Caledonian Craig

Flukes happen in snooker but they don't help you win a world title. O'Sullivan more got lucky as he could win through against players not at their nest. However, you can only beat what is in front of you. As it went the final was an anti-clinax - the standard was the poorest I remember for some time and coupled with it being a no contest it was an instantly forgettable final.

So Andy Murray went done in straight sets 6-2 6-3 6-4. No great surprise given Andy's condition fitness-wise going into the match. He has got back match fitness but not tournament fitness and is still carrying a lot of rust. Improvement will come with the more tournaments he plays. Next up for him will be some clay court tennis culminating in the re-arranged French Open.

Well he obviously knows the effects it has on him. And it is not something he has always done but has felt better for doing it. End of the day that is all that matters. Either that or stop taking them and feel the worse for it.

Well Andy Murray and other tennis players swear by it and it has helped him in recovery between long matches. That is all that matters.

A lot will depend on three factors. How well can Andy Murray recover from such a long match on Monday so soon into his comeback? Can he get off to a better start than he did on Monday when he seemed flat/subdued/nervous? How will his young and relatively inexperienced opponent recover from his own almost four hours long match on Monday and cope with playing an icon of the sport?

To put things into perspective - Stephen Hendry retired in 2012 but had ceased being a winning force in snooker by 2004 when he won his last tournament (the Malta Cup). The last ranking tournament he won was in 2002 in the form of the Welsh Open so you see he had been somewhat of a journeyman by his previous extremely high standards long before he retired. Sure he was still getting to the business end of tournaments bvut for Hendry that was not enough and with the buzz gone that was when he decided to retire. I would say, perhaps, his perspective has changed. He played in the recent World Seniors and got the buzz from competing again so perhaps that will be enough for him and he'd now accept no longer winning everything he enters is beyond him and wants to just see how far he can go in tournaments now. Best of luck to him. He may also have been inspired by his great mate Mark Williams who looked washed up a few years ago but turned back the clock to win another world title. His mentality is far different to Hendry's. Hendry was a fiercely intense competitor whereas Williams is so laid back he is horizontal. Perhaps Hendry will take on Williams' outlook to not take things too seriously and just enjoy yourself. If you win then great but if you don't then it is not the end of the world.

Exactly the point I made yesterday. As a Scotland fan I want to see all of our potential players playing regularly at the highest level. Fraser staying at Bournemouth or Fraser moving to Arsenal or Liverpool would not have achieved that for different reasons. Fraser at Newcastle most probably can achieve that and that can only benefit Scotland.

Hendry was a winner. He detested losing sovmuch more than the average player. When he retired he was getting beaten by players he felt he should be beating comfortably and was missing shots he used to pot easily which bugged the hell out of him. I also seem to recall him saying the buzz was no longer there for him. Lets not get carried away here. Hendry had done precious little in his last few years on the tour prior to his retirement in terms of big tournament wins. To expect him to return and recaoture form of the 1990s is wishful thinking but I wish him all tge best and hope he enjoys himself.

Got a real buss playing in the recent World Seniors tournament and thought he'd give it another crack. Apparently, he, Ken Doherty and Jimmy White were all offered (and accepted) a two year invitational tour card. The skeptics are claiming it is because he is worried Ronnie ''Sullivan is closing down on his record of seven titles and other spiteful sods claiming it is because he is broke. Utter crap on both accounts.

Bookmakers use many factors when working out odds. Bournemouth were in their fifth season (ever) in the top flight before relegated. Newcastle have been in the top flight far longer and established hence why they were shorter odds plus with greater spending power than Bournemouth. I like to think I am an optimist with regards our players but there is no way Fraser would have went to Liverpool or Arsenal and became a first team regular. In any case all those were that Arsenal and Liverpool were after him were tabloid tittle-tattle and we have no base to believe these were facts. If they were they could have got him for next to nothing in the last few weeks.

It conveniently avoids the fact that Bournemouth have been relegated though and that looked an odds-on certainty even before COVID-19 brought the season to a halt. Therefore he has moved to a club still in the EPL unlike Bournemouth. Newcastle have longer EPL status too than Bournemouth and look at the odds for the EPL last season - Bournemouth 2000-1 and Newcastle 500-1. Bookmakers seem to place Newcastle above Bournemouth too. At the end of the day we are losing sight over a more important factor here. We need all of our international players at clubs getting regular first team football at the highest level possible - Fraser at Newcastle would tick that box. Fraser at Arsenal or Liverpool (only vaguely rumoured as interested and could have been pie in the sky) would not tick that box.

Improvement? What I am looking for is as improvement as a player and I go by the here and nows not what might have been. Bournemouth have been relegated and so had he chose to stay there he'd now be a Championship player. If he signs for Newcastle its a step up from where he would have been starting the season at Bournemouth. A player does not achieve improvement as a player dependent on if the club is challenging for titles. It all depends on the player himself and how he is coached/used at that club. Lets be honest here - what if he had of signed for Arsenal or Liverpool? Not what Scotland needs at all. I am 99.9% certain he'd have become a bench warmer at best. Newcastle is a better fit for him where he will get far more game time and allow him to develop further.

It cannot be denied Newcastle are NOT a side ward move compared to Bournemouth especially since Bournemouth has just been relegated. That is your remark I must pick you up on. Potentially and stature-wise Newcastle are a far bigger club than Bournemouth. You just have to look at the club history and support for evidence of that. Sure its not a move to a title challenging team but for me as a Scotland fan that does not interest me. I just want to see our players at clubs getting regular first team football.

Well compared to Bournemouth they have spent far longer in the top flight. They were narrowly pipped for the title in the 1990s. They have had a number of European campaigns and even played in the Champions League and won a minor European club title.

A truly epic win. He looked down and out early in the third set. Even I never gave him a hope in hell's chance. He steeled (poor pun) himself and began to fire himself up and he slowly cranked into gear and hauled himself back from the point of oblivion. To turn that match around was remarkable enough but when you take into account he has had a hip replacement it is mind-blowing. Lets not get too far ahead of ourselves here. He is not in the physical shape to go very deep and is only just feeling his way back into competitive tennis. It is like him starting from scratch. Little steps and all that. However, in the last week or two the fact he has beaten a world No 7 and won a marathon five setter from two sets down are all encouraging signs for the future.

Okay but look at it another way then. Why support Scotland just because you were born here? Why not just jump on the England bandwagon to go to a World Cup?

Sure you will have supporters of Celtic and Rangers who have legitimate reasons to support them such as they were brought up by dads, grandads as supporters of that club. I am not denying that. Equally though there are a real decent amount of glory hunters. I have spoken to fans of those clubs who live outwith Glasgow and when you ask them why they support them instead of their local club the answer is because their local club is crap. Smaller clubs (in Scotland) obviously do not have the glory hunters.

Totally and absolutely agree. The same happens in England. I lived down there long enough to see the sweepuing trend changes - from Liverpool shirts being the in thing in Coventry in the 80s changing to United tops in the 90s. Really nauseating and brainless. Support a club for a reason other than because they win everything and they want/ache/crave to gloat every waking minute.

I do agree and for me the worrying thing is where/when/how does it all end? There will be another spike this winter and perhaps again next year if reports are to be believed. Mistakes have been learnt the hard way and it cost more lives than it needed to by not locking down sooner in my opinion. But that is just one of those fatal mistakes. I would say (death-wise) there has been an over-reaction in the media that has escalated things too.

I agree Squirrelhumper. Even if there is another big spike the UK government will not activate another lockdown. Economy first lives second.

Andy Murray played the Southern and Western Open (meant for Cincinatti) but was moved to New York so that all competing players could stay safe in the bubble set up to protect against COVID-19infection with the US Open starting in a few days. It was Andy's first tournament back on the tennis circuit for just under a year and he can take heart. He won a drawn out match in three sets against Tiafoe despite being visibly rusty. In the second round he had an excellent win against the world No 7 Alex Zverev again in three sets. Okay Zverev had serving yips but Murray showed enough to tell us the old magic is still there. In the third round he lost tamely and disappointingly 6-2 6-2 against Raonic who is always a tough opponent. However, a good start for Murray on yet another comeback trail. The US Open draw has seen Andy Murray drawn in the First Round against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka - a match I'd expect Andy to win. Best of luck Andy.

But does that matter? I mean look at Andy Robertson - at the top of the pile and playing regularly for Liverpool but for us his form is not so stellar if we are being honest. Probably the biggest success for us in the last decade or two had been Faddy who only ever made it to Everton - a mid-table EPL team but more importantly very important to Scotland. I just think there is an over-fixation with a player playing at top clubs as it does not follow they will do the business for Scotland because of it. Look at Charlie Adam at Liverpool but a flop for us. There is also the danger that they go to a big club and end up warming the bench due to the vast amount of big money overseas imports which again does no good to the Scottish national team.

That is encouraging to hear.

Without a shadow of a doubt. Quite easily there could have been between 100 and 200 aboard on that service outwith coronavirus.

Cheers. He was a lovely bloke. Very popular in the bothies across the Scottish Rail Network and many, many years of experience.