Episode 14

A high-profile Championship manager has lost his job and has been replaced by another one. What next for Scott Brown, and can John Rankin keep Ayr United out of the relegation quagmire?

It’s been a busy week of international friendlies for Scotland but, after a lukewarm reception from fans, we ask just what is the point of friendly matches at all? Did any of our fringe players book themselves a World Cup ticket? And the food menu at the new Everton stadium was absolutely banging, but where were the steak pies?

In the half-time film, we catch up with Rangers legend Nacho Novo as he embarks on a managerial career at lower league Darvel. After overcoming some personal issues, he is now thriving in Ayrshire and using former gaffer Walter Smith as his inspiration to reach the very top.

You can’t play football without a pitch, and in Scotland we seem to be more and more obsessed by the playing surface. With Dundee United’s pitch making headlines for all the wrong reasons, we take a sideways look at the best and worst pitches in Scottish football, and the ground staff whose job it is to keep these hallowed pieces of turf in tip-top condition.

With another huge weekend of football ahead, we preview Stephen Robinson’s mouth-watering return to St Mirren with his struggling Aberdeen side, and in The Banker there is controversy brewing from last week after Telfer was well and truly diddled by the golden envelope stipulation.