Just can’t ignore us By Donald C Stewart

Date: 31st October 2025

Just can’t ignore us

By Donald C Stewart

The terraces.

It can be a lonely place, especially for those of us who do not follow clubs that are in the Scottish Premiership.

Often, we become the butt of jokes, which include things like phoning up to find out what time the match starts to be asked, what time can you get here? Or who’s in the first 11 and have you brought your boots, or Billy Connolly joking that he used to think that the Maryhill Magyar’s full name was Partick Thistle nil…

But teams in the lower leagues are a vital part of Scottish football and here at the Scottish Football Supporters Association recognises that the rise of things like walking football, disability football, the national cerebral palsy team’s success, the Homeless World Cup success based on a very Scottish impetus and drive, as well as the rise of the Women’s game, especially after that wonder goal in Morocco bringing the first win in eight for the Scottish Women’s National Team means that football extends beyond the big two in Glasgow and the large 12 across the country. But oftentimes it can be ignored.

And so, as Buckie Thistle manage to get their goals on the BBC website as they swept aside Highland League leaders Formartine United to put them out of the Scottish Cup, it is vital that people remember that the lifeblood of the Scottish game is something we should all treasure.

And so, as we head towards this very important time in Scottish politics where people are talking of referenda and the difference between one socialist party and another, the Greens and Your Party pass members between them, and Reform and its rise and whether the Labour Party is haemorrhaging to the left or to the right, where are we? Scotland’s band of fitba fans?

It is easy to be lost in the maelstrom and that is why the Scottish Football Supporters Association, FANIFESTO campaign is vital to get us into a position to put your views in front of those candidates and existing politicians a manifesto that bleeds the very lifeblood of our game: supporters.

So, whether you are a supporter of one of the clubs in a four-way tie at the top of the Highland League, whether it be Formartine United or Brechin City, Brora Rangers, or Fraserburgh, your view is important. Or if you are struggling at the bottom end of it and a supporter of Rothes, maybe you need heard.

Or maybe you’re out on the West Coast as a supporter of Clydebank, who are currently at the top of the Lowland League, fighting it out with Linlithgow Rose to get an opportunity for Clydebank to return to the SPFL, or for Linlithgow Rose to have another chance to get into the promised land.

Or are you a supporter of one of the clubs that used to be in the SPFL, like Gretna 2008, or East Stirlingshire, or Berwick Rangers, or Albion Rovers, or Cowdenbeath, who are all struggling down the bottom end of the Lowland League, trying to find their way back to the top of that league and into a playoff space.

Or are you a supporter of Spartans, who, along with East Kilbride, are at the top of League 2, creating distance between themselves and the rest of the pack, showing just exactly how great the pyramid structure has been. Or growing through a grassroots organisation that is the envy of many, with lessons for us all.

Or are you a fan of Elgin City, who are struggling near the bottom, or Edinburgh City, who have been hit with a devastating penalty, where the SFA may, in your view, have treated your club harshly, but are now sitting closer and closer to the likes of Stranraer, who have struggled to find the right manager to get them up that table.

Or you’re a supporter of Clyde, who are facing a resurgence, sitting in third. How did that happen? Why are Clyde in Hamilton? Is there something that should be changed to bring the Accies back to their spiritual homeland of Shawfield? Or are you just happy trying to get back to Broadwood to continue your relationship with Cumbernauld?

Or are you a supporter of Cove Rangers in League 1, who are currently sitting adrift at the bottom, with increasing numbers of debts being reported in the newspapers?

Or of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who have gone through the mill, with people suggesting they should move here, there and everywhere, away from the capital of the Highlands.

Or are you a supporter of a team currently in the Scottish Championship who are struggling to get themselves into a position to return, like St Johnstone, to the nirvana of the Premiership, or like Partick Thistle, who believe that you belong there.

Is your or Dumbarton’s recent lack of clarity over management and direction sorted or does it need a political overview?

Or are you, like Arbroath, hoping once again to demonstrate that football exists beyond the central belt, and beyond Aberdeen or Dundee?

Or are you a fan of Ross County, wondering what will happen when Roy McGregor stops subsidising the Dingwall Club?

Or are you concerned about the future of Airdrieonians, who may be on the cusp of falling down into the League One once again, or of Queen’s Park, and what has gone wrong there in their move from their home of Hampden to a Lesser Hampden with a lesser capacity and a seeming lesser ability to achieve anything, especially given that their sugar daddy has decided to move on?

Or are you just an Aberdonian who’s worried because Jimmy Thalin can’t find a winning formula, especially after a massive loss in Europe, you want to scream from the rooftops.

Or are you a Dundee fan or a Falkirk fan who wonders about your future because you have managed to get back into the big league, but it’s not been quite the success that you had hoped for?

Or are you a Rangers fan, wondering why it is that everything seems to be going wrong in Govan, when you’re supposed to be one of the big two, and maybe the club are not being supported or questioned in the way they should be. Perhaps you feel there is evidence of some form of prejudice?

Or are you a Celtic fan who believes that prejudice has always been there, and the politics of the terraces is something that you’re being consistently blamed for? Or the policing of your supporters is not right?

Or are you a Hearts fan just smiling and grinning from left to your right ear about the state of Scottish football because you’re at the apex?

No matter who you are, no matter what you feel the issues are with regards to your club, politics is the place where you can ask the questions – whither an ombudsman.

And so, putting together a manifesto, as the Scottish Football Supporters Association has decided it wants to do, to put in front of the Scottish politicians who want to have your votes, is an absolutely apposite time for you to get involved, complete the survey, and join with us, along with the 85,000 members that we have as the independent organisation fighting for the rights of fans to be heard at the highest level of Scottish society.

And there can be no higher level than the Parliament.

So, no matter who you are, your voice is as valuable as anybody else. So do us a favour, fill it out, get involved, join in. Let’s make change.

Scotland’s national independent fans organisation, the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association (SFSA), is reaching out to all football stakeholders to contribute to form a National Football Manifesto

The details gathered from the survey will form the basis of the research that will be developed into a Fans Manifesto ahead of the Holyrood 2026 elections.

Co-founder of the SFSA, Simon Barrow, said: “With the Scottish Parliament elections coming up soon, it is vital once to get the views of the football community across to politicians of all parties – as happened in 2017, when nearly 17,000 fans submitted views that led to the first ever Fan-Led Review of the Game, summarised in our 2023 report, Rebuilding Scottish Football.”

The organisation says that it is “excited to look for fresh and innovative thinking that can help move the dial on how the game in Scotland is developed from the grassroots right to the top of the pyramid. Football fans need a voice, and their votes are very much up for grabs.”

Just can’t ignore us By Donald C Stewart

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