Why the fragile Scottish psyche on the continent must change

The 2019/20 campaign was a good one by our standards with Aberdeen making it through a couple of rounds, and both Celtic and Rangers reaching the knockout rounds of the Europa League. Even with Kilmarnock’s embarrassing loss to Connah’s Quay Nomads (more on that soon) it was enough for 9.75 points. But now that particular score has dropped off the five-year total and needs to be replaced with something similarly impressive if we’re going to make it back into the top 12, which is the minimum of where we want to be.

This week, and the one which follows it, bears significant importance because both St Mirren and Kilmarnock are up against opposition from Norway, the country currently sat in 12th place. (We’ve since moved up to 16th off the back of St Mirren and Kilmarnock’s results so far and Celtic getting a 1.2 bonus for Champions League qualification.) Rangers are also in action earlier in the week, facing Dynamo Kyiv.

The ties against Tromso and Brann, respectively, will be winnable for our fourth and fifth-best clubs from last season, but it’s hard not to be skeptical given the bounty of evidence over the last decade or so. Scottish clubs have made underachievement in Europe a frustrating habit in that time, with the exception of Rangers, who have consistently bucked this trend and outplayed expectations, particularly in the 2021/22 season where they reached the Europa League final.

There have been some stunning losses: Killie v Connah’s Quay; Hearts against Birkirkara; Hibs losing a first leg in Andorra; Motherwell going out to Sligo Rovers; Celtic’s Lincoln Red Imps shocker. Even Rangers had a slapstick pratfall by losing to Progres Niederkorn. After each of these, the overall quality of Scottish football was called into question, but this is inaccurate and misses the point. Killie didn’t lose to Connah’s Quay because the visiting side had better players. This has since been demonstrated further with the Welsh outfit losing to lower-league sides in the Challenge Cup in campaigns since then. No, Killie lost because all of our teams seem to share this ability to fall to pieces in big European moments.

The problem isn’t just consigned to minnows giving us a black eye and a red face. There are so many instances of our clubs going up against teams of similar, or slightly better, stature and failing to get the job done despite some decent performances. In each of the last two years, for example, both Hearts and Aberdeen passed up terrific chances to make it to the group stages of the Europa League, losing to Zurich and Hacken, respectively, despite neither opponent looking stronger than their Scottish rivals. St Johnstone couldn’t get it done against Galatasaray and LASK following their cup double despite two impressive away performances and holding their own throughout the 90 minutes at McDiarmid Park. Hibs should have beaten Rijeka just a couple of years back. Aberdeen had two frustrating exits in 2016 and 2017, in particular, going out to Kairat and Maribor. Then there’s Celtic’s myriad of losses to teams who would never have won at Celtic Park during the “fortress” era of the noughties. The list goes on.

Kilmarnock’s defeat to Cercle Brugge wasn’t the most egregious of examples, but there was a depressing predictability to it. They failed to take advantage of significant late pressure in the first leg, missed a huge chance to give themselves an early lead in Belgium and then surrendered the only goal of the game with a piece of shoddy defending that’s typically unlike this Killie side, going out 2-1 on aggregate. It was yet another example of a Scottish team failing to win a contest in the fine margins.

There was, however, some evidence last season which suggested things might be changing for the better. Hibs rebounded from their humiliation in Andorra to defeat Luzern in the next round, while Hearts bettered Rosenborg at Tynecastle on the same night with a deflected winner in stoppage time – the kind of thing that usually goes against our teams. Aberdeen may have blown it against PAOK to lose 3-2 at home after winning 2-0, but they did get a credible draw in Greece and beat Eintracht Frankfurt.

You’d need an expert in both the psychological and the sociological fields to fully explain why many of our teams have a habit of routinely falling short in Europe, but if I may offer an amateurs opinion, I think it’s a mental weakness which has largely been fed by the “woe is me” attitude of Scottish football as a whole across recent decades. We’ve constantly cast envious glances at the English Premier League as it’s grown into the stratosphere while we’ve remained in our humble surroundings.

Recently, though, fans have begun to accept the reality of the situation and cherished the authenticity of our game. By stopping the constant navel-gazing and embracing our identity, our players can be allowed to travel to the continent with defiance in their minds and believe in their hearts, both of which are required for teams who rely on hard-running, hard tackling and determined doggedness more than most. Instead, it feels like we often wait for something to go wrong, which it then inevitably does.

Even if the perception of Scottish football from within is changing, it's still doing so slowly and it'll likely take a while before we see greater consistency in Europe. But for the meantime let's hope we can get some more glimpses of a brighter tomorrow this week and our five clubs combine for a season which keeps us dining at the top table.