An entirely different Dr John The room is no longer smoke filled. The older man's colleagues in the wee Parliament had seen to that. But the lingering smell of Havana suggested that, after hours, this place was a smoke easy. The younger man, dressed in an expensive suit, nurses a brandy. He stares wistfully into the glass. Click to continue reading...

I'm thinking I've made a bad choice. The women, the drink, the cigars, the hours spent doing nothing. Not a bad life being an Old Firm keeper. There are drawbacks, of course. Artur Boruc for one must regret a few of those Polish lagers when he's pulling on Celtic's figure hugging shirt. Not so much a rippling physique as a wobbly belly like jelly. Click to continue reading...

One of the benefits of feeling like crap is being able to spend an afternoon submerged in Scottish football. A small benefit to be sure, but paupers in a credit crunch can't be too choosy. So our afternoon kicks off at Love Street where Artur Boruc, apparently no stranger to love, showed himself to be quite street as well, avoiding a red card when many a ref would have stubbed him out like a Click to continue reading...

Nice article over on AllMediaScotland.com about the merry band of men who have the often unenviable job of covering the national game for a living. It is easy for those of us who choose to write about Scottish football for either love or some deep lying psychological flaw to sit back and criticise. I think Matt Vallance sums up things up with his tongue in cheek sympathy for: The 'Praetorian Click to continue reading...

Apathy had set in long before a nightmarish cold took away any lingering pretence of interest that I had in Scotland's friendly with Argentina. I don't actually know why we played the game - reading the reports I can see little evidence of this being much of a learning process for a manager whose qualification hopes are already hanging by a thread. Click to continue reading...

In the end, I suppose, they were robbed of the three points that their commitment and effort, if not perhaps the general flow of the game, deserved. So Celtic claw back some pride and make the away game in Denmark look like being the match that will decide if they are to play in Europe after Christmas. Click to continue reading...

Ooh, aah, Nacho's Da? Should we welcome Nacho Novo into the Scotland team with open arms? He's lived here for years. His family is Scottish. He would give George Burley an option that he's sorely lacking at the moment. But. But. I'm not convinced. National teams should have an emotional attachment. Click to continue reading...

Fernando's Best Mate? Football's obsession with the big names means that the star men are always on display. No surprise then that the ever predictable ITV Champion's League coverage should scan the crowd for Fernando Torres when Liverpool went 1-0 down. Truly a case of millionaire footballer is expressionless when paymasters lose goal to former paymasters. Click to continue reading...

Not an arsehole Is Gordon Strachan right to be so annoyed that a besuited - and you would suggest slightly tipsy - Jambo called him an arsehole? Surely he gets called much worse every week - often by his own fans. This weekend showed once again that supporters increasingly consider nothing about a player off bounds when it comes to shouting abuse. Click to continue reading...

A belated happy 80th birthday to Lawrie Reilly. The spearhead of the Famous Five that achieved such dominance in the Scottish game for Hibs in the early 1950's Reilly also performed spectacularly for Scotland and scored five times in five visits to Wembley. He remains Hibs most capped player and it seems inconceivable now that someone playing for a side outside of Glasgow's big two could become Click to continue reading...

Harry Redknapp improbably turns Spurs from zeroes to heroes, from villainy to last gasp valiance in the blink of an eye. Joe Kinnear rants, raves and ruminates but turns Joey Barton from A Wing to A list as Newcastle rediscover some sort of fire in their bloated Geordie bellies. And who completes this list of improbable sixty something success stories? Click to continue reading...

It's clear that footballer don't like to be injured. But sometimes it's maybe not a bad thing.... For those of us that like to see Scots do prosper down south - and who find Chelsea victories as welcome as Jonathan Ross at Andrew Sachs' dinner party - we could take some comfort from Craig Gordon's enforced absence from the walkover at the Bridge. Click to continue reading...

More interesting than the SPL? Are we right to predict a dull season in the top flight? I think so. We know before a ball is kicked that its going to be a two horse race but we can hope that one of the "diddy" teams will make enough of an early run to cling to the green and blue coat tails for a time. Click to continue reading...

SUPERMARKET giant Asda says it had no plans to change its famous green logo to please shoppers in a Rangers-mad town. Politicians claimed supermarket bosses were "pandering to prejudice" over suggestions they could change their traditional green and white livery at a new store in Larkhall, Lanarkshire. Click to continue reading...

If his retirement plans are for real this time then this might be the last season we can enjoy Sir Alex Ferguson chewing gum on the touchline. But if Liverpool win the title? Surely Fergie won't walk with his very own forces of darkness on top. Has he spent the best part of a quarter of a century trying to "knock Liverpool off their fucking perch" only to exit the 'theatre of dreams' when they Click to continue reading...