Outrage over Scotland games being shown on YouTube - but what's not to like?

Unless you're one of the 2,650-strong Tartan Army with a ticket for the National Stadium in Warsaw on Monday night, then the only place to see Scotland’s crunch Nations League clash against Poland is on YouTube.

The general feeling seems to be that that's a bad thing. Legendary former commentator Archie Macpherson, speaking to The Sun ahead of Friday’s Scotland v Croatia match, which was also only available on YouTube, expressed his disappointment at the situation. There was a lot of chat on social media, too, that Scotland’s “relegation” to the video-sharing website is “shambolic”. SNP MSP Paul McLennan was quoted as being “concerned” that the games are only on YouTube, while Iain Emerson, editor of the Famous Tartan Army Magazine, said it is “outrageous”.

But what's not to like? I think it's great.

Scotland players celebrate John McGinn's winner against Croatia in a match broadast live free-to-air on YouTube. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

Sure, it's disappointing that neither BBC Scotland nor STV have had the desire or necessary funds to purchase broadcasting rights for this Nations League campaign, one that has seen Steve Clarke's men dine at the top table of European international football. It would have been nice to watch the team take on Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Robert Lewandowski on terrestrial television, but isn't YouTube the next best thing? It's free and everyone has access to it.

The gist of the tabloid piece with 87-year-old Macpherson was that many Scotland fans, especially older ones, would struggle to get their heads around using YouTube - indeed, the article claimed that supporters would be left “scrambling with technology once more”. But that view seems very outdated. It's 2024 now.

Just recently, my dad - who is in his mid-70s and someone I'd describe as being technologically challenged - was telling me that he'd been enjoying catching up on old clips of The Vicar of Dibley on YouTube. And at the other end of the age spectrum, my youngest daughter - who is still at primary school - seems worryingly competent at finding her way around the site. Pretty much everyone can use YouTube nowadays, can't they? The platform has been around for 20 years. It's there on everyone's mobile phones and tablets and now many people's televisions too.

And, again, the best thing is that it's completely free to access. Armchair football supporters have to dig deep these days to watch games. Whether it's Sky Sports, TNT Sports or Premier Sports, the subscription packages are fairly expensive. In this tough economic climate, it's a hefty monthly outgoing that many fans simply cannot afford.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke and assistant John Carver celebrate as John McGinn finds the net to seal a 1-0 win over Croatia. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

It has been refreshing, therefore, that Scotland’s Nations League adventures this time have been free-to-air every step of the way. ITV forked out to broadcast September's games against Poland and Portugal, and October's double-header against Croatia and Portugal was streamed live on YouTube, just like Friday night's victory over Croatia and Monday's decider with the Poles.

The match coverage on the Scottish FA's YouTube channel hasn't been all-singing all-dancing, of course. It's a very scaled-back operation. Scandinavian broadcaster Viaplay are the rights holders but they announced in June 2023 that they were reducing their operations in the UK. They provide the pictures and commentary, and that's about it.

So we don't have, say, a Steven Thompson anchoring proceedings pitchside or from a studio sofa and we don't have, say, a Kris Boyd providing half-time analysis. There's none of that. I'll leave you, reader, to decide whether that's a positive or a negative! But from where I was sitting (in front of my laptop at home), Friday night's coverage of Scotland’s 1-0 win over Croatia, clinched thanks to a second-half strike from super sub John McGinn, was more than acceptable. It did the job just fine.

For those, like Macpherson, who remain nervous about being able to navigate YouTube, rest assured that a simple “Scotland v Croatia” in the site’s search engine brought up the stream. There was no requirement to register or log in. Claims in The Sun article that supporters might be asked to scan a QR code for entry were mercifully wide of the mark.

The Scottish FA’s stream began at 7.17pm, 28 minutes before kick-off but really just amounted to a screen telling viewers that live coverage would start in due course. Moments later, the team lines appeared and at around 7.30pm there was a short pitchside interview with Clarke, when he explained the thinking behind giving Tommy Conway the nod in attack.

There were the inevitable YouTube adverts and there was a small segment on a Scottish FA after-school childcare community programme but viewers were pretty much fine to get on with any household chores, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn’t be missing much ahead of the 7.45pm start.

Viaplay’s own YouTube channel also provided a free stream and was on air in time for the anthems but, on the SFA’s channel, live pictures from Hampden only appeared just as the match kicked off. The ever-reliable Rory Hamilton was on commentary duty and match analyst Michael Stewart was on good form, waxing lyrical about Ben Doak’s performance and at one point saying an offside call was “as tight as the linesman’s haircut”.

At half-time, we saw an interview with Andy Robertson, with Amy Irons asking the Scotland captain which players in the squad he needed to keep in check the most (answer: Ben Doak and Billy Gilmour), but unfortunately there were no interviews at full-time. The match stats flashed up on screen but, when it would have been nice to see a chirpy McGinn on camera describing his winning goal, instead the broadcast ended fairly sharpish. “Thanks for tuning in,” a message read, before pointing viewers in the direction of upcoming coverage of Monday night’s match in Warsaw.

I’ll certainly be watching and, happily, all generations of Scotland supporters can do the same.