Ronan Hale's late penalty earns a draw for Ross County
But the former Liverpool and Rangers defender's night ended on a sour note when he tugged the shirt of Jordan White, paving the way for County to level the tie with a late penalty.
There were ugly scenes at full-time around the visitors' technical area as a member of the Staggies backroom staff appeared to be confronted by a home supporter, with police getting involved.
Livi boss David Martindale selected the same XI that started both legs of the 4-0 aggregate semi-final victory over Championship rivals Partick Thistle.
County, bidding to negotiate the play-offs for a third year in a row and prolong their six-year stay in the Premiership, were also unchanged from the team that halted a seven-game losing streak by drawing 1-1 at home to Motherwell on the final day of the Premiership campaign.
The Staggies almost opened the scoring in the 10th minute but County defender Will Nightingale's powerful downward header from a Hale corner was brilliantly clawed out by keeper Jerome Prior.
Livi midfielder Scott Pittman then tested keeper Jordan Amissah with a low shot from just outside the box.
The Lions started to get on top and Cristian Montano was denied by an Akil Wright challenge in the box after getting on the end of Lewis Smith's cutback before the Colombian drove a shot just wide of the far post after cutting in from the left.
The hosts had two big chances in quick succession just after the half-hour, with Montano's close-range shot charged down by Zac Ashworth before Robbie Muirhead blazed over after Smith's cross fell to him six yards out
Livi made a deserved breakthrough in the last minute of the first half when Wilson pounced to blast home the loose ball from inside the six-yard box after County failed to clear their lines following a Stephen Kelly corner that was met by the head of Ryan McGowan.
The Lions went in search of a second after the break and Kelly was off target with an angled shot from just inside the box before Muirhead fired over after being set up by Pittman.
Montano then headed Smith's cross over the bar from close range just before the hour.
County started to knock on the door, with Hale sending an overhead kick over the bar and sub Dylan Smith seeing a low shot pushed behind by Prior, and they forced an equaliser in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Hale fired home from the spot after Wilson was penalised for pulling substitute White's shirt.
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BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Is America making Scottish football great again?
The American takeover of Rangers represents a significant shift at Ibrox but it also marks a broader milestone for Scottish football. With the arrival of US-based consortium, including Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises in Glasgow, half of this season's 12 Premiership clubs now have substantial investment from the United the latest development in a trend which has been building quietly for over 10 years and one which reflects similar changes across Europe. So, what's driving this wave of transatlantic interest? And what might it mean for the future of Scottish football? A decade in the making American involvement in the Scottish game began back in 2013, when Texans John Nelms and Tim Keyes took control at Dundee, with a vision centred on youth development and player trading. Five years later, across the road at Tannadice, Mark Ogren bought Dundee United. He has since invested an estimated £13m during what has been a turbulent but committed tenure. Since then, the US footprint has expanded. Bournemouth owner Bill Foley acquired a significant stake in Hibernian, St Johnstone were bought by businessman Adam Webb, and Aberdeen brought in a group of US investors via Scotland-born, US-based Dave Cormack. There was also interest in Motherwell from former Netflix ex-vice president Erik Barmack last year. More bang for your buck in Scotland than England? In England, following Dan Friedkin's recent acquisition of Everton, half of the 20 Premier League clubs are now under US ownership, including Manchester United and Liverpool. Nine more clubs in the English Football League have also attracted American investment. The reasons are varied, but value is a key factor. While the average NFL franchise is valued at around $6bn, and an NBA team commands roughly $4.6bn, Everton reportedly sold for just £400m. For investors used to those numbers, European football clubs can seem like a bargain - especially when they come with global brand recognition, loyal fanbases, and historical why Scotland?"They love the sport and the cost for getting involved with sports ownership in the states is significant," said Cormack, Aberdeen's is cheaper, but the potential rewards - particularly through European competition - are very real. While Everton's new owners may have limited expectations of reaching the Champions League, those backing Rangers will expect to be there regularly. That offers a route to financial growth, global exposure, and an increase in brand value. There's also a growing focus on player trading. Celtic have shown how effective this can be, developing talent and selling at a premium. US investors see Scotland as a shop window. Les Alan, an LA-based investment banker, helped broker the Rangers takeover and thinks the attraction was obvious. "If you're looking at the investment from a financial point of view, the figures speak for themselves," he said. "Rangers' enterprise value is probably around £150m. For that you could probably buy a very small fraction of the 49ers, you could buy a fraction of an English Premier League club."Yet Rangers offer you one of the top two teams in Scotland, with a 38-acre training facility, a magnificent stadium in the heart of Glasgow and the possibility of top-tier European competition every year. "So from a financial point of view, the comparisons I believe are compelling. In fact, in the US, here in LA, a women's team just traded for $250m, without the background, the history or the trophy winning past of Rangers." The rise of multi-club ownership The attraction and acquisition fits into a wider model now common across world football. Many American investors own more than one club - often across different Black Knight group has stakes in Bournemouth, Lorient and Auckland. Webb holds a share in Cambridge United. Rangers' new owners also control Leeds insist the goal is to share best practices, not necessarily move players around. But, for fans, there is unease. Supporters are proud of their club's identity and traditions - and wary of becoming a satellite in a wider footballing and passion won't allow fans to entertain the notion of their club existing to feed the parent company's bigger offspring but with scouting and analytics playing such a key role in football, collaboration in some form is inevitable."Every team is just as important as the next team but we need to have ways of avoiding the heavy transfer payments that you have in football and at least if you have transfer payments, we're paying ourselves instead of paying a third party," said Foley."So, I understand sometimes there's apprehension about multi-club ownership - Manchester City has proved it works for them and we feel it works for us with the size of club we are and we respect every team that we own a part of."I was only allowed to buy 30% of Hibs but if larger ownership percentages are allowed, you'll see many more Americans investing in Scottish football. I have no doubt about that." With great power comes great responsibility What evidence do we have of success so far? Dundee have yet to realise the dream of becoming a conveyer belt for young Scottish talent, but their US owners have brought stability to a club that was unpredictable. Their neighbours at Tannadice have steadied the club financially, but fans might be forgiven for expecting more. It's perhaps a similar story at Hibs, and St Johnstone's new owners couldn't prevent the club being relegated for the first time in 16 years. We also have to acknowledge when fans didn't welcome fresh investment from the US. In 2024, Motherwell fans, the club's majority shareholder, voted against a club takeover by Barmack. The episode at Motherwell shows there are also cultural differences to navigate. In the US, sport is often positioned as entertainment - a product consumed by families, sponsors, and corporate clients. In Scotland, football is deeply personal. American investors entering the Scottish game may find the passion and expectations here very different from what they're used to. And while financial backing is welcome, it comes with a responsibility - not just to balance the books, but to honour what the club means to its supporters. "Each club has different but deep histories no matter if you're Stenhousemuir or Rangers," said Alan. "If we're out there in the investment banking world and you're selling two semi-conductor companies, how do you differentiate from the two? But football clubs, even in the same league, have deep and different cultural pasts." Scottish football may benefit from US investment. But if it's to succeed, it must be done with care, respect, and a clear understanding of the culture it's entering.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
'Snobbery' over Scottish talent has left national game at crisis point
'Part of my day job is system development,' said Ferguson, the former East Stirlingshire, Alloa Athletic, Hamilton Academical, Partick Thistle and Stenhousemuir defensive midfielder who is now assistant to Gary Naysmith at the third tier Ochilview Park part-timers. 'We're always looking ahead. We're involved in Olympic sports and we look four years, eight years, even 12 years down the line. We look at pathways and what we've got coming through.' Does Ferguson think that this country's leading football clubs have the same forward-thinking attitude? Does he believe their chairmen, managers, owners, chief executives and sporting directors are safeguarding the future of our national game? Is he hopeful that Scotland will flourish as a result of the farsighted groundwork they are laying now? The posts about the number of homegrown and under-21 players who were involved in the Premiership last season which he fired up on the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform last week suggested that he very much does not. Read more: The statistics which he personally collated were highly concerning. But here are two of the most startling. He showed that the overall percentage of Scots to start top flight games during the 2024/25 campaign was just 31.46 per cent. That was down from 45 per cent three years ago. In addition, he highlighted that, on average, just four out of the 132 players who kicked games off in the elite division every weekend were under the age of 21 and originally hailed from these shores. He can foresee major issues arising in the future as a consequence. 'I started doing this back in around 2018 or 2019,' said Ferguson. 'I went back to the 1980s and 1990s and looked at the trend of more non-Scots coming into the Scottish game. I tracked the summer and winter signings and looked at the team sheets every week. It worried me back then, but it's getting worse every year. 'When I started doing this, the number of Scots who were starting every week on average was at about 48 to 49 per cent. Now it is down in the low 30s. I think it is a major problem already. And it is only going to get worse and worse. There needs to be an intervention before it becomes an even bigger problem. 'It's not just the Premiership where it's a problem now, it's feeding down into the lower divisions as well. When you look at a line-up of a Championship team, there are often a lot of non-Scots in there. We are reaching a crisis point. We can be producing far more players than we are.' (Image: SNS Group) So what, if anything, does Ferguson feel can be done to turn things around? The man who has just helped Stenhousemuir to secure a play-off place in their first season up in League One admits that he is puzzled by the Premiership clubs' reliance on overseas players. He has long been convinced they would be better off shopping local. 'I have always felt, going right back to my own playing days, that Scottish players and probably Scottish staff don't get the recognition that they were due when they were playing at a lower level,' he said. 'They were never picked up. 'There have been so many examples of that over the years. But Lawrence Shankland is the one really jumped out to me. I can remember watching him when I was the manager at Stenhousemuir and we played Ayr United. He was the difference in the game. 'I went and spoke to Hearts about him. I got told, 'Yeah, we've had him watched, but we don't think he's quick enough, we don't think he's strong enough'. They had so many reasons for not signing him. 'But they went straight out and signed David Vanecek from a club in the second tier in the Czech Republic. He lasted five or six months and then he was gone. I looked at that and thought, 'Why not look at the best players in the leagues below here?'. Hearts eventually signed Lawrence, but they could have had him years earlier if they had just taken a chance.' Read more: Ferguson is optimistic that Scottish clubs will look at the success which Falkirk have enjoyed under John McGlynn in the past couple of years – they have won League One and the Championship in successive seasons – and realise that promoting promising talent from the lower leagues can yield impressive results. 'Falkirk have been a breath of fresh air for me,' he said. 'They've taken players up from the Lowland League, they've even looked at the East of Scotland League. Those players have made big jumps up. 'Not all of them will be able to step up. But a lot of them have and are progressing. They have had an unbelievable couple of seasons. For me, John should be getting far more recognition for what he has done.' Ferguson continued, 'I just think there's snobbery across the Scottish game. There are a lot of good players in Scotland, but the pathway is not there for them. The opportunities for them to play at the top are so limited it's incredible. 'There has been talk about a Scottish goalkeeping crisis recently. For me, there is a bit of snobbery there too. Nicky Hogarth at Falkirk is a far better goalkeeper than the lad Cieran Slicker at Ipswich Town. Now, that might not be the case in the future. But at this moment in time Hogarth has won back-to-back league titles and is a better player. (Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) 'Hogarth has been at Rangers and Nottingham Forest as a young player, Slicker has been at Manchester City and Ipswich Town. So they both have a good grounding. But Slicker, a player who has never played a league game, gets selected for the national squad. For me, that kind of belittles playing for your country. Why not give Hogarth a chance? 'I think there are players there now who could easily make the step up to the Premiership. Not every player is going to make the grade, that's just never going to happen. But there are a lot of players who will get recruited from other countries who will come and go in the blink of an eye. Fans will forget about them in a couple of weeks. 'But I don't think the fanbase helps things ether if I am being honest. People don't get as excited about signing a player or a manager from the Championship as they do about bringing in a foreign player or manager. The media is exactly the same.' Ferguson has also witnessed first hand a reluctance to field the best kids who are coming through the youth ranks at Premiership clubs despite the obvious ability they possess and the success which those who have, often because his manager has had no other choice, been promoted have enjoyed. 'There are also young players within academies who are good enough,' he said. 'I have worked at Rangers and seen players who could step up and play first team football far sooner. There are kids out there who aren't getting anywhere close first team football at the age of 19, 20, 21. I don't understand that. 'If Callum McGregor was a youth coming through at Celtic now I don't think he would be given an opportunity. When he broke through Rangers were in the lower reaches of Scottish football and they could maybe afford to take a risk with him. Would they play him now? 'Scott Brown, who is Celtic's second most successful captain, only got his chance at Hibs when his manager Bobby Williamson was told that he needed to play youngsters. All of a sudden, they brought through a handful and they all went on to have really, really good careers. Would they have flourished if there wasn't a crisis? 'There are lots of those kind of examples. Adam Forrester got thrown in at Hearts when they had a right-back crisis and he has now played 30 odd games. He's not a youngster either, he is 20. James Wilson only got his chance because Lawrence Shankland was injured. They had to throw him in. They had no option. 'Do I think he would be in that team if Hearts had four strikers? No, I don't. Do I think he would be in the Scotland squad? No, I don't. I am delighted he is now in the national set-up. But there are not enough of these kind of players.' Read more: Ferguson continued, 'Another issue is that there are so many players on the bench now. What used to happen when three substitutes were allowed was there would be 14 players stripped, two in the stand and the rest would be playing somewhere else, in a reserve match or whatever. 'Now you've got 19 to 20 players stripped and another three sitting in the stands. Those players are nowhere near playing in a football match because they've got so many players in front of them. Squads are so swollen now. Even if you are a really good young player you need to get in front of four or five senior players to get in. 'It's difficult for any manager to say. 'I really like this 17-year-old, he's going straight in the team'. He needs to put that kid above three, four, five different senior players. Why would you want to have such a big squad and have a youth academy as well? That doesn't allow kids to progress. There are so many things that happen at the top level that don't make sense to me.' The Cooperation System which the SFA rolled out last week – which will see up to three Scotland qualified players at Premiership and Championship clubs move to lower league outfits freely on loan going forward – makes perfect sense to him. 'I love it,' said Ferguson. 'I love the concept of it. I also love that there is a plan there. I've always felt that the loan system, and I understand why this is, is very reactive. What generally happens is a club puts together a squad and then they need to get players in to cover for injuries. 'The Cooperation System is a bit more of a planned approach. It sounds as if loan players will be identified throughout the course of the close season, going into pre-season, when a manager or a recruitment team are building their squad. (Image: SNS Group Alan Harvey) 'I think it's a very, very good piece of work. I don't think managers will build their team around the loan player, it won't be as extreme as that. But I think a player will fit in straight away, They won't be trying to force their way into the team. It is a refreshing concept.' He continued, 'Will a young player who is number 21, 22 or 23 in a first team squad be considered for it? Or will they be kept at their parent club to make up numbers? That would be my concern. Will the guy who is 22 or 23 be allowed to go out and play? If he isn't, he could spend another season not playing. 'Is it best for the club in the long-term to get a player out, to get them experience of playing football, to get their name known, to hopefully have an impact? Massively. It should have a positive impact on the player and of course on the club. 'But a manager might want to hold onto him, just in case. He might have injuries and need to play a kid. That is how Forrester came through and established himself as a Premiership player. But, at the same time, six months could pass and a kid won't play. We will see how it works in practice. 'But we are very much on board with it at Stenhousemuir. We feel as though it's something that could be of value to us. Martin Christie, our head of recruitment, is speaking to clubs at the moment. There are ongoing conversations.' Ferguson is eager to see more Scottish players in the lower leagues getting the chance to show what they can do in the Premiership and more academy kids getting promoted into first teams than is currently the case. He fears the national team will ultimately suffer unless there is a long overdue change in attitudes and the trend he has identified is allowed to continue. 'Generally speaking, the first team manager at a club looks after the first team and that is it,' he said. 'That is the way it should be. But why is he not involved in looking at what the pathway into the first team looks like? 'There is an obvious issue. A coach knows he may not be in a job in four weeks' time if he doesn't get results. So why look four years down the line? The dynamics around football are different to any other sport. That is good and bad at the same time. 'The culture of football, the tribal nature of the sport, the supporters' demand for success in the here and now makes people focus on that. Understandably so. But I do think it is unusual compared to other sports, that failure to develop a strategy which can enable a club to be successful long-term. Don't get me wrong, many clubs will try to do it, but there is a massive disconnect between what they want to achieve and what they actually do.' Ferguson continued, 'We're already seeing a lack of depth when we've got injuries. We have quality players, John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Craig Gordon, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney. But quite a few of these players are getting towards the end of their careers, they're in their late 20s or early 30s. 'Could getting five per cent of the Scottish players who are in the Premiership to follow Lewis Ferguson, Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay and move on to a bigger league in Europe be a target? If it can be then surely five per cent of 100 is better than five per cent of 30. 'My real worry is the talent pool is getting diluted. That is definitely the trend. It is on a decline, a continuous decline. Unless something changes, Scottish players will be making up just 20 per cent of the teams in a few years.'
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
How Russell Martin reshuffle will aid Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers
However, Kris Boyd, who spent two spells at his boyhood heroes and knows just how demanding his fellow Light Blues fans can be, believes the criticism of the £4m centre forward has been unjustified. Read more: He is confident that new manager Martin can help the man who was the leading scorer in the Premiership last term despite often cutting an isolated figure up front by himself if he commits more men forward. Speaking at a McDonald's Fun Football session at Hampden, Boyd said, 'Russell has said he is looking forward to seeing which members of his squad surprise him once pre-season starts – but I don't think Cyriel needs to surprise anyone. (Image: SNS/SFA) 'He's scored over 50 goals during his two seasons at Rangers He is not the problem. There are other strikers in there who should be doing more and who cost a lot more money. Danilo should be doing more for me, there's no getting away from it. 'Hamza Igamane has shown what he is capable of in spells. He's come in and he's done well at times, but then his form hasn't been at the same level. But I get that. It was his first real season in this environment so you're probably going to get little spurts where he goes on a run and then times when he struggles.' Read more: He added, 'There's one thing about Dessers. He's always there. He's always available. He's like every other striker, he'll miss chances from time to time. But it doesn't seem to faze him. He'll always go back for more. 'So for me Russell has already got someone there who's shown he can score goals. In Scotland, we are quick to criticise people for virtually anything. But Cyriel always goes back for more when he misses. 'I think Russell will be looking to see if he can get players closer to Cyriel, to have players more in contact with him. If he can do that then you might see a better level of performance on a more consistent basis from Dessers.' Boyd is hopeful the long-standing McDonald Fun Football programme will produce a few more players who are capable of following in his footsteps and leading the line for Rangers in the years to come. 'Programmes like McDonald's Fun Football are important for communities across Scotland,' he said. 'They give children a safe, positive place to just play the game and have fun. 'McDonald's are offering more free sessions this summer across Scotland and it's brilliant to see. I wish I had this when I was a youngster, I would've loved it. I'd encourage every parent to not miss out and to get their child signed up to their nearest free session.' Kris Boyd was celebrating the latest free wave of McDonald's Fun Football sessions this Summer, available to all children aged 5-11 across the UK. You can sign up now for your nearest free session at
