One man, one vote
When I was a kid growing up in the school of hard knocks otherwise known as Glasgow's tenements and housing schemes there was a one sentence guide to survival.
"If somebody hits you then you hit them back," was parental guidance where I came from.
The same advice holds good in the autumn of your years.
Let's take the case of Paul Gascoigne and the disapproval which has followed his potential admission to, and subsequent withdrawal from, the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.
For the record, I was part of the voting panel and I voted in favour of Gascoigne being inducted.
I did so in order to be faithful to the belief that everyone in life deserves a second chance, a shot at redemption or a chance of rehabilitation.
Call it what you will, that was the reason I put my hand in the air for Gazza.
When Malky Mackay was first suggested for the role of the SFA' s Performance Director, I spoke out in favour of the idea whenever I was on Superscoreboard.
I was subsequently rounded on for coming out in support of someone found to have sent racist, homophobic and anti-semitic text messages while manager of Cardiff City.
My detractors then, I would submit, were critical of me on the grounds that Malky used to play for Celtic and that was why I would back him.
That's the way it works in la-la land.
Now that I've declared myself and stated I voted for Gascoigne to be inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame I will be turned upon by those who oppose his right to redemption and rehabilitation on the grounds that he played for Rangers.
Such is life in a place where for some, but not all, every argument is colour coded.
The quality of debate rarely rises above the level of whether the person at the centre of any controversy is one of them or one of the other lot.
Spare me any argument and consult social media on any given day of the year.
Once the voting had closed on the day Gascoigne was approved I went home and went about my lawful business.
Some days later a story emerged that a fifty-one year old man had been arrested over an alleged incident involving a woman which had occured on a train in the North-East of England.
The man concerned was Paul Gascoigne and a police investigation was mounted and remains ongoing.
Last Thursday evening I was telephoned to be told a press statement was about to be released to say the Scottish Football Hall of Fame committee had decided to withdraw Paul's name from the list of inductees for this year while the police investigation continued.
I and the other members of the voting panel had nothing to do with that decision.
I do accept, striking a light hearted note in an otherwise sombre affair, that there are listeners to our programme who believe that, whatever goes wrong within Scottish football, it is somehow my fault.
I am the panto baddie and I own up to playing the role with some enthusiasm.
But here's the thing; I sympathised with the decision to defer Paul's induction because of the extraordinary nature of events.
A woman, Julie Fleeting, is to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday night and inducting a man currently under police investigation concerning an alleged incident with a female on a train at the same gathering seemed inappropriate.
Whatever indiscretions have previously taken place in Paul's private life have been dealt with by police and he has paid a debt to society.
Likewise Malky Mackay, whose personal reputation had to be re-built after unemployment and the pain and suffering caused to his family had passed.
But there is this outstanding matter yet to be resolved in Paul's life.
I truly dislike the frequently used expression about "Growing a pair," which has become part of football's lexicon.
However, if someone declares himself for or against something it is at the very least an example of having the courage of your convictions.
And the dilemma for was this, if entry into the Hall of Fame is to be based purely on ability and is to have nothing to do with skeletons in the cupboard does that mean absolutely anything goes?
There is, meanwhile, a conflict between members of the SFA and the organisers of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, which created the leaking of a story that the awards dinner could be boycotted if Gascoigne was inducted.
That is for the parties involved to know about and deal with internally.
I cast my vote for Gascoigne and that's my business. One man, one vote and all that. Now i'm in the queue to find out what happens next while being jostled by the sanctimonious in our midst.
And being agitated causes me to finish on the subject of Scotland's captain, Andrew Robertson.
He said prior to yesterday's mediocre, and losing, performance against Portugal that he felt the press preferred Scotland to do poorly because it gave them something to moan about.
Nonsense.
A successful national team was my ticket to the world. Now I have younger colleagues who have been sitting in their offices for the last twenty years wondering if they will see Scotland at a major event before they get to my age.
The press would give anything to see the team succeed so that they could pack their bags and join the squad flight to exotica.
Andrew, don't pick fights with the press while the team's rubbish. Attack from a position of strength.
If you hit them while things are as bad as they undoubtedly are, do you know what'll happen?
They'll hit you back.