WE are a strange breed in Wales. A true Welshman is patriotic to the last and would reel off a list as long as his arm to argue the difference between Wales and the rest of the UK.
However it seems when it comes to our hapless football chiefs who are unable to devise any ideas which have not first been tried by one of our Celtic cousins. It seems if it is good enough for them it is good enough for us.
It is with such logic that all three Celtic nations were so easily conquered by the English!
For the past decade we have heard the summer football argument go on and on and on. European results are poor so the automatic reaction by the Welsh FA is to pitch this idea.
The argument is that it has been succesful in Ireland holds absolutely no water at all I'm afraid. Since summer football was adopted in 2003 European results have slightly improved but look at the cost.
Shelbourne accumulated millions of in debt and were relegated in 2007, while Drogheda entered in to examinership in 2008 with a deficit of more than €732,000. Cork City are currently in an extended period of financial trouble while Derry City have been thrown out of the league for producing false documents regarding contracts, in an effort to hide their financial position.
Hardly the happy ship that the Welsh FA paints as the league it wants to aspire. In fact many Irish football fans cite the switch to summer football as the deathknell for their game.
Perhaps with that in mind the Welsh FA cronies calling for summer football have been temporarily silenced but they will return come August when our clubs are all dumped out of Europe at the first round.
Now the latest fad is putting Scottish football on a pedastal. That's right the good old Scottish League with its mid-season split is now the model for Wales despite the obvious shortcomings of the format.
Let's look at the evidence here. Has Scottish football gone forward in the past decade since chiefs bgan tinkering with the format. No. Scottish clubs are still third rate in Europe while the national team has gone from bad to worse.
Celtic and Rangers still win everything but have detioriated as European powers because the standard of their league has decreased. They are even more desperate to get out of their league now than they were 10 years ago and that's saying something.
But still the Welsh FA look to our Celtic cousins to show the way despite the obvious pitfalls that both FAs have fallen into in the desperate aim of improving their standards.
It seems the Welsh FA still cannot grasp the obvious and no matter what they are told by clubs, fans and most of the sensible media (not South Wales-based!) they will stick to their dogmatic view that they are right.
If they want the Welsh Premier to succeed do not reduce the league to 10 clubs. What's the point? The Welsh FA wants this league to have supporters across teh country yet it seems happy to reduce interest to a few towns in South West Wales and Rhyl!
Secondly if they want European results to improve how about increased funding so clubs could host games at their own ground? How about increased funding to ensure coaching at every WPL club is on par with that a youngster would receive in England? How about actually supporting Welsh football beyond the weekly goings on at Swanea City and Cardiff City? How about actually investing in Welsh football beyond the national team.
Yes I agree certain aspects of Welsh football do need to change but the real problem with the game in this country is its clueless council and whatever changes they force through one thing you can gurantee is that they will not benefit the game one jot.
The only thing it will benefit is the Welsh FA balance sheet.....