It's the hope that kills you - Football History Podcast with a Scottish Angle

As our journey into historic football tournaments continues with Italia'90, we cover what's happened to England and Maradona since 'that match'. The English tabloids have decided that the England team were robbed in '86 but are destined for victory in '90...because why would you let the truth get in the way of a good story. Meanwhile, Maradona spends half his money on drink...

We're back to discuss Italia'90! A heady mix of iconic players, corruption, the final throw of the dice for 4 countries that will be no more and a Dutch football song, so dystopian, it would deserve to be the theme tune to a zombie, post-apocalyptic hellscape series...if you could call it a tune! Join Nick and Stevie as they venture back down memory lane to 1990. Football becomes middle-cl...

In the final episode of the series, we cover the final. Schumacher forgets how to be a keeper, Jose Luis Brown plays with a dislocated shoulder and we discuss an apparent poisoning within the Argentine squad.

Listen to series 2 where Nick and Stevie turn their short attention spans to cover Italia '90. The rise of icons like Toto Schillaci, Roger Milla and Paul Gascoigne…and, of course, Gazza’s tears. They uncover political corruption that would eventually see the fall of the Italian First Republic, ‘Tactical misdirection’ by Costa Rica to unpick Scotland and a Dutch football song that has all the...

It's the turn of the semi-finals. Whilst the games are interesting, things take a disturbing turn when we find a song about Rummenigge.

Having dedicated an entire eposide to Argentina v England, we review the other quarterfinals. We decide to divide up viewing responsibilities for games and Nick manages to select one of the few truly honking games of the tournament.

We review the most famous game of the tournament...and just maybe, the most famous game of all tournaments. Argentina versus England in the quarterfinals. If you're an England fan, you might want someone near by to give you a cuddle.

We review the knock out phase of the World Cup...which sadly, doesn't involve the Scots. That said, we do watch some brilliant games and it sets up one of the most famous games in football history in the quarterfinals.

We immerse ourselves in the group stage. The Danes look like worldbeaters, the German look like sex tourists and the Uruguayan's look like butchers.

We discuss the selection of Mexico as host, which was much more controvertial than we had imagined, and the build up process for both Scotland and England as they look to acclimatise to the heat and altitude of Mexico.

Yes, it's a football podcast, but we uncover a host of intruiging stories when we research the 1986 World Cup.

In this episode, we examine England's route to qualification for the '86 World Cup. During which, they have to navigate a fairly straightforward group but a carnivorous press and the impact of the tragic Heysel Stadium diaster.

In this first series, Nick and I trawl through our memory banks to recall the 1986 World Cup in Mexico from the perspective of a couple of Scottish football fans. Episode 1 sees us delve into Scotland's route to qualification where we faced Wales, Iceland and the mighty Spaniards.