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

We review our predictions for the round of 16 and make some fresh predictions for the quarter finals. Yes again, we fully expect Stevie will fall flat on his face when it comes to predicting scores and winners...however, he fully redeems himself with a lengthy rant about Galarza...apparently, the worst human being in history!

In the final episode of our series exploring the origins of football across the 3 host nations of the 2026 World Cup, we turn our attention to Mexico. A country with a fantastic footballing heritage and we're delighted to share that the Scots had a fundamental role to play in that origin story.

As WC2026 continues at a frantic pace, we continue our review of the Round of 32. The French look unbeatable, the Spanish are building momentum, the Belgians pull a rabbit from a hat, Messi dives like a U-Boat and Bellingham and Ronaldo need their nappies changed. We also make some predictions for the Round of 16...all of which Steven will get wrong because that's what he's best at.

In this episode we cover the initial tranche of 'the round of 32' matches. Scotland are out and Steve Clarke has resigned, which leads us to a debate about future management options with Stevie's suggestion of David Martindale being met with derision by Nick! Stevie also manages to fall in love, all over again, with World Cup 2026 thanks to the Germany vs Paraguay match which had every...

This is our pre and post match episode covering the build up and recovery from the Scotland match versus Brazil. Once more, we see Nick cast a critical eye over proceedings and make some informed decisions about performance and scoreline; whereas, we see Steven romanticise Scotland's chances in a sort of tartan fever dream. Ultimately, Steven has all the accuracy of a badger wearing a built up sho...

This episode was recorded after most teams had played their 2nd matches, and crucially, before Scotland had played Brazil. It's hard to squeeze these recordings in because the matches come thick and fast and we are often a) forced to rerecord as we spend so much time crying over the Scotland results, b) laughing at how dreadful my (Steven) predictions are and c) sidetracked by pesky things like ki...

We continue our exploration of the history of football across the 2026 home nations. The Scots...as always, are heavily involved in the creation of the game and the Canadians took the sport to their heart. In this episode we learn about men with big mustaches, the chaotic 1904 Olympic Games and the 'porridge eating invincibles' from Canada who went on to win the gold medal. We also learnt...

Like our podcast around the Haiti game, this pod is split into pre and post match sections. Nick called the team selection correctly and was far more accurate in his scoreline prediction as well. As Nick appears to be a footballing Svengali, I for one, would like him to predict an upset against the Brazillians...from his lips to God's ears!

The 2nd episode in our coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026. In Episode 1, e travelled as part of the Tartan Army to Boston to watch Scotland struggle to a 1-0 victory over Haiti. Still, a win is a win and we were grateful for the 3 points. In this episode, we look through the opening set of fixtures to discuss who caught our eye and to review the England performance against Croatia.

This episode is split into two parts, the first being recorded pre-kick off when we (and especially me!) are full of boundless enthusiasm; the second, being recorded post-match. ..when we're still fairly enthuiastic. We watched a nervy performance in a wonderful stadium and we discuss our thoughts on the match and the forthcoming games against Morocco and Brazil. We also touch on our experienc...

Another special episode where we review the squad and the manager's new contract...very much as the title suggests! Crucially, we recorded this episode before the friendlies against Curacao and Bolivia, so it'll be interesting to see if our caution has been replaced by unbridled enthusiasm by the time we get to Boston for the opening match

We continue the story of the early years of football in the US. We learnt in the last episode about the game crossing the Atlantic as cultural baggage with the migrating Scots who were moving to the US to staff the Scottish owned thread mills and linoleum factories that were expanding there to exploit the rapidly growing new market. In this episode, we learn of the game's rapid expansion and the c...

As we build to the World Cup which kicks off in a couple of weeks, we've choosen to don our deerstalkers and unleash our magnifying glasses as we explore the history of football across the 3 host nations and were delighted to find Scottish fingerprints all over these origin stories!

We've made it to another final! It's a replay of the 86 WC but this time the protagonists are in very different form. The game itself might have been underwhelming as a spectacle but our reflections on the tournament certainly aren't...well, not in our opinion! We also stumble across some more brilliantly awful football songs. For those that listened to series 1, you'll remember ou...

It's semi-final time! As well as covering the two games, we manage to uncover a convoluted refereeing scandal that manages to loop Dundee United into the story...Not something that just anyone can do! We also delve into the Toto Schillaci story and discuss the human side of a man who became superhuman for a few weeks back in 1990.

Hi listeners, we intend to cover the 2026 WC in real time so pods won't be published exclusively on Wednesday's but instead will drop in and around the Scotland games and then our favourite remaining games should Scotland, inconceivable as it is, fail to make it all the way to the final. So, please follow our show to make sure you don't miss any episodes and if you could give us a 5 st...

A break from our usual format...this is a one off episode where we discuss the title decider in the Scottish Premiership. Hearts travel to Parkhead to play Celtic to determine the outcome of the most exciting season in the Scottish top flight since God was a boy. The first 20 mins were recorded on the morning of the match...the last 10 mins were recorded the morning after when we picked throught t...

We've made it to the quarterfinals. A brilliant match between England and Cameroon but we still find time to hone in on some apparent spying and some colonial nonsense. Despite being a world cup often maligned for it's low scoring and poor quality games, it certainly didn't lack drama.

We review the Round of 16 at Italia'90 and there is a LOT to talk about. There's a wonder goal, an apparent poisoning and the romance of a couple of unfancied sides pushing through to the quarterfinals. On top of all of that, there is the West Germany vs Netherlands game which creates some of the most iconic scenes of the entire tournament. Which is saying something, when you consider we h...

With Scotland sadly, but not all together surpringly, out of the tournament, we turn our attention to England's group. Its a mouthwatering one, with Ireland, Egypt and the Netherlands, the reigning European champions. Things start slow for Gazza but then begin to move at lightening pace...and the same can be said for Lineker!

This was a tough one to record. Our deep dive into historic football tournaments sees us reach the group stage of Italia'90. The Scotland national team are drawn against Brazil, Sweden and group minnows, Costa Rica, who clearly won't present any problems! What the Scots hadn't predicted was Bora Milutinovic who is definitely in the running for the boldest international manager award. A...

As we continue down the rabbit hole that is Italia'90, we discuss the dysfunction within the Dutch squad, the brazen match fixing scandals the mired Italian football in the 1980's and how corruption, the CIA and the fall of communist Soviet Union all played their part in the collapse of the Italian government system and the rise of Silvio Berlusconi.

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.