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A very enjoyable afternoon in the sun at the stadium for the Jags. I have never seen such a negative performance from a team, in the first half, like I did from Morton, they just tried to park the bus and had no out ball, last weeks result was obviously fresh in their thoughts. We played some neat passes and it was just finding a way through the massed ranks of their eleven, and we did with a fabulous strike from Todorov, and the second looked like Doran had over run the pass, only for the ball to emerge past the keeper and into the net. Storey had the beating of their right back for pace time after time, and had put in a few good crosses, and nutmegged the keeper for Thistle's third. We could have had a fourth, when we were awarded a penalty when Trafford tumbled in the box. I would have liked to see Welsh take the penalty, even though he missed the last one against Clach on Wednesday night, but Todorov had grabbed the ball and it didn't look like he was going to give it up, Welsh was the penalty taker last season, and I think, if he is on the pitch, he should take them, unless he is constantly missing them. Todorovs miss seemed to spur Morton into life and they were being far more offensive and grabbed a consolation goal when our defenders seemed to lose their player. All in all, there were some really good performances. Welsh, Doran, Storey and Todorov stood out for me, and keeper MacKay's distribution was first class. Mchatttie and Donaldson were solid at the back and both full backs put in good shifts up and down the wing and some good crosses. I though Trafford had a far better second half and MacGregor had some nice touches to link the play. Machado has great feet, and just needs to know when to lay the ball off to a player in a better position, but I love his directness. As I said in a previous post, I think we now have the strongest squad we have had in quite a few seasons. In past seasons we have had a good first eleven and a bench that wasn't as strong, but now we have competition for all areas on the pitch. Good results can breed confidence, so lets hope we can take it into our next game at Dunfermline.

The vast, vast majority of footballers pay to play, as I did. I congratulate any man or woman who manages to gain a professional contract to play football. As wynthank says, there is not the participation there used to be, and not on a par with places like the Faroe Islands, but it is still high. No point in people showing their lack of self-awareness by coming on a football forum if they don’t actually like football very much ?

It may appear to be grossly unfair, but the reality is that the disparity in rewards is a consequence of market forces. Whilst I have tremendous admiration for athletes like your daughter and other sportsmen and women who work so hard to be the best they can in their chosen sport, few people have any desire to watch even top level athletes run round a track 25 times on a regular basis. However, people are happy to pay to watch football week in and week out even when the players are far from being the elite. For instance, I was at the game on Saturday and was well entertained. In fact, had I paid twice the price I would still have felt I had got good value for money (although that is certainly not always the case!) It comes down to personal choice. If some people wish to pursue a sporting course which they know is not well remunerated, they they can hardly complain when they don't get well remunerated. But then, that is not the reason people pursue these sports. When you know your chosen sport does not offer significant financial rewards then what you are doing is, effectively,a hobby. Do footballers get paid too much? Some are undoubtedly getting far more than their talents warrant but then that is the same in all aspects of the entertainment business and other walks of life. But that is market forces for you. The key to making money is not so much the level of skill required to do what you do, but whether people want to pay you money to do it.

I don’t think the issue is how many people who play football don’t get paid, because that is common across all sports. The issue is the extremely and uniquely large number who do get paid for playing football - where it’s possible to receive a regular wage, never mind simply payment by results, at remarkably low levels of competence, fitness and commitment compared with other sports. And below the top tiers, I don’t really think popularity is an overwhelming factor because there are plenty of teams paying players to perform in front of quite small crowds in relation to their wage bills. This is something often made possible firstly by the willingness of wealthy people to subsidise these clubs with large donations, often in return for perceived prestige..... and secondly due to the clubs supporting their excessive wage bills by charging the kind of ticket prices which the Original Post was about and which fans frequently find burdensome. .

Another very enjoyable listen. Amusing and good varied content. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to the next one.

Apologies to original posters, I appear to have broken the topic and merged the original posts into one big post.? My bad! I have tried to add names to the posts, if they are wrong pm me and I can add correct names. My still bad.

Thanks to everyone who contributed towards the incredible £2600+ raised in my brother's name for CHSS. The page is still open for a few days if anyone else wishes to donate.

Only our lovely host went to the Academy. Of the other three of us, two went to Millburn and one to Culloden. And Red Card Riley from Ep 2 went to borstal. Thanks for the kind words, btw.

Yeah, the nature of podcasts is that they're audio only, and while we'd perhaps like to involve ex-players and possibly current players eventually, it's an independent venture, much like this forum, which allows us to express and solicit opinions without feeling like we're beholden to anyone. Give it a listen and feel free to criticise!

Too quick, Snorbens... I have just seen that she is to quit because of "the pressures of motherhood". I am being deafened by the bells on my other leg. Anyone else you'd like me to get rid of, since I'm obviously in form?

That’s less of a hypothetical scenario given that we’ve had Tory-led governments for most of my life! Whether it was Boris or Corbyn in charge, I’d like to think I’d base things on the bigger picture rather than a government which is temporary.