SCOTS are the true founders of modern football after saving the beautiful game from disaster down south, it has emerged.
Beleaguered English league bosses considered packing it in 160 years ago as they struggled to attract punters to watch dull matches.
But an influx of silky Scot stars over the next decade pioneered a more attractive style of play based around passing the ball and paved the way for the megabucks English Premier League watched by millions around the globe today.
The revelations come in a new BBC documentary, Bringing Football Home, fronted by Glenrothes-born movie star and Hibernian fan Dougray Scott.
Scottish Football Museum curator Richard McBrearty explained: “The problem the game had in London was that the style they were playing might have been fun to take part in but it wasn’t fun to watch.
“They weren’t getting big crowds. At one point they were talking about wrapping it up as it wasn’t taking off.
read more football stories
“The best, most enjoyable product was the Scottish short-passing game.
“Therefore the English go to Scotland and bring down the best players.
“The question isn’t who invented football. The question is who invented the game we play today.
“And the answer to that question is 100 per cent Scotland.”
One of the sparks was the 1872 match between Scotland and England — the game world’s first international match, played in Glasgow — which showcased the Scots’ superior passing.
And it also showed blazers how they could make money, as around 2,500 spectators flocked to watch.
Football historian Andy Mitchell said: “Nobody had ever charged admission to see football before.”
Star players dubbed the Scotch Professors, including ex-Partick ace Fergus Suter, were lured to English clubs to teach them the finer arts of the sport.
From then on England claimed to be the game’s cradle — as immortalised in Euro 96 anthem Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home”.
When the Lightning Seeds and comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner relased their smash-hit footie anthem, then-Rangers star Gazza was in his pomp for the host nation.
But it has long rankled with Scots fan. Mission: Impossible 2 star Dougray said of the song: “By the ’90s so ingrained was the idea that England was the home of the game, they even wrote ‘that’ song about it. Honestly, it’s like nails down a blackboard.”
England’s so-called golden generation, featuring Wayne Rooney, later later failed to lift silverware amid huge hype.
And Off The Ball footie radio show presenter Stuart Cosgrove argued: “There’s a belief in England they are the centre of all things. There’s no question England played an important role in the evolution and development of football — but not nearly as important a role as Scotland.”
Last night Famous Tartan Army Magazine editor Iain Emerson hailed Scots’ pivotal role in the world’s biggest sport.
He said: “Over the years we’ve heard all about ‘football’s coming home’ to England. But the more you research the more you discover the Scottish influence.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
“The origins of the beautiful game as we know it are definitely in Scotland.”
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
