Goodbye 20s hello Stark's Park!!

EEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK I am a little excited! I am going to see my beloved Raith this weekend and I can not wait. A live action match is the best thing ever! And of course I will be celebrating my 30th Birthday with my family at Stark's Park!!

I hope it will be a little better than the match I watched on Saturday just gone. Well if I am honest it was not Scotland I was disappointed in but the ref......

Any way lets not dwell on that and look forward!! 


I though that this "old" one from last years "Letter's from Barcelona" might make us a wee bit more positive!

Today's post comes from the match day programme  Raith Rovers v Ross County.

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Letters From Barcelona

Before November 2007, upon landing in Scotland, signs that said “the best small country in the world” welcomed you.  Every time we passed this, my partner would say, “Why say small, why can’t we just be the best?” A work mate before the match on Tuesday past asked me, “Are Scotland a good team, will they be hard for Spain?” I must admit I giggled a bit, “No,” I thought ”Spain will have no real worries with Scotland.  Spain are World and European Champions, as our own manager Craig Levein  (Graig Levein here in Spain, yes with a G) said “Spain are probably the best team we will ever face.”  Great Scottish optimism at it’s best.

As the day of the match was the national holiday here “Spain Day”, I had plenty time to catch up with the build up both here and at home before kick off.  The Scottish press still asking questions about the Czech match from the previous Friday, and Spanish press were not seeing any problems taking all three points.

Before the match I listen to ‘open all mics’ on Radio BBC Scotland, you can hear the fans on the streets, “all we want is for them to try”, “Come on Scotland!” On Spanish T.V the fans are saying “Easy, 0-7, Spain win”, “we are the champions, this will be easy”, ”it is a little bit cold here in Scotland!”  All I want is for Scotland to play to win, not to draw, but to win!

The flags are flying, national anthems playing, the Spaniards love it! They seem a little in awe of the atmosphere. The T.V reporters are in the commentary box in massive quilted coats, chuckling about the men in skirts in this cold weather, smiling about the lovely pitch, looking at clips of former Scotland players, and of course plenty Braveheart!

So we kick off, and to everyone’s surprise here in Spain, Scotland give it a go.  Yes we lost, but we made an impression here in Spain. “España pinchó por la flor escocesa”  (Spain pricked by the flower of Scotland) was one of the many headlines the next day here in Spain. Spain might have had the better players, the majority of play and scored more goals, but they did not find it that easy and the main feeling from the media here was ‘Phew, that was close’, ‘But we got the 3 points and oh did I mention we are world champions’. The Scottish press seemed very happy. As one of my fellow Facebookers put, “I would have taken 2-3 before the match”. 

I was a happy Scot on the Wednesday, my work mates thought Scotland had been unlucky and were a good team and bought me my morning coffee to celebrate my nations defeat.  Now I have a year to wait until the re-match. Maybe we can be “the best country in the world”, or at least beat the best country in the world (anyone remember Wembley 1967?)