Had a nice recharge of the batteries over the last week or so while doing a lot of unseen work in preparation for Scotland’s return to the World Cup.

Saturday will be the launch day for the next stage of Fitbatweets. It’s been almost eight years of drawing fitba cartoons and I thank you all for your support. I feel like I’ve outgrown the Fitbatweets name that boxes me in and associates me to an old social media platform. it’s time it was given a proper home and was well looked after here, across socials, in an improved shop and on an actual website. “Fitbatweets” represents the style I draw, tell stories in, my voice and the way I see things and that’s not going to change so don’t you worry about that.

If Fitbatweets was my baby well then he’s all grown up now. The next newsletter you get from me will be from Row Z. It’s the place I always sit to give me the unique perspective you enjoy.

All will be properly launched and revealed on Saturday, I just wanted to give you a heads up. I know I can count on your continued support through the rebrand. I think you’ll love what’s coming.

Now get watching that World Cup.

Keith

No I wasn’t expecting a post either but here we are.

After a friendly win and the loss of Wee Billy at the weekend, Scotland’s football stars have arrived in Miami for a sweat on and a kick about. I’m not sure if STV are sending Raman and Ronnie but there is a BBC contingent there and star of The VAR Review Gordon Duncan has officially ingratiated h…

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The last act of the men’s Scottish football season is Willie Collum trying to explain away critical decisions that were made a couple of weeks ago. The lack of urgency and consideration of the fans is impressive.

I enjoyed Willie’s claim that AJ’s tackle on Mikey Moore lacked the brutality they’re looking for. Of course the focus was mainly on the t…

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We’re back at SFA HQ. Rather than a fairy tale castle, this time I’ve imagined their tower to be far darker. A Sardaukar vibe if you are familiar with Dune. This was the scene for an interview published today between BBC Sport Scotland and the SFA’s Chief Exec Ian Maxwell.

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I see the Bloomhearts fans have taken well to Larry Shanks moving to Ibrix. His AI driven leaving statement hasn’t helped, especially when you contrast it with a still devastated Cammy Devlin. What I don’t really get is this new narrative of Shanks being a great leader, a leader Rangers need. As far as I could ever see he wasn’t that at Bloomhearts. He was a surly, huffy sort that threw his toys out the pram when things went against him. Maybe he was a commanding presence off the pitch. Pfff.

A bit lost at the weekend was Hearts SWPL triumph. Great credit to Eva Olid and her players but it was sad to hear that she’s leaving due to budget cuts rather than a desire to work elsewhere. That doesn’t augur well for the women’s game here. I’ll be keeping an eye and ear out for thoughts on this one.

On the other side of the coin and given Hearts loss at Leith, a Rangers win at Glasgow City would give the Gers the title. So they got absolutely skudded 6-0. It was with a heavy heart and a lot of thinking to do that manager and part time pundit Leanne Crichton returned to Pundit Club…..

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The Paisley Saints stood firm last night and eked out a single goal victory over Patrick Thistle to maintain their Premiership status. That’s left interim manager with high hopes for the future.

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Last game of the season. Poised at 1-1. Paisley Saints v Patrick Thistle.

If the first leg was a guide then you’d have to say it could go either way. I just think Patrick are a wee bit haunted, a wee bit jinxed. We shall see.

Deal news other than Tony Watt’s sock business.

Shanks has had his holiday interrupted by Rangers coming to get him.

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Today’s Scottish Cup Final is the first without Glen Michael in a hundred years. I’m of the age of remembering when Glen was part of Cup Final day which seemed to start in the morning on the telly. Now you get 45 minutes of pish preamble undoubtedly featuring Scott Brown.

Thankfully Glen’s trusty talking lamp Paladin was still able to spout out a pr…

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Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Killian Phillips toe bash.

The SFA received a letter from Bloomhearts still banging on about the end of the game. As a result they publicly released the video of the end of the match. The evidence was damning.

Given that the Jambos already had this video I don’t know what they’re wanging on about other than to …

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It’s looking like Motherwell and Scottish fitba may only get that one season from Jens.

It’s understandable but it’ll be a tough one to take for the Well support.

Bloomhearts are STILL finding things to complain about from Saturday. Elsa’s had enough of it.

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A late one today as I’ve been working on expanding Fitbatweets for the World Cup. All will be revealed in the coming days. I hope you enjoy what I have planned.

Well the fallout continues as the reality of the BBC pundit choices sink in. As the landlord of Pundit Club I feel I have a duty of care towards our members.

Today has been particularly diffi…

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The race is over. The title is won. Like I’ve always said, the Football Gods call the shots.

Let’s look at the game itself first. You may have spotted some of these goals drawn live on Substack Notes and Twitter.

Larry Shanks shocked Sheltic.

A penalty from Ernie Angles levelled things at half time.

With time running out and Celtic eventually showing some signs of urgency they took a very late lead through Daizen Maeda despite the intervention of the lino.

95 minutes or so and Bloomhearts launched everyone forward for a free kick only for Blair Spittal to hit the first defender with it and for Cammy Devlin’s shot to ricochet off Ian Nacho’s bulk.

The Chase was on……..

Celtic’s title. If Martin O’Neill wasn’t a legend before - he is now.

And you can buy Martin on prints, mugs, coasters, T-shirts and pint glasses (!) at my shop and you can buy the Champions character driven merch too.

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I can’t be arsed getting deep into the pitch invasion stuff, it’s covered everywhere else. I think your team’s pitch is hallowed turf that should only be trod on with club permission.

Bloomhearts had to find their own way home without even having a wash and change. The players were emotional.

So were their biggest fans (get it right up each and every one of them).

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Some other news from the weekend.

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The SFA have released a statement. There’s no cartoon specifically about it but I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Personally, while I don’t condone leaking personal information of officials, it would sterilise the essence of Scottish football if everyone is to put up and shut up about contentious decisions. If the SFA are as serio…

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Well that was quite a night of fitba.

We all knew Bloomhearts would take care of Falkirk, which they duly did. When Motherwell took the lead over Celtic, the Jambos had one tentacle on the trophy. It was a gripping game. Maeda equalises, then should have had a penalty when he was emptied by Well Ward The Goalie. Ben Nygren, who was absolutely awful, pinged in a beauty, Motherwell equalised again and it was looking like Celtic would need to beat Bloomhearts by three on Saturday.

Remember this cartoon from yesterday..

The Football Gods left it very late to enact their Saturday plan. In the death throes of added time Sam Nicholson jumped with Auston Trusty to meet the ball and Trusty’s bonce. But that wasn’t the issue…was there a hand in there?

VAR Andrew Dallas was convinced enough to send John Beaton to the monitor. Was that the only angle available? I mean it looks like the hand is making contact with the ball but equally it could be at the side of his head. This angle seems to confirm that.

But if you look at the original footage again it’s pretty damning.

The penalty was given and Ice Cold Ian Nacho stroked it away.

The socials went in to overdrive as who you support drove your opinion - especially those who said they have no skin in the game, watch for them. The Sky Sports experts were dumbfounded. A defibrillator was standing by for Boydy.

Bloomhearts boss Del McInnes chimed in with some strong words for Luke Shanley.

They wanted drama and they got it. It’s not the SFA or Willie Collum in charge, or the Pope or the Lodges. The Football Gods decide everything.

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Here was me thinking Aberdeen might be a different animal under Stephen Robinson. So it was heartwarming to see that they’ve dropped in another “unacceptable” performance again last night to aid Paisley Saints survival bid. ‘‘Twas all for nought though as Kilmarnock triumphed again at Rugby Pugby. So there’s nothing to play for in the bottom six ga…

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As expected there’s been a double injury blow for Bloomhearts Marc Leonard and Craig Halkett.

Scunnered for them both as confirmed Achilles ruptures will leave them out for 7-9 months.

There’s also been a blow for Rangers as it looks like things are trending towards Danny Rohl staying on after talks with his agent.

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I’ve drawn that team a few times but I think I’ve created my definitive version here.

All my old products have been culled from the shop now so this is the only version available and only until the end of May. You can order it on different merch at Fitbatweets.com

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Hope you enjoyed the Albert Kidd day cartoons. That’s been one of my favourites to draw. I’m definitely coming to terms with Bloomhearts winning the league. Immersing myself back in 1986 makes me feel that it’s right that they should lay that ghost to rest. In the same way that Leith won the cup in 2016, some things just have to happen eventually.

T…

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Every month allow me to go back in time to long before my football cartoons existed. This time we head back to a very relevant time - 3rd May 1986. A two horse race for the title between (pre Bloom) Hearts and Celtic. The Jambos were two points and four goals better off. It was theirs to lose. Hearts travelled to Dundee needing only a draw while C…

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Yay I got a new subscriber yesterday. If you’re dithering then jump aboard now.

I was taken aback by the news (or the timing) of the announcement of Gary Naysmith leaving Stenhousemuir at the end of the season slap bang in the middle of their playoff journey. And where is he off to?

Ayr Underachievers. Can he do what Scott Brown couldn’t? That’s a lo…

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