VincentGuerin

NEVER.

Because of the degree to which it can be measured. Same as how two people might be 5'10, and we call them the same height. But if we were to be able to measure further, we'd find one is a tiny bit taller than the other.

Aye. Barring a monumental collapse (and a stunning finish from Killie) this season will go down as "pretty good", I'd say. 3rd place, two trips to Hampden and only beaten by the sticky buns there, won an unseeded tie in Europe. Nothing really to complain about, which is simultaneously very nice and quite annoying. Had we avoided the OF at Hampden, we'd probably have had a cup final, which would have elevated things a bit. Interesting summer ahead. A lot going out the door, I reckon. I'd expect a rather different looking team next season and it'll be interesting to see what kind of market we go for and how much we spend.

He's far too positive to be me.

I've got some reservations about this one. Hearts will come into this game with a bit of baggage and in need of a lift after the semi-final defeat and they'll know that a victory will see Kilmarnock check out of the race for third. But I can see us being good guests here and not taking anything home with us. That said, the tough game Killie gave us a few weeks ago should serve as a wake-up call, and Hearts might just floor us all by picking up a point. I hope nobody gets booked.

Agree with this. As he pushed forward my mate next to me shouted "That's the game, son", and I murmured my agreement, just as he lost the ball. We'd been crying out for someone to do that, and he's just unlucky the way it unfolded. Someone should have taken the booking. Two really poor goals.

You could ask the same question about why your average Austrian fan is more interested in German football than your average German fan is in Austrian football. It's higher profile (circular, I know, but that's just how it is), it has better media coverage as it has a bigger population and therefore a bigger market, and it's a football set-up that contains some of the best teams in the world. That all filters down. All these things added together make something more appealing. Why do more Scottish people take an interest in La Liga than the Portuguese league?

That doesn't really matter. If you live in Stockport, you'll be interested in the National League as some of the clubs will be local to you, you'll have likes and dislikes, some of your mates will support the clubs involved. What's that person's motivation for watching Partick Thistle against Ayr? Even if it is exciting. English football has its own excitement every season. Could you tell me how exciting the Northern Irish or Welsh leagues are this year? I've got no idea. It's not relevant to me at all. There will never be interest in our game in England beyond football geeks and people with links to Scotland. And that's fine.

I think there's a circular aspect that is related to the tv coverage our own league provides. All your average English punter ever sees of our league is Livi v Celtic, Killie v Rangers, Hibs v Celtic, Motherwell v Rangers... A lot of these games are attack against defence with an inevitable outcome. And, given that nothing else is ever televised, people assume that's all there is. I've taken mates to Tynecastle who have been genuinely surprised how professional and high-quality the whole thing is, as they tend to think it's essentially amateur stuff. That's basically the impression our league gives off, so there's no demand for any coverage. It starts with our clubs.

It's not quite the same thing. Women's football happens in England and is of interest to the local population. Of course media attention drives interest, but to what end would there be media attention on Scottish football in England? What does the local population do with that? There's only so much space, and England is a more multi-sport envronment than Scotland as well. They've got the Premier League, well-supported lower league, cricket, rugby, etc to cover. It's a very hard sell to say that their audience is being served in any way by shoe-horning in coverage of something that just isn't relevant to them. We have our own coverage. It may be shite, but that's a different issue. The plus side to all this is that most of my English mates have absolutely no idea Hearts have been relegated twice in the last decade. Didn't register at all. Which is nice. Most folk reckon we're still owned by that Latvian/Russian/foreign guy.

Jesus Christ. Good night to you.

f**k me. BECAUSE IT'S QUITE GOOD. And, to be honest, aye, it is miles better than Motherwell v Aberdeen.

So what's your fucking point? BBC One and Five Live are defacto English stations. If you haven't grasped this, then I can'thelp you. Scotland has its own BBC media. They cover Scottish football. Absolutely nobody who isn;t accessing BBC Scotland's Scottish football coverage in the UK gives a flying f**k about Scottish football, so it is not widely covered elsewhere. What part of this is difficult for you? The BBC's regional English output is irrelevant in all of this. English people find English football interesting. They do not find Scottish football interesting. Do. You. Get. It?

It might be lost on you, but it's not lost on the wider population. I love Scottish football. I watch a lot of it. But I also understand that it's a niche interest. In the UK, hardly any c**t fucking cares about Scottish football. Expecting it to be front and centre in UK-wide news broadcasts is wild.

Do you expect coverage of national English fitba to be on regional channels? Fair play to you.

Are you saying the quality in England is not much better? Do you want a minute to think about that?

That kind of thing is just an issue with default channels and opt-ins and opt-outs for regions. It's not a grand conspiracy. Say what you like, but a lot of viewers in Scotland like having access to the FA Cup. No c**t in England is arsed about seeing Falkirk v Queen of the South, but plenty of viewers in Scotland will watch Stockport v Tranmere if they put it on as an FA Cup first round game. That's just the way it is. We're not a consideration for them. We're the same as Welsh football.

That's the thing, though. It's not really a national channel. BBC Scotland is for our stuff. I'm amazed a lot of people still don't get this. They don't report Welsh Cup results either. The general population make no distinction.

He didn't join in. Just like the rest of them.

"Well, actually"

This is definitely the case. Our 2012 semi against Celtic was one nobody thought we'd win. We took 12,000, and there were folk trying to give away tickets in the run up etc. A fucking amazing day at the fitba, and I think it was better for just having that smaller support there. Hard to think of a more intense goal celebration than that day. Almost up there with routing the tramps in the final with a full house as an experience.

Aye, but teams that get reported on on Five Live or BBC Breakfast aren't playing in regional competitions. They're playing in English national competitions, so it makes English news. BBC Scotland reports on the Scottish stuff. It's of absolutely no interest to the vast majority of Five Live's audience. Scottish people living in England have access to BBC Scotland. It cannot be expressed enough that Scottish football is not of interest to a general UK audience.

That Coventry decision is a genuine travesty. Nobody who loves football can want that.

Soldier, Spy.

Important to remember that it's a small minority and that loads of Rangers fans are decent folk who would never join in with that stuff and hope to see it stamped out. They really do. . Definitely.