Enjoy Your Dominance Celtic Fans But The Pendulum Will Swing Back - Some Day

TO USE the argot of the streets – Celtic ripped Rangers a new one yesterday. It was 5-0 going on 10-0, and, but for some superb saves from Jake Alnwick, and the fact Celtic visibly lifted their collective foot off the gas pedal in the second half, it might well have been. It isn't the River Clyde which separates these two clubs, it's a gap wider and longer than the Grand Canyon. But, while that day may be some way off, it will come, the pendulum, as it has over the 130-year history of these two clubs playing each other, will swing back towards Rangers.

For instance, I can remember one of my earliest Old Firm games – Celtic Park, 10 August, 1963; final score: Celtic 0 Rangers 3. With Jim Baxter, left, then at the height of his powers, as orchestrator-in-chief, the Rangers back five: Shearer, Provan, Greig, McKinnon and Baxter, spent the final 15 minutes, simply passing the ball around between themselves. They made no effort to get into the Celtic half, to add to the goals tally – Baxter simply wanted to rub it in, how much better Rangers were.

That victory set Rangers on their way to the second of the club's seven Trebles. The Celtic team they beat so easily contained five men: Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill, Jimmy Johnstone, Stevie Chalmers and Bobby Murdoch who would have their revenge some time after, 18 months later, Jock Stein was appointed manager – when it comes to the Old Firm, dominance seldom lasts long.

1963 - Baxer taking the mickey - 1967 this

Just a thought, what might Scott Brown have been able to do mentally to the Rangers players yesterday, had he possessed even a quarter of Baxter's arrogant gallusness, and been ready to conduct some show-boating yesterday? Or, mindful of the demise of OBFA, might the Police Scotland Match Commander – had Scottie taken the proverbial – have lifted him for: “Conduct liable to cause a breach of the peace?”

By the way, I clocked a marvellous gif, circulating on Facebook last night. It was a clip from Forrest Gump, of the bold Forrest running out of a gateway and setting off down the road on his epic run. The subtitles said: “Steven Gerrard leaving Celtic Park yesterday.” Brilliant.

Mind you, ever since it first came-up, I have said, all this “Gerrard for Rangers” hype is nothing more than a rude effort, by the Glib and Shameless Liar, to divert attention away from his own problems with the Takeover Panel and the Courts, the general chaos around the governance of the club, and the desperate need of a cash-strapped and perhaps technically-insolvent club to extract some cash, in the form of early season book renewals, from the only people still gullible enough to entrust their hard-earned cash to them – their faithful fans.

Yesterday's sorry capitulation will not have helped that cause any. If Gerrard is unveiled as the next Rangers' manager, I will be shocked – he's surely not that desperate for a manager's job, or daft enough to take-on that train wreck of a club.

Graeme Murty - badly advised not to speak to the press yesterday

And, what about Rangers reaction to such a public humiliation – not putting-up anyone to speak to the Press afterwards. Right enough, “Dignity FC” as some Celtic fans ironically dub them. I can well understand Graeme Murty not wanting to speak, but, come on, it's part of the job, it goes with the territory – whoever advised him not to appear at the press conference did Murty, and the Club, absolutely no favours.

LET'S get back to fitba, and THE best moment of the weekend. I refer to that Kris Boyd free-kick goal against Hibs. That strike has to be a Goal of the Season contender. Who knew the master of the six-yard box tap-in had that in his locker?

But, it was all in vain, as Hibs won a cracking eight-goal thriller. Still, the match demonstrated, there is life outside the Big Two in Scotland, kudos to both teams, such a pity the Killie defence had an off-day. You know, if they can keep attacking like that, Hibs just might prove Neil Lennon and Scott Brown correct and be officially the second-best team in Scotland.

 Boydie - a Goal of the Season contender

I occasionally name-check my fellow coffin-dodger Johnny. That's the Celtic fan who claims Ayr United is his team. Now, on Saturday, the bold Johnny, who lives less than a mile from Somerset Park – he can walk to the ground from his house in about 15 minutes, which is not bad for a pensioner of his great age – opted-out of the Honest Men's final league game of the season, against Albion Rovers.

Having travelled through to see them lose at Alloa the previous week, Johnny reckoned he was a jinx, so he would remain at home. I called him on the final whistle, and suggested, if he was a true glory hunter, he would head round to Somerset to await the arrival of the helicopter, with the League One trophy. But no, he came up with a lame excuse there too.

Ian McCall - the wee man deserves his success with Ayr

Any way, congratulations to Ian McCall and his troops for getting the job done. And well done too to Chairman Lachlan Cameron, for agreeing to switch to full-time football in the third tier. The road they travelled was, at times, a bit like Tam o' Shanter's ride, but, the Honest Men reached their destination – the Championship.

I SEE the 12 East Region junior clubs who applied were all accepted into the East of Scotland League at last week's meeting. This move surely brings closer the day when we have, in Scotland, a proper pyramid, mirroring the long-established English one.

Sorting-out this long-overdue and sensible move might be an early priority for new SFA @CEO Ian Maxwell. Mind you, on reflection, Ian will not be short of urgent topics to take care of when he finally crosses Glasgow from Firhill to Hampden. Life will certainly be busy for him during the first few heady months in the hot seat.

Mind you speaking of junior club defections and a pyramid system. I still reckon, perhaps on the neutral ground of the coffee shop on the Duke of Rothesay's Knockroon development, some Auchinleck Talbot and Cumnock supporters will meet and set-up the Junior Football Resistance Movement, dedicated to keeping ill-feeling and gratuitous violence where it properly belongs – on the terraces - and just as often the playing area - of junior football grounds.

Stevie's Staying - Let's Celebrate

SPEAKING as a veteran Killie fan, I have only one reaction to the news in this morning's Hootsmon, that Lord Clarke of Saltcoats had turned down the poisoned chalice of being the Saviour of Ra Peepul; that reaction is: Yippee Ki Yay Etc.

 

 Clarkie has knocked-back the Rangers'  job

If we assume appointing either Brendan Rodgers or Neil Lennon as impossible on the grounds of – they couldn't afford one an the other would see the Directors lynched, and that Craig Levein is another impossible appointment, this means the two leading potential next Rangers managerial appointments from Scottish clubs have knocked them back.

Chasing Steven Gerrard, will sell papers and is quality click-bait, but, come on, don't see this one as a goer. The plain, unadorned fact is, not until they get rid of the GASL and restore some credibility to this tarnished brand, will Rangers be able to recruit a credible, first-line manager. And that isn't going to happen any time soon.

Still the uncertainty will sell papers and draw online viewers, what's not to like from a media perspective.

THE nominations window for the 2018 inductees into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame is now open, and anyone can nominate the player they would like to see inducted at that plush dinner in November.

I've put-in my twopenceworth and this year I have suggested the nominations committee (by the way, where's my invitation, it's long past time I was on this particular body?) induct the following people:

1. BOB GARDNER: Scotland's first internationalist, and first captain, the guy who did a lot of the arranging at the Glasgow end, for that first football international, Scotland v England, at Hamilton Crescent, on 30 November, 1872, then played in-goal for the Scots on the day.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. THE AS YET UNINDUCTED WEMBLEY WIZARDS OF 1928: OK, one or two of the team which beat England 5-1, 90-years ago are already in the Hall of Fame – Hughie Gallacher, Alex James and Alan Morton; but, what of the rest. They won as a team, they should have been inducted as a team. Last year, the HoF marked the 50^th anniversary of Lisbon by inducting those Lions who had missed out. That's the precedent, get the likes of skipper Jimmy McMullan, hat-trick hero Alex Jackson and the rest of the team into the HoF this year.
   
   
   
   The 1928 Wembley Wizards
    
   
3. Dr JOHN SMITH: This one is a personal crusade of mine. Dr John played for Mauchline, Queen's Park and Edinburgh University. He won ten caps in the 1880s and early 1890s, scoring ten goals including a hat-trick against England, in that spell. He also toured New Zealand and Australia with the original 1888 “British and Irish Lions” (although they were not known as such) before becoming a well-known referee, then for many years a GP in Kirkcaldy.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. WILLIE KNOX: OK, Junior Football is, in many ways, the unrecognised “bastard child” of Scottish Football but, this is real fitba, the beating heart of the game up here, it is time the Juniors had a presence in the HoF, and who better to nominate than the legendary Willie. A journeyman player with Raith Rovers, Third Lanark and Barrow, he won everything there was to win as boss of Auchinleck Talbot in the 1970s and 1980s. Nine West of Scotland Cups and five Scottish Cups are among the 40-plus trophies he won while in-charge of the 'Bot. (This image on the Talbot picture gallery, is simply captioned: "God").
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. ANDREW “TIGER” ANDERSON: Some of Scotland's most-iconic players were in our national team in the 1930s: Jerry Dawson and George Brown from Rangers, Jimmy Delaney from Celtic, Tommy Walker and Alex Massie from Hearts, Matt Busby from Manchester City and Wullie Shankly and Andy Beattie from Preston North End. Yet Anderson, who won 23 caps when playing right-back for Hearts is almost never mentioned when that era is discussed. He won more caps than any of them. In fact, from first cap to last, he only missed two Scotland internationals. It is time this giant of his day was recognised.

Please, log-on to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame website and nominate your favourite, and if you want to back the guys I am punting, so much the better.

Inviting Soccer Yobs To Tour HQ - Have You Totally Lost Your Marbles McKay?

DOMINIC McKAY, the Scottish Rugby Union's Director of Commercial Operations is the guy charged with bringing-in the money which the Murrayfield “suits” - according to my learned friend Aristotle Armstrong Scottish Rugby Philosopher: "Squander on daft schemes like Stupid 6". The overall impression in Scottish Rugby is that Dom does a good job, and he certainly cops a lot less flak than some of the other “suits” at HQ.

 

Dominic McKay of the SRU

Dom's latest wheeze has been to invite 100 Scottish football fans to a behind the scenes tour of BT Murrayfield, to reinforce the SRU's genuine attempt to grab the rights to host the Scottish Football Association's big games, once the Hampden hosting agreement runs out in 2020.

This is a bit of a gamble for the SRU. With the SFA in talks with Queen's Park with a view to the governing body taking over and running Hampden, my money would be on the Mount Florida ground continuing to be the home of Scottish football. Mind you, Queen's Park might well simply sell the ground for £1 – although I would perhaps charge £5, the last £1 sale in Scottish fitba hasn't gone too well!!

Any way, if and when they do, Scotland's premier club will need to be re-housed, then Hampden itself will need to be re-furbished properly. This will most-likely require government backing, which might give the Scottish government an opening to sort-out some deficiencies in the governance of our game – OBFA2 anyone?

Still, inviting the fans round was a good idea Dom, but, maybe you should have been a bit more selective. As I understand it, there are just 100 places available, I would have made sure these places went to the guys who run the various regiments of the Tartan Army, and the main Supporters Club reps from the senior clubs – that way, you got the right fans, the most-influential and your presentation was properly-targetted.

Do you think we will ever get a similar look round Hampden? Naw, me neither, who wants to see the padded cells on the sixth floor corridor, where they keep some of fitba's High Heid Yins, out of harm's way. Or is that self-harm's way?

IN TODAY'S media, there is little room, or inclination to print, “Long Reads” - a studied, erudite look at a particular subject, running to perhaps 2000 words, or more. The Guardian still occasionally prints long reads, but, elsewhere, they are like hens' teeth.

The hour-long documentary film is the TV equivalent of the long read, if anything even-rarer; and certainly in the ranks BBC Shortbread I cannot identify anyone, other than John Beattie, or Tom English, who I would trust to produce such a film. (Years ago, Chick Young was indulged to the extent of being able to do such a film – which involved him travelling to California to meet his hero – Ron Jeremy. I rest my case!!)

But, all is not lost. BT Sport has produced some cracking sports films of late and, earlier this week, browsing channels I found one such gem. It was a study on those oft-maligned creatures referees. It was wonderful stuff, and thought-provoking covering the full range, from the veteran Welsh referee coming-up on his 3000^th game on the local parks, right up to an English Premier League team in action. 

Howard Webb - contributor to the excellent film Ref 

There was the 20-year-old blonde girl, very-much in-charge of two assistants who looked like her uncles, the ex-player, surely the ultimate poacher turned gamekeeper and the former top-flight official, rekindling his love of football back at the grass roots, and mentoring some younger referees along the way. There are also words of wisdom from Howard Webb.

If you have access to BT TV or BT Sport, seek it out. The film is called 'Ref' and, I believe it is available also on You Tube. Do watch it, you will not be disappointed.

IS THIS Gerrard for Rangers talk: Lap Top Loyal-driven wishful thinking, or has Stevie G lost his marbles totally?

Sure, there might be an attraction in being the guy who restored a fallen giant to rude health, but, the road to Heaven, like that to Hell, is paved with good intentions, which don't always survive.

Restoring Manchester United's fortunes was a key driver in persuading Sir Alex Ferguson south, but, he had proved himself at St Mirren and Aberdeen; he was sacked (rightly) at the first of these clubs, and he was almost sacked at United before he turned things around.

 Steven Gerrard - being tipped as the next Ragers' manager

Directors back then, 40-years ago when Fergie started would give young managers time, today, they want progress and success NOW – that time is no longer there. Then there is the gorilla in the mist around Ibrox – the Glib and Shameless Liar. Now the Rangers' Chairman is not the only absentee club owner who talks a good game, but doesn't deliver – he has loads of mates at the same game in England. But, whoever gets the Ibrox gig, if as widely expected, Graeme Murty is at the very least dismissed from the Officers' back to the Sergeants Mess at the end of the season – MUST deliver success, which means finishing above the better-funded, better-managed (in all aspects) more-talented squad-owning Celtic team across the city.

Even crossing Stanley Park to take-over from Big Sam at Everton, with all the cultural differences he would face there, would be an easier management starting point than Ibrox for Gerrard.

But, Gerrard for Ibrox is a good click-bait story, it will run.

IN REAL FITBA – the Juniors, big changes are afoot in the West Region of the SJFA, where, next season they will change to a 16-club top division, as opposed to the current 12-club Premier Division.

Kudos by the way to the West Region committee, who have decided, rather than having no relegation this season the bottom two in the top flight will play-off against the teams finishing fifth and sixth in the second tier First Division, for the right to join the top ten, plus the first four in the First Division, in the new top division next season.

Between the bad winter and some lengthy cup runs, there are still a lot of games to be played, before we know the final composition of next season's top-flight in the West. But, one thing we do know is that Petershill, after a year or two in the doldrums, will be back in there and, it is good to see one of the great names in Junior Football back where they belong.

The 1973 Scottish Junior Cup-winning Irvine Meadow squad

(picture shamelessly stolen from Pie & Bovril - thanks boys) 

Mind you, there great rivals, Irvine Meadow – and believe me, there's a great book in there about Peasies v the Medda rivalry – face a fight if they are to get back into the top division, while another of the great junior clubs Cambuslang Rangers, are also on the fringes of the battle for a top 1 place.

Interestingly, one of the teams in danger of having to go through the play-offs to preserve their top-flight status is Junior Cup finalists Hurlford United, currently propping up the Premier Division, albeit with only 13 of their scheduled 22 league games played.

There are a lot of games still to be played before it all pans out.

If You Know Their History - It's The Same Old Same Old

I FIND myself constantly cheered-up by the reaction to a large percentage of the Celtic Family to any Rangers' stories in the newspapers or online. Right on cue, up they pop to holler their mantra: “Youse is deid, youse deid in 2012. Youse is a tribute act, a new club, youse has won nothin'.”

 

Youse is deid

Human nature being what it is, I would suggest, if the current incarnation of Rangers FC was indeed a new team, and a tribute act – then there would be nothing like the hysteria coming from the Celtic Family. Given their team's current domination of Scottish football, and the huge financial advantage annual participation in Europe gives them, they would be unconcerned about matters across the city.

I mean, they barely mention Partick Thistle – they are not seen as a threat – Rangers are. Sure, they might argue Rangers are a new team with but the most-tenuous connection to the pre-2012 Ibrox club, but, in their hearts they know – it is the same team, and while they are down just now, they are capable of coming back and dominating Celtic again, and, that scares them.

If you don't believe it is the same Rangers, just consider their reaction to Hibs' decision to cut Rangers' ticket allocation for the sides' upcoming collision at Easter Road. Basically this is: “Boo-hoo, s'nofair; We arra peepul and we is entitled tae take ower yer Sooth stand an staun there up tae wur knees in Fenian blood, cos youse need oor cash.”

The trouble is, with this clash having the potential to be a decider for league prize money and European qualifying status, there is a demand for tickets. Hibs fans, who have maybe been a tad indifferent to following the team, suddenly want to be there on the day, and Hibs need some of the South Stand for their own fans.

This has to be good for Scottish football, and, what is good for Scottish football is not always good for the Old Firm. Can we have more of this please.

ANOTHER example of how, this is the same old Rangers, is the story they are about to re-sign Allan McGregor from Hull City.

 Allan McGregor, rumoured to be about to return to Ibrox

Sorry, but, good 'keeper though he is, McGregor is not the answer. Him returning to Ibrox on a “Bosman” would be a good deal for McGregor, but, not for Rangers. What they need is a good YOUNG goalkeeper – to put pressure onto and compete with Wes Foderingham – not a guy on the downward slope looking for a last big pay day.

Even Scott Arfield, at 29, is a short-term signing. Again, a case of a guy looking for that final big pay day in a signing-on fee. What became of Rangers signing young Scottish players from other Scottish clubs – guys with a future. That's what they used to do before Souness and Murray overturned the whole club culture.

And Celtic, by following Rangers down the buy-in route, although, to be fair of late they have done it far better, they too sold-out their club's entire culture.

DOING some research this week, I was looking at football in 1931. A top Hungarian football magazine – and even then, 20 years before Puskas and Co, Hungary were good, did a ranking of European nations and teams.

Matthias Sandelar the star of the Austrian Wunderteam, scoring v Belgium

Austria – via the Wunderteam – were ranked 1, Scotland were at 2, and England at 3 in the national rankings. In the club rankings it was 1, Austria Wien, 2, Arsenal and 3. Celtic, with Rangers ranked 8^th.

Today, Austria are ranked 26^th in the FIFA rankings, Scotland are 34^th and England 13^th. In the UEFA club rankings, Austria Wien are 82^nd, Arsenal are 9^th, Celtic are 46^th and Rangers are 265^th.

That year, 1931, by the way, Austria beat an admittedly second-string Scotland 5-0 in Vienna. The SFA arrogantly thought they could change this side, which beat England 2-0 at Hampden to share the Home International Championships: John Thomson (Celtic); Daniel Blair (Clyde), Joe Nibloe (Kilmarnock); Colin McNab (Dundee), Davie Meiklejohn (Rangers capt), John Miller* (St Mirren); Sandy Archibald (Rangers), George Stevenson (Motherwell), Jimmy McGrory (Celtic), Bob McPhail and Alan Morton (Rangers) to this team: “Jakey” Jackson* (Partick Thistle); Blair and Nibloe; McNab, James McDougall* (Liverpool), George Walker (St Mirren); Andy Love* (Aberdeen), Jim Paterson* (Cowdenbeath), Jim Easson* (Portsmouth), Jim Robertson* (Dundee) and Danny Liddle* (East Fife) – which included seven new caps, and still beat what was then considered the best team in Europe, away from home.

Just a thought, what would that Hampden forward line of Archibald, Stevenson, McGrory, McPhail and Morton be worth today?

I WATCHED last night's Liverpool v Roma Champions League semi-final on TV, and, while a 5-2 first leg lead ought to be sufficient to take Liverpool to the final, you can never write-off an Italian side with home advantage.

This one could still go all the way to penalty kicks in the second leg. What was the Italian manager thinking about, however. for the first time, ever, they were playing: “The cry was no defenders” for an Italian side; the decision to play such a high line was suicidal. Mind you, as Liverpool squandered those early chances at 0-0, I thought, this could come back and bit their bums. But, they got away with it once their forwards, and the marvellous Mo Salah (pictured left) in particular, found their range.

I hope for the same number of goals when Bayern and Real clash tonight.

Can Maxwell Put The Hampden House In Order?

SO Ian Maxwell it is who will pick-up the poisoned chalice of being the new Chief Executive of the Scottish Football Association. Good luck to the former Partick Thistle Honcho, because he is going to need it.

New SFA CEO Ian Maxwell

I don't think the SFA has had a decent CEO since Ernie Walker retired, and it hasn't helped that, from back then, the game has become more and more about the Bigot Brothers and less about the general game. I genuinely feel Scottish football would be better off without the two permanently-warring Glasgow families – then the rest of us could settle down to a more-even game, rather than one dominated by two massive corporations and their huge following.

Ian Maxwell is, there is no denying, an insider appointment; he knows where some, if not all the bodies are buried, and he certainly knows which presses should remain firmly shut. Perhaps an outsider being appointed might work, but, Ah hae ma doots.

The last guy, after all, came from Yorkshire County Cricket Club, a body notorious across the cricket world for in-fighting, factionalism and under-performing. Yorkshiremen are, some say, simply Scotsmen without the intelligence; Stewart Reagan managed OK among the Tykes at Headingley, I think he is now happy to be out of Hampden.

Maxwell is a former player, he has done his time on the coaching field, so, he comes to the job better-equipped to understand the whole picture than anyone since the early days of football, when the players ran the game, as well as played it. Let's hope, with his time on the grass, he can shake-up the suits who think it's all about them rather than the players and the fans.

But, he faces some huge challenges, not least funding and organising Hampden's transformation into a 21^st century stadium at a time of political and financial uncertainty. Still he comes from Thistle, a club not unfamiliar with handling hardship.

I CAN just visualise the scene, as the Sports Editor and his team on any Scottish msm title you care to name finalise their back page and their online site content. The Sports Editor will ask: “OK, what's our big Old Firm story?” To be fair, this is not crucial for the print edition, however, for the online site – they have to have a good Old Firm story as clickbait to get the punters onto the site.

Today's clickbait of choice is the new Celtic kit for next season and the reaction to it. According to The Scotsman's website, sections of the Celtic Family are not happy, because their precious Hoops have been broken-up. Ach! This is nothing new, it has happened before and they should know – when it comes to the so-called purity of the Hoops and money, purity is for paupers.

The real scandal for me is the way football has prostituted itself for shirt sponsorship. The Celtic and Rangers strips are adorned with the logos of downmarket betting companies, which is a sure indication of the paucity, in all respects, of Scottish football. If the Bigot Brothers genuinely were BIG clubs, playing in a big league, they would have big companies keen to put their name on the shirts.

Boston Bruins (above right)
 

 LA Lakers (right) New York Yankees (below)

 

Of course, in the major North American sports, where the money really is big – as these pictures show – the mammoth clubs have no need of shirt sponsors. Yes, I'm old-fashioned, I would rather see the Old Firm still wearing classic strips like these below, and having players of the quality of these two would also help:

 Jim Baxter

 Bobby Murdoch 

“SPORTING INTEGRITY” was something of a buzz phrase during all the moger around Rangers' collapse, back in 2012. Remember the calls for title-stripping because Rangers had somehow “cheated” by using EBTs to part pay their bigger stars.

As I said at the time EBTs weren't illegal, Rangers simply took bad advice and used the wrong model. In any case, if they hadn't had access to EBTs, they would have used some other means of attracting big-money players to Ibrox.

But, right now, in Rugby, we have a classic case of “sporting integrity”, the likes of which you would never get in football. In the Guinness PRO14 competition, Glasgow Warriors have already clinched a home semi-final place by winning Conference A.

Edinburgh are in third place in Conference B, but, can still be caught by Ulster. The final regular-season games take place on Saturday, with Edinburgh facing Glasgow at Murrayfield in a cross-conference game, while Ulster are away to Munster in aother.

Edinburgh are four points clear of the Belfast team, so, they need either a draw or to lose by less than seven points, while also scoring four tries, to accrue the two points which will take them out of Ulster's reach.

Glasgow v Edinburgh, an SRU inter-departmental game

Edinburgh and Glasgow are both wholly-owned subsidiaries of the SRU, who would clearly love to see both their sides in the play-offs, and thereby guaranteed a place in the Champions Cup – rugby's equivalent of the Champions League next season.

Munster and Ulster are both subsidiaries of the Irish RFU, who would also like to see their clubs in Europe's top competition next season. So, you can see, the potential for the powers that be at Murrayfield and in Dublin to try to arrange the results they want is there.

Now, say what you like about the guys along the sixth-floor corridor at Hampden, they would never leave themselves in a position where they might be tempted to “arrange” say an Old Firm match, for the betterment of Scottish football.

Wonderful thing “sporting integrity” and Glasgow v Edinburgh rivalry. I wonder what will happen on Saturday night.

Some Comebacks Take Longer And Are Harder Than Others

I AM old enough to remember Accrington Stanley dropping out of the Football League in 1962. I was pleased when the reformed club got back, and am absolutely delighted to see them seal promotion from League Two the first time in both the club's incarnation that Accrington Stanley has got out of the lowest tier of English league football.

Sir Michael Parkinson - a wonderful sports writer and "father" of Stanley Accrington

When the “old” Stanley folded, Michael Parkinson took their name and turned it around, with “Stanley Accrington” becoming his all-purpose name for the journeyman English League footballer. It is great to see the name now restored with pride to its correct order.

The fall, rebirth and rise of Stanley is not unique in football. In England quite a few clubs have hit financial trouble, gone to the wall and been reformed, with the minimum of fuss. Up here, one club went down this route in 2012 and the consequences are still reverberating around the game.

For instance, the present-day Stanley, although only formed in 1970, and not even a Football League club until 2006 is, in the football reference “bible”, the Sky Sports (formerly Rothman's) Football Yearbook, credited with the successes of the old, pre-1962 club. No shouts of “You're deid,” from fans of nearby local clubs such as Blackburn Rovers or Burnley – both of whom of course, being bigger and more successful.

They built slowly over their 46-year banishment from the big team; having failed once, they have built slowly and methodically and cut their cloth accordingly. I cannot help feeling, if the Scottish club that went out of business in 2012 had been a bit more humble like Stanley, and done things sensibly – well, maybe they wouldn't be second in the Premiership today, but they would probably be in a much-better place financially.

I said back in 2012, the reborn club should have been made to start again at the bottom – there was an uneven number of clubs in the Central Second Division of the West of Scotland Junior Superleague they'd have been a shoo-in for that place – then perhaps a lot of unpleasantness would have been avoided. If they had had to start from the bottom, assuming promotion every season they would, this season, have been celebrating winning League Two.

Lee Wallace the only survivor of the 2012 team

But, instead being too-big to ignore, our Scottish club began their recovery from League Two in 2012-13. Interestingly, again courtesy of the Sky Sports Football Yearbook, I can reveal, only one player from that 2012-13 League Two squad is still with the club, that is currently-suspended Club Captain Lee Wallace. Maybe, had they mended their profligate ways and allowed some of the young players blooded in that campaign in the bottom tier to mature and learn the game as they rose through the levels, the club would not be the financial basket case it currently is.

What's that old chestnut about people and institutions repeating the same mistakes in the hope of a different outcome, being a sure sign of madness. Of course, a sensible, planned progression of small steps, via a mainly youthful squad, with a small central core of experienced players, well, that doesn't grab the attention of the cheer leaders in the mainstream media. There is no click bait or big exclusive stories in being sensible.

SPEAKING of sensible. Last night, with nothing better to watch, I took-in the BBC2 Premier League Show, fronted by Gabby Logan. Now, Gabby I can just about take in small doses, but, I have to say, this is one excellent football programme. It looks at the game intelligently and finds different items to broadcast.

Gabby Logan - fronts a very good programme

Last night there was a thoughtful piece on West Ham, with some great input from David Moyes, who has surely began to rebuild his reputation over his very good six months in-charge of the Hammers. Gary Lineker asked some probing questions, well answered by Moyes.

We then had an interesting piece on the soon-to-retire Michael Carrick, all in all, a very good programme I shall watch again. I just wonder if Scottish football will ever be grown-up enough for us to have a similar type of magazine programme on oor ain wee haun'-knitted league. I won't hold my breath waiting, even though, in the excellent Tom English, BBC Shortbread has the perfect man to run it.

A serious programme on Scottish fitba – naw it would never catch-on.

THE GUARDIAN is currently running a series on memorable World Cup moments. Today's piece featured the great Austrian “Wunderteam” of the early 1930s, and a great read it is too.

The great Matthias Sindelar scoring for the Austrian Wunderteam

The article put the team's all-too-brief period as arguably the best team in the world as starting with their 5-0 Vienna victory over Scotland. There was an interesting sub-text to this, in that it identified an early influence on Austrian football as a Rangers' team which had toured that country in 1904. The Rangers party played six games in Austria and Czechoslovakia, winning them all and scoring goals for fun in the process.

Such was their effect on Austrian football, the locals began to play the Scottish-style of passing and moving which Rangers had taught them, and, by 1931, were able to show Scotland how to play it better than the originators.

Mind you, Scotland and Austria have been involved in one or two “kicking matches” since then, and I cannot help but feel – perhaps the Rangers influence on Austrian football has something to do with the way Celtic v Rapid Vienna games seem always to descend into violence. Just saying like.