GREAT expectations isn't merely a novel by Charles Dickens; great expectations, particularly in sport, follow the leading teams and individuals around like a bad smell. In football, clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter-Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and the two Manchester clubs are constantly exposed to the great expectations of their fans and the media.
For some, the pressure is greater than others - all the above teams are expected to win every game, whilst for some of them, particularly the two Spanish clubs and Manchester United, merely winning isn't enough, they also have to win with style and panache.
It's the same in our small corner of the football world; Celtic and Rangers are both expected to win every game - whilst Celtic are under the additional pressure of having to win with style, playing "the Celtic Way", as epitomised by the Lisbon Lions.
So, on the very few occasions, such as on Saturday, when both lose - cue media overdrive as the question "Why? - How did this happen?" is agonised over.
You have to feel sorry for the players, the single occasion on which either one of the Big Two won every league game was in 1898-99, when Rangers won all 18 of their Scottish League games that season. Brilliant for them, however, they did lose in the Scottish Cup that season, so perfection wasn't total, even back then.
However, the fact that in 214 league campaigns by the two clubs, just once, has either team managed to meet the expectations of their fans and win every game, shows how unrealistic it is to expect them, even with their great financial advantage over the other Scottish clubs, to win every game.
Maybe, instead of, even when such criticism is justified, criticising the players for defeats such as Saturdays, we ought to pay tribute to the lesser clubs, such as Ross County and Annan Athletic, who have managed to lower the colours of their esteemed rivals.
It takes two to tango, and obviously, on Saturday, the men from Dingwall and Annan, tangoed better than the men from Glasgow.
AM I alone in wondering why nobody in Scotland's mainstream media had much to say about the information coming into the public domain, that Charles Green's "new" Rangers had managed to lose £7 million in its first six months of life.
Not a great start, particularly since it was a failure to properly address repeated losses which got David Murray into bother and left the door open for Craig Whyte.
If Green and Co cannot quickly turn the loss-making club into a profitable one, then further financial trouble surely lie further down the road.
Having seen "old" Rangers hit trouble through a management model of over-sized, over-paid, under-talented squads being badly-managed, you'd think "new" Rangers would, whatever else the (real club as opposed to team) management did, they'd be looking for a slimmer, fitter, more-committed squad.
With each passing month, the number of those prepared to say Ally McCoist has the makings of a "great" Rangers manager is decreasing.
Maybe not just yet, but, I see a shoogly nail working itself loose from behind the door of the manager's office.
AND, speaking of great expectations - these are surely what wee Gordon Strachan has to face up to in this international week. Once upon a time, victory over Wales was taken for granted, no longer.
The Tartan Army, however, still by and large expects us to tame the Taffs this week; but, with just one win over our Celtic cousins in the last seven meetings, stretching back over 25 years, history is not on our side. In fact, if we disregard the meaningless win in Dublin in that diddy Four Celtic Nations tournament in Dublin in 2011, the last Scot to score a winner against the Welsh was Maurice Johnston, on the occasion of his debut (as a half-time replacement for Frank McGarvey) in a Home International at Hampden, on 28 February, 1984.
That was my 37th birthday; I am now 66, so, almost half my life time has elapsed since we beat the Welsh in a meaningful game. Furthermore, the statistics of the last ten Scotland v Wales encounters shows we've won four, drawn one and lost five, including four of the last five meetings - it's high time this situation changed.
In all honesty, the men fae Dingwall made us look even worse than fat Sally's mob, who were busy being tanned over in Govan. We were shocking! Actually, no, that's an understatement... we were pure shite. I expect more for my money, I want to be entertained, I want to be proud of the men who play for the badge, not just an audition for the EPL.
ReplyDeleteI'll not launch into a diatribe about Sally's mob, my mother always told me if I cannae say anything nice, then do not say anything at all. Seriously though, the handshake flunkies that changed the rules to suit the plight of The R*ngers have soured me to the point where I just do not want to speak about them at all. I have a tremendous respect for big Wattie, but I do feel that they took a wrong turn when they encountered Green & Whyte. There's a pun in there somewhere, eh?
Good luck to wee Gordy, let's hope that he has changed the way he deals with the media, because without that mob on your side, you are up the Clyde without a paddle.
I cannae be sure, but I walked past an auld tadger sitting in the park wearing baffies, a rather grubby looking Killie shirt, feeding the pigeons in the rain and mumbling about Joe Jordans golden years. You looked a lot older than your 66 years my friend. Must have been the rain eh?