Scotland 101: An Introduction to the National Team

Scotland 101 captures a flavour of all aspects of supporting Scotland, exploring the good and the bad, the highs and the lows, the joy and the sorrow.

There are days Scotland fans will remember forever and days they’d rather forget – from Archie Gemmill’s dribble around the Dutch in 1978 to Gary McAllister’s penalty miss in 1996. There’s the 9-3 defeat to England in 1961, but there’s also Jim Baxter taking the mickey out of them in 1967; Jimmy Cowan’s heroics at Wembley in 1949 and Estonia’s no-show in Tallinn in 1996.

Sometimes we’re not even sure if an event was good or bad, like Tommy Gemmell kicking Haller up the backside or the Tartan Army invading Wembley and breaking the crossbar. There’s hope and expectation. But there’s also despair and disaster.

Scotland 101 is your guide to those moments that make following Scotland an adventure like no other.

Tom has written for When Saturday Comes, Nutmeg magazine and various football websites, including In Bed With Maradona and The Football Pink. His first book, We Made Them Angry, the story of Scotland at the Spain 1982 World Cup, was released by Pitch in 2022 to wide acclaim.