Notes for Expats on Scottish bands touring internationally and features on Scottish music, sport, film and the life written by and for Scots around the world. More →
The future of Scottish football sits on Celtic’s shoulders. Following a catastrophic set of qualifying results which saw all four Scottish entrants dismissed from continental competition, Celtic were handed a reprieve when UEFA (rightfully, in my opinion) expelled FC Sion from the Europa League tournament. The Parkhead side replaced the team that knocked them out [...]
Mad Christian Harold Camping was reportedly “flabbergasted” that the Rapture didn’t take place last Saturday, May 21, as he had confidently predicted. I am similarly flabbergasted that Kilmarnock weren’t relegated, as I assuredly stated on August 12: “I can’t see them anywhere other than last place.” Camping is now saying the Rapture was spiritual, not [...]
I never bet on my team. It’s a rule I’ve followed since I was in high school, when I wagered with a Dons-supporting friend that Rangers would beat Aberdeen. Rangers lost, and I am convinced to this day we would have beaten them if I hadn’t made that bet. So allow me to sit on [...]
It’s that time of year again: nicer weather, Cadbury’s Cream Eggs, and the Old Firm Decider. This Sunday, Celtic visit Ibrox for the third time since August – the two teams matching off for a record seventh time in one season. If familiarity breeds contempt, then referee Craig Thomson had better get his arm ready [...]
I’m not a lawyer, but in the last few months I’ve learned a few things about defamation. Paul McBride IS a lawyer, and a good one at that, but he should ask for a copy of my lecture notes before he opens his mouth again and further libels the SFA.
This Sunday sees the sixth meeting of the Old Firm this season, and the first that will directly result in silverware – the League Cup. This tournament came into being in 1947. I’m not entirely sure why – presumably to throw a few more games into the calendar and thus bring a few more pounds [...]
I’ve watched Rangers games in many strange places. I listened to the 1994 New Year’s Old Firm in a flat in Dakar on a short wave radio; I watched Paul Le Guen’s first game in 2006 in a hotel in Bombay; and in January this year I sat in a ski lodge in Japan while [...]
Billy is still on his travels this week, although he probably found somewhere to watch Rangers get gubbed by Celtic for the second time in as many weeks. To cheer him up here is a ‘classic’ article where Billy looks at some memorable games in Scottish football history that all ended 4-1.
This past week saw Dundee FC file a financial plan to allow them to escape administration at the end of the season – saving the club from extinction. Good news for Dundee fans, though other Division One teams can justifiably complain that Dundee’s excessive spending has been wiped out at the expense of the club’s [...]
