SCOTLAND’S slavish devotion to football continues to resemble a deep-rooted case of Stockholm syndrome. That the round ball game has the emotions and mental wellbeing of the nation chained up in its metaphorical cellar is without question. Few other countries fixate on one sport above all others the way the Scots obsess about football.

Perhaps more surprising, however, is that so many still surrender to the enduring torture so willingly, as another year passes by with little success – in the men’s game at least – and even less scope for optimism. You don’t have to be a masochist to follow the fortunes of the Scottish national team but it certainly appears to help.

It would have taken some doing to top the achievements of 2015 – when Gordon Strachan and his players snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by failing to qualify for a European Championships in which virtually half the continent appeared – but 2016 will not be a year reflected on with any great fondness either. The dawning of a new World Cup qualifying campaign offered fresh hope but that, too, would soon be extinguished, an opening 5-1 victory in Malta the equivalent of getting your consolation goal in first. A draw at home to Lithuania was the first stumble, before back-to-back 3-0 defeats to Slovakia and then England saw Scotland fall face-first into the mud once more, their prospects of reaching the 2018 finals in Russia all but over after just four matches.

Even then, there would be no consolation prize for the long-suffering foot soldiers of the self-styled Tartan Army. With faith in Strachan and his players at an all-time low and another campaign finished before it had really begun, a change of manager seemed the most obvious way to reinvigorate matters heading into 2017. The Scottish FA board deliberated for a week and then arrived at their unanimous verdict: Strachan stays. A nation sighed and slumped deeper into its armchair.

Football’s capacity for foisting unrelenting misery on its followers, then, remains unsurpassed. Yet still they turn up in droves, filling sunbeds in Malta, packing the picturesque squares of Bratislava before commandeering various pockets of London prior to the big match at Wembley. They will do the same in 2017, taking buses, planes, boats and trains to Lithuania and Slovenia to watch their team. Of course, this is not always an act of martyrdom. For many, the football is secondary to a few days on the skite away from the wife and weans. For others, however, the football matters very much, even if there is rarely any reward for their unstinting devotion. Perhaps the men should look to the women’s game for inspiration, with Anna Signeul’s team qualifying for the European Championships for the first time.

If the Scottish national team and its supporters are like an old married couple who have grown too long in the tooth to ever split up despite their differences, then at least most sports fans are now willing to consider a bit on the side. Scotland may never become a tennis nation per se – Monty Python had that one sussed more than 40 years ago – but the enduring brilliance of Andy Murray has ensured that even the most blinkered football fan cannot help but be mesmerised by his majesty.

Murray’s 2015 had peaked in November when he almost single-handedly won Britain’s first Davis Cup since 1936 and while he could not repeat that achievement this year, he enjoyed even greater success on an individual basis throughout 2016. A stellar 12 months – he also became a father for the first time – began in relative disappointment with a fifth Australian Open final defeat. That seemed to signal a continuation of Novak Djokovic’s stranglehold on the sport but by the end of the year the initiative and most of the bragging rights undoubtedly lay with Murray.

The most eye-catching highlights included a second Wimbledon singles title and another Olympic gold medal but moments to cherish were sprinkled throughout the year, all the way to the ATP World Tour Finals in London when Murray bested Djokovic to confirm he would conclude 2016 as the world number one. Throw in a maiden appearance in the French Open final, wins in Rome, Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna and at Queen’s Club and the Paris Masters, and a record third BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and it all adds up to quite the annus mirabilis. As a snapshot to illustrate how strongly he concluded the year, his last four victories came in succession against the players ranked two to five in the world.

It is not the Scots way to brag unduly but Murray’s conclusion to 2016 would suggest greater success lies ahead for the man from Dunblane in 2017. With Djokovic struggling for form and Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer showing increasing signs of physical frailty, the door would seem to be open for Murray to add to his haul of three grand slam titles. At 29 he ought to have at least another three to five years in his prime should he manage to stay fit, healthy and focused, and there is little sign that his drive and determination are even slightly on the wane. Scottish sports fans should enjoy him while they can because, when he finally calls it a day, there won’t be another like him.

Of course he was not the only one in the family to enjoy good times last year. Big brother Jamie would be considered one of the finest British tennis players of all time were it not for Andy’s achievements but he can still reflect on 2016 with a great deal of pride after becoming Australian and US Open doubles champion and, like Andy, finishing the year as world number one. Gordon Reid completes the triumphant triumvirate, winning wheelchair singles titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the doubles in Paris and London, and Paralympic gold on his way to also finishing the year as the world’s best.

The Brothers Murray had another reason to be cheerful in 2016. Long-suffering supporters of Hibernian, the team their grandfather played for, they had a moment to cherish in May when the Easter Road club lifted their first Scottish Cup since Methuselah was in short trousers. Forever decried as a team who crumbled in pressure situations, the verb “to Hibs it” took on new meaning when Alan Stubbs’s side came from behind to beat Rangers in the last minute of what was a classic final.

The investigation into the subsequent pitch invasion and on-field fighting – woefully underplayed in the immediate aftermath by Hibs chairman Rod Petrie as “114 years of exuberance” – is still ongoing, and the event tarnished to a degree the trophy presentation and post-match celebrations. Hibs, to their credit, turned their long-awaited success into a force for good, embarking on a nationwide "Perseverance" tour that promoted the message of sticking in and never giving up.

Rangers, vanquished opponents that day, endured a mixed 2016. They comfortably won promotion from the Championship but have since found the step-up to the top division somewhat challenging, despite the hubristic message in the summer that they would have their sights immediately trained on winning the Premiership title.

That honour will almost certainly instead go to Celtic, who switched Ronny Deila for Brendan Rodgers in the summer – like ditching Dot Cotton and landing a date with Mila Kunis – and immediately reaped the benefits, reaching the Champions League group stage for the first time in three years. The League Cup already in the bag, the club’s first domestic treble for 16 years might not be beyond their grasp in 2017.

Scottish rugby endured a mixed bag. The national team recorded a first victory over France in a decade in a Six Nations Championship that also delivered a win over Italy but defeats to England, France and Ireland, while the Autumn Tests saw wins over Georgia and Argentina and an agonisingly narrow defeat to Australia. Back-to-back Champions Cup wins over Racing 92 mean Glasgow Warriors concluded 2016 on an optimistic high.

The Scottish contingent that travelled to Rio in the summer returned with luggage heavier than when they departed, the country’s best-ever haul from an overseas Olympics including four golds. Stepping on to the top step of the podium, as well as Murray, were Sunday Herald columnist Katie Archibald, who won cycling’s team pursuit, another cyclist in Callum Skinner, victorious in the team sprint, and Heather Stanning, one-half of the women’s pair rowing team who defended the title won in London in 2012.

There were also 12 silver medallists – Duncan Scott, one of the Sunday Herald’s Six to Follow, took two in the pool – and a pair of bronze gongs for judoka Sally Conway and athlete Eilidh Doyle. Libby Clegg took double athletics gold at the Paralympics.

Other individuals excelled away from Rio. Laura Muir broke Dame Kelly Holmes’s 12 year-old British record over 1500m and went on to win the elite Diamond League series, while boxer Ricky Burns became the first Scot to win world titles at three different weight categories when he became WBA light-welterweight champion.

Scots have triumphed in so many diverse disciplines in 2016 but football, with its ever diminishing returns, will almost certainly continue to dominate both the sporting agenda and the nation’s focus in 2017. Wha’s like us?