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Falkirk have issued an official apology to Dunfermline player Dean Shiels after their supporters taunted the 32-year-old by throwing fake eyeballs onto the pitch on Tuesday.
As noted by BBC Sport, the midfielder was abused by sections of Falkirk's travelling support during the Championship match, which the hosts won 2-0. Shiels had surgery to remove an eye in 2006 after it was damaged in a domestic accident when he was eight years old.
The Bairns issued the following statement on Twitter:
The Daily Record Sport Twitter account provided an image of the fake eyeballs thrown onto the field:
Falkirk players Joe McKee and Kevin O'Hara were suspended in November after they were found to have taunted Shiels about his disability. The Dunfermline man was sent off in the same game for a tackle on McKee.
After being targeted by Falkirk supporters on Tuesday, Dunfermline boss Allan Johnston praised Shiels for keeping composed.
"You never like to hear stuff like that," he told the club's website (h/t The Courier). "It's poor. It's great discipline he showed. The whole team showed that. He has had a lot to deal with, but I think the whole club have. I think we have dealt with it professionally, but you just have to move on."
Sky Sports News' Keith Downie was disgusted at the news, as was former Dunfermline and Falkirk player Tam McManus:
Surely Falkirk fans weren’t throwing fake eyeballs onto the park at Dean Shiels? If true an absolute disgrace and those responsible should be weeded out. Played with Dean at Hibs what a great lad too shocking he is getting subjected to this shite. Tars the many good Falkirk fans.
— Tam McManus (@The_Tman10) January 2, 2018
Shiels has faced abuse before from fans due to his condition, with St Mirren issuing an apology after their supporters taunted the then-Hibernian man in 2008.
The midfielder is a veteran of the Scottish game, having enjoyed successful spells with Hibs and Rangers; he helped the latter win the Championship and earn promotion back to the top flight in 2016.
Shiels has also represented Northern Ireland on 14 occasions, netting one goal.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle snatched a late winner on Saturday to beat Falkirk 2-1 and win the 2015 Scottish Cup—the club's first ever major trophy.
James Vincent rose as hero for the 10 men of Caley, scoring in the 85th minute to seal their triumph. Guardian Sport confirmed the result:
The two teams couldn't have hoped for better cup final conditions at a sun-drenched Hampden Park, and both outfits thankfully responded by coming out of the blocks firing on all cylinders.
Possession was exchanged back and forth as the Bairns and Caley alike sought to set in stone some early passing momentum, with Falkirk looking up for the fight despite their Scottish Championship status.
Craig Sibbald and David Smith were among those looking to make an early dent for Falkirk, but it was in keeping their opponents at bay that Caley Thistle really showed their Scottish Premiership superiority.
Scotland's faithful turned out in droves to watch the occasion, and Fox Soccer's Ross Dunbar was full of praise for the show of support:
40,000 for Inverness-Falkirk. That's quite superb. #ScottishCupFinal https://t.co/P0sSYYysqo
— Ross Dunbar (@rossdunbar93) May 30, 2015
It wasn't long before the resilience of John Hughes' side started to bear fruit in an attacking sense, though, and Marley Watkins saw an early chance just evade his reach when sliding to meet a Graeme Shinnie cross.
Watkins would come to have a greater influence on the fixture as time wore on, testing Falkirk's back line more with each passage of play in his attempt to find the breakthrough.
Winger Aaron Doran was also proving to be a testing figure for Falkirk to deal with, but neither team had managed to muster any clear-cut chance as the game ticked closer to half-time.
That all changed on the 38th minute, however, when Watkins finally found his mark after collecting a beautiful through ball from Doran, which Sky Sports Football showed as being timed to perfection:
Caley ended the first period with a spring in their step and their fans in greater voice, but manager Hughes will have been all too aware that banking on a one-goal lead would have been folly.
It's in the nature of any cup final to see the underdog perform outside their regular means, and a stern half-time talk from helmsman Peter Houston appeared to light a fire under the Falkirk players.
The second-tier side continued the struggle to penetrate the Jags' defence, but there was a greater sense of belief among their players, knowing a goal was all that was needed to get them right back in the frame.
Falkirk's cause was helped tremendously by the sending off of Jags defender Carl Tremarco with just 15 minutes remaining. Jonathan Sutherland of BBC Sportscene agreed Tremarco had no cause to argue after taking down Blair Alston, who would have been through on goal with Ryan Esson:
Tremarco's sacrifice looked to have counted for little, though, as a Falkirk free-kick gave them their vital equaliser in the 79th minute, with Alston teeing up Peter Grant for a simple header under almost fate-like circumstances.
Joy quickly turned to anguish, though, when Bairns goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald could only parry a shot into the path of Vincent, who converted home from six yards out. SPFL Banter couldn't help but berate the Falkirk No. 1:
Watching on from the sidelines, Tremarco in particular will have felt indebted to his team-mate for striking home the winner, having been left red-faced just minutes earlier for leaving his side undermanned.
Scrappy though it was, Hughes won't care much for how his team secured their first major trophy victory, getting the better of lower-league opposition in dramatic fashion to enter the history books.
In claiming their first Scottish Cup, Inverness Caledonian Thistle have also secured their spot in the second qualifying round of next season's Europa League, a massive achievement for the club.
Some may see that extra responsibility as a burden, but the club and its players are sure to take pleasure in every moment they spend on one of the continent's biggest stages.
Scottish Premier League side Inverness Caledonian Thistle will be strong favourites when they meet Falkirk of the Championship in the 2015 Scottish Cup final after enjoying a superb season on manager John Hughes' watch.
Not only have the Highlanders finished third in the SPL and reached a cup final, their efforts have been rewarded with a place in next season's UEFA Europa League.
Meanwhile, Falkirk boss Peter Houston knows how to win this competition after lifting the trophy back in 2010 while in charge of Dundee United.
Here are the schedule and viewing details for the big game at Glasgow's Hampden Park:
Date: Saturday, May 30
Time: 3 p.m.
TV: Sky Sports 3
Live Stream: Sky Go,BBCSport (Web updates).
Preview
One man already making himself the centre of attention is referee Willie Collum. He has endured some criticism this season, but insists the jibes won't affect his cup-final performance, per Daily Record writer Gordon Parks.
Houston may not be too worried about what the official will do if star striker Rory Loy is declared fit after an ankle problem. Houston believes "it's looking good" for Loy to play at least some part in the final, even if it's just as an impact player, per BBC Sport.
Usually, Loy forms a formidable double act with cup-tied John Baird. But even without his strike partner, Loy is the key to Falkirk's hopes of upsetting Premier League opposition.
Meanwhile, Hughes is busy celebrating the best season Caley have ever had. He dubbed reaching the Europa League a "remarkable" achievement, per Sky Sports.
Now Hughes is keen to use a cup-final win as the springboard to grow Caley's fanbase. He told BBC Scotland he expects a major following to cheer on his team at Hampden (h/t BBC Sport): "I'm quite sure we'll take 15,000-20,000 down to the cup final and hopefully we'll give them a good day."
The strength of Hughes' side is in midfield. Playmaker Greg Tansey and winger Aaron Doran are both quick, tricky and possess keen appetites for goals. The pair combined for 10 strikes in the SPL this season, per EuroSport.
Doran learned his trade at Dublin schoolboy team Crumlin United, where former Tottenham and Liverpool striker Robbie Keane also made his start. Now Doran is looking to emulate his famous predecessor, according to Jim Black of the Scotsman.
But the real danger man for Inverness is converted striker Marley Watkins. Shifted off the flank by Hughes, the 24-year-old has been a revelation with his defence-stretching pace and clever runs between the lines.
His experience out wide means he frequently drifts out of the middle and takes up positions on either wing. Not only does that movement make him a nightmare for central defenders, it also often isolates Watkins against a full-back, which is a major advantage for Caley.
Watkins is hoping a big performance in the final will bring him to the attention of Wales boss Chris Coleman, per the Herald's Kevin Ferrie.
Doran and Watkins should give Falkirk's uncompromising defence problems. Their pace and movement are likely to be too much for the Championship side to handle for 90 minutes.
Houston and Hughes once played together at Falkirk, but it will be the latter who's left to celebrate following this final. Lifting silverware will be a suitable flourish to cap a brilliantly memorable season for Caley.
Celtic travel to Dundee to take on Paul Hartley's high-flying side in the marquee fixture of the fifth round of the 2015 Scottish Cup, while Glasgow Rangers face a difficult afternoon when they host Raith Rovers.
Rangers are still reeling after the bitter loss against arch-rivals Celtic in the League Cup, and with issues surrounding the club off the pitch—the squad is making more headlines with the Dave King takeover than their actual performances, per BBC Sport—Sunday's match comes with some serious upset potential.
Dundee have been more than solid since winning promotion to the SPFL last season and caused the upset of the fourth round by eliminating Aberdeen back in November, so cup favourites Celtic will be warned. Here's the full schedule for the fifth round:
| Date | Time (GMT) | Home | Away | TV Info | Live Stream | Prediction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | 12.30 p.m. | Dundee | Celtic | Sky Sports 1 (UK) | Sky Go app | 1-2 |
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | 3 p.m. | Falkirk | Brechin | n/a | n/a | 1-0 |
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | 3 p.m. | Hibernian | Abroath | n/a | n/a | 3-0 |
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | 3 p.m. | Patrick Thistle | Inverness | n/a | n/a | 0-1 |
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | 3 p.m. | Queen of the South | St. Johnstone | n/a | n/a | 0-2 |
| Saturday, Feb. 7 | 3 p.m. | Spartans FC | Berwick | n/a | n/a | 1-2 |
| Sunday, Feb. 8 | 12.30 p.m. | Stranraer | Dundee Utd | Sky Sports 2 (UK) | Sky Go app | 1-3 |
| Sunday, Feb. 8 | 3 p.m. | Rangers | Raith Rovers | BBC One Scotland (UK) | BBC iPlayer | 0-1 |
To access BBC's iPlayer, click here. For the Sky Sports Go app, click here.
Celtic Will Struggle But Survive against Dundee
Scottish champions Celtic unsurprisingly lead the SPFL standings, having yet to lose a match in 2015, and look primed to add several trophies to their impressive collection of silverware in 2015.
The Hoops were among the more active teams during the winter transfer window, highlighted by the signing of Dundee United duo Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven, per Sky Sports:
The Old Firm may no longer carry the same meaning as it did before Rangers' liquidation, but it's still arguably one of the highlights of Celtic's season. A relatively easy 2-0 win on Sunday means the visitors will travel to Dundee with plenty of momentum.
Despite all of that, fans shouldn't expect a walk in the park on Saturday. The Dees sit well outside the relegation zone, so the Scottish Cup is likely the club's main objective right now.
Manager Hartley told BBC Sport he knows Saturday's clash won't be easy, but after a strong first season back in the top flight, he's confident of Dundee's chances:
We know it's going to be an extremely hard game but it's one we're really focused on and looking forward to.
We're six games unbeaten, so we've been consistent over the last few weeks and we need to try and keep that going.
We've got a chance to progress to the quarter-finals and supporters always look forward to a good cup run.
Celtic will play Partick Thistle and St. Johnstone in the league before the highly anticipated Europa League fixture against Italian heavyweights Inter Milan, and with the Nerrazzuri struggling in Serie A, it's all too easy to get carried away with the club's current streak of good fortune.
Reuters' Jamie McGeever is just about on cloud nine right now:
Going into Saturday's match with that mentality could result in disaster, and fans better hope the players are taking this clash a little more seriously. Dundee are unbeaten since the derby against Dundee United on New Year's Day, and the hosts should not be taken lightly at all.
Controversy Will Doom Rangers against Raith Rovers
As if the Dave King takeover didn't provide Rangers with enough distractions, even more controversy broke out on Thursday. Chief executive Derek Llambias was forced to hold a press conference to deny claims the board is influencing team selections at Ibrox, per BBC Sport's Chris McLaughlin:
Those comments came in response to caretaker manager Kenny McDowall, who told reporters he is being forced to play five loan signings from Newcastle United, a club owned by Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley, via BBC Sport.
McDowall has already resigned from his post and is currently in charge of the squad on a 12-month notice period. To call the current situation at Ibrox "unhealthy" would be an understatement.
Sporting Life's Gavin McGrane is predicting an upset at the hands of Raith Rovers on Sunday, and it's easy to see why:
Rovers are built for a deep cup run, playing the kind of feisty, defensive football that can drive opposing teams mad. Last weekend, Hibernian spent the bulk of the second half trying to kill Raith off, only to watch striker Christian Nade score in injury time to conserve a point for his team.
Hibs were frustrated by Rovers' defensive resiliency throughout the match despite leading for the majority of the second half, and the result at Easter Road will give the visitors plenty of confidence ahead of their trip to Ibrox.
Add Rangers' struggles, question marks regarding McDowall's motivation, the controversial loan signings and the emotional impact of the loss to Celtic, and you have a recipe for disaster for the home side.
Rangers host Heart of Midlothian at Ibrox on January 16 in a match that is set to define the Scottish Championship title race. With first place and automatic promotion looming for Hearts, they travel to Glasgow with the intention to end the title hopes of their closest rivals. Kick-off is set for 7:45 p.m. GMT.
Rangers have struggled to keep up with the Edinburgh pace-setters this season, dropping points in matches they were expected to win, while Hearts remain unbeaten, winning 17 of their 20 games.
The importance of the clash has been evident in the heated build up to the fixture, as players on both sides have attempted to gain a psychological upper hand.
Per BBC Sport, in a recent interview, Hearts' new signing—Dutch striker Genero Zeefuik— announced, "If we beat Rangers on Friday then I think it's over." It's a confident assumption, but one this writer agrees with.
Should Hearts win on Friday, they will open up a 16-point gap over Rangers. Such a gap would only be surmountable if Hearts were to at least lose six of their 15 remaining fixtures, something that does not look likely given their form so far.
Rangers' Fraser Aird did not take kindly to such a statement, arguing that Rangers have the superior squad, saying, per the Daily Record: "I still think that we have a better squad than them and better individual players but we need to go out and prove that."
Such an opinion would have garnered weight at the start of this campaign, but Hearts have shown strength in depth to rival their higher spending counterparts as the season has gone on. Ahead of the clash with Rangers, Hearts were without Osman Sow, Kevin McHattie and Soufian El Hassnaoui but have not shown any signs of faltering in their absence.
The last time the two sides met was at Tynecastle in November of last year. Hearts ran out 2-0 winners on that day, negotiating a gruelling affair with greater tactical organisation and quality in the final third.
In a fiery encounter, Rangers lost their cool, with Steven Smith sent off for a rash challenge and several tackles from other players fortunate to be punished only with a yellow card. Rangers will need to show more discipline if they are to win on Friday.
However, their cause will not be helped by confusing off-field circumstances of late, with the club's ownership and future the subject of much uncertainty.
Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has loaned money to the club and has offered more, though a consortium of Rangers shareholders led by Douglas Park are said to be prepared to offer increased funding to prevent Ashley from gaining Ibrox as a security, per the BBC.
Difficulties off the field have been replicated on it, as Ally McCoist left the club following some poor results. The first match Rangers had under the tenure of new manager Kenny McDowall began equally inauspiciously, however, as they lost 0-4 to Hibernian.
Additionally, Rangers have a Scottish League Cup semi-final against Glasgow rivals Celtic in early February. It will be the first Old Firm derby in two years, and although it will excite Rangers fans and players, it may also prove a distraction to important league fixtures.
Hearts opened the season by travelling to Ibrox and beating Rangers 2-1, and a second away win would all but secure them the Scottish Championship.
The two teams will meet for a final time at Tynecastle on the last day of the season, but unless Rangers earn a win on Friday, Hearts will most likely enter that final showdown with the title already in the bag.
Rangers take on Dundee United in the Scottish Cup semi-final on Saturday desperate to bounce back after their awful Ramsdens Cup loss to Raith Rovers.
Ally McCoist's men succumbed to a John Baird goal in extra time to lose last Sunday and will be determined to prevent lightning from striking twice when they take to the field at Ibrox.
Make sure you keep up with all of the action by checking out the details below.
Venue: Ibrox Stadium
Date: Saturday, 12 April
Time: 12:45 p.m. BST
TV info: Sky Sports 2 HD
Live stream: Sky Go
Top storylines
Rangers hit by injury
The trio of Andy Little, Lee Wallace and David Templeton are all likely to miss Saturday's semi-final, with Teamtalk.com reporting:
Little and Templeton have not played in the last month, while Wallace picked up an injury in Sunday's Ramsdens Cup final defeat by Raith Rovers.
Ally McCoist has been ruing his luck with injuries recently. He said, via Brian Marjoribanks of the Mail: "We’ve been a little bit unlucky with injuries at a really important time of the season but we have to prepare the team as best we can." Losing the influential Wallace will come as a bitter blow to the Rangers manager, leaving him with a big hole to fill in defence.
McCoist under pressure
Having led Rangers to promotion from League Two last season before guiding them to a staggering 32-point lead in League One this term, Ally McCoist might be forgiven for thinking his place at Rangers is untouchable.
However, after last Sunday's Ramsdens Cup defeat, McCoist is beginning to feel the heat at Ibrox, with some fans even questioning the Scot's ability to lead the club.
As Andy Walker of SkySports explained:
Rangers manager Ally McCoist is now under severe pressure to lead his team to a major domestic cup final against a backdrop of a growing number of fans questioning his ability to succeed in the Ibrox hot-seat.
Rangers do not see themselves as a League One side and a return to the SPL is essential for the sanity of their fans. Running out against a proven top flight club in the form Dundee this Saturday will be a real test of McCoist's credentials as a Premier League manager.
Dundee full of determination
With all the talking points surrounding Rangers, it would be easy for the neutral to forget Dundee's part in Saturday's clash. But manager Jackie McNamara is remaining focused, telling BBC Sport that his side must match the power of Rangers:
Rangers have a slight advantage with it being their home stadium but Ibrox is a great place to go and play. You can talk about our pace and movement but we have to match Rangers physically to have the ball. When we get flowing I think we can cause anyone problems.
From his words you can tell McNamara is unfazed by the prospect of taking on Rangers at Ibrox and a win for his Dundee side in Glasgow would see the pressure on McCoist crank up one more notch.
The final of the Ramsdens Cup takes place on Sunday, as Raith Rovers take on the fallen giants of Glasgow Rangers.
The Challenge Cup game takes place on Sunday, April 6, at the home of Edinburgh's top team Hibernian.
The stadium will be packed to its 20,000 capacity as Rangers look to collect yet another trophy on their drive back towards top-class football.
Rangers are still yet to concede a goal in the competition this season, with Raith competing to be the first club to penetrate the Ibrox club's back-line.
Here are the vital details of the match and how you can catch all of the action:
When: Sunday, April 6, at 4:05 p.m. BST/11:05 a.m. ET
Where: Easter Road, Edinburgh, Scotland.
TV: BBC ALBA
Live Stream: BBC iPlayer (U.K. only)
Key storylines
Are Raith Truly Underdogs?
If you consider league positions, then this match would have a straight forward favourite. Championship side Raith play Rangers from the third-tier of Scottish football but in that statement lies a fallacy.
Rangers are one of the superpowers of Scottish football, relegated down the divisions for financial issues rather than footballing ones.
They now look to win their first cup competition silverware since losing their status in the top division.
Raith player-manager Grant Murray has passed comment on Rangers and he knows all too well the task his team faces on Sunday.
Roddy Forsyth of The Telegraph reported on Murray's pre-match words, with him saying:
It’s not the Rangers I played against but they’re still the same club. They’re a massive institution and we do understand that 17,000 of their fans will be there. It’s another cup tie, albeit a final – one opportunity. I don’t want our players looking back saying, ‘If only, if only.’ If they can focus totally on their own jobs – they’re good professionals who do it week in, week out – and prepare in the same way, we have the best opportunity to do it.
Raith currently lie in seventh place in the Championship table, per BBC Sport, and they only lie six points above Cowdenbeath, who sit in the relegation play-off position.
Rangers, on the other hand, have rampaged through League One and are untouchable with 29 wins from their 31 games. They will be a Championship club themselves next season.
A match up against a team from the higher division will not concern them one bit.
However, BT Sport football commentator Derek Rai warned against complacency for Ally McCoist's men, recently saying they must further improve and cannot underrate the threat Raith poses to them:
Despite all of this, Raith are the outsiders in the final. In a stadium that will be full to the brim with the Rangers faithful, the atmosphere will be hugely intimidating for Rovers and their currently struggling players.
Rangers' Injury Problems
Rangers boss McCoist is waiting on the fitness of several of his squad, but he hopes that Nicky Law should be fit in time for Sunday's final, per BBC Sport.
Midfielder Ian Black and forwards David Templeton, Andy Little and Jon Daly are all doubts for the Glasgow giants, as the squad prepares for action.
Raith Rovers midfielder Joe Cardle was frank of his team's chances against a strong Rangers team, but he is excited about the prospect of the game.
He said, per BBC Sport:
We can't wait for Sunday. We have been practising penalties as we are prepared for any outcome so we are excited and looking forward to it. Rangers are firm favourites and they should be with the squad they have got but we have a great team as well so anything can happen on the day.
Cardle is correct that his team are inferior to Rangers' side but with the romance of the cup, anything can indeed happen.
It will be a fantastic day for Raith to take on one of the true behemoths of Scottish football, with a trophy waiting at the end of the match for the winners.
Rovers will be looking to be the thorn in McCoist's side as he looks to rebuild his football club and once again face Celtic for the biggest honours in the domestic game.
There is a possibility that Rangers might underestimate Raith but over 90 minutes the Glasgow club should have too much for their humble opponents.
At a time when transfer fees, at the more high-profile end of the game at least, are getting ever more inflated, it can be easy to overlook a more general trend that has actually seen many clubs move with increasing determination the opposite direction—investing more and more in an infrastructure to enable them to produce their own talent, rather than have to keep buying it in.
Barcelona may not be averse to paying an eye-watering sum for a top player—as the recent, increasingly controversial, capture of Neymar only underlines—but they remain the poster boys for such an approach, thanks to the success of their vaunted Masia academy, a sophisticated and continually refined incubator that has produced players as marvellous as Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Xavi Hernandez.
Another prime example comes in the Netherlands, where the cultivation of home-grown talents holds an extra prominence, due in part to geographical and cultural tendencies.
Ajax’s De Toekomst is often mentioned in the same breath as La Masia, famous as it is for producing much of the Champions League crop of 1995 and, more recently, a new crop of prodigiously talented individuals led by current Tottenham attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen.
The two academies enjoy something of a shared lineage, one cultivated in great part by Johan Cruyff, the former Netherlands international widely accepted as one of the finest footballing minds of the 20th century.
Cruyff grew up in the Ajax academy, then spent the most successful years of his career in Catalonia, importing and exporting what he learned from both experiences as he returned to both clubs in playing and non-playing capacities over the following years.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner last year, Cruyff explained his principles thusly:
What’s the difference between a good player and bad player?
It’s the speed of [control], so if you’ve got to speed them up, it’s to provoke mistakes. And the main thing is that the quicker you can change your mentality, offensive [to] defensive, the first defender is the centre-forward. He’s the nearest by, so the quickest he can put the pressure on, start defending.
And you run less. You don’t run more. Of course, you’ve got to do possession. It’s a way of thinking and it’s the way you can re-organise the whole thing. Because, whoever’s got the ball, who scores the goal?
Cruyff is widely credited with installing the 4-3-3 as the basis of Barcelona’s tactical ideas, building on what he was taught by the great Ajax, Netherlands (and Barca) coach Rinus Michels, and the passing and pressing style that was subsequently refined—some say perfected—by Pep Guardiola.
The Masia education also produced Lionel Messi, the best player of his generation. But Messi is not simply a product of his environment, he is also a vestige of his country’s initial approach to the game.
Born in Rosario, in Argentina, it is well-documented that one of the main reasons Messi moved to Barcelona as a 13-year-old was because the club were prepared to pay for the injections he needed to combat his growth hormone deficiency.
Nevertheless remaining undeniably diminutive in stature, Messi embodies a particular Argentine preference for small, technically-adept ball players with a lightning change of pace and even faster close control that can be traced back through Diego Maradona and even to the game’s first imprint on the South American country.
When English explorers, playing a robust, physical version of "football," came to Argentina, few of the locals were impressed. When the Scots arrived, however, playing the same game but with a premium on close control and movement that had much more of a rhythmic quality to it, Argentines were enthralled.
The somewhat differing British approaches were consolidated in the very first international match, in 1872, as Scotland held England to a goalless draw despite being more than a stone lighter per man.
In his book, Inverting the Pyramid, Jonathan Wilson describes the match thusly: "Although direct evidence is sketchy, it seems probably that, Queen’s Park [Scotland] decided they had to try to pass the ball around England rather than engage in a more direct man-to-man contest in which they were likely to be outmuscled."
Of the development of the game in South America, Wilson adds:
The Football Association’s Laws of the Game arrived in Argentina in 1867...[but] only in the 1880s did football really take off, thanks largely to Alexander Watson Hutton, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, who came to Argentina to teach at St Andrew’s Scotch School.
Different conditions necessitate a different style. Just as the game of the cloisters differed from the game of the playing fields in English public schools, so, in the tight, uneven, restricted spaces of the poorer areas of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, other skills developed and a new style was born.
If Messi is a product of Argentine football as much as La Masia, then in some ways he is also a product of his cultural style, a style that owes some debt, however, small to Scottish explorers.
A BOY BRANDED 'BABY MESSI'
From inverting the pyramid to completing some sort of generational circle then, it is perhaps fitting that the player most recently branded "Baby Messi" hails from Scotland. Dundee United midfielder Ryan Gauld is just 18 (his birthday is in December), yet already he seems to have the hopes and expectations of his country on his shoulders.
Just 5'4" but preternaturally composed on the ball and capable of spotting and executing a defence-splitting pass with an ease that belies his experience, Gauld has already attracted attention from almost all the top clubs in Europe; assuming you believe the regular reports in the press.
The comparisons with Messi are—as is almost the case—somewhat facile and lazy but perhaps can be generously written off as a shorthand way of underlining his talent, rather than a nuanced attempt to capture his playing style.
"I keep reading about it and then forgetting about it straight away," Gauld told The Guardian late last year. "The comparison to Messi is quite laughable. It is good to read, I just don't think about it too much."
As remarkable as Gauld’s emergence is in a country that, in all fairness to Scotland, has not had a great recent track record in the department of youth development, what makes it even more notable is that he is merely the most prominent of the young players coming off the Dundee United production line.
John Souttar, who was at the same school as Gauld, is a 17-year-old centre-back who has already impressed in the first team, while 19-year-old right-back Andrew Robertson has already been scouted extensively by Everton, with Roberto Martinez—usually no fool when it comes to identifying young talent—apparently believing he has the ability to make the move south of Hadrian’s Wall.
Two other youngsters, defender Euan Spark and midfielder Scott Smith, are also tipped to make their breakthrough soon.
United’s manager, Jackie McNamara (whose playing career peaked with a successful spell at Celtic), seems to be a calm and considered custodian of the prodigies. Unusually for many in his high-pressured position, he seems unwilling to put the short-term demands and expectations upon him above the importance of their long-term nurturing.
McNamara recently removed Gauld and Souttar from the first team for a period to attempt to minimise the prospects of burnout, telling the Daily Record:
The learning curve they have been on is huge and it’s incredible they have handled it so well.
From my own experience of being a young player coming through I know the demands, the pressure and the expectation that is placed on you.
Add in the transfer speculation hanging over them and it will have an effect because they are only human...I think this is down to managing the players and making sure they are progressing at peak levels.
McNamara may be in charge of managing his prodigious charges now, but the existence of them as a cohort—rather than one blistering talent finding its way into their academy as a statistical outlier—indicates that the club have hit upon a new and successful approach somewhere along their production line.
It is no coincidence that Southampton, for example, have recently brought through players such as Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana. They are the almost inevitable result of extensive (and widespread) scouting networks, a finely-tuned and well-funded academy setup and the best possible coaching.
Seemingly, Dundee United have hit upon a similar recipe.
A NATIONWIDE LOSS OF FOCUS
If Scotland gave the game, or at least the seeds for its germinating style, to Argentina, then in recent years it has increasingly drifted away from those roots.
Since Archie Gemmell jinked through the Dutch defence so memorably in the 1978 World Cup, the smaller, technical player has slowly seemed to be erased from the national team.
Perhaps influenced by the success of the sport, particularly the multi-billion pound Premier League south of the border, since the retirement of Kenny Dalglish, the national team has increasingly been populated by less skilful but physically more imposing players; tenacious tacklers such as John Collins and Scott Brown becoming ever more prevalent as the smaller players have become hustlers—Gordon Strachan (now the national team manager), for example—rather than playmakers.
As good as those players were (or are), Scotland as a team seemed to be attempting to match up physically against their rivals, eschewing their roots in the process.
The nadir in that process came in 2010 when then-national team manager Craig Levein opted not to field a single striker for a European Championship qualifier in the Czech Republic. The 4-6 formation saw a midfield comprised of Darren Fletcher, James Morrison, Graham Dorrans, James Mackie and Steven Naismith; a mixture of the water carriers and the hard workers.
Unsurprisingly, they lost.
That is not to say that Scotland have not continued to produce smaller, guileful players in that time (Barry Bannan, for example, might wonder why Gauld is suddenly being so touted—although he can perhaps only look to himself for reasons why his career has taken the turns it has). But they certainly have struggled to get international recognition under managers invariably fearful for their jobs.
The emergence of Gauld, should he continue to develop as many hope, is perhaps a chance for those changes to be rolled back.
GREAT TALENT, DEVELOPED THE RIGHT WAY
How did Gauld get where he is, then, and develop the skills that he has? Obviously natural talent and aptitude play a huge part, but nurture has helped make the most of those basic advantages.
Gauld was raised in the small village of Laurencekirk, in Aberdeenshire, an area far enough from Scotland’s typical football hotbeds that his school, Mearns Academy, did not even take part in a local league.
Playing alongside Souttar and Spark, the trio played five- or seven-a-side games for their school where possible, then took their skills to Brechin City Boys Club at the weekends where Souttar’s father, Jack, was the coach.
Souttar Sr., a former professional for Brechin City, knew how to develop his players, and their age group went unbeaten for two seasons. Unusually, however, he always knew there was more work to do to push the teenagers onwards—with his charges tasked with playing futsal in the winter, for example, to improve their touch and technique.
That continued a few years later as Gauld and Souttar graduated to the local Cathro Coaching Clinic, a sort of boot camp for aspiring professionals run by a forward-thinking coach.
The eponymous Ian Cathro told The Times:
The concept behind the clinic was that we could do it differently, we could make football beautiful. We tried to give them more time on the ball, to create a stimulating environment. Everything was done in scenarios. It was very intense. I was very intense.
We would stop training sessions if a player passed the ball to a team-mate without knowing what he was going to do with it. You had to know that second step, otherwise you could not pass it.
It was not a soft coaching technique. It was serious, me staring at the player’s eyes, him staring into mine. It was that intense, but that was because we had to make an impact. We could not fail.
Cathro, who is now assistant manager at Portuguese top-flight side Rio Ave, was a man hugely passionate about coaching and modern coaching methods. He set up the CCC as a teenager, and when Dundee United (then-manager Levein, in fact, to give him his due) spotted his talent and interesting methods and brought him on board, he took Gauld, Souttar and a number of others with him.
He was always saying that you need to see not just the pass that you are going to play but when that person receives the ball what they can do with it, so thinking of the second and the third pass. A lot of nights of the week we would just work on awareness, just knowing what was around you. It's all about making life easier for your team-mate.
The micro example at Dundee United has, somewhat coincidentally, been emulated on a more macro level around Scotland. Since his appointment in 2011, Scottish FA performance director Mark Wotte has placed a premium on the relationship between schools and local club academies, and the enhancement of technical skills.
It was almost as though Gauld’s experiences were operating as an ongoing blueprint for what Wotte wanted to make a more national phenomenon—although, if that is the case, it is perhaps odd that he fell out with Cathro who, having briefly graduated to the SFA setup, soon departed for Portugal complaining that he would never be given the chance to be a manager in his homeland.
Upon his appointment three years ago, Wotte said (per the BBC): "I think in general, we are under-achieving. To be honest, we are not good enough and I think we can do a much better job at every level.
"But it is a big task for us Scottish football people to improve and make sure that in a couple of years we will do better. I think the infrastructure can be better, I think programmes can be more intense and there should be better cooperation between clubs and academies."
Wotte has spent the last few years attempting to fulfil those ambitions, with some promising early results. There seems to be a greater camaraderie between local schools, clubs and the national team setup—culminating in the Under-16s winning the Victory Shield outright (beating England in the decider) for the first time in 15 years last October.
The Under-17 and Under-19 squads have also reached the elite round in Euro 2015 qualifying, enhancing the feel-good mood.
"We are now getting good results all the way down through Under-19s and to the Victory Shield boys," U-16s coach Scott Booth commented to the Daily Mail. "Everyone is working hard to fulfil this new philosophy, the players are buying into it and there is more talent coming through."
Wotte, whose CV includes coaching stints in Holland, Egypt, Qatar, Romania and England, believes a continuing mix of statistical analysis and interpersonal attention will soon bring rewards to the senior setup.
In his most recent blog for the Scottish FA, he wrote:
I am a great believer in the development of strong relationships between the national teams and the club coaches. Whilst at times there can be a feeling that young players are not being treated with the kid gloves that clubs would like, nevertheless I believe clubs should also be proud of watching their players represent their country.
It is an acknowledgement and endorsement of the work undertaken by their clubs and rest assured we do our utmost to ensure players are returned enriched by the experience and able to add value to their club side as a result of the opportunities they have been given.
Through our own Performance Information Management System, we can now evaluate that progress from all of our National Youth Teams in a more scientific and technological way: evaluating pass completion rates, possession retention, opportunities created in the final third, goals conceded and other KPIs [key performance indicators] that we can measure on a regular basis to provide evidence of improvement.
These components are all part of The Scotland Way: developing and harnessing an attractive and purposeful style of play throughout all our National Youth Teams. Ultimately, we aspire to have all our teams confident in attack-building from defence, quick and incisive midfield play, exciting wing play and, of course, clinical finishing.
While the World Cup in Brazil will be a poorer place without the Tartan Army, we should at least be heartened by a future of possibility.
THE NEXT STEP
If the aim for Scotland is once again to become a nation that regularly qualifies for World Cups (the European Championships, under its new 24-team format, should be a comparatively straightforward proposition), then what about the individual ambitions for "Baby Messi"?
Gauld has already been strongly linked with a switch to England, while Wotte has previously expressed a belief that a switch to Celtic—or Rangers, should they soon return to their former primacy within the domestic game—would grant the winger another element in his development without unduly unsettling him.
The player, himself, however, seems to be looking further afield—to Italy or Spain. He told the Guardian:
When I've been growing up, I watched the Spanish leagues and prefer the style of that. Getting the ball down and being patient with the build-up play.
In England, it's maybe more direct. If you are a winger you are expected to take on a full-back and get a cross in. If it's abroad, you can turn out, keep the ball and just keep the attack going.
Abroad you see more players who are smaller in stature. In England, it's more athletes. Me being a smaller guy, I need to think about what's best for me and what's best around me and I think being abroad is the best culture of football for me.
This would be an impressive step. English football, for all the players it produces, still struggles to produce many individuals with the the technical skills, or the open-mindedness on a more cultural level, to make the switch to a European side.
Such a transfer would perhaps say more about Gauld’s personal development than the wider Scottish development culture, but it would nevertheless be an impressive statement of intent.
For Scottish football, it would be a source of pride. But, if the country is to "catch up" with similarly-sized European nations (Croatia and Serbia for example, or even Holland, which is "only" twice as large), then it needs to ensure its players at least make some positive impact on the domestic game—which has been in turmoil in recent years due to the implosion of Rangers and subsequent squabbling over the restructuring of the league ladder—before they move on to bigger challenges.
The best way for Scottish football to improve is for its domestic game to get ever more competitive; to do that, considering the financial constraints almost all clubs outside of the Old Firm work under, professional clubs will need a constant supply of young players able to replace those plucked away by Europe’s heavyweights—just as those sides in the Eredivisie have grown accustomed to doing.
As Cruyff, speaking nominally of Dutch talents but in terms that apply across the borders of all lesser footballing nations, said:
At a certain age, they [talented young players] will go because somebody will pay more, which is reality.
But, as soon as you know reality, you can do something against it. Or start earlier. Or get them back when they are finished, but one of the most important things is to treat them well.
We have these new players, good players, but we need to educate them still.
Having helped give the game to some parts of the world, it seems Scotland is finally starting to retrain and adjust to the modern evolution—an evolution that is not too far removed from the ideals they held most dear in the first place.
Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich all know the feeling. When you’re the biggest football club in the country, the other clubs can’t help but hate you. It’s how they express their jealousy.
In Scotland, Rangers suffer the same problem. However, in this tiny nation the level of hatred and jealousy is undeservedly ridiculous. The fatuous feelings that football fans in Scotland have about Rangers even spills out as they come together to back the national team.
Rangers players have jeered by the Tartan Army for years. Everton winger Steven Naismith took a barrage of abuse from the Hampden stands when he was a Rangers player. Funny enough, since his move to Merseyside this is no longer the case.
The Ibrox club’s summer signing, Ian Black, recently made his Scotland debut against Australia at Easter Road, Leith. As he was substituted on to the field, he was met by a chorus of boos from his so called supporters.
Many have said that this was simply Hibs fans venting their anger at a former Hearts player after their 5-1 cup final humiliation. I wonder why players in the Scotland squad who remain at Hearts managed to escape the same abuse.
While most fans in Scotland share this infatuation with their national team legend Ally McCoist's Rangers, two clubs are particularly obsessed.
At one point, Aberdeen FC was a massive football club taking on the giants of Europe while picking up league titles at home. These times are long gone, and Aberdeen’s only modern claim to fame is their rivalry with Rangers.
Aberdeen fans’ obsession with the Govan giants stems back around 30 years and it does not appear to be fading away. For three out of the last four seasons, Aberdeen’s highest home attendance has been against Rangers. In the 2008/09 season, the Rangers fixture attracted 20,441 people to Pittodrie. Only a month before, Aberdeen only lured 8,909 people in for their SPL match with Falkirk.
Aberdeen fans share this curious fascination with Rangers’ real rivals, Celtic. Despite Rangers’ relegation to the lowest tier of the Scottish Football League, Celtic fans can’t seem to stop themselves from talking about Rangers.
Whenever you flick on a Glasgow based radio football phone-in, the majority of calls you hear will be Celtic fans discussing various aspects of life at Rangers. On their forums, they criticise and moan about Rangers. At Celtic Park, they sing about Rangers. On Twitter, they create false rumours about Rangers. The list go could go on and on forever.
Aberdeen and Celtic fans have even sponsored Rangers’ new Third Division opponents Annan’s players, thinking it might wind up the Rangers support.
The level of attention Rangers receive from all quarters of Scottish football speaks volumes of the incredible stature of the club – love them or hate them, it’s still an obsession.
