We Are Scottish Football by Julie McNeill sampler

Julie McNeill is the Poet-in-Residence for St Mirren Football
Club Charitable Trust, the only female poet – as far as can be
established – attached to a professional football club in the
UK, perhaps in the world. She is the Makar for The Hampden
Collection, set up to preserve and protect Scotland’s footballing
heritage.
Julie’s work has been recently commissioned by BBC Sport
Scotland and the Scottish Poetry Library and in 2024 she won
The Burrell Collection Hidden Gems poetry competition.
Her recent books include the poetry collections Love Goes
North (Luath Press, 2025), Something Small (Drunk Muse Press,
2023) and Ragged Rainbows (HybridDreich, 2021) and the
award-winning non-fiction book for children Mission Dyslexia
(JKP Books 2021). She spends much of her time working with
neurodivergent children and adults.
Campbell Ramage is a photographer and picture editor based
in the West End of Glasgow. A long-suffering Partick Thistle
fan, he can often be found standing in a state of zen-like calm
as his team battle it out at the Palace of the Gallus.
Away from football, Campbell enjoys wandering the streets
of his home city in search of images that capture his eye, and
his imagination.
A recurring theme of Campbell’s work is ‘Positivity’. His
2022 portrait exhibition Maryhill is Wonderful won Scottish
Parliamentary approval as he sought to highlight the people
who make a positive contribution to everyday life in the area.

We Are Scottish Football
Poems by
JULIE MCNEILL
Photography by
CAMPBELL RAMAGE

First published 2024
World Cup Edition 2026
isbn: 978-1-80425-349-6
The author’s right to be identified as author of this book
under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
has been asserted.
The paper used in this book is recyclable. It is made from
low-chlorine pulps produced in a low-energy,
low-emission manner from renewable forests.
Printed and bound by
Robertson Printers, Forfar
Typeset in 11 point Sabon by
Main Point Books, Edinburgh
© Julie McNeill 2024, 2026
Photographs © Campbell Ramage 2024, 2026

For Glasgow, my first love.
Julie McNeill
For Sineádin, Rosie and Ru – my favourite team.
Campbell Ramage

Contents
Introduction to the World Cup Edition 11
Photographer’s Note 13
Part One: The 2026 World Cup
The Solitary Scotsman 19
Time Travelling in the Waverley Bar 21
Roll-up 23
Agapá o Theós ton Kléft (God Loves a Thief) 25
Those Goals 28
No Scotland No Party 32
How to Win the World Cup 35
Ways to Get to the World Cup – a List 39
500 Miles 40
Part Two: Football’s Square Mile
Map of Football’s Square Mile 44
Key to Sites 45
7

Rollin 47
Roots and Wings 49
Hi-Hi 53
Amen 54
City of the Dead 57
For Good 59
Four Lads Had a Dream 63
Archie’s Watch 65
Who Dares? 68
Football Under Electric Light 70
Follow the Spiders 73
Let’s Get Physical 75
The Dale 79
The Women Before Her 82
Kickabout 85
Echoes 87
The Ghost Stadium 89
Revolution 93
From Hampden Park with Heavy Feet 94
Lesser 97
Small Acorns 99
8

Part Three: For the Love of the Game
Are you #ThatGuy? 102
Phenomenal 105
Pressure 106
Cuthbert and McGinn 107
Hope 109
Germany 111
Lone Monochrome 112
Love Street 114
Pass It On 116
History 119
Level Playing Field 121
Scotland, Our Scotland 123
Secret 125
Zero Sum Game 127
Set the Stage 132
To See It 133
Let It Play 134
Odds On 136
The Whistle 137
9

Yes Kids, You Can Boogie 140
Upon Our Shoulders 142
We Are Scottish Football 145
One More 149
Glasgow, My First Love 151
Away Days 152
Acknowledgements 153

Introduction to the World Cup Edition
There are moments in a nation’s story when the ordinary
lifts into the extraordinary, when belief becomes something
you can hear, feel, and carry. Scotland qualifying for the
World Cup is one of those rare moments. It is a reminder
that football here is never just a game, although we already
knew that; it is our heritage, our cross to bear, our family,
our identity and, in this uneasy world – something we can
throw some hope and pride at.
The new poems in this special updated collection
celebrate the moments that brought us here. The Scotland
men’s squad are on the verge of taking a step onto a stage
they haven’t played on since 1998. As always, the poetry
here is about people – a lone Scotland fan in a bar on the
other side of the world, Craig Ferguson’s march across
the USA to raise money for SAMH, a mother and son in
Munich, those glorious goals, the fans, the beautiful
Tartan Army. Here’s to the players who wear the shirt,
thank you for giving us something worth rallying behind,
and here’s to the supporters who kept believing even
when we were out in the wilderness.
As we return to the world’s greatest stage, this book
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We Are Scottish Football
stands as a tribute to everyone who believed we would
get here again. To the ones who went before giving us
those irreplaceable memories and to you – the believers.
Let’s have one hell of a party.
Let the journey begin and let the world hear The
Hampden Roar.
Julie McNeill
March 2026
12

Photographer’s Note
Over the past few years, working to a continuing theme of
‘positivity’, I have been privileged to use my photography
to tell the stories of football in Scotland away from the
floodlights and the fanfare. For me football isn’t about
perfect pitches or analytics-driven top flight teams, it’s
about muddy fields on a cold Saturday morning where
boys in the asylum system escape the stresses of life in a
new country by gathering together to play the game they
all love. It’s about the visually impaired OAP who crosses
the city on two buses to play walking football before
checking in on her pal on the way home. It’s about the
communities that grow around our beautiful game. For
two glorious weeks (hopefully longer) this summer those
communities will join, as one, to roar on our national
team at a World Cup. From Annan to Aberdeen, Eriskay
to Edinburgh we will ALL be Scottish Football.
Campbell Ramage
March 2026
13

PART one
The 2026 World Cup

18

The Solitary Scotsman
It is 5am in Jakarta
1am in Djibouti,
The solitary Scotsman
in the Treehaus in Jakarta,
or the Timeout in Djibouti,
has sweet-talked the staff
to put on the game,
and now he sits alone
sweating before the screen.
It is 2-2, just before
Tierney scores,
and his life is in ruins,
all the lesions
of his nationality
knotted on his red
contorted face.
The other drinkers
look on, amused,
at the game, but mostly
at him, as though they
19

We Are Scottish Football
could in their wildest
dreams imagine
the kind of country
this man came from,
and the centuries
of confusion that have
brought him here,
and there, and everywhere.
They are wise to be cautious:
he is about to explode.
20

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