Date: 12th November 2026
When you have had a few
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…
Regrets that is…
40 years ago this month, Alex Ferguson made the decision to leave Aberdeen and move to Manchester United.
A stuttering start saw him at one point being contemplated for the tin tack, but he managed to rally himself and others together to bring unbelievable success to Manchester United over a stellar period, which, looking back now is a golden age of the Red Devils in comparison to where they sit currently.
Getting Manchester United to the same levels of consistency in cup and league games as Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man U got hen they can get the keys to the whole kingdom. Dear Mr. Pochettino…
One of the reflective articles over this anniversary, on the BBC website was headlined, “he’ll regret it.”
That opinion was widely held by many fans in Aberdeen which is quite ironic given the current state of play in Aberdeen as they seek another manager.
One wonders whether or not Stephen Robinson regrets taking the helm at Pittodrie. You can well imagine a number of managers over the years, feeling deep regret at taking jobs. At times, we all feel that feeling…
I remember Ange Postecoglou on a podcast with Sky Sports admit taking the Nottingham Forest job was a deep regret and one that he should never have contemplated.
You can imagine many a Nottingham Forest manager in the last couple of seasons or so thinking that they should never have bothered taking the job.
Duncan Ferguson, who is off to Ireland (the North, obvs), probably also thought taking the Inverness Caledonian Thistle job was a regret given the state of the finances of the club, which eventually led to him working for nothing and then not working there at all. The image that sticks in my mind is of him leaving the stadium in Inverness with his cardboard box and heading towards his car.
And so, regrets in Scottish football will always be many and varied, not least for managers who are going to walk into a complete boureich and wonder how they are going to survive.
There are also players, and I remember interviewing one, an Ayr United stalwart who had a stellar career, but at one point signed for Peterhead. When I asked him why he signed for Peterhead, he shook his head and replied, I think it was the only job on offer for me.
For many taking jobs that are there rather than waiting to see how the offers do or don’t come is a dicey strategy.
I wonder often if players during the summer are delighted to get signed up quickly only to be horrified two or three weeks later when they see the amounts of money that similar players are going to sign on for at other clubs.
Will Sebastian Pognolli – or us – regret him taking on the Scotland job? Let’s hope not he’s got a couple of games to prove that he is the right man for the job; that the best thing to come out of Belgium wasn’t Tin Tin, chocolate or Hercule Poirot, but a manager who provides Scottish fans with the highs that they experienced before the lows came at every single massive tournament we got into.
As for Ferguson, naw, he didnae regret it…
IMAGE : Homes of Football
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