Behind The Goals

We kick off our new Club Development Consultancy podcast with a fascinating interview with Andy MacRae, General Secretary of Bealonians FC who are currently petitioning Redbridge Council to keep their club at Oakfields Playing Fields. Bealonians FC have been in the London Borough of Redbridge since 1936 and are the largest grassroots football club in the borough. At the request of Redbridge council, Bealonians FC have been caretakers of Oakfields Playing Fields since 2020. Looking after it in the absence of a lease, they have invested in its maintenance and provided a vital lifeline to the community. The club have since learned that the council is planning on granting the lease to Premier League club West Ham United, which would leave Bealonians FC and its 29 youth teams (including two girls teams) and ten adult men's teams, without a place big enough in the borough to relocate to. The club claims that if they were to lose the site, it would have a dramatic impact on the health and wellbeing of the community - counter intuitive to a number of priorities stated in Redbridge Council strategy. It would also mean the potential privatisation of what is currently a public green space enjoyed by thousands in the community.

In this 'Club Development Scotland meets' episode, Andrew chats to Mark Covington, CEO of SNAP Sponsorship (https://snapsponsorship.com/) about how clubs can attract and develop their sponsorship offering to businesses through the platform. SNAP Sponsorship helps clubs promote their opportunities to a wider audience while sharing best practices when it comes to negotiating and securing sponsorship, all within one easy-to-use platform. Through our partnership with SNAP, you can benefit from 12 months of support for the price of just 11 months by using the promotional code: “clubdevelopmentscotland”. What's more, you'll keep 100% of the sponsorship you raise.

In this episode I talked with my colleague Alan Russell who leads Supporters Direct Scotland, to talk about the recently-published project report from their study on volunteering in football "Giving volunteers the space to make a difference". The report is the culmination of a project which took place during lockdown, funded by SD Europe. Read the report at https://www.supporters-direct.scot/research/giving-volunteers-the-space-to-make-a-difference/ and support our work during 2021 via https://www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

We talked to Mike McInnes about his book "Man the Footballer: Homo Passiens", available from the Blizzard bookshop (https://theblizzard.co.uk/homo-passiens-man-footballer/news/). Why would human beings choose just two legs for transportation rather than three, or even four? There can only be one explanation, according to Mike. He offers a radical hypothesis, grounded by principles drawn from the evolutionary and cultural history of mankind, that humans evolved bipedalism for the purpose of playing football. If you enjoy this podcast and would like us to do more, please consider becoming a patron of Supporters Direct Scotland. By making a small contribution towards SD Scotland, you can support our work helping community groups and sports clubs across the country. Sign up at www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

We met this week with Steven Lawther, author of "Arrival: How Scotland's Women Took Their Place on the World Stage and Inspired a Generation" - now available for pre-order from Pitch Publishing at https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/arrival In the 1970s women's football in Scotland was unrecognised by the SFA and there was no national team. Arrival tells the fascinating and inspiring story of how Scotland's female footballers fought for their right to play and battled intolerance in order to build a team that would compete with the best, qualify for the World Cup and inspire a nation. If you enjoy this podcast and would like us to do more, please consider becoming a patron of Supporters Direct Scotland. By making a small contribution towards SD Scotland, you can support our work helping community groups and sports clubs across the country. Sign up at www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

This week, in the long-awaited return of Behind The Goals, we talk to James Atkins (https://twitter.com/footballpsl) - the man behind Planet Super League, a football tournament which brings the family together to help the planet and your football club. Planet Super League sets a number of different activities for you and your family to do. The more you do, the more points you win for your club, and the higher up the league your club will go. The first PSL season ran at the end of 2020 with Leicester crowned champions, PSL 2 is coming soon, and we're looking forward to a Scottish PSL later this year to coincide with the COP 26 Climate Change conference being held in Glasgow. All activities are lockdown-safe, and you’ll learn how to live more sustainably, save some money, have some fun, and compete for prizes and bragging rights. Visit https://www.planetsuperleague.com to sign up. James is also the author of "Climate Change for Football Fans: A Matter of Life and Death" - published back in 2010 but even more relevant today than it was then. If you enjoy this podcast and would like us to do more, please consider becoming a patron of Supporters Direct Scotland. By making a small contribution towards SD Scotland, you can support our work helping community groups and sports clubs across the country. Sign up at www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

In this week’s podcast we’re speaking to Stuart Haw, a PhD researcher looking at Community Asset Transfers in the sports sector. Community Asset Transfers are something you might already be familiar with, but equally, you might just be hearing about them for the first time. CATs could be increasingly relevant to sport organisations as recent research suggests that the impact of COVID19 will mean many community facilities across Scotland will never re-open. According to a recent survey of public operators, current forecasts are that around 116 public sport, leisure and culture facilities across all regions of Scotland – including 18 leisure centres and eight swimming pools – are facing permanent closure as a result of the lockdown. A further 900 that could re-open may not do so for some time. This threat to our facilities also presents an opportunity for sports organisations to take ownership of them through CATS, and we ask Stuart about what the process looks like for CATs, what kind of skill sets a club would need to undertake one and for some examples of best practice. You can follow Stuart on Twitter @Haw_Stuart If you find the Club Development Scotland podcast useful, please consider becoming a patron of Supporters Direct Scotland. By making a small contribution towards SD Scotland, you can support our work helping community groups and sports clubs across the country. Sign up at www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

In this week’s podcast, we speak to Mick Livsey, Commercial Director of Oxford City FC. This episode is a case study in how best to bring commercial income by getting it right ‘off the pitch’. We discuss the club’s extensive work in the community, including the delivery of a refugee league, the provision of 300 free meals a day during the lockdown and becoming the first team to offer free attendance for children. If you find the Club Development Scotland podcast useful, please consider becoming a patron of Supporters Direct Scotland. By making a small contribution towards SD Scotland, you can support our work helping community groups and sports clubs across the country. Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

In this week’s podcast, we speak to David Alexander, Operations Director of Our Club Lotto, a white label lottery platform available to clubs across the UK. In the podcast we discuss how clubs can use Our Club Lotto to generate funds for their work and ask for best practice when it comes to encouraging sign ups. You can find out more about Our Club Lotto by visiting https://www.ourclublotto.co.uk/. If you find the Club Development Scotland podcast useful, please consider becoming a patron of Supporters Direct Scotland. By making a small contribution towards SD Scotland, you can support our work helping community groups and sports clubs across the country. Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

In this episode of the podcast we speak to John Cleisham about My Club Hub, a platform which helps volunteers involved in the running of sports clubs effectively run and govern their organisations. We came across My Club Hub and John a couple of years ago when a club we support signed up to the platform and we’ve enjoy a very good relationship since, so it was a pleasure to have John onto the podcast to hear more about his journey. In the podcast we discuss why John started MCH, how clubs can benefit from it, some of the successes the business has enjoyed to date and some of the future plans he has in terms of functionality and features. Also look out for a mention for both Stuart McCaffrey of the Scottish Football Partnership and Trust and Deveronvale Community Football Club, our past two guests on the podcast. In the podcast, we discuss an article in the Trust's quarterly magazine looking at how My Club Hub has improved the sustainability and efficiency of Deversonvale Community Football Club which you can read here. If you're interested in finding out more about My Club Hub, please get in touch with Andrew of Club Development Scotland by emailing andrew@clubdevelopment.scot If you find the Club Development Scotland podcast useful, please consider becoming a patron of Supporters Direct Scotland. By making a small contribution towards SD Scotland, you can support our work helping community groups and sports clubs across the country. Sign up at https://www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland

In this week's podcast we speak to Stuart McCaffrey, Chief Operating Officer at the Scottish Football Partnership & Trust, about the huge level of support the organisation's has provided Scottish football with since starting in 2000. We also chat about Stuart's transition from playing professionally with the likes of St Johnstone, Inverness and Morton to working behind the scenes of the game and ask him for some top tips for funding applications. You can find out more about the support offered by both the Trust and Partnership by visiting https://thescottishfootballpartnership.com/

In this episode of the Club Development Scotland we speak to Kevin Stewart, chairman of Deveronvale Community Club, winners of the Scottish FA’s 2020 Community Club of the Year. We discuss the club’s response to the COVID19 crisis and the setup of ‘The Hub’, created to support vulnerable members of the local community.

In this episode, we speak to Barry Munro, co-founder and Operations Director of Fantastic Fanatics, a platform designed to help clubs raise vital income to support their work. Fantastic Fanatics, which was developed in Scotland, enables sports clubs to generate funds when their own members shop, eat out, book hotels and lots more. Clubs simply just sign up to Fantastic Fanatics online, upload a few verifications documents, then get all their club members involved to sign up as fans, and choose their club to support. Members securely register their everyday debit and credit cards, and any purchases they make online at many major retailers including Boots, Foot Locker, BT, John Lewis, Currys PC World, Sky, Tui, Dunelm, JD Sports and hundreds of others will raise funds for their chosen club. What's more, through our partnership with Fantastic Fanatics, clubs can get an extra 10% income for their first 6 months on the platform when they select 'Club Development Scotland' as their governing body when signing up.

In this podcast, we spoke to Mia Salvemini of Responsiball about their rankings and how SPFL clubs fared in the 2020 edition of it. We discussed how clubs in the SPFL Premiership ranked in terms of governance, environment and community compared to other major leagues around Europe and beyond. Mia highlighted examples of good practice in the fields of environmental work, governance and community outreach from Scotland including nice mentions for Hibs, St Mirren and Motherwell FC. You can check out the Responsiball 2020 rankings at http://responsiball.org/ and you can follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/responsiball

We began this episode by talking about this season’s Scottish Football Supporters Survey results, which you can read at http://www.scottishsupporters.net/survey/2019-20/ - and the results of Alan’s geekery can be found at http://www.scottishsupporters.net/survey/explore-the-results/ We then introduced our interviewee Warren Hawke – former footballer, former club chief executive, and now a club development specialist, working currently to develop the Raith Rovers Community Foundation after doing a similar job previously at Greenock Morton Community Trust. Warren spoke really passionately about his belief in the potential for football to drive positive change in our communities, and how both clubs and their communities can benefit from this work. We also shared some of the favourite books we’ve recently been reading: • David Goldblatt: “The Age of Football” https://www.amazon.co.uk/Age-Football-Global-Twenty-first-Century/dp/150985424X • Mat Guy: “Barcelona to Buckie Thistle” https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barcelona-Buckie-Thistle-Mat-Guy/dp/1913025357 • Nutmeg Issue 14 https://www.nutmegmagazine.co.uk/issue-14/ • John Nicholson: “Can We Have Our Football Back” https://www.johnnicholsonwriter.co.uk/products/can-we-have-our-football-back And finally, a reminder of our Patreon crowdfunder, where you can help us balance the books: https://www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland Get in touch with us via info@supporters-direct.scot or on Twitter at @SuppDirectScot and @ScotSuppNetwork

After a LONG break, it’s the return of Behind The Goals! This episode is a topical one – looking forward to next week’s General Election and what the main political parties are promising to do if election. To see their football and sport-related promises in context you can read their full manifestos online: • Green Party: https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/manifesto/ • Conservatives: https://vote.conservatives.com/our-plan • Labour: https://labour.org.uk/manifesto/ • Liberal Democrats: https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan • SNP: https://www.snp.org/general-election-2019/ • Brexit Party: https://www.thebrexitparty.org/contract/ During the show we mentioned a couple of newspaper articles, a podcast, and an app which simulates colour vision deficiencies: • Daily Express article about the radical communist conspiracy at the heart of British politics: https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1192676/jeremy-corbyn-news-labour-party-general-election-nationalisation-football-clubs-liverpool • Jeremy Corbyn interview on the When Saturday Comes podcast: https://www.wsc.co.uk/podcast • Guardian article about the European SLO Network meeting in Watford: https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-agony-and-the-ecstasy/2019/nov/29/supporter-liaison-officers-fans-football-clubs-arsenal-watford • Experience the world as a colour-blind person sees it (try this on a match day!): https://asada.website/cvsimulator/e/ • Nutmeg article about SLOs in Issue 13: https://www.nutmegmagazine.co.uk/issue-13/ • Austin MacPhee podcast: https://soundcloud.com/user-571797174/18-austin-macphee-of-am-soccer-club • Any Old Irons podcast: https://podtail.com/en/podcast/any-old-irons-podcast/ • “The Ugly Game” by Martin Calladine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ugly-Game-Football-Magic-Could/dp/1785310070 And finally, a reminder of our Patreon programme, where you can help us balance the books: https://www.patreon.com/supportersdirectscotland Get in touch with us via info@supporters-direct.scot or on Twitter at @SuppDirectScot and @ScotSuppNetwork (our hotmail address is still active, but the supporters-direct.scot address will get you a quicker response!)

We welcome former international manager Justin Walley onto this week’s podcast. Justin was the manager of Matabeleland who participated in last year’s CONIFA World Cup, a tournament for nations not recognised by FIFA. We talk about Justin’s time in Zimbabwe, the fall of Robert Mugabe, Bruce Grobbelaar joining Justin’s coaching team and what it’s like managing in Africa. You can buy Justin’s book about his experiences ‘One Football, No Nets’ here: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/One-Football-Nets-Justin-Walley/dp/1910515647/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551637506&sr=8-1&keywords=one+football+no+nets You can enter Africa on the Ball’s competition to win a copy of Justin’s book by checking out their Twitter (@AfricaOnTheBall). Also in the podcast we mention the upcoming Everything to Play For Conference about Women’s Football in Scotland, which is co-sponsored by our consultancy arm Club Development Scotland. Tickets are still available for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/everything-to-play-for-womens-football-in-scotland-tickets-55513693953

Kenny Jamieson (@kennyjamieson) joined us to talk about Falkirk FC's 'Back The Bairns' fan ownership campaign. So far, they have gathered pledges of more than £600,000 towards their fundraising target, which will be used to acquire a majority stake in the football club. Kenny was a great guest, and the podcast finished with one of the most in-depth answers to the question "what one thing would you change in Scottish football" we've heard yet! Read more about Back The Bairns at https://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/2019/01/08/back-the-bairns-fan-ownership-proposal/, and pledge at https://www.backthebairns.com/

Brian McClair needs no introduction, but we gave him one anyway ;-) We spoke to him about his playing career, which saw him play for Aston Villa, Motherwell, Celtic, Manchester United and then finally a return to Motherwell - and 30 caps for Scotland. During the conversation Brian spoke about fans, and the connection he felt to them as a player - and this has been his motivation to take on an ambassadorial role with our sponsor FansBet. Learn more about the fan partner projects being funded by their profit-share scheme at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/

Happy New Year to all our listeners! Getting us back in the swing after the festive break, we got back in the saddle with a night out at the FansBet Star Sixes. Our sponsors put on a great show, and while Scotland fans will be disappointed with the eventual result - sharing 3rd place with the Republic Of Ireland - the atmosphere in the Hydro, particularly on the Saturday night when Scotland beat England 4-1, was electric. We managed to speak to Ian Harte and Owen Coyle after the final group match, where we discussed the decisive incident involving Jason McAteer. It's clear these guys still have genuine passion for the game! Watch McAteer's TV interview here: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1081984637327548421 I also cleared up a 19 year old mystery with the help of Owen Coyle! Watch footage of the match in question here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9swW20GzJU

Bobby Williamson is best known for his association with Kilmarnock, where he finished his playing career and began his managerial career during a 12 year spell when they reversed their 1980s decline, becoming established in the top division where they have remained ever since. Bobby went on to manage Hibernian, Plymouth Argyle and Chester City, before moving to Africa 10 years ago where he has remained, managing the Ugandan and Kenyan national teams, with a spell in charge of Gor Mahia in the Kenyan premier division in between. Learn more about his fascinating career in this week's episode! The podcast will be back after the festive break, enjoy your holidays in the meantime!

The 2018 Football Collective (www.footballcollective.org.uk) conference, a gathering of researchers working on football-related projects, met at Hampden Park last month. We were there to connect with the collective, and Andrew gave a presentation on "Fan Ownership in Scotland" which can be found at www.slideshare.net/andrewjenkin1/fan-ownership-in-scotland-the-football-collective-conference. We also spoke to conference organiser Sean Huddleston (@Sean_Hudd1978), Josh McLeod (@Josh_McLeod1) who researches corporate governance and sport at UFCB, and Supporters Direct secretary Richard Irving who is currently working on a PhD at the Sport Business Centre of Birkbeck University. And for those who were intrigued by Betteridge's law of headlines, you can read more here! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines

Chris Smith makes replica football stadiums from Lego (his version of Pittodrie has been particularly popular north of the border: http://brickstand.com/index.php/2015/09/10/pittodrie/), and has set up FC Brickstand - a virtual team who compete in the Diorama Conference, funded by their virtual supporters (sign up at http://www.fcbrickstand.com/) We chatted to Chris to learn more about this slightly unusual hobby, and discuss the appeal of sports that don't quite exist in the real world. In the outro Andrew announced that Jimmy Bone, who we interviewed in Episode 24 (https://soundcloud.com/user-571797174/24-jimmy-bone) has become a patron of the 'Africa On The Ball' charity. Africa On The Ball changes lives through football, focusing on the advancement of education, healthcare and enterprise in deprived communities of Africa. You can learn more about the charity, and sign up as a supporter for as little as £4 per month at www.africaontheball.org

In episode 39 we are joined by historian and writer Daniel Gray, who has published a number of books exploring the development of football in Scotland and further afield. We talked about three of his books in particular: "Black Boots and Football Pinks: 50 Lost Wonders of the Beautiful Game" (https://amzn.to/2OSRosD), "Saturday, 3pm: 50 Eternal Delights of Football" (https://amzn.to/2KpfcDT), and "Stramash: Tackling Scotland’s Towns and Teams" (https://amzn.to/2S1F1MI). All thoroughly recommended by the Behind The Goals team! Next on the reading list is "Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters" (https://amzn.to/2Q4eeCb) where Daniel explores England's football provinces to reacquaint himself with English football...

After an extended break, Behind The Goals is back! And we're doing it in style - we've taken the podcast on the road again, this time to Warsaw for a beer festival. Whilst in Warsaw we did a bit of ground-hopping - taking a tour of the national stadium, drinking beer responsibly in the Legia stadium (where the beer festival was being held), and taking in a Liga III match at the Polonia stadium. Polonia won 2-0 against ŁKS Łomża, and even though we wanted to just sit and watch the game we were forced (literally!) to stand up and join in with the chants and choreography! The last week or two has also been a bit of a media frenzy, with invitations to appear on radio and TV to talk about the potential reintroduction of alcohol sales in football stadia (a subject we're very familiar with!) and also to respond to the trouble at last week's Edinburgh derby match. Faces for radio? You bet. As always, get in touch with us via behindthegoals@hotmail.com or on Twitter @SuppDirectScot

This week we bring you highlights from #SDSSummit2018 - our annual event for Scottish football supporters, brought to you this year in partnership with FansBet (www.fansbet.com) This year's event was held at Fir Park, Motherwell, to celebrate "Supporter Ownership At The Top Of Our Game". Hear from the three keynote presentations from The Well Society, Foundation of Hearts and St Mirren Independent Supporters' Association, as well as Alan and Andrew's reflections on a great event.

Martin Myers (@FIFAmatchAgent) spoke to us about his background organising overseas fundraising trips for football teams and football supporters, his work as a licensed FIFA Match Agent, and his current role as Chair of the Scottish Futsal League (@ScottishFutsal) Find out more about futsal in Scotland at scottishfutsal.co.uk, and head along to The Peak in Stirling on September 16th to try it out for yourself!

This is the first Behind The Goals road trip! We visited the ArabTRUST (@arabtrust1909) at Dundee United, and learnt about some of their achievements over the years – investing over £300,000 in the club and supporting the youth development and community trust initiatives. We then spoke to ArabTrust chair Susan Batten, and met with Kay and Michelle of United Ladies of Tannadice (@ULT83) who were launching their campaign to provide free sanitary products for women visiting Tannadice.

We are joined this week by Fansbet, who sponsor the Scottish Supporters Network. Founded by match-going football fans, they operate a betting platform which shares their net profits with the fan community. Fansbet have committed to sharing 50% of net profit from players who can choose an established group in the football supporting community to be the beneficiary for causes that matter to them the most. Whether the cause be ownership, tickets, travel or something more diverse or community-based, FansBet want to give to fan partners the opportunity to make a difference.

Phil Differ has written for most of Scotland's best-loved comedy shows over the last 30 years, and this year brought his one-man show "Billy Bremner and Me" to the Edinburgh Fringe. In his show he talks about his teenage dreams of following in Bremner's footsteps from St Modan's High School to the very top of the game - only to find that his own mediocrity stood in his way! Undeterred, he has kept playing football all these years and still cares as much about every goal as he did as a teenager. Unfortunately the show was only on during the first week of the Fringe, but Phil hopes to tour the show later in this year - we'll keep you posted as dates are confirmed.

Angus Coull of Bala Sport talked to us about their campaign for fair trade products in sport. They began with a vision to promote the use of fair trade footballs, but found that there were very few available - so made their own! They now produce footballs, futsal balls, rugby balls, netballs and volleyballs. Listen to find out the difference that fair trade can make to the lives of the people making these balls, and also find out what you can do to help the Bala Sport mission: buy their balls at www.balasport.co.uk/buy, invest in the company at www.balasport.co.uk/about-bala/bala-sport-community-shares, and spread the word! Angus also mentioned AS Velasca, who have recently designed their own football. Visit the home of the most artistic football club on the planet at www.asvelasca.it/EN/home.php

Duncan Smillie is the owner of Glasgow Rocks, Scotland's only professional basketball team. We spoke to him about what attracted him, a passionate football fan, to the sport and about the fan experience at basketball. We also found out a few things that football could learn from the sport...

Landing in your ears 24 hours earlier than normal, this week we bring you our long-awaited review of "United Passions", the movie financed by FIFA during the peak of the corruption scandal. A perfect warm-up for today's World Cup Final, here is your chance to hear FIFA's own version of their history - with misrepresentations, stereotypes and omissions galore! We've watched it so you don't have to... but if you can find a copy see it in it's full horror for yourself...

The podcast has gone yellow this week for a very special episode of Behind The Goals - or should it be Behind The Home Runs? Jesse Cole (@YellowTuxJesse), owner of the Savannah Bananas (@TheSavBananas) spoke to us about their unique approach to running a baseball team. Playing in the eighth tier of baseball in the US, the team started from scratch in a city whose previous team folded due to a lack of interest in the sport. By focussing 100% on entertaining the fans (do that, and the results will follow, according to Jesse) they've gone from zero interest to sold-out stadiums, winning their league in the process. Jesse's enthusiasm is infectious, and his insights into creating the perfect matchday experience are worth considering for any sport. Some of these ideas may not translate easily to Scottish football, but the beer festival idea might be popular ("you can't drink all day unless you start at breakfast time!") Enjoy!

Oliver Holtaway shared the Bath City story with us - they have been in community ownership for a year, following a two year campaign known as "The Big Bath City Bid". Listen to find out about the ups and downs of the bid - and how they enlisted the help of a famous fan to make it a success!

Kevin Rye, formerly of Supporters Direct and now working independently helping supporters and football clubs to engage with each other, joined us for a chat. Kevin has written a free book on fan engagement (available from www.faninsights.co.uk) which is a great starting point for anyone looking to improve the quality of conversations happening at their club.

Steven Lawther joined us to talk about The Roary Club, a campaign to get more young supporters hooked on following Raith Rovers. Based on research carried out by his company, Red Circle Communications, Steven identified a typical lifecycle of a football supporter, and created the Roary Club to address two challenges - how to engage young children at a point when they are beginning to show an interest in football, and how to prevent adult fans from drifting away from their club when they are parents of young children. The Roary Club now has over 600 members, and has helped to transform the matchday experience at Raith Rovers. There is lots here for fans of other clubs to learn. @SuppDirectScot behindthegoals@hotmail.com

This week, Andrew met with photographer Colin McPherson (who tweets at @germanocean and blogs at www.colinmcpherson.com) to talk about his work as a photographer and as a football writer. In the first issue of Nutmeg magazine he wrote about his experiences as a supporter when the club he supported left him behind. Rate and review us on iTunes! Tweet us at @SuppDirectScot! e-mail us at behindthegoals@hotmail.com!

This week we hear one of the greatest but least-known stories in Scottish football - Jimmy Bone's achievements in Zambia with Power Dynamos FC, the first team from southern Africa to win the Cup Winners Cup - a fascinating conversation that could have gone on for a lot longer! Enjoy.

Gordon Waddell, sports columnist for the Sunday Mail, joined us to talk about his recent article "Dave King is not the answer to Rangers’ problems but the fans are" (https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dave-king-not-answer-rangers-12402442), in which he makes the case for supporter ownership at Rangers. The article provoked a fair amount of comment on publication, and it was clear talking to Gordon that his intention is to provoke positive action at Rangers. Gordon also talked about supporter campaigns at other clubs, going right back 20 years to the "Back The Bairns" campaign at his own club, Falkirk. Contact us at behindthegoals@hotmail.com and on Twitter at @SuppDirectScot and have your say!

This week we are joined by Ally Palmer, editor of the excellent Nutmeg football periodical. Since 2016 it has been published every quarter in a format somewhere between a book and a magazine. Unsurprisingly, given Ally's background as a newspaper designer, each issue is a beautiful addition to any bookshelf, and the long-form articles cover a huge range of topics - mostly relating to Scottish football. We chatted about the inspirations for Nutmeg, some of Ally's favourite articles, and his thoughts on the future of sports journalism in general. Issue 8 will be published in June, get it from www.nutmegmagazine.co.uk or head over there right now and get one of their back issues - we can thoroughly recommend Issue 4 which has an excellent article about Raith Rovers by someone called Alan Russell! behindthegoals@hotmail.com @SuppDirectScot

Andrew and Alan talk to the newest member of the Supporters Direct Scotland team, Jason Barber, about his involvement with Dunfermline Athletic over the years - from becoming a young fan, through the formation of the Pars Supporters Trust and fundraising for the Centenary Club Lifeline, and the Pars United rescue of the club from administration. Read more about the Pars Supporters Trust at www.parssupporterstrust.co.uk behindthegoals@hotmail.com @SuppDirectScot

Erin Fulton (@PAS_Erin), Volunteers and Interns Manager for PAS joined us to share her insights into how football clubs can make best use of their volunteers whilst also making sure that its a fulfilling and enjoyable for the volunteers themselves. PAS (www.pas.org.uk) are an Edinburgh-based organisation which helps empower people in Scotland to shape the places where they live by understanding and taking part in the planning system. Erin also spoke about a number of other organisations and resources that can provide invaluable support to your club and to volunteers: Volunteer Scotland (www.volunteerscotland.net) and the network of 'third sector interface organisations' (find your local organisation at https://www.vascotland.org/find-your-tsi). Sport Scotland (https://sportscotland.org.uk/volunteer) also provide good support, and Erin also pointed us towards Rob Jackson's blog (https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com) and NFP Synergy's 'New Alchemy Report' (https://nfpsynergy.net/free-report/new-alchemy) Lots to read and learn!!! behindthegoals@hotmail.com @SuppDirectScot

Nick Igoe, finance specialist for Club Development Scotland and Supporters Direct - and former finance director at West Ham - joined us for a masterclass on the basics of football finances. We talked about financial issues for every level of club from grassroots community clubs up to elite level professional clubs. behindthegoals@hotmail.com @SuppDirectScot

This week we visited AM Soccer Club, the community football club in North East Fife set up by Austin MacPhee, who is also assistant manager for Hearts and Northern Ireland. A fascinating character, he told us about his career as a player, about the experiences which inspired him to set up AMS, and his perspectives on the game. AM Soccer Club have been named as a finalist in this year's 'People's Project'. One of only five organisations selected from the East of Scotland, your vote can help them win £30,000 to develop their Walking Football Programme. Vote for AMS here: http://www.amsoccerclub.org/news/vote-for-ams-in-the-peoples-project/ behindthegoals@hotmail.com @SuppDIrectScot

Andrew and Alan talk about the SD Scotland Index - an overview of the ownership of Scotland's 42 senior clubs, and of their approach to supporter engagement and transparency. The index was conceived as an extension of the work Alan did for Raith Supporters Trust to improve their members' understanding of the ownership of their club structure. In this episode we talk about the Raith Rovers story, the development of the SD Scotland Index, and our plans for developing it further. You can view the Index here: https://tabsoft.co/2H9UsRg A previous version of the Index, which we initially published as a PowerPoint file, can be found here: https://bit.ly/2uUmBa8 The Raith Supporters Trust's "Who Owns What?" document can be found here: https://tabsoft.co/2qiURGB A PowerPoint slide deck showing how the Raith Rovers ownership structure evolved over the last 35 years can be found here: https://bit.ly/2H742o0 E-mail us at behindthegoals@hotmail.com, or contact us on Twitter at @SuppDirectScot

This week we bring you the first in a series of Club Development Scotland (www.clubdevelopment.scot) podcasts. Andrew spoke to John Alexander and Philip Jones about some of the alternatives to limited companies that you can consider for the incorporation of your club. behindthegoals@hotmail.com @SuppDirectScotland

Hibernian Supporters Limited (http://hiberniansupporters.co.uk/) was formed in partnership with the football club at the beginning of 2015. Its purpose is to widen the ownership of the club by purchasing new shares, which would enable the current holding company’s shareholding in Hibernian to be diluted below 50%. HSL board member Jim Adie joined us to chat about earlier supporter ownership initiatives as well as sharing progress of the HSL campaign and current priorities. The conversation showed that there are many forms that supporter ownership can take, and HSLs aspirations for the future. behindthegoals@hotmail.com @SuppDirectScot

Bryan Jackson is too humble to admit it but he is a huge name in Scottish football. As an administrator for clubs in financial distress he has been involved in saving some of the biggest clubs in Scotland from going out of business. The Foundation of Hearts have credited him as "the man who saved Hearts", and he had just as significant an input at Motherwell, Dundee, Dunfermline, Clyde and Clydebank - who are now preparing for a return to senior football. Since his retirement from full-time work, he has taken his interest in football in a new direction - his play "The Pieman Cometh", based on his experiences in Scottish football, opens tonight (Sunday 18th March) at Oran Mor as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. The opening night is sold out, but there are still some tickets available for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening. Tickets can be purchased from the venue or from See Tickets (https://www.seetickets.com/event/the-pieman-cometh-a-cautionary-football-tale/oran-mor/1178392)