The Football History Boys

It's the green, green grass of home (to quote Tom Jones) and the green, green kits too in this season's Europa League draw made on August 27, 2021.  @AlexHTheMAX explores a bit of history that ties Celtic to opponents Real Betis and also to a team at the other end of the football pyramid. There’s a special green and white connection regarding Celtic’s UEFA Europa League Group G with both Real Betis and Ferencvaros of Hungary sporting the same colours as the Bhoys. However, the Celtic connection for the Spanish side goes a bit deeper than just having the same colour of strips – and Betis even changed to the hoops a few years back to mark a very special occasion. The green and white hoops is a famous kit throughout the world, synonymous with Celtic Football Club. There are a few other clubs who also wear the distinctive kit, and in February 2017 Real Betis joined this select group for a very special occasion. The Spanish side switched from their traditional green and white strip

A 7-0 defeat along with two 7-1 reverses, one after scoring first, and a 10-0 hammering at home with the season only two months old, plus the manager that has helped keep the club alive since 2015 resigns. You'd be hard pushed to find a team in the UK in worse shape than Scottish non-league club  Vale of Leithen  as football at a domestic level emerges from COVID. Alex Horsburgh ( @AlexHTheMax ) looks at a tiny borders club who, before this season, were also mostly known to those who do not watch non-league fitba' as the team that took one of the biggest post war hammerings in the Scottish Cup. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My own surname of Horsburgh has its roots in the Innerleithen area of the Scottish borders and, although I have no connections there personally, I can't help but take a traditional look at news from the local club, Vale of Leithen FC, and their results at the weekend. It's painful viewin