Who are the players and teams to watch across the Championship, League One and League Two this season?
First and foremost, thanks for the invitation to write about the lower leagues, much appreciated, Callum!
Raith Rovers, Partick Thistle, and Airdrie will look to build on strong campaigns last season. I was at Raith vs. Partick Thistle last weekend, and while it wasn’t a game for the purists, I still think both will be in the hunt for silverware. Falkirk will be a dark horse this year, with a decent display at home to Queen’s Park, and they comfortably dispatched Dunfermline. Ross MacIver and Callumn Morrison will give opposition defenders problems. Ayr United also look impressive; Scott Brown shares the vision built by his namesake David Smith.
Brian Graham and Robbie Muirhead at Partick Thistle and Livingston will score goals. To round off the goalies’ union, Kevin Dabrowski of Raith was MOTM against Thistle and has a big season ahead of him—nice guy as well.
I’m in the minority here, but I’m not surprised Annan Athletic have started well with six points out of six against two full-time sides as of writing. They’re a team with potential, and Tommy Goss is one of the best strikers in the division. It’s a big season for Kai Kennedy at Queen of the South. Once on the periphery of the Rangers squad, a lack of maturity has stalled his career, but at 22, he has a great opportunity to kick on again. It’s between Queens and Alloa for automatic promotion. Shout-outs to Adam Emslie at Cove (on loan from Aberdeen), who has a bright future; David Gold, who will be key for Arbroath; and Sean Dillon, whose experience will help Montrose.
In League Two, Spartans, Peterhead, Elgin City, and East Fife have impressed. Clyde enjoyed a decent Premier Sports Cup campaign, but I wasn’t impressed with them against Forfar a few weeks ago.
Blair Henderson will score goals at Ainslie Park; Hamish Ritchie, in my opinion, could play full-time; Jason Brown leads by example as captain at the Blue Toon; and Russell Dingwall and Brian Cameron look rejuvenated under Elgin boss Allan Hale.
How would you describe football in the Scottish lower leagues to someone who has not watched football at that level before?
No VAR for a start—I’ll just let Dick Campbell write about that! There’s a welcoming vibe in the lower leagues that you don’t get with some big Premiership teams. There are a lot of characters behind the scenes and many people putting in a shift (mostly voluntary) for the love of their club. Don’t expect the quality of Matt O’Riley, Bojan Miovski, or Adam Idah.
But the standard of football is decent, the pies are decent at most grounds, and there’s usually an opportunity for a pre-match pint. Players also have the potential to go full-time, but often find it better financially to have a full-time job and earn a bit of pocket money playing football.
Rory McAllister at Peterhead is a prime example—he was offered a full-time deal with Dundee United, but it was better for him to have a job and score goals for fun at Balmoor.
What are your predictions for this season in each division?
To be honest, I didn’t expect Ian Murray to last the season at Raith, so that’s a start! The Championship will be between Ayr, Falkirk, Raith, and Partick—there’s not much to separate them right now. Livingston and Airdrie can’t be ruled out either.
It’s hard to predict League One, but I can see a few managerial dismissals soon—Arbroath and Inverness Caley have been underwhelming to start the season.
It will be between Peterhead and Spartans for the League Two title, but I genuinely fancy Elgin City for the play-offs this season. Allan Hale is building something special there—a future full-time manager if he wants to make the step up.
How can readers continue to follow your work?
I cover the Championship and lower leagues for national newspapers and also had the opportunity to cover Aberdeen and Dundee United in recent seasons, I regularly cover a game every weekend for newspapers. Away from that, I host the Scottish Football Forums Podcast (women’s shows). I’m looking to do more with people in the Scottish game as there’s some great podcasters, vloggers, writers in the Scottish game that don’t get enough publicity. I have been training to become an administrator over the last few months which has taken up my time, probably a good thing after so much disappointment in Germany at the Euros for Scotland.
Callum McFadden 