Scottish fans – Scottish supporters traveling for the World Cup have rewritten the “Cheers” theme into a soccer anthem for a Boston crowd—complete with jabs at travel costs and a chorus aimed at one thing: winning a game. The lyrics were devised by Rosco McClelland for BBC Sc
When Scottish supporters arrived in Boston after traveling roughly 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, they didn’t seem too concerned about how well the city lives up to the “where everybody knows your name” line from the classic TV theme.
Instead, they brought their own demand—turning the familiar “Cheers” melody into a new World Cup-inspired song where the punchline is simple: it would be great to just win a game.
The lyrics spell it out as they go, starting with the ordeal of the trip—“Making your way to the USA takes everything you’ve got”—and sliding quickly into the reality of the price tag: “Getting a flight to Massachusetts, sure did cost a lot.”
Then the chorus kicks in, directly aimed at the pitch: “Wouldn’t you like to win a game… (Cue the piano) … or even score a goal?”
The song name-checks Scottish players in a playful way—“It could be Scott McTominay / John McGinn [or] Kieran Tierney”—before rolling through more possibilities from the stands: “Kenny McLean from the halfway line / Shankland from a yard again.” The refrain returns like a drumbeat: “It would be great to just win a game.”.
The timing matters. The song was created for BBC Scotland’s panel show “Breaking the Year,” which aired in December, and it has already been reshaped by the way fans and performers reacted to it.
Rosco McClelland. who devised the new lyrics. told the Scottish Sun that the response to the initial performance “went a bit mental.” The local stand-up comedian re-recorded the song earlier this week with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. giving the chorus a bigger sound for a stadium-sized moment.
McClelland also said he’s been approached about performing it at TRNSMT, Scotland’s biggest music festival, scheduled for Glasgow later this month. He described it as “a small possibility,” adding: “but it could happen — and this song has shown that anything really can happen.”
The humor isn’t just about football. The revised “Cheers” theme also takes aim at the outrageous travel costs overseas fans face. McClelland laments the idea of taking out a loan—“just to get out here. now I’m absolutely broke”—while still insisting it’s worth it for the chance to see Scottish talent up close.
The payoff is right there in the rhymes: it’ll be worth it “just to see Ben Gannon-Doak.” And the song closes where it began, with the same chant-like logic: “to just win a game.”
For Scotland’s fans, the worry isn’t far-fetched. In the 1998 World Cup, Scotland went winless across their three matches against Brazil, Norway, and Morocco.
This year’s tournament offers a new shot—and it doesn’t come gently. Scotland will play Morocco in a rematch at Gillette Stadium on June 19. after Morocco’s Africa Cup of Nations championship in January described as “deeply controversial.” Scotland will then face Brazil again on June 24 in Miami Gardens.
The matches won’t be easy, but the stands will have music. With a crowd singing a version of “Cheers” that keeps returning to winning, it’s the kind of superstition you can hear from across a stadium.
McClelland himself plans to visit Boston, the Scottish Sun reported, to see Scotland take on Haiti in the World Cup’s Boston opener on Saturday. It remains unclear whether he’ll find a way to “stop by Cheers.”
Scottish fans Boston Cheers theme World Cup-inspired lyrics Rosco McClelland Breaking the Year BBC Scotland TRNSMT Gillette Stadium Scotland vs Morocco Scotland vs Brazil Scott McTominay John McGinn Kieran Tierney Ben Gannon-Doak Scotland vs Haiti