THIS week, as the countdown continues towards Sunday's
“No Longer the Old Firm” clash at Celtic Park, we see Scottish
football journalism at its best/worst. We still have three full days
to go until the kick-off, but, already we have the usual parade of
former Old Firm stars giving us their twopence-worth, which is
probably more than their opinions would fetch on the open market.
Why even the man who is statistically Rangers'
winningest manager ever, has put down his gardening trowel to give us
his view: “Bring back Wattie and Graeme”. FFS, why not go the
whole hog and revive the ghost of Bill Struth.
When it comes to Rangers, whether or not you consider
the club of that name, playing out of Ibrox to he a new club, or the
continuing voyages of the ship called Dignity, one thing has to be
borne in mind. The club is a loss-making enterprise, without a credit
line to a bank; it has a toxic Chairman and is depending on “soft”
loans from directors and well-heeled fans to keep going.
The club has learned nothing from the events of
2011-2012 and on. The mistakes which got Rangers into liquidation and
which have prevented its recovery from being as orderly as it could
have been are still being made. Rangers today is even further behind
Celtic than Celtic wer behind Rangers in those far-off days, more
than 50-years ago, BS – before Jock Stein returned to Paradise.
“The stenographers” (tm Phil Mac Giolla Bhain) can
write all they like in support of the current club, they can be as
on-message as Jolly James Traynor can make them, but, this will not
alter the reality – no competent manager of Director of Football
worth his salt will have anything to do with the club while the
present crew of fantasists, stumblebums, and let's not forget “Glib
and Shameless Liars” are presiding at the top of the marble
staircase.
MEANWHILE, in the real world, an awful lot of young
boys, mad keen on football and desperate to play, will be denied
games this week-end, because the SFA could not ensure that the SYFA
made certain that some 500 coaches had completed the re quisite Child
Protection checks. This is the real disgrace, but, of course, you
will not see “The stenographers” (tm Phil Mac Giolla Bhain)
commenting on this – not when they have the chance to speak to
Kenny Dalglish instead.
AND IN the unreal world – in Scottish eyes – of
Champions League knock-out games, we had that Wednesday Night Wonder
of Barcelona v PSG. I know, this is a cheap comment, but, I can only,
once again, declare, maybe that long-dead SFA “blazer” was right
when, on the evening of 18 May, 1960, as he exited Hampden Park
following Real Madrid's 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfort in the
European Cup Final,he declared: “Of course, Scottish football fans
would not pay to watch that sort of football on a regular basis”.
Well, 57-years on, they may not be paying at the gate,
but, they are paying their BT Sport subscriptions in the hope of
seeing, if not di Stefano, Puskas and Gento running riot, then
certainly Messi, Suarez and Neymar, a trio who might, in time, match
that iconic Madrid trio.
Of course, some of the defending on Wednesday night was
Rangers' standard, some of the refereeing was Willie Collum standard,
but, what a game, and what a last few minutes. Now, be honest, what
would you rather watch, Barca 6 PSG 1, or a 0-0 draw, in mid-winter,
between Cowdenbeath and Berwick Rangers (and no disrespect is
intended to either Scottish side)?
The two Barcelona penalties were the kind 'No Longer the
Old Firm' get when 0-1 behind and struggling at home, but, the Neymar
free-kick would have graced any game. This was a cracker.
BY THE WAY – the third edition of Nutmeg, the Scottish
football periodical is now on-sale. I urge you to beg, borrow or
steal, but, ideally purchase a copy of this terrific quarterly. There
are some terrific pieces in it.
I just wish somebody on either The Herald, Scotsman,
Sunday Herald or Scotland on Sunday sports desks would lift their
heads out of the mundane and commission “long pieces” such as
those Nutmeg publishes, for our weekly consumption. The stories are
out there and waiting to be told. Until the day this happens, we must
embrace Nutmeg and nourish it.
I appreciate, it is an expensive periodical, but, given
the length of the articles, the time it takes to read them and weigh
this up against the cost – I reckon it is great value for money.
I NOTE there has been a wee bit of interest this week in
applying “Strict Liability” to Scottish football teams. Of
course, fitba will fight tooth and nail to avoid its implementation,
but, to me it makes sense and just might work where OBFA (the
Offensive Behaviour at Football Act) has failed.
Yes, it will cost clubs if their fans continue to
declare their pride at being up to their knees in the blood of
members of a 19th century Irish Republican fraternal
organisation, or if they declare their support for a 20th
century Irish Republican militia. But, if the same football clubs
were to establish proper membership schemes, whereby fans gained
benefits from club membership, then these clubs would be able to hold
the threat of lost membership and admission to games, access to
cheaper tickets etc, over these members. The clubs would also be able
to get shot of the bad apples.
This would require them to engage with their fans –
no, that would never do. And, by the way, bad behaviour at Scottish
football is not the preserve of just two clubs – every club has, to
a greater or lesser degree, its hard core of nutters. Strict
Liability just might be a means of getting shot of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment