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A really good read Jack, as always, and you have hit on a point in which I couldnt agree more. The absolute desire of the Scottish media to critisise our game.

Yes, the English leagues can be exciting and there is no doubt the quality in the premiership is higher than the SPL. However, the media bigs up the product and generally gets behind its own league. However the sometimes incestuous Scottish media prefer to use their influence to create negativity around our game. We have phone ins where the host will cut callers off to critisise our game and newspapers desperate to highlight failure. This attidude is 10 years out of date and is destroying the chance of positivity, good feeling and ultimately investment in Scottish football.

There are some good exciting players emerging and its time we took a more supportive approach to our game. The English leagues understand the value of maintaining the appeal of the game. Its time the Scottish media woke up to this. Perhaps a time for a change of personnel in the media, not just the managers/players and chairmen?

All the best for the new season Jack, wherever you are playing.

Good point Jack and very well put.

We are too quick to play up to the stereotype of rough football when in fact many of the teams in the SPL (and in lower leagues) set out to play quality attacking football. However these teams can run into trouble and often resort to a more physical plan B.

There are a few things that would help to foster creative football in Scotland- a winter break, so that the pitches are better for technical football; better coaching for referees so that skillful players cannot be kicked out of a game (the Old Firm in particular are able to batter difficult opponents without punishment); and plenty of safe, good quality facilities for kids to use (public parks need to be maintained and protected from development).

Also the way that the Scottish football is broadcast doesnt do anything to help the cause. With the one or two cameramen and the poor state of pitches and not great attendences doesnt look to good.

I agree that there should be a winter break. Even the idea of artificial pitches should be looked into. Surely they could come up with some real good artificial grass these days. If they were playing on good pitches it would make a huge difference to the quality of football.

In schools kids should be playing 7's until an older age. Get them used to having the ball at their feet rather than having 12/13year old play 11's and having them simply boot it into the acres of space.

Good point. I call it the Walter Smith syndrome.

Good read as always Jack.

Don't understand why the media feel the need to moan about Scottish football and put such a negative twist on everything that happens. If they think there is such a problem then why aren't they doing anything about it? Constant moaning won't Scottish football anywhere. Need more people like you Jack who look at things at a positive angle and doesn't feel the need to pip up with excuses when something is going wrong and instead do something about it.

Hi Jack, long time reader first time writer.

In this case I don't really agree with you.

First off, bravo for the optimism. It is obviously these virtues that have helped sculp a decent career in the game and on a personal level I commend you highly. And you are certainly correct - a negative attitude can lead to defeatism. Also, I hate the red tops reporting of Scottish football - sensationalist, parochial and plain dumb most of the time.

But dear God man, where are the positives in the Scottish game you want to big up? It's all very well trying to play an attractive game but if you can't do it then you just look silly - and lose. We'd probably be better actually playing to our strengths - toe punting the ball into the box then sclaffing headers around the place till it ends up in the net - probably due to keeper error.

I'm not denigrating all our players - we have an improving looking national team - but this is due to many of our players flitting south (Dorrans et al) so if they don't fancy it up here why should we? The only positive I can find in our league is that due to financial restrictions most teams are being forced to play youngsters (thank the lord for the banking meltdown!) but our 40 team league is unsustainable in its present state. Teams are on the verge of liquidation.

And last but not least, all our teams got totally mullered last year in Europe. I believe the once great Aberdeen had record defeats and the less said about Rangers the better.

To improve we need a coordinated stategy and I don't feel this is ever going to happen. Do you? And implemented by who?

I'm not negative, on the contrary I'd love us to get better, indeed fantasise about it, I just think I'd be lying to myself if I said I was genuinely happy with the product on display in the SPL.

The negativity is based on realism and being positive provides no tangible benefits. In fact being positive when all the facts do not support the mood is counter-productive because it serves no purpose and fails to address the problems. You sound like an alcoholic who claims he doesn't have a problem.

Our player of the year was aged 40, our league's best player was a six month loan signing, our clubs got horsed in Europe, and none of our clubs have a brass farthing to spend between them. Tell me: what is there to be positive about?

Major change is needed and trying to put on a brave face and tell us (and yourself) that everything isn't as bad as it seems will just delay or prevent a recovery.

Let's start with changing when we play our football. By playing throughout the summer months we can perhaps attract a more lucrative TV rights package as the top leagues have ended their season and there is less competition for TV schedules. The standard of the pitches will also be better. That, and better weather, will be more conducive to a better standard of football and that, in turn, leads to more commercial interest and more bums on seats.

If that is successful then let's build on that by reconstructing the leagues to a top flight of 16 where our clubs can bring through young talent again without the fear of relegation or missing out on a top six place.

A number of good points, well put and topical now pre-season off and running again - good to hear you getting over injury and heading to pastures new...all the best for new challenges - always a saint!

Yes good read.

I am a Scot living in England and I defended the SPL for more years than I care to remember. However I feel we were the profits of our own doom and like in any walk walk if life...If you say something enough times, eventually it becomes true.

Sorry to say but the SPL is poor. What we can do to improve the league and whether or not the damage is even repairable is probably a post for another day.

But we should try and learn from the PR machine that is the EPL. I have a friend who works with football statistics for a betting site. He told me that a couple of years ago the EPL recorded more 0-0 draws than any other league in Europe - this of course co-incided with everybody in England declaring that the EPL is the best league in the world...and most of the world believing them.

Another funny example of our weak PR...I came home to Scotland a few years ago and was watching Sportscene match of the day. They were doing a competition and the prize was tickets to a EPL match of your choice!!!

How obtuse can we be?

As a St Mirren fan i couldn't agree more Jack. Imagine how disappointing it was for our fans to endure the run up to our first League Cup final in over 50 years and discover that all the media were focussing on was the 'bonus row' and story about the players being left out of the after match party arrangements. It's almost as if some players and club insiders went to the press and leaked their grievances for public consumption eh? Then the same media complained at the poor turn out from fans on the day and seemed surprised that after being told St Mirren were going to line up defensively that fans weren't willing to pay Β£30 a ticket when the game was live on terrestrial TV for free.

Maybe if there had been positive stories about the club in the run up to the game instead of the negative political ones we would have easily sold out our allocation?