Travel Does Indeed Broaden The Football MInd

MY OLD pal Iain King used to have the two best jobs in Scottish sports-writing, as he doubled-up being Sports Editor of the Scottish Sun with his honorary post as RWM of the Lap Top Loyal.

However, in one of those acts which even his friends thought at the time was daft, he jacked it in to try to make it in football, by doing something more than merely writing about it.

 Iain King - from The Sun to the snows of Toronto

Coaching with East Kilbride led him, in time, to a role as Chief Executive with Airdrieonians, and, when that job fell through, Kingie took himself off to Canada, where he is currently coaching in Toronto. Now, even as a young lad, Kingie was a bloody good, award-winning journalist – a better writer than player, so I have no end of admiration for him in how he has gone about getting into coaching, passing the exams and so on, and I wish him every success as a poacher turned gamekeeper.

But, he has not totally shut down the lap top, having started his own blog, which I find a terrific, and insightful read. In particular, I commend his latest post to you. This can be read at: http://www.iain-king.com/blog/dome-is-where-the-heart-is

In that particular post, Iain contrasts the excellent indoor facilities in Toronto with what we have to put up with in Scotland. He, as ever, makes some excellent and salient points. Now, I accept, there is a world of difference between the snows of a Canadian winter and a typically dreich, rain-drenched Scottish one. However, it would still be a lot better for the future of Scottish football if our kids were learning under the sort of domes Iain talks about, rather than being outside, even on an artificial surface, in a Scottish winter.

When he first became Scotland boss, over 30-years ago now, Andy Roxburgh was pushing the case for more and better indoor facilities. Sure, since then, we've seen Oriam, Ravenscraig and Toryglen up and running, but, these are not nearly enough. I know, Scottish football is very good at pleading poverty, and claiming they get little or no help when it comes to facilities, from the local councils. The game's rulers may have a point in this, but, how many have helped themselves? St Mirren, for one, have erected a dome over their 3G training pitch, but, who else has?

I look forward to reading further editions of the King blog.

I SPENT part of Saturday afternoon receiving excellent treatment in the A&E department of Ayr Hospital. My wait for treatment was made more-tolerable by being able to watch Football Focus, a programme I do not usually see, since I am generally travelling to a game when it is aired.

OK, the programme is England-fixated, but, how I wish BBC Shortbread could put together such a slick magazine programme. It was informative and interesting, however, even if there was a will to put on a similar Scotland-only programme, I dare say it would, in typically Pacific Quay style, concentrate on you know who, to the detriment of the other 40 senior clubs, far less the vast hinterland of what I like to call “real fitba”.

FF did, however, manage to mention the Betfred Cup semi-final, with a half-time score update, whereby I knew Celtic were leading 2-0. “Game over” I thought, so, fair play to Hibs for their second-half fightback, which made that second 45 minutes interesting.

There should not be empty seats here at a national semi-final

The big talking point post-match, however, was the block of some 10,000 empty seats which the Edinburgh club had been unable to sell. Long gone are the days when Hampden semi-finals sold-out, so I do not think 10,000 unsold tickets is as big an issue as is being made-out. Maybe the SPFL needs to look at its pricing structure and its obsession with taking games other than finals to the National Stadium.