Date: 15th October 2026
Intense in Leith
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…
You can accuse Hibernian Football Club’s board of management of many things, but never giving time to choose a new manager… A seven-hour meeting with new Hibernian manager Marink Reedijk convinced the new boss that it was the right move for him.
Seven hours.
Talk about due diligence.
You have to wonder where else seven hours of intense meetings would support and help people in Scottish football…
I wonder if Martin O’Neill spent seven hours contemplating whether or not he should be continuing as Celtic manager. Mind you he has spoken of how it didn’t take him very long. The run into Christmas and beyond is going to tell us all whether or not he made the right choice. Just what is deemed a success can be defined as two things, the league and the Scottish Cup. Retaining the double would be a spectacular reverse of fortunes for a team that prior to the international break had lost twice to their bitter rivals.
One wonders if the Scottish Football Association spent seven hours thinking about Sebastian Pocognoli before they appointed him. Going into the international break there were shoots of optimism given the pronouncements that he made but it was cautious because we needed to see the cut of his jib the way in which he set out his team. Four games in what have we seen?
A repeat of shooting yourself in the foot by losing an early goal.
Shooting yourself further in the foot by losing a player to a red card and therefore all of your plans going to pot.
Shooting yourself even further in the foot by going to pot and allowing the lesser team to dominate you in the second half and to beat you at Hampden.
It means that Pocognoli does not have a home win to celebrate his new role as Scotland’s boss and the old familiar has returned: that feeling of hope rather than expectation when a whole load of salmon pink or blue jerseys take the field.
There will be those worried as to whether or not we have got ourselves another dud rather than holding out and spending seven hours negotiating with the likes of Falkirk over John McGlynn.
You wonder if seven hours has been spent since the Scottish Football Association called a crisis over youth football and the pathway for young players to get into the Scotland squad. The lack of information and announcements on this is perhaps unfair because nobody really knows how much has happened since that St Andrews summit but summit needs to be done to provide us with some kind of blueprint.
I wrote at some point that what we needed was pressure to be maintained otherwise it was simply going to be left and you get the feeling that it is simply going to be left.
The criticism over Ross County’s demolition of the Hearts B team is something that should have highlighted at least a comment from the Scottish Football Association.
So, an intense seven-hour meeting has led to Hibernian going with a foreign coach, not the only club in Scotland to do so, and I wonder if seven hours will be spent considering why it is that Scottish coaches don’t always seem to get the opportunities that they crave.
Looking at the top-flight there are not a majority of foreign coaches looking after our clubs but a high preponderance of them. Given that one of the criticisms particularly of Dundee United this year is that they seem to have a lack of Scottish players perhaps we should also be looking at a lack of Scottish coaches who are given an opportunity in the topflight as well.
I wonder if the SFA have seven hours to spare for that.
But then again, I wonder if the SFA ever have seven hours to spare. Full stop.
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