Welcome to Issue 7
Sold out

You had me at Berwick 
By Daniel Gray

30 years of ‘our football’
Photographer Stuart Roy Clarke portrays nothing less than the national spirit, glimpsed through the lens of Britain’s national game. For 30 years he has been making a portrait of who we are in relation to the game of all games, our Football. Clubs big and small sit shoulder to shoulder. Stadiums rise up and others are more humble. Clarke is fascinated in them all. And in us: 
the people who make the football experience what it is.

The secrets of Studio 5
Studio 5 in the old BBC building in Queen Margaret Drive, 1962. This is where it all began.
By Archie MacPherson

Harry, Saint & Lachie Mor on Highway 101
Or how an expat in Mill Valley, California, keeps in touch
with the fitba.
By Lawrence Donegan

You only sing when you’re whingeing
Everybody knows the sort: the ‘supporters’ who are only happy when they’re moaning. An ‘appreciation’ of the Mr Malcontents of Scottish football.
By Giancarlo Rinaldi

The Guilt Of The Manchester United Fan
You’re never just a United supporter. You’re a United supporter because . . . because of your gran / because of Munich / because of Best.
By Paul McNamee

The lost generation of Raith fans
Those before can tell of European campaigns and giant-killing cup runs. Those after can dream of possible glories ahead. What of those who endured the ups and down of the era of Antonio Calderon and Claude Anelka?
By Graeme Kilgour

How Tynecastle and Archibald Leitch won my heart
Why someone from the Dutch town of Tilburg comes to have a deep affinity with Heart of Midlothian.
By Joris van de Wier

Paradise re-found
Confessions of a lapsed Celtic supporter.
By Ronnie McCluskey

My 90 minutes as a Dundee United supporter
Is it possible to lose yourself in the tension and delirium of a match between two teams you do not support?
By Robert Westcott

‘I’m there to see a game of football, just like everyone else’
Watching football with autism.
By Kevin Addies

Speedie departure
David Speedie’s arrival at Liverpool was marked by a flurry of crucial goals in big games. Then Kenny Dalglish quit, Graeme Souness took over and he was very quickly on his way out.
By Paul Wilkes

Brother beyond
Sibling rivalry is rarely more keenly felt than in professional sport. What is it like being Hugo Maradona, Carl Hoddle or Mathias Pogba?
By Gordon Cairns

‘We don’t have history, a community, fans, or a home ground. That’s a strength for us’
Can social media, online engagement and the enthusiasm for simulation games among younger generations carry Edusport, Scotland’s newest senior football club, from the fifth tier to the Scottish Premiership? Chris Ewing believes so.
By Sean Cole

The team spirit of United Glasgow
Like most amateur clubs they train twice a week, they’ve got their sights set on promotion and they’re always on the lookout for new players. But United Glasgow have other ambitions too.
By Ginny Clark

The Musonda conundrum
Celtic’s manager and fans are understandably excited about Charly Musonda’s potential onfield impact. However, there are wider issues to the young Belgian star’s 18-month loan deal, with potentially significant long-term implications.
By Greg Gordon

Leading questions
One of the key figures at the SFA’s centre of excellence at Largs is Dr Brian Howieson, a business and management academic. Sound odd? Not when you hear his views on leadership in the game.
By Grant Hill

The negative side of positive thinking
Positive visualisation is an increasingly popular technique in football. But it’s not as simple as just imagining success.
By Paul Grech

First impressions
For many football fans around the turn of the century, Sunday afternoons meant Football First – and the company of presenter David McKinney.
By Paul Irving

Beyond the rugby
The gentle pleasures of watching football in the Borders
Words by Daniel Gray.
Photographs by Alan McCredie

One other night in Turin
Roxburgh, Leighton, Costa Rica, Conejo, Sweden, Müller, Taffarel . . . the story of Scotland and Italia 90.
By Mike Gibbons

Scraps of pleasure
The chance rediscovery of some long-forgotten scrapbooks brings personal memories of Scotland’s World Cup campaigns flooding back.
By Kenny Pieper

Secrets of a sports publisher
The inside story of how it all works at BackPage, the book publishers founded by Scottish sports journalists Martin Greig and Neil White.
By Martin Greig

1966 and all that – Stirling Albion in Japan
With interest in football growing fast, buoyed by reaching the quarter finals in the 1964 Olympics, Japan sought a visit from a top British team. Step forward the Binos.
By Jack Davidson

Played 42. Days 108. Miles 10,000. Lost 2.
The remarkable story of Tommy Walker’s Touring XI in India at the end of World War II.
By Gary Cowen

Differing schools of thought
One option for talented young footballers is to attend a performance school. But will more time spent training produce better players?
By Neil Gibson & Robert McCunn

A short-term strategy for long-term failure
Falkirk’s decision to scrap its youth academy could have serious consequences for the wider game.
By Daniel Shields

Inspiration from a different league
Instead of borrowing bad ideas from next door we should look further afield for ways to improve and preserve the Scottish game.
By Duncan McKay

Football v rugby: who wins?
There is plenty of antipathy between the two sports, but also plenty of common ground. And there is much that one can learn from the other.
By Douglas Mill

Forfar 5 East Fife 4
The scoreline that almost matched the mythical tongue-twister
By Mark Godfrey

How Gretna left their mark on Europe
It wasn’t glamorous, it wasn’t glorious. But it is right up there in the list of Scottish clubs’ ignominious European failures.
By Craig Shields

Tales from the Meadowbank
It has hosted almost every sport possible over its 50-year lifespan, as well as Meadowbank Thistle, Edinburgh City, Stanley Matthews and Ferenc Puskas. Not to mention a personal toilet for The Queen. Farewell to Edinburgh’s Brutalist stadium.
Words and photographs by Alan McCredie

Stick ’em up!
Ultras stickers: Low-level vandalism or vibrant street art celebrating terrace culture?
Words and photographs by Barry Didcock

The bottom line about SPFL relegation and ‘club 42’
The pyramid system brings fleeting media interest and bigger crowds for the play-offs, but does it bring any real benefit to the Scottish game?
By Forbes Inglis

Willie Woodburn: hero or villain?
In an age when Sergio Ramos can collect his 24th red card and still be regarded by many as a fine player, spare a thought for Willie Woodburn, one of the greatest defenders to play for Rangers and Scotland, who was banned sine die – after four dismissals.
By David Docherty

Uppin FC , the story continues . . .
Spring surprises
A short story. By Colin McPherson
The season is beginning to unfold. It’s about who will hold their nerve. For Uppin FC manager Paul Deacon, trying to hold his nerve is about to become a whole lot tougher.

East Neuk noir
The riddle of the woolly aardvark
By Duncan McCoshan

Pick a number, any number
Andrew Robertson wears 26, Kieran Tierney’s number is 63, Gary Hooper liked to wear 88. We’ve come a long way from the days when players lined up with shirt numbers from 1-11.
By Graeme Webster

Lessons from the 1993/94 season
It was one of the tightest leagues in memory – and statistically it was one of the strangest seasons in the modern era.
By Thom Watt

The perfect Scotland kit
Everyone has their favourite, but there is one national team strip that deserves to be seen as an all-time classic
By John Devlin

Poetry
The Number 38 To Annfield By Kevin Graham
Football Crazy By Nicole Carter