WITH THE turnstile into 10 Downing Street expected to click smoothly open for Gordon Brown on Wednesday, football will have a genuine supporter ensconced in London's most famous address.

We can only now hope that Raith Rovers draw Hearts in this season's Scottish Cup. That would invite the delicious prospect of the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the First Minister of Scotland inhabiting the same stand; currently they can barely stand to inhabit the same country.

A sporting handshake, if Brown could bring himself to offer it, might undo some of the damage caused by his churlish refusal to routinely congratulate the First Minister in the days following last month's Scottish election. But however much the two mendisagree, what is not in dispute is that they both love their football.

Indeed, according to close sources, Brown and Salmond can bore for Scotland if directed to the respective subjects of Raith Rovers and Hearts.

All of this is unlike Tony Blair, who is more about posturing than passion when it comes to football. Charlie Whelan, Brown's former spinmeister and no fan of the outgoing Prime Minister, acknowledges that, contrary to myth, Blair never actually claimed to have watched Jackie Milburn, the Newcastle United legend, at St James' Park. It would have been a difficult feat, given that Milburn stopped playing for the club when little Bambi was just three years old. Nevertheless, Blair did say Milburn was his favourite player - which, in the context, is equally preposterous.

Perhaps Brown's lifetime affection for Raith Rovers will prove a symbol of his substance, as opposed to Blair's more eye-catching, but considerably less sincere, style. A politician who talks up football is always to be viewed with suspicion, but although Brown has recently abused the round ball game with some ludicrous comments designed to assert his "Britishness", the good denizens of Kirkcaldy are in no doubt of his commitment.

Alan Russell, who is chair of the Raith Rovers Supporters' Trust, confirms that Brown is not only a regular attender at Stark's Park but played a pivotal role in saving the club from the dubious characters who previously owned the Fife institution and had threatened to sell the ground for housing development.

"He had a great influence on the Reclaim the Rovers campaign in terms of rounding people up to put their weight behind it," says Russell. "Nobody else could have done it and that was a great positive."

Not so positive was the Chancellor's ingenious assertion last year that Paul Gascoigne's goal for England against Scotland at Wembley in 1996 was one of his favourite footballing moments.

And, according to Russell, that was not the first time Brown had trimmed his footballing sails to the prevailing political wind."He was quoted as being a member of the Cowdenbeath fan club and proclaiming his support for them," points out Russell. "Coincidentally, they are the other senior team in his constituency.

"The reaction to his comment about Gascoigne's goal was along the lines of: What are politicians like? You can't believe anything they say because there is always another agenda there.' "But I don't think the Raith Rovers fans see him in a particularly bad light because of that. It's seen as part and parcel of being a politician that you've got to play up to all audiences - including us. Anything he says or does can be taken with a wee pinch of salt.

"He's a very regular visitor at Stark's Park. Since the takeover he sits in the directors' box a lot of the time, but before that he sat with his entourage of bodyguards in the South Stand among the ordinary fans. He got a lot of respect for doing that, rather than take the easy option of watching from the safe seats."

Whether, when he becomes Prime Minister, Brown will have the time to attend games on a regular basis seems doubtful, while the security arrangements at Stark's Park must be a nightmare for those charged with his safety.

It didn't take Hearts fan Salmond much more than 90 minutes to capitalise on the popularity of football. His feet had hardly got accustomed to the lush carpets of Bute House before he was doling out the Scottish Cup final medals at Hampden. Salmond's grin even succeeded in looking convincing as he gave the Celtic players their winners' gongs; his role in the proceedings must have grated very much with an old Labour adversary, the Celtic director Brian Wilson.

Still, even Wilson, who also wrote the official centenary book on Celtic's history, would acknowledge Salmond's football credentials, which is more than can be said for interlopers such as the former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who incongruously performed the duty during her turbulent reign.

Where there is a love of football, it finds common ground among politicians who normally fight. Thus we have Salmond and the ultra-loyal Blairite George Foulkes both supporting Hearts; as does David McLetchie, the former leader of the Conservatives in Scotland.Until recently Foulkes was not only a Hearts supporter but thechairman. In his own way he did as much to safeguard the future of football in Gorgie as Brown has in Kirkcaldy. For a while that left him in the invidious position of defending the war in Iraq while simultaneously claiming that Vladimir Romanov wasn't all bad. Something had to give, and so George ditched the Hearts owner.

Mind you, sometimes politicians in the same party loathe each other more than their more natural opponents. A more regular attendee at Parkhead next season will be the Home Secretary, John Reid. His decision to return to the backbenches and devote more time to his family and Celtic has, he claims, nothing to do with Brown's arrival as Premier. Oh really?

But if Celtic and Hearts have the bulk of the celebrity politicians, who amongst the so-called big beasts supports Rangers? Damn few and they're all deid, appears to be be the answer. Salmond's new best friend, Ian Paisley, might just fill the vacuum.