The Scotsman Bulletin Friday August 16 2024 #Football

The Scotsman

Scotsman deputy editor Alan Young and sports editor Mark Atkinson look forward to an action packed weekend of sport

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Bulletin for Friday. I'm Alan Young, I'm Deputy

00:05Editor of the Scotsman, joined today by our Sport Editor, Mark Atkinson, to take a look

00:10at the weekend ahead. Hi, Mark.

00:12Good morning, Alan.

00:13Let's have a look at the front page first off, as ever. We're going to stay on a story

00:19which is on a lot of the front pages in Scotland, and that is Education Secretary Jenny O'Routh

00:24yesterday publishing guidance around mobile phones in classrooms. A really thorny issue,

00:32obviously, for a lot of parents and teachers. The top line is that headteachers have essentially

00:39been given the go-ahead to impose total bans if they want, although it will be up to individual

00:47schools. Also revealed yesterday was a long-awaited school violence strategy. Our education correspondent

00:54Callum Ross gets into it all in today's paper and online at scotsman.com. Clearly, you can

01:02see on the front page they're dominated by the Edinburgh Festival, including our latest

01:09Fringe First winners. Mark, I wanted to take a look back and a look forward at what's happening

01:19in sport. Let's start in Europe, because there were mixed results for Scottish clubs

01:26last night.

01:27That's right, Alan. We had Europa Conference League action for two of our clubs. Both St

01:33Mirren and Klamarnik were in Norway. Both ties were delicately poised after draws last

01:39week in Scotland. St Mirren were taking on Brandbergen. They put up a very good account

01:44of themselves against the second-best team in the Eliteserion. They ended up losing 3-1,

01:49so they are out. But Klamarnik, a little bit further north in the Arctic Circle, defeated

01:54Tromso 1-0 and therefore went through 3-2 in aggregate, meaning Klamarnik are in the

01:59play-off round for the Conference League and they will take on another Nordic team in FC

02:04Copenhagen, who finished second in their Champions League group last year. So they're going to

02:09be a challenging opponent for Klamarnik. There's no doubt about that. But what an achievement

02:13for Derek McInnes and his players. Klamarnik haven't started the rest of the season very

02:18well. They've lost their first two matches in the Premiership, but they can be really

02:22pleased with their European form. McInnes last night was saying that the money that

02:27they bring in for this run will go a long way to securing their squad's future capabilities

02:34going forward. And it's just great to have four teams still in Europe, Klamarnik, Hearts,

02:40Rangers and Celtic, all still flying the flag for Scottish football. So a good night in

02:44that regard.

02:45Indeed, and a huge, huge night at Rugby Park coming up, you'd expect as well. A fantastic

02:54occasion, whatever the result. Let's take a look towards the weekend, though. It's the

02:59return of the Premier Sports Cup.

03:03That's right. We're at the knockout stages of the Premier Sports Cup League Cup for old-fashioned

03:08football fans. That's how they'll know it. This is the juncture of the tournament where

03:13the European teams enter. So we have Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Klamarnik and Southern all

03:20in the competition. Some pretty tasty ties spread across the two days. I think that the

03:26biggest tie of the round in terms of prestige is on Sunday when Celtic take on Hibs at Park

03:32Head. Now, Celtic didn't win this trophy last season. They actually went out at this stage

03:37of the tournament last season, losing to Klamarnik. So they will have a score to settle, you'd

03:42imagine. Brendan Rodgers won this trophy a couple of times and I think Celtic had their

03:46eyes on a treble. They beat Hibs last week in the league, of course, at Easter Road.

03:52And Hibs are paying the price for not being a seeded team in the group stages. They lost

03:57to Celtic in the group stages, which basically denied them the chance to avoid one of the

04:01big guns. That's where we have this tie in the last 16 stage. Hibs will do well to get

04:07a good result here. Celtic are playing very well, but you never know. And on Saturday,

04:11we have the holders in action. Rangers play St Johnstone in the evening kick-off at Hampden.

04:16I think the tie of the round probably takes place at Falkirk, where the upwardly mobile

04:22Bairns, who have started life in the Championship very well, take on Hearts. Potential sell-out

04:28at the Falkirk Stadium. Not an easy game for the Jambo. Stephen Naismith will not take

04:33any chance of his team selection. That's with a very strong Hearts team to play there. So

04:38that's a tie to watch out for. Spartans Ross County. Spartans, the lowest team in the draw

04:43hosting Ross County. That'll be a nice one. And Aberdeen, who have started life very well

04:48under Jimmy Thielen, take on Queen's Park at Potawatri. So those are probably the standout

04:52ties. Always look forward to this weekend. It's a good set of fixtures. And I think we'll

05:00see a shock somewhere, but where exactly, I'm not 100% sure.

05:05Great. I'm sure we'll be following it really, really closely. We have to, though, mention

05:11the return of the EPL, I guess, this weekend.

05:14Yeah, of course. Of course. If you're an armchair football fan, it starts tonight. Fulham are

05:20at Manchester United. Good match, that. United have signed a lot of players under Eric Tenhag.

05:26But Fulham ended the season very well, and that'll be a really close match. Game of the

05:30weekend, probably on Sunday, Chelsea against Manchester City. Chelsea, who have changed

05:36managers once more. Enzo Maresco now in charge against the Champions Arsenal. We'll look

05:42to try and dethrone them. They're on action on Saturday at home to Wolves. And on Monday

05:47night, we have Ange Postacoglu's Tottenham playing newly promoted Leicester City. So

05:52loads of games, loads of storylines, plenty of Scots involved. So yeah, it could be kind

05:57of football awaits us all.

06:00Fantastic. Look forward to it. And please do follow all at Scotsman.com, where you can

06:07see all the very latest news and analysis throughout the day. If you can do subscribe,

06:11then you'll be able to read and watch absolutely everything we do. If you're out and about

06:16today, as ever, please do pick up a copy of the paper. But for me and for Mark, it's bye for now.

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