of place and community, qualities that suit a football club as much as a novel. He is the dependable figure who understands that a successful side requires more than star names it needs discipline, character and people willing to do the less glamorous work.

Management

Quintin Jardine (Motherwell)

Quintin Jardine is one of Scotland’s most prolific crime writers. He is best known for the Bob Skinner series, which began with Skinner’s Rules, and has also written the Oz Blackstone and Primavera Blackstone novels. His work has made him a familiar name in Scottish crime fiction over several decades.

As a Motherwell supporter, Jardine takes charge from the dugout. His preferred 4-4-2 is practical rather than fashionable - clear roles, a solid spine and enough experience to know that not every match needs to become an experiment. In a squad populated by strong personalities, he is the right manager to keep the focus on the result.

Liam McIlvanney (Kilmarnock)

Liam McIlvanney is a crime writer and academic whose novels include All the Colours of the Town, Where the Dead Men Go and The Quaker. He also completed The Dark Remains, the final Laidlaw novel, from material left unfinished by his father, William McIlvanney.

A Kilmarnock supporter, just like his Dad and Uncle, he takes the assistant manager’s role. He represents the continuity between generations in Scottish crime writing while also bringing a contemporary perspective to the squad. In footballing terms, he is the coach who respects the club’s traditions while ensuring the team has the flexibility to respond to the demands of the modern game.

A side built on place

What connects this XI is not simply a shared Scottish football allegiance. It is the importance of place in the writers’ work and lives.

Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Cowdenbeath, Paisley, Greenock, Edinburgh, Perth, Arbroath, Motherwell, Glasgow and Buckie are more than points on a fixture list. They are communities with their own language, history, humour and footballing memory. For many of these writers, those same qualities have shaped the settings, characters and concerns of their work.

This is not a team likely to keep its football simple. It has too many analysts, storytellers and strong opinions for that. But it would be organised, thoughtful and deeply rooted in the towns and terraces that make Scottish football worth writing about.

Do you have any honourable mentions to add to the squad? Let us know in the comments.

Cove Rangers have been banned from registering new players until 31 May 2027 after an SPFL Disciplinary Tribunal found the League One club breached rules over a historic player payment and inaccurate financial certification.

The Aberdeen-based club admitted failing to make a contractual payment to a player when it was due, then failing to notify the SPFL that it was in default. It was also found to have given incorrect information when certifying that it had no overdue payables to current or former players as of 31 January 2026.

The tribunal imposed a season-long registration embargo, meaning Cove Rangers cannot make new signings without SPFL approval until the end of May next year. The club was also fined £5,000, of which £2,000 has been suspended.

In a statement, Cove Rangers said it acknowledged the decision relating to a historic contractual payment from 2024 and subsequent reporting matters. The club said it was disappointed by the “severity” of the sanctions and is reviewing the decision and considering all available options.

The embargo is a major blow for the League One side, preventing recruitment for the remainder of the current campaign and leaving any new registrations subject to league approval until the restriction expires.

The SPFL confirmed that the player involved has since been paid in full.

Greenock Morton have sacked manager Ian Murray and first-team coach Bill Orr with immediate effect, with the Championship club sitting bottom of the table after a winless start to the season.

Murray, who was appointed in January, leaves after less than a year in charge at Cappielow. His final match was a defeat to Inverness, extending Morton’s winless run to 17 games and leaving them rooted to the foot of the William Hill Championship.

The club confirmed that Michael O’Halloran and Gary Miller will take charge of first-team affairs until further notice. O’Halloran and Miller, the club’s head of youth academy and emerging talent, will lead Morton into Saturday’s home fixture against Raith Rovers.

In a statement, the board thanked Murray and Orr for their “hard work, commitment and professionalism”, while urging supporters to back the interim management team and players at Cappielow this weekend.

Murray’s departure comes against a backdrop of severe financial uncertainty at the Greenock club after the clubs finances took a hit after major sponsor Dalrada encountered business difficulties, leaving the club with a black hole of around £335,000 in their accounts.

The club said in September that, thanks to its Fighting Fund, season-ticket sales, player sponsorships and commercial income, it expected sufficient resources to operate through to the new year, but warned that external investment remained essential for long-term stability.

Murray had previously managed St Mirren, Dumbarton, Raith Rovers and Airdrieonians before taking over at Morton in January.

Sébastien Pocognoli’s first home game as Scotland head coach unravelled inside 12 minutes as Jack Hendry’s dismissal set Switzerland on course for a comfortable 3-0 Nations League victory at Hampden.

Four days after a promising but goalless draw in Slovenia, Scotland’s new era suffered a brutal reality check against a Swiss side who were sharper, calmer, and ultimately far too accomplished for a home team reduced to 10 men before the contest had settled.

There had been warmth in the welcome for Pocognoli before kick-off, Hampden eager to embrace the man tasked with moving Scotland on from the Steve Clarke years. It lasted barely 10 minutes.

Dan Ndoye exposed the space behind Scotland’s defence, racing clear as Hendry struggled to recover. The Scotland centre-back hauled down the Nottingham Forest forward with only Angus Gunn to beat. Referee Nenad Minakovic initially awarded a penalty and showed Hendry a yellow card, but a lengthy VAR review produced a harsher outcome as the foul was judged to have taken place outside the box, the spot-kick became a free-kick and Hendry’s caution was upgraded to a red for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Ricardo Rodríguez then made the punishment immediate. The experienced Swiss full-back bent the resulting free-kick beyond the hapless Gunn and into the top corner, leaving Scotland a goal behind and facing around 80 minutes with a numerical disadvantage.

Pocognoli reacted by sacrificing Kieron Bowie for Stephen Welsh, who had been left out of the starting side in favour of debutant Luis Binks. It was a necessary reshuffle rather than a tactical choice, and Scotland deserve credit for avoiding complete collapse before the interval.

They stayed compact, worked hard and occasionally disrupted Switzerland’s rhythm. But the familiar issue from Saturday’s 0-0 draw in Slovenia remained as Scotland could not turn reasonable passages of possession into a sustained attacking threat.

The draw in Ljubljana had at least offered encouragement, particularly after an improved second-half display in Pocognoli’s first match. At Hampden, though, the red card altered everything. Scotland were required to defend for long spells and, while they limited further damage before half-time, they could not create the type of moments needed to lift an increasingly frustrated crowd.

Just ten minutes into the second half and Switzerland doubled their lead. Ndoye, a persistent danger throughout, delivered a low cross from the right and Nico Elvedi arrived ahead of his marker to turn home from close range.

That goal removed any lingering tension. Scotland’s resistance had been respectable, but it had also been draining. Switzerland controlled the ball, picked their moments and waited for spaces to open.

The third arrived in the 82nd minute, again with Ndoye at the heart of it. His cutback found Zeki Amdouni on the edge of the area and the Burnley forward lashed a fierce finish through Gunn. By then, large sections of the home support were already making their way towards the exits.

The defeat means that Scotland remain third in their Nations League Group with one point and no goals from their opening two matches.

Next up for Scotland is a trip to North Macedonia on Saturday, before Scotland return to Hampden to face Slovenia next Tuesday.

For decades, Scottish football’s connection with Italy existed largely in memory with Denis Law’s glamorous but difficult spell at Torino, Joe Jordan’s uncompromising years with Milan and Verona, and Graeme Souness helping Sampdoria to their first major trophy in the club’s history. Then came silence.

When Souness left Sampdoria in 1986, no Scottish player appeared in Italy for more than three decades. Serie A became a destination Scottish footballers admired from afar rather than one they could realistically see as part of their own career path. England remained the obvious route; Italy seemed distant, tactical, culturally unfamiliar and perhaps unforgiving. That idea has been dismantled with a new generation of Scottish footballers.

Scots are now woven into the fabric of Serie A in a way that would have seemed improbable only a few years ago. They are not simply passing through lower-table squads or collecting a handful of appearances. They are title winners, club captains, regular starters and, in Scott McTominay’s case, the league’s most celebrated individual player.

McTominay’s rise at Napoli has become the defining image of this new era. His Manchester United career was clouded by debate over his limitations, his position and his suitability for elite midfield football. In Naples, those questions have been replaced by adoration.

Under Antonio Conte, McTominay became a central figure in Napoli’s title-winning side. His 12 league goals, six assists and commanding physical presence helped drive the club to the Scudetto, while his influence earned him Serie A’s Player of the Year award.

The significance of that achievement extends beyond the numbers. Napoli is not a place where a player can hide. The city’s relationship with football is total and intensely personal. To be embraced there, as McTominay has been, means more than fitting into a system. It means becoming part of the story supporters tell about their club.

He has done exactly that. The “McFratm” nickname, murals and growing Scottish presence around the club are symbols of a bond that has formed quickly but feels genuine. McTominay has not been treated as an outsider enjoying an unexpected season abroad. He has been adopted as one of Napoli’s own.

Billy Gilmour’s arrival has strengthened the Scottish imprint at the champions. His role differs sharply from McTominay’s. Where McTominay attacks the box and imposes himself physically, Gilmour operates through control, technique and composure. Their partnership has offered a striking contrast to the old caricature of Scottish footballers in Italy - not merely willing runners or physical competitors, but players trusted to perform within one of Europe’s most tactically demanding and competitive environments.

The road to this moment began quietly with Liam Henderson. When Henderson left Celtic for Bari in 2018, he became the first Scot to play in Italy since Souness. It did not attract the fanfare that surrounds a move to England, and it was not designed as a shortcut to a bigger league. Instead, it became a commitment to an entirely different footballing life.

Henderson built a career across Bari, Verona, Empoli, Lecce, Palermo and Sampdoria, making Italy his professional home rather than a temporary destination. His long spell at Empoli, where he made more than a century of Serie A appearances, proved that a Scottish player could settle, develop and be valued over time in the Italian game.

His importance lies in what he made possible. Henderson showed younger Scottish players that Italy was not an impossible leap. It could offer opportunity, regular football and a tactical education unavailable in more familiar surroundings.

Aaron Hickey turned that possibility into a route others could follow. When Bologna signed Hickey from Hearts as an 18-year-old in 2020, they took a calculated risk on a player who had already gained first-team experience in Scotland. He responded by becoming one of Serie A’s most interesting young full-backs, combining comfort on the ball with the intelligence to operate in different roles across the back line.

His goal against Spezia in September 2021 carried particular significance. It made Hickey the first Scottish player to score in Serie A for 35 years. That goal was not simply a historical footnote. It marked the moment when the modern Scottish-Italian connection began to feel real.

Hickey’s development in Bologna also changed how Scottish footballers were viewed by Italian clubs. He arrived for a relatively modest fee and departed for Brentford in a deal reportedly worth around £17 million. His success underlined the value of a market that had been underestimated - players who had been exposed to senior football early, who were accustomed to competitive pressure, and who could develop without the financial risk attached to the big five European leagues.

Bologna then returned to Scotland for Lewis Ferguson, and his move has become one of the clearest examples of the relationship working at its best. Ferguson arrived from Aberdeen with a reputation for leadership, energy and goals from midfield. In Italy, those qualities have become more refined. He has developed into a key figure for Bologna, leading the side through historic domestic and European campaigns and eventually taking on the club captaincy.

His influence was especially evident as Bologna claimed the Coppa Italia, ending a 51-year wait for a major trophy. The club’s recent rise has been built around recruitment that identified players before their value became inflated, but Ferguson is more than a shrewd signing. He has become a leader in a side that has moved from survival mode to expectation.

There is a particular resonance in a Scottish midfielder captaining an Italian side. It represents a level of trust that goes beyond form or statistics. Italian football is deeply attuned to tactical detail, structure and responsibility. To be handed leadership within that environment is a powerful endorsement of Ferguson’s character and football intelligence.

Che Adams has added another dimension to the Scottish presence. Torino have found in him a striker capable of offering physicality, movement and a direct threat in the penalty area. His early goals gave the Granata a sharper edge, while his style has suited a league in which forwards must often function as a focal point as much as a finisher.

Josh Doig’s career tells a different but equally important story. He moved from Hibernian to Hellas Verona as a teenager, choosing development in Italy rather than the more conventional route to England. His progress as a left-back has been built on work rate, athleticism and the ability to adapt to the positional demands of Italian football.

Doig’s move to Sassuolo in 2024 has allowed him to continue that development in Serie A, and his growing experience in the division suggests that the pathway now extends beyond high-profile midfielders or established internationals. Scottish full-backs, defenders and young prospects now see Italy as a viable place to build a career rather than merely revive one.

The next generation is already arriving. Lennon Miller’s move to Udinese in 2025 represented another significant step. He entered Italy with high expectations after emerging as one of Scotland’s most promising young midfielders, but Serie A will ask different questions of him. It will demand patience, tactical awareness and the capacity to develop without the assumption that talent alone is enough.

Kieron Bowie’s journey, from joining Verona before moving to Sassuolo, further illustrates the changing recruitment landscape. Italian clubs are no longer waiting for Scottish players to prove themselves in England before taking interest. They are watching Scottish Football directly, identifying prospects earlier and offering a developmental route that can be as valuable as any move south of the border.

Jack Hendry’s loan spell at Cremonese was brief, with four Serie A appearances in 2023, but it was another indication of the widening connection. Scotland’s relationship with Italy is no longer built around a single club, position or profile. There is now a genuine spread of players across the league, from title challengers to developing sides and from established internationals to emerging talent.

The appeal is clear on both sides. For Italian clubs, Scotland offers players shaped by first-team football, competitive intensity and an environment where results matter early. The best prospects often arrive with more senior experience than similarly aged players elsewhere in Europe, and at fees that remain relatively accessible compared with the inflated English market.

For Scottish players, Italy provides a different kind of development. Serie A demands positional discipline, sharper decision-making and greater understanding of the game without the ball. The league can expose weaknesses, but it can also add layers to a player’s game that are difficult to acquire in more frantic, transition-heavy competitions.

That exchange has created a relationship that feels increasingly self-sustaining. Henderson established the route. Hickey gave it commercial credibility. Ferguson turned it into a leadership story. McTominay transformed it into a triumph at the highest level.

The history still matters. Law’s bold move to Torino in 1961 made him one of the earliest Scottish stars to test himself in Italy, even if his time there was short. Jordan brought his formidable style to Milan and Verona. Souness became a key player in Sampdoria’s rise, winning the Coppa Italia and proving that a Scottish midfielder could excel in an elite Italian setting. But the modern Scottish presence has moved beyond nostalgia.

Scotland’s players are no longer travelling to Italy to add an interesting chapter to their careers. They are choosing Serie A because it offers a platform to improve, compete and matter. The league, in turn, has discovered that Scottish football contains more than physicality and fighting spirit. It contains technical quality, leadership, tactical adaptability and players capable of shaping the biggest moments.

This is no longer an Italian adventure for Scottish footballers. It is becoming a proper footballing corridor, one that will define the next generation of Scotland players as profoundly as the old journey to England once did.

Scotland were left to rue a series of second-half missed chances as Sebastien Pocognoli’s reign began with a goalless Nations League draw against Slovenia in Ljubljana.

Pocognoli made five changes from the Scotland side beaten 3-0 by Brazil at the World Cup, handing debuts to Robbie Ure and Stephen Welsh.

McBurnie was also restored to the starting XI for the first time in five years as Scotland looked to make a positive start to their Nations League campaign.

However, the visitors were fortunate not to fall behind early on.

Andraz Sporar thought he had fired Slovenia in front when he found room inside the penalty area and lashed an effort into the top corner, only for the assistant referee’s flag to rule the effort out for offside.

Slovenia continued to cause problems as Scotland struggled to settle. Sporar then fired wide from close range after meeting Danijel Strum’s dangerous delivery, while Vanja Drkusic rattled the post with a header during another spell of home pressure.

Scotland had offered little as an attacking force for much of the first half, with Aaron Hickey’s blocked effort their first real attempt at goal after more than half an hour.

But they nearly found a breakthrough just before the break. Ure created space on the edge of the area and sent a low strike beyond Jan Oblak, only to see his effort come back off the post.

The interval appeared to bring a clear improvement from Scotland, who played with greater purpose and control in the second half.

McBurnie was presented with an excellent opportunity when he broke through on goal, but the forward was unable to take the ball around Oblak as the experienced Slovenia goalkeeper made an important save.

The Hull City striker then combined well with Gilmour shortly before the hour mark. Gilmour played a neat one-two to work space for himself inside the area, although his eventual strike was comfortably saved by Oblak.

Ure, who had impressed on his first Scotland appearance, was replaced by Kieron Bowie in the 66th minute. Bowie almost made an immediate impact when Welsh played him through, but Oblak was again equal to the effort. Scotland continued to press, and Gilmour later picked out Bowie on the edge of the box, only for the Sassuolo forward to drag his shot wide.

It was not the result Pocognoli would have wanted from his first match in charge, but Scotland’s response after half time offered encouragement ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with Switzerland at Hampden.

After the game, Pocognoli admitted Scotland had struggled to adapt to Slovenia’s early approach but felt his side showed character before producing the performance he wanted in the second half.

“I think we had two games in the same game, but you can analyse both of them in a positive way.

“The first half was not what we expected in terms of structure. We were in between for the press and we were a little bit surprised by the formation of Slovenia.

“But at half-time we fixed this and you could see that the second half was much better.

“We produced what we wanted to show every minute, but in the first half we learned to stick together, defend the box, be resilient and be patient to change the game.

“In the second half, we had a game on the ball against a low block. We had a lot of good movement through the sides and through the lines, and we should have scored to be honest.

“The counter-press was good and the high line of the defence was good, just because the position of the players was better.”

Scotland will now turn their attention to Switzerland, with Pocognoli hoping his side can turn their encouraging second-half display in Slovenia into a first win of the Nations League campaign on Tuesday night.

Scottish football is forever telling supporters that they are its lifeblood. Without them, the line goes, there is no game - no atmosphere, no television product, no sponsorship value, no meaningful identity for clubs that have been rooted in towns, schemes and communities for more than a century.

Yet the experience of many supporters tells a different story. The fan who pays hundreds or thousands of pounds a year to follow their club is too often handled not as a customer, citizen or stakeholder, but as a potential offender. They are searched, surveilled, corralled, lectured, filmed, policed and, in some cases, criminalised for behaviour that would attract little notice in most other public spaces or events.

This is not an argument that Scottish football has no problems. It does. Sectarianism is real. Racism is real. Misogyny, homophobia, violence and intimidation are real. Nobody should romanticise the ugliest parts of the game, nor pretend that every chant is harmless because it is shouted behind a goal instead of on the streets.

But there is a vital distinction that Scotland’s football authorities, governments and much of the wider establishment have repeatedly failed to grasp - tackling genuinely harmful conduct is not the same thing as treating football crowds as a uniquely suspect population.

For decades, the authorities have tended to view the football supporter through a narrow and pessimistic lens. The football fan is seen as a drink-fuelled menace; the away supporter as an invading force; the young man with a flag as a threat to public order; the organised group as a potential hooligan and criminal mob; the loud stand as a problem to be managed rather than a culture to be understood. Football is allowed to sell itself on passion, rivalry and tribal identity - right up to the point where supporters produce too much of it without permission from the institutions and authorities.

This piece examines how that attitude developed, how it has been expressed through alcohol restrictions, legislation, policing and stadium policy, and why the increasingly vibrant ultras culture has become such a revealing battleground.

The central question is simple - why does Scotland demand atmosphere from football supporters while so often treating the people who create it as if they are waiting to commit a crime?

The contradiction at the heart of Scottish football

Scottish football has a strange relationship with its own supporters. It needs them loudly, visibly and emotionally invested. It markets the very things that can make the matchday experience difficult to regulate - the noise, the colour, the local loyalties, the old grudges, the sense that a Saturday - or a midweek cup tie - matters beyond the 90 minutes.

A club’s social media team will post videos of flares of colour in the stands, flags unfurling, supporters bouncing in unison and scarves held aloft. Broadcasters use crowd noise as the soundtrack to their coverage. Sponsors want packed grounds because empty seats look like decline. Politicians praise football clubs as civic institutions when there is a charity initiative, a community programme or a triumphant parade.

But when fans organise independently, sing with an edge, travel in numbers, express political identities or question authority, the tone changes quickly. The same supporters who create the product become a policing issue. The noisy stand becomes a “safety concern”. A banner becomes an “incident”. The display becomes a logistical problem. The away allocation becomes a risk assessment.

That contradiction is not accidental. It comes from a long-established institutional preference for control over participation.

Football supporters are not passive consumers. They do not experience their club in the same way somebody experiences a cinema, a streaming service or a shopping centre. A football club is inherited, geographical and emotional. It is bound up with family, class, place and memory. People do not simply buy into it; they belong to it.

That makes football powerful. It also makes it awkward for institutions that would prefer neat, manageable consumers.

A supporter might resent the club board yet renew a season ticket every year. They may criticise the manager and travel across the country to watch the team. They may have political views that make executives uncomfortable, songs that make broadcasters nervous and an appetite for collective action that is uncommon in modern consumer culture. This is why fan culture is regularly treated as something to contain rather than cultivate.

The problem is not that football has rules. Every shared public environment needs rules. Grounds must be safe. People must be able to attend without fear of violence, discrimination or harassment. But rules gain legitimacy when they are proportionate, clear and applied fairly. They lose legitimacy when they appear designed to discipline a particular class of people, a particular culture or a particular form of expression.

Too often, football supporters in Scotland have encountered the second version. They are told that drinking is central to disorder even when they can legally drink heavily in nearby pubs before entering the ground. They are told that offensive language is unacceptable, while the boundaries of “offence” remain unstable and vulnerable to political pressure. They are told that pyrotechnics are always dangerous, even as clubs eagerly circulate photographs in which supporter-generated spectacle makes the stadium look alive. They are told to create an atmosphere, but only one that has been pre-approved, commercially acceptable and safely stripped of spontaneity.

The message is contradictory - be passionate, but not too passionate. Be tribal, but not too tribal. Be loud, but not offensive. Be colourful, but not disruptive. Be authentic, but only in a form that makes no one in authority uncomfortable. That is not a serious approach to football culture. It is a sanitised fantasy.

The football fan as a social type

There is a wider class and cultural dimension that should not be ignored. Football crowds have historically drawn heavily from working-class communities. That does not mean every supporter is working class, and it does not mean working-class culture is automatically virtuous. But it does mean that football is one of the few major public spaces where collective working-class identity remains highly visible.

The language is direct. The humour is rough. The emotion is public. The loyalties are deep. The rituals can be old-fashioned and sometimes imperfect. For sections of the political, media and professional class, that kind of public culture can be unsettling.

Much of elite public life now favours an individualised, corporate and carefully managed form of behaviour. Football crowds do not fit it. They are collective rather than individual. They are noisy rather than restrained. They are sentimental, confrontational and frequently resistant to being instructed how they ought to feel.

That does not make them beyond criticism. It does mean they deserve to be understood before they are condemned.

The tendency to treat supporters as an undifferentiated mass is one of the biggest failures in Scottish football policy. A group of 10,000 people is not one person. It includes children, pensioners, women, men, families, disabled supporters, lifelong regulars, occasional visitors, students, workers, people travelling from abroad and people attending their first match.

Yet enforcement measures often operate on the assumption that a crowd is a single potential threat. A restriction aimed at a minority can shape the experience of the majority. A policing operation designed around worst-case scenarios can make ordinary supporters feel as though they are under occupation. A vague law can leave thousands of people unsure whether an emotional, spontaneous football chant is a criminal offence. That is how alienation begins.

And alienation matters because football depends on consent. A stadium may be physically controlled through turnstiles, stewarding, CCTV and police powers. But a healthy football culture cannot be built through enforcement alone. It needs trust. Scottish football has spent too long eroding that trust.

The booze ban and the politics of control

The ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol at Scottish football grounds is one of the clearest examples of how a response to a specific historical crisis became a permanent symbol of distrust.

The restriction was introduced after the 1980 Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden, when a pitch invasion led to disorder and fighting. In the aftermath, football became an obvious target for political action. The spectacle of supporters fighting on the Hampden pitch was impossible to ignore, and the demand for a strong response was understandable.

But the policy that followed did more than address a moment of crisis. It helped create a lasting assumption that football crowds, unlike other large adult gatherings, could not be trusted around alcohol. That assumption has survived for decades.

At a rugby match, a concert, a race meeting, a festival or many other major sporting events, adults can typically buy alcohol within the venue. At Scottish football, meanwhile, the supporter is treated as a special case. They may drink before the game. They may drink after the game. They may drink in a city-centre pub, at a hospitality suite or at an event next door to the stadium. But inside the football ground itself, the state’s message remains clear - these people cannot be trusted.

The obvious weakness in the policy is that it does not remove alcohol from the matchday. It relocates it. Supporters often drink earlier, drink faster and drink in crowded pubs or on transport because there is no opportunity to have a controlled drink inside the stadium. The ban can encourage precisely the rushed pre-match consumption that its defenders claim to fear. It also turns entry to the stadium into an abrupt cut-off point rather than part of a more managed day.

A policy should be judged by what it achieves, not merely by how tough it sounds. If the objective is to reduce disorder, then it is legitimate to ask whether blanket prohibition inside stadiums is the most intelligent way to do that. If the objective is to reduce harmful drinking, then it is fair to ask why football supporters are singled out while alcohol remains a normal part of other public events.

The answer is not entirely about evidence. It is about symbolism.

Football is still seen by many decision-makers as an arena where ordinary standards of adult autonomy do not apply. The fan is not imagined as a customer who can be trusted with a beer; they are imagined as someone who will inevitably become a problem if given one. That is a deeply paternalistic view.

A ban that outlived its moment

The 1980 final was serious. Nobody should minimise it. But public policy requires more than permanent punishment for historical wrongdoing.

Scotland in the 2020s is not Scotland in 1980. Stadium design has changed radically. Crowd management has changed. Ticketing has changed. CCTV has changed. Communication has changed. Clubs have developed more sophisticated safety operations. Supporters themselves have changed, with increasingly diverse crowds and a far more family-oriented matchday in many grounds. Yet the alcohol ban has remained largely frozen in time.

That is not how policy normally works. Governments regularly review laws and regulations in light of changed circumstances. They assess risks, study evidence and consider whether blanket measures remain proportionate. In football, though, exceptional restrictions become culturally permanent because relaxing them is politically risky.

No minister wants to be blamed if something goes wrong after a change. No football authority wants the headline that says it “allowed booze back into grounds” if there is a disorderly incident weeks or months later. The safer institutional choice is to keep the old prohibition and insist that the question has already been settled.

But avoiding a difficult conversation is not the same thing as having a good policy.

A sensible debate would not require a free-for-all. Nobody is demanding a return to the worst habits of a different era. A modern system could involve tightly controlled sales, limited quantities, restrictions on particular fixtures, designated areas, pilot schemes, robust ejection policies and clear sanctions for misconduct.

In other words, football could be treated as capable of regulation rather than uniquely incapable of civilisation.

The refusal even to approach the issue with nuance reveals a broader problem. Scottish football policy is often built on blunt instruments because blunt instruments communicate authority. They allow politicians and administrators to say they have acted. What they do not always allow is room for judgement. And judgement is exactly what supporters feel has been removed from the game.

Hospitality hypocrisy

There is another uncomfortable element to the booze ban - money changes the rules. Football supporters in general admission areas are denied alcohol. Yet alcohol is available in hospitality settings at many grounds. Corporate guests can drink in lounges, boxes and function suites, often immediately before taking their seats. The same stadium that regards the ordinary supporter as a risk can regard a wealthier customer as a valued client.

This is not simply an issue of envy. It exposes the class logic behind the restriction. The concern is supposedly alcohol and football. But clearly that is not the case, because alcohol and football coexist perfectly well when consumed by people in more expensive seats. The distinction is not based solely on liquid in a glass. It is based on who is drinking, where they are sitting and how institutions perceive them. That perception matters.

The fan in the pub before the game may be viewed as a public-order concern. The guest in corporate hospitality is viewed as part of the business model. One is managed through suspicion; the other through service.

Scottish football should be embarrassed by that double standard. It sends the message that disorder is a problem of ordinary supporters rather than a question of individual conduct. It implies that respectability can be purchased. The reality, of course, is more complicated. People of every background can behave badly, and most supporters of every background behave perfectly responsibly. But blanket restrictions are attractive precisely because they avoid the harder work of distinguishing between individuals.

It is easier to ban everyone than to identify and punish actual misconduct. That may be administratively convenient. It is not necessarily fair.

The case for adulthood

The strongest case for reform is not that supporters have a moral right to drink at football. Nobody has an automatic right to buy beer in a stadium. The stronger argument is that adult football supporters deserve to be treated as adults unless there is a specific reason not to do so. The current system begins with mistrust. A better system would begin with responsibility.

It would recognise that football is an emotional environment, but not uniquely so. It would recognise that some fixtures carry greater risk, but not pretend every match is identical. It would recognise that alcohol can contribute to disorder, but not insist that prohibition in one location solves the wider problem. Most importantly, it would shift the focus from the crowd as a category to behaviour as a fact.

If someone assaults another supporter, abuses staff, damages property or creates danger, deal with them firmly. Ban them, prosecute them where appropriate and protect everyone else. But do not treat every person through the turnstile as a suspect because of what a minority did 46 years ago.

The difference is not cosmetic. It is a choice between collective punishment and individual accountability. Scottish football has too often chosen the former.

The Offensive Behaviour Act and the danger of vague criminalisation

If the booze ban represents a long-running culture of institutional mistrust, the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act represented something more direct, an attempt to criminalise a broad and poorly defined category of football-related expression.

Introduced in 2012, the Act was presented as a response to sectarianism, hatred and threatening behaviour. Those aims were legitimate. Scotland had, and still has, serious problems with sectarian bigotry and with language that can intimidate, dehumanise or threaten.

But a law is not judged only by its stated purpose. It is judged by its wording, enforcement and consequences.

The Offensive Behaviour Act quickly became controversial because it appeared to give the police and prosecutors wide discretion to decide what football-related conduct crossed the line into criminality. That is particularly dangerous in a setting where songs, chants, banners, gestures and historical references are often emotionally charged, politically contested and capable of different interpretations.

The law’s defenders tended to ask - what is the objection to banning offensive behaviour? The answer was that “offensive” is not a stable legal category.

Something can be offensive without being threatening. It can be distasteful without being criminal. It can be provocative, crude, partisan, historically ignorant or deeply unpleasant without meeting the threshold that should be required for the state to intervene with criminal law.

That distinction matters because criminal law is not a school disciplinary code. It carries the power of arrest, prosecution, a criminal record, fines, employment consequences and stigma. It should be clear enough that people can reasonably understand what is prohibited before they act. The Act struggled to meet that standard.

The danger of giving offence

A free society should not be indifferent to offence. People can be harmed by speech. Targeted abuse can create fear. Hate speech can contribute to wider discrimination and violence. Football grounds are not exempt from those realities simply because people call the language “banter”. But the answer cannot be to make subjective offence the operative standard.

If the key test is whether someone is offended, then enforcement becomes unstable. Different supporters, police officers, prosecutors, politicians and journalists will draw the line in different places. One song may be treated as cultural by one group and offensive by another. One banner may be seen as political speech by one observer and as an incitement to hatred by another.

The law has to do more than register emotional reaction. It has to identify conduct that is sufficiently serious to justify criminal sanction.

The failure to make that distinction clearly produced a damaging atmosphere around football. Supporters could feel that they were one chant, one lyric or one phrase away from legal jeopardy. The line between unacceptable conduct and criminal conduct was blurred.

When people believe that rules are vague or selectively enforced, they do not necessarily become more respectful. They become more distrustful. They may see enforcement not as a fair attempt to stop harm but as evidence that authorities are hostile to their identity, club or political tradition. That does not excuse abusive behaviour. It explains why law without legitimacy often fails to build the social consent it needs.

A law built around football exceptionalism

The Act also reinforced the idea that football requires its own special legal framework because football supporters are uniquely dangerous. That is a significant claim. It says, in effect, that conduct associated with football should be treated differently from comparable conduct elsewhere. It places the supporter in a separate category of person.

There are circumstances where football-specific measures may be justified. Matchdays can create predictable public-order pressures. Rival crowds can converge in particular locations. Travel routes, kick-off times and policing plans can all create practical challenges.

But football-specific law should be approached with caution precisely because it can normalise exceptional treatment. The more readily the state creates special offences, special powers and special restrictions around football, the more it encourages the view that supporters sit outside ordinary civic assumptions. The fan becomes not merely a citizen who attends a match, but a football person - a type requiring separate management.

That distinction can spread quickly. Once football is framed primarily as a public-order problem, every part of fan culture can be viewed through that lens. Songs become evidence. Flags become signals. gatherings become risks. Organised supporter groups become objects of suspicion. Social media posts become potential material for investigation. The result is a climate in which authorities become more alert to the possibility of disorder than to the value of culture.

That is how football gets flattened. The complexities of support, the humour, theatre, grief, loyalty, creativity and shared memory are reduced to a security file.

Repeal was not surrender

The Act was repealed in 2018 after sustained criticism from civil-liberties groups, supporters, legal figures and opposition politicians. Its repeal mattered because it recognised a basic democratic principle - laws must be clear, necessary and proportionate.

Repeal did not mean sectarianism was acceptable. It did not mean threats, harassment or hatred should be ignored. It meant those issues should be addressed through laws that are properly defined and consistently applied, rather than through a football-specific framework broad enough to capture uncertain and contested expression.

A mature society can hold two thoughts at once. It can say that sectarian and discriminatory conduct must be confronted. It can also say that criminal law should not be vague, politically performative or built on the assumption that football supporters deserve fewer protections than everyone else. The failure to hold both ideas together is one of the recurring weaknesses in Scottish football debate.

Too often, critics of overreach are portrayed as defenders of bigotry. Too often, people who want stronger action against genuine hate are portrayed as enemies of supporter culture. Neither caricature helps. The real challenge is to draw a line that is morally serious and legally credible.

Threats should be punished. Targeted harassment should be punished. Racist abuse should be punished. Homophobic abuse should be punished. Conduct that incites violence or creates a real risk of public disorder should be punished.

But not every offensive chant is a criminal act. Not every political expression is sectarianism. Not every uncomfortable display is a threat. And not every football supporter should have to navigate a stadium environment as if the law is waiting to catch them out.

The lesson of the Offensive Behaviour Act should be that legislation cannot substitute for understanding. It cannot solve cultural problems merely by expanding police discretion. If authorities want to change behaviour, they need legitimacy, dialogue, consistency and a willingness to distinguish between the difficult and the dangerous.

Ultras, flags and the fear of independent fan culture

Few developments expose Scottish football’s anxiety about supporters more clearly than the rise of the ultras scene.

Across the country, organised groups have brought colour, choreography, flags, banners, songs and a renewed sense of collective identity to stadiums that too often risk becoming flat, passive spaces. Their influence has been especially visible among younger supporters, many of whom have rejected the idea that football should be experienced sitting silently while a PA system supplies the atmosphere.

The ultras movement is not uniquely Scottish, and it is not politically simple. In different countries and clubs, it has taken many forms. Some groups are overtly political. Some are community focused. Some are intensely territorial. Some have been associated with disorder. Some are creative, charitable and deeply committed to supporting their teams.

But in Scotland, authorities have often responded to ultras culture as though it is inherently suspicious and criminal. The presence of flags, coordinated displays and organised young supporters can trigger a security-minded reaction before any specific wrongdoing has taken place. Why?

Partly because independent organisation unsettles institutions. A fan group that can mobilise hundreds or thousands of people is not fully under club control. It may challenge boards, protest ticket prices, oppose stadium decisions, criticise policing and articulate views that do not fit the club’s commercial messaging. It can create its own media, its own visual identity and its own sense of legitimacy. To an insecure boardroom, that can look like a threat.

Yet independent supporter organisation is often one of the healthiest signs in a football culture. It shows that people care enough to contribute more than money. They give time, labour, creativity and emotional energy. They make flags, design displays, arrange collections, travel in numbers and create rituals that turn a fixture into an event.

The correct response from clubs should not be automatic suspicion. It should be structured engagement.

Atmosphere cannot be outsourced

Modern football has a recurring problem of institutions wanting an atmosphere but dislike the people who make it.

Clubs will advertise a “special European night” or call on fans to “make some noise”. They will release promotional videos built around chanting supporters. They will sell merchandise featuring terrace culture and historic imagery. But when the fans who generate that culture want to stand together, display banners or coordinate their support, they can find themselves facing restrictions, bureaucracy and hostility. The atmosphere is treated as a product rather than a relationship.

You cannot manufacture authentic noise by asking people to clap on cue. You cannot replace fan culture with a pre-match playlist. You cannot create belonging through a marketing campaign if the people in the stands feel constantly monitored and mistrusted.

The strongest grounds in Scottish football are not necessarily the biggest or richest. They are the ones where supporters feel some ownership of the experience. Where singing sections are encouraged rather than dispersed. Where flags are welcomed within sensible safety rules. Where clubs communicate early and honestly about displays. Where stewarding is based on problem-solving rather than confrontation.

A supporter who feels respected is more likely to cooperate. A group with a direct relationship to club safety staff is more likely to plan responsibly. A clear, proportionate process for displays is more likely to prevent last-minute conflict than a blanket ban issued from above.

By contrast, treating every organised fan initiative as a possible disorder issue can become self-fulfilling. It creates resentment, pushes communication into informal channels and turns manageable disagreements into symbolic battles.

Pyrotechnics - a problem made harder by refusal to engage

Flares and pyrotechnics are one of the most contentious elements of the ultras debate. They are visually powerful and can create spectacular scenes. They can also be dangerous, especially in dense crowds or enclosed spaces. Smoke can affect people with respiratory conditions. Devices can burn, panic can spread and unregulated use creates obvious risks. It is right that safety concerns are taken seriously.

But the debate often stops there, as though identifying danger ends the policy question. It does not. The reality is that pyrotechnics remain part of football culture across Europe and, increasingly, in Britain. Blanket prohibition has not made them disappear. It has often driven their use into less controlled conditions, where devices are smuggled in, ignited without coordination and handled without safety planning.

A more intelligent approach would begin by accepting two facts at once - uncontrolled pyrotechnics can be dangerous, and the desire for visual spectacle is not going away.

That does not automatically mean legalising every flare or allowing fans to do whatever they want. It means considering whether tightly managed, licensed, professionally supervised displays could reduce harm more effectively than an approach based entirely on prohibition and punishment.

There are models elsewhere that involve trained operators, designated zones, safety equipment, approval processes and coordination with clubs and emergency services. Scotland should be capable of discussing such options honestly. Instead, too much of the conversation remains trapped between two lazy positions. One side insists that every flare is harmless because it looks good. The other treats every visual display as proof that the supporters involved are reckless or criminal. Neither position is adequate.

The smarter route is harm reduction - identify the risk, create safer alternatives, punish genuinely dangerous behaviour and stop pretending that a purely punitive model has settled the matter.

Banners and political discomfort

Flags and banners raise a different set of issues. Some displays are celebratory. Some commemorate players, supporters or historic events. Some are humorous or provocative. Some are political. Some are plainly unacceptable.

The difficult question is not whether clubs should permit every banner. They should not. Racist messages, threats, targeted abuse and material likely to provoke violence should be prohibited. Clubs have duties to protect people in their grounds. The question is whether the rules are transparent and applied consistently.

Too often, banner policy can feel arbitrary. A message that flatters the club or fits a conventional civic narrative may be welcomed. A message that challenges power -whether football power, police power, political power or ownership - may be treated as an embarrassment. The result is a suspicion that “safety” is sometimes used as a catch-all justification for suppressing inconvenient speech.

Football has always been political because communities are political. Clubs emerged from workplaces, churches, neighbourhoods, migration and local identity. Supporters carry those histories into the ground. Trying to make football entirely apolitical is not neutral; it usually means allowing only the politics that already feel comfortable to the people in charge. That is not a case for unlimited expression. It is a case for honesty.

If a club bans a banner because it contains a threat, say that. If it breaches a clear rule on discrimination, say that. If it creates a genuine safety issue, explain it. But do not hide broad political discomfort behind vague language about reputational risk. Supporters are not fools. They can tell the difference between a clear safety standard and institutional nervousness.

What respect for supporters would actually look like

The case against criminalising football fans is not a case for lawlessness. It is a case for better law, better policing and better football governance. Supporters do not need to be treated as saints. They need to be treated as people.

That means recognising that the overwhelming majority of people attending Scottish football matches want to support their team, enjoy the day and go home safely. It means dealing firmly with serious misconduct without using a minority as an excuse to impose suspicion on everyone else. It means replacing the reflex to control with a willingness to engage.

Scotland does not need to choose between safe football and lively football. It can have both. But it will require a change in attitude.

Move from collective punishment to individual accountability

The foundational principle should be simple - punish actions, not identities. If someone commits violence, racist abuse, harassment or serious disorder, the response should be clear and robust. Football banning orders, criminal prosecution, club sanctions and exclusion from grounds can all be appropriate where evidence supports them. But the target should be the person responsible, not sections of the support or the entire support.

That sounds obvious, but many existing practices do the opposite. Blanket restrictions on flags, seating areas, alcohol, travel arrangements or supporter movement often affect thousands because authorities are unwilling or unable to distinguish between people.

A more confident system would invest in identifying actual offenders. It would gather evidence properly, use sanctions proportionately and avoid penalising ordinary supporters for conduct they did not commit.

Make rules clear and public

Supporters should know the rules before they arrive at the ground. Clubs need transparent policies on banners, flags, tifos, standing areas, entry procedures, searches and supporter displays. Those policies should explain what is prohibited and why. They should include appeal or review mechanisms where possible. They should not rely on vague phrases that allow almost any decision to be justified after the fact. Clarity protects everyone.

It protects supporters from arbitrary enforcement. It protects stewards from being asked to enforce rules they cannot explain. It protects clubs from accusations of inconsistency. And it protects safety operations by ensuring that groups planning displays know the boundaries in advance.

The same principle should guide policing. Officers should be trained to distinguish between robust football culture and conduct that actually creates risk. Not every loud chant requires intervention. Not every group gathering near a ground is a disorder threat. Not every supporter using bad language is about to commit a hate crime. The more precisely authorities define the problem, the more proportionate their response can be.

Treat fan groups as partners

Every professional club should have meaningful, regular engagement with supporter groups, including organised singing sections and ultras where they exist. Not token consultation. Not a once-a-year meeting where decisions have already been made. Genuine dialogue.

That means identifying named club contacts, involving fan groups early in plans for displays or major fixtures, discussing safety concerns honestly and creating practical routes for resolving disputes. It means understanding that supporters often possess expertise that clubs lack: knowledge of the fanbase, travel patterns, traditions, songs, relationships between groups and the emotional temperature around particular matches.

A good supporter liaison structure can prevent problems before they occur. It can also improve the matchday product. Fans who feel trusted are more likely to invest in atmosphere. Clubs that work with them can create displays that are safe, visually powerful and meaningful. This is not merely a cultural benefit; it has commercial value. A lively ground improves television coverage, strengthens club identity and can make attending matches more attractive to new supporters. The idea that fans and authorities must be opposing sides is self-defeating. They have overlapping interests.

Both want full grounds. Both want people to be safe. Both want a strong atmosphere. Both want the club’s reputation to grow. The conflict arises when supporters are treated as a problem before they are treated as participants.

Build a culture of proportional policing

The police presence around football can be necessary. Certain fixtures require planning. Public safety matters. But there is a profound difference between visible, professional policing and an operation that makes ordinary supporters feel criminalised.

The best policing is often the least theatrical. It is informed, calm, proportionate and responsive to actual behaviour. It avoids escalating minor issues. It communicates clearly. It does not confuse authority with aggression.

Football policing should be judged not only by whether serious disorder is prevented, but by whether supporters are treated fairly in the process.

Were people stopped or searched on a clear basis? Were routes and restrictions explained? Were fans given reasonable information? Were families and vulnerable supporters considered? Was force used only when necessary? Were decisions open to scrutiny?

These are not soft questions. They are the questions that determine whether public authority is trusted.

The wider lesson is that legitimacy is a form of safety. If supporters believe rules are fair, they are more likely to comply. If they believe they are being singled out, humiliated or collectively blamed, resentment grows. That resentment may not always lead to disorder, but it damages the relationship on which safe matchdays depend.

Let football be football

Ultimately, Scottish football needs to decide what it wants to be. Does it want sanitised venues where supporters are invited to consume a product quietly and leave? Or does it want living institutions where people sing, argue, laugh, mourn, celebrate, protest and create a collective experience that cannot be replicated by a screen?

The second option is messier. It requires patience. It requires tolerance for emotion and disagreement. It requires confidence that supporters can be partners rather than subjects. But it is also the only option that preserves what makes football matter.

Nobody goes to a match solely because the seating is orderly or the signage is clear. They go because of feeling. Because of history. Because a goal can make strangers embrace. Because a song can carry a memory. Because a stand full of people can still produce a sense of belonging that much of modern life struggles to offer. That is not a public-order problem. It is a public good.

Of course it needs boundaries. Of course it needs rules. Of course people must be protected from violence, hatred and intimidation. But boundaries should preserve the game’s humanity, not drain it away.

For too long, Scottish football has approached supporters as if passion itself is the danger. The result has been a culture of bans, suspicion and performative toughness that often misses the real issues while making ordinary fans feel unwelcome in their own game. The better approach is harder but more durable - trust supporters where possible, engage them always, punish genuine wrongdoing precisely and stop treating football fandom as a lesser form of citizenship.

Scottish football does not need fewer fans with fewer voices. It needs institutions mature enough to hear them.

Celtic and Rangers have lodged appeals against a Scottish FA ruling that would require each club to play its next home Scottish Cup tie behind closed doors after violence and disorder overshadowed last season’s quarter-final tie between the two sides at Ibrox.

The clubs are also challenging an order to pay £100,000 to the opposition for the affected fixture. Under the terms of the disciplinary ruling, any further disorder at a Scottish Cup match before the end of next season could trigger a second home tie without supporters. An appeal hearing is scheduled for 26 October.

The sanctions stem from Celtic’s Scottish Cup quarter-final win at Ibrox in March, when supporters of both clubs entered the playing area after a goalless draw was settled by a penalty shoot-out. Celtic won 4-2 on penalties, with visiting fans spilling on to the pitch to celebrate after the decisive kick before Rangers supporters invaded the pitch to attack them.

Fireworks were thrown, missiles were launched, stewards, and police officers were injured during the disorder. Celtic staff were also attacked. Police Scotland has made 43 arrests in connection with the incident.

The fixture was the first Glasgow derby at Ibrox since 2018 in which Celtic had received the full Broomloan Stand allocation, allowing approximately 7,500 visiting supporters to attend. The allocation was made in line with Scottish Cup requirements.

A week earlier, the sides met in the league with Celtic given around 2,500 tickets, reflecting an agreement to allocate roughly 5% of capacity to away supporters. That arrangement had followed several seasons in which allocations were sharply reduced or, at times, away fans were excluded altogether.

Celtic described the Scottish FA’s punishment as “shocked” and “disproportionate”. Rangers subsequently offered Celtic only 300 tickets for their League Cup meeting at Ibrox this month, saying its decision reflected the findings of an independent review commissioned after the Scottish Cup tie.

Rangers also referred to further pitch incursions involving Celtic supporters since March. Celtic rejected the proposed allocation, prompting intervention from the SPFL. The outcome was a ban on away supporters at league and League Cup meetings between the two sides for the remainder of the season.

Review warns of near miss

An independent report, led by Mark Blackbourne, concluded that the events at Ibrox came close to producing crushing and potentially life-threatening violence.

The report said Celtic supporters had initially entered the pitch in celebration, while supporters associated with the Rangers’ Union Bears group moved on to the track and towards the playing surface in a manner it described as confrontational and threatening.

Blackbourne wrote: “The Celtic Ultras were the first to enter the pitch in jubilation, with others following their lead.

“In contrast, the Union Bears’ movement onto the track and towards the pitch was reactionary, confrontational, and overtly threatening. In both cases, the proximity of these groups to the playing surface materially increased the likelihood of a mass incursion and contributed to the rapid escalation of disorder.”

The report condemned the actions of the several hundred Celtic supporters who entered the pitch, saying the incursion provoked an immediate response from sections of the Rangers support who forced their way past stewards and police in an attempt to reach the Celtic fans.

It also highlighted concerns expressed at a Glasgow City Council safety advisory group meeting, where experienced Police Scotland officers were reportedly described as “petrified” at the prospect of policing another match at Ibrox.

Blackbourne said the language should be understood in context but remained “deeply disturbing”, adding that it demanded serious attention from all parties responsible for safety and security at major matches in Scotland.

The review also said some interviewees had identified organisational features among certain ultra groups that they believed resembled those more commonly associated with organised crime. It called on clubs to impose tougher internal sanctions for incidents linked to such groups.

Aberdeen’s ticket allocation for their Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Rangers has been reduced by 500 following supporter incidents at Kilmarnock.

The Dons had initially been allocated around 17,000 tickets for the semi final tie at Hampden on 31 October. However, an SPFL sanction has resulted in the reduction after a pitch incursion and pyrotechnic display during Aberdeen’s quarter final win at Rugby Park. The club will also be required to cover the cost of the withdrawn seats.

Some Aberdeen supporters entered the pitch after the Dons defeated Kilmarnock in a penalty shoot-out to reach the semi-finals.

Newly appointed Pittodrie chief executive Adrian Bevington acknowledged the passion within Aberdeen’s support, while insisting that the overwhelming majority of fans behave appropriately.

He said: “We have a hugely passionate fanbase and the vast majority are undoubtedly very well behaved. What we have to ensure is that moving forward we don’t put ourselves in a position again where we can be at risk of further sanction.”

In a further statement, Aberdeen reminded supporters that using pyrotechnics is illegal and could result in a football banning order.

The club added: “This latest decision demonstrates the significant consequences such incidents can have, not only for the club, but for supporters who simply want to follow and back the team.

“We ask all supporters to consider the consequences of their actions and to help protect the matchday experience for everyone.”

Motherwell have been hit with fines totalling £21,500 after supporters entered the pitch and set off pyrotechnics during their Conference League qualifying tie against Freiburg.

UEFA has hit the club with a £4,300 fine for a pitch incursion during the home leg at Fir Park, with a further £17,200 penalty handed down over pyrotechnic use in the return match in Germany.

The Steelmen have also confirmed they were formally reprimanded by the SPFL following a separate pitch incursion during last month’s Premiership meeting with St.Mirren in Paisley.

Motherwell had already appealed to supporters to behave responsibly amid the prospect of substantial UEFA sanctions. The club said it was disappointed that the message had been ignored by what it described as a small minority of fans.

Scotland’s recent international record is a study in contrast. Under Steve Clarke, the national side ended a long absence from major tournaments, reached two European Championships in succession and returned to the World Cup for the first time since 1998. Yet our tournament record remains abysmal with no group-stage win at either Euro 2020 or Euro 2024, and no progression beyond the opening round at either finals. The 2026 World Cup brought one win, against Haiti, but defeats to Morocco and Brazil left Scotland out on goal difference.

That makes the best nights of this period more complicated than a simple success story. Scotland have often been at their most convincing before the tournament begins - on qualifying nights, under pressure, when the stakes are clear and the opponent can be confronted rather than cautiously managed. The five games below are matches that explain why the Tartan Army continue to believe that Scotland can compete on the biggest stage.

France 0–1 Scotland - 12 September 2007

The modern benchmark remains Paris. France had reached the World Cup final 14 months earlier and had already been beaten by Scotland at Hampden in the opening stages of Euro 2008 qualifying. That first result was startling; the return in Paris looked close to impossible. France were at home, wounded by the Hampden defeat and equipped with the sort of depth Scotland could not match.

Scotland went there needing something. A defeat would have left their qualification prospects exposed, while a draw would have been an achievement in itself. Instead, they won, and they did so in the manner that gave the result its lasting status - disciplined for most of the evening, ruthless at precisely the right moment.

Alex McLeish’s team did not attempt to dominate possession or trade attacks with France. Scotland’s shape was compact, the midfield worked without pause and the defence limited the space available to a side accustomed to finding it. The visitors made the match awkward, then increasingly uncomfortable.

James McFadden’s goal in the 64th minute shifted it into folklore. Receiving the ball deep inside the French half, he looked up, saw Mickaël Landreau away from his line and struck from a distance that stunned everyone. The shot rose and dipped beyond the goalkeeper and into the net. It was a finish that appeared reckless until the moment it became perfect.

Scotland had time to lose control after that. They did not. They defended with a calm that made the result feel earned rather than stolen, completing a double over the World Cup runners-up and taking their Euro 2008 campaign to a level few had imagined possible.

They did not qualify in the end. The defeat by Italy at Hampden remains the obvious wound from that campaign. But Paris has outlived the disappointment because it captures a version of Scotland that was entirely convincing - clear in its plan, strong in its nerve and willing to produce a decisive act of quality when the chance arrived.

Scotland 4–2 Denmark - 18 November 2025

The win over Denmark was the most dramatic Scottish result of the Clarke era and the clearest expression of how far the national side had travelled in terms of expectation. Scotland were no longer trying to keep a campaign alive. They were playing for first place in a World Cup qualifying group and automatic passage to the finals.

A draw or defeat would have sent Denmark through as group winners and Scotland into the uncertainty of the play-offs. The practical task was simple enough win at Hampden. The reality was more difficult. Denmark had the technical quality to punish hesitant pressing and enough experience to understand how to manage an occasion that was threatening to overwhelm the home side.

Scott McTominay removed some of that tension early. His stunning overhead kick was not merely a fine goal; it altered the terms of the match. Hampden had arrived anxious, conscious of the years since France 1998 and wary of Scotland’s habit of making qualification hard work. The goal brought immediate belief.

Denmark responded twice and Scotland had to endure the unsettling prospect that a memorable evening might become another case of failure at the final obstacle. At 2–2, with stoppage time underway, the visitors were on course to take the place Scotland wanted.

Kieran Tierney changed that. His injury-hit international career had left the sense that Scotland had not seen enough of him in matches of real consequence. His stoppage-time finish delivered the goal that took Scotland to the edge of qualification. Kenny McLean then turned relief into absurdity, striking from inside his own half after spotting Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel out of position and scrambling back.

The ball’s long journey towards goal gave the whole of Scotland time to understand what it was witnessing. When it crossed the line, the match was settled and the result was secured. Scotland had beaten Denmark 4–2 and qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. All of Scotland celebrated.

It was a magnificent qualification night, though its place in the wider Clarke record is also instructive. Scotland had earned a return to the World Cup; they then had to show that they belonged. They did not, despite defeating Haiti in the finals. Losses to Morocco and Brazil meant another early exit, this time on goal difference and that ultimately ended the Steve Clarke era.

Scotland 2–0 Spain - 28 March 2023

Scotland’s victory over Spain at Hampden was probably the most complete performance in this list. It was not dependent on a late swing, a single counterattack or an opponent failing to take chances. Steve Clarke’s side knew exactly how they wanted the game to unfold and carried out the plan with a level of precision that Spain could not answer.

Spain had changed from the team that dominated international football between 2008 and 2012, but they retained the habits and technical standards associated with that era. They expected possession and had enough talented players to turn long spells on the ball into pressure. Scotland allowed them possession but denied them authority.

The home side pressed aggressively in the right areas, closed the central spaces and ensured that Spain’s passing became increasingly sterile. Scotland did not simply retreat and wait. They attacked the weak points when they appeared and made their own moments count.

McTominay opened the scoring after Spain failed to deal with a ball into the area. The second was more emphatic, a strike that gave Scotland a two-goal lead and put the visitors in a position they had not expected to occupy.

The performance mattered because it established the tone of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. Scotland had already beaten Cyprus, but Spain was the result that made the group feel open. It was their first competitive win over Spain and it suggested that qualification could be achieved through more than survival and calculation.

Scotland duly qualified for Euro 2024 with two matches to spare. But the contrast with the finals was sharp. They lost heavily to Germany, drew with Switzerland and then lost to Hungary, exiting at the group stage without a win. The Spain performance showed Scotland at their best - compact, forceful and decisive. In Germany, they struggled to reproduce it when the games themselves became the destination rather than the route towards one.

Scotland 1–0 France - 7 October 2006

The victory in Paris is the greater headline, but the Hampden win over France gave Scotland’s Euro 2008 campaign its direction.

Walter Smith’s side were still finding their feet. France had reached the World Cup final during the summer and arrived in Glasgow with a squad full of players accustomed to Champions League football and the demands of major tournaments. Scotland had little interest in meeting them on equal terms stylistically. They set about reducing the game to its essential contests and winning enough of them.

The match was built on defensive discipline. Scotland were compact, physically committed and economical in possession. France had more of the ball, but they struggled to convert that superiority into clean chances. The home team had made the pitch feel crowded and the game feel uncertain.

Gary Caldwell’s goal early in the second half gave Scotland something tangible to protect. He scored from a set-piece situation, and the task changed immediately. France had to chase the game; Scotland had to prove that the lead was not beyond them.

What followed was an extended exercise in nerve. France pressed, but Scotland did not collapse into panic. The back line cleared danger, the midfield covered ground and Hampden responded to every intervention as though it might decide the campaign. The final whistle brought a win that was less glamorous than the one to come in Paris, but arguably more important in shaping what followed.

Scotland had beaten one of Europe’s strongest teams not through luck but through a coherent game plan. Smith understood the limits of the squad available to him and built an approach around collective work, set pieces and defensive clarity. The result gave Scotland a platform. It also gave France a reason to take the return fixture seriously, which made McFadden’s intervention in Paris all the more remarkable.

Norway 1–2 Scotland - 17 June 2023

The Norway game is the most important away result of the Clarke era. It was also the match that confirmed Scotland could win in more than one way.

Norway were Scotland’s most obvious competitors for qualification from the Euro 2024 group. They had Erling Haaland, home advantage and the prospect of pulling Scotland back into a contest that had begun well for Clarke’s side. A draw would have been acceptable. A defeat would have changed the dynamics of the campaign.

For most of the match, defeat seemed likely. Haaland scored from the penalty spot and Scotland, though committed and organised, had not created enough to suggest a late recovery. The match was entering its closing stages with Norway protecting a lead and the visitors facing a damaging setback.

Then Scotland found two goals in a matter of minutes. Lyndon Dykes levelled after Norway made a defensive error, reacting quickly to take the chance Scotland had been waiting for. It would have been understandable for the visitors to settle for the point. Instead, they attacked again. Kenny McLean scored the winner, and the away end was left trying to process a turnaround that had seemed impossible moments earlier.

The value of the result was immediate. Scotland moved six points clear of Norway and gained the margin that later allowed them to absorb setbacks without losing control of the group. The emotional value was larger still. Scotland had too often been associated with commendable defeats and missed chances. Oslo offered something more useful - an opponent wobbling, a door opening and Scotland walking through it.

Honourable mention: Scotland 2–2 England - 10 June 2017

It does not make the five because Scotland did not win, and Harry Kane’s stoppage-time equaliser turned what should have been a famous victory into a draw that felt like a defeat - if only Stuart Armstrong didn’t play that pass! But few modern Scotland matches have generated such a sudden, sustained sense of bedlam. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s goal appeared to have put England in control before Leigh Griffiths scored two outstanding free-kicks in three minutes, the second arriving in the 90th minute to send Hampden into delirium. For a brief period, Scotland were on course for a first win over England since 1999; Kane’s late finish denied them, but Griffiths’s double remains one of the defining individual moments at Hampden in the modern era.

Scotland have proven they can qualify for major tournaments. They have yet to prove that they can compete effectively once they are there. The five matches in this list remain outstanding because each showed a team willing to play without fear when qualification was on the line. The unresolved challenge is why that same freedom, aggression and conviction have not travelled with them into the finals.

Hibernian have appointed Dutch coach Marink Reedijk as their new manager on a three-year contract.

The 35-year-old replaces David Gray, whose 12-year association with the Easter Road club ended earlier this month.

Reedijk arrives in the capital following an impressive two-year spell with SK Beveren, where he guided the Belgian club to the Challenger Pro League title and promotion to the country’s top division.

Beveren also completed the league campaign unbeaten under Reedijk, becoming the first side to go through a professional Belgian league season without defeat since 1934.

The Dutchman had previously been linked with the vacant manager’s position at Hearts before the Tynecastle club opted to appoint Wouter Vrancken following the departure of Derek McInnes to Rangers. Hibs have now moved to bring Reedijk to the capital, with former Dutch international Rogier Molhoek joining his coaching staff.

Reedijk said he was relishing the opportunity to take charge of one of Scotland’s biggest clubs.

“I am honoured to be appointed manager of Hibernian Football Club,” he said.

“This is one of the biggest clubs in Scottish football, with a unique history, identity and supporter base, and I am excited to experience that passion and connection first-hand.

“I can feel the ambition and see the clarity of what the club is trying to achieve. That was a big part of what attracted me here.”

The new Hibs boss’ first match in charge will be against Dundee United on the 10th October at Tannadice.

“I want us to be an assertive team. Brave, intense and committed,” Reedijk added. “A team that gives everything, plays with purpose and gives our supporters something to really get behind.

“There is quality and potential in the squad, and good work has already been done. My first job is to get to know the players, build on those foundations and make sure we are ready for Dundee United.”

Sporting director Malky Mackay said Hibs had targeted a manager capable of continuing the club’s footballing direction, rather than beginning another wholesale rebuild.

“Marink’s appointment is an exciting moment for Hibernian Football Club,” Mackay said.

“We began this process with a clear idea of the type of team we want to continue to build and the qualities we wanted from our next manager. Marink’s football philosophy, his work with players and his leadership style are strongly aligned with that.”

Mackay highlighted Reedijk’s record of developing players and creating aggressive, energetic sides.

“His teams are proactive, high-energy and dynamic,” he continued. “What also stands out is his ability to develop individuals and create a strong collective environment.

“This is not about changing the direction of our football strategy. It is about continuing to evolve, and we believe Marink is an excellent fit to take the team forward.”

Chairman Ian Gordon described Reedijk as the outstanding candidate and promised continued investment as the club target domestic progress and European football.

“Marink was the standout candidate,” Gordon said. “He impressed everyone involved in the process with his clarity, intelligence and drive.

“He shares our ambition to develop players and consistently compete at the top end of Scottish football and in Europe.

“Marink has our backing, and we will continue to invest in the team to give him the best possible platform to succeed.”