A Nation Again: The Inside Story of Scotland’s Emergence from the International Wilderness

In 1992, English football changed forever with the birth of the Premier League. At the forefront of this milestone was Sky Sports and its groundbreaking deal as the broadcaster for England’s exciting new top-flight division. Sky heralded the start of the new league by creating an iconic advert with a player from each team competing in the inaugural season, to the accompaniment of the Simple Minds song ‘Alive and Kicking’. There was also a print ad staged like a squad photo, which was plastered everywhere. Three decades later, Ash Rose went in search of those players to find out if they were all still alive and kicking. He tracked them down via social media and interviewed them by Zoom at the height of the pandemic to uncover their stories. This is the tale of that famous advert, those players and their legacy, told for the first time in their own words. Discover what they are doing now, their journey through the Premier League and what it was like to be part of English’s football’s revolution.