Socrates MacSporran

Socrates MacSporran
No I am not Chick Young, but I can remember when Scottish football was good

Friday 31 January 2014

Let's Hope Griffiths Can Thrive At Celtic

IT WILL be interesting to see how Leigh Griffiths gets on at Celtic. In an ideal world, he would have arrived there two or three years ago; I first saw him when he broke through, as a very young kid, at Livingston, and I thought then - this one could make it.
Maybe, had he gone to Celtic Park, direct from Livvie, he would have done better, I don't think his sojourn (such as it was) at Wolverhampton has really helped his development.
Of course, the shadow of Riordan appears (in the eyes of our mainstream media) to hang over Griffiths. He might, like Riordan, not grow up and become a waste of space, or he could (and hopefully will), instead take a leaf out of Scott Brown's book and grow into being a Celtic player - I just hope he grows up at a faster rate than has the Celtic and Scotland captain. If he does, Neil Lennon will have some player on his hands.
But, as we all know, playing ability, which Griffiths has in spades, isn't the only thing which matters in a young Scots player joining what we used to term "The Old Firm"; how he deals with the off-field shite is every bit as important. That's the concern about Griffiths, and, if he can win that battle, it will be great news for Celtic and for Scotland.
MEANWHILE, across the city, Lee McCulloch has done one of those cosy wee pieces for his club's in-house media department, in which he insists there isn't all that much between levels one and three in Scottish football.
In this instance, Lee is talking out of his jacksie. Just who is running the propaganda department at Castle Greyskull these days - Billy Goebbels?
IT APPEARS to be League Cup semi-final weekend. BBC Scotland is trying extremely hard to big-up the two games, to a great deal of indifference outwith the four clubs concerned.
The League Cup, as first envisaged back in the days when I and the rest of that glorious generation of Baby Boomers were being born, was a terrific competition. The powers-that-be have, over the years since we same BBs were bringing sex and rock n roll to Scotland, tinkered with the set-up in various ways, to the detriment of the competition.
Go back to groups leading to knock-out last eight, last four and final rounds - AND - most-certainly, get it over and done with between August and October, and, once again, this would be a great competition.
Stringing it out, as now happens, does nothing to the lustre of the competition. AND, if it is not going to carry the lure of a European place for the winners, then, try something else. I would love to see the League Cup made, if not a Scots-only competition, then one in which the "eight diddies" rule worked; ie, each club had to have at least eight Scottish-qualified players on the park at all times. That would be great for developing our young talent.
  

Thursday 30 January 2014

Shanks Would Have Had A Put-Down For Selfish Sturridge

DISTANTLY related that I am to the late Wullie Shankly, I have a soft spot for Liverpool. So I was an interested television spectator, via BT Sport, to Tuesday night's Merseyside Derby.
 
I was mightily impressed by the Reds' win; they were far sharper near goal that Everton, whilst defensively, they reduced the Toffees to playing passes around some 30-yards from goal, and seldom let them get closer than that.
 
However, I suggest Wullie Shankly would not have been too-impressed by Daniel Sturridge, the Liverpool player to whom Michael Owen gave the Man of the Match call, in respect of his two goals.
 
Far be it from me to differe from Owen, but, he got it wrong. I felt either the sublime Suarez, of the new Brazilian, Couthino, were more-deserving of the MOM call that stroppy Sturridge, who came across, to me, as just another over-hyped Englishman with an over-inflated idea of his own talent.
 
Let me say, immediately, his second goal, the one where he took a "Route One" pass and, from the edge of the box, lifted it over Tim Howard into the net, was a sublime finish. However, the way he milked the (justified) applause and, more-importantly, the way he blazed the penalty over the bar, indicates to me - this one hasn't got IT.
 
It cannot be easy being Liverpool's main striker. Look at the back numbers - the guys whose boots you are (metaphorically) filling: Ian St John, Roger Hunt, John Toshack, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen - not easy acts to follow.
 
I would suggest, however, every one of the above, handed the opportunity to score a Merseyside Derby hat-trick by the simple matter of scoring a penalty, would have nailed it. Sturridge didn't, then, he confounded the folly with that self-indulgest shot, with Suarez unmarked at the back post.
 
Naw son - right now, you haven't got it - back to school.
 
Just a word on Everton. I thought Naisy did well, when he first came on; however, after a while, when his team mates shown a disinclination to pass to him, he stopped making telling runs and, like the rest, his head went down.

I expect more of Scottish internationalists.
 
 
 
TWENTY-FOUR hours later, it was Manchester City carving Spurs apart. It is a strange state of affairs when the blue half of Manchester is playing the surging, entertaining football which gets the fans going - that's supposed to be the red half's remit; but, right now, City are playing some marvellous stuff.
 
Mind you, we have a team up here in Scotland who are scoring for fun, but, getting little or no credit for it. I just feel, City have every bit as big a fiscal advantage over the teams they face in their domestic league than does Celtic up here.
 
By the way, on the basis of the English Premiership games I have seen lately, can we please stop this nonsense about English referees being better than Scottish ones.
 
Our top guys are every bit as good as the best on the other side of the Solway.
 
 
 
I JUST wish, our game, for all its perceived failings, had even half the media exposure the English Premiershp gets.

Sunday 26 January 2014

Handicapping Celtic Wouldn't Help The Diddy Teams

ANYONE for handicapping Celtic, in an effort to make what's left of this season's Premiership campaign interesting? That's my take on the Hoops' win at Easter Road yesterday - 4-0 without getting into top gear. No contest, is it.
Not that you can blame Celtic for the current state of affairs. They are doing a professional job in a league which is still, in attitudes, if not in actuality, amateur.
OR, why doesn't the SPFL quickly re-introduce the old "Eight Diddies Rule", just for Celtic - who would be required to field eight Scots-qualified players in every match, to give the rest a chance. It might be the making of the Celtic youngsters, however, and further show-up the cowardice on the other side of the city, where having to field eight home-grown players every week might help set that club up better for their eventual return to the top flight.
WITH no live game to go to on Saturday - my match was called-off at lunchtime - I enjoyed the BT Sport coverage of the FA Cup.
I thought wee Naisie did well for Everton at Stevenage. In a rare start, he took his two goals well. However, I was impressed by the contribution of a far from fully-match-fit Aeden McGeady on his Everton debut.
Once he gets up to speed, he will make an impact in the English Premiership, of that I am certain.
STILL on BT Sport, I enjoyed their Sunday afternoon preview programme on the South American Liberators Cup competition.
In particular, I enjoyed their compilation of the top ten goals from last season's competition. The winner was an absolutely wonderful dink over an advancing goalkeeper from Ronaldinho. How I wish the proposed loan spell at St Mirren, which was mooted when he was a teenager with PSG all those years ago, had come to pass.
I noticed in the coverage, the effects of the white spray to mark the ten yards at free kicks, could be seen. I thought the referees had merely to mark where the defensive wall was to be set-up. But, from the coverage, I noticed the referees spray two lines, one to mark where the kick is to be taken from, the other to mark where the wall must stand. I think this will work when it comes in in next season's European games, and, in time surely, into domestic football.
This should work better than the "goal judges" experiment - the additional guy behind each goal in European games. My main complaint about these extra officials - apart from the fact, I have seen no evidence of them actually doing anything - is: for me, they stand at the wrong side of the goal at corners.
As things stand, the extra officials stand between the corner taker and the near post, when corners are being taken from the right. This means they are on the same side of the field as the linesmen.
Surely it would be better if they were at the other side of the goal. That way you would have a triangle of officials -a linesman covering from corner flag to the goal; the extra official looking at matters from beyond the back post and the referee around the penalty area looking from another angle. That way, all bases are covered and, assuming the officials were willing to make a possibly contentious call, a lot of the pushing, shoving, jersey-grabbing and so on SHOULD be seen and, in time, cut out.
WEARING my Killie bunnet, I would love to see Alexei Eremenko back at Rugby Park, making the bullets for Boydie.
STEVIE for Rangers. Why not, what's another overweight Scot who hasn't made the most of his talent between friends? Good luck to him if he gets the big-money offer, but, Ryan Stevenson is not the future for Rangers.

Saturday 25 January 2014

The Posse Is Growing

I FEEL like Henry Fonda's character in 'Twelve Angry Men' these days. As one of the first to say: I didn't think Ally McCoist was a good manager, I was, for some time, a lone voice of doubt - now, there is a scramble to point-out The Chosen One's failings as a Rangers' manager.
Patrick Glenn Gibbons - the Christian name alone tells you where Glenn's allegiance lies - is the latest to join the cause, with a reasoned piece in today's Scotsman. The vultures are circling.
Actually, Coisty has done his job. He got Rangers promoted last season, they are certainties to be promoted again this season.
The trouble is, for all they are a full-time squad playing in a part-time league, their football is shite. I realise winning with some style is more of a demand on Celtic teams than on Rangers' ones, where the demand is simple - just win - repeatedly watcing mince eventually wears down even the most-forebearing of supports.
I still believe it will take a change of manager if they are to do what the Bears want and make it three successive promotions next season.
The SPFL Championship in season 2014-15 looks like being THE hardest division to win in British football. IF the likes of Hearts (who are surely doomed in the Premiership this season), Falkirk, Hamilton, Dunfermline (the probably risers via the play-off route) and maybe Dundee believe, they can give Rangers a run next season and could well embarrass a McCoist-led Rangers.
IS THERE not something Kismet-like about wee Barry Ferguson getting the gig to manage Blackpool? Given his alleged part in the failure of the Le Guen experiment at Rangers, it might be poetic justice if Bazza was faced with a dressing room revolt somewhere down the line.
Actually, given Bazza hs always been a bit cleverer than his perceived public personna, not least the take Jonathan Watson had on him, I think he will do well.
He might think about sending for big brother Derek. Derek was, for me, the more-talented Ferguson and, while his man-management skills weren't the best in his days in management; big brother is still a damned good coach, who might prove a good foil for his more-famous wee brother.
I WATCHED the first half-hour or so of the Arsenal v Coventry match last night. The Gunners' kids played some terrific football in that period, and when I departed at 2-0, it was already game over.
John Fleck was somewhat overwhelmed in midfield, but, he did produce one or two terrific passes in that spell. This was good to see, away from the hysteria of being the next big thing at Ibrox, young Fleck might still come through.
Big "Elvis" meanwhile, is surely the next big Scottish manager in England.
 FINALLY, I enjoyed that BBC Breakfast story this morning about the Scots tourists in California, who walked calmly past a brown bear, which they didn't even notice on the porch of the house where they were staying.

A good example of Scottish refusal to panic, maybe. More likely, being Scottish and used to seeing blue Bears roaming wild in packs in the street, a single brown bear didn't phase them.

Friday 24 January 2014

Iwelumo - A Man Who Has Made A Lot From His Talent

I HAVE known Chris Iwelumo since he had hair. I was working for the Paisley Daily Express, when he signed, as a Fifth Year pupil at St Joseph's Academy in Kilmarnock, for St Mirren.
Lovely big kid, who has grown-up to be a lovely man; disgustingly good-looking, however - several ladies of a certain age used to become somewhat moist when he and his brother stepped onto the train at Kilmaurs, where the Iwelumo family lived of a morning. This, however, had nothing like the effect his young sister had on the men in the carriage.
Chris, it is fair to say, has never scored the number of goals he perhaps should have. However, playing in England, there is often more to being a striker than simply putting the ball in the net and I would suggest, if he and Stevie May can establish a rapport, the boy May will score a ton of goals off the big man's knock-downs.
I wish Chris well, mind you, if I was looking for a big veteran target man to set-up chances for a good, young striker, and bring the youngster on at the same time - I'd be trying to entice Kevin Kyle away from Ayr United.
Finally, you have to admire Iwelumo's chutzpah. He had the confidence to quit St Mirren at 18; he knew then he was a better player than Mark Yardley. Later on, he has never let that miss against Norway bother him that much.
ON THE Scottish football "anoraks" website - David Ross's excellent SCOTTISH LEAGUE site, there is much current discussion on crowds, and the current fascination with Celtic's attendances.
I have to admit a long-standing admiration for the loyalty of the Celtic following. I mean, if you were brought up on watching the Lisbon Lions, or those Quality Street Kids who did train-on to greatness: Hay, McGrain, Macari and Dalglish, it must be galling to watch some of the mince currently being served up by a team, which in Celtic terms isn't that good, but is still cantering away with the SPFL title.
Fair play to them for continuing to turn-up in the numbers they do. Even fairer play to the wee man in the bunnet, for invoking the season ticket culture which allows the current Celtic management to manipulate the attendance figures as they are doing.
This argument about having to count season tickets sold - even though most of the season ticket holders cannot be bothered turning up to see the mincde which passes as top-level Scottish football these days is shot down by the tale from an old press box friend of mine.
It was this gentleman's fate to be Editor of one of the local newspapers in Stranraer, which forced him to attend matches at Stair Park. This Saturday taks was only made tolerable by the "lineage" he accrued, covering the Stranraer games for PA, the various Sunday papers such as the Post, Mail, News of the Screws of blessed memory and so forth. A nice wee earner worth maybe £100 per Saturday on a good week.
Any way, our hero was taken to task over the crowd estimate he sent up the line one week. He was summoned before Stranraer's 20-plus member committee and censured, for not counting  the 250 season ticket holders into the attendance figure he gave.
He said nothing, until the next week, when he had to cover a midweek Reserve League West game, at which, he carefully counted the 35 fans who were there, and in his weekly paper report, he gave the crowd as 285.
This precipitated another summons before the committee, who objected to him giving a wrong crowd.
"Aye, but, I counted in the 250 season ticket holders, like you demanded", was his answer. There were no more complaints about the crowds he published.
Don't know if it would work with Celtic, however.


JUST a thought, but, I see there are five Scots among the eight quarter-finalists in the World Bowls Championships. Now, if we could only transplant the ethos which makes Scotland the top boolin nation in the world to our fitba team, the World and World Cup would be our oyster.

So, maybe the SFA should change the rules, so that every time an attack gets up to what they would have to term the club-house end, at each ground, the players would have to go inside for a wee hauf or two to keep them going.

They would then go back out, play another wee while, back in for a hauf and so forth. In no time at all we would have such a queue of would-be players, the clubs might have to open waiting lists and we'd be wall-to-wall with potential world beaters.

Mind hyou, given what I have seen of Scottish bowling - the national selectors would still manage to get it wrong when it came to picking a national team. Nothing new there then.

Thursday 23 January 2014

Mince v Bridies - Stodgy Fare

IN a moment of weakness on Monday night, I watched the Forfar v Rangers game on BT Sports 1. Well, when you're getting it for nothing, it pays to use this channel occasionally.
 
The game was mince. The Rangers' performance firming-up my conviction that, as a coach, Ally McCoist is more a taxi than even a bus. There are guys on there in Rangers' strips who are, to use my dear departed father's expression: "Not Rangers Class".
 
Forfar were a typical Dick Campbell team - they ran and ran; goat tore-in with abandon but, I wouldn't back them to win at Auchinleck. However, if, as full-time players, that Rangers team was collectively any good, they should have won by at least three clear goals. That they didn't demonstrates what a poor state they are in.
 
I now confidently predict, if McCoist is still in charge next season - Rangers will NOT go straight through the Championship back to the Premiership.
 
 
 
NOW to the other staple of the mainstream football media - Manchester United. The English media's fascination with attempting to sack David Moyes never ceases to amaze me. It was clear to me, long before old red nose finally retired, whoever took over had more courage than sense, since, they were always going to be in danger of presiding over decline.
 
Moyes is a good manager, his record proves as much. However, football history is full of evidence of managers who did well with comparatively little money at somewhere below the top level, who failed when handed a big club 's cheque book.
 
I do not think Moyes will be added to this number, but, he will need to be given time to adjust to the different demands which are made on United's boss, over those he dealt with so well at Everton.
 
It hasn't helped him that Fergie left him with the poisoned chalice of key men reaching, or going past their sell-by date and the legendary United development scheme being in one of its periodic fallow periods.
 
When you watch his contribution to Juventus's run to the top of Siere A, it is clear that Fergie's failure to keep Paul Pogba at Old Trafford has hindered Moyes's succession. Likewise, the injuries to Rooney and RVP haven't helped the new man.
 
Perhaps the arrival of Mata will help. Also, if I was Moyes, with Vidic injured, I'd be tempted to give the armband to Darren Fletcher.
 
It was noticeable that Fletcher was the solitary United player who scored in Wednesday night's penalty shoot-out loss to Sunderland. Something else to take from that game might be - given that, after their goalie's 119th minute mistake, United were out of the competition - there isn't much wrong with a club which can come back and force a penalty shoot-out from a losing position; even if their collective nerve subsequently failed in the shoot-out.
 
 

Monday 20 January 2014

Oh Oh Oh Oh - What A Referee

JINGS, crivvens, held ma Boab - another round of Saturday matches in the SPFL and we finally get something other than the on-going off-field events down Edmiston Drive way to get excited about.
 
I refer to the six-goal thriller at Perth, between St Johnstone and Hearts. Michty me, whit a stramash - Stuart Cosgrove probably got his next six weeks' worth of Off the Ball script bullet points from that single game.
 
Straight away, can I say, from my observations of the highlights on Sportscene on Sunday night - and what a surprise to see a game not involving Celtic leading the programme (not that I watch it every week) - referee Brian Colvin had a stinker. However, to blame everything which went wrong on the official is, I feel, a wee bit unfair.
 
Take the first contentious issue, the red card shown to Saints' Steven Anderson. OK, young Dale Carrick was some 35-yards out when he was upended by Anderson, but, I still feel had he got round the defender, Carrick would have had the legs on Fraser Wishart, so, for my money, the foul did deny Hearts a goal-scoring opportunity, so, I would back the referee here.
 
Alas poor Brian, he definitely got it wrong with the St Johnstone penalty late in the first half, although, one understands the call came from the assistant referee on that side. Yes, it was a foul, but, at least a yard outside the box.
 
The second Saints penalty, for hand ball, was one of those ones when, if you get it, you take it, but you just as easily might not have had it. I honestly didn't think Kevin McHattie had much chance of avoiding the ball as it was driven at him. In support of the referee, given what had gone before, he at least had the cajones to make the call.
 
As for the late red cards for Alan Mannus and Ryanb Stevenson. When a full-scale rammy such as that erupts, I wish football officials would take a leaf out of ice hockey officials' book. When the gloves come off in ice hockey and the punches start to fly - and these are always real punches, none of the swinging handbags we see in football, the three officials back off, watch what is going on, then, when things calm down, the ice hockey equivalent of red cards are shown. When two ice hockey players start punching each other, the linesmen are supposed to break-up the fights; they generally wait until the two combatants hit the ice, then go in - far safer.

At Perth, Mr Colvin was right in the middle of the melee, so couldn't really see what was going on. Mannus was heavily involved from the outset, Stevo was a late arrival, however, if like the pair of them, it comes down to sticking-out their heads like butting tups, well red cards are sure to follow.

Well done the referee - hee-haw donkey noises to the two stupid players.

I was at the Ayr v Jersey rugby match on Saturday and there was an outbreak of handbags late in the second half. The guy at the centre of the whole shebang was Ayr replacement scrum-half Murray McConnell, who gave as good as he got against a couple of Jersey men who were at least nine inches and four stones heavier than him. But, to be fair to the Jerseymen, they maybe didn't know you don't tangle with a five foot six, thrawn, ginger-haired Weegie with a grievance - not if you want to emerge with your good looks intact.

The match referee, who had an even poorer game than Mr Colvin at Perth, at least stayed well out of things, before summoning his two assistants to a midfield conference, after which they restarted play with a scrum to Ayr, a good 20 metres back from where it should have been. Do I hear gentlemen and hooligans being cited?

Still on the subject of Sunday night Sportscene - Kris B oyd as a talking head, who'd have thunked it?
 
 
 
 

Sunday 19 January 2014

Mad Or Merely Silly - What's Going On At Ibrox?

EDMUND Burke and old Prometheus - although Longfellow put words in his mouth - were fairly brainy chaps.
 
Burke said: "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it", while Prometheus said: "Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad."
 
Now, I don't suppose Burke and Longfellow are much-quoted doon the ludge, but, their wise sayings speak volumes about the current situation down Edmiston Drive way, where you would think he'd suggested a strip change to green-and-white hoops, such is the pressure new CEO Graham Wallace appears to be under as he attempts to bring financial sanity to the mad house.
 
If I was a Rangers player, I'd be telling him where to shove his suggestion about taking a pay cut. Nobody in his right mind is going to say: "No, no, I couldn't possibly accept £8000 per week to play for you, it's far-too-much".
 
Somebody at Rangers offered the players the deals they are on - that's the guy who should be being shown the door. It was over-paying under-talented players what helped get Rangers into the smelly stuff in the first place - ergo Burke's point was proven.
 
It is madness to offer average players salaries some ten times the going rate for the division they are in, ergo, Prometheus/Longfellow got it right.
 
And, most-assuredly, Rangers got it wrong.
 
Tom English for one, has repeatedly made the point, just how come Rangers' highly-rewarded Financial Director is still in place? In any half-decent company, he's have been shown the door long ago, but, he's still there. It's crazy.
 
I just wish somebody, anybody, would come in and sort out the mess at Ibrox and let's get back to the real story - fitba, rather than finances.
 
Mind you, I now feel, McCoist's days are numbered. Somebody has to bit the bullet and tell him: you are part of the cause, you are not the solution - cheerio.
 
Then, they can get in a coach and a Director of Football who can sort out the mess, explain - the old ways and days are past, they will not work in our current situation, and set about putting things right.
 
 
 
MEANWHILE, across the city, all is sweetness and roses as the side strolls to another title. I see there is renewed speculation about English interest in Neil Lennon, with Norwich the latest club to supposedly be looking at him.
 
Let's be honest, unless David Moyes is sacked, and I don't see that happening this season, or maybe Brendan Rodgers goes, moving to any other English club, even Man City, would be a downward step for wee Neil.
 
I don't see Rangers, unless there is a major change of emphasis and team management in the near future, being a challenge to Celtic this side of ten-in-a-row, so, there is always the possibility of Neil becoming disenchaned and fed-up with the Glasgow goldfish bowl.
 
Celtic just might have to, to keep him happy and interested, find a way to finesse his role at the club - a seat on the board perhaps, Director of Football anyone?
 
There is always the chance that continually winning at home, but not having the quality of player to win in Europe will eventually become boring.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

These Are Sad Days For Scottish Football

IT HAS been a sad week for the followers of Scotland's two biggest football clubs, with the tragedy of Ian Redford's apparent suicide casting a pall of gloom over Ibrox, then the less-unexpected but no less solemn news that the Wee Barra, Bobby Collins, has died after more than a decade in the half-world of the Alzheimer sufferer.
 
I have not yet bought Redford's highly-acclaimed autobiography, which he published shortly before his death. However, from comments anent the book which I have read, it appears to be one well-worth getting, being somewhat apart from the usual written to a formula sporting autobiography. I will be buying it this week.
 
Redford certainly had his crosses to bear. He was perhaps unfortunate not to add at least one full cap to his half dozen Under-21 ones, but, at the time when he and the similarly uncapped Bobby Russell were strutting their stuff at Ibrox, Rangers were in decline and, it has to be accepted, Scotland was well-supplied with international-class midfielders. Lesser Rangers players, before and since, have won caps simply by being regulars in the Ibrox first team.
 
Redford also had a good spell at Dundee United, his is a sad loss.
 
 
 
COLLINS is a legend at each of his three main clubs. He was a wonderful winger, later an inside forward in a Celtic team whose undoubted talents were undone by Bob Kelly's interference in team management.
 
Just imagine what Jock Stein might have done had he been managing talents such as Collins, Willie Fernie, Bobby Evans, Bertie Peacock and Charlie Tully. There's half a team whose talents money couldn't buy today, sadly, none of them fitted into the necessary "spine" of a great team. With a better goalkeeper than Johnny Bonnar, a decent centre-half (Stein, for all his captaincy skills wasn't top drawer as a player) and a consistent goal-scorer, surely they could have run  Rangers closer than they did in the two decades before Stein was finally allowed to run things.
 
We will never know, but, while there are rumours that Collins himself forc the move - frustrated by events at the club - it has also been suggested that "the four families" punted him and Fernie, at the time the club's two most-sellable assets, to finance floodlights at Parkhead. If this is the case, and I say, it is only a rumour, then it is yet another example of their mis-management of a great club.
 
He won nothing at Everton, but, he became one of the outstanding midfielders in the English First Division and the belief among older Evertonians is that Harry Catterick got rid of him before his sell-by date.
 
He then went to Leeds, where he, as much as Don Revie, laid the foundations of that club's greatest days. He taught Billy Bremner all he knew, indeed, Johnny Giles this week said: "Bobby was the professional's professional - every defeat was a personal insult."
 
He divided opinion in England, some non-Leeds supporters have tried to label him as a hatchet man - come on: Bobby had more skill in one toe than the legendary English hard men of the time - "Chopper" Harris, Norman "Bites Yet Leg" Hunter and so-on had in their entire, cololective beings.
 
I would hesitate to suggest Bobby ever started a battle, but, small though he was, he was still a soo-sider, if you kicked him, he would kick you back - harder.
 
I remember, back in the mid-seventies, watching him working with the Leeds United youth squad, whom he was coaching at the time. They ate up every word he said. Jimmy Armfield then managing Leeds was standing beside me watching and I remarked, something like: "Bobby's still got it, hasn't he?"
 
"I wish I could graft a pair of 20-year-old's legs onto him - we'd be Champions of Europe", was Armfield's reply.
 
Bobby never had much success as a manager, but, as a coach, particularly of kids - he was top drawer. He also was a very good player for Scotland, in spite of the frequent absences from the side which the SFA selectors' headless chicken approach to selection caused him.
 
Rest In Peace both players. 

Friday 3 January 2014

Fletcher For Celtic - Maybes Aye, But Most-Likely Naw

BACK during the Murray Era, when Rangers were at maximum spend, spend. spend capacity, I thought of, one close season, counting-up the number of players who were, according to Record and Sun exclusives, about to join the club. However, I gave up after a couple of weeks, it had already become too-silly.
I was never a member of The A Team, as that smug, self-satisfied coterie of the "name" football writers liked to think of themselves. These guys completed a short round of Celtic Park one week, Ibrox the next, with the odd detour via Hampden to hear the words of wisdom of whoever was occupying the SFA manager's hot seat at the time. Therefore, I never had agents telephoning me with the "exclusive" news that their client was definitely maybe going to be Rangers' next big signing.
However, any hurt at the loss of a back page splash, with "EXCLUSIVE" emblazoned above in big, black type was quickly assuaged when, as happened in some 99% of these stories, it was in time found to be a load of baloney.
Down at F Troop, as we watched a bunch of First Division journeymen kicking lumps out of each other, we had a great time - one of the current members of the 2014 A Team admits, he has never recovered from, as a naive young newcomer to the media ranks, listening to a heated debate on the relative merits of the Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands, which enlivened an otherwise dire second-half at Palmerston, one cauld January.
But, I digress. These days are all but past; however, just occasionally today, we get a will-he, won't-he potential transfer story which is worth considering. This happened this morning, with the story of supposed Celtic interest in Steven Fletcher.
Now Fletch 9 is a form of footballer of which we have had one or two in Scotland of late. Yes, he scored a goal or two for Hibs and earned a big-money move south. Sure, he is credited with being a success at his three English clubs - Burnley, Wolves and Sunderland, but, I put that down to modern-day media hype. How highly you rate him as an English Premiership player deends on what you're looking for.

For me, Fletcher, like those other two graduates from Hibernian's so-called Golden Team; Derek Riordan and Garry O'Connor, is a case of a player who, in the Times's Simon Barnes's great phrase: "hasn't trained-on". His potential has not been fully realised.

Fletcher is in his 27th year; he ought to be, by all reasonable expectations, at his peak. He is a seasoned player, having played 342 senior games, in which he has scored 102 goals - an average of just under 0.3 goals per game.

If we take an average of better than 0.5 gpg as being the base rate for a top-class striker, he hasn't cut the mustard. Aside from his petty and petulant squabble with Craig Levein, which saw him left out of the Scotland squad, he has scored just one international goal in 12 appearances in the full Scotland team - which is hardly the stuff of top-class international strikers.

So, he has under-performed for Scotland. He has no Champions League experience, far less a useful pedigree in that competition. But, he is playing in the English Premiership, so, any team seeking to purchase him will require to pay the ridiculous premium which seems to attach itself to any player who has started in the self-styled "Best League In The World".

His last move, in 2012, saw Sunderland pay Wolves £12 million for his signature; he might be available at a cut-price rate, I have seen £6 million mentioned. The question is - can you see Celtic paying that much for him?

A big transfer deal of upwards of £6 million is generally made because the player being sought will make a difference - he could be the difference between winning a league and finishing second. This doesn't compute in this instance - with or without Fletcher, Celtic WILL win the SPFL; similarly, they will probably also win the Scottish Cup - so, there is no need to pay-out that much, he will not make a difference.

But, he COULD make a difference in the Champions League - or, could he? As I said above, he has no proven track record in that competition, while he doesn't even have a proven record of scoring for Scotland at full international level - his solitary Scotland goal coming against Iceland.

Then there is the question of his wages. Celtic will not pay anything like what he is probably on at the Stadium of Light. Will Neil Lennon risk breaking the club's carefully-installed wage ceiling for a player who doesn't bring much more than the hope of goals? Might not he be as well sticking with Georgios Samaras, a player who, for all the debate he causes among the Celtic Family, has been a good, solid man about the squad.

Sammy has never been considered an out-and-out main striker with Celtic, yet, for all his service in wide areas or in a more-withdrawn role, he has scored for Celtic at a rate of 0.283 gpg, 0.014 gpg worse than Fletcher's career record.

As I've said, Fletcher for Celtic is a good transfer window story, but, for me, it doesn't add up.