A series on Netflix this month will make clear the role of Scottish footballers in the formation of what is termed The English Game. Written by Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, it will chart the rise of football in England, including the enormous contribution of what were known as the Scottish Professors.
It was the influence of players imported from north of the border that made football the sport we recognise today.
England’s fledgling game was about dribbling, but Scotland’s players passed. There were seven of them in Preston’s Invincibles, while Liverpool fielded an entire team of Scots in 1892 and Lord Kinnaird played in nine FA Cup finals between 1873 and 1883, winning five of them.