SINCE
I find the 2019-20 vintage in
Scottish football undrinkable, I have deliberately avoided blogging
for some time. However, after watching last night's BT Sport
broadcast of Kilmarnock v Rangers, I have been moved to return to my
keyboard.
It
wasn't a bad game; ok, it reaffirmed my belief that the skill level
in our game is woefully low and reinforced my belief that the bulk of
the current Rangers' squad are most definitely, as my late Father
would say – NRC: Not
Rangers Class.
Faither
was born when King
Edward VII was on the
throne, and he got into Rangers when Bill
Struth was just
starting off as Manager. All future Rangers players, to the Old Man,
were judged against Davie
Meiklejohn and Alan
Morton, while Jimmy
Fleming, the great
centre forward of the 1920s and 1930s, was a distant relative.
The
Old Man was an unreconstructed Hun,
who would be
horrified at some of the things going on around Ibrox
today.
The level of class player absent from today's Rangers squad
Me,
while I believe Jim
Baxter was the
greatest Scottish footballer, I avoided Hundom, Kilmarnock
has my heart, so, I was very happy with last night's result – I
think we showed, in the second half, a greater desire to win, and got
our just reward.
But,
what really bugged me was the utter undisguised bias of the BT
pundits. In the post-match summing-up, it was almost a case of: “How
did that happen, little Kilmarnock have no right to beat the mighty
Rangers.” Their
comments were boak-inducing.
Even
Chris
Sutton could
barely hide his disgust, that Rangers had lost, while their puerile
arguments around the lead-up to the first Killie goal had me
pondering the question – did James
Traynor write
that bit of the script?
We
don't have VAR
in
Scotland. In fact, we will only have it, when UEFA
and FIFA
order
the high heid yins at Hampden
to
introduce it. I reckon VAR will very-quickly demonstrate just how
many “honest
mistakes” our
referees make in a season – particularly in games involving a
certain two Glasgow clubs.
VAR
is,
as I understand it, supposed to clear-up decisions, where there is:
“A clear
and obvious error by the on-field officiating team.”
Now,
I am willing to conceded the ball may have hit Roddy
McKenzie
on the arm, in the build-up to Stephen
O'Donnell's goal.
Personally, I have my doubts (but I would). If it did hit his arm, it
merely brushed against it, however, even after several replays –
there
was no clear and obvious arm to ball contact. Therefore,
the goal stands.
The
“experts” were also convinced Rangers were denied a penalty.
Maybe so, but, to me, the first use of the arm was by Morelos,
and,
in any case, having been earlier booked for “simulation,”
I
am still trying to work out why he wasn't given a second yellow and
sent off, for a later, equally blatant, dive.
Just
about the only person on the night who showed genuine “Rangers
Class” was
Steven
Gerrard, post-match. He
accepted responsibility for the loss, he would not entertain any
“hand
ball”
claims and he showed, to me, that he has the makings of a top
manager.
This
Old
Firm bias has
been at coronavirus levels in the Scottish media for years, and, to
my mind, as the papers shed readers faster than leaves in autumn, the
bias has got worse. It's as if, in the minds of the guys at the top
in the various media outlets, only the Old Firm fan base can read,
listen to radio or watch TV. So, everything they produce has to be
skewed to sate this market.
I
was so pleased to see Alex
Dyer sending
his side out for the second half at Rugby Park last night, with clear
instructions to have a go at Rangers. I wish more Scottish managers
would be as gung-ho.
As
I have said, this is a poor Rangers team. The Celtic squad is better,
but, to me, it is still a poor Celtic one. If, by some miracle, the
current lot could be matched against the Lisbon
Lions of
1967 – I fancy Big Billy & Co would win with goals to spare.
Scottish
fitba really is going to the dogs – on and off the field.
