Even The Old Bears Are Despairing

I HAD a lengthy conversation this week with one of the grandees of Scottish football management. A Baby Boomer like me, this man has managed successfully on both sides of the Solway, in Europe and at international level. He had some solid good sense to speak, on a no names, basis.

 

He has a connection to Ibrox and is as perplexed and puzzled as any ordinary Bear with what is happening down Edmiston Drive way. His message is blunt.

 

"The guys making the running there now are not Rangers fans, they are not Scottish football fans - they are in there because, they know a successful winning Rangers is a means of making money. They got the club for next to nothing, but, it will take a lot of money to get rid of them. Until they are got rid of, Rangers will struggle."

 

I suggested, Scottish football being what it is, and, the current Celtic squad being some way off being a great group of Celtic players, the Rangers Tribute Act just might shock them in the upcoming League Cup semi-final.

 

"Don't be daft, the RTA back four is so slow, so lacking in solidarity, they will be torn apart by Celtic, who, in guys like Kris Commons, Scott Brown and Leight Griffiths have players who can exploit the defensive weaknesses.

 

"Further forward, the RTA midfield is poor - Celtic will win, easily".

 

That's me telt!!!

 

 

 

MY subject is, however, more-excited by the current battle at the top of the Premiership.

 

"Celtic will still win the league, but, it will not be a runaway success, Aberdeen and Dundee United will chase them all the way," he opines.

 

"Celtic are not that much better than the rest, but, whereas, in the past the Old Firm were markedly better, because of their greater budgets, today, things are tighter. We are maybe a bit unfair to the other clubs, we still tend to believe, if Celtic doesn't win well, they had an off-day, when the reality is, the non-Glasgow challenge is stronger than it has been for a while.

 

 

 

THERE was a meeting in Glasgow this week, which kind of slipped under the radar. The leading Junior clubs met at Hampden to discuss the possibility of amalgamating the East and West Super Leagues into a national Junior Superleague.

 

Nobody is saying too-much about what happened, but, I don't see this as a goer, the distances involved are just too-great.

 

Also, not every Junior club is interested in getting involved in a genuine English-style pyramid, whereby (and I don't know how they feel about this at Beechwood Park), Auchinleck Talbot might some day be a Premiership club.

 

In Junior football, beating the mob from the next village still carries more kudos than perhaps being a (senior) Division One or Two, or even a Championship club. It's all about Scottish tribalism, or clannishness.

 

Also, there is the problem of the Lowland League. In all honesty, the likes of Talbot, Irvine Meadow, Bo'ness United or Linlithgow Rose could slot fairly-easily into the Lowland League. They might not win it immediately, but, they would be among the top clubs in that league.

 

We need a pyramid, but, we need the SFA, the SJFA and the Lowland and Highland Leagues to get together and make it work.

 

I would like to see, a 16-club Premiership, a 16-club Championship, with ALL Scottish football below that regionalised. I would prefer four Regional Leagues - North, Midlands, South-West, South-East.

 

This one will run.

A Return To (Some Of) The Old Ways Just Might Work

YESTERDAY, in the Westminster parliament's House of Commons, the SNP and Plaid Cymru sponsored a debate on the UK's Trident nuclear missiles. Basically, the two nationalist parties want the UK to not replace the current Trident system when, in a year or two, it reaches its natural end and becomes obsolete.

 

Very few of the honourable members turned-up for the debate, Jim Murphy, the successor to John Reid as Celtic's top MP for instance, was nowhere to be seen. But, when the division bell rang, some 300 hon. members dragged themselves out of the bars and dining rooms to vote down the nationalists' motion. Today, their cushy life will go on as normal.

 

What's this got to do with Scottish fitba? I hear you ask.

 

Well, the House of Commons is a British institution, so is Rangers. In Scotland, with nationalism and the SNP on the rise, Westminster has an image problem and is largely unloved.....Rangers anyone?

 

At Westminster there are MPs in the old-established parties, who, regardless of their differences when it comes to domestic policies, still see Westminster as the Imperial Parliament, the political power-station driving a huge, powerful internationally-significant nation, rather as Ra Peepul still see Rangers, struggling to maintain a place in the top-four in the second flight of Scottish football, as a huge, powerful, internationally-significant football club.

 

These MPs, and an awful lot of Ra Peepul, are living in cloud cuckoo land.

 

Many around Westminster would like to think the UK could still send a gunboat to bring chippy "Fuzzy-Wuzzies" and "Towel Heads" to heel; that being British/English still mattered - Aye Right, dream on pal, as they say in Glasgow. The reality is something different.

 

To turn to Rangers, or the Rangers Tribute Act, as this blog likes to style the club playing out of Ibrox. I think we would be wise to largely ignore the off-field stuff, the jockeying for position between the current stewards of the club and the wannabees, the Three Bears, the King over the water and so forth. Hell, there have long been board-room and influential supporter differences around Ibrox.

 

Towards the end of Bill Struth's long tenure as Mr Rangers, he had to fight-off efforts to remove him; back then, boardroom squabbles were common, if, thankfully, kept behind closed doors. It is ever thus in football, at every level.

 

In time, for better or worse, the off-field stuff will sort itself out, but, right now, Rangers' biggest problems are on the field, because, basically, the team is playing shite.

 

Now, with the manager on gardening leave, his assistant, shoved into a role he never sought and in which he is clearly very unhappy, it is maybe time for the players, those guys who are playing shite, to stand up for themselves.

 

And, I feel, here at least a return to the old, real Rangers ways, just might work.

 

Legend has it, and that legend is backed-up by the testimony of former players, managers such as Struth and his successor, Scot Symon, were rarely seen by the players. They certainly were never seen, track-suited, on the training park, although, they oversaw and supervised from afar.

 

The players really ran things. How it was done was passed down, with the experienced men guiding the youngsters, who, in turn became members of the ruling elite who organised things.

 

The Rangers way was almost Old Testament in how it worked -Meiklejohn, Morton and Archibald begat Simpson, Gray and George Brown, who begat Shaw, Woodburn, Young and Waddell, who begat Caldow, Greig and McKinnon, who begat Greig and Jardine.

 

Then, things changed. The manager got into a track suit, the players became dispensible. Maybe, in this time of crisis it is time to go back to real Rangers ways.

 

By that, I do not mean 11 Scottish or Ulster Protestants playing every week; these days are past etc. No, maybe the answer to the club's on-field problems is in the players taking responsibility.

 

To my mind Lee McCulloch is not as good a player as some of those named above. But, I feel he is, like Greig for instance, a genuine Rangers man, who by his love of the club and loyalty to it, overcomes his playing deficiencies.

 

He is also Player-coach, and, as such, he has some clout. Now is the time for McCulloch to gather around him a small group of fellow players, who are real Rangers men, who have been over the course and who must insist on reinstalling Rangers values within the dressing room.

 

Kenny Miller, Kris Boyd, even Nicky Law - it is time you stood-up to be counted.

 

It looks as if Kenny McDowall will continue to oversee training and will, until the off-field kerfuffle is sorted-out will be de facto manager. It is quite clear, "Koj" isn't happy dealing with the media duties of management.

 

Fair enough, he could hand media duties to someone like Boydie, who clearly enjoys doing it. I appreciate, times were different, but, Messrs Struth and Symon were never media darlings.

 

Difficult times, call for difficult decisions. Why not involve the senior players more, let them take the lead tactically, as they once did when Rangers were real Rangers? 

There Is No Such Thing As Bad Publicity - Unless You're The Rangers Tribute Act That Is

BACK in the 1960s and 1970s, when there really was an Old Firm, Jock Stein used to delight in upstaging Rangers in the papers. Knowing the Ibrox club had the mainstream media in their pockets and would generally be assured of the back-page splash, the Big Man used to love it when he could put one over on the Blues.

Today, of course, Ronnie Deila doesn't need to compete with the Rangers Tribute Act for column centimetres. There are no good stories coming out of Ibrox or Murray Park these days, so, no need for Celtic to compete for exposure. In fact, I am surprised the RTA's friends in the media aren't placing Celtic stories in the papers, in an effort to divert attention away from the constant stream of doom and gloom coming out of Ibrox.

Take the current situation, with Kenny McDowall handing in his notice. Now, I have a lot of time for wee "Koj", he is a terrific coach, he is Rangers to the core. He probably never expected to be manager, so, for him to chuck it so soon after taking over, clearly something is seriously wrong in the bear pit.

Then there are the off-field shenanigans regarding share-holding, power blocs, coalitions and so on. Never mind, apparently, once Ibrox becomes a Kingdom, all will be well!!!!!

Aye Right.

I see Chuck Green is threatening a come-back. What next, the return of Sir David Murray, now he has time on his hands? I reckon the shade of Bill Struth has been birlin' so much these past two years, he must have drilled himself a tunnel out of Craigton Cemetry, and must, by now, be about ready to drop into the Clyde.

JOHN McGlynn's appointment as Celtic's First Team Scout did get some exposure. A good appointment in my opinion, John certainly knows a promising player when he sees one. A good appointment I think.

ABERDEEN'S fight-back to grab a share of the points at Dens Park at the weekend indicated to me - the Dons' challenge to Celtic is a real one. All-too-often, contenders have managed to pull-off good results at Ibrox and Parkhead, only to immediately drop points to another of the "diddy" teams.

Dundee, away, was a potential banana skin for Derek McInnes and his men, yeah, they slipped, but they didn't fall, which was a good sign for all their fans. This title race could yet run and run, but, you still have to fancy Celtic to triumph.

BIG Danny Malloy died last week. That name might not be generally known these days, but, back in the 1950s, Danny - a centre-half with Dundee, then Cardiff City, was seen as the heir apparent to big Geordie Young, as Scotland centre-half.

He captained Scotland B, played in the Scottish League v English League game, which was just about a final trial for the big battle with the Auld Enemy back then; he played in umpteen unofficial Scotland games, but, he never got his cap.

For instance, in late 1954, to help prepare for the visit of the legendary Hungarians captained by Ferenc Puskas, to Hampden, the SFA arranged a series of trial games, between "A Scotland XI and Kilmarnock, Hibs and Falkirk.

For the games at Easter Road and Brockville, the Scotland back six was: Fred Martin of Aberdeen, Willie Cunningham of Preston North End, Harry Haddock of Clyde, tommy Docherty, then with Preston, Malloy and John Cumming of Hearts.

The final Scotland team, which took on the best team in the world at Hampden included five of the six - Malloy wasn't picked, instead  Partick Thistle's Jimmy Davidson got the number five shirt. Choosing the Bluebirds over Tottenham and Newcastle maybe wasn't the best move for Malloy, while, Rangers were still pondering whether a Daniel Malloy would be acceptable to the Ibrox fans - and was be even a Protestant? But, Malloy was newly-married and the £500 signing-on fee Cardiff offered was too-good to refuse.

While Malloy was the seeming heir up here, down in England, Birmingham's Trevor Smith was in a similar situation as regards succeeding Billy Wright in the England team. At least, Smith did get a couple of caps, there was no such consolation for Malloy.

But, he had a good career with Cardiff, including becoming just about the only guy ever to shut Brian Clough up. Fed-up with "Ole Big 'Ead's" constant verbals in a Cardiff v Middlesbrough game, Malloy laid him our with one punch, for which he was warmly congratulated by the rest of the 'Boro team!!!

He could play a bit, and was as hard as nails, and ever so unlucky never to be capped. His career ended badly too. He came back to Clyde, where a new manager, a former Rangers' player, was not prepared to frorgive some perceived slight delivered by Malloy, when with Dundee. His career was over.

As I said, all but forgotten today, but, a player who deserved more recognition than he got.

No "Farce", This Was Serious

WELL, that was a turn-up for the book: the "farce" at Ibrox last night was on, rather than off the park. No, that's unfair; it is an easy out for hard-pressed reporters or sub-editors to write: "conditions were farcical" in a match report. The reality is, conditions were, as was surely the case at Ibrox, dangerous.

 

So fair play to Bobby Madden for calling a halt after 24 minutes. For once, the referee's decision was universally greeted as the correct one - a rare event in Scottish football.

 

Friday's weather conditions were bizarre. I spend my Friday's baby-sitting my three-year-old grandson, who lives 24 miles away. The snow was certainly falling when I handed him over to his parents and set-out for home; the road conditions persuaded me to stick to the main drag and not take my usual B road cross-country route home.

 

Nearly three hours later, I got home. OK, there were a couple of minor shunts, a couple of stretches of black ice and a couple of hilly sections, one up, t'other down, where I switched from being the Jamaican bob-sleigh team of "Cool Runnings" to Hilary on Everest. But, between my years of experience of winter driving, and the best of Stuttgart automotive technology, I made it unscathed.

 

Given that experience, I can well understand the problems 22 Scottish footballers faced, remaining upright at Ibrox.

 

 

 

MEANWHILE, as the players performed Bolero on the park, off the parks, the Bears were letting rip at the Board, as 'Edmiston Drive - the soap opera' continued. I can well understand the SFA rrefusing to get involved in the increasingly bizarre politics of the Rangers Tribute Act, but, enough is enough.

 

Surely, if only on the grounds of: "bringing Scottish football into disrepute", the governing body should get involved - dare I use the expression: "as honest brokers" - to try to bring peace and stability to this football institution.

 

 

 

DAVID Ginola standing for the FIFA presidency. Aye well, whatever. But, given the joke which old Sepp Blatter has turned this organisation into, we sjhould maybe find a comedian rather than a former footballing entertainer to stand against him.

 

I almost get the impression, only his death will rid football of the Blatter influence, and, even then, there is no guarantee, his successor will do any better. You know, maybe Sir George Graham and the old-time SFA officials, who, with their counterparts at the FA, resolutely refused to have anything to do with FIFA, were right.

 

 

 

INTERESTING piece by Aidan Smith in today's Scotsman; an interview with former Scotland 'keeper Bobby Clark, who has, these many years been Head Soccer Coach of the legendary "Fighting Irish" of Notre Dam College in Indiana.

 

Clark, one of that great body, along with Jack Harkness, Bobby Brown, Ronnie Simpson and Jim Cruickshanks, who emerged from Queen's Park to back-stop the full Scotland team, had an advantage over other footballers - he was a qualified PE teacher, so, he had a fully-functioning brain.

 

But, as Smith outlines, he also played outfield for Aberdeen, as an emergency centre-half. As such, he clearly had the game-reading skills which have, today, made Manuel Neuer, the outstanding sweeper-'keeper in the game.

 

Which begs the question - what would Clark be worth today? I can also think of another very good Scottish goalkeeper, the former Petershill 'keeper Allan Ross, who still holds the Carlisle United appearance record. Rossie, who came very close to a Scotland cap when with United, also made appearances for his club as an outfield player. See Scottish goalies, ahead of the curve, only, we didn't know it. 

We've Got A Good Product, But, We Must Sell It Better

I ENJOYED Monday night's BT Sport coverage of the Hamilton Accies v Dundee United game at New Douglas Park. I have to admit, at 2-0 for United, less than half a minute into the second half, I thought it was game over; so, fair play to Martin Canning's Accies for their great comeback to square the game. Only to be undone by Shaun Dillon's late winner for the Arabs.

 

In truth, the quality of the football on view was every bit as good as what I have seen in recent English Premiership clashes. There is life yet in Scottish football, it's just, maybe we are not selling it too-well. How frustrating to see some excellent football being paraded in front of rows and rows of empty seats. This level of play deserves better.

 

That said, would you go out on a bitterly cold night like Monday, to watch a fitba match - I know, in my seventh decade, I wouldn't, unless bribed by a nice commission from a media outlet. And there's the rub - Scottish fitba has aye been a winter game. Note those two words: "aye been", the two most frustrating words in the Caledonian lexicon.

 

For a nation which resolutely refuses, at Westminster elections, to support the Conservative and Unionist Party, Scotland is a strangely conservative country, more-so when it comes to sport.

 

I recall an aside from a Junior Football honcho some years ago, when a mid-winter shut-down was being discussed for the senior game. My mate, with campaign medals and mentions in despatches from years of Ayrshire League Derbies remarked: "Ach, we've had a mid-winter shut-down in the juniors for years, the trouble is, we never quite know when it will occur, it all depends on when the bad weather arrives."

 

That's the rub, the uncertainty of the Scottish weather. We can be snowed-off in November, then flooded-out in March in one season, the next could see no disruption, followed by a total shut-down during January and February - we simply don't know what the weather gods will chuck at us.

 

The Scottish women's game has successfully switched to summer football. The men's game is, however, unlikely to follow suit - aye beenism and all that. However, maybe it is time we did, seriously consider, re-scheduling our game towards the better weather months. For a start, we might get a better TV deal when we weren't tagged on to the end of the all-pervading English game.

 

Better pitches might offer us a higher level of on-field skills on view; it would be easier to attract the fans out to games - although we also have to seriously look at the Scottish game's pricing structure and some of the facilities at grounds.

 

We are not helping Scottish fitba by continuing to be wedded to the aye beenism gospel. Scottish fitba isn't working as we would wish it to - so: CHANGE IT.

 

 

 

So, it is Real Madrid 1 Barcelona 0. That's the result of this year's Ballon d'Or voting, with CR7 getting the nod ahead of little Lionel Messi, We are really lucky to have these two great players at their peak at the same time; I would not have complained had Messi got the nod, the pair are that good. Mind you, as a former goalkeeper, I would have loved it had Manuel Neuer won, he really is one hell of a 'keeper.

 

I was disappointed that Stephanie Roche, the Irish girl, didn't win the Ferenc Puskas Award, for Goal of the Year award. In all honesty, I feel her effort, filmed on a camera-phone, was superior to the winner, Jamie Rodriguez's effort, which was captured in glorious Technicolour, dynamic Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound during the World Cup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If The Dons Keep Driving On - Things Will Get Very Interesting

UNDER normal circumstances, a Celtic team losing ground to one of the lesser sides would be of little consequence. The expectations would be that Celtic would, in the remaining weeks of the season, make-up the lost ground, and go on to win the league, or, at least run the other half of the Old Firm close.

 

This season, however, I have a feeling this current Celtic team, just might find it difficult to claw-back any advantage Aberdeen might accrue over the next few weeks. This squad has shown itself to be a bit flakey under sustained pressure - not least the pressure of the expectations of the Celtic Family.

 

Pressure does funny things to football teams. For that reason, one hesitates to cast Aberdeen in the role of title favourites - the race is not yet, unlike that in the Championship, a case of: it is the current leaders' title to lose.

 

But, IF the Dons continue to rack-up the points, and IF Derek McInnes can get them to believe - well, things will become increasingly interesting as this season comes to the boil.

 

A one-horse race, it no longer is.

 

 

 

WELL done Alex Neil - landing the Norwich gig. At least, Delia Smith will make sure he eats well. And, we Alex certainly made the best-possible start - toppling table-topping Bournemouth, first time out.

 

Of course, English football, at the top level, is a totally-different ball game from up here. Time will tell if Alex has what it takes to swim sucessfully in the bigger, deeper, more-frightening pond that is England. But, I wish him well.

 

I also wish Accies well without him. Alex will be a hard act for Martin Canning to follow.

 

 

 

I HAD a free week from reporting duties today, and, with the weather continuing to be as poor as Ayr United's recent form, I opted for a day in front of the TV.

 

The Sunderland v Liverpool game did offer me some food for thought, particularly around the performance of referee Craig Pawson.

 

Now, like all referees, Mr Pawson, one of England's top officials, as a FIFA elite referee, doesn't get everything correct. But, I thought he handled the match particularly well.

 

He got some flak from the tv analysts, for denying Liverpool a possible penalty at 0-0, but, on play-back, Michael Owen - who would surely never be guilty of pro-Liverpool bias!! - suggested it was probably the assistant referee's call, and, if it was wrong, it was the assistant and not Pawson, who got it wrong. I can live with that.

Later, however, Pawson played a great advantage, which allowed Liverpool to go ahead. That's when I got thinking.

 

In rugby, referees play a lot more advantages than their football "cousins" do; we reporters who cover rugby, occasionally fret about the length of advantages allowed, which varies greatly.

 

However, when playing advantage, the referee calls-out that he is about to play an advantage, while out goes an arm as a clear signal that advantage is being played.

 

I'd like to see football referees doing this.

 

 

 

IT HAS been a funny week around 'Edmiston Drive'. The alleged Felix Magath involvement is, I think, a distraction. And, even if he is ever installed as "Technical Director", or whatever - I predict disaster.

 

Things have also gone a bit quiet on the Phoenix Suns/Govan Huns front. This is hardly surprising, take-overs and financial shennanigans are rarely conducted in the public eye. No news doesn't mean no movement - things may be happening behind the scenes.

 

Of course, inactivity in the interesting part of "Rangers" has thrown attention onto the uninteresting side of the soap opera - events on the park, where the RTA scrambled, 1-0, past Alloa.

 

A win is a win is a win; so, perhaps we should be happy for Kenny McDowall and his men. But, keeping-on winning will not be enough for the fans. They want the RTA, in that league, to not only win, but, to win with style - and doing that will prove difficult.

 

 

 

LIKE everyone else in Ayrshire, who isn't a total unreasonable Killie fanatic, I was a wee bit sad when the Honest Men didn't get Ian McCall's managerial reign off to a winning start, at Brechin this afternoon.

 

It would have been a nice story, if wee Ian had turned-around Ayr's season straight-away. I still hope, and believe, he will do this, however, it will not be easy.

 

Opinion on the McCall appointment is split in Ayr. I have spoken to several Somerset Park regulars, who are delighted to have him and are right behind him. However, a very good friend, a one-time United director, voiced some big misgivings to me this week.

 

Ach, this is fitba - let's enjoy the ride, however long it lasts.

 

 

Basketball To Basket Case - The Track Record Isn't Good

ANOTHER day, another raft of script ideas for 'Edmiston Drive' our everyday story of fitba folk. This latest story line: how the owner of the Phoenix Suns wants to buy the Govan Huns is certainly a belter. However, I would caution Ra Peepul to be very careful - and to reflect on what happened the last time a successful basketball club owner showed an interest in becoming the Right Worthy Master of the Ibrox "ludge".

 

Things didn't end too well, after David Murray swapped MIM Basketball Club for Rangers Football Club.

 

That said, Mr Sarver, having upped his initial £18 million bid to £20 million, has perhaps demonstrated to the money men in London, who ultimately control the Rangers Tribute Act, of his seriousness. However, given that Charles Green always maintained: "Rangers are worth at least £50 million", he might have to dig a wee bit deeper into his cash reserves if he wishes to prevail.

 

Whatever the arguments and opinions surrounding the football club, there can be no doubts - it is in a mess, one which will need real money and knowledge of how to run a successful sports business to sort out.

 

Certainly, of the known would-be owners, Mr Sarver has, probably, the best track record of a potential saviour. What isn't known is, once he starts doing due diligence, will he still be interested in turning around a real basket case?

 

If he opens the books, winces, as he doubtless will, but carries-on, Mr Sarver might just be the man. To me, he certainly looks a better deal than any of the other would-be RWMs.

 

However, Mr Sarver comes from a background in the NBA and in professional sport in North America, what he might make of the good ole boys who run Scottish football is another matter. Professional is not a word one can readily use about the Hampden blazers.

 

 

 

I have been meaning for a week or two to comment on a wee poll which I spotted in some obscure publication. Apparently in Sweden, they recently ran a poll to discover who the Swedish sports fans judged to be the country's greatest sportsman or woman.

 

The result gave the honour, not unexpectedly, to the great tennis star Bjorn Borg. I don't think there was too-much dissent. However, dissent there was from one corner of the nation. Zlatan Ibrahmovic, who finished second in the poll, was not best pleased, and let his displeasure be known.

 

Given the bold Zlatan has an ego the size of Jupiter, it is no surprise he should be unimpressed by the result. Personally, what shocked me about the voting was that Henrik Larsson, 'The Magnificent Seven' himself, didn't make the top ten. Swedes - tumpshies mair like, to overlook such a wonderful footballer.

 

 

 

I HAVE spoken to many retired sportsmen and women, and one common thread through these conversations has been the admittance that just about the hardest decision they have to make is when to call it quits.

 

Rare indeed is the athlete who gets it right - who bows-out at the very top. Football is no different; there is always the temptation to keep going, to give it another season, until the player becomes a shadow of what he once was.

 

I feel, therefore, Stevie Gerrard has perhaps come closer than most to getting it right, with the timing of his departure from Liverpool. As he showed in the midweek, televised FA Cup third round tie at Wimbledon (well, Kingston-on-Thames actually), he remains the heart, soul and turbine which drives the Reds.

 

They won't half miss him when he departs at the end of the season, if there is any justice, clutching an FA Cup winner's medal as he flies off to Los Angeles.

 

 

 

AS Stevie G departs, we welcome back someone we have missed these last three years. Ian McCall is back in football, as manager of Ayr United.

 

I used to be: "The only neutral in Ayrshire", since I covered games at Somerset Park on one Saturday, and at Rugby Park the next. Brown, Richmond, Watson, Beattie, Toner and Kennedy, Stewart, McInally, Kerr, Black and Muir might be the greatest team in the history of Scottish football, (that's my view anyway), but, that doesn't mean I don't have great respect for the likes of John Murphy, Ian McAllister, Henry Templeton, Sam McMillan, Peter Price, John Sludden, "Dixie" Ingram, "Cutty" Young, not forgetting Stevie Nicol, Robert Connor of Alan McInally, who gave me so-much pleasure at Somerset Park.

 

My late wife was a "Bonnie Lassie", I number a lot of "Honest Men" among my friends and we must not forget that a lot of really good footballers and characters, you might add Robert Reilly and wee Jim McSherry to some listed above, have given 100% in the service of both Ayr United and Kilmarnock.

 

So, I welcome the wee man back. I am sure he will be good for United. For a start, he might give the club something like the profile it enjoyed during the different spells in charge of the legend that is Ally MacLeod. But, Ian's task is not an easy one, so, I wish him well.

 

  

 

 

Who's A Lovely Boy And With Sally On Gardening Leave Is Gloria The New Gaffer?

NEW YEAR, and a new word, or words, have entered the Scottish fitba lexicon - "concert party". There I was, thinking a concert party was a groupo of amateur would-be entertainers - yep, can see where that comes from in fitba; or, the group designation of the cast of 'It Aint Half Hot Mum'. But, no, apparently this concert party stems from a belief that, by acting when they did, the "Three Bears" and  the "King Over The Water" have got together for a concerted attack on the board of the RTA.

Apparently, a "concert party" in the world of stocks, shares and big business dealings is illegal. Heavens to Betsy, I didn't know anything was illegal if it happened in the famed "Square Mile" of London's financial district.

Needless to say, both the Douglas Park Gang and the King and his court are denying any collusion; the fact they both opened their cheque books at the same time, is entirely coincidental. Then, we have Sandy Easdale putting-up £500,000 to tide-over the club of which he is a director, and the owner of the Phoenix Suns apparently being about to spend £18 million on the Glasgow Huns.

Let's wait and see how things pan out, but, less than a week into 2015, we know that THE story in Scottish football in 2015 will be the same one as has dominated the agenda since 2012. 'Edmiston Drive' that everyday story of fitba folk, will again be the soccer soap opera of the year.

MEANWHILE, back on the park, Celtic travel to Rugby Park tonight to take-on KIlmarnock. Normally in recent years, this trip has presented few difficulties to the Hoops, however, the Aberdeen revival has seen Celtic slip back off the summit of the Premiership, and, given their form has been somewhat indifferent of late, lacking real champions' authority - who knows what might happen.

Killie are rarely predictable just now, so, while I expect Celtic to win and cut Aberdeen's advantage at the top, this result cannot be taken as read. A wee upset tonight, and my colleagues in the msm will take off in a feeding frenzy.

I HAPPENED upon an interesting wee story last week - the death at the age of 91 of Jimmy Dunn Junior. I must admit, he was, up until I read about his passing: "Jimmy Who?" to me.

Dunn was, however, Scottish fitba royalty. The son of Jimmy "Ginger" Dunn Senior, the inside-right in the stellar: Jackson, Dunn, Gallacher, James and Morton forward line of the 1928 Wembley Wizards.

Born in Edinburgh, he was raised in Liverpool, after his dad moved to Everton when young Jimmuy was only five. Apparently Junior's accent was more Scotland Road than Scotland, but, if he never reached the heights of his old man, he was still a very good player - one of the legions of often unsung Scots, who formed the back bone of English football in its post-World War II heyday.

The two Jimmy Dunns hold a special place in Scottish football history, as the first father and son to have won the FA Cup as players, Jimmy Senior alongside Dixie Dean in the 1933 Everton team which beat a Manchester City XI which included Matt Busby, Wembley Wizards skipper Jimmy McMullan and Alec Herd, father of David Herd. Alec and David were the second Scottish father-son cup-winning pairing.

Jimmy Junior was the only Scot, alongside ten Englishmen, in the Wolves team which beat Leicester City 3-1 in the 1949 FA Cup final.

He was also trainer when West Bromwich Albion beat Everton in the 1968 FA Cup final. He also ran a health club in Edgbaston, next to the cricket ground, and frequently put England test cricketers through their paces.

An all-action inside forward, he suffered a lot from injury, but still managed nearly 400 games in a career which began during World War II and lasted right through the 1950s.

This Could Be a Marvellous Year

A GUID NEW YEAR TAE ANE AN AWE.

 

Right, that's the pleasantries out of the way - back to Scottish fitba. And, what a great start to this New Year, with Aberdeen going to the top of the Premiership table. Of course, ever since Furious Fergie took himself off to immortality in Manchester, there have been short-lived outbreaks of optimism and hope from the Granite City. Could this latest one, under Derek McInnes be different? 

 

Only time will tell, but, the Dons now have a chance this month to open a gap and put pressure on a somewhat flakey Celtic team. Aye, the next few months could be interesting.

 

 

 

SOME five years ago I took a conscious decision to stop watching 'Only An Excuse'; I found it predictable and no longer funny. Against my better judgement, I watched the 2014 version on Hogmanay - it was dire.

 

Please BBC Scotland, kill this off. Scottish football is now beyond parody and, when the reality is (albeit unconsciously) funnier than the supposed satire, the satire has lost.

 

The funniest comment on the current state of the game up here came in the wonderful Herald Diary, when one contributor suggested Ronnie Deila as Man of the Year 2014 - for managing to make the Premiership exciting.

 

 

 

BUT, as in 2012, 2013 and 2014, THE Scottish Fitba story of 2015 is shaping up to be the long-running soap opera Edminston Drive.

 

The King over the water has finally moved, and put some cash into the Rangers Tribute Act. Things are about to get interesting here, as the battle for control enters a new phase. 

 

The RTA might well emerge from the promotion-relegation play-offs as a Premiership side, but, I for one will not be holding my breath. The reality, as I see it, is - another season in the Championship, with Kenny McDowall introducing some more young talent, might, in the long run, be better for the club than going up this season.

 

Certainly, a huge improvement will be needed, the Championship title and the single automatic promotion spot is now Hearts' to lose; while Hibs might, if they can build on that big win over RTA, be in a stronger position than the Glasgow outfit come the play-offs.

 

 

 

THE machinations around Ibrox, and Donkeycaster's assertion that the RTA is in fact, a continuation of real Rangers even made it onto the serious pages of the pro-Independence website Wings Over Scotland.

 

I was amazed that the Rev Stuart Campbell, who runs WoS actually took his eyes off the political situation in Scotland to comment on events around the football club.

 

His pay-off was over 200 posts, many from political "anoraks" who have little or no interest in sport in general or football in particular, but, had an opinion on the status of Rangers International FC.

 

This merely illustrates what a huge institution this club, be it dead, on life support, a ghost or a tribute act, is in Scotland.

 

 

 

IF YOU have access to the BBC iplayer, can I suggest you search-out the BBC Alba programme: 'Tartan Pride', an unashamed nostalgia fest around the old Scotland v England football rivalry.

 

This excellent programme was shown on the graveyard shift, at 11pm on Friday, 23 January. The Gaelic bits had sub-titles, the talking heads - Craig Brown, Tommy Docherty, Denis Law, Gordon McQueen, Stuart Cosgrove etc, were good value and some of the archive footage was terrific.

 

Seek it out and watch it, you will not be disappointed.