In the towns and villages of north-east Scotland at the weekend, relieved residents watched hi-tech industrial machinery draining away last Friday’s biblical floodwater. In Angus, however, the streets around Gayfield Park were much quieter. Why? Well, I’m afraid the locals have grown accustomed to seeing Arbroath getting pumped…
Now struggling at the foot of the Scottish Championship, my big pal Dick Campbell’s part-timers were last year’s surprise package and, to use the correct Scottish unit of measurement, they missed out on promotion by a baw-hair. Football fans love a shock result (unless, of course, it’s against YOUR team) and they don’t come much bigger than Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 victory against Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Tuesday morning.
A massive upset, sure, but one of my pals wasn’t too surprised. According to him, the Saudi ruler told the players before the tournament: “You better win, boys, or heads will roll…” Even though I’m a huge Messi fan (in terms of the world’s greatest ever player, he’s third in my book behind Diego Maradona and Stevie Kirk), I was cheering for Saudi Arabia due to the strong Scottish connection.
