Scotland's football season starts today! Let's hope we don't see another Covid spike – Vladimir McTavish

I cannot believe that the Scottish football season starts today.

It does not seem that long ago that Scotland were facing England at Wembley. But now the Scottish football season is beginning (Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/AFP via Getty)

It’s still July. The hysteria surrounding the Euros seems like it only happened last weekend. Believe it or not, the momentous game at Wembley actually took place six weeks ago yesterday.

However, you can tell it was quite some time ago, simply by looking at the coronavirus figures. Infection rates are finally falling, after they reached a peak at the start of July. Which was roughly two weeks after the game at Wembley.

The relaxing of all restrictions in England may have been four weeks in the future, but it appears no-one told the Tartan Army about that. All 20,000 of them.

We all saw the scenes on our TV of Scotland fans flooding the streets of London, packed like sardines onto flights south, drinking the city dry and then buying massive carry-outs in the hope they might see the game despite having neither tickets to Wembley nor a guaranteed seat to watch it on telly in a pub.

The impromptu street parties, celebrating a nil-nil draw as the greatest victory in their nation's history. It marked the end of more than two decades of disappointment.

Sadly, after that 23-year wait, the dream ended in the same predictable disappointment. All Scotland took take away from the Euros, other than the ultimate joy of England losing the final on penalties, was a potential new strain of the virus caused by 20,000 tartan-clad drunks singing, breathing in each others faces, rolling around in the street, hugging each other and generally behaving like, er, football fans.

It appears that the ‘Wembley Variant’ or the ‘Omega Variant Though To Have Originated at Kings Cross Station’ may well have passed its peak, just in time for supporters to be allowed inside Scottish football grounds.

It is another sign that life is slowly getting back to normal. Easter Road and Tynecastle will not be packed to the rafters, but there will be some fans allowed through the turnstiles. Whether your team wins, loses or draws this afternoon, that is something worth celebrating.

Hopefully we can all be trusted to celebrate sensibly. And safely. Here we go!

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