Alex Salmond: a politician who understood football

The Scotland team never did give Alex Salmond his moment. In the seven years of his premiership there was no qualification for a World Cup or European Championship, not even a victory over England. A politician to the marrow, he would have milked either of those for all they were worth, making capital from them as enthusiastically as he did when pulling out a saltire flag when Andy Murray triumphed on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

Salmond did “get” football, though. He was a knowledgeable Hearts fan and the game was more than a platform for him, even if he used it as one for a futile “summit” on Old Firm disorder in 2011. Years ago I interviewed him for a book on the towering contribution made