Good Result, But, It's Still Only Half-Time

THEY left it late, but, that was another good win for Celtic in Europe again last night. However, we (and in Europe, we should all, whatever our domestic ties, be Celtic fans) are in for another nervous night in the second leg.

 

Scottish football has, of late, travelled as well as Belgian wine. The long haul to Azerbaijan does not bode well for Celtic - not with that defence; but, if big CG puts on another of his dazzling European displays, to justify that nice new contract, Celtic can successfully defend that slender, one-goal lead.

 

Let's hope too, Aberdeen does the business in their Europe League match tonight. I would certainly hat to have to justify the expense of that nice executive jet to wee Stewart Milne, if they don't get through.

 

 

 

I THINK, if not immediately, then certainly by the end of the January transfer window, Scott Allen will be a member of the RTA. We have seen this DVD so-many times when either one of the Bigot Brothers decides, they have to have a player from another Scottish club.

 

Hibs will shout, scream, stamp their feet and generally kick-up a fuss, but, in the end, the boy will go west. Get used to it, if you have not already, Hibbees.

 

 

 

YON guy in Donegal, the ex-pat Scot with the four-barrelled Erse name, has returned to his obsession with the blue-clad team which plays its home games at Ibrox Stadium.

 

Like the soothsayer in Frankie Howard's Up Pompeii, he is again prophesying - woe, woe and thrice woe for the RTA. He may well have an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to this particular club, but, PMGB isn't often wrong.

 

Assuming there is a genuine kernel of truth to his latest forecasts, the "glib and shameless liar" who has been promoted from King over the water to Emperor of all he surveys, has a problem or two on his hands, one which not even a string of 6-2 wins will make go away.

 

But, don't tell the Lap Top Loyal - they might have to do some real work, and, that would never do.

 

 

 

I SEE Scott Booth made a winning start to his reign as manager of Glasgow  City, Scotland's top women's team. How long before Craig Brown gets a gig there as an adviser? Surely, that's a job tailor-made for the auld yin!!

 

 

A Good And Bad Result For The RTA

AS someone who spent a few years covering second and third-grade football in Scotland, I used to enjoy those very-occasional matches when we members of the Poor Bloody Infantry of the Scottish Football Writing Army had to share a fox hole with the Officer Class, whose more-familiar beat went: Ibrox-Hampden-Celtic Park.

Some of these guys actually enjoyed getting back to basics, not having their pies and Bovril served-up in a press room, having to queue-up for telephone access (in the days before we all had mobiles), perhaps having to buy a programme, or share a team sheet.

Others, denied the luxuries they felt entitled to, were like bankrupt millionaires, suddenly having to endure cattle class at the back of the aircraft, or a dowager on a bus - they couldn't cope.

So, with the mince part of the mince and tatties which is the everyday food of these fitba writers currently continuing to thole life in the second tier, the "names" are having to, rather than enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to somewhere exotic, while the final polish is put on the pre-season preparations, get into the trenches in July.

Not that Easter Road is a tough place at which to work, but, since they cannot all prove their entitlement to membership of the Lap Top Loyal on Week One, I dare say, yesterday saw several in unfamiliar grounds.

Of course, all the interest in the first round of the Diddy Challenge Cup this season was around Easter Road. Sure, we had sunshine on Leith, but, the result was not what was expected.

I fancied Hibs, with a more-familiar with each other squad, could win yesterday. Again, it was just as possible that the Rangers Tribute Act might win. But, nobody, including me, ever envisaged the game ending-up 6-2 to the visitors.

A great result for Mark Warburton. I must admit, watching the F1 Qualifying from Hungary, I missed the first-half, when, according to most reports, the RTA were far from convincing.

But, watching the second-half, I thought they played the best passing football I have seen from the RTA yet. They thoroughly deserved to win. However, great result though this was, it is in some ways a problem for the new Ibrox boss. His men have, first time out, set the bar high.

If the RTA cannot beat the lesser sides in the Championship in the same manner as they beat their supposed main challengers, well some of the Bears will become restless indeed.

NOW we know we will have England in our group in the World Cup qualifiers, and we have got over the euphoria of a draw which means mega-bucks for both Associations - the England v Scotland and Scotland v England tickets will be the hottest ones in years and, given how much easier it will make gaining access to  the precious briefs, I expect membership of the SFA Travel Club to soar.

However, we MUST NOT get it into our heads that, it is Us V Them for qualification. Slovakia and Slovenia will cause us problems; we should surely beat both Malta and Lithuania, but, the Baltic nation does have the ability to upset us, if we do not apply ourselves properly.

A lot may depend on how the fixtures work-out, but, if we can, somehow, treat the two meetings with England as just another game or two, I can see us qualifying.

I WAS writing an obituary this week, on the late Brian Hall, the Liverpool midfielder of the early 1970s - Shankly's second great team.

Brian was Scottish, born in Glasgow to Scottish parents. However, the Hall family relocated to Preston, where he was raised and schooled. The Preston connection did him no harm with Shankly, who was, of course, a North End Legend, and, after football, he returned to that town to live, and to work for a time, before returning to Liverpool to work in the club's Community section.

His last four years were blighted by a battle against Leukemia; Brian Hall died, in his Preston home earlier this month. One of those rare footballers whose brains were in his head rather than his feet - Brian Hall BSc was one of the last of what was once an extensive breed - the Scottish journeyman in midfield, who drove-on the top teams in England.

This educated man was a true descendant of the "Scotch professors", who, particularly in the legendary Preston Invincibles, were such a force in football's early years.

Well - If This Doesn't Inspire Us, Nothing Will

WELL, that's that - we WILL qualify for the 2018 World Cup Finals.

 

After all, Scotland has NEVER failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals, when we have been drawn in the same group as England. OK, this has only happened twice - in 1950 and 1954, when the Home Internationals were used as the United Kingdom qualifying group - with the top two to go through. Oh yes, and we didn't go to Brazil in 1950, after we finished second to the English.

 

We must not, however, focus on the Auld Enemy, more-or-less ignoring the rest. Slovakia will be tough nuts - in the old days, when we regularly came out in the same croup as Czechoslovakia - there were always some great Slovakian players in the Czech teams, they are no mugs, and it is never easy having to go to Bratislava.

 

Slovenia could be the group's banana skin, but, Malta and to a lesser extent Lithuania are gimmee's for us. But, we must remember, if we are in second place at the end of the group stage, our games against the bottom team will not count towards being one of the eight qualifiers for the play-offs, so, we have to get goals in all games.

 

Mind you, given we have yet to beat the Sassenachs, since hostilities resumed, so, by the law of averages of the long history of England v Scotland matches, we are due to beat them.

 

Whatever happens, being in the same group as our closest neighbours will add a certain spice to club training games in the build-up.

 

Being drawn in the same group as England should give us a boost for our remaining European Championship qualifiers - getting to France and giving our squad experience of finals, even if we bomb, will build confidence for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

 

I had a feeling, as the countries came out of Pot One, wherein England had lain, that we would end up with "Them" in our group - still, it could have been worse.

You Think He's Bad - Wait Till You Meet The Rest

I HAVE known Kris Broadfoot since he was a teenage wannabe with St Mirren. He has always come across to me as a likeable big lad. He is definitely not the sharpest tool in the box, but I find it hard to be critical of him.

He certainly deserves criticism for his stupidity in landing himself in trouble for his much-publicised sectarian rant at an opponent - but - remember this: stupid though he was, Kirk Broadfoot is by no means the biggest bigot in his native village of Drongan.

Some people refer to Ayrshire - God's County, as "Orange County". There is justification for this, and yes, Drongan is if not the biggest, certainly the juciest Outspan or Jaffa in our wonderful administrative area. The local joke, in Ayrshire patois is: "Ye get the photie o' King Billy oan his white horse tae hing aboon the mantlepiece wi the keys o' yer cooncil hoose in Drungan".

That's the boy's upbringing, we have to live with it, until we find a way of eliminating it, unfortunately.

More than 30-years ago, on my first overseas trip with a Scotland representative side - on a rugby tour, one chap who had gone to one of the "right" schools in Edinburgh commented to the other journalist on the trip: "Your friend from Ayrshire, he's a wee bit rough and ready isn't he"?

My fellow hack replied: "Yes, perhaps, but, he's the only member of his rugby club who is allowed out in polite company; don't judge him too badly until you see the rest".

Some weeks later, at a Sevens Tournament, "the rest" were giving it yahoo on the touchlines in front of the Edinburgh player - who sought me out later to tell me: "Bill (the other journo) was correct - you are the only member of your club who can be let-out in polite company. I owe you an apology".

Having seen "the rest" fro Drongan - I cannot be too hard on "Bigfoot".



ADULLAMITE, Dundee United supporter and friend of this blog, has taken me to task over my on-going criticism of Scottish Football's youth development - or lack of youth development - record.

Of course, I am only too-happy to doff my cap to his beloved "Arabs" and their record in this regard, since the days of Jerry Kerr, far less the middle one of the McLean Brothers. Whether it be under wee miseryguts Jim, or the all-too-short-lived Ian Cathro phase, or today, Tannadice has been the Oxbridge of Scottish footbal education.

But, one good example from 42 senior clubs is hardly a ringing endorsement for the superiority of a Scottish football education, and yes as Adullamite suggested in his last comment on the blog, I was being ultra-critical of the Bigot Brothers' development systems.

There is something wrong when these clubs time and again finish first and second in the Under-20 League, but cannot find a place in their senior squads for the boys who have just shown themselves to be the best at their age in Scotland.

OK - we all know, since Bill Struth was a young, up-and-coming manager, Rangers have always used their weighty cheque-book to keep the rest of Scotland in their place. But, if we look at the Rangers team against which I judge all others: Ritchie; Shearer and Caldow; Greig, McKinnon and Baxter; Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson. Bobby Shearer, Jim Baxter, Ian McMillan (in the twilight of a great career) and Jimmy Millar were bought-in, the other seven came through the ranks.

The benchmark Celtic team: Simpson; Craig and Gemmell; Murdoch, McNeill and Clark; Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld and Lennox is an even-better example of grow-your-own. Only Ronnie Simpson, Willie Wallace and Bertie Auld cost the club money - and in the case of Auld, this was to bring back someone who had been through their development group.

The Gothenburg Gang and the Dundee United team which reached a European Cup semi-final and a UEFA Cup final, these too were basically home-grown squads.

I refuse to believe another 11 players from within 40-miles of Glasgow could not be assembled and trained to win the European Cup. In saying that, however, I accept, it will be harder now, since English clubs much-smaller than our two biggest beasts can all-too-easily afford to poach away outstanding Scottish players.

But, for this to happen, Scottish football will need to become better thought-of. We will need to start, once again, making waves in Europe - and - we could, I believe, better do this if we were producing better young Scottish players than we currently are.

Of course, it's all David Murray's fault. SDM bought-in American-trained basketball players to make Murray International Metals the best team in Scotland. I would struggle to name a top Scottish player who came through the ranks at MIM, and, I covered an awful lot of basetball.

He then switched to football and used the same management plan with Rangers. The rest of Scottish basketball, in an effort to keep-up with Murray, put far more money into recruiting cheap Americans than in training young Scots - all but bankrupted Scottish basketball in the process and now, nearly 30-years after SDM pulled the plug on MIM, that game still struggles up here.

Scottish football is still struggling to get over the mad mass rush to buy cheap imports to try to keep-up with Rangers. We are still bringing in too-many cheap English and foreign players, to the detriment of home-grown talent, but, there are signs of us getting back to basics and self-sufficiency. However, I fear, if we do begin to climb the co-efficient rankings, and again become competitive, we might return to buying flash foreign and not properly encouraging oor ain.

First Hurdle Cleared - Onwards And Upwards For Celtic

SO, Celtic have successfully cleared their opening European hurdle and now move on, from Iceland to Azerbaijan. As I said the last time I mentioned this season's European campaign, their continued involvement should not have been questioned, but, sadly, there always will be a but where the current Celtic back line is concerned.

The ease with which the Icelanders cut through to score their sixth minute goal was concerning, but, the manner in which Celtic re-grouped and took control made it evident, they would prevail - which they did with some style.

Things will be a lot harder in Baku, not least because of the long flight to get there, but, I hope and believe, Celtic could well make it to the Champions League proper this season.

The fact the victorious Celtic side in Iceland contained a majority of Scottish players was another cause for celebration. The fact that none of the six Scots concerned - Craig Gordon, Charlie Mulgrew, Scott Brown, Leigh Griffiths, an the two Dundee United "steals", Armstrong and Mackay-Steven came through the Celtic ranks (ok Mulgrew partially) is another reminder of how poor is Scottish football's development system.

Until we get this right, we will never again see Scotland competing at the top level in both international and continental competition.



CONTINENTAL competition, of course, remains a distant dream for the Rangers Tribute Act, condemned as they are to another season, at least, in the SPFL Championship.

Not being able to beat Burnley in their pre-season friendly is, not unexpectedly being seized upon by the Celtic family's wilder elements as proof that the RTA is in trouble still. If there is one thing I have learned in five decades of sports scribbling, it is to largely ignore pre-season matches - these are football's equivalent of theatrical provincial tours - a chance to get the mistakes out of the system before the big opening.

If Hibs put the RTA to the sword when they officially kick-off the new senior season, at Easter Road, at lunch time on Saturday, then, there will be cause for concern. But, given, even back in the days of Greig, McKinnon and Baxter, Willie Henderson and Millar, Brand and Wilson, Rangers were notoriously slow starters, if the new-look RTA struggles to gel in July and August, it will all be forgotten if they are back in the top-flight by May.

It will take a week,maybe even a month or two, for the squad to get going.



ONE or two of my regular readers will, by this far down this post, be convinced I have, like the rest of the Scottish football media, an unhealthy obsession with covering the Bigot Brothers, to the detriment of the rest of Scottish football.

There was a wonderful example of this in this morning's papers, concerning a company called Spohrt, which was started in 2013 by former footballer Roddy Manley.

Roddy's company offers careers advice for young footballers, who have prhaps realised at 18 or 19, that they are not going to make it as full-time footballers, but, who have - and this happens far-too-often - put all their eggs in the football basket, only to see them break.

Fair play to Roddy, for noticing the need for such a safety net, but, no marks to football in general for not having put up such a safety net within the game.

And, even fewer marks to the msm. Spohrt is a tale which needed telling, but, what appeared in today's paper?

Well ok, Roddy got his picture in, along with his company's name, but, according to whichever paper you read, the words were all about Paul Lambert's belief that Scotland would soon be back playing in the finals of the big international tournaments, or another John Brown call to arms to Ra Peepul, to get behind the "Real Rangers Men" who are now running the RTA.

Boring, boring, boring - but, hey, that's how Scottish football is covered, just as it always has been. Ayebeenism, the eternal curse of Scottish football.    

A Pleasant Way To Pass A Sunday Afternoon

YESTERDAY, Sunday, afternoon was a pleasant one."Management" and I, as has become our want now we are both closer to 70 than 60, went out for our Sunday drive, and, on a whim I turned down the dead-end to Portencross, where, in the car park, with the wonderful view across the Firth to Arran, we halted.

After a hectic week of gardening and grand-son sitting, Herself merely wanted to recline the seat and close her eyes. I had BBC Radio Scotland on the radio, I listened to the splendid McIlvanney conversations, with the under-used Geoff Webster, before a round table discussion with Messers Jock Brown, Archie MacPherson and Chic Young.

Being another Ayrshireman, I am not obliged to subscribe to the cult of McIlvanney - "ah kent his faither" (I didn't as it happens), and all that. Indeed, my less than total devotion to the cult of Hughie is, probably, another example of what my old mate Graham Spiers describes as my hermeneutically-challenged approach to sports writing.

Yes, Hughie is a wonderful essayist on sport; he has a turn of phrase the rest of us would kill for, but, he has always had the twin luxuries, afforded the big names of the broadsheet Sunday newspapers - time to compose and space in which to display his thoughts. I also believe, he has never been the font of all knowledge he is held up to be.

Hughie's greatness is partly based on the sycophancy of some lesser Scottish sporting scribes - but, there can be no doubting his class when it comes to covering football, boxing and horse racing.

Take some other Scottish sports writers away from the Old Firm (as was) and Scotland and they flounder.

My sports-writing heroes are two very English Englishmen, sadly no longer with us: Frank Keating and Ian Wooldridge; Dougie Gillon, a fellow Scot, thankfully still penning the occasional piece for the Herald and Dougie's and my late boss on the Sunday Standard, the great Ian "Dan" Archer.

These four greats, unlike McIlvanney, were comfortable working to the much-tighter deadlines of the Daily newspapers - Dan Archer in particular is all but forgotten today, which is a great shame.

Any way, after the McIlvanney broadcast, we had an enjoyable wee vignette, as Brown, MacPherson and Young sat down and talked. There were no great insights delivered, but, it was entertaining - a football version of the sort of off-the-cuff nonsense the Test Match Special team delivers when rain intervenes in the cricket.

We learned little, but, on a slow, sleepy, sun-kissed afternoon in a car park on the Clyde Coast, it entertained. By the way, Portencross Castle is a hidden gem of Scotland - it is well worth visiting.



WHO has final approval on new Celtic strips - Stevie Wonder? I raise this question because, if the kit pictured in today's Scotsman is indeed, Celtic's new "European" change strip - it's horrible.

What was wrong with the classic Lisbon Lions' strip? Narrow green and white hoops, white shorts, white stockings - a great strip. Similarly, the Rangers strip of the time - a plain blue shirt with the broad white v-neck, the white shorts and the black stockings with red tops, and the obligatory one inch of black above the red, when Bill Struth ruled. These two kits, understated though they were, silently shouted - We are special teams.

The Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee strips of the time also stood for something timeless and solid. 

Then the image makers got involved, along came the commercial interests - the shirts sponsors, until, today, we have playing kits, such as the new Celtic one, which are veritable dogs dinners.

I never have liked sponsors' names and logos on strips. Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL and NHL - arguably the three richest leagues in world sport somehow manage without having team its defaced by sponsors' logos - yes, they embrace sponsors, but, they never sully the playing kits. Only football and the lesser sports deem it necessary to have the players and, more-scandalously the fans who buy the replicas, as unpaid advertising boards for their sponsors.

Let's get back to plain kits - concentrate on the game, not the commercial interests, and let's be done with aberrations such as the new Celtic kit.    

Can We Still Assume Celtic Will Advance?

ONCE upon a time, Celtic bating an Icelandic team 2-0 in a European tie, first-leg, at Celtic Park, would have been cause for quiet confidence. Any reasonable observer of Scottish football, even a Rangers supporter, would confidently predict that Celtic would go to Iceland for the second-leg and complete the job.

Does this assumption still apply?

The fact is, Celtic will take a 2-0 lead into the return game; the belief is that the lead ought to have been greater - Leigh Griffiths missed a penalty, one or two other chances might well have been taken by a competition-sharp Celtic outfit. So, on the face of it, Celtic are in a good place.

But, and what a shame there has to be a but. Concerns persist regarding the soft centre of the Celtic team. An early Icelandic goal, perhaps conceded by some slip-shod defending and, the second leg becomes that bit more-difficult.

A 2-0 lead is OK, but, should 2-0 become 2-1, then maybe 2-2, and it will be squeaky bum time in the second leg.

Celtic are ranked 46 in UEFA's clubs co-efficient table, their Icelandic opponents are ranked 310, ergo, Celtic should win, But, there remains a fragility to this Celtic team, particularly early in the season, which is concerning.

I hope they complete the job in Iceland, I believe they can, but, something prevents me from being absolutely certain as to this outcome.

MEANWHILE, back at the ranch, preparations for the new season continue. In an ideal world Mr Warburton might wish he could rustle-up his new recipe for success for the RTA well away from public view.

Sure, high, thick screening surrounds Murray Park, but, because the main stream Scottish media simply must have a daily "Rangers" story with which to placate the masses, and, because people talk - the luxury of quiet preparations is denied the new manager of the RTA.

When Muhammad Ali had to recover from his occasional blips, such as defeat at the hands of Joe Frasier, he could retire to his training camp in the Catskill Mountains, where, well away from the glare of publicity, he could rediscover that articular mixture of self-belief and alchemy which truly made him "The Greatest", before coming out to again dazzle and bewitch us.

How Warburton and Weir must wish they could do likewise, except, the RTA is a long way off even claiming to be the Greatest in the Championship.

I see the journey back to even parity with Celtic being a long one, over a rocky road. Ra Peepul are not noted for their patience and understanding, don't forget.

I also note that the Sage of Donegal - who for all his faults, is usually the man to trust in such matters - reckons more financial storms are heading Ibrox way.



MEANWHILE, tonight, Inverness Caledonian Thistle take their first steps into Europe, the latest stage in that team's remarkable football journey.

It doesn't seem that long ago since Inverness was seemingly rent asunder by the row over the suggestion that Inverness Caledonian and Inverness Thistle should amalgamate, better to allow the Highlands Capital to persuade those stick-in-the-muds in the central belt that, allowing senior football so close to the North Pole was a good move.

This being Scotland, however, I am sure somewhere in Inverness, some bitter and twisted chap will be sitting - wearing his tattered and moth-eaten Thistle scarf and insisting: "Nae guid will come o' this".

On the other side of the city, an equally bitter and twisted Caley fan will be enacting the same scene. Meanwhile, John Hughes and his players will be hopefully giving those who bought-in to the amalgamated club something to cheer about.

Some of the architects of ICT will be looking down from the great pavilion in the sky. They should have been there, I hope those have been aboard on the journey into Europe and are present tonight, get to savour a debut to remember, for the right reasons.

Good luck too, to Aberdeen, in their European tie.



FINALLY, I commend to you an excellent piece on Olympic Games football which was printed in the Scotsman a couple of days ago. The author was former goalkeeper turned lawyer Derek Stillie. A right sensible piece it was too, proving, yet again, goalkeepers are the intellectuals and philosophers of football - more-so if they started off playing for big John Hunter at Cumnock Academy.    

Europe - More An Away Day Than Holiday For Scottish Teams

GILBERT & Sullivan, in their comic operas of the Victorian era, always included a character, to illustrate the absurdities of the way the Establishment went about things - the Major General in 'The Pirates of Penzance' and the First Lord of the Admiralty in 'HMS Pinafore' being good examples.

 

The First Lord had "polished that handle so carefully that now I am the ruler of the Queen's navee", while the Major General's grasp of military tactics "had only been brought up to the beginning of the century".

 

I got to thinking about these two comic caricatures last night, as I digested Aberdeen's and St Johnstone's results in Europe. Now, Armenia and Macedonia are, in Scottish football terms: two small, far-away countries, of which we know little. We are Scotland - the football Master Race, the nation which taught the world the passing game, the Greatest Wee Nation God Ever Put Breath Intae, Scotland the Brave and all that other shite. Aye Right.

 

We are a small, third-tier European nation with delusions of grandeur and our best footballing days behind us. We haven't punched above our weight in Europe for 30-years, strutted the world stage, albeit we were bit-part players, for 20-years (by the time the next World Cup comes around) and the days are long gone since drawing a Scottish club in Europe sent a shiver of uncertainty, far less fear, up the spines of all but the smallest of European minnows.

 

At least, Aberdeen got through, courtesy of a disciplined defensive display and a superb late save from their on-loan English goalkeeper, but, for St Johnstone - failure to beat ten men, at home, well, that's a bad night at the office by any standards.

 

I don't have a feeling of confidence about Aberdeen's chances in the next round; simply getting into Europe has been a terrific achievement for Inverness CT, but, I don't honestly see them going far, while, for all their domestic successes, I don't see Celtic - the one horse in our one-horse top division - being Classic contenders this season.

 

Still, the Hampden blazers will still turn-up, consume the buffet food, speak of great things, of a better tomorrow and do everything they can to prevent this better tomorrow happening.

 

If Gilbert & Sullivan were around today, they'd have great inspiration from watching events in Hampden's corridors of power.

 

 

 

RE-ORGANISATION is, I see, back on the agenda (well, the let's talk about it one) for Scottish football. It may well happen, particularly if, as I sense they might, the next version of the Rangers Tribute Act proves to be as successful as the last incarnation in navigating their way out of the Championship this season.

 

I am starting to get the impression, the "Real Rangers Men" now steering the ship are just as likely to hit a financial iceberg as the Fake Rangers men they have supplanted. If Alan Stubbs can instil some real belief in his troops, and Ian Murray get as much out of the St Mirren full-timers as he got out of his Dumbarton part-timers last season, well, maybe the RTA will again fail to win promotion.

 

For the long-term good of the Ibrox club, this would be no bad thing, in my opinion, but, another year without the RTA in the top flight just might be too-much for the other clubs to contemplate, which will mean hurriedly implemented and ill-thought-out change.

 

Given the men in the blazers who stalk Hampden's corridors of power have time and again proved themselves incapable of organising a piss-up in a brewery, can anyone honestly say they detect new intelligence and ability therein? I cannot.

 

 

 

 

Scottish Goalies Are Still Getting A Raw Deal

AS AN old goalkeeper myself, I have a soft spot for the odd men out in football teams, the only guys allowed to use their hands. Goalkeeper is also the most-specialised position in any team. In any XI, you have two full-backs, two central defenders, up to five midfielders, and up to three strikers - but, only ever one goalkeeper.

 

This means, in any squad, you might expect one goalkeeper at least to spend most of his time sitting on his backside on the bench, waiting for his chance. The fall-out rate in goalkeepers, therefore, tends to be high. A back-up goalkeeper might spend several seasons waiting for a game, not get one and be released.

 

In the past week Rangers, Celtic and Hibs have all bought-in goalkeepers from outwith Scotland, as have Aberdeen - taking James Ward on-loan from Liverpool and immediately putting him into their first team for their opening Europa League qualifier.

 

It was one thing for wee Jimmy Greaves to build a TV career out of abusing Scottish goalkeepers, it is quite another for Scottish club managers to ignore the claims of native-born keepers. I believe the talent is there it simply needs to be encouraged and for clubs to put in place development plans for young stoppers.

 

For instance, I had a look at the keepers who have played for the Scotland Under-21 team in the last ten seasons, and came up with a few almost-forgotten names. Surely some of these guys, who have dropped off the radar, could do a job in the upper reaches of the SPFL.

 

Since season 2005-06, the following keepers have won Scotland Under-21 honours: Season 2005-06 - David Marshall, Iain Turner

Season 2006-07 - Andrew McNeil, Jamie Macdonald

Season 2007-08 - Chris Smith, Euan McLean, Greg Fleming

Season 2008-09 - Alan Martin, Scott Gallacher

Season 2009-10 - Jamie Barclay, Grant Adam, Michael Andrews

Season 2011-12 - Mark Ridgers

Season 2012-13 - Jordan Archer, Chris Kettings

 

That's 15 promising young goalkeepers. OK, Marshall is now Scotland's first-choice; Macdonald has joined Kilmarnock from Falkirk, to compete against Craig Samson, a Scotland squad player; Ridgers was first-choice at St Mirren last season; Gallacher was back-up to Neil Alexander at Hearts and is now seeking regular first-team action.

 

That's 3 of the 15 getting a regular game, with a fourth enjoying enough action last season to have him seeking further exposure at the top end. What of the rest?

 

Turner, who was with Sheffield United last season, has spent most of his career, he is 30 now, on-loan to various clubs, during his long spell with Everton. He has been a full-time professional for more than a decade, but has yet to play 100 first-team games.

 

In spite of this, he has one Scotland B cap and has been in Scotland A squads.

 

Andy McNeil, Chris Smith, Greg Fleming, Jamie Barclay, Grant Adam and Michael Andrews are all playing for lower league SPFL clubs, while Jordan Archer, having been released by Tottenham at the end of last season, has signed for Millwall, while Chris Kettings is with Crystal Palace.

 

Only Euan McLean is no longer in the game, the former Dundee United and St Johnstone back-stop is now a policeman.

 

You have to ask yourself two questions - how come so-many of our best young goalkeepers have failed to "train-on" and become deemed only fit for part-time, lower league football, or the reserve team of a full-time outfit? And, could they, if given the chance, play at a higher level?

 

I feel our clubs are, particularly when it comes to goalkeepers, not giving home-grown talent a fair crack of the whip. Only 1 of 15 Under-21 goalkeepers progressing to the full Scotland team simply isn't good enough.

SO, m'learned friends are making more money out of Rangers FC (1872-2012), or, more-properly in this case: the Murray International Holdings Employees Benefits Trust, MIHEBT, as "The Big Tax Case" returns to the Court of Session.

This case has nothing to do with the Rangers Tribute Act, but, this will not prevent the internet warriors, from both halves of the Bigot Brothers "families" from venting their considerable spleen on the matter.

Ach! It's a nice wee mid-close-season diversion. But, that said, the case has potentially serious repercussions for English football. Despite what "Ra Peepul" have claimed since this case kicked-off, HMRC's determination to fight the BTC to the bitter end is NOT an attack on Rangers, that club is the catalyst - the targets are the big-spending English clubs; there is, potentially, a lot more tax income to be obtained from a verdict in favour of HMRC against MIHEBT, which can be used as a means of getting at the English clubs.

 

The Murray Group could lose, the former Rangers players could lose, as could players with various English clubs, but, as always, the lawyers will win. That's life.

 

 

 

Am I the only one who thinks, Dundee United ought to declare themselves an official feeder club for Celtic?

 

 

 

 

Phil May Be Obsessed With Events Down Edmiston Drive, But, This Doesn't Mean He's Writing Mince

BLOGGER and author Phil Mac Giolla Bhain is a divisive chap, loved by some, mainly in the Celtic Family, loathed by many, and not just amongst the ranks of Ra Peepul. He is also something of an acquired taste.

His tome 'Downfall' is THE definitive account (so far), of the demise of Rangers FC (1872-2012). It is, in truth, a terrible book, making an absolute pig's breakfast of telling a remarkable tale, but, until something better comes along, it will have to do.

That criticism made, it has to be acknowledged, Phil knows his stuff, he has consistently been ahead of the pack when it comes to breaking news, generally the stuff Rangers, or the Rangers Tribute Act, would rather was kept secret. It is, however, such a pity he cannot write a bookie's line and has used some subs who shouldn't even have been in the squad, far less on the bench.

One thing I do share with Phil, is a healthy scepticism about the modes and methods of the King and his court. Ra Peepul might see them as "Real Rangers Men", I see a bunch of chancers.

Phil is convinced all is not well at Ibrox, I tend to agree with him. It looks as if we are in for another long season of misinformation, evasion and high drama around the RTA. My long-held belief that this whole Ibrox farrago is nothing more than an elaborate scheme to make money for m'learned friends has not been tested in any way.

This soap opera has a long way to go.

I HAVE been saying, for a long time now, until we get back to positively-discriminating in favour of Scottish talent, Scottish football will struggle. Take this week for instance. Hibs have recruited a new Spanish goalkeeper, while the RTA has acquired an English keeper, who, if reports from the South are accurate, is not remotely in the Banks, Shilton, Clemence class.

Good luck to the guys, in getting their contracts, but, I refuse to believe there are not Scottish goalkeepers out there who coud do just as good a job.

I have long said, this stuff about freedom of movement as an excuse for importing cheap foreign players into Scotland is pure pish. If the English Rugby Football Union can insist on 70% of every match-day squad in the Aviva Premiership is "England-qualified", why cannot the SPFL make the same demands on its clubs?

 THE trouble with this all-year-round fitba nonsense is, the sports writers (for sport read fitba) in Scotland have to have holidays, but, when can they take their breaks?

This should be the ideal point in the year for this, except, with the lowered expectations of our clubs in Europe, even our supposed best clubs are getting back into competitive action, while we are into that fortnight in the year when our sports writers try to kid us on they are golf experts. We even have one or two exchanging Ochilview for Wimbledon.

With staffing levels being slashed by cash-strapped, circulation bleeding newspapers, we are not getting the service we ought to be receiving from our msm.

AND, what about today's BIG story on our sports pages - Kris Boyd has a hair transplant operation. Come on, gie's a brek; he's been wearing his heid upside doon for two years, surely it could have been put right way up a lot cheaper!!!

FINALLY, I tried to watch the Women's World Cup Final on Sunday night, but, after 12 minutes or so of Jonathan Pearce giving his own version of that sixties classic by Kim Weston 'It Should Have Been Me'; Fat Pearce's version was, of course: "It Should Have Been England", I gave up.

By the time I did, USA were 2-0 up and, I already knew, it was game over.  

Naw Son, Wimmen Hiv Nae Idea Aboot Fitba

SEE women - nae idea aboot fitba. Did nobody think to explain to "The Lionesses" aka the England Women's team at the Women's World Cup - when it comes to England v Germany at that level, when penalties come into play - the Germans win.

OK Fara Williams's winning effort wasn't in a shoot-out, but, was in extra time. Still, you'd have thought she would have known to miss it, take the tie to penalty kicks and then let the Germans win!!!

But seriously, well done to the England girls. Respect.

STILL on the distaff side of football. I have long been an admirer of Alan Campbell's near-individual efforts to promote Women's Football in the pages of The Herald and The Scotsmen, the two "newspapers of record" in Scotland.

Since the tabloids don't really promote fitba, with their overkill on the Bigot Brothers, sensible comment and news on the women's game has to come from the two "heavy" papers, and Alan has tied-up a nice wee niche for himself there.

He has a piece on the Women's World Cup on The Scotsman's website today, in which he more-or-less skims over his most-significant phrase, in his sixth paragraph. There he reflects, briefly, on the comparative attitude to women's football in England and Scotland.

Arsenal Ladies led the way, but, today, Manchester City, Everton, Liverpool, Birmingham City, even Notts County, have girls in the England team. I understand, if the broadcast/published figures are correct, that some of the top English women players are earning as much, if not more, that male players in the SPFL Premiership.

OK, we all accept, there is more, much-more money in the game in England. This is good news for our top women players - many in the Scottish Women's A Squad are now earning good money in England, and, suddenly, the High Road South is becoming as welcome a pathway to riches for our women players as it has always been for our men.

This will, in turn, open-up greater opportunities for our younger, home-grown players. However, as Campbell all-too-briefly alluded to in his Scotsman piece, the Scottish clubs are not as supportive of women's football as the top English clubs.

"Fitba's nae a gemme fur lassies", is a notion which is, sadly, all-too-common in Scottish football. There may have been other issues in-play, but, the fact that the great Sheila Begbie, for so long THE top woman in Scottish football switched from Hampden to Murrayfield, indicates to me, she maybe became fed-up banging her head against the brick wall of "aye beenism" which is so evident at Hampden.

It might be, we still have too far to go in getting our male game into the 21st century, to  be ready to spend time on the women's version. However, when we consider how well the likes of Glasgow City has done, and the way our Women's team has come-on in recent years, we should maybe be even more encouraging of the distaff side of the game.

Let's face it, in the last 20-years, only two Scottish footballers have truly been "World-Class" - and neither Julie Fleeting-Stewart or Kim Little is available to WGS.

I AM not too-concerned about Celtic losing 5-3 at "home", albeit that home was St Mirren Park, in a pre-season friendly against Dukla Prague. These games are designed with a single aim, to get the team tuned-up for the start of real competitive football, which is still some distance ahead.

OK, shipping five goals at home is hardly the best initial preparation, but, the sensible Celtic fans, will accept this reverse, if the team qualifies for the Champions League.

My mate Big Billy King reckons Peter Lawwell boobed - he thought they would be playing Dukla Pumpherston and in line for a goals fest, only, they booked the wrong Dukla P.

Mind you, playing "The Cry Was No Defenders" at the height of the "Marching Season", will, quite clearly, not play well with the wider Celtic Family.



STILL on matters Celtic. John Hartson, one of the more-intelligent of the "Former Old Firm Talking Heads Society" has been quoted on Adam Matthews leaving Celtic for Sunderland - in search of regular first team football.

I feel squad rotation is one area where football has much to learn from other games.

For instance, when I first became interested in watching rather than playing football, in the mid-1950s, I followed Lugar Boswell Thistle and, the names still trip off my tongue: Jock Fraser, Davie Love, Charlie Cathie, Alex McEwan, Jim Baird, Jim Donnelly, Alex Bingham, Jimmy Collins, "Sanny" Sharpe, Hughie Neil and Eric Wilkie. That seemed to be the team every week.

In reality, that team, the one which found Petershill, in the 1956 Junior Cup Final, a game too-far, barely played together that season. Charlie Cathie broke his leg early-on, Jock Stirling wore the number three shirt in most of the cup games, Eric Wilkie was doing his National Service in England, Jim Balfour more often than not wore number 11. Sharpe too, was on National Service and only regularly-available in the second half of the season. But still, memory has me reeling-off the team as in the previous paragraph.

Then, when I graduated to Senior Football at Rugby Park, the Kilmarnock team always seemed to read; Jimmy Brown, Jim Richmond, Matt Watson, Frank Beattie, Willie Toner, Bobby Kennedy, Rab Stewart, Jim McInally, Andy Kerr, Bertie Black and Billy Muir.

It would only have been possible for Willie Waddell to select that exact XI in 77 games - between Andy Kerr arriving and Bobby Kennedy departing to Manchester City. In actual fact they only appeared in that order in 20 games. But still, that's the Killie XI against which every Killie team since has been measured by me.

So, apparently, football, once upon a time was played by the same teams every week - you were either a first-team player of a reserve. Each club had two squads, the first-team one and the reserve one, and rarely the twain did meet.

Basically, football doesn't do squad rotation. Well, it is time the game did.

I accept, the physical demands made on the players in professional rugby are higher than those made on their footballing counterparts, but, IF the round-ball game can learn from the oval one and get it right, I can see better-quality football, in a better game, being the prize.

Last season, Glasgow Warriors used 52 players in winning the Pro12. Yes, such are the physical demands placed, in particular, on the five tight forwards, correct timing of substitutions is one of the coach's major decisions, but, Gregor Townsend had to tinker with his squad on other occasions.

In football, the domestic programme shuts-down for internationals, in rugby, the domestic programme carries on, and clubs like Glasgow have to allow for the absence of up to a full team, yet keep going.

Make squad rotation work, do away with the feeling that, some players are shoo-ins for a first team place, make inter-squad competition more common, get them out of their comfort zone and, I am sure, we would see a better domestic game in Scotland.

The players should also, in my opinion, train harder, improve their technical skills - do as much in a week as the rugby men do, and, I would expect Scottish football to thrive and prosper.

Coming Into Scottish Football Is Not A Positive Career Move For An English-Trained Player

WE have been playing organised football here in Scotland for nigh-on 150-years, and, for all of that time, the high road to England has, seemingly, been paved with gold for ambitious young Scots.

 

Ever since the "Scotch Professors" of the late Victorian era, the time when Scotland was the greatest football nation on earth, we have sent out brightest and best south, to show the English how it was done.

 

For many years, our best schoolboy stars went south, where, although many prospered, just as many failed and, tail between their legs, came, "back up the road", to Scottish football.

 

That has always been Scottish football's image, a place where you go, if you cannot cut it in the bigger, richer, but harder play ground south of the Solway and the Tweed.

 

OK, there was a brief spell in the mid-1980s, when, with England banned from European club competition, and Rangers awash with money, we could attract real quality English and foreign players up here, but, these days are past and are unlikely to return in the short to medium term.

 

So, it ill-serves some of our mainstream media football "experts" to try to kid us, that English-based players, being recruited by Scottish clubs are: "top-class talent". OK, there have been occasions, big Joe Hart and Casper Schmeichel come to mind in this instance, where brilliant young players, coached and developed in England, were sent up here to gain experience. However, in general, you might say, any player who moves South to North, is acknowledging, he cannot cut in down there.

 

We have had a couple of examples this week or so past, when Scottish football writers have tried to "big-up" new signings from England by Scottish clubs. The more-gullible Scottish fans, just might, buy this. I do not.

 

A wee bit more honesty with the fans might help staunch the flow of readers away from some of our daily papers.

 

 

 

I WILL have my ABE t-shirt on, as I sit-up into the wee sma' hours tonight, watching the Japan v England Women's World Cup semi-final.

 

I bear no ill-will towards the "Lionesses" in the England squad, but, the way they are being built-up by the English media is typical of what the England men's team has to put up with on a four-yearly basis.

 

We have had Engerlund, Engerlund, Engerlund rammed down our throats daily by the English Broadcasting Corporation since they got past Canada into the last four. Then we have the daily pantomime of the Scotland Bill going through parliament, and our 56 SNP MPs being humiliated on a daily basis by the Tories. It's enough to make even the most-Braveheart-like Scot scream.

 

Well though they have done to get where they are, in truth, England have been the least-impressive of the four semi-finalists. They have ridden their luck, and fair play to them for this, but, I have a feeling, in the early hours of tomorrow morning, England will be found-out.

 

What really got me going was that pain-in-the-arse Jonathan Pearce, in his quarter-final commentary, remarking on: "Canada beating England in the Olympic Games in London".

 

FFS, they didn't beat England, they beat Team GB, but, as we all know, to many English, Britain is the UK or GB - and they wonder why we cannot stand them.