WE RUGBY PARKERS have had our ups and downs over the years, for every Eintracht or Tynecastle victory, there has been an embarrassing defeat, but, when we get a good day, well we make the most of it.
Now, we all refer to our East Ayrshire heartland as: “God's Orange County” so after yesterday's events inside The Theatre of Pies, those of us who support local are enjoying the discomfort of the Glory Hunters who wear their Father's sashes.
But, I caution my fellow Killie fans, ca canny on the gloating, for the fact is, this current lot just might be the worst Rangers team in several generations. I have been saying for ages, the goalie apart, none of them is Rangers' class and they went out of their way to demonstrate this on Sunday.
Watching their games on TV this season, I have reckoned, Rangers play more square and back than forward passes. The speed with which some of them get rid of the ball once they get it is the mark of a team lacking confidence and guidance.
Sunday was a good and much-needed boost for us. Let's hope we can build on it to get into the top six and start putting together a run of wins. However, I hope it can offer a similar boost to the other “diddy clubs”, to come out and have a go at this embarrassment of a Rangers team.
If they go on the front foot, instead of letting Rangers set the pace, the other clubs could well garner more wins against them and make Scottish football better.
This is a rank rotten Rangers squad, they are there to be taken.
PERHAPS I MISSED the real Golden Age of Scottish Football Reporting; I never shared a press box with 'Waverley', Jack Harkness or Rex Kingsley. I did, however, sit next to Doug Baillie, owe a helluva lot to Dan Archer, and Hugh Taylor and still call Alex Gordon, Graham Spiers and Roddy Forsyth friends. So, I've been in the trenches with some class operators.
But, perhaps because they have to stay cosy with “The Ugly Sisters”, there has always been a lack of gravitas and true intellectual thought at the upper levels of The Scottish Football Writers Association. For me, “Dan” was the man, but, having gone to Rugby School and having been most-definitely a Brahmin in the pecking order of sports writers, Mr Archer knew how little our opinions and travails mattered in the longer term.
But, when it came to the more-serious issues in the game, Dan, in his op pieces, such as his legendary “permanent embarrassment and occasional disgrace” quote from 1976, hit the back of the neck more regularly than even Hughie Gallacher, Scotland's greatest-ever goalscorer. Of course, being a true follower of the mantra: “Firhill for Thrills” Dan had an almost Kiplingesque (dis)regard for The Old Firm.
Today, “Britney” having swapped the regard of his peers for Murdoch's Millions, soldiers on, while the potential future legends are worn down by the demands of managers who long since lost the plot, intelligent comment on Scottish fitba is rare in the mainstream media. But, all is not lost, on the Dark Web, or BBC Shortbread as we know it, there is still the occasional shaft of wit to be found in programmes such as 'A View From The Terrace' – although, I have to admit, from recent listenings, I feel it is perhaps past time for 'Off the Ball' to follow 'Only An Excuse' into retirement.
But, why should anyone take Scottish Football seriously – since the guys supposedly running it are incapable of this?
SPEAKING OF top-flight journalists, I am an avid follower of Guardian Political Sketch Writer John Crace. The current state of British politics, well it would drive you to tears, but, when Crace is on-point, these are tears of laughter. He dubbed Boris Johnson: “The Criminal”, James Cleverly to Crace is: “Jimmy Dimly”, while his irreverent attitude to our Political leaders in general is never going to get him an OBE or higher.
Crace is also, for his pains, a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur FC, and not at the moment a happy one. He unleashes his pain in his weekly political round-up piece, published on Friday, in which he wrote:
“When Spurs surrendered a two-goal lead at Brighton I really wasn’t that bothered. So what’s changed? Partly, it’s that I’m fed up with being treated as a revenue stream. One that the club could probably do without as I never buy anything from the shop or the food and drink concessions.
“I feel as if the owners care even less about results than I do. They aren’t interested in winning cups, just turning White Hart Lane into a corporate entertainment venue. A tourist destination.
“Then there is the feeling of being gaslit. Being told by the manager that we are playing a new and exciting brand of football, when the evidence of my own eyes – a few players excepted – is that we spend long periods passing the ball around the back four before losing possession.
“ 'Exciting' is clearly the new word for “not very good”. For me, exciting was winning cups. A late semi-final win against Ajax. I loved the Mauricio Pochettino team. But not this lot. They don’t even love themselves. Don’t worry. I will still renew my season ticket, but God it’s going to be a long seven months.”
Not being a season ticket holder at any club, I am coming from a different place than John, but, I fully endorse his disgust at the current fashion fot passing the ball around the back four. This is partly a response to the modern fashion for “Keepball” - where retaining possession is apparently more-important than moving the ball downfield, perhaps at some risk of losing possession, with the aim of scoring goals.
If the powers that be don't do something about this, I fear they will get fitba stopped.
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