Date: 30th October 2026
Happiness, the greatest gift…
By Donald C Stewart
A sketchy and humorous look at the outpourings of the great, the good and the not so good of Scottish fitba’ by Donald C Stewart. Readers are warned that if they take this seriously then therapy is available – just let us know where you find it so we can pass it on to others…
The Rangers midfielder, Nicholas Raskin, has said that he’s really happy at The Rangers, but unsure about what might happen in January.
It led me to consider and wonder just how many people are really happy somewhere, but unsure about what comes next? Or are they grumpy, sleepy or whichever of the other dwarves in ambition…
I can imagine all seven emotions around the grounds amongst the teams that went into the Scottish Cup last the weekend some happy that they were still in the Cup, but hoping for the right opponent in the next round.
Would they looking to get to the holy grail of a Premiership tie away from home, thus maximising their income?
Or they want a winnable tie, if they come from a lower league, that allows them to maintain and keep going in the cup with the possibility of getting more cup revenues through the door?
Or after Wednesday’s full Premiership programme, will Hibs put their faith in the shoots of recovery, Killie start to consider a new gaffer, Hearts review golden handshakes, or any handshakes at all, will The Rangers boss, get pilloried for taking the best players away from “such a good squad”, do Arabs think yon Goodwin fella might be the guy at last and in 4th place, is Dundee’s bubble big enough to stop it from ever bursting? Is the Sainted Martin of the Neil sitting pretty at Parkhead really happy with what is happening in the league but unsure as to whether or not there will be European football much beyond Christmas.
We do know that there are legions of grumpy within the |Parkhead faithful. It is perhaps a worry however, for the Celtic board as they would have been really happy that the Sainted Martin of the Neil said yes but are unsure about whether or not they made the right decision given that speculation is rife as to who it might be that would replace him.
Of course, it is a similar thing down south in Manchester United with Michael Carrick having his jacket on a shooglie peg.
No matter who or what or where those managerial shake-ups are going to be, Happy is still at Stenhousemuir. Given his record at the Queen of the South, who would have imagined that Marvin Barclay would have turned to be such an incredible appointment.
Of course, somebody who was grumpy and decided to fall upon his sword was Frank McKeown at Dumbarton. After being humped by The Bankies, he took the decision to throw himself under his own bus and leave the club. Veteran manager Danny Lennon is now in charge, and it will be interesting to see whether Lennon stays or does he go.
As for my own club Gary Naismith having taken the job at Ayr United we got through the League Cup group phase to be really happy and we are now pretty grumpy in October, worrying that January wills ee us struggling to maintain our championship status whilst the Stennie team that Naismith left is happily sitting atop the division and attracting lots of admiring glances whilst we are swapping withering looks.
I hear that the that the atmosphere at Somerset Park is akin to several funerals at the co-op…
There’s also the really happy beginning to the international break that hailed Sebastian Pocognoli as the right appointment. What’s going to happen with the last two games in our Nations League will be open to more speculation and interpretation in time to come.
But really happy, of course, is the Scottish Women’s National Team and the Scotland Cerebral palsy team. The Scottish Women’s National Team are in the final play-off to get to the World Cup, whilst the Cerebral Palsy team ended up 6th in Georgia at their 2026 World Cup!
So, as Nicolas de Rascal Raskin, having come back from having a decent World Cup for Belgium, is contemplating his future, there will be plenty of the Ibrox faithful moderately happy having gubbed Celtic twice in a row prior to the international break…
It’s the hope but…
Posted in: Fan's Blog, Latest News
Tags: oor Donald, Scotland, Scottish fans, Scottish football