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A View from the Terrace (2019) Season 8 Episode 16
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00:01The greatest show on earth is about to begin.
00:07That is outrageous!
00:09And scores!
00:28Oh dear, oh dear.
00:36That's a howler!
00:40Is this what Scottish football is about?
00:43Delicious!
00:44Oh, worse!
00:49Champions!
00:52This has been an absolute barnstormer!
01:01Hello and welcome to A View from the Terrace.
01:05This is the Scottish football show that is iconic and ironic.
01:09Iconoclastic and simply fantastic.
01:12My name is Craig Telfer and not only do I know a little bit about Scottish football,
01:16I also know a little bit about rhyming words.
01:19And so too does this man.
01:21He is rude and lewd, grizzled and sizzled and on top, non-stop, running amok.
01:26It's Craig Fowler.
01:27Life on top, baby.
01:28And for the first time in what feels like aeons, we are joined by a man who loves baseball,
01:33but has never once reached first base himself.
01:36It's Joel Sked.
01:39Maybe.
01:41Gentlemen, it is absolutely fabulous to get the chance to hang out with you.
01:45We don't do it too often.
01:46There's a real old school view from the terrace energy to proceedings today.
01:50I was thoroughly looking forward to it until you left me hanging there for that handshake.
01:54Enjoy the show.
02:00Right, enough about who's shaking whose hand or who's not shaking whose hand.
02:05Let's get in amongst it and let's talk about the winners and the losers from the last seven days in
02:10Scottish football.
02:11And let's start by talking about the biggest winners of the lot of them.
02:15Brora Rangers have been crowned the Highland League champions
02:18and they did so in perhaps the most climactic and yet most anticlimactic way possible.
02:23Yeah, because you say there's Brora winning the league, which obviously they did.
02:26Factually, however, you would probably say it was also
02:29Breakin City losing the league, throwing it away.
02:31There might be something to say about that.
02:33So go back to the middle of last week.
02:35The two teams met each other at Dudgeon Park.
02:37This was a really important game.
02:39Breakin City were top of the table at this point
02:41and with 93 minutes having taken place, that's exactly how it was going to stay.
02:45But Conal Ewan was in the right place at the right time to sweep home a ball from close range,
02:50give Brora Rangers a 2-1 lead and put them at the top of the table
02:54going into the final day of the season owing to their superior goal difference.
02:58Then you come to that final day itself as Brora Rangers are losing to Huntley
03:02but Breakin City are getting absolutely massacred by Turriff United.
03:06They end up losing the match 4-1 despite taking the lead
03:10and then right at the end of Brora's game at Huntley.
03:13There's Shane Sutherland, the venerable striker, close range header to put the tin lid,
03:17give them the draw and Brora Rangers win the league by one point.
03:21Congratulations to them.
03:22Also commiserations to Breakin because that's where I want to focus my energy on.
03:26They are, if you talk about the biggest winners of the week,
03:29they are certainly probably the biggest losers of the week.
03:31And it's just a fact that it's not just in isolation,
03:34they have been close to winning the Highland League the last few seasons,
03:37missed out on goal difference.
03:38At least they just did it a different way this time.
03:40Yeah, it's the third consecutive season where they have finished runners up in the Highland League.
03:44The last two seasons were by goal difference,
03:46this season it was by a single point.
03:49But nevertheless, brilliant stuff for Brora Rangers.
03:51I think if they do get into the SPFL,
03:54I think that will be perhaps one of the most sought after away days for supporters.
03:57It's 50 miles north of Inverness, a long way to go.
04:00But my goodness, can you imagine what it's like on that supporters bus up there?
04:04Absolutely phenomenal.
04:06And because they've won the Highland League,
04:07Brora Rangers do get the opportunity to contest the SPFL League 2 playoff.
04:12And we're not 100% sure who the London League champions are just yet, Craig Filler.
04:16That's going into the final game of the season.
04:17Yes, but it does look at this point in time like it's going to be Linlithgow Rose,
04:21who are also big winners from last weekend.
04:24They were taking on Clyde Bank at home.
04:26Clyde Bank were top of the table going out of the game.
04:28It was Linlithgow Rose running out.
04:294-1 winners, thanks in a huge part to a Clyde Bank early red card,
04:34which was also due to some abysmal defending.
04:38Linlithgow Rose then took the lead thanks to some more abysmal defending from...
04:41Even more abysmal.
04:42Yeah, even more abysmal with Blair Henderson getting on the score sheet,
04:45putting Linlithgow on the Rose to a victory.
04:47It means now that going into the last day of the Lowland League season,
04:51Linlithgow Rose go to Bonnerig Rose, where they're probably going to need a victory
04:54because Clyde Bank are at home to Caledonian Braves.
04:57A tough match in itself, but a game at home that the Bankies will fancy their chances to win.
05:03So Linlithgow Rose away to Bonnerig, who still do have something to play for in the title race.
05:07It's very unlikely, but if Bonnerig win by six goals in that game and Clyde Bank don't win,
05:12then Bonnerig Rose will be crowned champions.
05:14We know who the Highland League champions are.
05:16We know who could be winning the Lowland League.
05:18We also know who Club 42 are.
05:21Who's that?
05:22That is Edinburgh City.
05:24They finished bottom of the pile.
05:25That was confirmed after they were defeated 2-0 by Clyde at Meadowbank on Saturday.
05:31And unfortunately it caps up a pretty disappointing season for the citizens.
05:34In their last 11 games, they've only scored in one of them.
05:38And their conceding goals are at an unprecedented rate at the moment.
05:41And even when they were winning games earlier this season,
05:43it was only away from home.
05:44Yeah, that's right.
05:45They've got a dreadful record at Meadowbank.
05:47I think they've only won two fixtures there this season.
05:49So I think Brora, Linlithgow, Clyde Bank, Bonnerig maybe,
05:52I think they could have failed against them.
05:54But listen, we're talking about the runners and the riders in the Highland League
05:57and the Lowland League.
05:58Let's go all the way to the top of the Premiership
06:01and let's look at the sides that are gunning for the Premiership title.
06:04Yeah, all three won last weekend,
06:07which is only the second time that has happened this season.
06:10Yeah, have you?
06:11If you want to start on the lines how bonkers this campaign has been,
06:14that is surely one for you.
06:15But yeah, you had Hearts defeating Motherwell 3-1 on the Saturday,
06:18and Celtic squeezing past St Mirren at Celtic Park on the same day.
06:22And then on the Sunday, Rangers were 2-0 down away to Falkirk,
06:25but came roaring back, ended up winning 6-3 in the end.
06:29It was a big result for Rangers, not just the goals that they scored,
06:34but the fact that they came from behind.
06:35And I think it answered a lot of questions about,
06:37do they have the cojones?
06:39Do they have the bottle, the spinnet, the character to come from behind?
06:42Do they have the foreworms?
06:43Yeah.
06:44It turns out they do.
06:46Let's talk about the most relatable moment of the weekend,
06:49and I think that came at Pataudry,
06:51where Hibernian supporters saw their side losing 2-0 to Aberdeen,
06:55and then started backing Hearts' opponents Motherwell.
06:57Yes, so there was some footage from the weekend where Hibs fans,
07:03in the way end, were singing Stand Up and Sing for Motherwell.
07:06Stand up and sing for Motherwell!
07:10Stand up and sing for Motherwell!
07:13Stand up and sing!
07:15What?
07:15Stand up and sing!
07:17Stand up and sing for Motherwell!
07:20It got pulled apart online.
07:22People viewed it as cringey, which it was embarrassing, perhaps it was,
07:26but at the same time, I quite enjoyed it, and I kind of related it,
07:30just because when I was in that position,
07:32I'd be supporting the team they're playing more than my own team.
07:37Every single weekend, just about, they've got four games
07:40in which they're hugely emotionally invested in.
07:42The Harps game, the Celtic game, the Rangers game,
07:44and then lastly, their own match.
07:46Have you ever chanted for a team that isn't your own?
07:49I don't think I'd go as far as doing that
07:51and singing about Ben Muller on the way end,
07:53but I would go as far as getting a witch doctor,
07:55to go down the road, if they were going for the title.
08:00Guys, I am going to take you to Turkey
08:02to talk about a forgotten Scottish football international
08:05who is banging in the biffs in the Turkish second division,
08:09Ryan Jack.
08:10You remember him, the former Aberdeen and Rangers midfielder.
08:13I thought he had dropped off the face of the earth
08:15when he left Ibrox in 2024,
08:17but no, he is playing for Ezenler Erokspor
08:20and he scored an absolute screamer in their one-man draw against Amidspor last week.
08:25Watching it, I made the noise as if I was just being given a delicacy for the first time.
08:31It was the most delightful delicacy I have ever tasted.
08:33Mmm!
08:35When that ball hit the back of the head because the technique, the trajectory,
08:40just everything about it was sublime.
08:42This was a really big goal in Erokspor's season.
08:45They are challenging for promotion in the Turkish second division.
08:49Amidspor just slightly ahead of them, so it allowed them to keep pace with them.
08:52But most importantly, that result has guaranteed them a place in the promotion playoffs.
08:56So, next season, with a bit of luck, Ryan Jack could be playing in the Turkish top flight,
09:01which is very cool.
09:02Captain Ryan Jack as well.
09:03And Captain Ryan Jack as well, so yeah, good luck to him.
09:06Let's talk about Tartan and let's head to New York City,
09:09where we saw a familiar face this week.
09:12The reaction's been incredible.
09:13This is the first time at Tartan Week, but it definitely won't be the last.
09:17When you see the scale, the interest in Scottish football,
09:20the interest from the Scots that have moved over here
09:23or the American Scots that have got some sort of heritage back home,
09:26it's a fantastic opportunity for you.
09:28A smiling Steve Clarke, Scottish FA Chief Ian Maxwell, what the?
09:32Yeah, he knew Steve Clarke was capable,
09:34but he was there smiling away in New York City for the Tartan Day Parade.
09:39And the reason that him and Ian Maxwell were over there was twofold.
09:42One, they were looking to drum up some support from the locals
09:45out of Scotland playing in the States this summer,
09:47because of course, anybody who's met any Americans will know
09:49that if their great-great-grandfather had once visited Edinburgh,
09:52they'd like to say they've got some Scottish blood in them.
09:54And also, they were there, more importantly,
09:57to try and get some investment for the Pitching In initiative,
10:01which is the Scottish FA looking to improve facilities across Scotland
10:05for youngsters in the country.
10:07And we know that Americans love paying money for stuff
10:09that they don't really have to.
10:11So it was probably a good thing to go over there
10:13and then try and hold them upside down
10:15and shake them until all the money came out.
10:16If I was on holiday in New York and stumbled upon this,
10:21I would turn in the opposite direction and run as fast as I can.
10:25Aye, I think there's something...
10:27I think it's a reflexive cringe when it comes to things like Tartan Day.
10:31It feels very much like boffies and bagpipes and shortbread
10:34and having a wee dram of whisky and Bonnie Morag and Roman and the Glowman.
10:38Yeah, all that sort of stuff.
10:40However, if it does yield a little bit of investment for our facilities,
10:44then absolutely fantastic.
10:45I did think Steve Clarke did a great job.
10:48Clearly someone chucked a Tartan scarf on him
10:50right at the last moment.
10:51I think he came very understated
10:52and I think he worked overtime just like,
10:54just say hello in the right moments, smile
10:56and just get this over and done with as quick as possible.
10:59Now, last week we spoke about relegation.
11:01It's time to talk about the teams heading for the continent.
11:04I think this gives us a really good opportunity
11:06to talk about European places, ramifications
11:08and what it means to watch your club play out in the big time.
11:13You guys have both had the opportunity to do that with Hearts, haven't you?
11:16It's class, yeah.
11:17I've done it, I think, seven or eight times.
11:19Been to Azerbaijan, White Hart Lane, Malta, St Gallen,
11:22but Florids to see Hearts in this stadio time with Frankie.
11:26That was, I think it was a bucket list item.
11:29Got hammered, but 5,000 jambos.
11:31Both of us were there.
11:33Had a great old time, a great old sing-song.
11:35Yeah, I called Joel ridiculous because he was celebrating that much
11:38that he went over the row in front
11:39and that was to make it 4-1 to Fiorentina.
11:42Did you have a good time though as well?
11:44I did, I did.
11:45It's like a lot of times, like that game,
11:47the result is actually incidental.
11:49You're there to have a good time with many fellow thousand
11:51of your own supporters.
11:53You take over squares, you drink the place dry,
11:56you sing for days constantly.
11:57But, when you do get those victories,
11:59that makes it all the more special.
12:00I was there in Bordeaux, I was there in Basel
12:02and those memories will live on me for the rest of my life.
12:04Now we've heard about your experiences, this is something that fans
12:07from other sides might get the chance to look forward to next season.
12:12But, it's so complicated I've actually had to write it down on these cards here.
12:16Most of the time they're just blank, but I've actually had to put something on them here,
12:19so bear with me.
12:20There are four spaces for European qualification available through the league,
12:23and one in the cup.
12:25The league winners will qualify for the Champions League playoff round.
12:28The runners up will qualify for the Champions League second qualifying round.
12:32Now, previously we used to have automatic qualification for the Champions League.
12:36We've lost that recently.
12:38For instance, at the start of this season,
12:39Celtic had a pretty testing draw against Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan,
12:44which they didn't win.
12:45Now, third and fourth place will qualify for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round,
12:50and this becomes a little bit more complicated if Celtic were to win the Scottish Cup
12:54and finish in first and second place,
12:56because the cup winners will win a place in the third qualification round for the Europa League,
13:01but if they finish in the top two, the berth reserve for the cup winners
13:04will be passed on to the third place team,
13:07and the berths for the Conference League second qualifying round
13:09are passed on to the fourth and fifth placed sides.
13:13Oh, what do you make of that then?
13:15You mentioned that the league winners will go into the Champions League playoff.
13:19However, it is very likely that if Rangers win the league,
13:23because of their very good individual club coefficient,
13:27they'll go straight into the Champions League group stages.
13:29So that could be huge if Danny Roll's men end up top of the pile at the end of the
13:33season.
13:33It's not set in stone yet.
13:34There's a few things that could happen that could knock them out of it,
13:37but it is likely that's going to be the case if they do manage to end the season on top.
13:41The coefficient is very important for Scottish football then.
13:44How do you reckon it's going to change next season and further into the future?
13:48Well, we know how it's going to go.
13:50We're going to lose a qualifying spot, so there's only going to be four clubs qualifying for European places,
13:55and none of them are guaranteed any league phase action.
13:59For example, when Hearts win the Scottish Premiership this season, we will go into the Champions League playoff qualifier.
14:04If we lose that, we'll drop into the Europa League league phase and play a number of games in there.
14:10That's not going to be the case next season.
14:12Is there anything to be said though? If you drop into a lower tier competition,
14:15you might have the opportunity to face weaker sides, you get better results, more positives, it improves the coefficient.
14:20Yeah, hopefully this won't be a steady decline and this will be us hitting our bottom and bouncing back,
14:26because it is easier to climb back up once you drop down to these levels.
14:30For two reasons. One, your bigger clubs, particularly Celtic and Rangers, will go into a lower level of competition,
14:36so they'll win more games, so they can maybe pick up more points.
14:38And also as well, and more crucially, it's only going to be four teams rather than five,
14:43so the way that they work out the coefficient is that they end up dividing your total for the season
14:47by the number of clubs playing.
14:48So there'll be teams that are going in like Dundee United last season,
14:51they just picked up a couple of draws, didn't really add much to it,
14:54but they are included in the five teams this season, so that hurts it further.
14:57When it's only four clubs, we should see it bounce back.
15:00It's been a collective failure.
15:02I think you look at Rangers in terms of probably the last ten years,
15:05Rangers have been the most impressive in terms of racking up co-official points for themselves,
15:09and for Scotland, yes, they've had a couple of off-seasons,
15:12but you look at Celtic, I think they've had one successful European campaign since 2012-2013.
15:19Hearts, the Petro Cub, all you had to do was beat this Moldovan mob,
15:23you need to get into the conferencing knockout stage,
15:25and then you're trailing Petro Cub after an early concession where they just run for the park,
15:31clip the ball at the box and score, and you end up drawing,
15:33and it costs you a game against potentially Rio Betis.
15:37A trip to Seville, a beautiful city.
15:38A trip to Seville, yeah.
15:39Beautiful part of the world, south of Spain.
15:41It would have been lovely. Who needs that?
15:43What I find really interesting is that a lot of our chances of getting better draws
15:49and getting a chance to progress further in Europe
15:50actually hangs on teams that you guys don't particularly like and don't enjoy watching.
15:56They have to do well for you guys to do well.
15:59Is there anything to be said about supporting your rivals in Europe?
16:02No, I'm a petty man.
16:04I don't.
16:05The only team I want to see successful in Europe is Hearts.
16:07And then when Hearts get around to you, it's like,
16:09oh, why are we starting in the conference league's second qualifier?
16:12And you're kind of wondering, it's like, oh, team should have done better.
16:16It's like a lot of things to be a football fan.
16:18You want your cake at two and it's a case that, yeah, you want other teams to do well
16:23because that helps the coefficient and it means that when your club get into Europe,
16:26you get into like the conference league group stages and you're guaranteed all these games
16:30and it's a lot better.
16:31But at the same time, I mean, we're conditioned to want them to lose all the time
16:35whenever they play in the league.
16:36So when you see them play in Europe, there's a little bit in your back of your head going,
16:39well, it wouldn't be the worst thing if they win.
16:41But then when they lose, you're like, this is funny.
16:44We've talked a couple of times in this show over the past few weeks about Aberdeen's poor form
16:48and how their seasons really unravelled.
16:49And I think it actually really unravelled by qualifying for Europe in the first instance.
16:54You know, they got to play in Europe.
16:55They qualified for the Europa League playoffs after their Scottish Cup win over Celtic.
17:00They lost that to FCSB of Romania.
17:03And then in the build up to that, they picked up one point from their first seven league games
17:07without scoring a goal.
17:09They went into the Europa Conference League.
17:10That was a really poor time of it that we mentioned there.
17:13Two points out of six matches and it felt as though the season was over before it started.
17:18I kind of just wanted to stop you as soon as you said that it was because of Europe
17:22that their season unravelled.
17:23I think they unravelled because of incompetency in the summer.
17:26I said there's just one of the reasons.
17:27One of the reasons why they unravelled.
17:29They had a terrible recruitment drive where they recruited a bunch of...
17:33They didn't play any free at least.
17:34They didn't play any free at least.
17:35They had a terrible recruitment drive where they recruited a bunch of young players for whatever reason.
17:39And then even the first game in Europe was until late August.
17:42They still only scored a goal in Scottish people by that point.
17:44Okay, I see what you're both saying, but I'm going to pose the question to you.
17:48Taking into what I've said about Aberdeen, is it even worth qualifying for Europe?
17:53Of course.
17:54It's like the second stupid thing you've said in the space, wait a minute.
17:57I just said it earlier, the results are incidental, who cares?
18:00Aren't we too defeatist then about how we approach European football?
18:04So yeah, there's certainly a culture that needs to change with a lot of teams.
18:07I think for so long, just about everybody other than Rangers has been underperforming in European football.
18:12But it only takes a couple of big results to completely change that culture around.
18:16So we just have to keep doing it and then hope that things get better.
18:19So who is going to be playing in Europe next season then?
18:22Who do we think?
18:23Harts, Rangers, Celtic.
18:25Yes.
18:26Motherwell.
18:27Motherwell.
18:28Motherwell, I'd still say Motherwell finish fourth.
18:30Then hopefully Dunfermline or Falkirk.
18:33Yeah.
18:34Hopefully Dunfermline.
18:35Yeah.
18:44Of course he's a Cadenbeath fan.
18:48He knows all the fans, all the supporters.
18:50He's part of the crowd now.
18:52So Ozzy, do you support Cadenbeath?
18:55What?
18:57Quite often when Ozzy's watching the match, you'll see the head following the football, following the football, following the football.
19:03It's a fantastic wee day out for him.
19:05He goes to my work with me.
19:07He's the office dog.
19:10We're seldomly apart, so being able to bring him into the football is fantastic.
19:15Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
19:16Welcome to Central Park.
19:18A warm welcome to all our dog season ticket holders.
19:22We were in the club office one day and a director kind of made a throwaway comment that we need
19:27to get that wee dog a season ticket.
19:29And the idea just sort of grew from there.
19:34Ozzy won't get breakfast.
19:36Come on.
19:37Let's go.
19:38My name is Graham Lanz.
19:40This is Ozzy Posbourne.
19:41And we support Cadenbeath Football Club.
19:44Yeah.
19:45Up.
19:46Dogs at football is a great mix.
19:49He gets to stretch the legs.
19:50I get to see the football.
19:52Fantastic.
19:53Come on you.
19:54Let's get ready.
19:56As soon as he sees me grabbing the jacket, he knows it's football day.
20:00The tail wags almost instantly.
20:02Let's go.
20:03There's a number of dogs that are known around the club.
20:06Yeah.
20:08One of our supporters, Sammy, he brings his two dogs along.
20:11Football is great but much better with dogs.
20:14Tricky to get them through the turnstiles but other than that, you know, there's no issues.
20:19Let's go.
20:21Hello.
20:24Come on.
20:26There are a few raised eyebrows, I think, now and again.
20:30But all good.
20:31Everything's positive.
20:34People love dogs and they love to see the dogs in their shirts.
20:40And they love all the attention, of course.
20:48Probably a couple of years ago, I just started bringing the dog.
20:51We had so much fun.
20:53We'd come back again and we'd come back again and we'd come back again.
20:57I think we're at about 25, 26 dog season tickets.
21:03More than me, yeah.
21:04Definitely.
21:05I'm a dog man.
21:06So, yeah, I think it's a great idea.
21:19We just wanted them to have a season ticket so, you know, they were made sort of official season ticket
21:25holders like us.
21:26I love them.
21:27I'm a doggy man.
21:30Ozzie will always try and get a pie at the football but I try not to let him.
21:35Oh, aye.
21:35They get a bit of pie.
21:37They'll know you at all.
21:37They do like crusts though.
21:39They like the mince.
21:41The steak pies...
21:43Lush.
21:44There's two or three of the dogs that actually go for the sausage rolls.
21:49I'm not a dog man myself.
21:57He's never got on the pitch.
21:59No.
22:00Not that I can remember anyway.
22:02We did have a seagull on the pitch recently.
22:05The referee never stopped the game.
22:07The seagull was walking across, oblivious to everything.
22:12On the terrace side of Cardam Bayth, we've affectionately renamed that as the Woofside Stand, so that's where the dog's
22:19going to congregate.
22:20There's a bit of a green space around there as well, if they need to go to toilets or anything.
22:30Bringing Ozzie along to the football is just fantastic.
22:33It's another part of my life that he's able to be involved in.
22:36Come on, Ozzie.
22:37Some cats did apply, but negotiations broke down and they wanted too many treats.
22:50Scotland has a history of innovation.
22:53We invented the television, the telephone, penicillin and the top flight split.
22:59Yes, the split is shortly upon us.
23:01And with that wonderful innovation, I thought this is the perfect time to look at some of the weird and
23:05wonderful ideas that have been discussed and mooted and even implemented in a bid to improve Scottish football.
23:13But before we do, let's talk about the split.
23:15I like the split.
23:16Do you like the split?
23:18I do, personally.
23:19I'm a big fan of it.
23:20I think it kind of, I think it sums up Scottish football in that it's a wee bit different.
23:24It's got its quirks, but I think it just works.
23:27And you look at this season, I think this season is the best example we've had of this split, especially
23:32the top six, where you've got three teams separated by three points.
23:36They have to play each other.
23:37They have to play their five hardest games.
23:39And whoever comes out on top in that split wins it.
23:41I think it should be said that a lot of fans still don't like it.
23:44We all like it, but a lot of fans still don't.
23:47They don't like the fact that there's often fixture imbalances.
23:49You sometimes have to go away to the same team three times in a season.
23:53You might sometimes get it where you play 18 home games and 20 away games.
23:58And also, nobody, even though I think they go too over the top on this, nobody likes the fact that
24:03in a lot of seasons,
24:03at the end of the campaign, the team finishing seventh has more points than the team finishing sixth.
24:08See if you're in seventh, just do better in the first 33 games.
24:11There you go.
24:12Easy as that.
24:12You don't have to convince me.
24:14I'm just saying there's a lot of people that still really do not like it.
24:17The split is probably a qualified success on the whole for Scottish football,
24:21but I'm going to bring you another idea that certainly worked until it didn't.
24:25And this is the Dryborough Cup.
24:28This is a cup competition that was brought in as a pre-season tournament.
24:31It sat alongside the League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
24:33It was played in, I think it was six seasons across two spells in the 70s and the early 80s.
24:39And this was an invite-only tournament where the four top-scoring teams in the first division
24:44and the four top-scoring teams in the second division were invited to participate.
24:49And what made this particularly interesting was for the first three years of the Dryborough Cup,
24:54they had a line that was painted effectively across the edge of the 18-yard box
24:59that effectively divided up the pitch and you could only be offside if you were beyond that line.
25:05If you were right up at the edge of the penalty box, you could not be offside,
25:08go beyond that line, then you could be offside.
25:12Could have changed your offside forever.
25:13So they got the four highest-scored teams for the top two divisions
25:17and then they had them play football where everybody was going to sit deep
25:19because they were terrified of somebody being onside.
25:21That's exactly what they did, yes.
25:23See, if I didn't know we were on a Scottish football TV show,
25:27then what you're explaining, I would say, is this something that the MLS have come up with
25:31in terms of a cup competition in America?
25:33It was the first competition, you mentioned the MLS, this competition was the first to actually be sponsored as well.
25:39It was sponsored by the Dryborough Brewery, so they put their name to it as well.
25:43And yes, it does have entertainment, we like seeing goals, we like seeing lines and pitches.
25:48These are all very MLS coded.
25:52And it did have big crowds, sometimes crowds of up to 60,000 people would turn up to watch this
25:56competition
25:57and in 1979, Davey Cooper, the great legendary winger, scored one of the all-time greatest old firm goals in
26:04a game against Celtic
26:05where he juggled the ball over four players before shooting it into the net.
26:10Unfortunately, the competition was discontinued in 1980 because the governing body had changed priorities,
26:21players, teams weren't as interested as much and most crucially, neither were the fans.
26:25I think the final game between St Mirren and Aberdeen, only 6,000 people turned out to see that.
26:31But nevertheless, the idea of completely rewriting the offside rule, that could have changed,
26:36not just Scottish football but the future of football in whole.
26:38That's something I've got to eat your heart out.
26:40Exactly, mate, exactly.
26:42Now, what about, Joel, the idea from a couple of years back where they were going to have an SPL
26:47without Rangers and Celtic?
26:49Well, it was more than a couple of years ago, it was more than a couple of decades ago.
26:53I'm getting older though, that's the thing, all these things seemed to happen a couple of years ago.
26:57It came off the back of the SPL TV where they wanted a subscription service to broadcast the league
27:03and it was pooed by Celtic and Rangers.
27:06And then the other clubs kicked up a bit of a fuss and they talked about breaking away.
27:10Under any other competent business, the tent clubs were sitting around this platform,
27:17intimated to the chairman of the meeting that we had to give two years' notice of our resignation.
27:24And with that, the tent clubs out with the old firm went on the warpath, their patience with Celtic and
27:29Rangers finally having run out.
27:31I cannot believe that there is any prospect of me standing here in two years' time saying Celtic and Rangers
27:38have got nobody else to play against.
27:40I think that is so inappropriate as a thought process, it just won't happen.
27:46I remember this back at the time and I remember being cock-a-hoop at the idea of the rest
27:51of the league breaking away from Celtic and Rangers.
27:53The chance to maybe see your team win a title, which, funnily enough, may also happen this season as well.
27:58It would have been fascinating to see what life would be without the old firm.
28:02Can you imagine what it was like? I just imagine sort of like Greenfields, Utopia, kids out playing sort of
28:08like a young girl handing an old man an apple.
28:11Like that sort of stuff, I think it would just be absolutely blissful.
28:15Ultimately, this didn't happen and effectively Scottish Football has just continued the way it has been.
28:20More of the same, another big plate of slop served down for us all to eat.
28:25Until Hart and Bodlovian have turned up this season.
28:27Oh no, I listen to you every week, that's the slop today.
28:30The interlopers. The disruptors. The disruptors, that's it.
28:34What about the fair play league, Craig Fowler? Not necessarily a Scottish innovation, but something that Scottish clubs were definitely
28:41benefiting from.
28:43In the late 90s, clubs would be granted places in European football, not based on what they'd done in the
28:50league,
28:50but based on the fact that they were the best behaved team in the country.
28:56We've got a fantastic clip here. This is a bemused chick young and a Scottish FA boffin explaining what the
29:03fair play league is.
29:04This is a championship being won and lost. The updating of the fair play league deep in the bowels of
29:10the SFA offices in Park Gardens.
29:13Once upon a time, winning a place in Europe was all about putting the ball in the net.
29:17Soon the cynics might suggest you'll get there by collecting tokens from bags of trisps.
29:23You also need an honours degree in pure mathematics.
29:25You add them up, you come to tally, you then, provided you have used the five, the complete unit,
29:34you multiply by 40, then divide by 10 and you come up with an average which could be 8.1,
29:419.2.
29:42If there is not enough supporters to be judged on in the final assessment on that forum,
29:49you then divide it by, multiply it by 35 and divide it by 10.
29:55That guy sounded like me trying to explain the coefficient points earlier.
29:59I get the feeling for that segment as well that Chick Young was not entirely sold on the idea.
30:04I think Chick Young went into this thinking, I hate this idea.
30:08Let's get an old man hunched over a computer there.
30:11Let's add some silly music to it. Let's make the whole thing look completely ridiculous.
30:15But Motherwell benefited from this, didn't they? They actually got to play in Europe, was it 2009?
30:19Yes, yes, it was at the end of the 2008-09 season, Motherwell finished seventh in the table.
30:24But weirdly they were granted a place the next season in Europe from this fair play initiative thing.
30:29Last game of the season, disgrace of Fur Park.
30:32What Mark McGee said before the end of the campaign, he was like,
30:34I'm not actually sure what we need to do yet to surround this.
30:38Hampden Park, you know, not everyone's favourite ground.
30:41I personally love it but I appreciate that other people do not.
30:44But in the, I think it was in the 80s and early 90s, there were plans to actually build a
30:49new national stadium in Linwood just outside Paisley.
30:53Nonsense.
30:56Especially when you see the figures involved in this period.
30:59So basically Hampden Park in the 70s and 80s, it had fallen into a wee bit of decline and it
31:04was in need of modernisation.
31:05But the cost for redevelopment was like astronomical.
31:08So they wanted to try and build a new ground and they looked at this brownfield site and an old
31:13car factory in Linwood.
31:15Now it was going to be modelled on the Rogers Centre, which is a baseball stadium in the United States.
31:21Canada.
31:22There you go, show us how much I know about baseball.
31:25But I mean, this is an absolutely like fantastic piece of architecture.
31:28It has got a retractable roof.
31:30It has got a retractable pitch.
31:32And this new Hampden in Linwood was going to have both of them.
31:35Why?
31:36I don't exactly know but it sounds good.
31:39So they're looking at the figures from redeveloping Hampden and saying that's too expensive.
31:42But what would you do instead is build a brand new stadium that's got a retractable roof and a retractable
31:46pitch.
31:46This was also going to have a capacity of about 70,000.
31:49There was going to be a smaller stadium there which was going to become St Mirren's new home.
31:54They were also going to build like office facilities, leisure facilities, a hotel and completely revolutionise the transport lines in
32:02the area.
32:03All for the cost of 200 million pounds.
32:05Now, when you think about it that doesn't sound that expensive but back then I would imagine it was.
32:10I think that was probably a billion now.
32:12Yeah, probably a lot of money, a lot of money.
32:14Needless to say that idea was kibosh because it was too expensive, too ambitious and Hampden instead was given I
32:19think it was about 12 million pounds from the Scottish Government and lottery funding to be redeveloped.
32:25And it's in the iteration that we see at the moment.
32:28I'm going to stick with hypothetical ideas.
32:30Something we often hear in Scottish football, whenever there's been a bad decision or a series of bad decisions, fans
32:36will often say, listen, bin out Scottish referees.
32:39Let's bring in referees from overseas.
32:42We need to bring in guys who are not going to be biased.
32:45Exactly.
32:46That's it.
32:46That's a bit more to the point.
32:49Especially now when you've got three teams going for the title, there's going to be every decisions under the microscope,
32:55there's going to be conspiracy theories.
32:56So, yeah, bring big foreign wrestling for these final five games.
32:59It would not matter whatsoever because instead you'll just have Rangers fans Googling frantically to try and see where Mr
33:06Conceiso from Lisbon, what high school he went to.
33:09Well, we've been able to export our Scottish referees, haven't we?
33:13John Beaton went and took charge of a game in Saudi Arabia between Al Massar and Al Halal.
33:21It didn't go swimmingly for John Beaton.
33:25There were, I think there was eight yellow cards and three red cards, so a normal performance.
33:29But there was one moment where he was accosted by an Al Halal player and he got body pumped or
33:36body shoved and then he just sorted away.
33:40Does this tell us anything about how successful the idea of importing foreign referees might be? Is there something in
33:46it?
33:46No, everybody would still hate it and everybody would still say, this is not working, we need something else.
33:50What about the idea of Hollywood meeting Scottish football?
33:54Now, everyone knows the Welcome to Wrexham series where Ryan Reynolds, very successful Hollywood actor, and Rob McElhenney, the star
34:02of It's Always Sun in Philadelphia,
34:03where they bought over Wrexham Football Club and took them on this, well, pretty fairytale journey from the National League
34:11all the way up to the English Championship.
34:12And there's a documentary series that has charted the club's rise.
34:16Over the last four years, it's been this rollercoaster of magic.
34:20We are all dreaming of another promotion.
34:22Can you do it again?
34:25Back to back to back promotions.
34:27It's never been done before.
34:29The sort of stuff that fairytales are made of.
34:32Now, very interestingly, Humphrey Kerr, who was apparently the man who pitched that idea to both Reynolds and McElhenney,
34:39before suggesting Wrexham, he actually considered Arbroath Football Club as the team to invest in.
34:45But if you could imagine, going back to 2021, when that first investment in Wrexham was made, if they'd chosen
34:51Arbroath instead?
34:53Should have went with somebody a bit lower down the pyramid.
34:55Yeah.
34:55Trenent or something.
34:56I don't know.
34:57I think about Arbroath make perfect sense for Americans to invest.
35:02Now, if you think about it, they had an irascible manager in Dick Campbell, who I think that people would
35:07have liked to have seen the television.
35:09Yeah, he would have lasted long.
35:11And on top of that, Gayfield's a very picturesque ground right next to this.
35:15He's a very handsome place to go and watch football.
35:17So I think there's all these things considered.
35:19I think Arbroath would have been an attractive proposition for a Hollywood investment.
35:23They're going to struggle to get four series out of that, though.
35:25I just wonder if these guys had come in and taken over Arbroath, would other people show interest in Scottish
35:29football teams?
35:30Could you imagine the YouTubers Jake Paul and Logan Paul, like, taking over East Kilbride?
35:34Stanley Tucci turning Queen of the South into Boutique Football Club?
35:39It could happen.
35:40It could happen, didn't you?
35:41It could.
35:42I mean, that's the first person that came into my head there.
35:46Enough about Hollywood.
35:48Let's talk about what's going on in Scottish football over the course of this weekend.
35:52And we've got some absolute Hollywood fixtures on the horizon, including the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
35:59And now we're going to start by looking at perhaps one of the, I think this is one of the
36:03most eagerly anticipated games all season so far.
36:05This is Saturday's match between the Unfermour Athletic and Falkirk.
36:10This is a game where, as a neutral, you just want to watch it because there's so much interest.
36:15You make time for yourself, half 12, Saturday afternoon, BBC, watch Falkirk against Unfermour.
36:20There's so much narrative around this when you look at their journeys as respective clubs.
36:25There are successful seasons with both of them in Falkirk.
36:30Relatively speaking.
36:30Relatively speaking.
36:31And then you add in their rivalry that no one can really explain.
36:35A bafflingly heated rivalry.
36:37Exactly.
36:37And it just makes for a really exciting game at Hampden.
36:41What's really good as well is that both sets of supporters have sold around 10,000 tickets each.
36:46Brilliant.
36:46So for provincial sides travelling to Hampden, those numbers are really, really impressive.
36:50Score predictions for this one?
36:51A draw with Falkirk winning an extra time.
36:54Yeah, I'm going to say 4-3 Falkirk in extra time.
36:564-3!
36:58Fair play.
36:59I just look at this fixture and think goals.
37:01Is it?
37:02Goals.
37:02I'm interested in what you think about Sunday's fixture.
37:05And this is between Celtic and St Mirren.
37:08And this is effectively a rerun of last week's game.
37:12The major of the Celtic Park.
37:13Celtic won that match 1-0.
37:15And it's a League Cup final.
37:16And it's a repeat of the League Cup final where St Mirren won that game 3-1.
37:20Slightly different from the League Cup final when it was Steven Robinson going up against Wilfred Nancy.
37:24But still, yeah.
37:26This is a game I'm looking forward to.
37:28Celtic aren't having a good season.
37:29But they can still win a double.
37:30They can still win the Premiership.
37:32And they can still win the Scottish Cup.
37:35Normally, such a semi-final in years past, you're more excited about Saturday and then
37:41I'll maybe just catch the highlights of the game on Sunday.
37:43Not on the game on Sunday, you're invested because of what's gone on in the past.
37:47Because of how poor Celtic have been this season.
37:50How vulnerable Celtic have been this season.
37:52And the pressure is on names.
37:54So yeah, I think it's a weekend of really exciting, really semi-finals.
37:57It's incredible to think that when we saw St Johnson win the League Cup and Scottish Cup double in 2021,
38:02you thought, well, that's like a once in a lifetime thing.
38:04That's never going to happen again.
38:06St Mirren could do it a couple of years later.
38:08So it's not just a once in a lifetime.
38:09It's teams that both start with C that could do it.
38:13So how do you see this one going on Sunday?
38:16I fancy Celtics a sneaky but a normal thing.
38:19Craig Fowler, let's move away from the Scottish Cup semi-final fixtures and let's look at the women's team's World
38:26Cup qualifiers.
38:27Yes, they are facing Belgium.
38:30In Belgium on Saturday.
38:32And this comes as the second game in a double header.
38:34So the first game took place on Tuesday at Easter Road with a 1-0 draw.
38:39But the good news for Scotland was that that 1-0 draw was very much a positive as Kathleen McGovern
38:45scored in the 95th minute.
38:47And these are huge games for Scotland.
38:49Because if we look at the rest of the World Cup group, you've got Luxembourg, you've got Israel, Minos at
38:53this level of football.
38:55And yeah, a 1-0 draw at home, not a great result.
38:58I think it's a missed opportunity.
39:00Because these two games against Belgium are going to decide who finishes top.
39:05Who finishes top.
39:05Prediction for you from this one.
39:071-0 Scotland.
39:08Yeah, go on.
39:09We got a positivity.
39:112-0 Belgium.
39:14Oh no, listen, I didn't like that, Joel.
39:17But what I do like is the opportunity to take you and you on at a game called The Banker.
39:23It's me versus the Emperor's Chambermaids.
39:26Every week, we guess the outcome of Scottish football matches and get big points for every correct prediction we make.
39:33This week, just like every other week, we are competing for the Eamon Brophy Lone Wolf Trophy.
39:39Just look at that.
39:42Wow.
39:43And after last week, the league table looks a little bit like this.
39:47I correctly predicted that Kelty Hearts would beat Montrose.
39:50Sean McGuigan correctly predicted that Clyde would beat Edinburgh City.
39:54One point apiece.
39:55No change to the league table.
39:58Now, this week, in honour of Joel returning to the fold, it's the Joel Sked Special.
40:04If you pick a draw, you can win two points.
40:07You can still pick a normal win if you want.
40:10You only get one point for that.
40:11But if you follow young Skeddy's lead, go for a draw, you can win double.
40:16Joel Sked, we'll let you go first.
40:18Ross County and Air United to draw.
40:20Ooh, OK. What's the thinking here?
40:23There's no team in the SWFL who have drawn more games than Air United.
40:2715 draws.
40:28Yeah.
40:29Ross County have racked up 10 of them, so...
40:31Ross County are need to win, but are rubbish, so probably won't win.
40:35Yeah, I can see this.
40:36Yeah, just, it has a draw field to it.
40:38For my pick, I am going to Gayfield where our bros are taking on Wraith Rovers
40:42and I think this one is going to be a draw.
40:44Basically, our bros' form has flatlined and recently I thought they were too comfortable
40:48in third place for too long and they've now been usurped by Dunferm Athletic
40:52and fallen into fourth place.
40:54Taking on Wraith Rovers who, yeah, they've had a so-so season so far.
40:59I think that everyone's just going to be looking to get the beach balls out,
41:02get the lilos out, have a bit of a kick about and I think this one is going to end
41:06in a 1-1 draw.
41:09You think that's a big game for Wraith Rovers?
41:11A big game for both of the teams.
41:12If Wraith Rovers win.
41:14Is it a big game for Wraith Rovers?
41:15Yeah, because they will go two points playing Darborough.
41:17Aye, but it's too big a game for Wraith Rovers, so that's why I can see the thinking.
41:23It's too big a game for them.
41:24Craig Fowler.
41:25What is the second pick?
41:27I'm going to go Inverness against Kelty Harps.
41:29So, am I going to play it safe and I'm going to pick the home team,
41:32top against bottom in League One?
41:34Oh no, no, no.
41:35Oh no, no, no.
41:36I am going for a draw in this one.
41:39That's what we want to hear.
41:40Go on.
41:41So why am I picking the team bottom of the table to draw away to the team that is at
41:45the
41:45very top?
41:46So the reason for that is that Kelty have been improved recently.
41:49They've won two of their last three games in a three game unbeaten run.
41:51A decent away record.
41:53They have got a decent away record.
41:55They've drawn the last two games against Inverness in the League and Inverness have struggled
42:00a little bit over the course of certainly recent months when they've played against
42:04teams that come in and sit in when they're at home in the Caledonian Stadium.
42:08I think there's going to be more twists and turns in the League One title race starting
42:12this weekend.
42:12And for my second pick I'm also going to go into League One.
42:16In fact, I'm going to stay in Angus in fact.
42:18I'm going to head over to Lynx Park.
42:20Montrose versus Hamilton Academico.
42:21I think this one is going to be a draw as well.
42:24I think that Montrose, they're just a team that I don't think they've got much to play
42:28for this season.
42:30I think the promotion playoffs are a wee bit too far ahead of them.
42:32They're taking on a Hamilton team who, yeah, they got a good result against Allo Athletic
42:36at the weekend there.
42:37It was a very important one, especially with Kelty Hearts beating Montrose.
42:42I just think that they're not a particularly good side.
42:45I think they're demotivated and don't have it and they're coming up against Montrose side
42:48who are just like, meh.
42:49Yeah.
42:49So that's why I think it's going to be a draw there.
42:52And that's one point apiece.
42:54And those two points are going to come to me and put me back on top.
42:58Well, you know something like that, that brings the episode to an end.
43:01And I think the three of us, we've got a fantastic day ahead of ourselves tomorrow.
43:05We are going to hospitality and an Athletic for their game against the Spartans.
43:09I can't wait.
43:10Yeah.
43:11And a big game as well.
43:12Huge game at the top of the league too.
43:14Not that we'll probably see much of it.
43:15Of course, by that time, we'll have been on a train drinking for two hours
43:18and then had hospitality beforehand.
43:20If hospitality follows the hospitality I've experienced over the years,
43:25I won't be watching any of the football.
43:28Take, take, take, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk a lot.
43:32One last night through, say, sing.
43:34Is it going to be the same?
43:37Do you know you're not mad?
43:39If you used to see it every minute.
43:41I wasn't here in summer, 20s, 70s.
43:43I don't have a sense.
43:44We're all amazing.
43:45I'm sorry.
43:46Any other candidates can ignore us.
43:48And now I say.
43:49It let itden of the football game.
43:50Hopefully.ć°
43:50Download that inside set Dass Live Cos taxpayer+. You
43:52have to do the bestęØ”å in our hearts. We'll
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