Penalties, penitence & protocols - the A to Z of Scottish football in 2020

An A-Z of Scottish football in 2020? Easy.

A is for the abomination of some of the governance, B is for the brutality of the financial plight facing clubs, C is for the cluelessness of those players who've flouted rules and landed their employers in bother.

We could carry on that grim theme all the way to X, Y and Z, but, frankly, life's too short. So...

Armageddon

Let's deal with this right away. Since lockdown in March, we've been told at regular intervals about the problems facing the game. An existential crisis, a footballing Titanic, a catastrophe, a death knell, a black hole.

'Football sources' were in a terrible rush to warn of impending wipeout. The game was fighting for its life. Some clubs would cease to exist, we heard. We were warned about the coming of Armageddon when Rangers went bust in 2012 and it never happened.

Thankfully, it hasn't come this time either. Life is very hard, but clubs are above ground. The game in this country is resilient.

Benefactor

In the summer, James Anderson emerged as a no-strings attached philanthropist when donating millions of pounds to the game. According to Ann Budge, the Hearts chairman who brought Anderson's idea to light, the initial response from the SPFL executive was to ask Anderson to "put in a paper".

Putting bureaucracy in the way of Anderson's generous donation was a bizarre approach from the governing body. Anderson was the real deal - and he proved it.

Clarke

When Scotland made it past Serbia and into the Euros, Steve Clarke and his team instantly lifted the nation. Clarke had a bruising opening to his reign as manager.

He endured heavy defeats and was hit with a countrywide cynicism and fatalism that was more than 20 years in the making. He was criticised for his selections and his formations, but he ploughed on. Good on him. Clarke's moral strength and fine management have given us a summer to relish.

Dimwits

It started with the Aberdeen eight, was carried on by Boli Bolingoli, and was then added to by Jordan Jones and George Edmundson. We're talking here about the Covid rule breakers.

The Aberdeen boys apologised profusely. Bolingoli was quickly put out on loan to Basaksehir, and the Ibrox duo haven't been seen in the blue jersey since their own clownish behaviour.

Dundee United and Celtic were criticised for taking club photographs with no social distancing. St Mirren and Kilmarnock had 3-0 defeats awarded against them for failing to follow protocols and then had those defeats erased pending an appeal.

Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the SPFL, said Scottish football had been "fastidious" in following protocols. Er...

Email

The conclusion of the Covid-hit 2019-20 Premiership season was decided by an SPFL resolution.

Dundee voted against calling the season, but their email never arrived at its chosen destination. They then contacted the SPFL to cancel the vote that never arrived, then changed their vote five days later. On that basis, the league ended and Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer were relegated.

John Nelms, managing director of Dundee, still hasn't adequately explained what went on between the no and the yes vote. Cue bitterness and rancour on a vast scale. The summer of discontent was a pox on the game.

Full-back

Back in March, James Tavernier came under heavy attack from his own fans after stating in his programme notes that his team wasn't good enough to deal with expectation. The Rangers supporters went potty, calling him an embarrassment and a loser who should be stripped of the club captaincy.

Now, Tavernier is a colossus in the eyes of Rangers fans. He can't stop scoring, can't stop creating and is a key component in the league's tightest defence. From zero to everlasting hero - if Rangers win the league.

Gilmour

Roy Keane had us all hyperventilating into paper bags in March when he described Billy Gilmour's performance for Chelsea against Liverpool in the FA Cup as "world class".

Keane has what you might call a minimalist approach to praise, so his effusive words travelled. "I literally got out of my seat and said, 'Who is this kid in midfield?'" Keane spoke about the then 18-year-old Scot's quality on the ball, game intelligence and composure. "Everything he done had quality written all over it."

The teenager needs games. With more time on the pitch, he'd be a shoo-in to make Clarke's Euros squad.

Hickey

Another teenage Scot making waves. Aaron Hickey turned 18 in June. He's now a regular for Bologna in Serie A. The way he's hit the ground running has been remarkable.

You'd have expected such a young player to take time to settle into a new team in a new league in a new country but Hickey seemed to adapt from the get-go.

Immortal

Everybody who watches Scottish football from afar knows the legend of Stein, Busby, Shankly and Ferguson. The story of Jim McLean and his Dundee United years is less well-known outside of his own country, but it's a mind-alteringly brilliant one, an absolute joy to explore.

Not long after I arrived in Scotland in the early 1990s, I interviewed him at Tannadice. People told me so many incredible stories that I walked through the door a nervous wreck. I approached him as if he were a ticking bomb. Truth be told, he couldn't have been more welcoming.

Tea, stories and a tour of the stadium. Even as an innocent outsider I knew I was in the presence of football greatness. McLean was a giant, pure and simple. What he achieved at Tannadice will be spoken about long after we're all gone.

Jen Beattie

The Arsenal and Scotland centre-back revealed earlier this month that she's been diagnosed with breast cancer. She spoke about what's been happening in her life and it was emotional and powerful stuff.

Football came together that weekend. Before the Arsenal v Manchester City Super League game, both sets of players warmed up in shirts bearing Beattie's name. Lovely. Arsenal won 4-0 and Beattie scored. Lovelier still.

Kerr

All good things come to an end. When it was announced that Shelley Kerr was stepping down as the manager of the Scotland women's team, it felt like a sensible call for all concerned.

Kerr achieved great things in getting Scotland to the World Cup for the first time ever, but things turned sour. The manner of the exit from the tournament, the controversy of her bawling out her players in the aftermath, and the disappointment of failing to make the Euros - it was time to go.

It'll be interesting to see where Kerr appears next. She has a lot to offer.

Lennon

As it turns out, they're not all Neil Lennon and Neil Lennon does, in fact, walk pretty much alone when times are tough.

We are still living through the Celtic manager's fight to keep his job and save the 10-in-a-row. It's not looking good, but for a man who has given so much to the club as player and manager (21 trophies) the abuse he's suffered in recent months has been shameful.

Heavy criticism is warranted, but some of the stuff he's had to put up with careered madly over the line of what's acceptable.

Morelos

It's testament to Rangers' resurgence that it's happened largely without a volume of goals from the man they thought they couldn't live without. Alfredo Morelos scored 38 in 2019. In 2020 he has scored just nine.

Rangers' rejected multiple offers for the Colombian from Lille. The suspicion is that they'd like to turn back the clock on that. Morelos is no longer the force he was and no longer has the value he had. Rangers need to sell players in the summer. El Bufalo won't bring in the big bucks anymore.

Negotiators

The SPFL's negotiations with government, be it in the area of crowds or cash, left something to be desired.

Plan A was to slam government through the media, accusing them of being somehow anti-football while holding them responsible for the supposedly imminent demise of the domestic game. When that didn't work, they moved to Plan B, which was the same as Plan A only with more shouting.

"There's an undercurrent of fury," one anonymous source told a newspaper. "The government is disregarding football," said another.

Their claims that government was treating football fans like "second-class citizens" was risible. Football was allowed to begin the new season on schedule, thereby unlocking the first tranche of Sky TV money. That government decision unlocked more money from the Betfred Cup and from pay-per-view.

Government then allowed the three tiers below the Premiership to begin without the need for expensive testing. Football got yet more money from a government bailout.

As yet, the SPFL has not issued a statement commenting on the millions of pounds in grants that will secure the future of many of its members in the lower leagues. Odd behaviour.

Octogenarian

One of the great Scottish footballers - no, make that one of the great footballers - Denis Law turned 80 in February. The epic sweep of his career was captured in a terrific documentary on Sky featuring the great and the good of his era and beyond. The Lawman was a force of nature.

Penitent

David Martindale has come a long way since his organised crime years, a chapter of his life that ended with a six-and-a-half year prison sentence in 2006.

Martindale has been assistant at Livingston and is now manager, pending Scottish FA approval on fit and proper person grounds. He comes across as a genuinely remorseful character who's not shying away from talking about his awful past. Football has given him a second chance.

Queen of the South

'Q' was going to be Celtic's' quadruple treble until George Galloway fetched up at Palmerston Park on Boxing Day. By allowing Galloway to attend their game against Dundee, the club broke all government rules and enraged their own support, who have been dutifully staying away all season. One rule for them and all that.

Galloway attempted to justify his presence by saying he was "spreading the word of the club to millions of people." Millions? OK. The Queen of the South board then issued one statement and then another as they tried, and dismally failed, to manage the hubbub.

Rangers' revival

Has Steven Gerrard got it right this time? At this point, you could only say yes. If they beat Celtic on January 2 then that becomes a pretty emphatic yes. Another three points against Neil Lennon's team and it would take something akin to a football miracle to stop them winning the title and halting the 10-in-a-row.

The mentality appears stronger, the work-rate higher, the clarity of thought sharper. They look a confident, focused and resilient team. They've been playing merry hell with the Celtic mindset these past months.

Scourge of gambling

Hamilton head coach Brian Rice spoke about his gambling addiction earlier in the year. Like others in the game, he was caught in its grip and the heart went out to him. This is a disease and Rice deserved the understanding and support he received. Good luck to him.

Top corner

Caroline Weir created history by becoming the first Scottish footballer to be nominated for the Puskas award, the Fifa gong given to the greatest goal in the world.

Weir's 25-yard rocket for Manchester City against Manchester United - the game finished 1-0 - was scored in 2019 but the shortlist was announced in 2020 and Weir was in the company of Spurs' Son Heung-min (the winner), Luis Suarez and others.

Upsets

They're back. Every non-Old Firm fan likes to see the big two getting a bloody nose. It took years for Celtic's monopoly on domestic trophies to end and, when it did, it was the unlikeliest team of all who did it.

Ross County hadn't beaten a Premiership team in three months, but they went to Celtic Park and turned over Neil Lennon's side in a classic League Cup giantkill. They then lost their next six games and along the way and sacked their manager.

St Mirren did for Rangers in the League Cup in one of the most exciting games of the season. Rangers had conceded four domestic goals all season. St Mirren hit them with three in one night. Jim Goodwin continues to impress in Paisley.

Vasilis Barkas

Celtic began 2020 with Fraser Forster in goal and Craig Gordon on the bench. They'll finish it with £5m recruit Vasilis Barkas in goal and youngster Conor Hazard on the bench.

Their travails with goalkeepers has been slapstick this year. They could have had Forster, but didn't spend the money. They could have kept Gordon, but let him go. They could have had David Marshall for small money, but didn't make a move. They spent big on Barkas, but it's not working out.

Hazard's performance in the penalty shoot-out in the Scottish Cup final added another twist to the story. Barkas' return against Dundee United on Wednesday saw it twist again.

Willie Stewart

The Glasgow neuropathologist has produced towering work in the area of brain injury in sport. His research in the rugby world has been instrumental in getting the authorities to wake up to its problems.

In football, where dementia has claimed the lives of too many former players, his calm authority is making the governing bodies think. They should have started listening to him a long time ago. Stewart is a voice of reason and a hugely-impressive individual.

X marks the spot

It was the year of the penalty shoot-out and the year that Marshall went from a respected goalkeeper to a national treasure. His excellence in two shoot-outs against Israel and Serbia helped send Scotland to the Euros. Saves by a saviour.

Yogi's return

After three-and-a-half years out of the game, Yogi Hughes made his comeback as manager of bottom of the table Ross County. At a club with a revolving dressing-room door, he has his hands full to bring stability to a place that seems to spend an unhealthy amount of time in a state of flux. Yogi deserves his shot.

Zoom

The new way of communicating for large sections of the media. It's functional but joyless. It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. The big wish for 2021 is the success of the vaccine and the end of the virus. Thanks Zoom, it's been nice, but we'll be glad to see the back of you.