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The Red Lion

Theatre 118, Glasgow 

Three stars

 

International football euphoria is on every fan’s mind this week following Scotland’s World Cup qualifying victory over Denmark on Tuesday night. But beyond all that snatching victory from the jaws of defeat type stuff, what about the grassroots teams that slug it out on neglected pitches week in, week out, with little reward other than some dreams of glory and loyalty to those who put on the same shirts. 

 

Loyalty is everything in Patrick Marber’s play, first seen in 2015, and revived here as the debut show from the brand new Paperhat Theatre company. Set in the bare brick dressing room of a small time semi professional non-league football club, that loyalty from all three characters is bought off pretty quickly. Even the saintly Johnny Yates, former club hero turned kit man and informal talent scout, almost gives way to temptation in the face of big talking Jimmy Kidd. An old school manager with the crumpled suit and gobby attitude to match, Jimmy reckons he can blag his way into the big time by way of one deal or another with assorted predatory hangers on. 

 

Johnny and Jimmy are the respective good and bad angels hanging on the shoulders of Jordan, the latest shooting star who both men hope to become their football saviour. Even Jordan’s integrity is compromised, however, in a rough and tumble series of moves that eventually brings down all three men. 

 

Marber’s machine gun exchanges are brought to life in Michael Panikkou’s production by Euan Galbraith as a hangdog Johnny, Jamie Cunningham as a quietly driven Jordan, and Derek Banner stepping in at the last minute as Jimmy due to illness of original cast member Michael H. Steel. Banner may have script in hand throughout, but he brings Jimmy to life with a wide boy spivviness that gives the show its drive. 

 

This is underscored by Tiia Sorjonen’s atmospheric sound design, which uses ripples of environmental noise, from rainy match day ambience to the roar of the crowd, to conjure up  the play’s external world.

 

Marber’s look at how the purity of a once beautiful game can be corrupted once money and ambition get involved is a telling look at the tensions that exist between sport and business. As Jimmy, Johnny and Jordan contemplate their respective fates, let’s hope things don’t go the same way in World Cup ‘26. 


The Herald, November 21st 2025

 

ends

 

 

 

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