The Tartan Army crossed an ocean and became the story, showing confidence, imagination and belonging that the team itself seemed to lack. What if Scotland has not failed to produce greatness at all, but simply taught its young people to seek it in the stands?

Scotland are back at a World Cup, but the old problems remain: fear, technical limitations and a system that keeps mistaking reviews for reform. Why does a nation this obsessed with football remain so poor at producing tournament-ready players?

AI may improve the individual object while narrowing the collective imagination. Each product looks finished. Everything begins to look the same. The result is not beige, because the modern machine knows beige looks corporate. So it gives us fluorescent pink: loud sameness, mass-produced rebellion, individuality available in six competing brands.

Scotland did not just arrive in Boston for a World Cup. It arrived with an antidote: joy without branding, identity without weaponry, and a national instinct for putting traffic cones on pomposity. The Tartan Army reminded a city what it feels like to be silly, unguarded and completely yourself.

We tell ourselves we could have been great, as if talent alone was ever enough. But potential is just another way to say never tried.