With Christmas on the way, and 2020 almost at an end, here at NTOF we thought we’d make a some predictions about what will happen in Scottish football next year, which promises to have plenty of action, as not only do we have the end of the domestic season but Scotland’s European Champions games to look forward to. With that in mind, here are the three predictions:
Dunfermline will be promoted
Dunfermline are currently sitting in second place in the Championship, trailing Hearts, who it seems are going to run away with the league title. However, Dunfermline have already shown this season they are more than a match for teams that on paper they should struggle against.
They defeated Hearts in the league, and took St Johnstone to penalties in the Betfred Cup. Only recently, there snatched a point from nowhere after being 3-0 down against Dundee. That battling spirit should serve them well in the promotion play-offs, and we predict that they will have the ability to reach the Premiership thanks to the play-offs.
Scotland will do us proud at the Euros
For some Scotland just being at the European Championships next summer will be a success. That won’t be the case for Steve Clarke and the players. They will want to show that they deserve to be there, and won’t want to make up the numbers.
Therefore, Scotland will be determined to make the last 16 of the competition. We predict that the Scotland team is more than capable of doing that, and with Clarke’s tactical know-how Scotland can make the next round of a major tournament for the first time. Hopefully fans will be at Hampden for that occasion, but even we aren’t going to predict that.
Betfred Cup Final to be a Saints vs Hibs battle
Few people would have predicted the Betfred Cup semi-final last four. St Mirren take on Livingston, and Hibernian take on St Johnstone. Any of the teams can reach the final, and that doesn’t usually happen in Scottish football.
On this occasion though we predict that St Mirren and Hibs will edge out their opponents to reach the Hampden Park final, although both games will be very close to call. Indeed, it would not be a shock to see penalties needed to decide who makes the final.