Ignore The Hype, Today's Old Firm Teams Are Not Very Good

DOWN HERE, in Hole In The Wall, East Ayrshire, I cannot in any honesty say we don't have many members of the Celtic Family in residence. Yes, we have one or two, but (to use Jimmy Reid's great phrase) - “Like a Protestant in Croy – they walk alone.”

So, as we chatted, while waiting in the local Chinese carry-out earlier this week, I realised, the chap with whom I was conversing was of the Celtic persuasion. We were discussing the fall-out from Sunday's opening seasonal meeting of the Scottish Irish Historical Society, at Ibrox.

This chap was vainly trying to persuade me that this current squad at Celtic part is: “A Great Team,” an opinion he had perhaps gleaned from his perusal of that august journal, known to all Scots fitba fans as: “The Hun.”

This, in my view merely demonstrates that my old mucker Roger Hannah and the Sun Sport team in Queen Street are proving old Abe Lincoln correct, and fooling some of the people all of the time. Because, my opinion, based on 60 years of watching Celtic is, this current lot are not very good.

Bertie Peacock - captained the first Celtic team I ever saw

The first Celtic team I ever saw in the flesh, was at Rugby Park, on Boxing Day, 1959. They lost 2-1 to Kilmarnock, and the Celtic line-up was: Frank Haffey; Dunky Mackay, Jim Kennedy, Billy McNeill, Bobby Evans, Bertie Peacock; Bertie Auld, Eric Smith, John Colrain, Neil Mochan and Alex Byrne. Nine of that team were, or would become full internationalists, the two “failures” which is perhaps unfair to both men, Colrain and Byrne, nevertheless went on to play between them over 150 first-team games for the club.

Now, I would suggest, out of that XI, two: Billy McNeill and Bertie Auld, not least as Lisbon Lions, would get into any Greatest-ever Celtic team, while a further two, Bobby Evans and Bertie Peacock, would get into the extended squad. Looking at the current squad, I don't see any of them being contenders in the short or medium term.

That 1959-60 Celtic squad finished Eighth in the First Division, behind Hearts, Kilmarnock, Rangers, Dundee, Motherwell, Clyde, Hibernian and Ayr United. Perhaps the highlight of their season was taking eventual winners Rangers to a Scottish Cup semi-final replay – where they lost 4-1. They even finished third, behind Raith Rovers and Airdrie, in their League Cup section.

There were no mass fan demonstrations that season; the Daily Record of the time didn't have a cracked club crest graphic ready to slot onto a page at a moment's notice; we didn't have talking heads (more akin to talking shite actually) radio programmes or phone-ins, and we didn't have social media.

Times and life were simpler, and that is maybe no bad thing. However, I reckon, if you could put that team out against the current lot – the 1959-60 one would win, because they were better players.

Now, I turn to the other lot, and here, not being a Rangers supporter, I will mention my dear-departed Auld Hun of my Faither. The Old Man died in 1986, so he never saw the nine-in-a-row days. His benchmark Rangers XI was: Jerry Dawson; George Young, Tiger Shaw, Davie Meiklejohn, Willie Woodburn, Jim Baxter; Willie Waddell, Willie Thornton, Jimmy Fleming, Bob McPhail and Alan Morton.

My own All-Time Rangers XI, of players I have seen in the flesh, is: Andy Goram; Sandy Jardine, Eric Caldow, Graeme Souness, Terry Butcher, Baxter; Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne, Ally McCoist, Ralph Brand and Davie Wilson. Some might question including the home-grown talents of Brand and Wilson ahead of some later stars, but, for my money, that left-side of Caldow, Baxter, Brand and Wilson was as good a left-side unit as there has been in Scottish football.

Ralph Brand - out-scored both McCoist and Morelos

Incidentally, while McCoist is Rangers' leading goal-scorer, with 355 goals from his 581 appearances, Brand has a superior goals per game record; he scored for Rangers at the rate of 0.65 goals per game, against McCoist's 0.61 gpg. In comparison, Rangers' current top scorer, Alfredo Morelos' scoring rate is 0.57 goals per game.

Look at either of those all-time teams, then try to tell me any one of the current Rangers squad would get a game. The Old Man had this expression NRC – which stands for Not Rangers Class a measurement which refers to nearly all of the current squad.

I include in my opinion as to which players of the recent past might get into either of the all-time squads named, the current Manager and Assistant Manager; good players though they were, they wouldn't get near either team.

The stark fact is, if we ignore all the hype from the stenographers and churnalists employed in Scotland today, to write about fitba, Scottish football in 2019 isn't very good.

How I wish our administrators would grasp the nettle, bring in legislation, similar to that introduced by England's Rugby Football Union and insist, at the top level, each match-day squad has a minimum of 70% of the named players “Scotland-qualified.” Then the clubs would be forced to use Scottish players, and to up the ante in terms of coaching and technical ability.

Never forget, Scotland's three European trophy wins were all accomplished by all-Scottish Xis. Don't tell me these days are past and will never return, because I do not believe this.

More Scots and fewer mercenaries from elsewhere, and I believe our game would be in a better place.