Quintin Jardine's blog

When you’re very young, and your Dad takes you to football for the first time, you are inevitably fated to support his team. It’s like Tinkerbell landing on your shoulder and whispering in your ear. In my case, she whispered, ‘Tough shit, kid; you’re a Motherwell supporter.’ And so I have been, for around ** years. You are allowed to support other clubs, but that’s where your footballing soul will always lie. (For example, I have been a Man U fan from the day I met Matt Busby’s mother, and maybe even before that: maybe the seeds were sown when my Old Man came back from a schools’ international trip to England, telling me and everyone else who’d listen that he’d seen a boy called Duncan Edwards, who was destined to be the best player ever.)

But the commitment is reciprocal; support your club and it will support you. If you doubt me consider this. The Thursday Legends are still in existence, but the average age is now way below mine; indeed, I am the doyen. At our meeting a couple of weeks back, it was extremely cold, so cold that I pulled from my bag a pair of full-length Motherwell socks, a present from last Christmas that I had never had the effrontery to wear. I put them on, scored six goals, and they are now my official lucky socks.

A few days ago, my team sacked its manager. This is not something that its chairman is notorious for doing, so I’m not going to question his judgement. A couple of days later, the club announced the appointment, on an undefined basis, of a replacement, Craig Brown. This has been greeted with badly disguised derision by some people, the sort of pond life who add comments to articles in the Mail Online and the like. Not by me, though. Craig is an honest, intelligent, pleasant man, who’s devoted much of his life to football, and whose record as Scotland’s international team boss is better than any of his successors. He’s not going to use my club as a stepping stone, as did his predecessor, and his predecessor, and many others. We should be proud to have him, for however long he stays, and I for one hope that his appointment extends beyond the few weeks that have been suggested.

On top of all that, his arrival deals a significant blow against ageism. Craig is older than me. He’s even older than Sir Alex Ferguson. Happy Birthday, Fergie, 68 today.