View From The Field: Murray’s Matters (Joelle Murray column)

The Hibernian captain’s regular column, written with five games left and third place already gone, so that consolidating fourth is the aim. She is unsparing about a season that dropped points in games where the performance did not match the club’s standards, and about a Scottish Cup exit to Partick Thistle – a bogey side who also beat them in the league – which made the following weekend’s 2-0 win a must. The column’s substance, though, is the national team. After Scotland’s improved display against Spain at Hampden, Murray backs the players who had all released the same statement days earlier criticising the Scottish FA over ticket availability. She reads the ticketing row as the headline rather than the whole grievance, expects more to come, and says plainly that players are neither heard nor valued.