Full Scottish - Football round-up - May 2025
Welcome to the Full Scottish Football Report – May 2025, a month when transgender women were on the minds of Scottish football officials, naturally.
Served by Brian P. Dunleavy
SFA Ban on Transgender Women in Football:
The Scottish Football Association announced it will ban transgender women from participating in women’s football starting in the 2025-26 season, citing a need for single-sex sports and fairness, despite no current transgender players registered in Scotland.
Potential Managerial Changes in Scottish Premiership:
The Scottish Premiership sees several key managerial openings, with Rangers possibly appointing Davide Ancelotti or Sean Dyche, and Hearts potentially hiring Derek McInnes, indicating an intriguing upcoming season.
Criticism of Scottish Officials and Refereeing Decisions:
Former Rangers defender John Brown accused SFA officials of corruption during a match, prompting an investigation, highlighting ongoing frustrations with refereeing consistency and potential biases within Scottish football.
Broader Impact and Sentiment in Scottish Football:
Controversies over policies and refereeing decisions reflect broader tensions and differing perceptions of fairness, inclusion, and integrity in Scottish football, affecting club and league dynamics.
SFA Announce Ban On Transgender Women
In a week that saw much-needed reorganization discussions apparently shelved, at least for the time being, the Scottish Football Association (SFA) created a solution in search of a problem. Mirroring a similar policy change in England, the SFA announced plans to ban transgender women from participating in women’s football. From the start of the 2025-26 season, only biological women will be able to take part in women’s competitive football, which includes those from under-13s on up.
Current rules allow for transgender women to compete under their affirmed gender identity on a case-by-case basis, based on their testosterone levels.
There are no transgender players currently registered in Scotland—hence the “solution in search of a problem” bit. In England, reports suggest there are 20 among the millions who participate in the sport there.
“We have male football. We have female football. And we have single-sex football for a reason,” Mary Galbraith, chair of the Scottish Women’s Premier League told Sky Sports this week. “[We] want to make the game as attractive, and supportive, and inclusive and fair for everyone.”
She added that, “There’s a place for [transgender women] in the men’s game, and the male game needs to be inclusive of transgender women. It’s about everyone finding their correct home in football.”
Easier said than done, though the SFA has indicated it is developing new plans for increasing LGBTQ+ participation in football.
Inclusion
Look, we don’t want to get political in this space and, frankly, we’re not sure what the ideal solution is here, or even if there is one. Let’s just say that our view is that sport, including football, should be a welcoming—and fair—place for everyone.
After a recent UK Supreme Court ruling that the term “woman” in the country’s Equality Act refers only to a “biological woman,” Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, advised sporting bodies to wait for guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission before revising policies on inclusion—and yet, the SFA chose to act now.
Notably, the Supreme Court ruling was made in response to a decision by the Scottish government to extend the definition of woman to include transgender women.
There will likely be legal challenges here. All of which will be detrimental to women’s football, which is already struggling to gain a foothold in Scotland. If the SFA really wants to focus on “equality,” they have plenty of work to do.
While Celtic and Rangers stol
Rangers, Hearts, Killie Eye New Managers
Summer is not yet in full swing, and we already have a spate of potential managerial moves in the Premiership. Rangers, the biggest job opening in the league (assuming Brendan Rodgers doesn’t go back on his word and leave Celtic this summer), may actually be the last domino to fall, with reports that Davide Ancelotti (son of Carlo) could take the post instead of following his father to Brazil.
Still, the younger Ancelotti has never been in charge of his own team, and the vital rebuild at Rangers may be beyond his reach. Sean Dyche is another possible candidate for the hot seat at Ibrox, though he recently flamed out at Everton, after flaming out at Burnley and Watford previously. Somehow, we don’t think the Englishman will send hearts fluttering in Govan.
Conversely, the possible return of Steven Gerrard might, but would the Liverpool legend want to come back?
Speaking of hearts, er, Hearts, Derek McInnes is reportedly set to be named the next manager at Tynecastle as soon as next week. McInnes has no direct links with Hearts during his well-traveled career, but he has done admirable work at Kilmarnock (winning percentage: 38.5%), following an outstanding run at Aberdeen (winning percentage: 53%).
That said, he’ll be hoping to be on the receiving end of some patience from both the board and supporters in Edinburgh—unlike several of his predecessors.
And taking McInnes’ place in East Ayrshire? Well, former Hearts bench boss Steven Naismith, at least if the oddsmakers are to be believed. Naismith, of course, began his playing career at Rugby Park and made more than 100 appearances for the club.
Naismith had a challenging first job as a manager, leading Hearts for just under two seasons, but it could be argued her got a raw deal at Tynecastle, given that he won there at 43% clip.
The funny thing about stories such as these, though, is that they could all be rendered rubbish by the time you read this. Still, should any or all of them actually occur, the 2025-26 season already promises to be an interesting one.
Rangers legend calls Scottish officials corrupt
As we head into Scottish Cup final weekend, clubs not named Celtic and Rangers were likely left laughing this week after former Ibrox defender John Brown criticized SFA officials during matchday 38 in the Premiership.
On Rangers TV, Brown, part of the nine-in-a-row ’Gers squad in the 1990s, called the officials working the Rangers-Hibs match “corrupt” after they opted not to go to VAR when Nicolas Raskin appeared to score to make it 2-0 in the first half. On-field referee Nick Walsh didn’t signal for the goal and he ultimately wasn’t called to review the decision by VAR. The match ended at 2-2.
After the match, acting Rangers bench boss Barry Ferguson called the decision “baffling.”
Brown, however, was more direct at halftime, describing it as “corrupt [and] a disgrace” before adding, “It’s the worst decision I’ve seen in all the years I’ve been in football.”
Rangers TV co-commentator Tom Miller tried to salvage the comment by saying, “Well, I’m not sure we can actually say that. Those are not necessarily the views of Rangers Football Club.”
But it may be too late. The SFA has announced it intends to launch an investigation into the matter.
And there is precedent. In 2019, former Celtic defender and Celtic TV commentator Tom Boyd referenced images of referee John Beaton drinking in a “Rangers pub” when he criticized a decision by the whistleblower during a Glasgow derby.
Boyd and Celtic, ultimately, weren’t sanctioned, though Boyd did step away from commentary for a time.
The reason other clubs are laughing? For them, the idea that officials are biased against cash cows Celtic and Rangers is absurd.
And they’re probably right. There are poor refereeing decisions are as ubiquitous in Scottish football as moaning about them—yes, even in the birthplace of the sport. Some of the moaning is justified, but Celtic and Rangers are hardly targeted by officials.
Corrupt? Hardly. Incompetent? Perhaps.