Players like to bet but that doesn't make them cheats

Rangers Ian Black hit the headlines this week after being issued with a notice of complaint for allegedly betting on his team not to win on three occasions, betting on his team on another ten occasions, and a total of another 147 matches.

But as long as it doesn't become an addiction, I can't see the problem with backing your own team to win.

Most people wouldn't touch their own team because they wouldn't want to jinx them and it is taken as read that you will be doing everything in your power to win the match anyway.

The big no-no in any sport, though, will always be what we call laying in horse racing - ie betting against your own team. That is the most damaging allegation in the Black case, something which we clearly have to clamp down on

Every case is individual, though, and if the case against Black is proven then the punishment has to fit the crime. If there are thousands and thousands of pounds at stake then you could be kicked out of the gane for good or it may even become a judicial matter, if it is £20 here or there then it could be a fine or small suspension.

But the SFA have opened up a can of worms because there are far more than people than Ian Black out there doing it. I am sure many players bet on their own team. I am not saying Ian Black should go unpunished if found guilty, but we need to look at the scale of it.

Equally, though, I don't think footballers can get off the hook by saying they don't know the rules - surely everybody knows you can't bet against your own team.

I think players should be permitted to bet on matches involving their own teams as long as they are only betting on them to win, nothing else. Just like owners can bet on their own horse in horse racing.

In Scottish football we are quite lucky in terms of corruption, certainly when you compare it with places in the Eastern bloc. Of course we have people who bet their own team to win and like a wee football coupon now and then, but if you are asking me if we have a huge problem with match fixing then I would have to deny it. I have known people who have gambled a lot of money, but I have been in a lot of dressing rooms and never have I known a team-mate to throw a game.

WE touched on the subject of Kenny Miller in last week's column so that just made it even sadder for me when he announced his international retirement this week. I always related to Kenny and felt he was somebody like myself, who worked hard and made the best of what he had. I think he had good technical ability, but not great technical ability, but his game intelligence grew with experience. He will never go down as one of Scotland's best-ever players like Kenny Dalglish and Denis Law, but he is still a legend in this country because of how he applied himself, his workrate and the job he did as a lone striker.

I played with him for a year at Rangers after he had come to the club as a raw kid for £2m, we played together in many games and he was a delight to play with.

If you ask Kris Boyd about him, with whom he played in a front two at Rangers, he would say Kenny made him a better player. When you think back to the days of Alfie Conn and Maurice Johnston, he handled playing for both halves of the Old Firm with real maturity. He goes out at the top after that special goal against England and is an education for all young footballers.

Kenny has left a gap for Scotland and I would like to have seen him stay for a wee bit longer to ensure a smooth transition. I don't see why he couldn't have scored another five goals and racked up maybe another 20 appearances for his country and I think he will play on now at club level for three or four years.

But, in the same way that Kenny was, somebody has to get thrown in at the deep end at some point.