Back on 1st November, troops.

Like the provincial fan’s stereotyped image of yer average Bluenose I’m fleeing the country after watching The Gers fail to win any of their last four matches.

Two consecutive 1-0 home defeats - even though one was to last season’s UEFA Cup finalists and the other was to the biggest team in Britain - is all it takes to have me abandoning the Teddy Bears for the more secure delights of German beer and sausages.

I’ll miss today’s Livvy match, the Forfar CIS Cup game and next weekend’s joust with Thees-elle. Perhaps me not being there will change McLeish’s luck.

However, don’t think that just by escaping Scotland I’ll be escaping football of a less glamorous nature.

It’s Union Berlin versus Armenia Bielefeld, bottom versus top in the German Zweite Bundesliga, for yours Bluely tomorrow.

I’ll talk to you folks when I get back next Saturday evening. In the meantime, look after them Gers for me, wontcha?!

All the best.

Fat Eck