The future of Scottish football is running round local parks

strong>By Stuart Crawford

So, here we go again, as if you hadn’t noticed. The football season has started and, after only a couple of weeks, the familiar refrains have returned. Various Scottish teams – Celtic, Dundee United, Motherwell – have “crashed out” of European competitions at the first hurdle, leaving Rangers as our [...]

Why I joined the Algeria-Slovenia-USA 2010 Supporters’ Club

Living in London is, for the most part, a joy. The choice of restaurants, galleries, theatres, parks, museums on offer is tremendous. For all its landmarks, there are some times when life in the capital doesn’t seem that attractive. Those times can normally be pinned down, biennially, to when England are in the finals of [...]

Scotland’s equine ‘giant panda’ facing an uncertain future

By Elizabeth McQuillan
arer than the giant panda, there is a little-known breed of Scottish pony that is facing an uncertain future. Recently published statistics from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust place the Eriskay pony as “critical”, with less than 300 breeding females left worldwide. If something isn’t done soon, then this piece of living breathing [...]

Diary: Bring forth the not-at-all-desperate celebrity endorsements

ow important is a celebrity endorsement? It probably matters quite a lot when it’s Sir Sean Connery. But when you haven’t got James Bond, what do you do?
If you are the Scottish Conservatives, you turn to former Celtic and Scotland footballer Murdo MacLeod. He is, indeed, a very rare breed, a Scottish footballer who [...]

Rangers fans celebrate with a Top Ten hit

It is a chart success which will have left all those millions of music fans who don’t follow Scottish football scratching their heads in curiosity, writes Allan Laing. Why did an old hit from the Eighties suddenly break into the UK’s official Top Ten yesterday even though it’s rarely played on the radio?
The answer [...]

Opinion: STUC still a relevant voice in country’s political mix

By David Calder
The Scottish Trades Union Congress meets in Dundee today for the start of its annual gathering. It does so during an election campaign and thus will attract more than its usual attention. But in the current political and economic climate, how relevant is what they have to say?
Not so very long ago, [...]

Lennon condemned by Celtic’s familiar failings

Neil Lennon’s response was scathing, but then he has never allowed meekness a foothold in his life. In the wake of Celtic’s 2-0 defeat to Ross County in the Scottish Cup at Hampden last Saturday, he delivered a verdict on some of his players that struck at the very heart of the despondency that has [...]

Adams family values inspire County

The journey back to Dingwall from Hampden last Saturday was interrupted for fish and chips, but not the kind of raucous, and drink-fueled, celebrations that might have accompanied a win over Celtic. But then Ross County are a club shaped by the values of two football men who share more than a familial bond.
In George [...]

Mowbray’s downfall was inevitable

Already, Tony Mowbray is forgotten amid the conjecture and assertions about who might replace him as Celtic manager. That is so often the way of it in a game that considers self-renewal a kind of virtue. He lasted nine months at Parkhead, but for so long it seemed a trial, not only of his capability [...]