The return of Scottish football

So, just 48 short days after Ross County secured their spot in the top flight with a 4-0 win over Raith Rovers, the Scottish domestic game is back with a bang. Anyone know if anything much has happened since then?

Didn’t think so.

The League Cup group stages

As has become commonplace over the last decade or so, the curtain is raised on the domestic campaign with the Premier Sports Cup (or League Cup for the traditionalists) group phase.

Due to the early nature of the tournament, we quite regularly see some surprise results thrown up, as clubs grapple with competitive fixtures when most other nations are in the midst of pre-season.

Last season saw SPFL new boys Spartans beat Dundee United in the first round of games, Airdrieonians defeat eventual top 6 side Dundee and Stirling Albion take home an astonishing 4-0 success away to St Johnstone.

Plenty of potential early banana skins for the bigger clubs, evidently.

And they are games that should be treated seriously, regardless of the dates that they fall on. For clubs outside of the Old Firm, it is one of the two trophies that are realistically achievable (although those chances seem to diminish as time moves on). It’s also a good early season potential money earner, and could allow clubs the financial freedom to make a late move or two in the transfer market.

This season’s draw for the groups has thrown together some interesting storylines, especially in Group B where we see the champions of last season's Championship, League 1, League 2 and Highland league (and Ayr United) set to take each other head on.

We also have a rematch of the aforementioned play off final between Ross County and Raith to look forward to.

It will be interesting to see who the big winners and losers are this year.

From a supporter’s perspective, it can be hard to find the motivation to get yourself along to these games. As much as I look forward to heading back to the terraces of Scotland, it can be hard to shake the stigma that these are glorified pre-season games, due to the early start date. 

So, I was delighted to learn of Premier Sports' plan to stream a number of these games online. It is the type of service that many fans have been crying out for, for years. Hopefully it will prove successful and we can see something similar in the future.

Wide open title races

Whilst I imagine we all accept the top flight will be a two horse race again, the same cannot be said for the lower divisions across the country.

The Championship is looking especially tasty, where more than half the league will probably think themselves in with a chance of finishing top. 

Last season’s runners up Raith Rovers are currently bookies favourites, slightly ahead of Partick Thistle. 

Raith were excellent in pushing Dundee United close last season, and their points total accumulated would’ve seen them champions in the two previous seasons.

Partick Thistle are usually there or thereabouts in the second tier and with the evergreen Brian Graham up front, you can never count them out.

However, you have to imagine Falkirk fans will think themselves very much part of that conversation due to their exploits last season. They’ll be coming into this season full of confidence and used to winning games of football.

Airdrieonians deservedly received lots of plaudits for their playing style last season and have kept hold of their highly rated manager Rhys McCabe, so will look to push on from their play off defeat to Partick Thistle last season.

It will be interesting to see how Livingston react to last season’s relegation. The last four Championship seasons have seen a team that was relegated from the top flight the previous season end up as champions. Will Livi continue this trend?

On the face of it, Ayr United have recruited well so far this summer, with George Oakley and Scott McMann being notable additions to the squad. There is no doubt that Scott Brown will be looking to improve on last season’s 7th place finish and be looking to push up the league. There aren’t many who know more about winning leagues than the former Celtic captain.

Both Dunfermline and Morton had up and down seasons last time around and will be looking to push for more consistency and play off spots this season. The managers of both sides definitely have a point to prove.

Moving down to League 1, we find another title race that, on the face of it, looks wide open.

Inverness’s issues have been well documented and it is clear that all is not well at the Highland club. However, amongst the nonsense at the conclusion of season 23/24 they confirmed they would remain full time. In a league made up mostly of part time players, this should be a big advantage.

Arbroath were a credit to themselves over their five year stay in the second tier and will fancy their chances at an immediate return. Jim McIntyre has a lot to prove as a manager and a good start to the season will go some way towards doing this.

Alloa and Montrose both exerted themselves well last season and ran Hamilton and Inverness respectively close in the end of season play offs.

Queen of the South have suffered a bit of a fall from grace after the heady heights of the Stephen Dobbie days and will look to make at least the play offs at the third time of asking in the third tier.

After promotion from League 2 last season, Stenhousemuir and Dumbarton will no doubt look to make an impact on the division, and Annan will hope to give themselves a bit more room to breathe after a final day showdown with Stirling Albion saw them out of the relegation play offs on goal difference.

And last, but by no means least, we reach League 2. 

A troubled Edinburgh City arrive having picked up just 8 points in League 1 last season, the sort of slide it can be tough to arrest. 2023 champions Stirling Albion arrive after a single year stint in the league above and will no doubt aim to repeat that feat of a couple years back.

Under Ian McCall, Clyde performed a ‘great escape’ last season, moving from what looked like a certain relegation play off to the security of 9th spot, confirmed on the final day of last season. If they can continue the form that saw them safe, they’ll be battling up at the top end of the table this time around.

Stranraer, the team to lose out to Clyde in that battle, successfully came through a dramatic extra time victory against East Kilbride in the pyramid play off. Whilst there were great celebrations on the day, I’m sure the supporters would rather not be put through the wringer like that again.

Return of the three city derbies to the top flight

Who doesn’t love a derby?

Admittedly, whilst often not being brilliant games purely on a footballing front, the passion and atmosphere at these games is unrivalled and makes for a great spectacle.

With thanks to both Dundee sides for getting a grip, we now have three sets of city derbies to look forward to in this season’s top flight.

And the fixture creating supercomputer didn’t leave us waiting long for the first, with a Dundee derby at Tannadice on the very opening weekend of the league season. Some welcome back to the big time that is for United. 

The first Glasgow derby of the season takes place at Parkhead on the 1st September and as usual the results of the four games between the green and blue halves of the city will have a major bearing on where the title ends up in May next year.

We are left waiting a wee while longer for the capital’s edition, where David Gray and his Hibernian side will be trying to make a start on overturning what has tended to be maroon domination in recent times.

Not to mention other rivalries (not derbies before anyone shouts at me) blessing our top league such as Killie v St Mirren, Aberdeen v Dundee United, Celtic v Hearts, St Johnstone v the Dundee clubs and Rangers v international shipping routes. 

We are looking to be truly spoiled for high octane fixtures in the upcoming campaign.

European representatives

So, it is left to Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Kilmarnock and St Mirren to fly the flag in European competition this year.

This will be the last season for the foreseeable future that the Scottish champions will gain automatic entry to the newly revamped Champions League, so Celtic will hope to try and make more of a positive impact on it than they have in recent years. Whether the Celtic board sanctions the signings to make such an impact feasible remains to be seen.

Rangers have two rounds of games to get through if they want to join their rivals in football’s premier club competition, and will need to improve on last season’s performance where they were easily beaten by PSV. However, Rangers seem to get on well with the Europa League, so perhaps landing there isn’t the worst result.

Hearts are entering their third straight season of European qualifiers and will look to go a step further than they have in the previous two years and make it to the group stages of the Europa League, with the extra finances and glamour ties that has the potential to bring.

This is Kilmarnock’s first appearance on the European stage since the post Steve Clarke debacle against Connah’s Quay Nomads in 2019. The draw has taken them off to Brugge for the first round of games. Great result for travelling fans.

And finally, St Mirren’s excellent performance in season 2023/24 has led to a first European qualification in almost 40 years. Their reward is a tie against either Valur of Iceland or FK Vllaznia of Albania. Some jaunt regardless of who comes through that one.

Amongst the unknowns of this upcoming season, there are some things we can be sure of. The Scottish branch of the beautiful game will throw up endless storylines, amusement and captivating drama all across the divisions, from Peterhead to Paisley and Aberdeen to Annan.

As always, the supporters will make this game what it is, hopefully we can see more records broken in terms of attendance figures. 

These clubs are the lifeblood of local communities and make a huge impact on people’s lives. The current custodians of all our sides would do well not to forget this.