The latest news and talking points from the world of Scottish football.
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00:00 Hello and welcome to National World FIBA Talk, your nan's favourite football podcast, Ken.
00:10 It's a show where we break down the latest news and results from around the Scottish
00:13 Premiership and beyond. I'm your host Martin Simpson, I'm joined by regular guest Lewis
00:18 Anderson from Glasgow World and this week once again by the Edinburgh Evening News'
00:22 Craig Fowler. We're going to be breaking down all the results from the opening round
00:27 of the Scottish Premiership and then at the end of the show we're going to take a look
00:31 at the news that Scotland games could be returning to free-to-air TV.
00:36 So lads, let's start off, let's just go through the games this week I think in say
00:41 chronological order if you like, which means starting at Celtic Park. Lewis, a fairly routine
00:48 win for Celtic although there were signs from Ross County, positive signs certainly for
00:54 Celtic ahead of this season I think? Yeah, I think that's a fair comment Martin, I think
01:00 Celtic certainly weren't firing on all cylinders but on the other side of that is Ross County
01:07 I thought actually played fairly well. There's been a lot of people predicting Ross County
01:13 to have a slightly better season than they obviously did last year fighting relegation.
01:18 I think Malcolm McKay in particular has probably signed pretty impressively over the summer
01:24 bringing in guys like Josh Reid who obviously was at the club previously and by all accounts
01:30 I thought they put up a good show on the weekend. I think plenty of room for improvement though
01:37 from Brendan Rodgers' point of view, I think obviously he'll be really happy with that
01:42 start and bringing in David Turnbull, the man out of cold storage, undoubtedly a top
01:48 top player who's struggled for game time previously under Ansh Posture Coggley, I thought he looked
01:54 really really good, he has done throughout pre-season. Yeah, as you said they managed
01:59 to get the job done fairly easily in the end but conceding two goals is never nice, particularly
02:07 one right at the end of the match and plenty of room for improvement but a solid start
02:13 from Celtic.
02:14 Speaking of room for improvement, Livingston against Aberdeen, Dundee against Motherwell
02:21 were two of the three o'clock kick-offs. I think on the balance of things given it's
02:26 opening weekend that's not a particularly disappointing result for any of those four
02:31 clubs involved. Aberdeen by all accounts struggled to deal with Livingston's physicality in that
02:38 game, that might be something worth keeping an eye on because that'll be far from the
02:43 last team that try and bully them off the park and take them on physically rather than
02:47 match up against them technically. Dundee against Motherwell, obviously I think Motherwell
02:54 taking the lead into half-time, Dundee coming back, you have to say on the balance of it
03:00 I don't think maybe a slightly better result for Motherwell. All things concerned, Dundee
03:05 are, if they're going to avoid relegation this season, they're going to need to make
03:08 the most against their teams at home, in their home games against teams I should say.
03:16 In terms of MacDermid Park, Craig, a traditionally difficult place for Hearts to go and as good
03:24 a start to the season as you could have potentially hoped for.
03:27 Yeah, a long time without a victory at MacDermid Park and then two come along back to back
03:33 and a very much a deserved victory for Hearts in this one, it definitely has to be said.
03:38 I thought they were god-awful for the first 15 minutes, just didn't really get started
03:43 at all, couldn't trap a ball, couldn't complete a pass, they looked a bit disjointed and sitting
03:49 there thinking this is going to be a long season for Hearts because obviously they had
03:53 the summer where there's been a lot of controversy over the selection of the head coach and things
04:00 of that nature and then also taking ages to get sign-ins over the line so there was a
04:04 bit of trepidation and then it doesn't start well and it was already grumbles from the
04:09 fans but as the half wore on Hearts started to get real control of the game, created a
04:13 few chances but the second half, in particular after Alex Lowry and Tagawa came off the bench,
04:20 Hearts really had a different dimension, Lowry gave them creativity that they were lacking
04:24 before then, he looks like it's only one game and there's so many times where somebody comes
04:29 in for their debut and looks excellent and doesn't really live up to that initial hype
04:32 but Lowry looks like he's certainly going to do that.
04:35 He's not only, he's quite an exciting player on the ball and he's somebody that can make
04:39 things happen and with Hearts' style of play being so aggressively on the front foot and
04:45 always wanting to play the ball forward and never settle for sideways or backward passing
04:49 and that should suit him.
04:51 In Tagawa, he just brought what Hearts have missed all pre-season so pre-season results
04:57 haven't been great but Josh Dinelli left the club and that left them with a big void at
05:03 the tip of the attack because they need somebody to stretch other teams, they don't really
05:06 have much pace otherwise.
05:08 I mean Lauren Shanklin is a great goal scorer and a great player but I mean I'm probably
05:13 quicker than him and that's not really saying much at all so they needed that type of forward
05:19 to come in.
05:20 As soon as Tagawa came off the bench, they really looked like they seemed that and that's
05:23 the kind of side that we should expect from Hearts this season.
05:26 However, while it's very easy to get excited about this Hearts team based on that performance,
05:34 I'll be surprised if there's any worse teams in the league this season than St. Johnson
05:37 if they don't manage to thoroughly strengthen that team more.
05:41 They had nothing on Saturday.
05:43 After the initial good start and they had one chance in the second period, other than
05:47 that, they really didn't do much.
05:49 They don't seem to have much creativity, they don't seem to have much on attack and even
05:53 defensively they were reliant on Mitov, their new goalkeeper, for making a couple of decent
05:58 saves.
05:59 So if I was a St. Johnson fan, I mean I knew they were already because when you lose 4-0
06:02 at Stirling and Albion in the cup, you can't help but be concerned but I'd be thoroughly
06:07 concerned as well based on that performance.
06:09 Yeah, Lewis, you and I I think last week on the show both tipped St. Johnston.
06:15 I think just based on the league cup alone that they're going to be really struggling
06:20 this season.
06:21 Craig there's had a pair of eyes on them now and it all points in the wrong direction for
06:26 them unfortunately.
06:27 Just an extra word Craig on Alex Lowry, I think a lot of people across Scotland are
06:33 going to be keeping an eye on how he gets on this season.
06:38 Hopefully someone still only 20 years old but someone that there's a high hope for in
06:43 Scotland didn't get a lot of first team opportunities at Rangers last season but then again Malik
06:51 Tillman was probably Rangers one of if not their best player that season so it's understandable.
06:58 How high a ceiling do you think he has just based off of the impact he had on Saturday
07:03 at MacDermid Park?
07:04 Well not just the impact he had on Saturday but the other times I've seen him as well
07:08 he was of course the kind of the man who dictated the entire game when Rangers came to Tyne
07:15 Castle the week before the Scottish Cup final and played what ended up being pretty much
07:20 a B team but still won the game at Tyne Castle 3-1 and Lowry was exceptional that day.
07:25 He got a goal, he got an assist and he absolutely ran the show.
07:27 But it's the one I've seen of him and I've seen him a few times play for Rangers and
07:31 talent wise he could be an English Premier League player.
07:34 There's absolutely no doubt about it and he could be a Scottish international with many
07:37 many caps.
07:38 If he doesn't get to that level unless it's through injury or just kind of real misfortune
07:44 then it's kind of those ones where the player's really got himself to blame.
07:48 This is a big season for him.
07:50 It was expected last year that he was going to make more of an impact at Rangers.
07:53 There's a lot of talk that the Rangers management wanted a bit more from him in terms of his
07:59 commitment and doing gym work because he is very slight.
08:02 So the pressure is on him to go to hearts and to make an impact and if he can repeat
08:07 that performance that he showed on Saturday 38 times a season then he's going to be one
08:12 of the best players in the league.
08:13 And he'll already be demanding that Rangers play him a lot more when he goes back or maybe
08:17 even the talk is that Rangers have an option to recall him in January and that's a possibility
08:24 as well.
08:25 But it's very much up to him how much he does, how well he does in the game because the talent
08:31 is undoubtedly there.
08:33 Touching on the Scotland aspect because I know a lot of Hearts fans weren't necessarily
08:37 impressed that Hearts were taking on a lone player from Rangers because then you're developing
08:40 somebody that's then going to go back to quote unquote when you're rivals.
08:44 First of all, I think Celtic and historically Celtic Rangers and Hearts have been rivals.
08:51 I don't know whether we can really say that these days considering the gulf between Celtic
08:55 and Rangers and the rest of Scottish football.
08:58 And secondly, if Hearts managed to improve Lowry and get him on the path to having the
09:03 career that he should have then that's going to be good for Rangers but probably only in
09:08 the short term because he's that talented and it'll be great for Scotland for years
09:13 to come.
09:14 And it's the kind of player like, although to be fair we have been getting some decent
09:16 attacking midfielders recently but it's always that end of the park where Scotland are like
09:20 'right we need more talent, we need more talent'.
09:22 So if Hearts can, like I say, send them down the good path, make sure that he does everything
09:31 in his power to get the best career possible, to get the best season possible and that picks
09:35 up good habits and so forth then that can only be a good thing for the national team.
09:40 Well speaking of Rangers, Lewis, that brings us nicely on to rugby park.
09:45 Is it too early to use the word disastrous, a disastrous start to the season for Michael
09:52 Beale?
09:53 Well certainly potentially damaging.
09:56 Michael Beale will have been looking to try and get off to the best start possible.
10:00 I know there's a lot of new signings obviously on the door, nine new players and those players
10:07 are still kind of gelling together and taking their time to do so.
10:10 He was asked in his press conference afterwards whether or not he would use that as an excuse
10:15 but he says that would have been a cop-out had that been the case.
10:20 To be honest with Iain Martin, they thoroughly deserved to get beaten in this game.
10:25 Comarnach were better than them all over the pitch.
10:28 They actually saw a lot more of the ball than I think many probably would have expected
10:32 as well and looked a real threat and attack.
10:35 Rangers front two of Dessers and Seema did do enough for me.
10:39 Dessers got into some really good areas, should have scored in the first half as well and
10:44 passed up a great opportunity with the goal at his mercy.
10:47 It took too long to get a shot away.
10:51 Some question the team selection as well before kick-off.
10:54 Todd Cantwell on the bench which is perhaps a surprise given that he went with John Lundstrom
10:59 in midfield, a kind of extra deep-line midfielder if you like.
11:04 Lundstrom didn't affect the game in any way and certainly when Cantwell came on, probably
11:09 guilty of overplaying and trying to force the issue a wee bit too much.
11:13 But certainly him and Kamaru when they came on made a decent impact.
11:19 But it was just one of them days.
11:20 It was a really poor start and obviously it puts them on the back foot immediately with
11:24 Celtic already winning their opening match.
11:27 Not what they would have wanted heading into the Champions League match against Cervét
11:31 on Wednesday night either.
11:33 So certainly not the result they were wanting.
11:36 But I think over time, Rangers will come good.
11:41 This was just a very disjointed display and Michael Beale will be quite wary that even
11:47 at this early stage in the season that they can't afford to drop many points.
11:54 Obviously you have to acknowledge that there's a bedding-in period, isn't there, bringing
11:57 in so many new signings and overhauling the squad.
11:59 But when you spend the money that Rangers have been spending on these guys, especially
12:08 compared to what Kilmarnock's budget is, you do expect them to come in and have an
12:12 immediate impact, which they clearly haven't.
12:16 But we really should also praise Kilmarnock because, look, Derek McInnes as a manager
12:23 has a fairly good record against Rangers.
12:27 I mean, listen, if you're managing a team outside Celtic or Rangers, you're not going
12:31 to be beating them every time you play them.
12:33 But overall, you know, he's historically has managed to pull up some really great results
12:37 at them, whether it be at Aberdeen or even now at the weekend against Ascilly Boss.
12:46 What was it that you think got them over the line there on Saturday?
12:49 I know you said Rangers were definitely lacking, but Kilmarnock, how did they manage to win
12:55 that match, do you think, other than Rangers being poor?
12:58 I think Derek McInnes deserves a lot of praise for his team selection.
13:02 He got his tactics absolutely spot on in this game.
13:06 They kind of defensively were really solid the way they were set up.
13:11 And any time the ball kind of got out wide to Danny Armstrong in particular, he was the
13:16 kind of chief tormentor, if you like, always looking to get at the Rangers' defence.
13:20 I thought he was particularly good.
13:23 And then, you know, you've left the club captain Kyle Vassell on the bench.
13:26 He made a good impact from off the bench as well.
13:28 So, you know, McInnes' record against the old firm doesn't make for good reading at
13:33 all.
13:34 But this occasion, he clearly spent a lot of time looking at kind of Rangers' strengths
13:41 and weaknesses.
13:42 He made a point about the amount of new signings and that it would obviously take them that
13:48 time to become familiar with each other.
13:51 And I think they deserved at least a point from the game.
13:58 If you see the goal back, I mean, it's a horrendous error from John Suter.
14:02 He gets the ball stuck between his feet and Brad Lyons is there to kind of sweep the ball
14:07 home.
14:08 But, you know, from there on, Kilmarnock did create the better chances.
14:13 And I think McInnes deserves a lot of credit for that.
14:16 It's night and day, this Kilmarnock side from the team.
14:20 I watched a couple of times towards the end of last season.
14:24 I think some of the new signings are looking really good.
14:28 Matty Kennedy as well, the former Aberdeen winger.
14:31 He gives him an additional spark in that final third as well.
14:36 So yeah, I think plenty of positive signs.
14:38 And even at this early stage, I think it's safe to say that I can't see Kilmarnock being
14:43 dragged into a relegation battle this season.
14:46 What about Hibbs?
14:47 Oh yeah, typical start to the season for Hibbs.
14:56 Hibbs actually have a really good record in the opening game of the season over the past
15:04 10 years.
15:05 They actually have a better record than Rangers overall.
15:07 Yeah, well, I suppose that's true, although it's just typical.
15:11 It's just a lot of things that are the same issues for Hibbs.
15:13 So I'll just read you quickly my intro to my match report from yesterday.
15:16 "Cheap goals conceded, a lack of physical and mental toughness, losing to an underdog
15:21 opponent at home.
15:22 It must be a new season of since Premiership football at Easter Road."
15:25 Because that's just so typical for Hibbs.
15:28 Yeah, you're right.
15:29 Actually, they do tend to start seasons well.
15:31 But overall, this is the type of game that Hibbs just managed to shoot themselves in
15:35 the foot and all the time.
15:36 The defending for, well, I mean, the second goal that Marco Haro just driving straight
15:43 through the midfield like he could, you know, like there was enough space to drive a bus
15:46 through there playing in.
15:47 Oh, Usania, who just done well for pace and a nice finish before.
15:51 But the winning goal, Alex Grieve, after Hibbs had got themselves back in the game, had all
15:56 the momentum.
15:57 I actually said in my friend's group chat and WhatsApp, like, incredibly, I didn't see
16:03 that coming, the winning goal.
16:05 And my mate was like, "Well, come on, it's Hibbs."
16:06 And I was like, "Yeah, that's why I said incredibly."
16:08 I should have maybe saw it coming.
16:10 It just felt like if any team's going to win this game, it's going to be the home side.
16:14 They were the much better team for that, you know, 20, 30 minute period leading up to the
16:21 winning goal, but they just switched off again, marking non-existent.
16:25 And there's aspects of this.
16:29 It wasn't the most, really frustrating for Hibbs.
16:32 And a lot of fans are already unhappy with Lee Johnson because not only have they suffered
16:36 this result, they were also embarrassed in Europe in that first leg away from home in
16:39 Andorra.
16:42 But there are aspects of the team where you can look at and go, there's a lot of decent
16:47 stuff here, like Boyle, Juhand, neither of them had good games on Saturday and still
16:52 scored two goals.
16:54 And Dylan Levitt was a signing that a lot of people were quite impressed by.
16:58 Will Frisch played well last season and the defence was quite good when he played.
17:01 But there's another part of it where you're like, there's still a lot of question marks.
17:06 Hannan and Stevenson, both great guys, both loyal club servants.
17:10 It seems wild that both of them are still starting in 2023 for this team.
17:16 The midfield, the goalkeeping situation, David Marshall looked a bit shaky again and the
17:20 East Road crowd have clearly just had enough of him and want him out of the team.
17:25 And that's not ideal, especially of what we'd indicate from what Lee Johnson has preferred
17:30 so far in the first two matches.
17:34 When Marshall was going to start on Thursday night before he pulled up injury, Johnson
17:39 still rates him higher than Jojo Wolicot, who was brought in in the summer and looked
17:42 to be becoming the next number one.
17:44 Maybe he's not ready yet, maybe they need to coach him up a bit more, I'm not too sure.
17:47 But for me, the biggest problem, and this has been Hibbs for years, and the better Hibbs
17:53 sides have always had this type of player, but the managers never seem to realise this,
17:56 they're still too soft in the centre of the park.
17:59 And that was a problem early in this game.
18:01 The first half, in the first 28 minutes, Lee Johnson made a sub.
18:06 For those first 28 minutes, Hibbs had just been absolutely dominated in the centre of
18:10 the park.
18:11 They are a team that are really determined to gobble up second balls, they've got a lot
18:17 of energy, they've got a lot of strength in there.
18:19 And they were just overpowering Hibbs, outworking Hibbs.
18:23 Johnson made the changes, but it didn't change the fundamental problem.
18:26 Josh Campbell went off, Dylan Levitt came on, it was still a midfield three, but there's
18:30 just still a lack of defensive toughness in that midfield, and just kind of like physical
18:34 toughness as well.
18:37 And Hibbs just really needed, when they got back into the game later on and played a lot
18:40 better, it's because they bypassed the midfield and just went deep all the time, sorry, went
18:43 long all the time to Christian Deutsch, who had an excellent second half.
18:48 But they need, like, Hibbs really need to sign Marvin Bartley in his prime again.
18:52 They need that type of player.
18:54 Somebody who's maybe not the most, who's decent enough on the ball to get by, who's enough
19:00 technical ability, enough passing ability to make the five-yard passes, to maybe carry
19:04 the ball sometimes, but predominantly his job is there to be a spoiler.
19:08 They have Jimmy Djego there.
19:09 Djego is a similar type of player, but probably even more limited than a Marvin Bartley.
19:15 So for that reason, the Hibbs fans haven't really taken to him that much.
19:18 But even for the meantime, I would play him, because even though I don't think he's necessarily
19:23 that impressive, because he's not particularly great on the ball in really any way, but what
19:28 he does do is he is somebody who will show a lot of energy, a lot of determination, a
19:32 lot of fight in midfield, and Hibbs seemed to function better as a team when he is in
19:36 it.
19:37 What about Hibbs, eh?
19:41 What about Hibbs?
19:45 A great way to round up this week's action, I think.
19:48 An exciting weekend ahead.
19:50 And of course, the European games this week as well, which we'll be looking forward to.
19:54 But before we go, I just want to finish off this week's show.
19:58 I want to speak about the news that Scotland games could be returning to free-to-air TV.
20:04 Obviously, the situation at Viya Play is ongoing, but we are seeing reports that Channel 4,
20:11 who broadcast the England games, they could be making a bid to UEFA to broadcast the Scotland
20:16 games in the UK.
20:18 Also BBC Scotland, as you might expect, they are looking at their options to see what they
20:24 can do.
20:25 Lewis, I mean, just first of all, we just need to say, obviously, this is a hugely positive
20:30 development all round.
20:32 Yes, yeah.
20:33 Massively, obviously, the news about Viya Play's withdrawal announcement was kind of
20:39 came as a shock, I think, to many of us.
20:43 Given that they kind of held the rights to the national team, I think it was until 2028,
20:46 I'm right in thinking.
20:47 So yeah, obviously, huge blow.
20:53 Given that Scotland in particular have been excellent of late under Steve Clarke, really
20:59 got a team worth watching again.
21:02 And a resolution is kind of needed as soon as possible, really.
21:07 I think this will come as positive news to a lot of onlookers, given that this has been
21:16 a debate for numerous length of time now about getting the Scotland games back free to air.
21:22 I don't think they should be behind a pay-off, if you like, through Sky or Viya Play, as
21:29 it was.
21:30 Yeah, I think this is very positive news.
21:34 Hopefully, a resolution can be made as soon as possible, because obviously the next set
21:41 of qualifiers coming around in a couple of months' time.
21:46 Well, we've got one coming up in a little over four weeks, I think.
21:50 Yes, exactly, the Cyprus game.
21:55 Just on that, Craig, the SFA do tend to get in the neck around this when it's not really
22:01 - they don't have a full say on it.
22:03 We know UEFA negotiates the centralised rights.
22:07 But listen, someone somewhere needs to do a little bit more to make sure people aren't
22:13 having to pay to watch the national team right now.
22:15 Because crucially, this is certainly in our free life time.
22:20 Obviously, we all maybe have memories of France '98, etc.
22:24 But in my adult lifetime, this is as good as Scotland have ever been by some way.
22:30 And I think we need the younger generation of Scotland fans being able to have complete
22:34 access to watch the national team play.
22:36 Because you can make an argument that it's going to be important for the development
22:40 of the game in this country in the long term, I think.
22:42 What would you say?
22:44 Yeah, absolutely.
22:45 I mean, historically, our footballers come from backgrounds where it's going to be families
22:52 who are going to struggle to pay for subscription services, especially these days.
22:56 I mean, how many different - if you want to watch all the football, how many different
23:01 things do you have to sign up for?
23:02 So it's getting increasingly ridiculous.
23:05 So it is good to have, like, off the back of Fireplay, cutting back.
23:10 Although I think they're still remaining, for the meantime, at least.
23:13 Because they kind of have to, because thankfully, the insurance has been put into the contract
23:20 so that if they do pull back, then money is still due.
23:23 So I think they're still, for the meantime, happy enough to continue with the football
23:27 because they kind of have to, I believe.
23:29 But it would be good if somebody like Channel 4 or the BBC can take it off them and fans
23:33 - because Scotland games are like national finals.
23:37 Everybody should be able to watch them.
23:39 Yeah, 100%.
23:41 Full agreement there.
23:42 Well, that's all we've got time for on this week's show.
23:46 Thanks very much, Lewis.
23:47 Thank you, Craig.
23:48 As ever, we'll be back next week to discuss more of the big talking points from around
23:51 Scottish football.
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