The NextGen Series: a promising contribution to the long-term future of European football

In our first blog, False Nine editor Hugo Greenhalgh looks at the benefits of the NextGen Series.

In the same week that the European elite await the draw for the Champions League, a host of young talent were playing out their own competitive ties across the continent. The NextGen Series, an Under-19 tournament now in its second year, aims to blood Europe’s youngsters in preparation for the most prestigious competition in club football. Continue reading

What has Scottish football ever done for us?

 

Greg Johnson takes Scotland’s contributions to world football to task…

Last weekend the Scottish Premier League season finally got underway following a tumultuous summer north of the border. Today, the resuscitated remains of Glasgow Rangers FC will travel to Peterhead, beginning a new life in Third Division football.

Their enforced absence from the SPL gives clubs outside the Old Firm a chance to compete for glory, for the next three years at least. However, any such successes will, for many, come with the mental footnote that Glasgow’s duopoly has been shattered through developments off the pitch rather than on it. Some even believe that the triple relegation of the Light Blues could well spell the beginning of the end for professional football in Scotland. Ibrox managerial legend Walter Smith proclaimed, without bias of course, that Scottish football would soon slip to level of the The League of Ireland without the presence of Rangers in the top-flight. Continue reading