After World Cup's unsavoury moments, hopefully Scottish football will retain a sense of perspective – Steve Cardownie

Now that the World Cup is over, its back to league business in Scotland as the season picks up where it left off.

Steve Cardownie is looking forward to celebrating many more Hearts goals, like this one by Lawrence Shankland (Picture: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

As a season ticket holder at Tynecastle Park, I am looking forward to the resumption of league competition, still nursing the ambition that we can now pile on the pressure and finish third, or even higher – and that’s without a drink!

Long gone are the days when you knew where you would be at 3pm on a Saturday, with kick-off times being shuffled about to accommodate those clubs involved in European competitions or television schedules. Now fans can find themselves queuing up for a pie and a Bovril on a Saturday or Sunday lunchtime or a weeknight, including a Friday! Pittodrie on a Friday night, what a prospect!

My group of “auld worthies” largely comprises of fellow Jambos with a couple of Hibby’s thrown in, so the banter is quite relentless and usually highly entertaining. More so when I visit another establishment where I am outnumbered in my immediate company by a ratio of around four to one. Maybe it’s an age thing, but as we recognise that football is just a game and that there are far more serious matters in this world to contend with, discussions are conducted in a friendly, albeit sometimes contentious, manner where differences of opinion are not only tolerated but are welcomed.

I say this because we did unfortunately witness a number of unsavoury incidents during the World Cup both on, and more seriously, off the pitch. Having been brought up in a family where my father and my uncles all supported Hibs, I have been fortunate to experience first-hand that supporting the “other” team is not a heinous crime and that, as football supporters, there is more to unite us than divide us.

So, with that in mind, I will continue to support “my” team and engage supporters of other teams in lively conversations about the merits and demerits of our respective allegiances and Scottish football in general.

In the meantime, roll on January 2 and the Scottish Cup tie.