I read about this on the BBC’s website yesterday and wondered what all the fuss was about - another footballer being banned for driving, so what?

Then I read on, and the sheer craziness of it all made me smile.

Bob Malcom, a Derby County player who was on loan at Queens Park Rangers at the time, was in court after being charged for being asleep in his car - sounds like a strange reason to take someone to court on the face of it, but there’s more.

It’s funny how one day, or even one action can forever define either a place or person in your mind.

And these defining moments are all too often negative.

There’s a current media debate about the Hearts footballer Saulius Mikoliunas for example - you may not have heard of him, but he took an unprovoked tumble in a game against Scotland a few months back which led to his team gaining and scoring a controversial penalty, and has now seemed to have become Public Enemy Number 1.

…not likely!

Or at least, not yet - if he has any sense.

This weekend’s fixture list has thrown up a chance for Newcastle United to learn a lesson.  On Saturday they face Manchester United, a team who have stuck by Sir Alex Ferguson for 22 years - a feat which is pretty much unprecedented.  I read somewhere that in that time Newcastle had gone through 10 managers which is simply ridiculous!

Sir Alex didn’t have a lot of success from the off at Manchester United but they stuck by him and it has paid off big style.

John Collins is the latest name to be linked to the vacant Scotland manager’s job.

Please don’t give it to him!

If any lessons have been learnt from the Alex McLeish saga it’s that young managers with things to prove won’t hang about managing a national side who only get together once every few months.

It’s the ideal job for a more mature person who is perhaps looking at semi-retirement, as they still get the thrill of coaching top players and battling their wits against other top managers but without the day to day grind of managing a side in the SPL or Premiership.

I like new things.

Every now and again something new comes out which is a lot like something old I already have, and I instantly feel I simply must have it - why is that?  The original item which I already owned had done me fine up until the point I knew the newer version existed and suddenly it seems rubbish, out of date and in need of replacement by this newer shiny thing.

Normally with new things there is a reason for their being, they are “new and improved” with extras that the old model didn’t have so I can normally find a way of justifying spending some cash on this new necessity.