RECEIVED KNOWLEDGE in Football has it that a club manager has a “limited shelf life” and at some point, unknown when he is appointed, the playing squad will stop listening to what he says. Again, current thinking puts that down to perhaps that shelf life being, at most, five seasons, after which it's time to change managers.
This takes scant, if any, cognisance of the lengthy careers of the great old-time managers: the decades during which Bill Struth ran Rangers, Willie Maley managed Celtic, “Sailor” Hunter had the reins at Motherwell and so on. In England, Matt Busby managed to produce great teams across three decades at Manchester United, Bill Nicholson worked wonders across many years at Tottenham Hotspur, however, in the modern era, perhaps only Alex Ferguson, again at Manchester United, has come close to matching the lengthy reigns of those mentioned above.
His years at Celtic have been broken by absences, but, after the events of the past week, might we be seeing the dying days of Martin O'Neill as a Celtic icon? Struth's final years at Ibrox brought few trophies, might the same be about to happen to St Martin?
I attracted some scorn when, in the early weeks of this season, as his team struggled, I suggested Derek McInnes just might turn things around sooner than those disenchanted glory hunters who were calling for his head might imagine. Now, on the back of a six-game unbeaten run and back-to-back Old Firm wins, belief is growing among Ra Peepul.
The Premier Sports League Cup win at Ibrox was a fairly-straightforward, in some ways comprehensive home win. Sunday's win at Celtic Park was a totally different matter. It was 1-0 going on 4 or 5-1. Had Rangers scored the goals their build-up play merited, the 60,000 home fans, or at least the more-excitable element in The Celtic Family might well have carried out the biggest “brek-in” since 1909.
This Rangers squad remains a work in progress. The new faces McInnes has brought in (yes, even Emmanuel Fernandez), are starting to look like Rangers players. Some of the under-performers from previous seasons are now starting to look the part. They are not yet, however, performing as a good Rangers' squad is expected to, but, they are getting there.
The Celtic squad meantime, is going backwards. Colby Donovan is starting to look like a young player worthy of a Scotland call-up, but, that young man apart, over the past two games – the fixtures in which players on both sides are really measured – too-many Celtic man, even players cemented in place, have failed, badly. These are dire times for The Celtic Family.
A final thought on the problems afflicting under-pressure managers such as O'Neill. Back in the day, the alternative to a well-paid career as a full-time footballer was a return to, perhaps, going down the pit, or into the steel works; today's stars, if they fail, or perhaps don't like how their manager or head coach speaks to them, can simply call-up their agents and tell him: “get me a move” - they then simply move to another club, don't listen to their new coach and fail again.
OK, the maximum wage, the retain and transfer system and the fact, so little of the cash the game was making in the golden age of huge crowds went to the players has become the age when the players rule the roost – but, were the old days really so bad? Certainly the great managers of the past did not have to deal with agents, wall-to-wall television and the like. You have to ask, how might they have coped?
Another thing those old managers didn't have to deal with was the interruption to the season of internationals. I am working from memory here, but I seem to recall, prior to some season in the 1960s, even if you had half your regular first team called-up for an international game, you still had to play your club game. Then, the rule was introduced which said, if you had three players in an international squad, you could have your Saturday fixture postponed.
This meant, reserve players were blooded in games that mattered. Today, when the so-called International Window opens, the normal domestic game closes down, often for no discernible reason.
I can accept closing down the domestic calendar when Scotland has a home game at Hampden, but when, as on Saturday coming, the Scotland game is in far-off Slovenia, why shouldn't we have a domestic calendar of games? It's not as if too-many Scottish players are on international duty – only 7 members of new Head Coach Sebastian Pocognoli's 28-man squad (just 25%) are from Scottish clubs, and no club has even met the old three-men picked criteria for a fixture postponement.
OK, the Tartan Army will, as ever, invade Slovenia, but, what about the troops left back at barracks. Fine, the game is on BBC Shortbread, but, surely the Premiership could have continued as normal.
Yes, I know they will have players off playing for other countries, but, domestic football is run by The Scottish Professional Football League – so maybe the clubs should be forced to employ more Scottish Professional Footballers.
FINALLY – an interesting job appointment passed beneath the radar this week. I learned from the fact we are Facebook friends, that Iain King will, on 5 October, take up the post of Academy Director at Rangers, joining the Ibrox club from his current post in Cape Breton, Canada.
I worked with Kingie when he was a young journalist, learning the game in local newspapers in Ayrshire, prior to joining the nationals, where he rose to be Head of Sport, for The Scottish Sun – where he was also Right Worthy Master of the Lap Top Loyal. Then he handed-in his lap top and switched to football coaching.
He's A Real Rangers Man and given how well he has done on the other side of the Atlantic, I am sure he will bring much to his new job with the club he loves. It will not be immediate, but, before Kingie finally retires, I am certain he will have helped produce a steady stream of vibrant young SCOTTISH talent for the Rangers' first team.
