ONCE was the time when ex-footballers were routinely invited to appear on television to provide a gentle partisanship around games featuring their former clubs. There was a limited expectation of much controversy or biting analysis. It was more to provide a security blanket for the already committed that they were watching and hearing one of their own.

These days, there is little room for a TV pundit without a strong opinion. I was struck when first paired with Craig Burley almost a decade ago how he went about his broadcasting business. Craig had no place for friendly, cozy pre-match chats with players or managers. He would leave that to me. His rationale, and it makes perfect sense, was that he wanted his views to be independent and not influenced by friendships or seeds planted in his head by a manager.

He took it a step further, and this came as a bit of a jolt to Celtic fans. That Craig had been part of the Hoops team that ended Rangers’ successive titles run at nine, did not mean he was on television to extol the virtues of the Parkhead club at every turn.

Burley, still visible and audible as an opinionated world football pundit on ESPN in the USA, has successfully carved out a TV career over many years. In fact he crossed the rubicon from former player to professional broadcaster long ago.

Others have made that transition, too. In my BT Sport days, Chris Sutton moved quickly through the punditry gears to cement himself as, like Craig, someone you had to listen to, whether or not you always agreed with him.

This is as it should be. Football is an opinions game. Fans have them in abundance and so do players.

But for some reason, many of them hold back when the camera lights shine down on them. What they might say behind closed doors will not be repeated on live television. These are usually the guys who want to get back into the management game and see appearing on television as a convenient way of reminding the public, and more importantly club chairmen, that they still exist. They will say just enough without offending anyone, so as not to put a future job in jeopardy. Some are just not keen on offending their mates.

Occasionally while working with the team at BT, I would hear fans complaining about their particular team not being represented on the panel. Hopefully we are moving away from that line of thought.

Funnily enough the whole matter of circling around the subject rather than going for the jugular, has never seemed to apply to referees. Even pundits, who are timid as regards criticising players or managers, show little restraint when it comes to pointing out an official’s apparently shocking decision. Referees were never off limits and there are few personal consequences for hammering their interpretations.

Thankfully we are at the stage where a former player has to do a lot more than turn up. So what makes a strong pundit?

It can be a variety of factors. In this age of increased analysis, someone with a detailed tactical knowledge and crucially, the ability to convey that to the audience has a bright future. Former Premier League defender Danny Higginbotham, who I have worked with a lot, is a fine example. Stephen Craigan provides similarly informed content in Scotland.

Sometimes it is sheer force of personality. Ally McCoist, who I partnered with at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, does it with a lighter style, superb timing and a twinkle in the eye.

Sutton and Burley have been successful with straight talking at the risk of being polarising. Neither one has ever been bothered about pleasing everyone.

You can usually recognise in advance who the future communicators will be. When I first met Michael Stewart, it was clear, he would say what he thought without fear or favour. There was almost a Dutch quality to Michael (the Dutch being popular pundits due to their forthright nature) and his honesty has served him well.

Decision makers at clubs, whether they deny it or not, listen to television pundits. That is why I am big believer in players or managers who have become fully fledged independent professional broadcasters rather than someone looking for something convenient to do between jobs.

The field is ever more crowded, which is a good thing. The audience deserves to be informed and entertained.

WE Scots are usually very good at celebrating any kind of sporting success even though the link with fair Alba is tenuous at best. On that basis, I am always surprised how little fuss is made about Glasgow-born Bobby Thomson.

Bobby who? Trust me when I tell you that fellow sporting aficionados in Massachusetts, my state of residence, all know who Bobby Thomson was. Ditto across all the other US states.

I bring Thomson's name up because we are at the business end of the baseball season and it was 67 years ago this week that the son of a cabinet maker, who emigrated from the west of Scotland to Staten Island produced the “shot heard round the world”. The phrase is common currency among sports fans here.

Thomson’s dramatic home run to secure an unlikely 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants against the Brooklyn Dodgers remains arguably the most famous moment in baseball play-off history. The Giants had been miles behind the Dodgers in mid-August but made a remarkable against-the-odds comeback, capped off by Thomson’s heroics on October 3, 1951.

Thomson’s bat which struck the hallowed homer can be seen at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Fittingly, the Edinburgh Diamond Devils baseball team named their field after the great man. Not only that, he turned up for the official opening in 2003, while receiving his induction into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. He had left Scotland with his family before any real memories of the country could take hold but it was clear these accolades meant a tremendous amount.

I recall listening to a wonderful radio interview Thomson did on that visit with BBC Scotland’s always empathetic John Beattie. He came across as humble and genuinely touched.

Robert Brown Thomson passed away eight years ago at the age of 87 but in the crisp autumnal October air, his name invariably comes up as baseball play-off excitement grips the USA.