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Thousand mile stare
By Daniel Gray

The Techno Ten
From pigeon to Periscope and GoPro: the technological changes that have shaped Scottish football and the ten innovations we now take for granted.
By Stuart Cosgrove

On re-reading Fever Pitch
To Nick Hornby he is a hapless scuffer who was “hilariously useless”. To Dundee fans he is an all-time great. What’s the truth about Ian Ure? His daughters know better than anyone. By Alan Pattullo

Shades of Gray
Eddie Gray is one of those players who truly merit the label of ‘legend’. Revered still by everyone associated with Leeds United, in person he is modest, self-effacing and a true gentleman. By Maurice Smith

Simply the best
Keep it simple has been the mantra that has driven Darren Fletcher to overcome debilitating setbacks and become one of the most admired professionals in the game. By Michael Gibbons

Somner time, and the winning was easy
Dougie Somner still turns up occasionally at Firhill, to draw numbers out of a box. He gets a huge reception – and rightly so. By Kenny Pieper

Fifty years of hurt
Lawrie Reilly was the spearhead of Hibs’ Famous Five, adored by fans and feared by opposition teams. Then it all turned sour – and even half a century later, he still felt betrayed. By Richard Payne

The pioneers of Europe
When Hibernian became Scotland’s first representatives in the European Cup, their domestic rivals simply shrugged. The competition would never catch on. The Easter Road club’s forward-thinking, outward-looking chairman and manager disagreed. By Jon Spurling

Lost Homes
A lament for the plight of old grounds, those opera houses of the working-class
Words by Daniel Gray. Photographs by Alan McCredie

How a friendly fixture became a ‘match of shame’
Chile v Scotland in Santiago was meant to help acclimatise the team ahead of the World Cup in Argentina. It became instead another example of the problems when mixing sport and politics. By Euan McTear

No country for Scotsmen?
Countless Italian players have come to Scotland; the traffic in the other direction is not quite so heavy. But the stranieri who have made it to Serie A certainly made their mark By Giancarlo Rinaldi

‘Eintracht, who are they?’
It was a question asked by manager Scot Symon before Rangers met Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup semi-finals. After four games in seven years with 29 goals seen by 300,000 fans he had his answer. By Craig McCracken

By far the best cup competition on this or any other planet
The Scottish Junior Cup is a true celebration of grassroots football. For everyone involved, players and fans, it is more than that: it is The Grail. By David McVey

Science friction
A state of the nation report on sport science within Scottish football: then, now and what’s coming By Robert McCunn & Neil Gibson

How PlayStation could help create the next Kenny Dalglish
Playing video games such as FIFA should be seen as a coaching tool in the development of young players By Craig Shields

Streaming: why the SPFL is swimming against the tide
Scottish football needs to switch off the television and switch on to digital platforms or it will find itself left behind By Graham Ruthven

May the force be with you
Psychological momentum is the invisible force that shapes careers. By Paul Grech

The search for a hame away from home
I’m a lifelong Evertonian who also follows St. Etienne in France, Hamburger SV in Germany and AC Milan in Italy. But choosing a Scottish team has proved impossible. By Mark Godfrey

A love affair rekindled
After suffering years of disappointment following the Scottish national side, could a growing interest in women’s football re-ignite a passion for international football? A trip to the Women’s European Championships in the Netherlands would tell. By Steven Lawther

Doing ‘the 42’
Visiting all of Scotland’s 42 senior football grounds has been done before. But probably not like this. By Gerry Hassan

The song in my heart
Paul McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre might not have been the most obvious adopted anthem for Charlton Athletic fans, but it came to have special meaning for two supporters. By Heather McKinlay

Far from the Emirates
How to broaden the football horizons of an Arsenal-obsessed eight-year-old son. By Ed Hodge

A Brechin diehard
If you want proof that football clubs can mean so much more to local communities than mere sporting entertainment, look no further than 83-year-old Jim Scott By Kevin Scott

Understanding the fans – someone has to
No business can prosper without understanding its customers and its market. Why should Scottish football be any different?
By Paul Goodwin

The stats don’t work – they just make it worse
Football clubs are embracing Big Data to help decide which players to sign. They are making a big mistake.
By Greg Gordon

No Gordon, you can’t blame genes
Gordon Strachan suggested the solution to our recent international football shortcomings was ‘to get big women and men together’. Here’s why he is wrong. By Colin Moran

The Thorhulf Beck factor
On a Saturday afternoon half a century ago, the Icelandic striker was the solitary non-Scot playing in the First Division. On the same day a clutch of home-grown teenagers were grabbing the glory. Contrasting the way things were then with how they are today offers an insight into the decline of the Scottish game By Jordan Campbell

The best way to improve development? I’ll reserve judgement
Malky Mackay is among many ex-pros who support the return of a reserve league. Would it really make a difference? By Craig Fowler

The Scot who made Slavia Prague great
Few people in his homeland know the name of Dumbarton-born Johnny Madden. In the Czech Republic there are few more revered sporting heroes. Bernard Thompson

Why Scotland is ‘the land of football’
The sport may have been codified by the public schoolboys of England, but the ethos and concept of the beautiful game have their roots north of the Border. By Stephen O’Donnell

Alf Doig’s gold rush
The story of a footballing pioneer from Arbroath who went to Alaska looking for gold By Paul Brown

Dunfermline’s years of above-par European campaigns
Thrashings of Scandinavian teams, humbling of English, French and German opposition, epic battles with Spanish aristocracy: the Pars’ glorious 1960s had it all By Mark Poole

The Campbell effect
When Dick Campbell took over at Arbroath, having been sacked by perennial rivals Forfar, the club was languishing near the bottom of League 2. How things have changed since then. By Stuart MacLennan

St Mirren are hoping for a late winner. 30 years late
The Anglo Scottish Cup final between Coventry City and St Mirren is delicately poised at 1-1 after the first-leg at Highfield Road. That was in December 1987. By Robert Westcott

Uppin the ante
A short story. By Colin McPherson
The season is heading towards its winter midpoint. Uppin FC manager Paul Deacon knows this is when it gets serious. He doesn’t know just how serious things are going to get.

“A quite splendid example of Scottish ingenuity”
Princess Eileen’s Very Own Linlithgowshire Light Infantry versus 2nd battalion Earl of Nairnshire’s Incredibly Loyal Highlanders – a most fitting tribute to the Queen Empress By Duncan McCoshan

It’s all Archibald Primrose’s fault
Want to know who to blame for that pink strip Scotland wore at Wembley? You have to go back to the 1880s. By John Devlin

Poetry
O Johnny Moscardini! by Thomas Clark
Gascoigne by Stephen Watt
There Was Once a Moment When None of This Existed by Graham Fulton

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