A Wise Decision By Scott Brown

SCOTT BROWN has apparently called time – again – on his Scotland career, following a weekend meeting with Alex McLeish.

Scott Brown - Has Again Retired From Scotland Duties

Good decision Scott, since, as you proved conclusively in St Petersburg last week, you can no longer cut it on the international stage at club, far less international level. I would never denigrate Brown's efforts for the national team, but, in all honesty, had be been born a generation or two earlier, he would never have got close to a Scotland cap.

So, we move on, and Big Eck now has a choice to make, as to who is to be Scotland captain. Of course, Darren Fletcher will still be there, and could reclaim the armband which he has worn so-often and so-well; or, is it perhaps time to trust in the next generation?

Kieran Tierney seems to be the future, but, perhaps he should be spared the extra pressure of the captaincy, until, as he surely will, he succeeds Brown as Celtic captain. To be honest, we don't have many obvious options to Fletcher in any squad Eck is likely to pick.

Given the way the international calendar has expanded, and continues to do, the day might not be far away when we have cricket and Welsh Rugby-style central contracts, aimed at ensuring our top talent is not over-played. However, that will take a bit of fixing between clubs and national association, not forgetting the agents. However, sooner or later – it will happen.

THE RWM of the Lap Top Loyal was writing more shite at the weekend. Apparently, after Celtic's simple win at Pittodrie, which leaves them nine points clear at the top of the table, with ten fixtures left – the title race is, according to the RWM, over.

OK, given what we know about Scottish football, he may well be correct, however, a nine-point lead at this stage, particularly when you have to play your main rivals and closes challengers twice, is not insurmountable.

Manchester City might have won the Carabao Cup and be 13 points clear at the top of the league, but, nobody is rushing to prematurely crown them Champions.

In England, Manchester City has an even-greater advantage over the chasing pack, again with ten (well in their case eleven games to go), but, nobody in the English media is rushing to say, their title race is over.

Certainly in the case of Celtic, the only fixture between now and the top-six/bottom-six split which anyone can see them losing, is their Ibrox clash with Rangers on 11 March. Their other four fixtures pit them against struggling clubs, and ought to be bankers for the table-toppers. After that, it all comes down to how the post-split games are scheduled.

I suspect Celtic will win the league, but, it's still a bit early to crown them.

THE Daily Record's circulation, particularly since 2014, has been draining away faster than any bath ever could. Mind you, newspaper circulations in general have been declining, but, the Record's readership loss has been particularly spectacular, albeit unimpressive.

There are various reasons for this, but, one might be a lack of talent on the editorial floor. Sure, there are some good operators still in there, but, one or two “names” to whom I would not give outhouse room. In particular, I believe their Chief Football Writer is just about the ultimate case of over-promotion, way beyond any discernible talent.

Let's just say, his talent is: “Off the radar”, inasmuch as, you couldn't find any, even with the most-sophisticated radar. He has written a condescending load of shite this morning, about what he thinks might happen if big football matches do indeed end-up being played at Murrayfield after 2020, which is pure pish. Barbour jackets, prosecco, Hooray Hamishes, egg-chasers, he gets every anti-rugby cliché you could think of into the piece.

 Murrayfield will easily handle big football matches

I, for one, accept the good citizens of the area around Murrayfield will take too-kindly to the Old Firm Neanderthals invading their locale. I can see the local community groups giving the Police Scotland Divisional Commander a hard time in the wake of the first Old Firm game in the capital, but, I have every confidence in the Polis getting on top of the considerable anti-social element which follows the Bigot Brothers, in very short order.

Of course, the writer, in the piece makes the usual Scottish media assumption – the boys, and the bhoys, have always behaved badly and always will. Maybe, just maybe, when Holyrood gets round to redrawing OBFA, and funding Scottish Football in the years ahead, they will start to make the clubs responsible for their fans' behaviour. It's way past time this happened – and the mainstream Scottish football media got behind making it happen.

I HAVE mentioned my mate Johnny on this blog before. He's the “Ayr United Supporter” who only ever gets het-up, when I have a go at Celtic. Well, surprise, surprise, Johnny found his way to Somerset Park on Saturday – to see the Honest Men become the first team in the UK to reach 100 goals for the season.

The placard says it all - Congratulations to Ayr United

Trouble was, Johnny was keen to get home in time to see the Calcutta Cup rugby on TV. Even when Andy Geggan scored the crucial 100^th goal, the bold Johnny wasn't sure he could safely slip out and head home; but, after the second goal, off he went, along with his grandson, who apparently wanted to hang-on. Sure enough, a couple of hundred yards down Somerset Road, they heard the roar which signalled Ayr's third goal.

Another mate, who managed to go cold turkey on a genuine life-long love affair with the Honest Men, to get involved at the sharp end of real fitba, with his local junior outfit, took advantage of a blank Saturday for his junior team to head along to Somerset and see the 100^th, 101^st and 102^nd goals scored.

I suppose we can forgive him for turning into a glory seeker, he suffered enough anguish when he was a Somerset regular.

But seriously, every congratulation has to go to wee Ian McCall and his men, however, the job isn't done, they still have to win promotion and get back into the Championship, or those 100-plus goals will mean nothing.