Scottish newspaper go viral with their controversial message supporting Spain over England

Scottish newspaper The National go viral with their controversial message supporting Spain over England at the Euro 2024 final.

It seems like those across the border got a bit cheeky, urging for Spain to prevent their their English neighbours from lifting the trophy.

The front page of their paper on Saturday had the headline ‘Time for Revenge!’, with the message: Every summer, they fill up your beaches. They drink all your beer. They make a mess of your plazas. They eat fried breakfasts all day instead of your wonderful food. They retire in your towns, and sponge off your public services.

They add with a short message in Spanish, which says: “Ni siquiera se molestan en aprender el idioma!” That translates as reading: “They don’t even bother to learn the language!” before a subtitle which says: “Our message to Spain: Save us from an England win (or we’ll never hear the end of it).”

Tomorrow’s front page 🗞️

Our message to Spain ahead of Euro 2024 final 👀👇 pic.twitter.com/8M3RFiypjk

— The National (@ScotNational) July 12, 2024

While the Scottish media are clearly hoping for an English defeat, boss Gareth Southgate has issued a rallying cry to his team. He said: “We’d be bringing happiness to our nation, bringing credibility. I think we’ve brought credibility back to English football in terms of how we’re viewed around the world in recent years.

“To win a trophy would ultimately answer a lot of the questions that are still posed. For the group of players and staff, and also the players who have been with us for the past six or seven years, I’d be hugely proud of them. There are a lot of people who haven’t got enough credit and that would all come together in my head.”

And as you can imagine, this caused quite the stir on social media, getting 4 million views on Twitter alone in under 24 hours of the tweet being posted. It also got thousands of likes, comments and retweets.

This is the reaction from users as the Scottish newspaper go viral with their controversial message supporting Spain over England…

@twoifbysea71: As a supporter of independence from teenage years, I find this embarrassing. You need to have a good long discussion with whoever thought this appropriate. There are many English who have campaigned for indy Scot with a passion not found in some who are born & bred here.

@GottaBigMouth: @PoliceScotland does this meet the threshold under the Scottish governments hate speech law. As it is clearly xenophobic towards English people.

@DBW77: Are people really getting upset about this? It’s clearly a tongue in cheek oage poking fun at those “Little Englanders” who hate people coming into the UK and “taking over” whilst being oblivious to the fact they do it themselves in places such as Benidorm.

@stevenroyburns: Patriotism is pride in the good things about country and celebrating them. Not deriding and abusing others. Fine, make arguments for Independence, they will be considered, but whilst you publish inane, insecure toss like this, you lose the interest of those you wish to win over.

@SimpleFacks: skotlund not gettin bank ollerday then. end of

@tiddygirly: The best front page, thank you so much.

@RobertF00215086: Whoever came up with that front page and the person who signed it off needs to step back and have a bloody good look at themselves. An appalling front page that shouldn’t even have made an inside page column.

@Jblimewhite: Too far lads, too far

@EastHullPete: Will English papers support a Scottish side in a cup final? I guess we will never know…

@claireista: Scots do all that stuff too, when holidaying in certain Spanish resorts. What an embarrassing front page. 😬

@PeterGellaitry: This is the level that u expect of The Sun,personally an apology should be in the next issue.

@Steven__Gray: Wrong. Totally wrong. As a 52yr old Indy supporter that would never back Eng to win in anything (‘cos why would I?) this isn’t the statement to make it. Doesn’t win anyone over and looks bitter.

@JohnLamont: Borderline racist messaging. We’re better than this so stop trying to bring us down. It’s UKIP/RefUK level of dog whistling and not on. Get rid of it.

@hitchfan1: I see the North British are up to their usual standards. If we win tonight the first thing the England team should do is fill the trophy with North Sea Oil and raise a toast to our cousins who’ll probably be in a heroin induced blackout before half time. Cheers 🥂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #ENGSPA

@AmadeoLandero: Thank you, Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Be welcome to Spain this summer. ☺️

@PumpkinClaire: This is horrible. This isn’t the usual “Lol we’re Scottish, we hope England lose” banter, this is properly vile. It’s also so childish, it’s no wonder that many people struggle to take you seriously.

@LarisVrahimis: That’s petty

@GlasgowGiant: This is a disgraceful front page – Utterly embarrassing. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I want England to win, but if they do, fair enough. This lazy, stereotypical tripe goes well beyond sporting rivalry and is insulting to English people generally. Absolutely no need

@binman18691753: An unpleasant front page. Hard to see how this was thought to be appropriate. I support independence, I will support Spain, but I live in England, have two English kids and an English wife. This is objectionable on many levels and does not represent modern Scots. #apologise

Is it any worse than this? pic.twitter.com/R4JpFd4vzb

— DB77 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@DBW77) July 13, 2024

https://t.co/XTxGkpcPci pic.twitter.com/Joi7HgiOm5

— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) July 13, 2024

I wasn’t going to add to the outrage about The National’s dreadful front page when I realised that concentrating on the words I’d not noticed this part of the image. That’s as crude a characterisation as the hooked nose or large lips of other racist tropes. pic.twitter.com/Y6v5CesLi9

— Roger White (@rogerlwhite) July 13, 2024