In Praise Of Scottish Referees

 

LISTENING to Aberdeen v Rangers on BBC Radio Shortbread on Sunday afternoon, when it got to ten minutes left and The Breengers were still trailing 0-1, I asked myself: “When are they going to get their penalty?” I still had a wee bit to wait, but when Andrew Dallas, on VAR duty, got involved, I knew penalty time had come.

Might I, by the way, suggest to those supporters of “The Diddy Teams” who complain about the number of penalties The Bigot Brothers get, with or without the aid of VAR, maybe if their teams got into the opposition's penalty area more regularly, they too would get penalties.

[A wee story: an Ayrshire Junior team, usually in the trophy mix, were at the wrong end of the table, running out of games and in real danger of relegation. But, their Secretary saw hope surface when a former player turned up to referee what was a must-win game.

“I hope we can look forward to a penalty or two,” the Secretary suggested to the ref, who said he would see what he could do. But, at half-time, with the score still 0-0, the Secretary sought-out the referee to remind him of the need for a penalty.

“True enough Alex,” was the reply; “but, before you get a penalty, you have to get into their penalty box.”]

I honestly thought, after James Tavernier had knocked home the spot kick, Willie Miller might throw a wobbler. However, it speaks of Mr Aberdeen's status as one of the Eminence Grice of Scottish Football that he should suggest the shirt tug which was penalised was as we say in God's County: “A rush of shite to the brain” by the Aberdeen player. Willie, in his day recognised as “The best penalty box defender in the world” also suggested the modern fashion for: “getting tight to your opponent” is leading to players panicking and tugging shirts when that opponent gets the jump on them.

The problem, as Miller and Billy Dodds conceded in their post-match post-mortem, is the old one of refereeing consistency. One tug will be pulled back, another will not. Maybe, like American Football, we need additional officials to catch shirt pulls and other nefarious activities.

Mind you, maybe if clubs started fining their players for shirt pulling and other no-noes, we would have a better game. Jock Stein's old dictum: “Don't give the referee a chance to make a decision that could hurt you “ comes to mind here.

Barry Robson was naturally disappointed at his side's failure to see-out the game, but, the difference in their performance in this game, and in their recent visit to the East End of Glasgow lends credence to the view, they reserve their best performances for games against The Breengers.

As ever, Social Media has gone doo-lally in the wake of Sunday's events at Aberdeen, with the usual claims of “Masonic bias among Rangers-minded referees” and the usual pile-on against our officials.

Can I just say, maybe Scottish referees are ahead of the curve here; they are starting to pick-up on and penalise jersey-pulling in the penalty area. Just watch any English game, or any European one, and the jersey-tugging and all-in wrestling that goes on at set pieces in the box is off the scale, and almost never picked-up, other than to offer an immediately-ignored lecture.

Scottish referees, while maybe not always consistent, are starting to act against this clear foul – let's hope their lead is followed elsewhere, we need to eliminate the jersey-pulling from the game.

IN THE interest of balance I am obliged to now mention The Other Lot. The Red Top Rotweillers at The Hun and the Daily Rhebel have been, since Saturday, somewhat aerated at Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE's response to receiving some abuse from the banned Ultras group The Green Brigade as he sauntered into the San Giro on Saturday.

The Grate Crooner showed his disdain for the GB by giving them the American-style middle finger salute. A most-unladylike gesture from the singer nicknamed “Phyllis” by his close friend Sir Elton Hercules John CH, CBE – aka “Sharon”.

Opinion being free, both the GB and the GC are free to do as they like, however, for all they often go too far, for all their stupid, sometimes unpleasant actions, I still reckon the Green Brigade are more-devoted to the team, more passionate and have a higher investment in being “Celtic-minded” than the Highgate-born, wannabe Jock knight of the realm. Many of them are probably better chanters too.

Looking at the draw for the Fourth Round of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup, I am wondering if the Treasurer at Buckie Thistle has come round yet. OK, the Highland League outfit can expect a severe spanking when they travel to the San Giro for their tie, but, the huge cheque they will take back up the road will be ample compensation.

Another intriguing tie is the Edinburgh Derby, between Spartans and Heart of Midlotnhian, while my tip for a likely cup upset is for Clyde, now managed by Ian McCall, to upset Aberdeen.

THE DEATH of Terry Venables has rightly been marked by generous tributes to a very-good manager. His record of being selected for England at every level from Schoolboy to Full International was also worthy of acknowledgement.

Venables always came across well on TV, he also wrote some good books – I enjoyed his tome: “They Used To Play On Grass” which is one of the better works of football fiction – certainly well ahead of some Keith Jackson match reports or Hugh Keevins opinion pieces!! Also, “Hazell” which he co-wrote was good TV.

But, I take exception with the BBC, true to form, in their tribute, going big on Euro '96, when, under Venables, the Three Lions failed to bring football home. OK, that was a good theme song, although I preferred the Bill Leckie parody version, but, what the good only BBC forgot was – they got past Spain on a refereeing error, which VAR would have picked-up on today, and, had Gary McAllister just stopped and re-spotted the ball for that penalty, the game as poised at that time, we would almost certainly have gone on and won.

Mind you, Tel did fall-out with Lord Sugar, another reason for liking the guy.

The Calm Before The Storm

“I DON'T like it Carruthers, it's far too quiet.” That clichéd old line from countless 'Ripping Yarns' comes to mind at this time of “phoney war” between the end of the qualifying tournament and next week's draw for Euro '24 proper. Mind you the likes of Wales, who have to navigate back-to-back home games against Finland, and the winner of the tie between Polandf and Estonia in March, still have something to play for. But, for the still on Cloud Nine Tartan Army, they're channelling their inner David Coleman; it's a case of: “Who cares.”

We now know, we are in Pot Three for the full draw, which means, we will not be facing Netherlands, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Czech Republic – given our history, we've dodged a bullet or two there. However, while we play “what if” and look at who we might still be drawn against, let's be honest, we still face a tough battle if Stevie Clarke and his squad are to do what no previous Scotland squad has ever done, and get through to the nitty-gritty knock-out stages of a major tournament.

To re-cap: They may be different competitions, but, the reality around qualification for either The FIFA World Cup or The UEFA European Championships is – there is little or no difference. In both competitions, we qualify against our peers from FIFA's European Confederation.

Our qualification for next year's big show in Germany is only the fourth time in 15 attempts (26.6% success) that we have qualified for the final of the Euros.

Our record in the World Cup, in spite of our long absence from the finals is better. We have qualified for the finals in 9 of the 19 tournaments we have contested (47.6% success). Overall, over both events, we have contested 34 qualifying campaigns (38.2% success).

Stevie Clarke has guided us to qualification in two of the three campaigns which he has overseen. He has also taken us from Tier C to Tier A of the new UEFA Nations League. He has been, by any measure, a successful Scotland boss – now he has to break through that glass ceiling into th knock-out stages in Germany.

Clarke is now 60 years of age. He hung-up his boots in 1998, before several members of his current Scotland squad were even born. He is now something of a “Silverback” in club management terms. He is probably living proof of the belief that international management is: “an old man's game.”

I suspect the SFA is relatively safe from the threat of a big-money bid for Clarke's services from a well-funded English Premiership or championship club. This should mean an easier build-up towards Germany, but, you can never say never.

Of more concern is that old cliché: “form is transient, class is eternal.” We may not have, at the moment in the national squad, an iconic Baxter, Dalglish, Law type “World-class talent” but we have several good to very-good players. The worry is, nearly every one of our players is with a big club, with big squads, and not many are in the “picked every week” tier of players.

Thus, we have to be concerned about all of the squad getting sufficient games to keep them near the top of their game come next summer, while perhaps being worried that some might be over-worked and go to Germany with near-empty tanks.

I still maintain, the “Disaster for Scotland” that was our 1978 campaign in Argentine, was not all down to Ally MacLeod failing because he failed to prepare. Yes, Ally made mistakes, but, several of our squad went there with near-empty tanks, while I have always felt their fall-out with Tommy Docherty at their club took the edge off the game of Bruce Rioch and Don Masson, two men who had been the lynchpins of our midfield in the two seasons before those finals.

The clubs don't give a fig about Scotland in Germany next year – indeed, the big English clubs don't give a fig either about that nation's ambitions in the same tournament. Their attitude is: “We are the players' main pay masters and if we want our pound of flesh between now and June – we will have it.”

I sometimes wonder if Clarke ever feels jealous of opposite number Gregor Townsend, Scottish Rugby's international Head Coach. Townsend found himself in the position of having his most-experienced scrum-half, British Lion Ali Price, slip to third in the pecking order at his club, Glasgow Warriors.

No problem to Townsend; he had a word with the High Heid Yins at Murrayfield and hey presto – because the SRU owns Price's club Glasgow Warriors and BKT United Rugby Championship rivals Edinburgh – Price suddenly found himself driving along the M8 on a season-long loan to the capital outfit. Also, Townsend can have the home-based players rested, if they are showing signs of going off the bio.

Should a similar fall-out of favour at his club afflict one of our key men, unfortunately Clarke simply has to accept it as a football fact of life and work round the problem.

SATURDAY will be a big day for the clubs still involved in the Third Round of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup. Victory and a place in the Fourth Round will see the victorious clubs' directors dreaming of a big money tie against one of the 12 Premiere Division clubs, who come into the competition at this stage.

In particular, they will be praying for an away draw at one of two clubs – who I cannot name, because one regular reader of this blog reckons, every post is about them!!!

To the minnows still involved – former Junior sides such as current Scottish Junior Cup holders Cumnock Juniors – the chance of a plum draw could make a huge difference to their finances, while others, such as the Championship sides still involved, can see a draw against a top-flight side that is struggling could ignite a good run in the new year.

Missing from the list of involved clubs, however, is the name of Auchinleck Talbot. The 'Bot are rebuilding this season and their form in the West of Scotland League has been a bit up and down, so, they are missing-out this year, but, crucially, still involved in the Junior Cup.

Any way, reason for mentioning Talbot – I want to run this truly impressive aerial shot of the village of Auchinleck, while a floolit game is ongoing at Beechwood Park.

 

Stevie Clarke Has Some Big Choices To Make

THE IMAGE below was unashamedly stolen from a Facebook post put up by a former Scotland cap. I can only echo his sentiments – chapeau to the Clyde fans who arranged this tribute to “Bleeper” appropriately at New Douglas Park, Hamilton, given Craig was raised and schooled in that town.

 

IT WOULD have been most-unScottish for us to have put Norway to the sword last night at Hampden, we tend not to win with style these days, and it's a long, long time since Denis Law used to score multiple goals for fun against our friends from across the North Sea.

We should remember too, when the qualifiers began, Norway were actually seeded above us, so I wasn't too-disappointed at the match ending 3-3. That's the qualifiers over, we're going to Germany, the Norwegians aren't and that's all that matters.

The next big date in our diaries is the actual draw for next summer's finals, which will be made in Hamburg, on 6 December. As yet there are no confirmed warm-up games arranged, but Stevie Clarke will surely be looking to have at last two and hopefully three games arranged for next Spring to prepare for the big show.

As things stand, and barring injuries or a catastrophic loss of form, Clarke probably already knows the majority of his squad.

Goalkeepers: (if fit) – Angus Gunn, Craig Gordon and one from Zander Clark, Liam Kelly and Robbie McCrorie.

Defenders: Ryan Porteous, Jack Hendry, Scott McKenna, Kieran Tierney (if fit)

Wing Backs: Nathan Patterson, Andy Robertson

Midfielders: John McGinn, Callum McGregor, Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, Stuart Armstrong, Lewis Ferguson, Ryan Christie, Kenny McLean, Ryan Jack

Strikers: Lyndon Dykes, Che Adams

That's 20 guys who can be fairly-certain they will be involved in the summer, leaving three places to be filled, and few opportunities remaining for fringe players such as Lawrence Shankland, (less so if the Scottish Media can get him that much-touted move to Rangers), Jacob Brown, Liam Cooper, Josh Doig, Anthony Ralston, Greg Taylor, not to mention guys who are, at the moment, “left field picks” such as the much-touted Newcastle United pair Eliot Anderson and Anthony Gordon, or Liverpool youngster Ben Doak.

So, plenty to keep Clarke occupied and thinking between now and the big kick-off in Germany.

THE NATIVES are restless in the quaint former mining village in East Ayrshire which I call home. The local junior football team is in a bit of a crisis, floundering in the relegation zone in the ultra-competitive West of Scotland Football League.

They went off the boil in the Spring, towards the end of last season, and have since gone through two managerial teams – which has failed to produce even one new manager bounce but merely seen the gloom deepen.

Mind you, the West League is so-competitive, a couple of wins could catapult them to mid-table, but, the consequences of not escaping the relegation zone are too terrible for the locals to contemplate.

I have already thrown-in my twopenceworth. The most-celebrated player this village has produced in the last 30 years recently departed the senior club where he was Manager and is currently strutting his stuff as a BBC Shortbread pundit.

When the club was in a similar pickle just over 30 years ago, the then committee made what some locals, as well as fans of the team's two bitter local rivals, described as a daft move – they recruited a legendary Scottish internationalist as player-manager, and went off on a glorious five-year journey which didn't half lift the gloom which the closure of the local mines had cast over the village.

I hope my suggestion, that they bring our local hero home – expensive though he might be – is taken up, we could do with some excitement around here.

GIVEN the massive ten-points deduction which Everton have been handed for non-compliance with Football's Financial Fair Play rules, I have a feeling it's getting very close to “Squeaky bum time” at some of the other English clubs whose fortunes have been totally transformed by the injection of petro-dollars.

Or, as I suspect might happen, will the Middle East liking for “backsheesh” persuade the powers that be at Wembley and St George's Park that the clubs as yet untried beyond the Court of Public Opinion really have been playing to the rules. After all, money talks, and one or two clubs have a great deal more than Everton.

FINALLY – Much talk among football's chattering classes this week about a return to the UK for former Ranger Ryan Kent. I have even seen it suggested, Kent might be a January target for Celtic.

I therefore felt, I had to include this snippet, heard down the pub the other night – it comes from 'Billy King', one of the many Huns you find in this village – where they used to give away framed pictures of King Billy on his white horse, alongside the keys to a council house.

Billy said: “Aye, he was never really Rangers class – so he would fit-in fine at the Stadio de Giro.”

 

Time To Give The Divers And Actors Their Cards And A Long Stand On The Naughty Step

I HAVE long thought football's law book badly needs a total re-write. Let's take one simple fact of life – the yellow card. In Rugby Union, you receive a yellow card, you're on the naughty step and your team has to manage without you for ten minutes.

Imagine if that ruling came into football, in a lot of games, it would mostly be seven against five. For all the plethora of yellow cards you see in some games, the players don't seem to learn from the slight slap on the wrist which a yellow card has become. Send the player receiving the card to the sin bin, watch the space open up and the goals flow.

I reckon if yellow cards carried the ten-minute sanction, player behaviour would quickly improve.

These thoughts came to mind as I watched last night's Georgia v Scotland game. We here are notoriously hard on our own referees and their inadequacies. Going by the performance of last night's referee, things are a lot worse in North Macedonia.

To be honest, he let the Georgians away with murder, he was far too soft and it was annoying to see Scottish players being booked for challenges which their opponents got away with – but, that's European football, where the visitors seldom get a fair deal, unless they are one of the big guns.

Given our past record in Tbilisi, I was quite happy with the draw. On another night, we might have won it; there again, on another night, given how short we were of “automatic choices” we might have lost.

However, the reality is, this was a dead rubber”. The result could make no difference to the group; Spain and Scotland will qualify, only the final order has to be settled.

It was a chance for Steve Clarke to try a few things – which certainly worked-out for goal-scoring hero Lawrence Shankland. After his late equaliser, provided he keeps scoring at club level, Shankland has surely pushed himself a lot further up the pecking order when it comes to likely members of the eventual squad in Germany next summer.

Much of the post-game chat was around Scott McTominay's comments on the Georgian players. Their acting was so bad, even Ronald Villiers was embarrassed for them. A half-decent referee would have had of them off the par for “simulation.”

You wonder how some of today's players would have got on against old-style Scottish midfielders such as Dave Mackay or John Greig. The Georgians would have had to change their shorts colour to brown, I reckon.

Now we move on to another dead rubber, against Norway, on Sunday. Except, there are still things to play for in this game. For Scotland, a two-goal win would take us above Austria and into Pot 2 for the draw for Germany next year.

Norway's need for victory is less clear-cut, even if they do beat us, there is no guarantee they will have done enough to make up the ground they lost in the Europa Nations League games; so, for them it's a case of beat the Scots and hope that's enough.

Steve Clarke might well have hoped he had enough leeway come this final game to play around with his formation and try a few more of his fringe players, however, given our injury situation and the desire to win and get into Pot 2, you can expect him to play his strongest-possible team.

FURTHER to my recent post on the inadequacies of the current football-writing in Scotland – I see those two intellectual giants Mr Christopher Sutton and Mr Kris Boyd have been exchanging pleasantries across a Sky TV round table.

When the Scottish School of Physical Education at Jordanhill College used to train the future 'Gymmies' for Scottish schools, new entrants each year were given a number – assigned alphabetically; this practice encouraged teaching folklore – that they Gymmies wore their IQ on their back.

Extrapolating this to football, both Messrs Boyd and Sutton wore number nine on their back, which some might say, in IQ terms is being guilty of exaggeration. Whatever, so long as they encourage the gullible to respond to their 'clickbait' verbal sparring and moved to comment online, their employers at The Hun, The Daily Rhebel and Sly Sport will no doubt encourage the bold brace to keep on doing what they do.

I've said it before and will no doubt say it again, the quicker the mainstream media escapes from its current culture of allowing big-name retired “stars” to set the agenda for its sports coverage and gets back to encouraging competent journalists to point out the inadequacies of the high heid yins of sport, and question their decisions, the better.

Cynic that I am, I have a vision of Boyd and Sutton meeting somewhere quiet and well away from prying eyes, every Monday morning, to work out what they are going to fall out about this week.

 

Scottish Fitba, An Ill-Divided Corner Of An Ill-Divided World

I CAME across some interesting comments on Facebook on Sunday. Several poster were less than enamoured at BBC Shortbread's Sportscene round-up of the week-end's fitba. Now, there is much to criticise and condemn about the way the colonial propaganda unit at Pacific Quay covers Scottish sport. For a start they dare not risk criticism and an early P45 by suggesting our domestic brand of sport is in any way capable of living alongside the real thing – “English” football. For another thing, few of their presenters and on-screen faces would get a job in the real world. Yes, there are the odd talented individual there, but, in the main – Nah.

But of course the main problem with BBC Shortbread's sports coverage – by which we mean mainly fitba – is their obsession with pandering to the Two Tribes in Glasgow. How football coverage in Scotland today cries out for a 21^st century Dan Archer.

 

Having worked under the Great Man, I know I have nothing like his talent or way with words, but, it is a sad reflection on the rest of us that in the intervening 47 years, since Dan's legendary: “Rangers are a permanent embarrassment and occasional disgrace to Scotland” piece, in October, 1976, none of us has come as close to hitting the nail on the head. Back then, Dan was a Partick Thistle supporter, the great Hugh Taylor was Kilmarnock till he died, Bob Crampsey was perhaps the ultimate Queen's Park man. Arthur Montford, remember, was such a diehard Morton fan, he got onto the board.

Alex Gordon, the great Daily Record/Sunday Mail Sports Editor was Celtic to the core, but, he had morphed into a novelist and serious writer before that little tit-bit emerged, it never showed in his day job. Today, BBC Shortbread's Richard Gordon is an unashamed Aberdeen fan, Bill Leckie remains a life-long St Mirren sufferer and The Scotsman's Alan Pattullo bears the scars of a life-time's devotion to Dundee, but, the vast majority of the working fitba writers are either Tims or Huns – I don't think you get through the door today otherwise.

OK, the following of the Big Two are a bit likes midges in a Scottish summer, there are an awful lot of them and they are bloody annoying. But, I sometimes wonder if the decline and fall of Scottish Journalism is not down to the men at the top's obsession with keeping the axis of evil from coming round some day, burning down their offices and smashing the presses.

However, I sometimes feel, as much as the rise of the internet has played its part, I think much of the blame for the way the various circulations have vanished down the stank can be traced back to all the papers deciding to concentrate on writing for Sean South from Croy and Billy King from Larkhall to the exclusion of fans of other teams or sports.

Then, there is the quality issue – the Lunatic Majority from both clubs can get as much mindless pish for free, by surfing the internet – no need to pay good money to purchase a newspaper and read the ravings of some of the great brains in the Scottish Football Writer's Association today.

The clubs treat the papers with scant respect too. One of the Good Guys, still at the coal face, a former colleague of mine, told me once: “I can more easily get an interview with one of the true global stars from a major European club than I can get to speak to the current cult figure at either Celtic Park or Ibrox. The two clubs' idea of media relations is poor to say the least.”

And they get away with it – few Editors have the strength of mind, when one of the clubs decides to ban a journalist, to say: “Okay, if you want to ban our guy – we will no longer give you the free advertising you get just now.” Mind you, to really bring them to heel would need a concerted, combined show of strength by the entire media, and that isn't going to happen.

But, in truth, the football field in Scotland is now, as it has always been, slanted in favour of the strong. The answer may well be, as their fans keep suggesting, that they bugger off to a European League. There, in terms of support – bums on seats – they would be big clubs, but, Scotland, while it is part of the UK, could not support their ambition. That said, in a European League, they might well attract some oil money and be able to compete, but, failing that, they would probably struggle.

Without them the Scottish League would be far-more competitive and might well be better. However, that particular change might not happen for some time. Where the other clubs could force change sooner is if they realised, by sticking together, they COULD force change through.

Maybe if the fans, through their Supporters Associations and the like, put pressure on the High Heid Yins in their individual clubs, to get off their backsides and demand change, things would change. That said, maybe it's just the Scottish way, to mump and moan and complain aloud, safe in the knowledge, real change will not happen.

The Big Two may have the money muscle, but, if the other clubs stick together they can force change. Will they though? Most seem happy to put up with an uneven playing field, in the hope of the odd lucrative cup game against either one, or, so-long as they're in the top division and get the four visits per season, they will put up with things as they are.

I referenced Dan Archer at the start of this post – I cannot help wondering, if he was around today, what Dan would have to say about the posturing of the Green Brigade, and Sunday's childish whistling and booing during the Minute's Silence at Celtic Park.

 

Like A Death In The Family

SUPPORTING as I do, one of the “diddy teams” in Scottish Football, I rather enjoyed the discomfort of the Celtic Apologists during Tuesday night's serious doing from Atletico Madrid. The television companies' determination to not employ real journalists, relying instead on former players to comment on games was surely never more seriously traduced than by John Hartson's excruciatingly-embarrassing performance in this match.

Hartson's big reddie was never redder than in his reaction to the red-carding of Dazien Maeda in the first half. Ok, let's get the mitigating factors out of the way:

• Perhaps, as Hartson kept bleating, there was no intent, but, in penalising dangerous play – intent is not an issue

• He went in, studs showing, over the ball and he hit the Atletico player's shin – that's dangerous play every day of the week

There are only three places in the world where such a challenge is not an immediate red card (assuming a competent referee and VAR team). These places are:

1. Celtic Park

2. Ibrox Stadium

3. Hampden Stadium

And then only when it is a domestic Scottish game and the player making the challenge is from Celtic or Rangers and they are the home side.

Yes, going down to ten man at such an early stage in the game condemned Celtic to certain defeat, given the quality of the opposition. However, until they ran out of steam in the final quarter, I thought the Celtic defence did a good job in containing Atletico. However as tiredness kicked in, it became a case of how many would the Spanish team score.

Brendan Rodgers spat the dummy almost as far as Hartson in his post-match comments. Of course, Rodgers has been long enough at Celtic to expect to get the 50/50 – even up to the 25/75 decisions, everywhere but Ibrox, in domestic games, In Europe, however, Celtic is the “diddy” team and that's something he finds hard to deal with, poor wee soul.

He should maybe remind his players of a bit of Celtic folklore – after all the club is almost Shinto rather than Roman Catholic in its worship of ancestors, particularly “The Lions”: Jock Stein, a much, much-better manager than Rodgers, always told his players: “Don't give the referee a chance to make a daft decision which could hurt you.” That was Stein's guidance, but, even he had players in the Lisbon Lions squad who could not be guaranteed to not do something stupid in the course of a game.

ON WEDNESDAY night it was Owen Hargreaves' turn to apologise on behalf of his own team and criticise the referee, after Marcus Radford was red-carded against Copenhagen.

He had company on commentary from Robbie Savage (Manchester United Class of '92), who, to be fair was magnanimous after the final whistle, but during the game jumped on every decision given against United, as being wrong.

Needless to say, Paul Scholes (also Class of '92) also felt United and Rashford had been treated harshly.

What is it with British football? The old adage about the referee always being right has gone out of the window. Now, I appreciate, referees being human will make mistakes and in Scotland, yes, given the degree of vitriol the lunatic fringe of their support can summon-up, and with the example of Hugh Dallas and the abuse, both verbal, physical and mental to which he was subjected, well, can you blame a Scottish referee for rushing to award the Bigot Brothers marginal decisions in their favour.

But, across all strata of football in this country, there is a total failure to accept the referee is the sole judge of fact and to accept his decisions, even when we disagree with them.

One of the reasons behind the introduction of VAR was apparently a desire to take a lot of the arguments out of the game. Clearly we are still a long away from that day – or is it, that homo sapiens always has to have argument and conflict?

OK, VAR is still flawed, but, might that be the human element and the fact, humans are flawed? Surely, however, the flaws can be ironed-out.

THAT ironing-out really has to be done soon, after the Horlicks of Liverpool's disallowed equaliser against Toulouse. OK, the ball definitely hit MacAllister's arm, but, from the start of organised football until VAR came in, not every hand ball was a foul.

As we used to say when I was a boy: “The baw played him.” MacAllister chested the ball down, but, it came off his chest onto his arm, which was in a natural position. Play then continued for some seconds before Liverpool scored. I don't see how the referee – who had clearly missed the contact with the arm, could have been said to have missed a clear and obvious offence, since the ball to arm contact was neither clear nor obvious. Also, it wasn't MacAllister who scored, so, the hand ball hadn't affected the “goal”. Bad refereeing and yet another example of how the human element in the VAR process can cause problems.

Steve McManaman on co-commentator duties, was naturally upset at the decision, but, he accepted it with far better grace than the myopic cheerleaders for the two British teams the previous night had.

ALLY McCOIST then showed how it should be done on his shift for the Rangers game. Of course, Ally is the living embodiment of: “once a Ranger – always a Ranger” but the badge-kissing imports who apologise for the other Glasgow side might do well to study how Ally approaches the colour commentator's role – they might find out why he is seen as the best in the business, and they come across as bitter and biased.

I have been unimpressed by some of this current Rangers' side so far this season. The team remains very-much a work-in-progress, but, some of the players who, under the last manager I thought were simply Not Rangers Class are definitely looking more like the thing under Mr Clement.

Celtic might be out in front in Scotland, but, I think Rangers are now better set up to compete in Europe and, if the new boss continues to work as he has started, those who are prepared to already give the league title to Celtic might have to re-think things.

Even Without Him On The Line Scottish Fitba Is DRoss

I gave up on the Aberdeen v Hibernian League Cup Semi-Final very-early-on; the opening exchanges having convinced me, this was going to be a dire game, perhaps decided by one moment of competence. From what I have read since, I believe I chose wisely.

I watched the Rangers v Heart of Midlothian game in its entirety, it wasn't very-entertaining or encouraging stuff – the better team won, however, I saw nothing to change my view that at least half, if not more of the current Rangers staff are Not Rangers Class. I reckon one or two would be nane the waur of being kicked up and down Auchenhowie for a week by the likes of John Greig, John Brown and Kenny Black – to name but a trio of ex-Rangers; then they might realise what wearing that jersey demanded.

As for Hearts, I got into football during Hearts' Golden Era: when manager Tommy Walker had talent such as Dave Mackay, John Cummings, the fading but still effective Terrible Trio, Alex Young and, for a season, Gordon Smith; these true stars backed-up by some team mates who, if not Scotland class were top-class 'journeymen.'

These days are sadly passed, and it showed. Early on in the game, Hearts' Captain Lawrence Shankland broke down the left, surging past three or four Rangers players, then, sensing he had no team mates up in support, he stopped, turned around and played the ball some 30 yards back into his own half, whereupon a team mate surrendered possession.

There you have it, 21^st century Scottish football in a nutshell. Back in the day, supposing Willie Bauld had picked-up the ball where Shankland did, he would have kept going forward, secure in the knowledge, Conn, Wardhaugh and his two wingers would have been bursting a gut to get up alongside him and keep the attack going.

Shankland is no Bauld or John Robertson, but, he is in the wider Scotland squad and one hears rumours of Rangers' interest. Well, I certainly believe, in this currently flawed Ibrox squad, he could flourish and add the goal threat their expensively-recruited foreign mercenaries rarely provide.

Football folklore tells us, a goals per game average of 0.5 is the benchmark for an international-class striker. This is a statistic that not many players achieve today, Shankland's career gpg figure is 0.49, so, he is, in modern terms, a quality striker. It is a further condemnation of what passes for tactics in our top league today, that a class striker has to be back, 15 to 20 yards inside his own half, picking-up possession.

The likes of the first (and some say the better) Ronaldo, after he kicked off and moved into the opposition's half, never ventured back into his own half – it was up to his lesser team mates to get the ball up to him, somewhere where he could do damage. Any striker adopting that approach in Scottish football today would be written-off as: “Lazy, not a team player – doesn't track back.”

The Brazilian Ronaldo scored 425 goals in 631 first-class games; that's 0.67 goals per game. With that scoring rate, I'd want him in the opposition's penalty area, wreaking havoc, not back in his own half getting in the way.

I have long held it to be true, if the other Scottish clubs really wanted things to change, they could force revolution and out-vote the Old Firm, who, as things stand, don't want change, as this might hit their hegemony.

We've got too-many “Senior” clubs, playing in too-many divisions. However, I accept, the “turkeys” will never vote for Christmas and the tail will continue to wag the dog. We will need the sort of mass club bankruptcies which recently afflicted English Rugby to stand any hope of change.

But, here's a suggestion, one I have made before, but make no apology for making again:

Why don't we make further alterations to the League Cup? After all in its 77 year history, this competition has had more formations than Frank and Peggy Spencer. We already see the clubs which have qualified for Europe not being required to compete in the opening group games, while they embarrass themselves on the continent. So, why not, since winning the League Cup is not rewarded by European qualification the following season, instigate Chick Young's “eight diddies” rule in that competition, by insisting that each team has eight Scotland-qualified players on the park at all times.

Given the bigger clubs' dietary needs demand they over-indulge on buying and playing mercenaries, this would level the playing field and might make for a more-interesting and rewarding competition. I reckon it's worth a try.

I FIND myself somewhat ambivalent when it comes to Craig Levein returning to management at St Johnstone. The former Scotland boss will forever be tainted by that 4-6-0 formation debacle; that's one instance where I struggle to blame him. He tried something, but, his players, on the night, couldn't perform as expected. Shite happens.

However, he has made his mistakes, including that one – if indeed it was a mistake. St Johnstone, having gone down the route of appointing a young manager and been burned, have now opted for the tried and trusted, not forgetting experienced, old hand. It might pay off. I also like Craig and wish him well.

SATURDAY is Armistice Day, the 105^th anniversary of the end of “the war to end wars” - except, of course it didn't. Am I being old-fashioned in asking if whoever did the West of Scotland League, PDM Huws Gray Premier Division fixtures for Saturday isn't a history buff.

Asking Auchinleck Talbot to make the short hike to Townhead Park to face Cumnock on this of all days, sort of goes against the concept of the guns falling silent.

I see, however, both clubs are now starting to pull away from the relegation zone in which they were sitting not that long ago. Irvine Meadow and Glenafton Athletic, however, are finding it a wee bit harder to get back to where history expects them to be.