Scottish Football Monitor (SFM)

This time, John speaks with England's king of soccer gossip Alan Nixon about his hopes and ambitions for his beloved Partick Thistle, and about the Scottish game relative to the English one.

David Moyes, Brendan Rodgers and Dave King all feature, as does the refereeing and disciplinary explosion which ignited on Sunday.

John also looks back over the career of the incomparable Jim Cruickshank of Hearts and Scotland.

This week, John speaks to The Times & World Soccer's Phil Gordon. Topics for discussion include Pedro Caixinha, Ian Cathro, Brendan Rodgers, Lenny, Duff, Dick & Danny, Armageddon, and The Mighty Jags.

As if that's not enough, we add to our list of Armageddon-deniers, and pay tribute to one of the greats from the Golden Age of Scottish football, Hugh Robertson of Dundee & Dunfermline

This week, we reflect on the International weekend and the Championship race, discuss fan behaviour on both sides of the border, and talk to David Low about the flurry of conflicting information coming out of Ibrox and the newsrooms.

John also pays tribute to the greatest living Saintee, Henry Hall.

This week, TWM guest is Stuart Cosgrove who discusses a post Armageddon Scottish Football, a new structure for refereeing the game, journalists pretending to support clubs other than Celtic & Rangers, and the ultra competitive nature of the Championship.

All this, plus a round-up of the news on and off the field this week in the football world.

This week, David Low on the Takeover Panel verdict on Dave King, and a personal tribute to Roger Hynd and Tommy Gemmell, both of whom passed away this month.

The major part of this week's episode, the last before the Christmas break, is a chat with Dave Scott, Campaign Director of the anti-sectarian charity Nil by Mouth. Dave talks about sectarianism in general and his positive view of football fans attitude to sectarianism - although less hopefully of the clubs' attitudes.

As Scott says, "How can you have a 90 minute bigot?" "Does that mean you can be a 90 minute racist?"

Also, RoofGate is visited, as well as a tribute to the great Alan Gilzean, and one of the great Scotland teams of which he was a part - the won that defeated England in 1964.

This week, former Hearts defender Ryan McGowan gives his views on the Ian Cathro appointment and the press reaction to it, Ally Begg talks about his book Begg to Differ and is disappointment in recent results for the Dons.

Opinion pieces on the child abuse scandal, Cathro, and a tribute to the late - and wonderful - Falkirk FC legend Hughie Maxwell.

This week John talks to David Low about the outcomes of the Rangers AGM resolutions, his views on the possibilities of administration, takeover, and revisitng the pre-emption resolution.

Also on the show, Paul Goodwin of the Scottish Football Supporters Association on his quest for greater accountability and transparency in the game.

Also, does Nielson's departure mean a crisis in the Scottish game? Aberdeen letting down their fans, and the clubs' greatest fear right now, Strict Liability.

If sectarianism sells, is SL a barrier to trade?

John's guest this week is legal affairs journalist and new media frontiersman James Doleman. James talks, among other things, about his passion for making the processes of justice accessible to the public. Louise also might get a Menschion :-)

Also featured on the Podcast; Are Warbs' team starting to resemble Rangers? Proof that Alan Nixon was right about Thistle. With Celtic now 100 up, just how many boxes has Brendan Rogers ticked so far? Will Hearts pass the midweek litmus test?

Also: Losing the will to live - and no Joey Barton or SFA

This week, John speaks to journalist Alan Nixon about Scottish football in general and Partick Thistle in particular; and welcomes Lisbon Lion Jim Craig to discuss Celtic, and the changes in the game over the past 50 years.

Also up for discussion, more embarrassing SFA bingo, Brexit, Gordon Strachan, and Bamber Gascoigne.