Perish the thought, but last week I was actually accused of making inflammatory remarks on BBC SCR regarding the on-going Falmer saga.

Rumours abound that not everyone on the city council is in favour of the new stadium. All I said was that unless there is some drastic progress on the project long before the next set of elections then I could see Albion fans fielding candidates. Certain high profile councillors might find their municipal gravy trains getting derailed permanently.

Well to give credit were credit is due, a numbers of Brighton and Hove's elected assembly have not hidden behind their rosettes, but contacted me either in person or, as in the case of Cllr Carden on BBC SCR, to put their side of the story.

As a result of talking to politicians on all sides, except the Greens who apparently would like to see Albion back at the Goldstone, I am more optimistic than I was. The majority of the grey suits in this City appear to want a new stadium almost as much as the rest of us, but they all said that the planning application must be submitted now.

Cllr Carden rightly said it is the worst kept secret in Sussex that there will opposition to the plans, but at least by getting them on the table the inevitable slanging match can start and, of course, the sooner it starts the sooner it will finish. I appreciate it must be very frustrating for Dick Knight. He stated back in August that had it not been for the ill-timed comments of Cllr Bodfish a planning application, either North or South, would have been submitted.

The main stumbling block appears to be the price of the land at the University. The two parties are poles apart, so much so that surely now is the time for the Albion to bite the bullet, forget Village Way North and subject the application for Village Way South.

Last season in this column I was almost burnt at the stake for suggesting a number of Albion fans did not think Falmer was ever going to happen. Well though it pains me to report, the non-appearance of the planning application has not exactly won this group of doubters over, if anything it is growing in number again.

The Scottish football fan is a passionate creature but however fanatical the are I am afraid it is time our friends from over Hadrians Wall face facts. Their days as a realistic competitor in international football are all but over.

True, the Scots down the years have had some world class players and turned in some quality performances. But those are just memories, consigned along with much loved aspects of our society - animals performing in circuses, TV situation comedies that were actually funny, original and listenable music in our hit parade -destined never to return.

I cannot fathom out why our tartan cousins are so mystified as to why they have not qualified for the World Cup Finals. The answer is simple, they are not good enough. Their domestic league is a joke, there are only two teams in it and how many Scotsman regularly play for either Celtic or Rangers week in week out?

In previous years it was a case of that any decent Scottish players migrated south to England to learn their trade, but unfortunately with the influx of foreign players to these shores, that route has been boxed off.

For the majority of the exiled Scottish supporters the situation has reached a point where they have taken to cheering on the Sassenachs. In the days of Robert the Bruce and Bonny Prince Charlie, his countrymen would have been hung for less!

Even now, the Tartan Army seem to think that by getting rid of Craig Brown, everything will be sweetness and light again. The problem is however good the next manager is he can only select from the players available to him and that, as everyone knows, does not give him a lot to work with.