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Double Premiership Sacking | Fletcher Future Scotland Manager? · Scots With A Mic

0:04
Listen to the noise, listen to the passion in Hamden Park.
0:08
It's John again. It's Donnie's.
0:13
Let's move on. The green dog by the fish chest.
0:18
The one for Scotland. Hello and welcome back to the
0:30
Scots for Mike podcast. I'm your host James Scott and
0:34
we're buzzing to have you back all in again for the new year.
0:37
We hope you had a lovely Christmas and had appropriate
0:41
celebrations at Hogmanay. The time of record and it's the
0:45
5th of January, so I think we're all just about over our
0:47
hangovers and ready to pick up the mics again.
0:50
And just as well, because there's been a lot going on in
0:53
Scottish football, especially over the last 24 hours.
0:57
It's been a crazy, crazy whirlwind, even after the
0:59
weekend's fixtures came to a close.
1:02
Joining me to discuss all the ongoings Fen Crocker back on.
1:06
Good to have you, Fen. Good to be back on mate.
1:10
And Ian Mackintosh was a pleasure.
1:13
Nice to have you back on. Happy New Year all.
1:16
Yeah, good stuff, right? Where do we start?
1:19
There's been the highest generally, like even, I mean, I
1:22
know, seven quarter quarter now and like we thought we'd got
1:26
everything and then news just broke again.
1:28
We'll take it. We'll take it from the start of
1:30
the weekend, obviously, Celtic and Rangers.
1:33
The Old Farm kicked off at noon on the Saturday, Celtic losing
1:40
31 to their rivals Rangers very pleased with the victory.
1:45
It was a, you know, a game of two half Celtic dominated the
1:48
first only managed to go in half time one nil leaders and they
1:52
didn't really change much going into the second-half, which led
1:55
to Rangers coming out and putting 3 past them.
1:59
I mean, I don't know, I really didn't.
2:00
I didn't have high expectations for this game but it seems there
2:04
was a lot riding on it, especially for one man because
2:07
Wilfred Nancy has been dismissed of his duties at Celtic.
2:12
Yeah, I mean it, it was a crazy game.
2:14
Obviously Charmetti finally having a good performance.
2:17
I think that it's one of his first I've actually seen.
2:20
Yeah, I think it's evident that that Nancy was out of his depth.
2:25
I I think for a couple, the the first couple of games, I thought
2:28
it was too soon when Celtic fans were calling for a second, but
2:31
it was clear that, you know, at half time Rangers had already
2:35
figured out what was working for them.
2:36
They changed their shapes slightly and all of a sudden the
2:42
game flips on its head and and they go on to win the game.
2:45
I think that's them 4 unbeaten now against Celtic.
2:50
It's been a long, long time since Celtic can beat them in
2:52
the league now. And obviously that was, as you
2:55
said, the end of the the short, short, short Wilfred Nancy
2:59
tenure, his spell as as full time manager was actually
3:02
shorter than Martin and Neil's interim.
3:05
So Wilfred Nancy was in the position for only 33 days,
3:08
whereas Martin O'Neill was in the interim position for 37.
3:13
And as we'll touch on in a second or two, news has just
3:16
broken the last kind of 10 minutes that Martin O'Neill is
3:19
returning to Celtic Park as interim for for the remainder of
3:22
the season. Yeah.
3:24
I mean, you said there has been a while since Celtic have won.
3:26
I mean, in the league at least. Yeah.
3:28
Obviously the semi final win but in the.
3:30
Last time that was the extra time.
3:32
That last win was three nil against Rangers on the 1st of
3:38
September 2024. That feels like a very long time
3:42
ago, especially for Celtic fans. But yeah, I mean it was like I
3:46
said, given 2 halves, Celtic came out, performed well in the
3:49
first half, probably should have more than one goal, but they
3:52
only took that one going to the break.
3:54
It was Yang that got the the opener.
3:58
It was some. Goal as well.
4:01
It's just it's a good goal, but partly does question they call
4:03
it defendant. Like, you can't let a man go
4:06
round. Like, yeah, I mean the, the.
4:07
Defendant is questionable, but it's still yeah.
4:11
They make it look like a great goal, but they should be doing
4:13
better. I did.
4:14
Initially I was like could they keep it on there?
4:15
But when you see the it's an absolute brilliant finish.
4:19
It's a rocket of a shot, isn't it?
4:21
That's, you know, the peace and the power of the shot pretty
4:24
much beat Butland. And I don't think you can
4:26
criticize him. I think you can criticize him
4:28
with a couple of things that over the course of these of the
4:31
season along with Michael as we'll get on to him later on.
4:34
But I don't think there's anything he could really do.
4:37
But I was saying somebody the other day, they probably need
4:40
two goalies in the in the goal not to stop that.
4:43
You know, it was that, you know, hard a shot, a fast shot.
4:46
There was no way he was going to be able to save that.
4:49
Yeah, I mean, he had, I think it was the hardest game.
4:51
He was definitely suspected for that Shangling goal.
4:53
But this one, there's just, I mean, there was nothing he could
4:56
do. He obviously Butler's been quite
4:57
suspect, but Casper Michaels had his fair share of errors as
5:00
well, obviously dodging in the Denmark versus Scotland game,
5:04
dodging against Aberdeen in the cup final.
5:05
It seems like he I am honestly shocked that he's still so solid
5:11
as no Celtic fans are even questioning them.
5:13
I mean, is it? Came in like he was only
5:17
stopping in those goals. There's position in that fourth
5:21
goal is. Forever.
5:22
No. To help you be so far out with
5:25
Kenny McLean shooting from the armies.
5:27
I. Mean yeah, I think he was he was
5:29
in two mains about growing up, I think the patch.
5:31
Corner. Be the 11th man.
5:34
Yeah, Celtic. I mean, the problem with them
5:37
under Nancy has been the resistance to change coming from
5:41
the, you know, the dugout in terms of how they're lining up
5:43
for fangs. And that was a problem again on
5:47
side there wasn't. I mean, it came out second-half
5:49
Rangers adopted, Celtic didn't. And I think this might maybe an
5:52
early chance for Celtic is pretty much Rangers domination
5:55
for the second-half. They made that code with their
5:59
free goals that you said, Chamiti getting his two goals
6:02
finally sort of living up to the player.
6:06
People thought it was going to be Rangers about an.
6:08
Upgrade tag. Yeah.
6:10
And then like you said about the third goal, Schmeichel
6:13
definitely suspect the I think item that's used on Gorgie talk
6:18
referenced as going down and and installments.
6:21
I think it was. But yeah, but maybe not.
6:22
You might not have said that, but yeah.
6:25
And it really was that wasn't it?
6:26
I mean, he was so slogan then it wasn't the best shot in the
6:29
world. Yeah.
6:30
Mikey Moore talked away and made it 31.
6:32
Yeah, this. I mean, it's, I think again,
6:35
there's a tiny little deflection on it, but there's still enough
6:37
for him to save that and make it go around the post a. 100% the
6:41
deflection takes it closer to them if you actually so.
6:45
The deflection is the one that's probably the thing that was
6:47
going to save them, but it still ends up good in the back of the
6:50
net. So, you know, I have a question
6:52
cashless Michael, for a little bit of time.
6:54
I'm not anyway related to, you know, anything Celtic connected
6:58
whatsoever. But I just look at him and I
7:00
just get the fear that he's going to make a mistake.
7:03
You know, when you see a goalkeeper who doesn't, who's
7:05
either out of his debt or he's, you know, he's not as good as
7:09
what used to be. We've all seen a goalkeeper for
7:11
our clubs like that. I'm not going to name names.
7:13
I could easily name names in the Rover Race Rovers.
7:16
I don't think you're going to bring up Andy McNeil.
7:18
From Oh, no, no, I want that's we don't have time.
7:21
We don't have time for an Andy MacNeil reference.
7:23
And if he's just been so suspect, and it's probably ever
7:26
since that Denmark game you're at Hampden, that he's been even
7:30
worse, you know, And I think the taunts, remember the first game
7:32
after it was the Saint Mirren game and Paisley and yeah, yeah.
7:36
And the Saint Mirren's supporters and then Kenny McLean
7:39
from the halfway line. And then it's just caught on.
7:42
And then I wouldn't have been surprised if Celtic fans were
7:44
sending that by the time we got to a couple of games.
7:47
You know, it was just he's just been so suspect for Celtic
7:51
recently. And one good thing I would find
7:53
is that somebody mentioned, I can't remember the name of the
7:56
Twitter account that's mentioned about Joe Hart because he was
8:00
there on Saturday in the in the in the stands.
8:03
And you've seen he was like one of the only people who left the
8:06
stands on Saturday, the big names like, and he was still
8:10
getting like sick in the church. He was getting like, you know,
8:12
handshakes on the Celtic reporters and they went, you
8:15
know, he's they're trying to give him some encouragement.
8:17
You know, he's probably he went out the peak of his he could
8:21
have went kept on playing a couple of more years.
8:24
I think Johar and but he knew exactly when his time was up,
8:28
you know, the body wasn't going to take it anymore.
8:30
He wanted to get into the media side of things as well.
8:33
That's I think Castro's Michael probably should have done that
8:35
in the summer. That that's just my festival
8:37
point. I always thought his signing was
8:39
going to be like a stop gap between Johar.
8:43
Then Castro's Michael comes in, you know, a nice pair, save our
8:46
hands for at least a season and then they go and sign somebody
8:48
in the summer for about 5,000,006 million who would be
8:52
the next long term goalkeeper and somebody who'd be a big
8:55
steady pair of hands. That's not happened.
8:57
I do think that maybe when it comes to this summer, I wouldn't
9:01
be surprised if Celtic signed one or maybe 2 goalkeepers.
9:05
They need to sign a goalkeeper of extreme quality because he's
9:09
what, 3738 now and can't just keep going on with this.
9:12
He's just going to get worse as well.
9:14
And I think it to be honest, like in terms of Celtics current
9:17
problems, that is actually no. Exactly.
9:21
We'll come on to that in a minute.
9:22
We'll first let's wrap up on Rangers because obviously Danny
9:25
Roll has come into this. He was originally under
9:28
consideration this summer. I think I'm right in saying be
9:30
withdrew, Martin came in, Martin was sacked, he's replaced Martin
9:35
and I think the turmoil at Celtic has actually benefited
9:38
him in a way because it's taken a spotlight off Rangers a bit
9:42
and he's been allowed to quietly just get on with things his way.
9:46
And that's 12 games, last 12 games for Rangers now, one
9:49
defeat, 2 draws, you know, he's beaten Celtic.
9:52
The only other defeat, the only defeat comes against the team's
9:54
top of the league. Yeah, he's a narrow one, Yeah.
9:58
So he's been allowed to quietly get on the things and like
10:04
they've avoided criticism. They've also avoided about the
10:06
spotlight and that's then definitely has benefited them.
10:11
I mean, it's interesting to see. We've always things changing.
10:14
Celtic, Rangers are up that end of the league now that they've
10:17
got that together after the start of the season's shambles,
10:20
Hearts just that it's looking so tight up there.
10:22
It's going to be interesting to see how they're like 6 months or
10:24
five months plays out. Yeah, I mean, I think people
10:28
wrote Rangers kind of off at the start of the season when they
10:32
were so badly and I thought I was quite premature.
10:36
I mean, given how many games were still left in the season
10:40
and how you know their league position was was low.
10:45
But if you actually looked at the point gap, because it was so
10:47
early on, it was not a massive a gap.
10:50
And like you said, they've kind of just been flying under the
10:53
radar and suddenly they're they're back in the title face
10:56
the title race. And I think with Martin O'Neill
11:00
coming into into Celtic as the interim manager until the end of
11:03
the season, I generally think it might be a three horse race.
11:07
Yeah, which was the news. Hard for so long, yeah.
11:10
Didn't want what would. This will come first of all,
11:13
obviously weekend defeat for Celtic.
11:15
Monday comes around, dust is settled and Celtic released this
11:19
statement Monday afternoon saying.
11:22
Celtic Football Club today announces that it has made the
11:24
decision to terminate the contract of manager Wilfred
11:27
Nancy with immediate effect. The club thanks Wilfred for his
11:30
efforts and wishes him and his family well in the future.
11:34
References All the assistants are leaving.
11:36
They also confirm that the club is Paul Ted Steel who is head of
11:42
football operations. He has left his possession and
11:46
then just before we came on to the Cordis, they announced
11:49
Martin O'Neill is taking the reins until the end of the
11:52
season, which to be fair, is something I thought they might
11:57
have done in the 1st place. Again, it feels like they could
12:00
have avoided all this mess with Nancy because I mean, who's to
12:04
say whether or not it would have worked out before and you know,
12:07
the appointed time what happens happened.
12:09
But, you know, given the the instability at the start of the
12:14
season and the fact that I think the players responded so well to
12:19
Neil when they initially came in, I was surprised they said,
12:23
right, thanks for doing that, Cheerio.
12:25
So, I mean, if you can get, I mean, I know you're asking them
12:28
to again, there's no reason you'd think you shouldn't
12:30
because I think it was pretty obvious of players.
12:33
I mean, when you heard Luke Mccarron's interview after the
12:36
on Saturday, Yeah, you know, I think I can't mind you, it was
12:39
maybe Scott's confession or Scott's, I'm forgetting who it
12:43
was opposed. But basically, you know, the the
12:45
tone and the manner he spoke about his managing interview.
12:49
You really actually hear that level, not not criticism, but
12:54
you know, if you can read between the lines, you never
12:57
hear players speak like that too often, even after the managers
13:00
left their mind when he's in the role thing, he said some long
13:03
lines of he's a manager, what can you do?
13:05
Yeah, we've. Got no choice.
13:06
Yeah, we've got no choice. You know, as players, we've just
13:08
got to get on and do what he's telling us, kind of alluding to
13:11
the fad and trying to say, but we don't think what he's asking
13:14
us to do is the right thing. You know, as a team it's not
13:18
working. But yeah, Martin O'Neill coming
13:20
in. Probably not what Hearts wanted,
13:22
probably not what Celtic fans want, Rangers fans wants.
13:26
So I know they were sort of cheering on Nancy when his name
13:29
got read out over Tano at Celtic Park once.
13:33
But I mean, I mean for Celtic fans, they'll be happy.
13:35
So now because I think like I said, if they, if he can get out
13:39
of his players what he was getting out of them back in
13:42
November, which wasn't too long ago, you know, like you said, a
13:47
three horse race isn't out the equation.
13:49
Yeah, I think, yeah, obviously touching on the stacking one
13:51
more time before we move on to a different sacking that confirmed
13:55
Wilfred Nancy's the the shortest ever reign as manager of Celtic
13:59
are Rangers. The top five is John Barnes at
14:02
245 days for Celtic, Pedro Cacina at 229 days, Paula Gwen
14:09
for Rangers at 186 days, Russell Martin obviously second to 122
14:13
days and Welford Nancy only at 32 days.
14:18
So there's quite a jump there. And the top 2 both being the
14:20
season is, is quite damning on the state of of Rangers and
14:24
Celtic. The season.
14:24
Obviously with with the funding they have, you'd expect them to
14:29
to, to push on. Obviously Hearts have made a
14:33
number of signings already. Geordie Altina, I think that's
14:36
how you pronounce that. He made an instant impact on
14:40
Saturday, got an assist on his debut against Livingston.
14:44
Yeah. So again, you know, these
14:47
players you've probably never heard of and then they'll
14:49
they'll come and light the league up.
14:50
So we just have to wait and see. Obviously that Kazakhstan
14:55
international as well Islam Chesnikov I don't know how to
14:58
pronounce. Well done.
15:00
Is that is that? Yeah, I'm proud of that.
15:01
One, it sounds like you say say it with conviction and I don't
15:04
think any questions. If you say it with conviction,
15:06
then we're just going to say you're a language student.
15:09
Yeah, so. So yeah, I think we can move on
15:13
now. Yeah, I'll ask enough about
15:14
Celtic and Rangers and I. Know you'll be wanting to stop
15:17
it and because it's it's all up in your area that what I was
15:19
going to say in your area of the country, but you're down here in
15:21
Edinburgh. But yeah, it's all up in
15:23
Aberdeen. Something I mean, talk to us
15:27
about it. How do you feel about it as a
15:29
because I know when I spoke to Mum said, well, you spoke about
15:31
how much you appreciate failing for what he did, you know, with
15:36
the Scottish Cup and, you know, such happy moments.
15:39
He brought you through that. But it just hasn't been working,
15:42
has it? No, I mean, it's it's been AI
15:45
don't know if it's a long time coming as the right way to say
15:47
it, but the performances have been dire for a while now.
15:52
And I mean, I think Peter Levine said after a second that like
15:57
the whole club has to take responsibility for it and that
15:59
he's been let down, which I do agree with slightly, but his
16:04
selection has been questionable. You know, he clearly had
16:08
favourites with Sievert Nelson and and Alexander Jensen, who he
16:12
he continued to pick despite bad perform performances.
16:16
And ultimately, yeah, it's just not been good enough.
16:19
Obviously Barry Robson was sacked and the club stated the
16:23
8th wasn't good enough and there was fans questioning that
16:26
because we were sitting eighth. And a few days later they I
16:29
guess that they got, they got what they wanted and he was
16:31
sacked. For me, I don't know if I was
16:34
slightly surprised, to be fair. Timing a bit surprised me.
16:38
I was sitting. Because obviously we've got,
16:40
well by the time this will come out we'll have probably already
16:43
played Rangers at the time of recording.
16:45
We've got them tomorrow and we've got them back-to-back, but
16:49
I was more just surprised because of how much he's been
16:51
backed. Obviously with European money
16:54
he's been backed. But I suppose with the the new
16:59
sport director Lutz, I'm not even going to try and pronounce
17:02
his second name, Fran Steel or something.
17:04
He's German. Fran Steel, I think.
17:09
Within the club and still the Penguin.
17:11
Yes, that's the one. That's his name.
17:13
You say that when we were. Then you die twice as well that
17:17
that and he's like, you're still a Penguin.
17:18
He died twice. Spent 100 and spent 101 days in
17:22
a Singaporean jail. Yeah.
17:23
Oh, he was in jail, Yeah. So, so yeah, with him coming
17:26
into the club, I think there's going to be a lot more of an
17:28
analytical approach. Maybe not to the extent of
17:31
Jamestown analytics, but he's got contacts from all over the
17:34
world. He's still the only player to
17:36
ever play on the six inhabited continents as a player.
17:39
So I'm sure he's got contacts wide-ranging from his time in
17:42
Germany, from his time in America.
17:45
So yeah, I'll be interested to see who who he goes, who he goes
17:48
for. Obviously Peter Levine coming in
17:49
to to take charge as caretaker. He proved in the 2022, no 2324
17:55
season that he's more than capable as caretaker.
17:59
He went 10 unbeaten in his two in his two stints.
18:02
Obviously came in for one game against Celtic, then we
18:08
appointed Neil, he got a draw there got then we appointed Neil
18:11
Warnock, then he was sacked and then he took charge again and
18:15
went 9 unbeaten. Steered as well clear of the
18:18
relegation fight that we were in at the time and he was actually
18:22
the one that gave Fletcher Boyd his debut I'm sure.
18:24
So you know he's more than capable.
18:26
He was linked with the Kilmarnock job before Stuart
18:30
Kettlewell was in the post I'm I'm quite sure he was.
18:34
Linked to Race Rovers. Yeah, I was going to say that.
18:36
Yeah, I think I quite liked the idea of it.
18:38
I was. I was all for it.
18:39
So. I think that's when, yeah, I
18:41
think that's when you and Murray was sacked, if I remember
18:44
correctly, because we took our time to, we took our like
18:47
literally, we took our time to appoint his successor.
18:50
And I think we took about a month and he was one of the
18:52
names. Like, I'm surprised he's still
18:54
there, I have to admit. Bill.
18:56
Yeah, he's just like he knows what he's doing.
18:58
Yeah, he's got a good pedigree as well as a coach, and it looks
19:00
like he's got a little bit of respect in the dresser and maybe
19:03
even more than a little bit of respect as well.
19:04
But it sounds like he knows what he's doing.
19:06
He's a steady pair of hands. Because as well, I mean,
19:09
Aberdeen had for years consistency.
19:13
They had Derek McInnes, you know, achieved varying levels of
19:17
success, didn't really bring too much in terms of silverware, but
19:20
you always had that yeah, competing up right end of the
19:24
league. Since then you've had Stephen
19:26
Glass, 34%, one percentage. He was in the door from 21 to
19:31
22. You had Jim Goodwin, Josh, shy
19:34
of 40%, one percentage. Then it was Barry Robson or
19:37
Muffins a mess net Warner here, but by Robson was just over 40%,
19:41
one percentage. Then it was Jimmy Fallon.
19:43
It's just and I mean Derek had or it was 53.4 percent, 1%.
19:48
I know there's numbers like they really it's funny how clubs
19:53
struggle after periods of having, you know, the
19:58
consistency of one guy in charge implementing his style and club
20:02
has influencer and the way their club and Aberdeen just can't
20:07
seem to get it right since has you know, and I wouldn't say on
20:11
paper, I think. You know, some good
20:14
appointments. I mean, Jim Goodwin used to know
20:15
at Dundee United now, isn't it, Stephen Glass?
20:18
Don't think that was painted that.
20:19
Was an awful that was an awful appointment.
20:22
Before that, was it really painted out to be as bad as it
20:25
ended up being that? Was that was his first proper
20:27
managerial gig? True, but as well, I just think
20:30
they they just haven't. They just haven't what I've
20:35
nailed down have there. I'm really pleased with the the
20:38
sporting director appointment and his pedigree.
20:39
So I'm hoping that he can take his time and get it right this
20:44
time because obviously right now the bookies favorite is Stephen
20:46
Robinson. You know, all these the same
20:49
names. But like Jimmy Tallinn.
20:53
I was actually saying with his appointment as well that just
20:57
having something unknown is exciting.
20:59
I mean, just like a random foreign manner that you've never
21:03
heard of. And then you can spend all your
21:05
free time researching what they did in their career, which which
21:07
I did with Jimmy Tween when and looked at what he did at
21:09
Elfsborg and everything. And it was really promising.
21:11
And obviously, like you said, after that Scottish Cup win, he
21:16
will forever be an Aberdeen legend no matter what, that that
21:21
will be his legacy. He will be the one that brought
21:24
Aberdeen the first Scottish Cup since 1990.
21:26
And no one can take that away from him.
21:28
And even even with the second, I think it's the the the manager
21:33
that I think's been the most well received after a second
21:35
I've seen in a long time, all the fans just thanking him.
21:38
His words were great, weren't they?
21:39
Just like you took it. Could have been one that was
21:42
raging about the whole thing, about losing his job.
21:44
But you took it with grace and honesty.
21:46
And you know, I think that's the way it needs to be done, isn't
21:49
it? You can't.
21:49
Say it wasn't given a chance as well.
21:51
I mean, I think there's other clubs that would have far less
21:54
patience were having bad things, grappity and I mean he did
21:57
manage the time that we did turn results a little bit.
22:00
You know, that was it was a period where it was much worse
22:03
compared to recently, but defeat to fall cricket weekend was seem
22:07
to be the final nail in the coffin.
22:09
John McLean, I think it was. Even performances, I think it
22:12
was even the performances, it was like even the wins we were
22:14
getting, they were undeserved. So yeah, I think he'll he'll be
22:18
fondly remembered but ultimately didn't work out, which is sad
22:23
because I think a lot of the reason why he got so much time
22:25
was because the fans were on side because of that Scottish
22:28
Cup one. But there's only so much time
22:31
that you can get. Right, right, moving on.
22:34
The Jambos extend daily at the top and due to Celtic slipping
22:38
up at the weekend as well, how Cat gave them an elite early in
22:44
the match against Livingston at Tynecastle.
22:47
But actually, to be fair, I mean haven't watched the highlights.
22:49
They definitely could have been at least one now up, if not 2
22:52
nil up when they got that opener.
22:57
But I think it was a performance in the second-half that kind of
22:59
left the Jambos, the jumbles, the heart support, a little bit
23:04
deflated about what could be a little bit more of an easier
23:08
ending to the game. I think now Livingston maybe
23:10
could next something down the end.
23:12
Elsewhere in the country, there was another Derby going on.
23:16
Dundee United hosted their neighbors Dundee at Tannadice.
23:21
But it was our third win in a rule for Stephen Presley's men.
23:27
He's done quite well, hasn't he? Not too long ago when we're
23:30
doing a podcast at the start of season where the League Cup had
23:33
not gone too well for Dundee. And there was, you know, we were
23:37
talking about the start of the season, how already we were kind
23:41
of saying it was a sort of shook the peg.
23:44
The Paisley was high school in there.
23:47
I. Think that's a very good time
23:51
you're going to get. Yeah.
23:52
I think the fact that he was a former Duned United defender as
23:55
well, you know, I mean, it's like little things like that
23:58
probably shouldn't come into the equation when it's a manager,
24:00
certainly from my point of view. I mean I wouldn't care if a
24:04
former Dunfermline manager or a former Dunfermline player is
24:06
managing rethrovers and I don't think.
24:08
They'll speak to yourself. I wouldn't want a Rangers player
24:11
manager in Aberdeen. That's that's your opinion
24:14
though. But no, I think but certainly
24:20
he's doing a good job when you look at, I mean I put something
24:23
out today, but he things they said in his first press
24:25
conference, if you want someone to win titles when you change
24:29
the football, win titles. I'm not your man.
24:32
He's outlasted the first to do Rangers manager, then the old
24:36
Celtic manager, then interim Celtics manager, the Kilmarnock
24:39
manager, the Aberdeen manager and the new Celtic manager.
24:42
So he's that lasted 6 managers, Yeah.
24:44
He's done quite well, yeah. He's done really well.
24:48
I think everyone was saying that Dundee were shooting for like
24:51
he's a shooting for relegation, almost guaranteed to go down.
24:54
And like you said, three wins in the Premiership, that's the
24:56
first time they've done that in 11 years, 11 years.
25:01
So it's testament to to the work he's done.
25:03
Obviously we were all doubtful, especially after the League Cup
25:08
group stage them going out early, but you?
25:10
Know had from them. Really glad.
25:11
Yeah, because you've got to hold hands up and just applaud I.
25:14
Think Joe as well said he spoke to him for nice.
25:16
Like he's a lovely man. His previous gags haven't worked
25:19
out from I think he was at Carlisle before, went pretty
25:22
disastrously. He's been walking away at
25:23
Brentford, so holding his craft in terms of management and it
25:27
was a kind of shock appointment because you know, Dundee haven't
25:30
gone for a guy that's in a can't role or that or someone who's
25:33
managed and Scott before I think I'm right.
25:35
Insane. Not for a while.
25:36
Yeah, no, they went, you know, they went to a guy who's in the
25:39
Brent for the Academy came up, got questioned, but so far it
25:44
looks like it's, you know, it's working excellently from so chef
25:47
the best. It's a big deal as well to win a
25:48
Derby game, especially with, you know, Dundee.
25:52
It's very rare that Dundee actually win games and they
25:55
spent back to. Back.
25:56
Yeah, I was about to say that's back-to-back.
25:58
Yeah, they're, so they're and there are some.
26:01
Good. It's a good Dundee United side,
26:03
by the way, Exactly. I could do this one.
26:04
They're not just, they're not just beaten, you know, a Dundee
26:07
because there has been few pretty rotten Dundee United
26:11
sides in recent years. I don't think Dundee United fans
26:13
will go on me too much for saying that.
26:15
But you know, he's putting away, he's put my good performances
26:18
against that team that good. Jim Goodwin's got doing good.
26:21
Things and they beat and they beat both Celtic and Rangers
26:25
this season. I mean, yeah, it's great.
26:27
It was the first time they beat Celtic in 16 years.
26:30
I remember writing something like that and beat Rangers as
26:33
well. So you know, beat both Rangers
26:35
and Celtic one in the Derby. I mean I think than the than the
26:39
FC fans will be chuffed. I think as well, if I might see
26:43
now I got a start, you're saying it's the first back-to-back
26:47
league wins at 10 a day since 1999.
26:50
You know as history for them. You know you always hear about
26:54
bully grounds from people and that's certainly a bug again
26:57
from them obviously the one of the last time and they were
26:59
brilliant that last game if you remember, four goals in the
27:01
first half but two got disallowed.
27:04
So five goals, if I remember greatly, I think there were 3
27:07
winner at half times. They're certainly, they're
27:10
certainly turning, turning the tide.
27:13
They've got some good players. We all know what Santa Murray
27:16
can do. I don't think he scored as many
27:17
goals this season as what he should do.
27:20
You know, that would still come to him.
27:21
Obviously he was suspended for the weekend.
27:24
Players like him, Eastern Hamilton, I think become a very
27:28
good addition to them in the midfield.
27:30
Luke Graham, who Aberdeen are interested in, I think Dundee
27:33
and yeah, Hearts interested. Portsmouth as well or interested
27:37
in. I think there's a couple of
27:38
other English clubs and somebody who has seen in the Championship
27:42
last season somebody who played with Falkirk and did very well.
27:45
And so they've got a good squad of players there at Danes Park
27:49
and I'm not a few Dundee fans very well so I'm delighted for
27:54
them. It's always good to see.
27:56
Yeah, I think we can maybe move on to a bit of news that not
28:00
many people were expecting. Obviously over the the weekend
28:04
Ruben Amarin was sacked as Manchester United manager.
28:07
Not too many people fussed about that up here, but Darren
28:10
Fletcher was appointed as interim manager, the first
28:13
Scottish Man United manager since obviously 2013 with David
28:16
Moyes and before that was obviously Sir Alex Ferguson.
28:20
Big steps to follow in with Alex Ferguson.
28:22
So Alex Ferguson, there was a clip resurfaced of him talking
28:27
about getting Darren Fletcher into coaching and obviously
28:30
Darren Fletcher has been holding his craft in the under
28:32
nineteens. I think they went a whole season
28:34
unbeaten. They've been playing amazing
28:36
football and obviously his two sons, Tyler and Jack.
28:43
Jack, just say Tyler and the Evil 1.
28:46
Yeah, Tyler and the Evil 1. Fletcher 18.
28:49
Or twins. Both coming through #3839.
28:54
At Man United, yeah. Tyler was #39 taking Scotland
28:57
Tommy his number boy so. Yeah, he's following on the
29:00
footsteps and giants here, but I help us on your daddy, the
29:03
manager to a fair so hopefully. Hopefully getting getting thrown
29:07
in straight away or do you think?
29:09
Burnley. Burnley first up, yeah.
29:12
You start getting some dirty looks of the Dunner table if he
29:14
doesn't start also. Certainly start in, you know,
29:17
one of them is a kind of which one because I've not really
29:20
watched a lot of Man United so far, but one certainly coming on
29:22
Jack, Jack. Jack, Jack coming on, but I hope
29:25
Tyler comes on a bit more now. Yeah, Tyler.
29:27
Tyler's obviously the one who in the Scotland versus England
29:33
game, just against each other. Tyler Scottish choose well, both
29:37
born South of the border, but Jack chooses to represent
29:41
England. Tyler has picked to support and
29:45
support to represent Scotland, so phone and his dad's foot
29:48
steps there and that he. Said for both.
29:51
Yeah, yeah. No, Tyler Jack did as well,
29:53
actually. So you never know, you'd be
29:54
convinced. Yeah, we weren't in the air.
29:56
They also played for Manchester City, The Book Boys, Yeah, Man
30:00
City and Stars, and they went to.
30:02
Manchester mind that, yeah. I thought it's crazy because
30:06
like and people have such short memories, but I mean on the
30:11
watch Man United back and then listens to the way Man United
30:13
players speak about players in the team.
30:16
I think it was Guy Neville or something, but he always said he
30:18
was like one of the first names you look for on the team sheet
30:20
is Darren Fletcher because of how we did the game, how hard
30:24
they worked, you know, you know what?
30:25
Then once he had on the game. It wasn't one of those players
30:29
who would, you know, had like he would shoot like 30 yards ago
30:33
like had, no, he wasn't that type of creative midfielder, but
30:36
boy, he was a good midfielder. There was there was actually a
30:38
clip that went viral about the new Chelsea manager that who was
30:43
the Strasburg manager Liam Rosenaire.
30:45
I don't know if that was he was, he was taught a clip of him on
30:49
on Sky Sports from back in 2018 went viral again.
30:52
And he was talking about how well it was the main topic was
30:57
Paul Pogba. And he was saying, you know, if
30:58
you look at past magnetic teams, Darren Fletcher made everyone
31:01
better, everyone around him better, whereas Paul Pogba makes
31:04
everyone around him worse. So I think Darren Fletcher's got
31:08
that knowledge of how Man United works.
31:11
And yeah, hopefully he can make Tyler Fletcher a great, great
31:15
world class midfielder. Yeah.
31:18
I was going to say, do you think Darren Fletcher will ever be the
31:21
Scott manager and do you think what would you think about it?
31:25
And my personal opinion is he will be but I don't know when.
31:29
That's the only thing. It depends on how quick he wants
31:32
to become a manager like a high level.
31:35
So. You know, managers always want
31:38
to learn their trade. You know, I mean, you see them,
31:40
you see them go into the Championship in England, they're
31:42
going to League One in England or going up to Scotland or going
31:46
to, you know, Robbie Keane's gone somewhere.
31:48
Where has he gone? Was it hungry?
31:51
Yeah, you know, you certainly see places like that.
31:53
So it wouldn't surprise me if that's going to be his trade.
31:56
But I certainly think he's he's got a fairly good chance if you
31:59
want a Scotland managed to manage Scotland and I've always
32:02
said it's not a big deal to have that.
32:04
You know, I know that's a bit controversial for people, you
32:07
know, people like to see their their manager, you know, be
32:11
Scottish. It doesn't bother me, but it'd
32:13
certainly be a good thing to have.
32:15
And somebody like Dan Fletcher, who, you know, he was the star
32:19
player when I was growing up, you know, along with James
32:21
McFadden in that Scotland team. So who knows, maybe, maybe it's
32:25
something that's going to happen one day.
32:27
I think it's just a case of don't rush them.
32:30
And it's like seeing young players don't rush a young
32:32
player for the sake of rushing. I think yeah, you just got to
32:36
see where your career goes. I mean, he's literally, he's
32:38
literally just starting out. Like it's such a I'm sure he
32:41
would love to manage Scotland. In fact, I think most Scotland
32:44
fans would like to see a guy like Darren Fletcher, not just
32:48
because like you said, you quite often want to see guys like that
32:52
and they're all just because he is Scottish.
32:53
Similarly, same nationalities, you know, he's he's a well
32:57
regarded figure within Scottish football overall.
33:00
Like he was a player. He was he was an individual that
33:03
as a player was denied success by Scott success.
33:07
He probably in terms of, you know, things you went and
33:09
achieved at club level you would have hoped you did.
33:12
He deserves to be in a team like the team we have today, not to
33:17
really like, you know, to to shit on guys year of years
33:22
before. But, you know, we weren't, we
33:25
weren't at the levels we are now.
33:26
And Darren Fletcher then get to experience major tournament
33:30
football because of that. And I think if there was one
33:32
thing that would be nice about getting into management,
33:35
potentially managing Scotland and potentially getting us to
33:38
World Cup or EUR, it would be the fact that you would get to
33:42
to get to experience that for the first time.
33:44
And I think, I think that would please people.
33:46
But yeah. Yeah, certainly Pat and Evan on
33:49
the radio 5I was listening to, there's a field commentary of
33:53
the Scotland, Denmark game. You've not listened to that.
33:56
I would listen to that recommend.
33:57
It's very good. And then Andy was saying about
34:00
all the players who not played in the World Cup for Scotland.
34:03
You know, Dan Fletcher was the first name he could think of
34:05
anybody else for a couple of minutes, for a couple of
34:07
seconds, but he was the first name that comes up.
34:09
And you know, I think as well remember his oldness as well,
34:12
took so much out of them as well.
34:14
Yeah, you know, just we things like that.
34:16
I mean, who knows what could have happened.
34:18
I think, you know, a couple of definitely a couple of years got
34:22
taken off him with his illness and who knows, he could have
34:24
probably went on become a much better player than he was and
34:27
you know, he was a very good player.
34:30
But I'll be interested to see what he's like as a manager
34:32
though. I wonder what I wonder if he's a
34:34
hands on type manager or if he's attractive.
34:37
You know, if he's one who put his the arm around the boy's
34:41
shoulders or people just shout right in their faces.
34:43
Wonderful it's going to be. I can't see I'm going to shout
34:45
in the face so I guide to 1 as well.
34:47
No. Well, people lose too.
34:48
Nice. Yeah, he does.
34:50
Touching on Scotland there. We will deal about housekeeping
34:53
because since we last spoke to you, there's been some news
34:55
about potential friendlies. Obviously we've got the World
34:58
Cup and some are big excitement about that, but we've got our
35:01
two March friendlies in preparation and then we've also
35:05
got 2 friendlies and June just before we go into the World Cup.
35:10
And, and we did confirm already that, uh, friendly and margins
35:14
Japan is on the cards and that should be at Hamden Park.
35:20
News just since come out that we could also have a, the Ivory
35:24
Coast and March, which would be nice.
35:26
I don't think we have ever played them before.
35:30
Doesn't ring any bells. That'll be in a weak game.
35:33
But it will be in England, Everton's new stadium, the held
35:38
Dixon Stadium down at the docks and Merseyside.
35:42
So yeah, that'd be quite nice to see.
35:44
There's also talk about a friendly in Peru.
35:48
I think that not in Peru, no, not this emperor.
35:51
Yeah, you. Said improve, improve, improve.
35:55
Yeah, friendly gains. Peru, but I think Florida.
35:57
And Florida. Yeah.
35:58
So we'll have our World Cup send off friendly in June, which
36:02
should be curious. Yeah, someone from, I think,
36:06
like Clark alluded to before, he wants to play teams from each of
36:08
the confederations that were playing just to build up
36:11
experience. Yeah, obviously Ivory Coast
36:14
similar to Morocco and guessing he's thinking then Peru, same
36:18
federation as Brazil and then Chris.
36:19
So Hamden Park before we then play and.
36:25
And. Then I came in Florida just
36:31
before we then go up to Boston and kick things off for real.
36:35
So that'll be quite. I'm quite interesting.
36:37
See, I'm quite actually quite looking forward to the Ivory
36:39
Coast game. I don't know why, but I've
36:40
always. Yeah, I want to go to I'll.
36:41
I'll be trying to get a ticket to that.
36:43
Hopefully not a good way. That's a great way to get 2
36:46
points. Yeah, I just have WhatsApp
36:50
Liverpool 4/4 hour drive in the road, something like.
36:53
That I've got. Doable.
36:55
Doable on a night. Don't even need a hotel for that
36:57
one. Yeah, 2026 obviously just tacked
37:00
over into the new year and there's a couple of names we
37:03
were looking at earlier. We're just kind of sort of
37:05
plotting the beta podcast was going to go and we all sort of
37:08
took a stab at seeing who we fought, you know, looking at
37:11
Scottish International, some younger, some older, who would
37:14
be the guys whose years 2026 what we're hoping for big things
37:19
wise. Don't know if any of these want
37:20
to go for. For me, a couple of names spring
37:24
to mind. I'll not say them all to leave
37:26
some for you, but Rory Wilson's the big one for me.
37:30
Got a news story today coming out that he he's potentially
37:34
going on loan in January to a European top division club with
37:40
eight or nine clubs interested so far from Denmark, Austria,
37:43
Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands.
37:45
Just to just to name some countries.
37:47
Obviously don't have the clubs officially that are interested,
37:50
but I think a long move into professional football would be
37:53
great for him. Obviously 20 years old now.
37:55
Sign from Rangers for I think 350,400 thousand.
37:59
Sometime. Back in 2022 when he was when he
38:01
was really, really young, obviously did so, so well with
38:05
the with the youth teams and was getting sniffed about by some
38:08
some big European clubs and looked like he was going as he
38:10
was running down his contract. But signed the contract with
38:14
Aston Villa back in April. And since then it's just
38:18
continued to smash. I think he's got seven goals and
38:19
11 this season, has been consistently trained with the
38:23
first team and yeah, I think I think a load move is the next
38:26
logical step. Same with same.
38:28
As well. No just about Roy Wilson.
38:31
Part of is reluctance to sign a new contract I believe as well
38:34
was because of the lack of first team football he was getting.
38:37
Yeah, and if he was, I know he had obviously had an injury last
38:42
last year that sort of held him back in terms of getting out.
38:44
So it's good that, you know, he is generally one of the highest
38:47
like sort of potential youngsters in the striking
38:49
department. When he left Rangers.
38:52
He was really, I don't think I'm overselling him here when I say
38:55
kind of went down the road with the same sort of level of praise
38:58
that Belly Gilmer got. So, you know, that's a massive.
39:01
Talent. Yeah, that's the level that, you
39:03
know, player is and I do think maybe he has been shielded about
39:07
he's not got been put in low and he has had his injuries and
39:09
that's that. You say it could be massive in
39:11
terms of it's time to shine and then I heard you saw that before
39:14
I stepped across you there. Aiden Borland again, another guy
39:17
captain. The youth team's such big thanks
39:19
for him too. Yeah, I mean, I think people
39:22
have been calling especially Aston Villa fans, I've been
39:24
seeing them call for for Rory Wilson to get first team game
39:27
time for probably 2 years now. So it's good to see him finally
39:30
get some, some first team, first team minutes.
39:34
If he does go in loan officer, that's not confirmed yet.
39:36
And then, yeah, as you mentioned there quickly in Borland on loan
39:40
to Swindon Town, who who are currently second in League 2, I
39:44
believe, looking for automatic promotion, good attacking team.
39:48
And yeah, hopefully he can do as well as the other Aston Villa
39:52
Loney. I can't remember quite his name,
39:54
but Aston Villa sent another person out on loan in the summer
39:58
to Swindon and they've done really well.
40:00
So hopefully can follow in his footsteps then there.
40:03
Yeah, obviously World Cup probably too soon for Roy
40:05
Wilson, but looking ahead to 2028 when we have all three
40:08
group stage games, should we qualify at Hamden, that's a big
40:11
opportunity for for anyone in the striking department that's
40:14
doing well to get in the squad, obviously because we are lacking
40:17
that natural goal scorer. I we have done for years as
40:22
well. So there's, you know, it would
40:24
be nice to see, I think. If you if you look at like if us
40:28
with like a Howlin type, obviously I'm not saying Roy
40:31
Wilson's going to be that good, but like a world class
40:34
goalscorer. And I think we are really on the
40:36
cusp of like going not, I don't want to say fairly deep in
40:41
tournaments, but like really competing with the big boys.
40:45
Somebody was saying, could you imagine what we would be like
40:48
with them? Like Robert Lewandowski?
40:49
No. Poland.
40:51
No. Yeah, no.
40:52
Nor we've got some more bigger talents than just Highland.
40:55
Obviously, but yeah, we've, we've not had like a like a
40:58
world class #9 since what? Fadi, Alan.
41:01
Mccoist. I Mccoist probably yeah, he was
41:05
never I'm not I'm not like going to play him down.
41:08
But it wasn't exactly like prolific at high level.
41:10
Yeah, it was like Alan Mccoist was like the last balland or
41:14
nominee before that we had before my comedy like he was a
41:17
striker when you see his numbers for Rangers like I mean.
41:21
European golden boots and stuff like.
41:22
That yeah, I mean you'd say it was, it was only Rangers, it's
41:24
only Scotland. Like the sheer number of goals
41:27
he scored like was crazy. Hell, to have a guy like that
41:30
nowadays that was doing that for Celtic or Rangers or anyone in
41:33
the Scottish leagues. So yeah, it'd just be it'd be
41:35
nice to see. And you know, when you watch the
41:39
highlights from already, it's just yes, they'll win the news
41:42
level, but pure literally just like I hate it in like the term
41:46
like the sensing box, like he just he just wants to shoot.
41:49
He just knows everything about him is like, he's just been
41:52
like. Whereas with like Shay Adams and
41:54
Linda Dicks, they always, I feel like they're always looking to
41:57
to pass that move. Like, he's got that.
42:00
Yeah. He's got that instinct where if
42:02
he gets a ball even, like even if he gets criticism sometimes
42:06
for it, for being selfish, you know that he's going to look to
42:09
shoot and that will result in more goals.
42:12
Because he backs himself. Yeah.
42:14
So what about you guys? What?
42:15
Who do you think's going to have a big 2026 about you, Aaron?
42:19
I think well, apart from the in the months, I think Kim Bowie, I
42:24
would, I always back him up, obviously local boy and all
42:27
that. And I think I've said this too
42:28
on this podcast, how many times he's local and I always back our
42:32
local guys as well. But, you know, I think if he
42:35
continues what he's doing at Herbs, you know, you know, who
42:38
knows what's going to happen? The wolves are interested in
42:40
them, apparently. I don't think that's going to
42:41
happen. I hope not.
42:42
I hope. But certainly, you know, you
42:44
know, he lives up here with his young family and that was one of
42:47
the reasons why he wanted to come back to Scotland was to be
42:49
closer to his family because he's got his young kids.
42:52
And so I don't see him move to wolves happen And, you know,
42:56
that's just mine. On his opinion, obviously things
42:59
could easily change, but certainly that's one of the
43:02
things. We have, we haven't had like a
43:04
pillar, I know we just touched in there, but we haven't had
43:06
like a prolific striker, a Celtic, arrangers who is a
43:09
Scotsman of late. Apart from Lee Griffiths, yeah.
43:13
But that's what I was going to say.
43:14
That goes back a wee while. That goes back longer than you
43:16
think. That's almost 10 years ago.
43:17
Like that's, I hope Karen Berry does not go to Celtic arrangers.
43:20
Personally, I think I think it's ceilings higher than that.
43:23
I think as well as he's definitely got, I think he's
43:26
been well trained and well coached and well looked after.
43:30
You know, John McGlynn gave him so much advice when he was at
43:33
Race Rovers, you know, and I think that was one of I think he
43:36
said does well if I'm incorrectly.
43:39
I think there was. I've seen scouts and at Stars
43:42
Park I've seen a Shepherd United scout, I've seen Celtic scouts,
43:46
I think Chelsea scouts, you know, they're all wearing I.
43:48
Know for a fact there's an Arsenal.
43:50
Scout. And that was an Arsenal scout.
43:52
They were all there, you know, they were all watching them and
43:55
I think, you know, Celtic really wanted them at one point.
43:59
I think Celtic and Rangers both really wanted them.
44:00
But I think John McGann said I would go somewhere
44:04
out-of-the-box and think, you know, where's the big, what's
44:07
the biggest club that you can see that you can realistically,
44:10
not necessarily get game time at the big club, but you know,
44:13
certainly get you a good training that and you chose
44:16
Fulham because he went to the facility down there as.
44:18
Math Class A facility and pressure, Yeah.
44:20
Yeah, exactly. A brilliant place to go and
44:22
train and play football and you know, learn and learns from some
44:26
good coaches. Well, so I don't think he's
44:28
going to go to Celtic and Ranger.
44:30
This is my opinion just right now, maybe a couple of years
44:33
time maybe. Who knows when he's if he's got
44:36
if he's got the prospects that we all know he's got.
44:38
I mean he's not scared of shooting anywhere.
44:41
You haven't you've seen that goal in Europe earlier season.
44:43
He almost did it in in Derby as well.
44:44
You know, he's shooting from one distance, things like that.
44:47
That's something people don't like that.
44:49
I love that. Like why do I mean we see Kenny
44:53
McLean do it. It's just like if Kenny McKean
44:55
Bowie can do it. But certainly him.
44:58
I would certainly think he's the one to watch out the young
45:02
people. But certainly somebody up and
45:04
coming and I'm just trying to think who were the best person?
45:08
Maybe Finley Curtis, he'll be interested to see what happens
45:10
to him. I know he's on going on loan and
45:14
from Rangers I would like, well certainly he's on the loan list.
45:17
Well, yeah, him and James Wilson, I think.
45:20
Yeah, I think, I think because we're looking, you were saying
45:23
about strikers. I think somebody with a bit of
45:25
pace and a bit of excitement as well.
45:29
Every time I see him play with Rangers, I think he could make a
45:32
little bit of a difference, whether they'll just be a change
45:34
of pace, whether that just be not scared to take somebody on
45:38
on the wind. And that's again, maybe apart
45:41
from being dope, we don't have that.
45:44
It'd be good to see what happens to him.
45:47
I think you'll publish the in the Premiership.
45:50
You might. I think Kilmarnock, you're
45:52
interested in him. I think that's somewhere that he
45:54
might go and play some football, but certainly, certainly.
45:58
It's disappointing though, because like at the start of the
46:00
season, Finley Curtis was like a shining light and a put Rangers.
46:03
He was he. Should be starting.
46:05
I honestly think he should be, you know, in that I'm that team
46:08
playing more football, but and. They need to they, I think he's
46:11
the only if I'm writing, said the only 21 Scottish player who
46:15
they have that's actually got any game time this season.
46:17
Yeah. Any.
46:18
Yeah, I think. So I think Bailey Rice has been
46:20
injured to put them again, yeah. I think we really need to put
46:23
conscious effort and Scottish football to play we.
46:26
Got some pretty grim stats and I didn't mean we published a
46:28
couple of weeks back. Have zero had 0 minutes given to
46:31
under 20 ones. I don't know if that's changed
46:33
since then, but obviously riddim a lot.
46:35
Nicole. I've got some game time last
46:36
season and he's not a sniff. So yeah, keep going on 2026.
46:40
Who's your player that you want to look at for James?
46:43
I mean, from, from me, I mean, it was a big year from last year
46:49
and it's an even bigger year from this year.
46:50
It's got to be Lena Miller because he he's he's gone to
46:55
Italy and he's not got the game time.
46:58
I think we're initially expecting him to get, you know,
47:01
I think one of the preferences around them choosing a club was
47:06
getting first in football and he's not got it so far.
47:10
But the weekend passed. He did get on at the Fort half
47:14
time for Daisy and that's, you know, that was a lot more game
47:18
time than he's been getting off where it seems to be in like
47:19
last minute camels and things. And, you know, I guess probably
47:23
more like minutes to keep him quiet other than actually to,
47:26
you know, have time to influence the game and, you know, really
47:30
test himself. And he seemed to despite a
47:33
defeat against Cuomo, the fans seemed to give him pretty good
47:37
reviews. So.
47:38
Really pretty good views as well.
47:40
Yeah, George, really, really impressed by him.
47:42
I'd like I just I just would like to see him really kick on
47:45
and get the minutes because for Scotland, whenever he's came on,
47:48
I mean, we talked about the potential he's got the ability
47:51
he already has is huge. But you, you know, is a belly on
47:55
the ball with range of pass and, you know, just as football
47:59
intelligence is so clear to see any time he's played for
48:02
Scotland so far, even the shorter and I'm speaking, I'm
48:06
getting more game time, but he hasn't had a wealth of, you
48:10
know, time in Scotland so far. But from the short performances
48:13
we have seen, he's been really good and, and he's going to, I
48:17
mean, he's got like many of us, like Bendalk, like others.
48:20
He's going to be a massive player for us going forward,
48:21
absolutely. But I just would like to from me
48:25
2026 about him finishing the season getting as much minutes
48:28
as possible for isn't easy or I know he was also rumoured
48:32
Strasbourg initially. I was going to say that, yeah, I
48:36
was going to say he'll be interested to see what actually
48:38
happens to me. Yeah, he's going to go on more
48:40
and I don't believe he's going to because you know, the club
48:43
seems like to the well what not, they seem like certain that they
48:47
want to. Hopefully the weekend at the
48:49
past there's a sign that things are going to change that
48:51
department because. Yeah, don't.
48:53
Don't forget he's arrived and into the easy on the back of an
48:57
injury as well. You know you didn't have much
49:00
first team at game time. Motherwell in the cup to begin
49:04
with. This season, 4 games or five
49:06
games played in the cup. Was that an injury or was that
49:09
waiting for a move? But no.
49:10
I think, I think there was no way they were risking the multi
49:14
£1,000,000 deal. I think it's coming their way.
49:16
Yeah, I think it's, I think it's probably, I think you probably
49:19
had fitness issue more than that.
49:21
I don't think it was, I don't think it was an injury such.
49:23
I don't see that story play. Wait a minute.
49:25
Times. No, that's.
49:26
Nice you. Don't touch on that performance.
49:29
Yeah, he was. He was really good.
49:31
The fans really rated him. A lot of fans have been calling
49:34
for weeks for him to play. And they've got a massive squad
49:38
in it as I'm pretty sure at one point they had a bench of about
49:40
15 players just on their bench. So yeah, hopefully he can kick
49:43
on. And I think just to end off the
49:46
podcast, we can talk about maybe a couple of domestic midfielders
49:50
speaking on midfielders, Elliot Watt and Josh Mulligan, both had
49:54
really good seasons and and both kind of maybe wild cards to get
49:57
in that that World Cups gone. Yeah, I mean say.
49:59
That Elliot Elliot, what's been the best midfielder in the
50:03
country I think this season. I think it's definitely between
50:06
him and Josh Mulligan for me. I know that you can see some
50:09
like in Cami Devlin for Hearts as well, but I think those two
50:13
in particular are looking at Scots as well.
50:16
Those two have been made the best two players as well, and
50:20
they've both been signed. I think Elliot Watt was
50:21
definitely a free agent if I remember and seeing that right,
50:25
and Josh Mulligan was a free agent, it will.
50:27
So we've both been good pickups for Motherwell and for Hibbs.
50:31
I think it'd be very interesting to see if they keep them both.
50:33
I think they will. I don't see any reason why they
50:36
need to sell the players off. I know that.
50:40
Josh Mulligan did a lot of European.
50:42
Interest. Yeah, yeah.
50:44
Yeah, obviously not the first, Yeah, Yeah, obviously Celtic
50:49
were really interested in Josh Mulligan when he was a free
50:51
agent along with Aberdeen, but Hibbs got a signature was ranges
50:55
as well as it ranges for instance, the main one actually
50:58
along with Aberdeen. But yeah, massive cook for Hibbs
51:01
and I think Elliot what? Yeah, he came from England.
51:05
Yeah, he came by an Albion, but he was on loan at Saint
51:08
Johnstone, so you know, the everybody kind.
51:10
Of knew. Everybody knew about him but I
51:13
think he's taking his game on terms of the level and I
51:17
certainly think his goal, I do see his goal on Saturday was
51:20
fantastic, a brilliant strike on Saturday and he was probably the
51:22
best player on the pitch against Celtic as well.
51:25
I've not seen a midfielder do that against Celtic in a long
51:28
time. You know, controlling the game.
51:30
You know, normally you talk about Callum McGregor
51:32
controlling the game. He was he was the one really
51:35
controlling the game in the midfield in that match.
51:39
So yeah, big. I think it's good to see them
51:42
both doing well. I think it's good to see them as
51:44
Scott as to Scots doing well and in the big leagues well, I think
51:48
they'll both stay at their clubs.
51:50
And definitely wild card Josh Mulligan for me.
51:54
You seem like some of the goals and some of the assists he's
51:56
got. I think he's more of I think
52:00
he's you know, he's been in the he's been in the squad before.
52:02
I don't see why he doesn't get an again but certainly the
52:06
midfield is the hardest. If they were strikers they would
52:09
be on the, you know, in the squad for sure, but not.
52:13
Literally it's just this is because they play in the most
52:16
competitive part of that Scotland team.
52:18
That midfield is unbelievable. I mean, I've said this before in
52:21
this podcast, and I've said it to group chats and I've said it
52:23
online. Our midfield's brilliant.
52:25
No, I wouldn't swap that would feel for anybody else's really.
52:29
I mean, Scott McDonald, Billy Gilmore, John McGann, you know,
52:34
those in particular, Lewis Ferguson, those were in
52:37
particular, You can put them into any squad I think with the
52:40
top ten in the world and they would go out and get into, you
52:43
know, I think they've got that good, we've got that good in
52:47
midfield. So it's a hard 1 to get
52:49
themselves into. I mean, you've got to think
52:50
about who would be, what would be the worst case scenario for
52:53
them to actually get in to the squad.
52:55
I think when you'll consider the last European Championships, I
52:58
think Ryan Jack was in the squad purely because there was an
53:02
injury to somebody like Billy Gilmore who was coming for
53:05
Billy. Well, it'll be Ryan Jack.
53:07
So we've got to think about who's best fit for who's Josh
53:11
Mulligan, the best fit for see Scott McDonald to come into.
53:14
You know, we've got, I think, I think that's how the only way
53:17
they can get in is they need to come in as backups to the.
53:20
Well, it was it was Steve Clark also touched on it saying, you
53:24
know, these opportunities don't come around often and it's just
53:27
great to have young players in and amongst these these these
53:31
moments. And I think it's really
53:32
refreshing to see how much obviously some of these boys
53:36
were mentioned. Doesn't aren't teenagers, but
53:39
it's really refreshing to see how many young prospects are
53:44
coming through, especially attackers as well.
53:46
Because I think for a couple of years we kind of had a lack of
53:48
that. And we were thinking, oh, you
53:51
know, this is this team isn't getting any younger.
53:53
You know where where we go. From here, but it's really.
53:57
Refreshing to to see how many young fans are coming through.
54:00
Bye. I mean, but I think we have
54:02
literally covered F and their boys.
54:05
It's been a, it's been a long one, I know.
54:07
Hopefully we'll be chatting to you again soon.
54:09
I'm sure they'll be plenty to talk about in the coming weeks.
54:12
Where Martin O'Neill Celtics stayed in the ship.
54:15
See what happens there and Hearts obviously continuing
54:17
there. Romp at the top of the League
54:20
fights Game Boys and we'll chat to you in the next.