Picture the scene. A hushed silence descends upon the courtroom, as the judge begins to speak in his measured, formal tone. In the dock, the bespectacled accused sits perfectly still, with only his darting eyes betraying a sense of anxiety, perhaps more aware than we might think about the fate that surely awaits him. He sports a loose-fitting SFA tracksuit top, and a greying stubble lines his chin.
Dear UEFA,
It was in December of last year when I first began writing for this website. My first article documented the problems that our game still faces from racists. Since then 10 months have passed and, if last night’s Under-21 game between Serbia and England is anything to go by, zero progress has been made.
What more could we want out of a football match? A huge fixture between two local rivals, contested between two extremely evenly matched teams with similar ambitions. Something to savour for supporters and neutrals alike. This Friday’s World Cup Qualification clash between Wales and Scotland in Group A ticks all of these boxes.
Perhaps we were wrong after all. The spectacular fall from grace of Rangers had led many – this column included – to speculate that the ramifications would be acutely felt across Scottish football as whole, and especially by their great rivals, Celtic.
However, the evidence to date has been less than compelling on that front.
After throwing away a 2-1 lead on the last day of the season to Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers held on to their Premier League status thanks to results elsewhere going their way. ‘Never again’, vowed manager Mark Hughes, would they be struggling so badly at the wrong end of the table. But that is exactly where they find themselves now. So where has it all gone wrong?