NEW SEASON

THE new season starts this weekend, and not a moment too soon. And Leggoland is back too. And not a moment too soon either.
It's the best part of a year and a half since Trinity Mirror Newspapers - owners also of the Daily Record, Sunday Mail, Daily and Sunday Mirror - pulled the plug on their sports coverage of Scottish football in the People.
There may be a few of you out there who followed my weekly Leggoland column for the best pasrt of 12 years in the People.
Certainly the 30 per cent drop in the circulation of the ailing paper in Scotland - the largest plunge if sales of any paper north of the border - since they axed Leggoland suggests there were plenty of folk out there who only bought the otherwise sad old rag for my column.
But that's the past. This is the present and the future. The way ahead, and the way more and more of you will be getting you news and views.
So, even though I've been around for just about as long as sin itself - more than 46 years in the news business - I'm still young enough to welcome this new journalism, and to embrace it.
However, although I will keep you all posted about what's going on behind the scenes in the weird and wonderful  of Scottish newspapers, television and radio, it's football which will be the main focus for this column.
Or, as I must get used to calling it in the world of the web, this blog!
So right away let's turn our attention to the coming campaign, which I reckon will be as interesting as any in history, as Walter Smith seeks to achieve what he failed to 13 years ago, and finish his time at Ibrox by winning the title, while Neil Lennon attempts to repeat the feat of Wim Jansen, and win the flag in his first season in charge at Parkhead, bringing the Rangers juggernaut to a shuddering halt.
Of course to many it appears that Smith and Rangers are not just facing billionaire owner Dermot Desmond and chairman John Reid and his establishment cronies, but also the bankers of Lloyds. Bankers, I say, bankers.
Lloyds, and just who the men behind the decisions which are handcuffing Rangers, will be the subject of a blog in the very near future.
Don't miss it when I name names. Bankers!
For the moment, and with the transfer window still open for another fortnight, it is hard to separate the Old Firm and much will hinge on how rookie manager Lennon copes with the weight of the stresses, strains and expectations of a fanatical support, especially now that Martin O'Neill is out of work.
There is also the formidable nature of the man Lennon is up against, Smith, whose shrewd eye will be carefully cast on Lennon, watching for any moment of weakness, and vulnerability, or sign that he is wilting under the strain.
It is the experience of Smith  and his calm rationale which is the most vital thing for Rangers as they attempt to make it three in a row - one of the hardest feats in Scottish football - as history testifies.
For instance, it's well known that when Gordon Strachan achieved what Martin O'Neill could not, it was the first time Celtic had managed it since Jock Stein during the Parkhead nine-in-a-row era.
What is possibly not as well known is that when Rangers hit title number three during the Ibrox nine-in-a-row run, it was the first time Rangers had managed it since the 1930s when Bill Struth ruled the roost.
Therefore, should Smith manage it he will be unique, as the only man to do it on two entirely separate occasions.
Do I think Smith and Rangers will do it? Just three weeks ago my reply would have been an emphatic NO! At that time Celtic were signing players as Rangers sold-sold-sold. But now there are signs that Smith will be able to wheel and deal.
I still believe the players who have arrived at Parkhead will strengthen Celtic from what they were last season when Rangers won the title by six points.
It may take Celtic a little time to settle and gell, and if Rangers can take advantage in that period, and build a lead, plus making the right sort of signings, things could get very interesting - and that's when we will all see just what kind of manager Lennon is.
So - and it's sore on the bum up here on the fence - I think I will reserve judgement on just who to tip for the title until the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
But stay with me and let me have your comments on my news and views. But - and please folks take note - no rambling rants. No bad language and NO BIGOTRY. As my old grandad used to say - keep the party clean.
.............AND THERE'S MORE.......
GOOD news and bad news on the television beat for the season ahead.
First, its good to hear that Sky have promoted one of the best broadcasters in Scotland, David Tanner, from trackside interviews when there's live Scottish football on the box.
Instead, David will be in the studio as the anchor, a job I am sure he will quckly grow into, and one he richly reserves.
 David cut his broadcasting teeth at Radio Clyde, and then STV, at a time when both organisations were less inclined to lean in a Parkhead direction than they do now.
The bad news? Well, Peter Martin Maguire, who quit the increasingly marginalised looking Radio Clyde, will take over the trackside interviewing dutiies on Sky from the promoted Tanner.
One of Martin Maguire's last outings on Clyde was on general election night when he and the bumpitious and bumbling Graham Spiers got into trouble for speculating on air about the voting intentions of Neil Lennon and Walter Smith while the polls were still open.
Which as any fule knows, is against the law, and led to Clyde warning both Martin Maguire and Spiers after OFCOM, the broadcasting watchdog censured the radio station.
Martin Maguire  and Spiers actually went as far as to endorse Labour, with Spiers saying he had voted for the Kirkcaldy minister's son.
So, not only did the ailing Times' football writer not know the law, he also appeared to be unaware of how our parliamentary democracy works.
For, as he lives in Aryshire, his vote would be for whoever stood in his local constituency, and not for someone who was standing in a constituency in Fife.
Just another example of why the Times, at least in Scotland, has lost it's reputation of being the paper of record since Spiers was edged out at the Herald and joined them.

That's all for now, but keep an eye on this site for all the latest.