Fearchar

Although he was only on loan, the inimitable Lucas Akins deserves a mention. I understand that he still believes that he's a footballer. http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/lucas-akins/profil/spieler_63199.html

I'd certainly recommend to any tourist going up the west coast for the scenery. Invest in midge nets, though: the black ones are the easiest to see through, and at this time of year you'll need them. (They're like beekeepers' nets, going over your whole head.) My tip? Visit the Applecross Inn for the best pub food in Scotland (multiple winner of that title for the UK). If your time or distance are limited, Mull is a beautiful island and is just a short ferry crossing from Oban. Further north, the mountains and scenery in Assynt are spectacular, and it's often windy enough to keep the midges at bay. (Are you beginning to spot a motif here?) On your way north from Glasgow, Fort William is a good option for stopping and shopping. Frankly, I wouldn't go out of my way to visit Inverness. However, if you really must go there it does have a remarkably good Chinese restaurant in Union Street. Use bed & breakfast - it's a better way of seeing what life is like in rural areas, and it's not so steeply priced as hotels and guest houses. If you do make it to the Western Isles, never, ever consider staying in Stornoway (unless you have friends to stay with, of course). There are too many reasons for that, but space only permits one: you'll be charged the earth for the worst accommodation you have ever seen provided commercially. Of course, if you're really into culture and want a taste of Gaelic, then, er, Glasgow's the place to be.

Great oxymoron.

Sun. That seems trite, but I've watched an amateur regional select side being seriously gubbed by a Hamburg SV reserve team on a balmy summer evening in the north of Germany, and it was a calm, enjoyable experience, even for those of us with local loyalties. I agree. Many years ago my late father went to Celtic Park (during the days of terracing) and sat among home supporters. He was an Aberdeen supporter, and at some stage someone said to him (in an Irish accent), "I think you're an Aberdeen supporter." He was. No-one gave him any bother (apart from the boys offering to look after his car, of course!). Those fans were passing around whisky, too. Was this because better behaviour was expected of people paying more to be seated? Is that what all-seated stadiums were expected to achieve? Exactly. One of the attractions of lower-league football is striking up acquaintanceship with supporters of other sides. It is worth remembering that, AFAIK, there was no problem for Jags fans leaving I**x when the Jags got a draw there, although fans of both sides were walking across each others' paths. The police didn't see it as necessary to keep a watch on exiting fans, either. Obviously, it wasn't necessary that time in a known hotbed of bad behaviour. As Norman said, it's down to expectations, and there has to be a suspicion that police estimates of their necessary presence are fuelled at least partly by thoughts of overtime and extra charges.

Good to hear of new generations of supporters - congratulations! It's surprising that no-one has mentioned aversion therapy. My older son was showing dangerous signs of tending to the dark side (due to peer pressure at school), and asked me to take him to I**x. I was more willing to do so, because it was a friendly against a Bundesliga side, and you can usually expect a good performance from that class of football. To cut a long story short, it was a deadly dull game with little to recommend either side. My son now considers it a badge of shame that he sat in the home supporters' seats at I**x. If his efforts flag at any time, I can always put it down to the malign influence of that visit, and he redoubles his efforts: there's nothing like a little emotional blackmail to help a young man on in life.

My impression in the past season was that he'd been told to pass to other players instead of trying to score himself - in line with the season's pretty but fruitless passing round the goal area. It almost looked as if only Buchanan and Grehan had permission to shoot when a slim chance of scoring appeared. In that case, it would have been natural for Erskine to follow the advice he'd been given, even if we'd prefer to see something different. Warning - hobby horse: at least one member of coaching staff should always watch games from somewhere other than the dugout, because the view there is too restricted. That's why the fans can see obvious errors during a game, while the coaching staff are oblivious to them.

Pity - a much better option than Paton.

I don't get any warnings: I think that your systems have problems with popups - annoying but not necessarily a risk. (BTW, I use the latest version of Firefox with NoScript, and I have AVG Anti-virus and SpyBot Search & Destroy: you can't get much more secure browsing than that.)