How Long Can They Hide?

I DO not "do" Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram or any form of "social media" other than blogging. Maybe I ought to post on here the identities of those other blogs which I follow regularly - except, this blog is about sport, and I don't follow any sporting blogs regularly; although I am somewhat addicted to that excellent blog on Scottish politics and current affairs: Wings Over Scotland.

 

Wingers, as we regulars term ourselves, have been getting somewhat agitated of late by a couple of interesting cases of hidden identity - just who is 'Brian Spanner QC' and which Rangers Tribute Act director told Graham Spiers he rather liked 'The Billy Boys'.

 

As to M'learned friend Mr Spanner - he/she or it will be outed soon enough. I mean, if the massed ranks of the British Establishment, could not, back in the deferential 1930s, keep the fact "The King of England" was playing "Hide the Sausage" with a woman who was, not only a divorcee, but a damned colonial, an American no less, hidden from the view of the common herd - then I don't see how a bunch of anal retentive Edinburgh media types can protect whoever is behind Mr Spanner.

 

I will admit, the Lap Top Loyal ought to be able to protect the identity of the as yet unknown RTA High Heid Yin for a wee while yet, but, he too will, in time, be identified.

 

I have never hidden my liking for "Britney" Spiers; the number of awards the bar steward has won indicates, he is a master of his craft, but, in the 20-years or more that I have known and worked with him, I have identified one wee fault in Graham - he just occasionally fails to realise when to draw the line.

 

I remember, some 15-years ago now, I fed him a nice wee juicy morsel about Ayrshire Junior Football, but, I warned him to not take it beyond where I had gone, to leave well alone. But no, Graham decided to take my item, which I admit I had spun as far as I thought it could be, and gave it a couple of extra revolutions.

 

Spierso was ok, some 40-miles from the action. I was lucky to escape with my head still on my shoulders when I was outed as Spiers's "Ayrshire Correspondent". So, Graham, occasionally takes things too-far.

 

I think he has done this in the instance of BillyBoysgate. Now, let me say, at its highest level, the Orange Order has men who sincerely believe in the Order's duty to uphold the status quo, whereby the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has a Protestant monarch. But, personally, I would rather not travel with some of the LOL's camp followers.

 

I find the whole atmosphere around an Orange Walk, intimidating and unsettling. That said, like the Devil, they have the best tunes. I defy any West-Central Scottish raised Protestant not to tap their feet at The Sash, or any of the other "party songs", when a well-rehearsed flute band gies it laldy during the "Marching Season".

 

There is, of course, a well-established cross-over or synergie between Orangism and Rangers. The Billy Boys is not an official Orange anthem, but, it is in the Ibrox song book, and, again, when the massed choir (sorry, the small minority) gie it laldy on match days, well, even otherwise sensible business-men, lawyers and accountants and fellow professionals, have been  known to join in.

 

As such, it is a good, catchy tune, so, yes, I can see where the RTA director is coming from. But, that does not mean he is a bigot. Silly, easily-led, engaging mouth before brain when speaking to a journalist perhaps; however, the jury is out on if he is a bigot.

 

That said, the reaction of the RTA's hierarchy to Graham's Herald piece - to demand, figuratively, his head on a plate, was over-reaction, while the craven way the Herald's management caved-in to the threats from Ibrox, well, that simply indicates how far and how fast the Herald is going down the stank.

 

Then, to sack Angela Haggerty for tweeting her support for Graham, well, that was another bum move from the guys in the expensive suits at the top of Renfield Street. Had they sacked Ms Haggerty for professional incompetence, well, I would have struggled to object, I am sorry, I dinnae rate the lassie at all, but, sacked for supporting a colleague who had been hung out to dry - nope.

 

 

 

I FOUND myself shaking my head indisbelief at another of the better Scottish-based sports writers: BBC Scotland's Tom English, this morning.

 

Irish Tom used to be my boss at the Sunday Times Scotland, and a colleague on Scotland on Sunday - he is an excellent, first-class operator. However, this weekend, in a piece on the BBC Scotland Sport website, he had me shaking my head in disbelief at the line he took.

 

Tom was wondering why Jordan Rhodes, who seems to score goals for fun in the English Championship, has never been given a chance in the Premiership down South. I'll answer that for you Tom - because he isn't good enough.

 

Football history is riddled with examples of guys who scored goals for fun in the lower leagues, but, couldn't cut it at the highest level. A lot of Scots, for instance, have left provincial teams up here, where they have been hitting the net every week, gone down South, failed to make an impression and been back up the road, and back among the goals, in jig time.

 

Tom's argument re Rhodes seemed to be that Craig Levein and Gordon Strachan have not given him enough of a chance with Scotland. Now, scoring goals for fun in the second tier in England is not an indication that the same player could deliver at international level. Rhodes, in his Scotland appearances, has never convinced me he might develop into a new Law, Dalglish or Reilly.

 

He is now 26, therefore, he has been in a full-time professional football environment for a decade, his father, albeit as a goalkeeper, had a long football career before him, so, Rhodes ought to know what is needed to reach the very top.

 

If Levein and Strachan could, in the short time they spend actually hands-on with the players they select for Scotland duty, identify flaws in his game, short-comings he needs to address if he is to take that next step - to Scotland regular and perhaps Premieship player -  then surely the various managers he has worked with at Huddersfield and Blackburn could see them too.

 

I would assume these managers and these clubs, have suggsted he work on his deficiencies in training. If they have, and he hasn't - hell mend him, he doesn't deserve to go any further than he has. If they have told him: "work on this, this and this" and he has, but still has not convinced others he has what it takes to reach the top, well, he is being cushioned by earning some big money, so, at least, when he begins to slide down the divisions, he at least has something behind him.

 

He also, has played for Scotland, and I am not alone in wishing I could say: "Aye, I played fitba for Scotland". When Scotland meets England in the qualifying group for the next World Cup, there will be around 50,000 of us inside Hampden, either wishing we could have had the experience of playing in such a game, or dreaming that we some day might.

 

Rhodes has worn the Scotland jersey - maybe if he had worked harder, or if he somehow, at 26, buckles down and does work harder - he may wear it again.

Better Behaviour Is Possible - If Football Could Be More Like Rugby

I MAY have mentioned before, but, one of my friends is a retired former Strathclyde Polis High Heid Yin - one-time Match Commander at Ibrox - and yes, he is a Rangers supporter (if not a Mason).

 

This morning, he brought-up the controversial matter of Andy Halliday's second yellow card and consequential red card, at Cappielow, on Monday night. First up, only the most-bitter member of the Celtic Family could fail to see, this was, by any measure, a very soft yellow/red combination incident. I don't know what it was all about, maybe the referee's assistant who brought Halliday's gesture towards the Morton fans was keen to get himself into the papers and on TV, but, in truth it was something about, if not nothing, very little.

 

I remember Barry Cook as a young schoolboy player with Renfrew High School; a clever boy I thought then - that's a view I have no reason to change. So, why did he go with the second yellow and consequential red? Might I suggest, since he is still on the way up in refereeing, perhaps fear of the assessor in the stand kicked-in and he opted to follow direction, rather than using his own initiative and maybe calling Halliday over and reading him the Riot Act.

 

"Listen you numpty - you're already on a yellow, FFS behave yourself or - you're off", the whole conversation emphasised with over-obvious gestures to emphasise - the ref is laying down the Law. That might have sufficed.

 

However, there is, I believe, a more-serious side to cases such as this. That side is, quite frankly football has a severe image problem inasmuch as the leeway it allows the players in terms of personal behaviour.

 

For instance, this issue of an automatic booking for players who take off their shirts in celebration of a goal. This protocol might seem a bit draconian, but, it was brought-in for good reason, when the "fashion" for taking-off strips first surfaced, one or two potenital flash-points arose, with players wearing undershirts showing controversial messages, some of which were clearly designed to annoy opposing fans.

 

So, rather than treating each case on its merits, football's authorities decided  you take your shirt off, you get booked. Fair enough, this has been enshrined in football law for some years now - so, why the Hell are players still doing it?

 

If they are so-stupid that they keep doing this, well, it's surely up to the clubs to lay-down the Law and tell them: "You get booked for this, you get fined". I reckon, if the shirt-removers were hit and hit hard in the wallet, they would soon stop being so stupid.

 

A wee aside here. Last month I heard a current Glasgow Warriors Scottish rugby internationalist deliver an after-dinner speech. During this he revealed the behaviour rules under which he has to operate. With Warriors, if you get a yellow or red card - you automatically are dropped from the next game. Also, if the Warriors are defending and you go for an interception, and do not make it - you're dropped for the next game.

 

Now, in Rugby, if you pick-up a yellow card, you go into the "sin bin" for ten minutes and, records show, on average, a side asked to play a man down for ten minutes leaks ten points in that time. That's the equivalent of two goals, by the way.

 

Why don't the football authorities try this for a season? Now, I know the collisions, even the normal ones, in rugby tend to be a bit harder than the collisions in football, but, if only in terms of player welfare, if we clamped down on "over-zealous" challenges with sin-binning, it might make for a better game.

 

Similarly, if sin-binning was brought in for "professional" fouls - deliberate hand-ball and so-forth, it would surely make for a cleaner, better game. Also, we would get rid of this ludicrous "taking one for the team" situation. Win-win all round I would say.

 

Mind you, I am not holding Rugby up as a paragon, compared to football. Since professionalism came into the handling game, standards have slumped, across the board. Offences such as squint feeding of the scrum have seemingly been allowed by the authorities; the need to kick a penalty, even to touch, through the mark, is no longer insisted upon and that's before you get to one of my personal bug-bears, foot faults when the hooker is throwing-in at a line-out. Rugby too has its problems with behaviour, but, theirs are nothing like as extreme as football.

 

I feel, if a sin bin was brought into football, it would have, very quickly, a effect on behaviour, and you wouldn't see stupid yellow and red cards such as that picked-up by Mr Halliday on Monday night.

 

I do not believe footballers are naturally stupider than rugby players, but, I am convinced the football authorities are stupider than their rugby equivalents, in matters of the behaviour, or misbehaviour, they allow.

 

Rugby is a game for hooligans, played by gentlemen; football is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans - or so they say. In terms of behaviour, the football-playing hooligans, obviously, need closer policing. Why doesn't this happen?

 

Another thing, with passing reference to Monday night. Once Barry Cook flashed his red card, he was surrounded by protesting Rangers players. Why doesn't football take another leaf out of the rugby book? When a rugby player is about to be red-carded, the referee stops the game, waves all the players back, then summons the offender - AND HIS CAPTAIN. He then explains to both: why the player is being sin-binned, or sent off. The player knows, as does the captain - any other player who wants to put-in his twopenceworth, is sent packing away from the conversation.

 

Now, if a football referee was to instigate this - sending all but the offender and his captain away, on pain of another yellow card, it would help take the aggression and bad feeling out of the game. Mind you, to get the players to toe the line, there might have to be a blitz of yellow cards, but, I am sure, eventually, the players would get the message and a better, more-watchable game would emerge.

Joint First Among Equals - That's The Situation In Scottish Fitba

PART of me supposes all this current talk about league reconstruction is partially-driven by damage limitation, just in case the RTA finds another way to blow promotion from the SPFL Championship to the Premiership. I could be wrong, but, the thought is there.

 

I mean, we now know, and this is something I admit, I ought to have known, but didn't - the league set-up in Scottish senior football is an unequal one. Leagues, by their very nature ought to be organisations of equals, however, since the SPFL's television contracts are driven by having a minimum of four "Old Firm" games per season, and any fewer means less money comes in, the SPFL cannot be a body of equals.

 

The other 40 clubs seem quite prepared to go along with this. They allow the Bigot Brothers, when in the same division, to vacuum-up the major portion of the TV revenue, and are quite happy to feed off the crumbs they have dropped into their laps.

 

This might well be one of the reasons why the outrageous behaviour of the Bigot Brothers' fans goes largely unpunished - sectarianism sells, and it isn't simply the two clubs most-involved who benefit, the rest get a wee share of the profits.

 

So, given Scottish Football is such a rotten institution - why do we bother? Scottish football is dying on its feet, the need for surgery is far-more radical than we had imagined, and, we don't have the qualified surgeons in this country to perform that surgery.

 

In my innocence, I thought, all that is needed is for a system to be devised which offers those clubs who have invested in new stadia a chance to prosper, while, at the same time, finding a means whereby the smaller community clubs can also thrive and survive.

 

Silly me, it is all about keeping as many snouts in the trough as can possibly be fed, and, the other snouts will get sufficient swill, if they let the two big bores at the end have first dibs.

 

Scottish football will never cure Scottish football's ills. If they cannot and will not - who can?

 

 

The above picture is, according to a well-known pro-independence website, a sneak preview of the new Rangers away kit. Kinda suits them don't you think?

 

This one really needs no caption, does it.



AND, before I am branded a Rangers-hater, can I just say, after those TV and newspaper pictures of events at Stair Park at the weekend, for how much longer can the Celtic apologists continue insisting they are the good guys. Their serial denial of any form of wrong-doing from the self-styled "Greatest fans in the world" is now, more than ever, tedious.

It wasn't simply "Juan Guy" who was keeping that squad of polis busy on Sunday.

Both the Celtic Family and Ra Peepul now have cases of bad behaviour before the SFA's beaks, how much whitewash will Hampden need to buy to cover these ones up?



I WILL be heading for Rugby Park on 23 January, to watch Glasgow Warriors take on Racing 92, in a European Rugby Champions Cup match. There is every chance the crowd at that game will be the largest of the year at the old ground, and, it will be the only chance Ayrshire sports fans will have of seeing genuine, world-class talent on display on the ground. I am so looking forward to seeing Daniel Carter playing.



 

 

 

 

Village Idiots Are Not Just Found In Ayrshire Villages

THERE is a hoary, old, time-honoured custom in Ayrshire Junior Football, whereby "The Village Idiot" is guaranteed a place on the local junior team's committee. Every Ayrshire club practices this, indeed, until fairly recently, Cumnock Juniors took it a stage further - they made the Village Idiot the club President.

They have now, I am glad to report, ceased this, from being a club with a committee who repeatedly left me shaking their head at their mass stupidity, and fearing for the sanity of the excellent George Morton, one of the finest club secretaries in the long history of the junior game, they have morphed into an excellent body of men and women.

Now, I fear, the "A place for the Village Idiot" mentality has spread, to the Labour Party's Scottish Branch. I see similarities between SLAB and Cumnock Juniors, not least because SLAB's relationship with the SNP is somewhat akin to that between Cumnock and Auchinleck Talbot.

You could even infer SLAB makes their Village Idiot Leader, if you have a critical view of the activities of Johann Lamont, "Spud" Murphy and current incumbent, Kezia Dugdale. Mind you, just as, at Townhead Park, actually picking a Village Idiot was somewhat difficult, the winner being required to come from a team of strong contenders, thus it is too in the SLAB rooms at Holyrood, where the likes of Jackie Baillie - surely the outcome of an ill-advised one-night-stand between Daphne Broon and Homer Simpson - and James Kelly MSP would be strong and well-backed contenders in any SLAB Village Idiot of the Year competition.

Fresh from being red-carded by Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick the other week, the bold Kelly has now weighed-in to the somewhat manufactured debate on the Offensive Behaviour in Football Act, perhaps the most-discussed and fought-over legislation in the history of the Scottish Parliament.

I have said on this blog before, in my opinion the Offensive Behaviour in Football Act is bad law, too-speedily introduced, without proper thought. Nothing since its introduction has caused me to alter my view. I have spoken about the Act to a friend, who is retired from the police service, where his final position prior to retirement was as a Divisional Commander with Strathclyde Police, a role which carried the rank of Chief Superintendent.

He maintains, the old "catch-all" charge of "Breach of the Police" more than adequately covers any misbehaviour which might occur at football matches.

Of course one of the problems which seems to affect MSP Kelly, Jim Murphy and some other opponents of the Act is - well, sectarianism. Like many within the Labour Party in Scotland's hierarchy, Messrs Kelly and Murphy are Roman Catholics, with a leaning towards Celtic FC - members of the "Celtic Family".

They see themselves as "the Good Guys", set-upon by the Forces of Darkness from Ibrox. In the eyes of a lot of the members of the Celtic Family, "Ra Peepul" singing about wearing their Father's sash, or guarding Derry's Walls - well that's bigoted, sectarian behaviour which should see the perpetrators descended-on by the full majesty of the Law. Also, the satire of "The Famine Song" shot several miles over their heads.

If, however, a section  of the Celtic support chooses to sing songs in support of the IRA, or of the cause of Irish Home Rule, well, that's political comment.

The rest of us, who belong to neither half of the Bigot Brothers, it matters not a jot whether the songs are from north or south of the border between Northern Ireland and Eire - we ask: what has Irish religious/political history got to do with Scottish Football anyway?

Any way, it has happened, we have this festering sore on the arse of Scottish football. That said, I repeat, not for the first time - this running sore could be cured if just two organisations would act. These organisations are Celtic and Rangers.

The two clubs could rid themselves of their lunatic fringes who cause most of the bother, if the will was there. However, it is quite clear to those of us outwith the Bigot Brothers - Sectarianism sells, and, as such, it will not end any time soon.

With Celtic Park and Ibrox now being all-seater stadia, with so-many of the seats being filled by season ticket holders, and with each of the clubs having big and well-established supporters clubs groupings - groups who form the bulk of the away support, reportedly the fans who do most of the allegedly bad singing and chanting.

It would be easy to root those who will not behave properly out of these clubs - but, I repeat, the will has to be there.

IF that will was to emerge, and IF the clubs genuinely did something about it - then we could pretty much eliminate sectarianism from Scottish Football. Eliminating it from Scotland altogether - ah well, that will be a far-longer, far-harder task.       

Let Them Have Their Fun - It Doesn't Really Matter

"Keep the Heid" - ok, that same expression is used in other languages, even in "the Queen's English", but, the use of heid rather than head, I think, gives it extra emphasis.

 

We "Sweaties" will need to do a good deal of keeping the heid in 2016, particularly during Euro 2016, when, dare I remind you, we will again be outside looking in, whilst the rest of these islands has more than passing interest in events in L Belle France.

 

No nation will be under greater pressure to perform than England, because, in spite of the evidence of 24 successive tournament failures, the English media's default position going into the tournament will again be: England Expects.

 

These great expectations will be ramped-up even further this year since, it happens to be the 50th anniversary of England's greatest, indeed only football triumph in a competition where the opposition came from furth of the British Isles - the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

 

Those bastions of good taste and moderation, Sky Sports and the BBC will gradually feed-in even-greater reminiscences of that glorious day in late July, 1966, when they thought it was all over - it was; when the Charlton brothers wept together, wee Nobby danced his jig of joy and the cursed Hun were given a bloody nose, oh aye, and Denis Law flung his golf clubs away in disgust at having his day ruined.

 

Let's be honest, the 1966 tournament wasn't a great one; how could it be when Pele, Garrincha and some other stellar talents were hacked out of the game. What have been the lasting memories of that tournament?

 

The sterility of the opening game - the arrival on the world stage of Franz Beckenbauer - the Italian implosion - the North Koreans - Eusebio's goals - Rattin's sending-off during the quarter-final "kicking match" between England and Argentina - a couple of Bobby Charlton goals - the goal that never was in the final, coupled with the "Russian" linesman (from Azerbaijan) - and Kenneth Wolstenholme's career-defining ad lib when Geoff Hurst completed his "hat trick".

 

That tournament, however, was a turning point, not least in football relations between English and Scottish fans. If you look at the newsreel film of the time, or at "Goal", the official film of that tournament, you will notice the lack of English flags - the cross of St George. To a man, those England fans who took a flag to games took the Union Flag, the "Butcher's Apron". To them England and the United Kingdom, or Great Britain, were one and the same.

 

Prior to 1966, there had been rivalry between England and Scotland fans at the annual encounter of international football's oldest enemies, but, this was a friendly rivalry. Even in 1966, many of the rival fans had a shared history - of wartime service together, of doing their National Service in the same unit. Cockneys, Geordies, Scousers, Brummies, West Countrymen, Cornishmen, Men of Kent, Yorkshire Tykes, Lancastrians, Weegies, Edinbuggers, Doric-speaking Aberdonians, Perthshire farm hands, Teuchters from the islands, men from the Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Lothians coalfields, not forgetting Taffy and Paddy, all had suffered tongue-lashings from corporals, sergeants, WOIs, Petty Officers and Flight Sergeants. They were in it together, they pulled together and pulled through.

 

Any Little Englander who tried to insinuate that England was better would quickly be put in his place. OK, given the disparity in size between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, some Englishmen, knowing little of these smaller, far-away other nations of the UK, might mix-up England and the UK, but, there was a sense of Britishness abroad pre-1966.

 

The way the English media went totally over the top in hailing England's win, and, let's make no mistake here, there was nothing lucky about it. Yes, getting to play all their games at Wembley definitely helped, but, let's not forget, that England team had: the world's best goalkeeper - Gordon Banks, the best left-back - Ray Wilson, the best central defender - Bobby Moore, the best attacking midfielder - Bobby Charlton, and the best penalty-box striker - Jimmy Greaves, who didn't even play in the final. That's five genuine World Class player. England was a very good team, worthy of winning the event. That media reaction rattled some cages, not least in Scotland.

Thus began the drift from the old, impartial BBC to an organisation which became the de facto cheer-leaders for "Engerlund, Engerlund, Engerlund".

 

Of course, we Scots were reluctant to give that England team the credit it deserved, we hankered after showing them we were as-good, if not better, and, less than a year later, we did beat them. But, I would suggest, these two games sparked-off the bad feeling between the fans which eventually helped end the more than a century of annual games between the Auld Enemies.

 

But, these days are past, and in the past they must remain. Let's try, difficult thought it will be, to allow the English to celebrate their great win this year. They are unlikely to deliver the European Championship success which their media will almost demand, in tribute to the Boys of '66; they will most-likely find some new and outrageous way of failing, then, they will be torn to shreds by their media.

 

Let England enjoy 50 Years On, their great days are behind them; those of us who can see Independence just around the corner, we believe, Scotland - freed from the shackles of having to subsidise England - has its greatest days before it.

 

But, in football, only if we can finally cleanse Hampden of the stumblebums on the sixth floor corridor.  

The Silent Men Who Should Speak-Up

A GUID New Year tae ane and awe, and moany may ye see.

 

Right, that's the season's greetings out of the way, time to get back to greetin about the state of Scottish football. To be honest, I had thought of stopping blogging on Scottish football, such is the sense of dread I get when I survey the current state of the game

 

Let's be honest, Scottish football, at the start of 2016, is in a bad way, and I , for one, cannot see salvation on the horizon. Just about the worst Celtic squad I can remember is stumbling towards another SPFL title, with apparently, none of the other top-flight teams capable of pulling themselves out of the general morass of sterility to mount any kind of challenge. 

 

The Celtic Family, or a goodly-percentage thereof, are less than impressed with Manager Ronnie Deila's stewardship of the club, or with the performances, but, still, despite frequent stumbles, they head the table and it is well-nigh impossible to see any of the others coming through to beat them to the title, or even a possible Treble.

 

Across the city the spivs and mountebacks running the Rangers Tribute Act at Ibrox continue to offer gentle amusement at their management of the establishment institution they head; whilst Ra Peepul, who continue to turn-up in droves to watch the team in royal blue attempt to battle their way out of the second tier in Scottish football are, as ever, a constant embarrassment and occasional shame to Scottish football.

 

Plus ca change and all that, as our French allies say.

 

One subject which has been getting a lot of airing whilst I was enjoying the season of peace and goodwill was that hardy annual, league re-organisation. A lot of commentators have had their say, as have several managers. Various newspapers have done supposed in-depth analysis of the situation, but, and pardon me for saying this, we have heard nothing from the guys who will, if re-organisation is to come, have to drive the thing.

 

The consensus appears to be: league re-organisation is both necessary, and is coming, but, the following men have not yet, as far as I can see, made a meaningful, and in most cases, any, pubic contribution to the debate.

 

They are: Alan McRae, Rod Petrie, Stewart Regan, Peter Lawell, Sandy Stables and Andrew Waddell - the members of the Scottish Football Association's Professional Game Board and Neil Doncaster, Ralph Topping, Eric Riley, Steven Thomson, Duncan Fraser, Mike Mulraney and Ken Ferguson, the members of the SPFL board.

 

Messrs Regan and Doncaster, as the executive officers, will have to make any changes work, but it is the other 12 who will have to cajole and coerce the clubs into making the changes.

 

For a journalist, trying to write a story about change, it is easier to speak to the usual suspects - Gordon Strachan, Ronnie Deila, Mark Warburton, Robbie Neilson and so-forth, or the talking heads of radio and television - Billy Dodds, Pat Nevin, Willie Miller and so on, than to try to get any kind of information or response out of the real power brokers in Scottish football - the dozen men named above.

 

Celtic have two men in that dozen, Honcho Peter Lawell on the SFA body, and eternal apparatchick Eric Riley on the SPFL body. Dundee United have Stephen Thompson, Aberdeen have Duncan Fraser, but, notably, the Rangers Tribute Act is not represented.

 

Nothing will be decided without having Lawell, Thompson and Fraser on-board. Significantly too, any change will  have to offer something which Messrs Drysdale, Mulraney and Ferguson can sell to the "diddy" clubs. And, having battled for so-long to have a meaningful say in how Scottish football is run, and having seen the doorway to senior football finally forced ajar, messrs McRae, Stables and Waddell will be needed to sell the changes to their Highland and Lowland league clubs.

 

If the changes proposed do not satisfy, in particular, Lawell, Thompson and Fraser, we can forget it.

 

Has any journalist asked these three men what they think?

 

I honestly do not see change coming any time soon. However, should the RTA collapse in the run-in, who knows, change might well be rushed through, since some of the lesser lights in the Premiership appear to believe it would be better to have Ra Peepul back amongst them than out of the big tent, and might well rush them back in.

 

If this happens, all I can forecast, it will be another case of change rushed through without proper thought and analysis, and, in the words of Craig Revell-Hailwood, that sarcastic Strictly Come Dancing judge with the double-barrelled name; "Disaster, absolute disaster Darling".