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‘s boring innit? Not always so. It used to be like going to see Rangers with star guest performers. Since the war fifteen players have captained Scotland while on Rangers’ books. Four of the Iron Curtain did it, Jock Shaw, Geordie Young, Willie Woodburn and Sammy Cox. The ‘keeper Bobby Brown and surprisingly, Ian McColl didn’t. Both made up for that omission by later successfully managing the National side. Eric Caldow and John Greig were each fifteen times captain. Jim Baxter, Sandy Jardine, Tam Forsyth, Graeme Souness, Richard Gough, Colin Hendry, Super, Barry Ferguson and Kenny Miller all got at least one shot at it though Souness’ last match as Scotland captain occurred when he had signed for the Famous but hadn’t actually played in a club game. Stephen Presslie, Christian Dailly and Davie Weir were Scotland Captains but not as Rangers players. Gary McAllister also did the job. Never a Rangers player, of course but he did a bit of assistant-managing. The greatest captain of them all was George Young on no less than forty eight occasions. There’s a photo of Young and England’s redoubtable Billy Wright leading the teams out. Wright was no skelf but Young towers over him. Having looked all this up, I’m now fired with enthusiasm to the extent that I might possibly try to find out against whom Scotland are playing. If the weather’s bad and there’s nothing else on the telly, I might even watch them. But only if Ryan Jack plays.

I'm off to watch an East of Scotland League fixture on Saturday (this week Riccarton, next week the San Siro 😀). The SFA XI are of no interest to me.

I think you are spot-on regards structure/ CEO. It looks like a board who don't want to relinquish or delegate much power (they have money invested and perhaps want to keep a close eye on things). You add the role of PR spokesman that seems to be currently lacking or in the past have seen repeated failures. It could be a board who don't want to spend the necessary money because there isn't much of it around. Or likely, a combination. Lawwell basically took over the day to day of Celtic (one man, Dermott Desmond giving go ahead). Their board taking their lead from DD. I have previously talked about the lack of a strong, competent CEO and consistent, strong communications. Another reason why they are way in front of us at most levels.

The ITA v ENG match is on terrestrial TV, Ch 4, tonight, ko @19.45hrs, while SCO will play CYPRUS (the Greek part) on Saturday ko @ 14.00hrs, on something called Viaplay Sports 1, so good luck if it rains, hails, sleets, or snows, all of which are forecast. I will, thus, miss our National XI's efforts. Not that I'm bothered, could care more about it, could even, if pushed, care less, and, of course, not watching on an obscure satellite streaming subscription service is a point of principle.

To accurately appraise Wilsons performance I think we would need to be fully aware of his operational parameters, budget and crucially, how much weight, others, including managers and directors have within his remit. More complex and nuanced than just one man buying and selling players. One good window, couple of wins against SEFC and Wilson would be a genius, tis ever so. In regards to Robertson, I'd assume he's a first rate administrator and office manager. Too many supporters think he is a CEO though, a blue Peter Liewell and judge him thus. His "Walter the softy" persona, unfortunately, only exacerbates the frustration associated with this misconception. The real issue for me regarding the MD is not the man but the role. Sack Robertson? Then what? Appoint another administrator who may or may not be better the incumbent? Pretty much futile and damaging IMO. I have always said we need a strong CEO, to lighten the burden on our directors who all have other businesses very demanding of their time and resources. The right man would be costly, he would need to be strong, ruthless and tactically astute. A strong character who our enemies fear. Not ten a penny granted, but they do exist.

I watched an international match tonight Italy against England and Italy got a goal to reduce the deficit on 56 minutes and I don’t think they had another shot at goal especially when the goalkeeper is Pickford a total dumpling famous for fumbling the ball.

I used to enjoy Scotland games but gave up during the 74 World Cup when the squad was decent as was the manager but we just couldn’t hack it at that level we should have beaten a bad Brazil clobbered Zaire and got a result in the last game against Yugoslavia.

The new shirt really is a thing of beauty but £90

I'm going to the Legends game, but only because my wife is keen to go. I might watch the Scotland game but I don't even know who they're playing, and won't be bothered about missing it. I do love their new centenary kit though. Just a shame it's so expensive.

Correct, @Scott7. The visiting teams are from two famed renaissance/cultural hotspots, Hawick and Florence. I generally don't purchase food inside football grounds but I'll have a look at what's on offer at both venues and get back to you.

To cheer for your home town team against the Herri-Rotters? From Riccarton to the San Siro - great. I wouldn’t mind doing that. To Hell with Vegas, Bali and other such boring places. We’ll be needing a critique of the pies on sale at the respective grounds.

Could do with specialist referees on the park

But things don't change - hopefully the long-awaited upgrade to disabled facilities are followed through and are "best in class". I go to gigs alot, I use a few ticketing websites and have never experienced an issue. I purchase my ticket(s), they are delivered, I go to gig and have never had anyone sitting in my seat (in seared venues). Improvement in catering is subjective. I've not noticed any improvement but admittedly only use it if I have my son(s) with me. We now use the vans outside the stadium as these are cheaper and offer better quality food (I can't believe I'm typing that). As @Sutton_blows_goats says communication is the root of most of fans issues, we get the initial "bluster" from the board, then hear nothing for months/years. We just have to assume that the wheels are in motion. There is no accountability. Take Park's response to be questioned on our business plan at AGM. "To win as many trophies as possible". Fine, so is that 1 per season? 2 per season? A SPL title every 10 years? What plans have been put in place to ensure we win as many trophies as possible? What are the plans for raising further finance to help achieve these goals? How is success measured and who is accountable for this? Another issue was when Robertson and Wilson stated monies from European runs and player sales were to be used to develop the squad, then they werent. The CL riches were heralded then suddenly "poo-poo'ed" by Robertson who said our EL run got us more? Robertson then stated that CL money wasn't as much as being reported and said we didn't have money sloshing around in the bank (the day after UEFA had deposited our initial circa £13M CL money). The boards communication is horrendous, it's patronising and more worringly, it's often contradictory.

To be fair, they didn't say which World Cup...

Good news.