Scottish Football Forums Podcast SFF Podcast

This week's episode features regulars John, Charlie, Josh and Krys as we take a look at the leagues that don't get as much coverage as they should. Joining them are returning guest Graeme and debutant Paul.

There is discussion about the pyramid system and concerns about it in it's current format with debate about whether there are enough teams who are ambitious enough to climb the leagues and the self preservation nature of the leagues above.

Graeme is keen to tell us that the Highand League is the best in not just Scotland but the world though that might be due to having his second book come out soon.

We discuss Buckie Thistle and the licensing issue, Josh tells us about all his favourite teams in the West of Scotland and we predict who will win some of the playoffs in the lower leagues.

There is chat about grounds that everyone would like to visit, favourite food that they've had on their travels and much more.

Thank you to supernovaterracewear.com who are sponsoring our Fantasy Football Scotland league for the third season running. You can find them on Twitter Supernova Terracewear or Instagram @supernovaterracewear

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The countdown continues for this year's European Championship, so whilst in past years we've seen tournaments take place without Scotland and we've thrown back to those that we were at, here we've flipped the script as Steve Clarke and co can tell their own story this summer!

John Bl is joined by Krys and Scott to look back at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, two tournaments that Scotland missed out on the playoffs - so yes we touch on those as well!

At Euro 2000, we had possibly the strongest lineup of semi finalists you're ever likely to see, and a host of the best players that football had to offer at the time all turning up and turning on there style. And of course there was the dramatic ending to the tournament with how the final went.

At Euro 2004, there was the emergence of young talent like Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, shocks from the opening game to the final itself - although is it a shock if the same thing happens to the same teams in both?

And Krys gets to gush about Henrik Larsson across both tournaments. The bigger surprise might be his favourite kit!

Intro Music - Glasgow to Berlin by PG Ciarletta

Outro Music - Whatever it Takes by Scott McGill

Intro Voiceover - Rory Hamilton

Thank you to supernovaterracewear.com who are sponsoring our Fantasy Football Scotland league for the third season running. You can find them on Twitter Supernova Terracewear or Instagram @supernovaterracewear

Tweet us @sffpodcastInstagram - sffpodcastFacebook - Scottish Football ForumsMastodon - @sffpodcast@mastodon.scotEmail - scottishfootballforumspodcast@gmail.com

John is joined by the regular group of fans from the Championship with Adam, Ali, Andy, Heather, Katie and Robert.

We review the season and look ahead to the playoffs in what has been another exciting season.

Airdrie are looking to secure back to back promotions through the playoffs and Partick Thistle are looking to get over the heartache of last season.

There are predictions in terms of who will come through the playoffs to face St Johnstone or Ross County.

The debate about whether structure of playoffs favours the club in the Premiership is debated and what could be done to make the playoffs better.

Andy talks about where the league was won. There is chat too about lack of youth getting their chance in the league but praise for the likes of Airdrie, Dunfermline and Queen's Park who are bucking the trend.

To round up the episode we make predictions on who will be well placed for next season and who was the best manager in the Championship.

Good luck to all the teams in the playoffs.

Thank you to supernovaterracewear.com who are sponsoring our Fantasy Football Scotland league for the third season running. You can find them on Twitter Supernova Terracewear or Instagram @supernovaterracewear

Tweet us @sffpodcastInstagram - sffpodcastFacebook - Scottish Football ForumsMastodon - @sffpodcast@mastodon.scotEmail - scottishfootballforumspodcast@gmail.com

The countdown is on for this years European Championship, and to get you in the mood we are going back 28 years to relive Euro '96. In the final instalment of this four-part series, fittingly John B looks at the two sides who reached the Euro ‘96 Final at Wembley - Czech Republic and Germany. To help provide an insight, John spoke to Czech sports journalist Jiri Hosek and Co-Host of Yellow Wall Pod Matthias Suuck.

It was the Czech Republic’s first campaign since the separation of Czechoslovakia in 1993 and they won a tight qualification group ahead of Netherlands and Norway to reach the Finals. Their fighting spirit saw them recover from an opening match defeat to Germany to progress ahead of Italy and Russia, before Karel Poborsky’s improvised lob saw off Portugal in the last eight then a dramatic penalty shootout win over France saw them unexpectedly reach the Final. The Germans, meanwhile, were expected to bring the trophy back to their homeland and qualified with minimum fuss, dropping just five points from their ten qualifiers, and cruised to wins over the Czech’s and Russia in Group C before holding Italy to a goalless draw. A narrow win over Croatia in the Quarter Finals was followed by a penalty shootout win over the hosts England to face the Czech’s again in the Final, where Oliver Bierhoff came off the bench to score a double, including a golden goal winner, to secure victory for Berti Vogts’s side. Jiri and Matthias give a good insight into their respective journeys and also give a combined Euro 96 & 2024 XI for each nation, which throws some interesting selections.

Footnote - John is also doing this series as a build-up to the launch of his second book, We're Going To Wembley: Scotland's Euro '96 journey by Pitch Publishing, which he has co-written with Neil Doherty. Full details on where you can pre-order the book can be found on Pitch's website or by contacting John or Neil directly.

Intro Music - Glasgow to Berlin by PG Ciarletta

Outro Music - Whatever it Takes by Scott McGill

Intro Voiceover - Rory Hamilton

Thank you to supernovaterracewear.com who are sponsoring our Fantasy Football Scotland league for the third season running. You can find them on Twitter Supernova Terracewear or Instagram @supernovaterracewear

Tweet us @sffpodcastInstagram - sffpodcastFacebook - Scottish Football ForumsMastodon - @sffpodcast@mastodon.scotEmail - scottishfootballforumspodcast@gmail.com

This week John, Charlie, Josh and Laurie are joined by host of Behind the Whistles podcast, James and former referees Des Roache and Steve Conroy.

There is plenty of chat about VAR, how it is used and what could be done to improve it.

We talk about former players getting involved in refereeing, the fast track process and whether referees should have the ability to talk about decisions they make on the field.

Des and Steve give us an insight in to how they managed the game when in charge of 22 players on a field and their approach to this. Plenty of interesting points that we might not consider as fans.

There are questions from listeners about how the game is officiated in Scotland with the guys being open and honest with their answers.

Thanks to the guys for coming on and be sure to check out their podcast which comes out every Sunday.

Thank you to supernovaterracewear.com who are sponsoring our Fantasy Football Scotland league for the third season running. You can find them on Twitter Supernova Terracewear or Instagram @supernovaterracewear

Tweet us @sffpodcastInstagram - sffpodcastFacebook - Scottish Football ForumsMastodon - @sffpodcast@mastodon.scotEmail - scottishfootballforumspodcast@gmail.com

Dave's been busy on the interview front ahead of this weekend's women's Scottish Cup semi finals at Hampden between Celtic and Rangers, and Hearts and Spartans. Although none of our guests are directly involved in the semis, each of them give their thoughts on what could happen and who might be back at Hampden for the final next month.

First up we have Clare Docherty, Head of Ayr United's woman's and girl's academy, on the club's SWPL2 aspirations and ambitions following their securing of a playoff spot in the SW Championship earlier this month.

Next we have Craig Joyce, Head Coach of the newly crowned SWPL2 champions Queen's Park, on what that achievement means and what the club might be able to achieve in SWPL1 next season.

Finally we have Robert Watson, manager of Hamilton Accies, ahead of their chance to play Dundee United at Tannadice this weekend. He also gives us his thoughts on the inspiration of Megan Quinn, who hit 200 appearances the club recently.

Thank you to supernovaterracewear.com who are sponsoring our Fantasy Football Scotland league for the third season running. You can find them on Twitter Supernova Terracewear or Instagram @supernovaterracewear

Tweet us @sffpodcastInstagram - sffpodcastFacebook - Scottish Football ForumsMastodon - @sffpodcast@mastodon.scotEmail - scottishfootballforumspodcast@gmail.com