Scotland has reached the play-off round with all five clubs still involved in Europe. While this has happened before in 2023/24, this is the first time in which all five will play a play-off tie, as Celtic had automatic Champions League qualification back in those heady days of being a top 10 ranked nation.

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The Stats Packs will continue this season as a subscriber-only feature, with post-match stats packs published every Monday morning.

Current Undefeated Streaks

Each week I provide the longest undefeated and winless streaks in the SPFL, for league matches only. However as it was a League Cup weekend, I will give the streaks in all competitions.

Top 10 current SPFL undefeated streaks in all competitions

Current Winless Streaks

Top 10 current SPFL winless streaks in all competitions:

Feature of the Week:
Celtic win by 4, again

Ominously for everyone else, we are only three games into the season and Celtic have already recorded back-to-back wins by four goals.

Further to this, last season was the first this century in which Celtic didn't score 5 or more goals in a single 90 minute game.

They managed it in the first away game this season, away to Kilmarnock last week, following that up with 4 goals in the very next game at Tannadice.

League Cup

Unlike in the league or the Scottish Cup, there is no requirement in the League Cup regulations for the home side to offer the away team a “reasonable number” of tickets, or any minimum %.

The only specific allocation is 50 club complimentary tickets (10 Directors’ Box & 40 stand)

For the gate receipts, the home side keep 15% to cover hosting costs, before the rest is split equally, so a 57.5%/42.5% split.

VAR costs are deducted from the shared ticket money after the home side’s 15% cut, meaning both clubs pay half of the VAR costs.

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Scotland have appointed only the second overseas manager in the national team’s history, and the first since Berti Vogts left by mutual consent after 32 matches, almost 22 years ago. Sébastien Pocognoli joins on an initial two-year contract, bringing 38-year-old Kevin Mirallas with him as assistant manager. Steven Naismith is likely to remain involved, providing some continuity from the previous regime and, crucially, a former Scotland international within the overseas coaching staff. Pocognoli is widely viewed as an ‘outside the box’ appointment, with most fans seemingly satisfied given the lack of credible Scottish alternatives.

Pocognoli is best known for leading Union Saint-Gilloise to their first Belgian title since 1935, so I am going to look at how managers from prominent data-led clubs have fared after moving into different environments. How much of the success belongs to the coach, and how much comes from working inside an exceptional football operation?

Pocognoli, 39, has already experienced both sides of that argument during his short senior coaching career. In his first season (!) as a first-team manager, he led Union Saint-Gilloise to their first Belgian championship in nearly 90 years. His side recovered from taking 14 points from their opening 10 league games to collect 28 from a possible 30 in the Champions’ Play-offs. They entered the split 13 points behind Genk, before that weird Belgian format, that they changed for the upcoming season, halved the totals and reduced the gap to six. Union then produced the results that mattered most to take the title. Pocognoli also won the Belgian Super Cup in his first competitive match and was named Pro League Coach of the Season.

Pretty impressive for a first season, so Monaco subsequently paid compensation to take him from Union in October 2025. Eight months later, he was out on his arse. Monaco finished seventh in Ligue 1, outside the Champions League qualification places, which amounts to mission failure for a club with those ambitions. Pocognoli’s final record in France was 16 wins, nine draws and 13 defeats from 38 matches, although he did take Monaco into the Champions League knockout phase, where they lost 5-4 on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain.

So, how much credit is due to Pocognoli for the success in Belgium, and how much blame is due for the failure in France? The answer is impossible to prove, although Pocognoli was a league winner at 37 in a top-10 European league and has managerial experience in one of the traditional top five. Managers with a CV like that who are willing to step into international football are few and far between. From that point of view, the appointment makes sense, especially given the lack of viable alternative candidates. The careers of other coaches after leaving these superbly run, data-led clubs provide useful context.

The Union System

Pocognoli will be described as a Jamestown Analytics coach because he coached a club whose recruitment is powered by Jamestown’s information. Union’s agreement gives them exclusive access in Belgium to private predictive analysis designed to identify players whose future value exceeds their current reputation. USG’s majority owner, Alex Muzio, told The Independent that the analysis attempts to establish “what they think will happen next”, rather than simply describing previous performance.

Recruitment is only one part of the operation. USG have also remained fairly consistent in how they play, building around a back three and players signed specifically for high-intensity, ‘vertical’ football. When one coach leaves, his successor inherits a squad assembled for recognisable roles. When players are sold, ready-made replacements who fit those roles come in.

This has meant that USG’s results have remained consistent, despite repeated managerial departures. Felice Mazzu won promotion in 2021 and took Union to second place during their first season back in Belgium’s top division. Karel Geraerts followed with third place and a Europa League quarter-final. Alexander Blessin won the Belgian Cup and finished second. Pocognoli won the league, and was replaced by David Hubert who guided Union to another runners-up finish and won the 2026 Belgian Cup.

Meanwhile, USG continued to compete for trophies, regardless of who was in charge. The sample is small, yet the pattern supports the argument that Union provide an unusually favourable environment in which managers can succeed.

What about the other famous data-heavy clubs?

Brighton & Brentford - A similar story

Brighton are the highest-profile club associated with the Jamestown model and have received hundreds of millions of pounds in financial support from lifelong supporter Tony Bloom. A 2024 Guardian examination of data-led managerial recruitment called Brighton the “benchmark for succession planning”, highlighting the quick moves from Graham Potter to Roberto De Zerbi and then Fabian Hürzeler.

An earlier Independent analysis reported that Brighton maintained around 25 potential replacements for every individual in the organisation. Succession planning is therefore embedded across the club, reducing its dependence on any one coach, scout, player or executive.

Graham Potter delivered Brighton’s highest ever top-flight finish at the time, before Chelsea paid £23 million in compensation for him and several members of his staff in September 2022. He lasted seven months at Stamford Bridge and eight at West Ham. He now manages Sweden, whom he took to the last 32 of the World Cup through the back door Nations League play-off route.

De Zerbi then came in and improved Potter’s Brighton side, delivering sixth place and European qualification. After two years he left by mutual consent, and took Marseille to second in Ligue 1 during his first season, although he left the following February after results deteriorated. Tottenham appointed him in March 2026, and he kept them up by two points.

After De Zerbi, Brighton kept progressing through and appointed a 31(!) year-old Fabian Hürzeler in 2024. He has since produced consecutive eighth-place finishes, and has taken Brighton back into Europe.

Looking at Brentford, Mark Warburton was highly rated before departing at the end of his contract to join Rangers. Dean Smith came in and established them near the top of the Championship before leaving for Aston Villa, where he did achieve promotion and then an 11th-place Premier League finish with Aston Villa. Thomas Frank was promoted internally to replace Smith and was able to take Brentford into the Premier League - keeping them there for four seasons.

Frank left for Tottenham in 2025 and was dismissed eight months later, with Spurs 16th and five points above relegation. Brentford again looked internally, promoting set-piece coach Keith Andrews into his first senior management role. They sold Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Christian Nørgaard, yet still finished ninth, equalling their best Premier League position and narrowly missing out on the European spots.

From this we can see that the strongest analytical clubs appear particularly good at facing no drop-off in results after a succesful manager leaves, and in fact often do better - even if appointing a young unproven manager.

Why Young Coaches Fit

These clubs have no absolute age rule; Mazzu was 54 when Union appointed him and Blessin was 50. The recent trend nevertheless leans heavily towards coaches in their thirties and forties.

Brighton recruited Potter at 44, De Zerbi at 43 and Hürzeler at 31. Geraerts was 40 when promoted by Union, Pocognoli 36 and Hubert 37. Brentford appointed Smith at 44, Frank at 45 and Andrews at 44.

Their shared characteristics are the most important thing to these clubs. They are all “training-ground” coaches comfortable developing younger players, but crucially working well with sporting directors and those above their head that assemble the squad.

At 39, the new Scotland manager Pocognoli is young but has a long journey in football. He played more than 350 club matches and won 13 Belgium caps, with his career including AZ Alkmaar (under Louis van Gaal), Standard Liege, Hannover, West Bromwich Albion, as well as Jamestown clubs Brighton and USG.

He began coaching with Union’s under-21s before working with Genk’s under-18s and Belgium’s under-18 side, before thrust into the USG hotseat for a season and for 38 games at Monaco. Interestingly, Pocognoli has said Van Gaal was the coach he learned most from, particularly his rigour, attention to detail and man-management.

This wide footballing education of course offers Scotland loads of genuine positives. Pocognoli has spent much of his recent career working young players, implementing his style quickly and managing talented players who need shown how to play a specific system.

How would Scotland play?

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For 2026/27, I’ll be expanding the content available to subscribers on the websits, with emails grouped by subject.

You can update your preferences at any time, so if you’re not interested in the Scotland national team, Women’s Premier League or other specific content, simply deselect those topics.

Go to ScottishFootball.info, click your profile picture in the top right, then Manage Subscription. From there, you can choose which subjects you want to receive by email.

This article will describe how the women’s league system works, a look at the history of the game including an embarrassing moment in time for the SFA, before ending with a preview of the 2026/27 SWPL season and Stats Pack cards for all fixtures, as I do for the SPFL games.

The League System

Scotland’s senior women’s pyramid has five levels and eight leagues that follow a traditional winter football calendar (starting in August). The top tier is the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL), followed by SWPL 2.

A separate organisation, Scottish Women’s Football administers all the tiers below the top two, starting with the Championship (tier 3) and League One (tier 4). The fifth tier is four regional leagues; North, East, Central-West and South.

The SWPL

The top two divisions are run by the SWPL, which has been part of the SPFL structure since 2022, and now has turnover in excess of £1m per year. The Championship, League One and regional competitions are run by a separate organisation, Scottish Women’s Football.

Both SWPL divisions have the same 10-team league structure, in which each team initially plays the other nine at home and away, for a pre-split total of 18 matches. Like the men’s top tier, the leagues then split, but into a top six and bottom four which ensures both halves have an even number of teams (splitting into an odd number means a team must sit out every week. This is the case in League One which will again operate as an 11 team league, discussed later).

The top-six clubs then play each other twice more to finish with 28 league games, while those in the bottom four only play a total of 24 matches. The split has only been in place since 2025/26 as part of a reconstruction, which was brought in to reduce the overall fixture burden and produce more competitive games. Prior to the reconstruction, the SWPL had more games than any other women’s league in Europe.

Promotion and relegation is very similar to the men’s game too; the SWPL 2 champions go up automatically and the bottom SWPL club goes down. Teams finishing second, third and fourth in SWPL 2 enter the promotion play-offs. Third hosts fourth, second hosts the winner, and the surviving club faces the team finishing ninth in the SWPL at a neutral venue.

At the other end of SWPL 2, the bottom club is relegated automatically to the Championship, with the Championship winners promoted automatically, subject to meeting SWPL membership criteria. The ninth-placed SWPL2 side faces the Championship runner-up in a play-off for a place in the second tier.

In terms of league position, the SWPL differs from the SPFL leagues in that teams level on points are separated by head-to-head record rather than overall goal difference, and indeed overall goal difference is only the EIGHTH tie-breaking criteria. This makes sense given some of the disparity in quality between the teams, with large scores often ranked up against the team in the bottom half.

Below the SWPL

Scottish Women’s Football are an organisation separate to the SPFL group, and they administer all Scottish football below the top two tiers. The 12-team Championship (third tier) has a traditional home-and-away programme of 22 matches. The third tier champions gain promotion into SWPL 2, with the runners-up entering the play-offs.

There will be restructuring in League One (fourth tier) this season; the bottom club will be relegated, but the champions of all four regional SWFL divisions will be promoted. That will expand League One from 11 to 14 teams for next season, with the SWF’s longer-term ambition to establish two divisions at the fourth tier by 2030/31.

A history lesson; SFA Embarrassment

Women’s football in Scotland has roots stretching back to 1881, when a team of Scots beat England 3-0 at Hibernian Park in the first known women’s match played under association rules. Its development was then deliberately and undeniably held back by the men’s football establishment.

The English FA barred its clubs from supporting women’s football in 1921, and the Scottish FA followed suit before imposing its own formal restrictions in 1948. Women’s teams were denied access to affiliated grounds, club resources and licensed officials, forcing players to sustain the game themselves with none of the help that the men’s game received.

One of the most embarrassing episodes in Scottish football history came in 1971. UEFA voted 31-1 in favour of bringing women’s football organisations under their national associations, with Scotland casting the only opposing vote.

Six clubs responded by forming the Scottish Women’s Football Association in 1972, while the Scottish FA finally lifted its restrictions two years later in 1974. Full responsibility for the national team and formal affiliation with Scottish Women’s Football did not come until as late as 1998.

The modern structure, including the creation of the SWPL by the SWF in 2002, was built by generations of women who kept playing while football’s authorities placed barriers in their way. The SWF added a second division in 2016, but six years later the elite clubs then voted to leave SWF in 2022 and join a professional structure under the SPFL. The SWPL has been run under the SPFL umbrella since the 2022/23 season, while remaining subject to Scottish FA governance.

Season Preview 2026/27 - Managerial moves

Hearts ended last season as SWPL champions in almost anticlimactic fashion. They lost 2-0 to city rivals Hibernian at Meadowbank on the final afternoon, yet Rangers’ capitulation allowed Hearts to collect the trophy for the first time. A Hearts loss meant Rangers could have taken the title with a win, but suffered a 6-0 hammering away to third place Glasgow City to hand the title to Hearts.

Hearts winning the title for the first time continues a remarkable sequence in the women’s game. Rangers won the league in 2022, followed by Glasgow City, Celtic, Hibernian and now Hearts. Five seasons have produced five different champions, ending the long period when Glasgow City dominated every year; winning 14-in-a-row stretching back to 2007/08.

The challenge for title holders Hearts begins again tomorrow, when the 2026/27 Scottish Women’s Premier League season opens. They start with a new head coach after the departing Eva Olid left the club for Manchester United, having transformed the then recently promoted Hearts side since she took over in 2021.

Her successor is the new Hearts manager Andy Thomson, appointed on a three-year contract after working as assistant to Jo Potter and then Leanne Crichton at Rangers. Thomson previously coached alongside Shelley Kerr with Scotland and spent part of a 19-year playing career at Queen of the South, QPR, Partick Thistle and Falkirk.

Losing out on the league title to Hearts would have been disappointing for Rangers manager Leanne Crichton, who signed a three-year contract at the club in August 2025 after Jo Potter left for Crystal Palace. It was Crichton’s first senior head-coach position following spells on the coaching staffs at Motherwell and Glasgow City. Crichton’s older brother Colin replaced her as Motherwell assistant in 2024, before moving on to coach in Celtic’s academy with the under-17 girls. In March this year he joined Rangers in a temporary coaching role, but has now joined the club permanently - replacing the aforementioned new Hearts manager, Andy Thomson.

Last season, Celtic appointed Grant Scott as manager after Elena Sadiku’s departure for BK Häcken. Scott had previously won the 2024/25 title at Hibs, with Scott replaced as Hibs manager by their record appearance holder Joelle Murray.

Aberdeen have also changed direction. Scott Booth stepped down after keeping the club in the SWPL through the play-off, and Nathan Flight arrived as Aberdeen’s head of women’s and girls’ football. Flight had been working with HamKam in Norway, where he helped the club win promotion, and has been given responsibility for Aberdeen’s first team and academy pathway.

The season has already begun outside of the two SWPL divisions, though with the Championship (tier 3) and League One (tier 4) starting on 2 August. The redesigned Sky Sports Cup also started two weeks ago with a 14-team league phase, bonus points for drawn matches decided by penalty shoot-outs, and one combined table.

Every team played four league cup games, with the top 6 progressing to the next round, to be joined by the teams that finished 3rd-6th in the Premier League last season (the Champions, Hearts, & the runners-up, Rangers, will enter at the Quarter-Final stage). The teams that finished between 7th and 10th will compete in knockout play-offs for the remaining two spots, while the bottom four teams are automatically out.

So the new SWPL season begins tomorrow, and the regular season runs until February, before the top two tiers both split in two. In addition to the Sky Sports deal, under which Sky must show a minimum of five SWPL or League Cup matches per season, at least 26 SWPL games per season will be shown live on BBC Alba. The BBC Alba’s agreement runs until 2027/28, alongside BBC Scotland’s live coverage and weekly highlights, while the Sky Sports deal runs alongside the SPFL deal until 2029.

The following SWPL Stats Packs will be created and posted weekly, as I do for the men’s SPFL leagues. If you are interested in becoming a guest writer for the website covering the women’s game, then please get in touch by message or email: scotlandscoefficient@gmail.com

SWPL Stats Pack - Week 1

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SWPL2 Stats Pack

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Due to the limited League Cup meetings between the sides, the “all-time League Cup record” will refer to each club’s overall tournament record, rather than their head-to-head record.

League Cup

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To be fair, there have been only 12 European dates since 6 October 1988 on which exactly four Scottish clubs played on the same day. Expanding the search to the same week and exactly four Scottish clubs have played in 71 separate European weeks, with all four avoiding defeat in only 16 of them.

Across the full history of Scottish clubs in Europe since 1955, Thursday was the 20th date on which at least four Scottish sides avoided defeat. It was only the 11th night when exactly four Scottish clubs played and all four went unbeaten.

Rare.

As a result of the three draws and one win, Hearts and Rangers drop down to the Conference League, while Hibs and Motherwell have both progressed to the play-off round, which is a fantastic achievement.

It’s the first time since 2020/21 that Motherwell have won two European ties in the same season, and only the fourth time overall. Hibs have achieved it for the ninth time and the first since 2023/24. Hibs have also won at least one European tie in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1973/74 and 1974/75.

Coefficient Contribution

Motherwell remain Scotland’s leading contributors to the coefficient this season and are the only unbeaten side of the four to have played so far.

For Scotland this season, a qualifying win adds 0.2 coefficient points and a draw adds 0.1. Thursday's one win and three draws therefore added 0.5, taking the season total to 1.4.

Points in qualifiers are handy, but they are worth half as much as points in the league phase. The main aim in qualifying is to get as many teams as possible into the league phase, where each will have at least six matches in which to accumulate points.

Hibernian

Hibs produced the least dramatic result and perhaps the most valuable performance, particularly given the scorching heat away from home. David Gray’s side protected a 2-1 first-leg lead with a goalless draw away to Shkëndija.

Their reward is a play-off against Gent, who completed a 2-1 aggregate victory over IFK Göteborg. Hibs travel to Belgium for the first leg on 20 August before the return in Edinburgh on 27 August. Defeat at that stage would leave Hibs with UEFA earnings of at least €1.275m, while victory would raise their projected minimum to €4.3m in the Conference League phase.

Motherwell

Although it was a rare night in terms of all four Scottish teams avoiding defeat, Motherwell supplied the only victory. Ibrahim Said netted two unbelievable goals after half-time, as HJK were beaten 2-0 at Fir Park and 3-1 on aggregate. Having the second leg at home is always a big advantage, especially if you can avoid defeat in the first leg, and Motherwell capitalised perfectly.

Freiburg now stand between Motherwell and their first-ever league phase. The Bundesliga club enter the competition at the play-off round, with Fir Park hosting the opening leg next Thursday before the return in Germany, so there will be no second-leg home advantage this time. Motherwell have the same financial ‘floor’ as Hibs: €1.275m if eliminated and a projected minimum of €4.3m if they qualify for the league phase.

Minimum earnings are what UEFA will pay each team, depending on coefficient and TV rights value, before a ball is kicked. Those figures can increase during the league phase, as points mean prize money.

Rangers

At Ibrox, Rangers briefly threatened to overturn their deficit against Jagiellonia Białystok, but never really looked like going through. Lawrence Shankland’s 19th-minute penalty levelled the tie on aggregate, but Nik Prelec headed the Polish side level on the night after 65 minutes, in a second half where Rangers completely fell away. A 1-1 draw meant a 3-2 aggregate defeat for Rangers and increased the pressure on new manager Derek McInnes after another disastrous start to the season for the club.

Jablonec are next for Rangers after the Czech side beat RFS 4-1 on aggregate. This will be Rangers’ first ever Conference League match, and given that Champions League football would have been guaranteed had they won the league last season, this will feel like a massive fall after several years of European overachievement.

Rangers will host the first leg at Ibrox next Thursday and, like Motherwell and Hearts, will have the disadvantage of travelling for the second leg. Their qualifying route produces a minimum of €1.1m if they go out, as they have played one round fewer than Hibs and Motherwell, while reaching the Conference League phase would give Rangers minimum earnings of €6.2m, courtesy of their stronger UEFA coefficient.

Hearts

Hearts regained some pride after their 6-1 first-leg defeat in Portugal equalled the heaviest loss in their European history, matching the 5-0 defeat by Tottenham in 2011.

Tómas Magnússon gave them a 77th-minute lead at Tynecastle, but Dodi Lukébakio equalised almost immediately. The 1-1 draw made it 7-2 on aggregate, but the performance offered encouragement that Hearts are on the right track under new boss Wouter Vrancken.

Rapid Vienna await in the Conference League play-off, with the first leg at Tynecastle net week. The second leg has been moved from the Thursday to the Wednesday due to a city clash in Vienna that night. Hearts are guaranteed at least €1.275m if they are eliminated there, while qualification raises their minimum earnings to roughly €4.9m.

Celtic

Celtic will begin their European campaign next week, joining the other four, and will face LASK in the Champions League play-off. They are already guaranteed a place in the Europa League phase if they lose, with projected minimum earnings of about €13m, rising to around €29m if they reach the Champions League. Their minimum Europa League earnings are boosted by the €4.29m fee paid to Champions League play-off losers, which they would receive should LASK progress.

UEFA Rankings

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This is superb.

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Thirty-three years after Partick Thistle carried the trophy out of the SECC, the Tennent’s Sixes will return with official SPFL backing. Today’s coordinated 1pm announcement from the SPFL and several Premiership clubs confirms a two-day legends tournament at Braehead Arena on 3 and 4 October, featuring all 12 Premiership clubs and shown live on Premier Sports.

This nostalgia-infused article will first describe how the 2026 tournament will work before looking at the original tournament played from 1984 to 1993, and the masters tournaments we’ve had since then.

The 2026 Reincarnation

Firstly, the big difference is that unlike the original tournament - this won’t be current players of the Premiership clubs. To be fair, it is a little mental to think that the clubs used to release players to play in a six-a-side indoor tournament against their rival clubs in the middle of the season! But anyway, the game’s gone etc and so this will just be another ‘legends’ tournament, with the squads still to be announced.

There will be four sessions, two on Saturday and two on the Sunday - with an hour break in between each session to turn the fans around (you need one ticket per session). The 12 teams will be broken into three regional groups of four, all playing two games on Saturday and one on Sunday.

The weekend was chosen because it falls during an international break. with the Saturday night session closing with the Old Firm derby, finishing at 7pm - 45 minutes before the Scotland national team kick off their Nations League in North Macedonia.

After the three groups conclude at 3:30pm on the Sunday, the group winners and runners-up will advance with the two best third-placed teams, producing an eight-team knockout stage from 4:30pm-8pm on Sunday night.

As in the League Cup group stage, any match level at full time will go to penalties, with the shootout winner collecting a bonus point. The famous sin bin also returns!

Neil Doncaster, SPFL Group Chief Executive, said: “The Tennent’s Sixes has a special place in the hearts and minds of a generation of football fans and we are absolutely thrilled to get the band back together again with the official endorsement of the SPFL.

“There are many unofficial Masters events but only one SPFL Tennent’s Sixes: the original and best and one we are proud to put our name to, with the support and involvement of all 12 William Hill Premiership clubs.”

Tickets are available from spfltennentssixes.co.uk, and a ticket covers you for one of the four sessions.
Prices are:

• £25 for adults (£35 for final)

• £18 for kids (£22 for final)

• £100 for hospitality, which includes

  • Access to Exclusive hospitality Clansman Lounge

  • Premium centre seat

  • Buffet

  • Post match Interviews

  • 3x drink tokens per person

  • Exclusive VIP gift

I think this is a fairly priced fun event on an otherwise Premiership free weekend. I wonder if we’ll be treated to a lights and laser show like they were at Coasters Arena in Falkirk 1984!

The Original Tournament

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La Liga club Sevilla have signed Robbie Ure for a reported €9 million from Swedish top-flight club IK Sirius. The fee will be €6.5m guaranteed with the rest due if certain add-ons are met. The 22-year-old Scot replaces Akor Adams, who joined Venezia in July for a reported €16m plus bonuses, a club-record outlay for the Italian side.

Ure has scored 15 goals in 15 games in the Swedish Allsvenskan, 20 in 20 when goals in the Swedish cup are included. Across his 17 months in Sweden, he recorded 31 goals and eight assists in 50 competitive appearances.

That return has proven enough to convince Sevilla to shell out a hefty fee to sign their first Scottish player since Ted McMinn nearly 40 years ago. Ure will go straight into the first team squad with the number 9 shirt.

Raised in Rangers’ academy, Ure scored ten minutes into his senior debut against Queen of the South in the Scottish League Cup in August 2022. He left for Anderlecht in 2023 after rejecting a new contract at Ibrox. Most of his Belgian football came for RSCA Futures, Anderlecht’s reserve side in the second-tier, where he scored 12 goals in 38 appearances. He made only one first-team appearance at Anderlecht.

Sirius signed him in March 2025 on a four-year contract, in what was widely viewed as a step backwards for the young striker. However, Ure has shown the importance of regular game time, and has turned that ‘one step back’ into three steps forward. Being provided the opportunity to show his talent, he has thrived and his form in the Swedish top-flight has earned Robbie Ure a move to one of Spain’s most historically Scottish clubs.

“Historically Scottish?”

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Four Scottish clubs are in European action on Thursday, with kick-offs spread between 7pm and 7.45pm. Hopefully, by the end of the night, all four will still be involved and Scotland will have five clubs in Europe at the play-off stage for only the second time.

The first was in 2023/24, when Celtic went directly into the Champions League group stage and Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Rangers all contested play-off ties. This time, if all make it through, then Scottish football would have five sides playing in the UEFA play-off round for the first time ever.

Celtic don’t enter Europe until the Champions League play-off round, while Hearts and Rangers are guaranteed either a Europa League or Conference League play-off place. Hibs and Motherwell have no such safety net; defeat for either would bring their European campaign to an end.

Shkëndija Vs Hibernian (19:00)

Hibs take a 2-1 lead to Skopje after Warren O’Hora’s 90th-minute goal settled a tight first leg at Easter Road. Owen Elding had opened the scoring before Marko Gjorgjievski equalised two minutes later, leaving Hibs with a slender advantage to protect in the National Arena Todor Proeski.

O’Hora’s winner was followed three days later by Callum Wright’s 90+3 goal at Ibrox. Those were the 28th and 29th matches Hibs have won with a goal in the 90th minute or later since 1990, but only the second time they have managed it in consecutive games.

In January 2010, Danny Galbraith scored a 92nd minute winner at Celtic Park before a 93rd minute own-goal by future Hibs manager Jack Ross at home to St Mirren three days later sealed Hibs’ only other pair of back-to-back 90+ minute winners since 1990.

That 2-1 victory over Rangers was Hibs’ third consecutive away league win, their longest run since four in a row ended in September 2020. Shkëndija also enjoyed a winning domestic weekend, 2-0 away to reigning champions Vardar. They have opened the North Macedonian league season with two wins and two clean sheets, scoring five without reply.

Hibs have lost only one of their last four European away matches, although that was the 2-0 defeat at Malisheva last month which nearly ended this campaign before it had really begun. Shkëndija have won seven of their last 10 European home games and conceded only six goals across that run. Scottish teams have still never won away to a North Macedonian club, drawing three and losing one of the four previous matches, stretching back to Yugoslavia times.

History is largely on Hibs’ side from this position, though. They have progressed after four of their five previous one-goal home first-leg wins, with the only failure coming against Liverpool in 1975. Hibs defeated one of the best sides in Europe 1-0 in the UEFA Cup at Easter Road after Joe Harper scored the game’s only goal, but then lost the return leg 3-1 at Anfield, thanks to a John Toshack hat-trick. Liverpool would go on to win the tournament that season, and many others in the subsequent years…

Motherwell Vs HJK (19:30)

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The Stats Packs will continue this season as a subscriber-only feature, with post-match stats packs published every Monday morning. You can view the second pre-match Stats Pack of the season here; it was published on Friday morning.

Current Undefeated Streaks

Inverness CT continue to lead the SPFL undefeated table with a 20-match unbeaten league run, spanning two seasons and divisions. Partick Thistle remain second in the list, while St Johnstone’s run of 15 was ended by St. Mirren. Celtic have won nine consecutive league matches, with the Hoops and St. Mirren (4 matches) the only Premiership teams in the list of top 10 unbeaten streaks across the SPFL.

Top 10 current SPFL undefeated streaks (league matches only, includes last season):

Current Winless Streaks

Greenock Morton and Montrose share the SPFL’s longest current winless league run, with each club having gone seven matches without a victory.

Dundee United are six league matches without a win following their poor end to last season, and most recently suffered a 4-0 thumping at Tynecastle.

Top 10 current SPFL winless streaks (league matches only, includes last season):

Feature of the Week:
Hibs win in Glasgow again

David Gray and Hibs made history with yesterday’s last-minute win at Ibrox.
It’s the first time Hibs have ever won there in three consecutive seasons. It’s the second season in a row that a new team has joined this list, after Motherwell achieved their third Ibrox win in three consecutive seasons earlier this year.

And, after wins at Ibrox and Celtic Park on Hibs’ previous two visits to Glasgow, Gray becomes the first manager since 1985, and only the sixth ever, to win three consecutive away visits to Rangers or Celtic.

For Rangers, as they lost to Hibs in their last home game last season, it’s the first time in their history that they have lost consecutive home league games against the same team.

Premiership

Kasper Høgh completed his hat-trick in the 35th minute, Celtic’s earliest-completed league hat-trick since 1988 when Frank McAvennie and Mark McGhee both scored trebles in the 8–0 win at Hamilton on 5th November 1988. McAvennie completed his in the 17th minute and McGhee in the 28th.

In all competitions it was Celtic’s earliest hat-trick since Henrik Larsson’s 30th-minute treble against FK Sūduva in the first round of the UEFA Cup in September 2002.

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Celtic have scored in 23 consecutive matches against Kilmarnock, the longest such run in that fixture, St Johnstone have lost only once in 21 league matches, Inverness CT are on the longest unbeaten league run in the country (19 games) and only 3 of the 58 league meetings between Stenhousemuir and Morton have ever ended in a draw!

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Premiership

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HJK Vs Motherwell
(Bolt Arena, Thursday 17:00)

Motherwell’s trip to Helsinki is a proper step up after their comfortable 5-0 aggregate win over HB. Alfred Johansson’s side won 2-0 at Fir Park and 3-0 in the Faroe Islands, ending a run of six successive two-legged European exits and winning both legs of a tie for only the third time in the club’s history.

The clean sheets also give Motherwell a couple of records to chase. This is only the second time they have kept back-to-back shutouts in Europe, while the win in Tórshavn ended a nine-match winless run away from home stretching back to 2010.

Motherwell have never kept three consecutive European clean sheets or won successive away matches in their entire European history.

HJK should provide a much tougher test. The Finnish side beat Coleraine 8-0 on aggregate in the last round and have lost only one of their last ten European home matches, winning five and scoring 21 goals. They are also well into their domestic season, while Motherwell’s Premiership campaign does not begin until Saturday.

Motherwell’s only previous Finnish tie ended in one of the crueller exits in their history. They lost 3-1 at home to MYPA in 1995, won 2-0 in Finland but still went out on away goals. Scottish clubs have generally fared well against Finnish sides, with 14 wins, five draws and only three defeats from 22 matches, although Aberdeen drew both games against HJK in the Conference League group stage in 2023.

The reward for the winners is a Conference League play-off against Bundesliga side Freiburg, an incredibly tough ask and one of the hardest possible draws. Motherwell must first find a way past HJK, beginning with Thursday’s QR3 first leg in Helsinki.

Jagiellonia Białystok Vs Rangers
(Chorten Arena, Thursday 17:00)

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The Stats Packs will continue this season as a subscriber-only feature. You can view the first pre-match Stats Pack of the season here; it was published on Friday.

Goal of the Week

Which of the following four SPFL goals was your favourite from the opening weekend?

Goal 1: Thelo Aasgaard Vs Dundee United

Goal 2: Ibrahim Said Vs Hibernian

Goal 3: Robbie Muirhead Vs Queen’s Park

Goal 4: Stuart Bannigan Vs Montrose

Undefeated and Winless Streaks

Inverness CT now lead the SPFL undefeated table with a 19-match unbeaten league run. St Johnstone and Partick Thistle are close behind on 15. Celtic have won eight consecutive league matches, including the final seven of last season as they secured the title in the closing minutes of the campaign.

Top 10 current SPFL undefeated streaks (league matches only, includes last season):

Greenock Morton, Peterhead and Montrose share the SPFL’s longest current winless league run, with each club having gone six matches without a victory.

Dundee United are five league matches without a win following their poor end to last season. However, their draw with Rangers at Tannadice extended their unbeaten top-flight home run to eight matches.

Top 10 current SPFL winless streaks (league matches only, includes last season):

Opening Day Record

The next two graphics show the 10 clubs with the longest current unbeaten opening-day runs and the 10 with the longest current opening-day winless runs.

Each graphic shows the club’s current sequence alongside its all-time best or worst record. Celtic share the longest active unbeaten opening-day run, having won their first league match in each of the past five seasons. Their club record is 21 consecutive league openers without defeat, a sequence ended by Hearts in 2021/22. It’s also six years since either of Motherwell or Dundee United were beaten in the first league game of the campaign.

At the other end, Dundee have the longest current opening-day winless run among the 42 SPFL clubs. Their 10 consecutive seasons without winning their first league match is also their club record.

Feature of the Week:
Hearts concede twice in 5 minutes

Hearts could set an unwanted Scottish record against Benfica on Thursday.

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The national coefficient is now so low that it will take at least two or three years of consistently strong results before Scotland can meaningfully improve its position. Even getting back to this summer’s entry points will require several clubs to reach, and then properly compete in, the league phases year after year. There is more detail on the coefficient picture in last week’s weekly review.

Before today’s draw, I raised the concern that - for the first time since it was introduced - UEFA did not evenly distribute the top sides in the pre-draw groupings.

The top five leagues normally enter one side in the Conference League play-off round, unless their domestic allocation is affected by a European title-holder place. That happened in 2021/22, when Spain had no Conference League entrant after Villarreal won the Europa League and entered the Champions League as title holders.

In each of the previous five seasons, UEFA had evenly spread those four or five clubs across the four pre-draw groups, giving seeded teams a broadly equal chance of drawing one of the tournament favourites.

This year, though, UEFA placed two top-league sides in Group 1 and two in Group 2, with none in Groups 3 or 4. The fifth side from the top five leagues, Getafe, were unseeded in Group 4, so they could not be paired with another team from the top four leagues….

So, when Hearts, Hibs and Motherwell were all put in the first two groups, we had fairly high odds of seeing Scottish teams being paired with some of the tournament favourites.

As it was, only Motherwell were handed that unfortunate slice of luck, drawing last year’s Europa League finalists Freiburg. The rest of Scotland’s Conference League sides got away with it and can be fairly happy with the draw, given the other options.

This article will now show the latest “route to the league phase” graphic, mapping out each team’s path through qualifiers, before a brief summation of the opponents.

The Route to the League Phase

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As in previous years, I have produce an ‘away travel guide’ for each Scottish club. For each of the potential opponents I include the expected:

• stadium and capacity

• away allocation

• nearest airports accessible from Scotland

• example fares

In this round, this early flight information is only really helpful for Celtic fans - as they are the only one of the four that don’t enter in QR3, and so they are the only side that know for definite they will play in this tie. The other four won’t know if they will either still be in Europe after QR3 (Motherwell and Hibs) or which tournament they’ll be in after QR3 (Hearts and Rangers).

Conference League Shambles

For the first time, UEFA have not evenly spread clubs from the top 5 leagues across the pre-draw Conference League groups.

Teams in groups 3 or 4 therefore cannot draw a seeded top-five league club in today’s draw!

Of course, Hearts, Motherwell and Hibs are all in the first two groups and so can all be paired with a club from the top five leagues. This seems very unfair for the unseeded teams in group 1 and 2, and I believe UEFA should have worked harder to overcome whichever country restrictions were preventing an even spread in their chosen outcome.

Celtic

Date of away leg is not yet known. I have provided examples of the cheapest flight options across the available dates - this might not be the actual date of the game.

Celtic will play one of the below five sets of teams in the Champions League play-off. The draw is today at 11am.

Hearts

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The play-off round draws take place tomorrow, setting out the final hurdle before the league phase. The Champions League draw begins at 11am, followed by the Europa League at noon and the Conference League at 1pm.

All five Scottish clubs remain in Europe. Four play the first legs of their third qualifying round ties on Thursday: Rangers and Motherwell at 5pm, with Hearts and Hibs kicking off at 8pm.

Because the play-off draw happens before those ties are played, tomorrow’s draw will ensure each side will already know who awaits them in every possible scenario.

Celtic
(seeded)

Celtic are one of the seeded entrants in the Champions League’s Champions Path. There are no morning groupings to narrow down potential opponents, and so all five of the unseeded options below will be the possibilities for Celtic.

This is a fairly favourable set of potential opponents and Celtic should progress against any of them - especially now AEK Athens have moved to the seeded side. Avoiding trips to either Kairat or Sabah would be preferable.

Hearts

Hearts’ Europa League third qualifying round tie couldn’t be harder, drawn against the highest ranked team in qualifiers, Benfica. Tomorrow’s draw sets out both of their possible paths - Europa League play-off if they progress past Benfica, Conference League play-off if they don’t.

Europa League - (seeded)

For Hearts, they would be on the seeded side of the Europa League play-off round should they progress past Benfica, and as such there are 12 sets of potential opponents.

These are made up of teams that enter in this round, teams that will progress from QR3 and teams that will drop down from Champions League QR3. The 12 teams will be narrowed down to four at 07:30am tomorrow morning.

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Scottish football’s controlled alcohol experiment will expand in 2026/27 after 20 SPFL trial matches and two Scotland friendlies passed without a single alcohol-related disorder incident being reported to police.

Ten clubs took part during 2025/26: Aberdeen, Motherwell, St Mirren, St Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle, Stirling Albion, Arbroath and Queen of the South.

The programme began with lower-risk Premier Sports Cup group matches last July. It then moved into selected Premiership and Championship fixtures during the winter, with alcohol sold in restricted concourses, fan zones and specific stands under temporary licences.

Attendances at the 20 SPFL matches totalled 96,938. Adding Scotland’s friendlies against Japan and Curaçao at Hampden brought the combined gate to 186,015. However, that figure of nearly 200,000 is not the total number of fans that had access to alcohol, as this was restricted to designated areas.

The same distinction in total attendance Vs access to alcohol applies to the SPFL attendance total, too. Sales varied between restricted concourses, fan zones and selected stands - although a complete breakdown of how many supporters could buy alcohol at each ground was not released.

Even with that limitation, the absence of any reported alcohol-related disorder across the programme gives clubs their strongest evidence in decades for a controlled relaxation of the restrictions introduced in 1981.

Why The Desire to Sell Alcohol?

It goes without saying that Scotland’s relationship with alcohol requires any change to be approached carefully. There were 1,185 alcohol-specific deaths registered in 2024, with the mortality rate in the most deprived areas of Scotland 4.5 times that of the least deprived.

Public Health Scotland also recorded 29,430 hospital admissions for conditions wholly attributable to alcohol in 2024/25. The Scottish Health Survey found that 20% of adults drank at hazardous or harmful levels in 2024.

Although those figures justify firm safeguards around any expansion of alcohol sales at football, it is clear that the outright ban, brought in over 40 years ago, on alcohol sales at football grounds should be reviewed.

Perhaps the key point in the debate is that the negative effect that alcohol can have on Scottish society does not prohibit the sale of alcohol at other sports across our country.

The pilot schemes provide evidence of how sales can operate within a controlled environment. Alcohol was restricted to selected concourses, fan zones and stands, generally at lower-risk fixtures and under conditions agreed with local licensing boards. Staff could apply age checks, refuse service and stop sales at a specified time.

Matchday drinking already takes several forms for football fans. Scottish Government roundtable minutes acknowledged that alcohol is available in hospitality areas and that many supporters travel directly to grounds from nearby pubs and bars.

Anecdotally, many readers will know that bottles and hip-flasks are often smuggled into stadiums, although there is obviously no official figures to show how often this happens. Police Scotland have released images of their findings after matches in recent years to demonstrate its prevalence.

It cannot be said definitively whether a relaxing of the ban would change this behaviour. However it would undoubtedly provide an option to the fans that want to drink during a game. Instead of choosing to illegally bring alcohol into the ground, some may decide they’d rather buy and consume alcohol legally inside the stadium.

Licensed sales area gives clubs control over age, serving times, drink strength, quantity and refusal of service. It may also encourage supporters to arrive earlier rather than fitting in as much drinking as is humanly possible before leaving the pub just in time to make kick-off. There is an obvious positive knock-on effect for the clubs, were that to be the case. More fans in the ground earlier would likely result in more money through the tills for the clubs through catering sales.

This is the biggest and most obvious incentive for the clubs, the clear commercial incentive. Stand by for back of a fag packet calculations here, but if we give a rough assumption that 25% of the crowd would buy one £5 alcoholic or alcohol-free pint at each home match, Aberdeen could generate around £439,000 in additional annual sales based on 20 home games over the course of a season. That figure would equal approximately 2% of the club’s latest turnover.

If we do the same for other clubs, Motherwell’s equivalent estimate is just over £200,000, or 2.9% of their revenue. Celtic’s larger support produces potential sales of almost £1.5 million with these example figures, although that represents only 1% of the club’s most recent Champions League bloated turnover.

The lower down the leagues we go, the lower the numbers we are dealing with, due to the smaller average crowds. However when margins are so tight in Scottish football, any additional revenue worth tens of thousands of pounds per year would be greatly appreciated by numerous clubs further down the pyramid.

Lastly, and most importantly, many match-going fans have expressed a desire to decide for themselves, of their own free will, whether to buy a pint at the game. Feedback has shown that many fans believe that it would improve the match-going experience and have lamented the fact that the Scottish government has continued with an outright ban originating from the early 80s.

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SPFL Doing Their Bit

The policy of allowing these alcohol trials has developed alongside demands from external authorities for stronger action against pyrotechnics, pitch incursions and other supporter misconduct.

An internal Scottish Government briefing credited the SPFL with working alongside ministers, Police Scotland and football safety officers to address disorder. It highlighted ticket reductions imposed on clubs, the league’s support for a review of Football Banning Orders and increased club involvement.

The SPFL’s approach was described as providing “both carrot and stick”, with controlled alcohol sales forming the positive side of a wider attempt to improve the matchday experience.

While the arrangement has never been announced as a formal quid pro quo, we can infer from all public discourse on the matter that greater freedom for responsible supporters - i.e. alcohol sales in stadia - will advance alongside firmer sanctions for clubs whose fans engage in dangerous conduct such as flare usage and pitch invasions.

That connection can be made if we look at the Scottish Government’s football roundtable in December 2024, when Pyrotechnics and alcohol sales were discussed consecutively. The SPFL warned that pyro use was worsening, backed stronger links between offences and banning orders, and outlined educational work with the SPFL Trust. It then proposed using Police Scotland’s existing classification of lower-risk matches to identify fixtures suitable for alcohol sales.

The league has since imposed fines, ticket reductions and suspended stand closures for pyrotechnics and pitch incursions. The most recent sanctions announced in June covered Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hamilton Academical, Motherwell, Celtic and Stenhousemuir. Earlier cases had already led to reduced allocations for several clubs.

However, the independent review into the disorder at the Rangers Vs Celtic Scottish Cup quarter-final concluded that sanctions across the Scottish FA and SPFL were too modest, too often suspended and too inconsistently applied to provide an effective deterrent. It highlighted Greenock Morton’s suspended 50% closure issued by the SFA - in a stadium with an average crowd of less than 25% of capacity.

The Next Steps

As a result of the successful trials, the programme takes another step this season at several clubs. Aberdeen have secured a permanent licence for the lower concourse of the Richard Donald Stand. Sales will be permitted until 30 minutes before kick-off at lower-risk matches, beginning with today’s Premiership opener against Hearts. Drinks must remain in monitored areas out of sight of the pitch, which is the same rules enforced in England where alcohol sales are permitted.

Alan Burrows, Aberdeen FC chief executive: “We are pleased to have secured a permanent alcohol licence for matchdays at Pittodrie.

Supporter feedback has consistently highlighted the value of providing a more modern and flexible stadium experience. We have worked closely with the relevant authorities to ensure the necessary safeguards and operating procedures are in place.

The Club is grateful for the positive feedback from supporters about how previous alcohol licence trials had improved the matchday experience and we look forward to introducing this enhancement.”

Dundee will apply for licences on a match-by-match basis after controlled sales during this summer’s Premier Sports Cup group stage. If approved, supporters in the Bobby Cox and Bob Shankly stands will be able to buy alcohol before selected lower-risk games.

St Johnstone have received permission for sales around Sunday’s Premiership match against Kilmarnock. Alcohol will be available behind the East Stand before kick-off and at half-time. The club intends to pursue further applications individually throughout the season.

Other Premiership clubs are expected to come forward, although their plans have yet to be confirmed. The general restrictions remain in place, with licensing boards and Police Scotland assessing every application. Expansion will continue through low-risk fixtures, tightly controlled areas and local licensing conditions.

Last season produced encouraging evidence within those limits. The new season sees this continued and built upon, as we hopefully move one step closer to a total lifting of the ban. Widespread disorder and fan misbehaviour will only set this back, and we can expect to see the implementation of tougher sanctions for this - especially after the recommendations of the independent enquiry.

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I am delighted that this season, I’ll be teaming up with Scotland’s Coefficient to provide some content around the official SPFL fantasy football game, and covering the mini league that Scotland’s Coefficient has created for season 26-27 in partnership with The 4th Official site.

To join Scotland’s Coefficient Mini League on Fantasy SPFL this season - firstly download the app, or join online - fantasy.spfl.co.uk

The league code is 21225, and password is RNWDX.

In this season preview, I’m going to talk you through the game, how to score points, and my initial team draft to give you some inspiration ahead of the Gameweek 1 deadline at 8pm on Friday 31st August (kick off in the Dundee United vs Rangers match).

As the season progresses, I’ll be creating video content and articles talking you all through the points as they are earned, and shining focus on the top of the Scotland’s Coefficient mini league table.

Feel free to use the comments section and the chat during the season and let us know how your team is doing! There is no James Tavernier this season - so who will step up to the mantle and be this season’s top scorer in Fantasy SPFL?!