Chick Young

On Saturday afternoon, BBC Scotland hosted a seriously serious debate involving the cream of the Scottish footballing intellectual fraternity including me, myself and Billy Dodds.

The subject? What now for Scotland, Scottish football and the football that takes place in Scotland? And how serious was this discussion? Let me tell you, it was so serious that it was a full hour and five minutes into the programme before Rangers were mentioned.

And our conclusion? It's all the fault of the SFA. It's them, they've done nothing apart from give Craig Levein the job in the first place and are now in hiding. Shame on them all!

Yes, I know we all sooked up to Craig when he got the job and said things like, 'Craig's the man', but not because we rated him, no, it was because that's what the media are supposed to do.

Personally, I always knew he was not the man for the job and that's why I say, regardless of results, Craig Levein must go.

And who should replace him? Well, I'm sorry but I think the time has come to think outside the box, to be bold, to be exciting, to think radically, revolutionary and that's why my solution is ... bring back Walter Smith.

Yes, Sir Walter is the only man to take Scotland forward and I'm sure the Tartan Army would welcome him back with open arms. In fact, why stop at just being manager of Scotland, why not have Walter running the SFA as well? It would be great to have a Rangers man in there, just to help out Campbell Ogilvie you understand.

Yes, yes, of course I expect to be shot down in flames, but that's only to be expected when you are a forward-thinking, if sometimes controversial visionary like me.

davie provan

They are one of the great, iconic images of Scottish football, the big tyres behind the goals at Central Park, Cowdenbeath and it was great to see them again thanks to their live TV clash against the second biggest club in Glasgow, Partick Thistle, in the Ramsdens Cup.

Let me tell you, judging by the travelling Jags support, the Ubiquitous Chip must have been empty on Sunday afternoon.

The match itself was extremely enjoyable, but as for the BBC Alba commentators? I'm sorry, but I found them totally incomprehensible. They could have been talking Gaelic for all I know.

To sum it up, Thistle always looked the better side and were comfortable with their lead right up until the last five minutes or so when the Blue Brazilians threw caution to the wind, tactics out the window and went route one and a half.

I noticed that due to the stock car racing there are a lot of skid marks around the pitch at Central Park. Well, let me tell you, I bet you there were a few skid marks in the away dugout as the Jags survived that late, late surge from the home team.

And, by the way, can I just say, summariser Paul Hartley – who at least was speaking in English or something closely resembling it – always impresses. How he manages to start a game clean shaven and end it with a full beard never ceases to amaze me.