Friends and colleagues of Craig Brown said their goodbyes to the late former Scotland manager in Ayr on Tuesday.
Brown died at the age of 82 in hospital last month after a short illness and the remembrance service took place at Ayr Racecourse, following a private family funeral.
Brown was the last man to lead Scotland to a World Cup finals, taking charge of the team in France 25 years ago.
Some of the Scotland players who played under him such as Jim Leighton, Tom Boyd, Gary McAllister, Murdo MacLeod, Tosh McKinlay, John Collins, Colin Hendry and Darren Jackson were in attendance along with former national team managers Andy Roxburgh and Alex McLeish.
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster and chairman Murdoch MacLennan were joined by SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell.
Derek McInnes of Kilmarnock, Aberdeen’s Barry Robson and Tony Docherty of Dundee were among current Scottish club managers present along with West Ham manager David Moyes.
Other well-known figures from Scottish football such as Willie Miller, James McFadden, Archie Knox, Jim Jefferies, Billy Stark, Jimmy Bone, Jocky Scott and Dick Campbell attended the service.
Brown is survived by his two sons, Hugh and John, and his daughter, Val, all of whom spoke eloquently about their father. In an emotional eulogy, Val catalogued her father’s life and football career and his love of quoting statistics.
She also recalled his brief foray into the world of pop music when he was a player at Dundee in the 1960s.
With tongue in cheek, she said: “Strangely, dad was very proud of having a hit single as one of five Dundee FC players who formed the famous pop group Hammy and the Hamsters. With their hits ‘She Was Mine’ and ‘My Dream Came True’ I am told they were the best boy band this side of Broughty Ferry.”
Son Hugh thanked the audience for “the incredible love and support, it is overwhelming and heart-warming” before he spoke with some humour about his father’s “tough love”.
He said: “I think it would be fair to say we endured old-school discipline at home so in all honesty we were absolutely delighted when he decanted to his beloved Largs for the summer (for SFA coaching courses) leaving mum and the three of us to get on with it.
“We didn’t have fancy holidays as kids but we had good manners drummed into us – John has forgot some.
“Good grammar was very important but we had the best sports equipment. He was a football fanatic who couldn’t cook, wash, iron or do anything domestically and he struggled to relax really until later in life – but a wonderful man. We were all so proud of him.”
Son John spoke about his father’s love of entertaining an audience: “Dad didn’t let the truth stand in the way of a good story. He would far rather tell a beautiful lie than a boring truth.”
Brown, a former schoolteacher, also led Scotland to the European Championship in 1996 and was involved in a coaching capacity at three other major tournaments.
The Glasgow-born former Rangers and Dundee player managed Clyde before his international coaching career, which also included leading Scotland Under-16s to a World Cup final and the under-21s to a European semi-final.
Brown was manager of Scotland from 1993 until 2001. He later managed Preston, Motherwell and Aberdeen before becoming a director at Pittodrie.
Columbus Crew v FC Cincinnati: Nancy not looking to set limits after reaching Champions Cup final
Wilfried Nancy questioned why limits should be placed upon his Columbus Crew side after they reached the CONCACAF Champions Cup final.
Having taken a narrow 2-1 lead into the second and away leg, Columbus then impressively won 3-1 in Monterrey to secure their place in the final against Pachuca in June.
Columbus are also sitting fifth in the MLS' Eastern Conference, and Nancy believes his side can keep pushing the boundaries of their potential.
"For me, this is about trying to be limitless, and this value for me is so important," Nancy told reporters. "Why are we going to put limits on what we do?"
Nancy's men turn their attentions back to domestic football this weekend, hosting FC Cincinnati on Saturday.
Cincinnati are flying themselves having rattled off three straight MLS victories to leave them second in the East and three points behind leaders Inter Miami with a game in hand.
Despite winning 1-0 at Orlando City last time out, Noonan was not impressed with his side's showing, saying: "I don't think anybody in there is doing cartwheels because of their, and our, performance.
"We won a game on the road and did things well enough to get a win, but didn't perform anywhere near what we know we're capable of.
"Hopefully, we use this as a chance to learn a little bit about ourselves and grow from it and then hopefully, have a good week and a strong performance in Columbus."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Columbus Crew – Cucho Hernandez
Hernandez leads the Crew for goals so far this season, netting four times in eight appearances. His tally is twice as many as his team-mates have managed, and Hernandez looks the most likely to lead his team's attacking threat this Saturday.
FC Cincinnati – Luciano Acosta
Acosta scored 17 seconds into Cincinnati’s 1-0 win over Orlando last weekend. It was the earliest goal ever scored in a 1-0 win in MLS history, and if his team are to pick up three points again this weekend, another fast start from Acosta could prove helpful.
MATCH PREDICTION – COLUMBUS CREW WIN
Columbus have lost only two of their 13 all-time MLS meetings with Cincinnati (seven wins, four draws), including winning the last two in a row. The Crew have scored multiple goals in 11 of those 13 matches, including each of the last seven in a row (incl. playoffs).
Cincinnati, meanwhile, have won three straight matches in all competitions for the first time since a four-match winning run in May-June last season. Two of those wins have come on the road with Cincinnati winning seven of their last 11 away matches in all competitions dating back to last September.
Columbus are unbeaten in 27 consecutive home matches in all competitions dating back over a year, though, with only two longer home unbeaten streaks in all competitions by an MLS club before, and they look the favourites to claim victory on Saturday.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Columbus – 52.5%
Cincinnati – 21.2%
Draw – 26.3%
New York Red Bulls v New England Revolution: Porter urges visitors to focus on their own game
New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter wants his team to focus on their own game as they prepare to face the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
The Revs sit bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with just seven points, though they ended a three-match losing run with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Red Bulls sit in fourth, though they are winless in their last four outings after last week's 6-2 thrashing at the hands of a Lionel Messi-inspired Inter Miami.
Asked how he would prepare to face a side coming off the back of such a heavy defeat, Porter turned the focus back to his own team, saying: "I think we have to be more focused on our mentality.
"That was, last week, a point of emphasis: ‘Let’s work on our execution.’ In the game of football, if you do what you want to do, that's half the equation or more, and I thought we did that in the latter stages of the first half and the entire second half, and I think that was a big reason we won the game."
Youngster Esmir Bajraktarevic echoed his coach’s thoughts, noting how the Revs have caused some of their own problems this season.
He said: "I think the main thing is just playing our game. I think when you look back at most of our games, it's kind of us beating ourselves rather than the other way around.
"So, it's kind of just making sure that we're doing the best that we can, and the results will come."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York Red Bulls – Dante Vanzeir
Vanzeir recorded his eighth goal contribution of the season with the opening goal against Inter Miami on Saturday, the joint-most for the team this season with Lewis Morgan.
Only one player, Fabio in 2021, has recorded eight or more goal involvements in the Red Bulls’ first 11 matches of a season between 2019 and 2023.
New England Revolution – Tomas Chancalay
Chancalay scored the lone goal in New England’s win over Chicago Fire last Saturday. Since his debut last April, he has scored more MLS goals than any other Revs player, netting eight.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK RED BULLS WIN
The Red Bulls have lost only one of their last 19 regular-season home matches against New England (12 wins, six draws) dating back to September 2007 – a 3-2 defeat in July 2021 – scoring at least once in all 19 games.
Indeed, the Red Bulls are unbeaten in seven straight home matches in all competitions (four wins, three draws) including last season’s playoffs. New York, who have two wins and two draws on their own turf this year, haven’t started a season unbeaten in their first five home games since 2017.
However, New England ended a 17-match away winless streak in MLS play (incl. playoffs) with a 1-0 win over Chicago Fire on Saturday. The Revs have only won consecutive games on the road once since the start of the 2022 season, doing so in May-June 2022.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York Red Bulls – 44.4%
Draw – 28.7%
New England Revolution – 26.9%
Philadelphia Union v Orlando City: Curtin looking for improvement amid tough run
Jim Curtin is calling for his Philadelphia Union side to improve ahead of the visit of Orlando City this weekend.
The Union are on a run of four games without a victory, needing to come from two goals behind to salvage a 2-2 draw away at D.C. United last weekend.
The poor run has left the Union eighth in the Eastern Conference, already 10 points behind leaders Inter Miami.
Curtin knows his side must get better ahead of back-to-back home games, telling reporters: "We still have a lot we can improve.
"We go back home for two games and we have to play with confidence. That's really when this group are at their best."
Orlando, meanwhile, are in the midst of their own underwhelming start, winning just two of their first 10 MLS games to leave them 14th in the East.
Oscar Pareja's men went down 1-0 at home to FC Cincinnati last weekend, and the Orlando head coach was disappointed with the performance and defeat.
"It's another frustrating night because of the result," Pareja said. "Obviously, at this point we are needing urgency to get points."
Orlando goalkeeper Pedro Gallese added: "We’re trying to push a certain way instead of being ourselves. This team just has to fix that and try and be ourselves."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Philadelphia Union – Daniel Gazdag
Gazdag has started the season impressively in front of goal, netting six times in nine matches to kick off the campaign. If Philadelphia are to get themselves back up towards the top of the East, Gazdag may be the man to fire them to it.
Orlando City – Duncan McGuire
Orlando have found it tricky in front of goal so far this term, and McGuire leads the team's scoring charts with four, double what any of his team-mates have managed. It will likely fall upon him to provide his team's main goal threat again on Saturday.
MATCH PREDICTION – PHILADELPHIA WIN
The Union have lost back-to-back home matches after losing just two of their previous 51 at Subaru Park in all competitions. Philadelphia have never suffered a three-match home losing streak in all competitions in club history.
Orlando faced just seven shots in the defeat to Cincinnati last weekend as they've conceded a league-low 9.7 shots per match this season. Opponents have converted a league-high 18.6% of their shots into goals against the Lions this season, however.
Orlando won 2-1 at the Union in the last meeting between the sides in Chester in March 2023, but the Lions have never avoided defeat in consecutive away matches against Philadelphia in all competitions and the Union look the favourites to earn the three points this weekend.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Philadelphia: 54.2%
Orlando: 19.7%
Draw: 26.1%
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