A Good Day To Bury A Story You Don't Want Told

..THE mainstream media in Scotland, football department, has been losing readers and credibility with a rapidity which Jenson Button can only crave, since things began to unravel at Rangers in the dying days of the Murray management.

The lap top loyalists, Celtic-minded and SPL sycophants of our main newspapers were consistently behind the amateurs in the blogsphere from Day One. OK, what might yet be seen as a sort of rogue jury on the First Tier Tax Tribunal which adjudicated on the legendary Big Tax Case, did fatally undermine the previous credibility of Rangerstaxcase, but, for all they couldn't score the goal which mattered and get Rangers found 100 per cent guilty in the BTC, RTC totally out-played the MSM from start to finish.

As a semi-retired old hack, I hoped the hammering the MSM took over that affair might lead to a change in attitudes, a more rigorous and thorough calling to account of the men who are running Scottish football into the ground, but, alas, as I found out at first hand today - lessons have not been learned and, in fact, the stumblebums who inhabit the Sixth Floor at Hampden are still making fools of a weak and subservient press.

It all began late last night, when I got a call from one of our more-credible national daily newspapers. Could I, the Sports Editor wondered, nip along to Rugby Park this morning and cover the launch of the new One National Plan, which the lesser lights in Scottish football, those organisations - the Scottish Junior, Amateur, Schools,  Youth, Welfare and Women's FAs, plus the East of Scotland and South of Scotland Leagues - the bodies who provide the membership of the Non-Professional Game Board, had agreed.

This new plan was a six-point strategy designed to ensure fitba, the only game in Scotland by and large, would continue to develop.

Here was a plan, agreed to by a bunch of organisations who don't get much publicity and attention, but which are highly important to Scottish football. The SPL and the SFL only look after 42 clubs and they plus the Highland League clubs are looked after by the high rollers of the Professional Game Board - big players such as Peter Lawwell, Rod Petrie and Campbell Ogilvie.

The Non-Professional Game Board is manned by real grass roots grafters such as Tom Johnston, Dick Shaw and Alex McMenemy from the Schools and looks after some 2000 wee clubs, from Spartans and Auchinleck Talbot down to your local seven-a-side Under-8 team.

These people don't get a great deal from Hampden and that state of affairs will continue irrespective of this new PLan.

You see, the problem is, and it's a typically Scottish problem - these wee FAs are kind of like old-fashioned clans. Just as the Macdonalds and the Campbells didn't get on (mind you, did anyone get on with the Campbells?) the Juniors are not exactly bosum buddies with the Amateurs, who don't see eye-to-eye with the Welfare FA, while the Schools and the Youths are permanently at daggers drawn; and as for the Women, I'm afraid, as far as Scottish Football as a whole is concerned: Lassies shouldnae be playin fitba.

Any way, along I trotted to Rugby Park, where my suspicions that this new Plan was yet another paper exercise from the Blazers - sure, they've developed a bit of the SFA website to tell us all about it - but, to me it reads like a wish list, put together to look good but mean nothing.

This feeling was enhanced when I realised there would be nobody present from Hampden, not even two of the Good Guys: Messrs Johnston and Shaw, to enlighten us on the Plan, instead, we were told that Kris Boyd would be promoting the Plan.

Kris just happened to be there on a nice wee earner from Tesco Bank, who were sponsoring a Football Challenge Festival, featuring around 250 kids from East Ayrshire Primary Schools.

Now Kris is a handy man to have around if a half-chance falls within the penalty box in an SPL game, but, promote a new plan from the lesser Hampden affiliates - come off it.

Anyway, Kris wearing a nice Tesco top (maybe he'll be moonlighting on the night shift at Tesco Extra in Ayr), posed for the pictures with the weans, then came up to be interviewed by the hacks.

You will not be surprised to learn, the National Plan wasn't mentioned; and, if you read between the lines of the pieces in Wednesday's papers, the subliminal message is: "OK Ally, I'm ready to come back to Rangers - come and get me".

Which proves, the real SFA power-brokers, Lawwell, Regan & Co have no interest in developing grass roots football in Scotland. It will not happen - this new plan will join the other couple of hundred failed plans in what must now be a huge filing cabinet somewhere in the depths of Hampden: and we will continue to crawl along in the slow lane of football, losing ever more touch from the nations which count.

But, you have to admire the way the SFA did it, slipping this Plan out on a day when the top football writers were all safely inside Hampden, throwing their easy questions at WGS as he announced his squad for the trip to Croatia next month.

My piece on Kris Boyd made the paper - my piece on the new plan didn't, at least, my Sports Editor, for all his faults, still knows which story was likely to be more important and more read by his readership.

But, in the real world - the plan would have been properly presented and properly examined and criticised or praised by a mainstream football media who know what is important in the game and to its future.

RUGBY'S British and Irish Lions will soon fly out for their summer tour of Australia and in their ranks there will be three Scots, Glasgow's Sean Maitland and Chris Hogg and former Glasgow man Richie Gray. There should have been more Scots, but, the coach, Warren Gatland and his assistants disgracefully played favourites and left at least three, in my opinion worthy Scots free to head for South Africa with the national side.

Football in the UK, unlike rugby and cricket, has not done summer tours for a number of years, mainly because the club game has been allowed to expand to an obscene degree, squeezing end of season internationals down to essential qualifying games only, where, up until the 1970s, end-of-season jollies to Europe or further afield were nice working holidays for the lads - but, no longer.

Football has also, never had an equivalent to the Lions; sure, the amateurs of Middlesex Wanderers used to have great tours to Africa, the Far East and the Carribean, but, no more. And, while the likes of Celtic and Manchester United can still globe-trot for prestige pre-season tournaments, the good old-fashioned summer tours which once saw Rangers arrogantly tell the SFA: "Stuff your World Cup, we're taking our players to North America", are, like brown Manfield Hotspur boots and Tomlinson T-balls, museum pieces.

Maybe just as well - for I venture, if there was a football equivalent of the British and Irish Lions heading overseas this summer, there would be no Scottish players going; that's how far we have fallen.

HAVE you had a close look at WGS's 28-strong squad for Croatia? Not very inspiring is it?

To be fair, the wee man has introduced some young players, such as Stuart Armstrong of Dundee United, Ryan Jack of Aberdeen and Tony Watt of Celtic, but, I presume they will be along for the experience. He has also brought back Craig Conway of Cardiff and called-up Brighton's Gordon Greer, so he is giving new faces a chance.

But, for me the main demonstration of where we are now is - only two of the squad, West Brom's James Morrison and Everton's Steven Naismith are playing for teams which are in the top half of the English Premiership; only the Celtic trio of Scott Brown, Watt and James Forrest will be playing in the Champions League next season - if Celtic qualify.

We are a long way down from the days when Scotland bosses could pick from a host of players starring with England's top clubs.

There are eight SPL players in the squad, split 5/3 between Top Six and Bottom Six clubs. The nine EPL players split 2/7 between top and bottom halves, while there is an equal 4/4 split between top and bottom half clubs in the eight Football League Championship players called-up.

We have a lot of lost ground to make up.