To begin, a quick note. The name I’d originally given this weekly Substack newsletter felt a bit lame, so I’ve changed it to... well, my own name. I’ve even got a domain now: www.shaunvlog.com. I don’t love it, and I don’t hate it. But it’s something. Self-branding is hard.

I want to reflect on a crazy night among the long list of crazy nights I’ve experienced in America since the World Cup began in June.

It was June 14th, and I was staying near Foxborough, Massachusetts, the day after Scotland’s opening World Cup match against Haiti. I happened to catch a news report saying the Boston Red Sox were playing the Texas Rangers that evening at Fenway Park, and that the Tartan Army would be there in force.

That was enough for me.

I posted on X saying I’d love to go, and within minutes someone very kindly offered me their season tickets as they were out of town. Not only that, I also received a message from a guy called Kevin, a lifelong Red Sox fan who wanted to show my wife and I the best of Fenway.

Like most of the Scots heading to the game, I had absolutely no idea what was going on in baseball, so I gladly accepted. We met in Boston before heading to the ballpark together.

Kevin was joined by his mother, Marianne, another devoted Red Sox supporter. Before entering the famous stadium, we walked all the way around Fenway Park, stopping at some of its legendary bars and landmarks. We also grabbed a hot dog from The Sausage Guy, which Kevin assured me was an essential Fenway tradition.

He was right. The hot dog was a good call.

@shaunvlogI tried the Sausage Guy outside Fenway Park for the Red Sox game ⚾️

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We made our way into Fenway and up to our seats. Kevin and Marianne immediately pointed out the famous Green Monster - the towering 37-foot left-field wall that has become one of the most recognisable features in all of American sport.

And in what is apparently an incredibly rare event, the Rangers batsman smashed the very first pitch clean over the Green Monster and into the streets of Boston for a home run.

Looking around, though, something else stood out even more. Fenway wasn’t just full. It was full of Scots.

This Red Sox game fell perfectly between Scotland’s first two World Cup matches, so many of the estimated 30,000 Scotland supporters in Boston were looking for something to do. America’s national pastime turned out to be the perfect answer.

It’s estimated that around 10,000 members of the Tartan Army packed into Fenway that night. I even heard it was one of the biggest crowds of the Red Sox season so far.

The club embraced it completely.

They organised a bagpipe parade to the stadium, produced a special Scottish-themed Red Sox jersey, and even dressed their famous mascot, Wally the Green Monster, in a kilt.

It was impossible not to smile.

Many of you won’t need an introduction to either the Red Sox or Fenway Park. But if, like me, you knew very little beforehand, it’s difficult to overstate their place in American sporting culture.

Fenway Park opened in 1912, making it the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball still in use today. Despite countless modern stadiums being built across America, Fenway has remained remarkably unchanged, giving it a character unlike anywhere else.

The Red Sox themselves are one of baseball’s most historic franchises, synonymous with Boston and beloved throughout New England. The club’s history is packed with iconic players, heartbreaking defeats, and unforgettable triumphs, making it one of the biggest brands in American sport.

Many of the Scottish fans had taken over the famous cheap seats beyond the outfield, known as the bleachers.

For one night, they truly became the Bleacher Creatures. And wow, did they make themselves heard.

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There was singing, dancing and chanting from first pitch until the final out. Every time something happened on the field that they barely understood - much like me - the noise somehow got even louder. Scottish football songs echoed around one of America’s most historic sporting venues.

Hearing the name of Scotland midfielder John McGinn repeatedly ringing around Fenway Park was one of those wonderfully surreal moments you simply couldn’t invent. I’m sure plenty of the locals had absolutely no idea who he was.

But they certainly knew his name by the end of the night.

As for the baseball itself? It was brilliant fun.

The Red Sox, unfortunately, weren’t. They lost to the Rangers in what Kevin assured me had become something of a familiar story this season.

Thankfully, Kevin and Marianne spent the evening patiently explaining everything - from balls and strikes to innings, home runs and double plays. I still wouldn’t claim to understand baseball completely, but I understood a lot more by the time the final out was recorded.

Kevin is also the founder of Fanalyticshq.com, a sports content and analytics platform that will soon launch as an app. As he described it, it’s “a first-of-its-kind sports enablement platform that lets users connect, create and build.”

Alongside explaining the game, Kevin and Marianne shared story after story about Red Sox history, the club’s famous successes and failures, and what the team means not just to Boston, but to New England as a whole.

In fact, they live in New Hampshire and regularly make the hour-long drive into Boston simply to watch the Sox.

Towards the end of the game we made our way down into the bleachers to join the most raucous Scotland fans.

Kevin remarked that it might be the best atmosphere he’d ever experienced at Fenway.

One particular highlight was thousands of Scots belting out “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys. Another was when Scotland fans launched a ‘Wave’ - which lapped Fenway Park at least a dozen times. It briefly paused, prompting boos from the Scotland fans, and then restarted. The whole thing was good-natured, and hilarious.

And then there was the constant chant of ‘No Scotland, No Party’ - enthusiastically sung by not only Scots, but our gracious hosts.

After the game, supporters took almost an hour to leave, gathering beneath the stands and filling the concourses with song long after the final pitch had been thrown.

At that point in the tournament, Boston was only just beginning to realize something special was happening in their city.

This evening, though, felt like the moment the relationship between Boston and Scotland truly came to life.

Just days later, Boston and Glasgow formalized a friendship agreement between the two cities - a fitting reflection of the warmth that had developed throughout the tournament.

The whole evening was surreal, unforgettable and thoroughly enjoyable.

The Red Sox supporters welcomed the Tartan Army with open arms, and the Tartan Army repaid them by turning Fenway into one of the loudest, happiest places in America for a night.

A huge thank you to Kevin and Marianne for their kindness, hospitality and brilliant whistle-stop introduction to Fenway Park and the game of baseball.

I’ll definitely be back.

Shaun

@shaunvlogScot’s joined in with singing Shipping up to Boston by Dropkick Murphy’s at Fenway for the Red Sox game. #redsox #noscotlandnoparty #tartanarmy

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It’s been a remarkable month in America.

Not only have I had the once-in-a-lifetime privilege of seeing my country compete at a World Cup, but I’ve also had countless incredible experiences and met so many kind, generous and welcoming people.

On top of that, my social media content has been viewed more than 120 million times over the past month. For a content creator, that’s genuinely life-changing. I am truly grateful for every single one of you who has supported my journey so far.

With that attention has also come a darker side.

Around 99.9% of the interactions I’ve had have been wonderfully positive. Unfortunately, the remaining 0.1% seem to consist of a particular breed of internet sleuth who have convinced themselves that I must either be a CIA asset (please...) or some kind of scammer.

So, for the sake of having one place to point people in future, I thought I’d address it properly here.

I arrived in America in mid-June for the World Cup full of excitement, but also carrying a fair bit of anxiety.

Normally, when I travel, I have a reasonable idea of what things will cost and whether I can comfortably afford them.

This trip was different.

Before I’d even stepped foot on American soil, I’d already put an eye-watering amount on my credit card. At the time, I genuinely thought it might take me years to pay back.

But I pressed the YOLO button because opportunities like this don’t come around very often.

Thankfully, thanks to those 120 million views - and thanks to all of you watching -everything has worked out.

More than that, this trip has reignited a dream I’ve held for years: to one day move to America permanently, build a life here, contribute in whatever way I can, and pursue my own version of the American Dream.

Now, about the trolls.

I’ve always been fairly good at ignoring them.

Years ago, there was a guy absolutely convinced I’d secretly had a botched hair transplant and I had colluded with the surgeon for other imaginary nefarious purposes. I actually miss this troll a little as he’s been gone for a few years. I hope he’s okay. For the record, I have never met a hair surgeon, nor have had a hair transplant. Perhaps I need one now though!

Back then, I could laugh it off because the negative voices were tiny in number.

This time feels different.

The reach I’ve unexpectedly had seems to have attracted some of the internet’s darker corners. People who believe everything must be a conspiracy, that nothing good can happen organically, and that every positive story must have some hidden agenda.

Some are simply looking for attention.

Others, I suspect, are just determined to prove they’ve uncovered something nobody else has.

Normally I’d ignore it, but I’ll admit something.

Over the past week it’s genuinely caused several sleepless nights.

Not because strangers disagree with me - that comes with putting yourself online - but because people began digging into my personal life.

They’ve trawled through more than fifteen years of YouTube videos searching for “gotcha” moments. They’ve looked into where I live, my family, my personal life and even my day job.

The fact they also started investigating my family and my clients - where I work as a fractional marketing director - crossed a line for me, and ultimately led me to shut down my LinkedIn account.

I have nothing whatsoever to hide, but that doesn’t make it pleasant.

So the sleepless nights end here. Whenever this drama inevitably resurfaces, I’ll simply point people to this newsletter.

These are the two main accusations that keep getting repeated.

1. “This isn’t your first time in America.”

No s**t, Sherlock.

I’ve had a public YouTube channel for well over a decade documenting my travels, including multiple trips across America. I was even publicly made an Honorary Citizen of San Antonio, Texas, for goodness sake.

If you Google my name, you’ll probably find those videos before you find anything else.

While I was flying to America for the World Cup in early June - literally on the plane - I edited and reposted three of my favourite videos from an old Texas road trip.

I thought they might warm up my audience before the tournament started. I also used admittedly loose language that tied into the excitement surrounding the World Cup, and perhaps this is my greatest Sin through all of this.

Did I think any of those videos would explode and end up being shown on national television? Absolutely not.

What conveniently gets ignored is that the 50-plus videos I posted after arriving for the World Cup were all brand-new, original content documenting this trip.

Apparently, because those first three videos were reposts, none of the rest counts.

If that’s the biggest “gotcha” people can come up with, I think I’ll survive.

Interestingly, this wasn’t even hidden. During my first week in America, a reporter from one of the world’s biggest news organisations specifically asked me about those videos, and I explained..

2. “The GoFundMe is a scam.”

No.

I’m incredibly grateful that people have supported me. In fact, several viewers encouraged me to create the GoFundMe page in the first place.

Long-time followers will know I’ve spoken for years about my ambition of obtaining an O-1 visa so I can live permanently in America.

The process is expensive.

You need an experienced immigration attorney, and even then there are no guarantees. Yes, you can find lawyers who advertise lower prices that what I’m targeting. Somehow, the trolls believe this is reason alone to discredit me.

Equally, there are highly regarded firms with strong track records that charge significantly more. Once legal fees, filing fees and other costs are added together, the total can realistically reach $15,000–$20,000 or more. Be assured that I’ve investigated this, thoroughly.

Even after spending over $700 on initial consultations with different attorneys, I still don’t know exactly what my final costs will be.

Yet somehow these people - none of whom are actually supporters of mine - expect a penny-by-penny budget before the process has even begun.

Ironically, none of the people who have actually donated have demanded that.

Another accusation is that because I flew back to America shortly after returning home, I must have spent the GoFundMe money to do this.

That simply isn’t true.

For the record, I haven’t yet withdrawn a single cent from the GoFundMe, and I will use the GoFundMe platform functionality to provide updates to backers.

Every penny will go towards my visa application.

There are also parts of content creation that people simply don’t see. When your content reaches a certain scale, opportunities start appearing. You’re invited to events. Brands invite you to experiences. Sometimes those invitations include travel or tickets.

Sometimes you’re paid to attend. Whenever I enter into commercial partnerships, I disclose them exactly as required by the platforms.

I always have, and I always will.

Several of FIFA’s corporate partners have hospitality allocations and tickets.

When I was offered opportunities to attend later stages of the World Cup through commercial partners, why would I turn down a genuine once-in-a-lifetime experience?

In the end, I couldn’t make the Quarter Finals because of logistics, but I will, of course, disclose any relevant invites when the content is published, just as I always do. I will be attending the Semi Finals, and potentially the Final as well.

Similarly, Icelandair kindly partnered with me to provide flights between Scotland and America on this trip.

There’s another side to this world that I’ve almost never spoken about. As your audience grows, a tiny percentage of your viewers turn out to be incredibly successful people.

Occasionally they reach out with astonishing acts of generosity - offering accommodation, inviting you onto boats, recommending places to visit, or simply helping make your trip easier. I think they do this mostly because they want to show me the best bits of the places they live.

Most of them ask for absolutely nothing in return. In fact, many specifically don’t want any recognition or public acknowledgment, for obvious reasons. It feels crass to share these details, so I don’t

The trolls are demanding a cent-by-cent breakdown of my expenses. To be honest, I already know that NOTHING I say will satisfy them, and they’ll want to keep the clicks going for as long as they can. One of them has literally gone viral on the back of my name, which is astonishing to me, but is part of my new reality.

And as a side note, most of these trolls are not American. I’m looking at you England flag man!

To be honest, I already feel I’ve shared far more than I normally would and feel that I need to. I don’t believe I owe anonymous people on the internet an audit of my life.

But when people start questioning my character, investigating my family and clients, and building viral content around my name, I felt it was worth putting everything in one place.

I’m enormously grateful to every single person who has watched a video, left a comment, shared my content or supported me over the years.

America and Americans have been incredibly good and kind to me.

The people I’ve met here have changed my perception of the country in the best possible way, and I hope I’ve managed, in some small way, to show another side of America to the rest of the world too.

That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

My promise is simple: I’ll keep telling honest stories.

I’ll keep celebrating the people and places that make this country special.

And, wherever possible, I’ll keep trying to put a little more positivity into the world.

Yours truly,

Shaun

I’ve never been good at birthday messages on cards. “Hope you have a great day” is about all I can usually muster.

But in this case, I’ll try to do better…

I’m relaunching my newsletter - now called Also, America - in homage to you, and want to share my extraordinary past couple of weeks.

I travelled to the US to watch my country, Scotland, play at the World Cup. We went to Boston and Miami, and had the time of our lives - even though Scotland were rubbish.

For me, personally, it was a life-changing experience. Here are some of the crazy highlights from the past fortnight:

• I had over 90 million views on my social media content

• I was interviewed on several mainstream live TV broadcasts, including Fox (several times), CNN, Inside Edition and several more

• I also appeared in the New York Times, New York Post, Boston Globe and others

• Was invited for a non-political meeting with the Governor of Florida

And this is a tiny snapshot of the insane couple of weeks I’ve had. There’s a lot more.

I feel totally and utterly inspired. So much so, that I am now taking steps to get a visa to live in and contribute to America, and have already spoke with two lawyers this week. A huge thanks to those who have donated to my fundraiser for this cause.

The US has made a huge impression on me, for one reason more than any other. There are obviously a lot of cool things I love about the place, but the main thing is absolutely the amazingly warm and kind people I’ve met.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet people from all walks of life, from different political backgrounds, and who live in different States. Despite what the media shows us, the vast majority of people in America are fundamentally good, kind and honest people.

And as I reflect on why some of my content has gone viral over the past few weeks, and why I’ve gained attention from some of the top TV outlets in the country, I think it’s this…

Over the past few years, Americans have been fed a constant stream of rage bait - both on social media and in the news. It seems like every piece of content has been specifically designed to get people angry and hate one another. It has worked, but people are also tired.

My content has focussed on the many positive things about the country, and folks have told me this has been cathartic.

And so I launch Also, America as a sort of antidote to the news - a carved out section where I share those positive stories that the media on both sides of the pond refuses to cover.

So thank you for being here and all the support. Thank you for all the memories. Thank you for being incredible World Cup hosts. And a huge happy 4th of July. I hope you and your families have the most wonderful weekend.

Shaun