Beautiful weather again today and after a couple of long walks  during the day decided to head to Ainslie Park for tonights friendly fixture, Spartans v Hearts. Despite being a season ticket holder at both clubs there would be no divided loyalties tonight with hearts always being my favourite football team. With the kick-off not being until 8.00pm I was able to watch the last sixteen Euro match between England and Germany. I gave up after seventy-five minutes with England 1-0, fed up with the commentary which exiled everything English. I do not understand why Scots should pay a BBC licence fee given the channel should be more correctly named E(English)BC. Even Andy Murray is British when he wins at tennis but Scottish when he gets beaten. I remembered to take my sunglasses as the setting sun can cause viewing problems at Ainslie Park. It was bright and sunny walking down the old railway path but as I approached Crewe Toll the weather began to cloud over and I put my sunglasses in my

Well, after 472 days I am finally going to a Hearts game today. However as with anything to do with Hearts is ever simple. Hearts reported back for training at the start of this week and the first friendly fixture was meant to be at Berwick on Friday night. However five members of Hearts playing staff required to self-isolate following positive Covid tests and the match was cancelled which also put todays match in doubt. A update was promised for this morning and finally at around 11.30 confirmation was received that the match was on. I had bought a ticket through Fanbase and also purchased return rail tickets for the 13.49 to Linlithgow from Haymarket. i walked down to Haymarket and arrived ten minutes early for my train. While I was waiting a police officer strolled along the platform and stopped to berate a young lad, maybe 18 years old, for not wearing a face mask. He was told he would not get on any train without wearing a mask which is one of the governments rule for travelling.

Despite the counter attraction of the Euros on television I was determined to get out and ee another match. It had been a lovely day and I left him at around 18.15 to had to Ainslie Park for tis per-season friendly. I had to make a detour on the way to pay cash into my bank account so headed to the West End to use the ATM facility there. From there I walked through Stockbridge, Inverleith Park and then Ferry Road before arriving at Ainslie Park around 19.25. I entered the ground after showing my season ticket just as it started to rain. There were no programme issued but I managed to get a photo of a copy of the team sheet issued to directors so i was aware of both team line-ups. Both teams were including a number of trialists in their lineups however the Dunfermline trailists had their names listed on the team-sheet while for Spartans the listing was just trialist. I have added the word trialist in brackets in the Dunfermline line-up to show the players who had not yet signed for the

  Another beautiful sunny day today and after watching the first half of the Turkey v Wales match in the Euros on television I decided to go out and watch a live game in the sunshine. The closest fixture was a pre-season friendly at Musselburgh so I wandered down to Haymarket to get a 26 bus to the ground. Normally bus journeys are quiet but three young gilrs got on at St Andrew Square. They were shouting and screaming in addition to slurping some vile looking drinks which were apparently Japanese. They then started dancing around at the front of the top deck at which point the driver came upstairs and told them to sit down and shut up or they would have to leave the bus. I would have thrown them off then but at last they were quiet for the rest of the journey. I walked the short distance from the Ship Inn to the round arriving around 19.05 for a 19.30 kickoff. At the entrance had to give contact details for Covid tracing purposes and also had my temperature checked before entry. It wa

Well ether 456 days (Alexa) or 457 (Siri) but at least able to go to watch a live football match. Since the last game I went to (St Mirren v Hearts 11th March 2020) I have watched several matches on television or live stream but nothing can beat actually being there ! With Edinburgh now under Level2 Covid restrictions small crowd are allowed at foootball matches and I was heading to Ainslie Park today for the first of Spartans pre-season friendlies against Lothian Thistle Hutcheson Vale (LTHV). I renewed my Hearts season ticket yesterday for £129, a substantial discount due to not being allowed to attend any matches last season. However it is unlikely that all season-ticket holders will permitted entry to Tynecastle when the SPL season starts. Hearts have said that a ballot will be held and those initially successful will not be able to attend again until all other season ticket holders have been at a match. This could mean I will have to watch football elsewhere and I have also purcha

Well 2020-2021 was certainly a season with a difference. With the global pandemic of Covid19 causing major disruption to life across the world football was also bound to suffer as lockdowns and restrictions in social contact  became a feature in most countries. I had bought my season ticket early despite Hearts having been expelled from the SPL. I refuse to call it relegation given with eight matches left Hearts could  still have saved themselves. The Championship showed even more self interest than the SPL had previously with a vote meaning that the start of the season was delayed until October with a twenty-seven match season rather than the normal thirty-six. There was also a vote on use of substitutes. While every other league in SPFL voted to use five substitutes the Championship retained the number used at three. A clear show of concern for the welfare of players in troubled times ! The one consolation was the delayed start meant I qualified for an cheaper ticket given my birthda