It’s no secret in football that fans want to watch a winning team.
Especially when it comes to Scotland, as victories can sometimes be hard to find.
Under Steve Clarke, the men’s national team has enjoyed its best period in 20 years.
Qualifying for Euro 2020 proved Scotland could still mix with the big boys of international football – even if the knock-out stage remained just out of reach.
Clarke’s team now have a World Cup play-off match to look forward to after some fantastic wins in qualifying last year.
But frustratingly, if you want to watch Scotland, it often means having to rely on a paid-for subscription TV service.
Hampden Park only holds 52,000 spectators and not everyone lives close to a pub that shows football.
England fans can enjoy watching their team play in qualifying matches free-of-charge on ITV.
Scotland fans meanwhile have spent years paying for Sky Sports.
This week it was announced all men’s team games from 2024 will be shown on a streaming service most people have never heard of.
Scotland fans now face stumping up to pay for yet another broadcaster in the form of Viaplay.
If you include domestic and European competitions, four subscription TV networks will cover Scottish football from 2024.
It’s too much and it’s not fair to fleece fans like this when a cost of living crisis is going on.
Football is big business but there must be a way to ensure ordinary fans don’t get priced out of the game.
Covid mistakes
Nicola Sturgeon would be the first to admit that her government has made mistakes during the pandemic,
The PPE given to staff was not always of the highest quality and earlier action in 2020 could have been taken when Covid struck. But the biggest mistake was the discharging of untested patients from hospitals into care homes.
This decision clearly helped seed a deadly virus in a vulnerable setting and undoubtedly cost lives.
A court ruling covering England and Wales has found that such a practice was unlawful and serious questions must also be asked in Scotland.
The First Minister’s response to the pandemic has been better than the UK Government’s handling, but the care home scandal is a black mark.
Scots should not have to go to court to find out why this happened and the public inquiry must provide families with answers.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
