Facts First - Fanciful Fulmination Later

ONE of the things which annoys and frustrates me about present-day journalism is this - the "suits" who make the decisions, being by and large products of the modern system: university, then a post-graduate degree in journalism, including work placements, are not "real" journalists.

They haven't gone through trial by scorn in newsrooms packed with ancient hacks, who have seen it and done it - the hard way. There are few, if any, old hot-metal men loose in the newsrooms today and, further more, I doubt if many of the decision-makers today would know how to go about getting a "collect", or even what that means.

Add the fact, fewer and fewer people are buying hard copies of the papers - whilst more and more of us are getting our news on-line via websites and the likes. I mean, why pay 50p or more for a red top and over £1 for a broadsheet, when you can get the same stuff online or the potted version for free from the copies of Metro given away on your bus, train or at the termini - is a conundrum which the newspaper industry's best brains are still trying to solve.

But (and apologies for the rant) today's editorial decision-makers seem obsessed with "colour" to the detriment of the facts. Take this morning's online edition of the Herald for instance, and its coverage of the announcement of WGS's squad for the two forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.

If you take yourself into the wonderful Glasgow Room of the Mitchell Library and dig-out the microfiche files of past Heralds, or if you really want to weep, old Daily Records and look-up say, the announcement of a Scotland squad for a 1960s World Cup qualifier, sure, Hugh Taylor, or Alex Cameron or "Dan" Archer or whoever was writing the piece produced an eloquent assessment of the squad, but, given very high prominence would be a box, which listed the players. That's THE most-basic fact; the primary thing the fans want to know is - who is in the team, not the fact that Leigh Griffiths was unlucky not to be picked.

Basics, get them right and most things follow from there. You will struggle to find a complete run-down of WGS's squad if you look on-line; unless, of course, you do the sensible thing and check first with the SFA site.

As an aside here, back in the day, when the selection of the Scotland team was such a crucial business, it couldn't be trusted to the professionals, but was in the gift of the butchers, bakers and candle-stick makers of the SFA's Selection Committee, it was the fashion to name a proposed starting XI and a reserve squad, which would often contain a mere eight names.

You might find that Geordie Young and Sammy Cox were the nominated full-backs, but Willie McNaught was covering both full-back positions, while Tommy Docherty was standing-by should anything untoward happen to named wing-halves Bobby Evans and Doug Cowie for instance.

We didn't need 23 or even 28-strong squads back then, so why today? At least seven of any nominated squad are simply along for the ride.

Anent WGS's squad. I see a welcome pattern developing; he brought back Chris Burke for the Estonia game, now he has re-called George Boyd, a young man who somehow vanished without trace after one of the outstanding Scotland debuts of recent years, in a B international at Broadwood in 2009. It is good to see Boyd back. I also welcome the inclusion of McKaill-Smyth of Dundee United, another "flair" player and can sympathise with Griffiths on his non-inclusion.

The Hibs boy might be a bit of a rapscallion, but, he has talent - his time will come again.