Professor John Robertson OBA (Open Bairns Admirer)

OK, first my apologies to Gordon Gibson, for this. Motherwell deserved better. Second, I declare my uncontrolled bias and thus must rate my researcher reliability score to be SFA.

I see today that Falkirk FC, ‘The Bairns‘ of the Bairnabeu Stadium in the Bog, Falkirk, have been first in the league, to cap their ticket prices at £25, in the wake of bumper crowds this year.

Also, source-free, I feel sure I’ve seen a proposal to rename the Falkirk Stadium (yawn) the St Jimmy Bairnabeu Stadium, after Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in recognition of the Bairns campaign to sign Ronaldo and then win the European Cup or whatever it’s called now.

For reasons of inexplicable synaptic firing, these reminded me of our recent game against Dundee Utd where, I think we fielded an entirely Scots-born team and they did not have even one. They were lucky to get a draw.

We have Dundee today and I see they have two Robertson‘s in the squad leading to some conflicted feelings here. As I remember it, my dad, Hugh, thought he was related, ‘twice removed, once by the polis‘, to Dundee’s Hugh Robertson who was in their 1962 league champions team. They did look very alike. Sources? None I’m afraid. He also claimed that Hugh, then with the Pars, was a scorer for the first team to beat the Lisbon Lions in Dunfermline Athletic’s run to the 1968 Scottish Cup.

Anyhoo, back to the bit that will get me pelters as a supposed narrow, blood and soil nationalist when what I care about is the survival of the game as a place where at least some Scots bairns can get a career.

From Grok AI this. Grok coincidentally is a Scots word meaning ‘to vomit with a weak stream which thus lands on your own groin area’. It’s thought to have emerged in the early 15th Century as a fusion of the words ‘grue‘ and ‘cock.’

Scottish Premiership Teams: Number of Scotland-Born Players (2025-26 Season)

Based on current squad data from Transfermarkt (as of October 2025), the number of Scotland-born players is calculated as total squad size minus non-Scottish players (foreigners, defined as those with non-Scottish nationality). Squad sizes include all registered first-team players (typically 22-30 per team), excluding youth or B-team players unless promoted. Note: This reflects active squads early in the season; numbers can fluctuate with transfers or loans.

Team	Squad Size	Non-Scottish Players	Scotland-Born Players
Falkirk FC	25	4	21
Kilmarnock FC	25	12	13
Motherwell FC	27	16	11
St Mirren FC	23	18	5
Livingston FC	30	15	15
Dundee FC	25	17	8
Hibernian FC	24	17	7
Heart of Midlothian FC	31	17	14
Dundee United FC	24	20	4
Celtic FC	30	22	8
Rangers FC	28	22	6
Aberdeen FC	27	21	6

Key Insight:

Falkirk FC has the most Scotland-born players (21 out of 25), reflecting their recent promotion from the Championship and focus on local talent development. This is significantly higher than the league average of ~9-10 per team (out of ~320 total players league-wide, ~113 are Scottish). Larger clubs like Celtic and Rangers prioritize international signings for competitiveness in Europe, resulting in fewer domestic players. Data sourced from Transfermarkt squad profiles. transfermarkt.us +11

Right, that’s that off my kist. Back to waiting times and radioactive waste. Sigh.