Big week coming up for Scottish football and here at Row Z. I’ll be sending an email out to all subscribers this weeks with the bigger and better value than ever plans for the new season. You’ll also get the Row Z Premiership team by team season preview this weeks. I’ll likely have to spread that over 2 or 3 days.

Okay so a couple of things stood out for me over the weekend. Willie Collum must have a masochistic streak in him to have selected former goalie Sean Murdoch as ref for the Paisley Saints v Dunf game. As Saints boss Craig McLeish asked post match:

Yeah just the 187 appearances. Now I’m not suggesting at all this influenced any of Sean’s decisions but the optics are shocking and it was totally avoidable. I’m sure it tickled Willie’s fancy though.

Heavyweight boxing. Anthon decked again.

Joshua always does this grin when he gets up but his eyes tell you different. Tyson Fury is past his prime but can still shatter AJ’s porcelain jaw. His advisors should be telling him to retire but then……coin coin coin coin coin.

Cheers

Keith

Do you fancy an epic tale? I think you do. In collaboration with I bring you the story of Scotland’s return from the World Cup of 1978 in Argentina. If you don’t already subscribe to then you should rectify that straight away. Absolute top quality writing on Scottish football and I have a regular feature in there too. Please take a look at their Substack.

And now please enjoy…..The Odyssey Argentina 78.

Our journey begins as Scotland have been officially pumped out the tourney. With stories of unrest in the camp and the Willie Johnstone scandal hanging about like a bad smell, beleaguered manager Ally McLeod and SFA Secretary Ernie Walker address the squad as they prepare to leave Alta Gracia, Cordoba.

I’m emotional after that.

Cheers

Keith

The summer of shite continued for Bloomhearts in Austria. They might have played some decent football but their defending, especially at set pieces, was Aberdeen like. Last season’s strength became their weakness and I’m heartily jumping to conclusions by suggesting it’s because their set piece coach Ross Grant took his services to Celtic.

I alluded to it yesterday, the Bloomhearts are going to have a leadership gap that will be felt on and off the pitch. One long term injured captain and four vice captains is not the answer.

Talking of answers. Our favourite pundit wants plenty of them after that display last night. Yes, it’s the man with the raging Alphorn, Michael Stewart.

How I’ve missed those dulcet tones over the summer.

Cheers

Keith

Football never stops. Why should it? The appetite for it is insatiable.

That goes for Row Z too. The coverage is about to hit new heights this season and represents amazing value for paying subscribers. You’re in for a treat. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.

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Well that’s that done for another four years. Did you enjoy this World Cup?

I thought it was okay, not as good as I hoped, I’m happy it’s over. The final was a throwback to 90 and 94 but no doubt the best team won. An early Spanish goal would have made a huge difference. As it was we had to wait 106 minutes for Ferran Torres to get the winner.

Sweet …

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We’re nearly there. It seems like months ago that Scotland were part of this tourney.

I don’t know about you but I’ve probably not enjoyed this World Cup as much as I hoped to but certainly more than I did Qatar 2022. That’s not to say it hasn’t had its moments though and we’re set up for an intriguing final.

On Monday our attention can turn to the n…

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Two things from the weekend I can’t get my head around. One, I watched a film called Backrooms which played about with liminal spaces. Two, there was competitive Scottish football being played before Wimbledon is finished. That is just not right and beyond checking the full times I gave it a swerve (bit easier when you don’t have a Premier Sports s…

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Pardon the lack of posts over the last couple of weekdays. A lot of life events crammed in (all good ones) which left me little time for thinking beyond the odd bit of live drawing which I hope you caught but if not is included here.

Usually the last 16 is where you arrive after the groups. The last 32 felt like a cheeky wee bonus round that weeds o…

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World Cup 26 continues to play havoc with my body clock as I stayed up to watch the USA foil the dastardly Bosnians. This after the fucking Belgians mounted the latest of comebacks to beat Senegal (who only have themselves to blame). To be honest I’m not sure why they bothered playing the games as once again England showed themselves to be a class …

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I couldn’t stay awake long enough to watch Mexico which was a shame. They look terrific in the highlights and the atmosphere was a real cupboard shaker.

Messi, Mbappe, Haaland, Kane are all making their mark in the goalscoring charts. Erling managed to stumble Norway over the line against Ivory Coast.

Kylian Mbappe has taken things to another level. …

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I somehow managed to watch all three last 32 games yesterday and in the early hours of the morning. So today I’m knackered I’m getting too old for this. I doubt I’ll manage to cover Mexico v Ecuador without going into a hallucinary state by the morning. I haven’t seen Mexico yet so it would be a shame to miss them and have to rely on eight minutes of highlights in the morning.

A quick look back yesterday‘s games. Brazil squeezed past plucky Japan in stoppage time. The game saw two elements to the game of Casemiro - a liability when having to run anywhere BUT he can leap like a salmon when required.

Germany or as they’re known in our media “The Germans” were outdone by Paraguay in our first World Cup shock.

Germany were short of ideas and energy, Paraguay were resolute and right fucking up for it. The match went to penalties where the Deutschland takers were faced with a man mountain in the Paraguayan goal, Orlando Gill.

Shitebag Havertz missed, Voldemort missed, then Paraguay missed two goes to win. Tah thumped his over the bar which gave the outstanding Jose Canale a chance to to seal the deal.

Morocco 1 Netherlands 1 meant another penalty shoot out at near 5am. As I recall the penalties were pretty dire. Somerville had the ignominy of shooting right at the goalie who seemed to be standing and waiting in the corner.

I honestly don’t think I’ve seen that before. It was weird.

Every broadcaster wants a piece of Tim Vickery who appears to be the sole expert on South American football. I’d check under his patio if I was the Brazilian police.

So, for paying subscribers, we check in with Tim at….

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The knockouts got underway last night with what in advance you’d call one of the least attractive ties. Basically, any game involving South Africa is going to be shite. So it was sweet relief that the Canadians came up with a stoppage time winner.

Today’s line up of games is more mouthwatering than a packet of Opal Fruits.

Brazil v Japan, Germany v P…

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As I write this a spirited Iran have almost beaten Egypt but their draw now leaves Scotland with a 0.07% chance of reaching the next round. Cape Verde are through too, a tremendous feat which destroys this idea peddled by Steve Clarke and his believers that Scotland faced an impossible task with the draw. Some teams rise to the challenges, some shy…

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Scotland 0-1 Morocco

Scotland 0-3 Brazil

Tournament over? Most likely. Certainly deserves to be.

Three tournaments in a row we’ve qualified and three in a row we’ve been shit. Is qualifying enough? I think if you were partying in the USA then you had an amazing experience despite the results never giving you much to cheer for. Next time …

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Is that a portent for tonight? I have two thoughts. Only two.

This is not the Brazil of old. Stars that you only saw every four years and who played their club football in exotic …

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It’s time for this month’s look back in time to a moment in Scottish football thanks to . As we stand on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stages for the first time I’m looking back to 1978’s infamous campaign. This is the first World Cup I can remember bits of. More than the Scotland games what stood out to me was being only seven stickers…

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Glass half full or glass half empty for tonight? The pessimist says Scotland haven’t shown anything in tournament games under Steve Clarke. The realist says Morocco are probably just that wee bit too good for us and the optimist is already pissed as a fart. It’s a big moment for Clarke and that means some big calls.

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Thanks for the lovely replies to yesterday’s post. It’s a big move but if you don’t shoot, you don’t score and all that.

England won last night. They were reasonably impressive and rightly should be one of the favourites. As expected, Harold Kane was amongst the goals.

I’m a fair bit more relaxed about England doing well. Maybe it’s an age thing. As…

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Since 2018 I’ve been drawing the madness of Scottish football. What started as a hobby on Twitter became more like a day job but in a pretty unstructured way.

Today that changes.

Welcome to Drawn from Row Z — the new home for my cartoons across football, sport and pop culture. A studio feel with a proper grown up identity. The right place to build …

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