IT should not be too-much of a surprise that the continuing soap opera which is The Rangers continues to set the football news agenda in Scotland. When the on-field product is as pish as the game up here is today, we have to look elsewhere for entertainment. But, it would be nice to get back to discussing tactics, or who will win what - instead, it's all about Rangers.
This, again, should be no surprise, given the tribalism in Scottish life: perhaps a hang-over to the old clan system. I was speaking last night to a contemporary from school; a guy who actually signed for Rangers, but, because the love of his life and his wife now for nigh on 50 years just happened to be born and raised as a Roman Catholic, he never got to play in the first team.
This chap, a retired member of one of our more-respected professions, is convinced there is an anti-Rangers bias in today's Scottish media; that it is being run by an RC "mafia" who are relishing every piece of bad news to emerge from Ibrox. This is an argument I have heard put forward by others, but it is not one to which I fully sign-up.
Yes, there are some members of "The Celtic Family", who carry NUJ cards and rather relish the other side's current travails; similarly the membership of "The Lap Top Loyal" is still strong within the mainstream media in Scotland. But, both sides agree, Rangers' continuing trials and tribulations is still damn good copy. They also, at last, seem to accept that much of this nonsense was self-inflicted.
But, as I have often put forward, and have yet to be shot down for saying so; doesn't this mirror Scottish football as a whole? Every time Celtic or Rangers take the field in a Scottish game they face an XI which by and large breaks down into: four of their own - determined to show them they are good enough to weat the hoops or the blue shirts - four of the opposition - determined to beat thae bar stewards at any cost - and three neutrals, of whom one or two might be genuine fans of the opposition, keen to win.
Enough preamble, to the meat in today's sandwich. I said when he was appointed, Walter Smith would not find being Chairman a piece of cake. It is one thing managing a team, quite another running a club and I feared he would be found wanting - which he has been.
It would have been quite simple for Smith the manager, to have ripped a truculent player who wasn't buying-into the team ethos to shreds. He could drop him, he could make him train with the youth team, he could even, as runmour has it happened under Souness, invite the troublemaker into the gym to have the shit beaten out of him by the big, bruising assistant manager.
That approach doesn't work with a co-director who is singing from a different hymn sheet, or has a different agenda. Footballers, by and large, are as thick as shit in the neck of a bottle, easy to cow with cerebral argument. That will not work with directors, especially those who have scrambled up the greasy pole of business by their own efforts.
A fight is, supposedly, going on for the "soul" of Rangers. Listen, Rangers do not have, never have had, a "soul". That club is all about making money. Since the days of Murray's Mismanagement, it has become a cess-pit for the less-principled amongst the money-making classes and, as we all know, where there's muck there's brass. And Rangers right now has attracted some real brass-necked muck-rakers.
Walter is well out of it, but, his departure was not good news for Alistair McCoist.
I NEVER "got" John "Bomber" Brown. I never thought he was "Rangers Class" - since my ideas about "Rangers Class" were forged by watching the likes of Eric Caldow, Ronnie McKinnon, Jim Baxter, Alex Scott, Willie Henderson, Ian McMillan, Ralph Brand and Davie Wilson.
Now, you note the names I cited there. These magnificent seven players were all members of the all-conquering (domestically) Rangers squads of the early 1960s. But, all the trophies which they won could not have been won by seven men playing against eleven. They needed the likes of Bobby Shearer, Harold Davis, John Greig and Jimmy Millar. Good, but not great players, in theatrical parlance, sword-carriers, there to back-up the main stars.
Davis, the man so-badly wounded in Malaysia, was an under-rated player. HIs subsequent coaching career marks him out as such. The likes of Shearer and Greig, for all the latter's 40 caps and status as TGLR - The Greatest Living Ranger, were journeymen. But, they were fans on the park, they really did believe in "No Surrender", in a footballing sense.
They were also bigger "Rangers Men" than Brown. "Bomber" may be the voice of "Ra Peepul" in the Copland Road and Govan Stands, but, that doesn't make him an expert.
Furthermore, Brown is Manager of Dundee FC. His first loyalty SHOULD be to the Dens Park outfit. Of course, given the low standard of Scottish football journalism today and the fact he is known as being a good source of copy - some tabloid hacks will always telephone him for his opinion on events at Rangers.
If he was true to his employers, Brown ought to thank them politely for the call, but then add: "I have no comment to make on happenings within a rival club - at the moment, it is none of my business", then hang-up.
He has, apparently, enough on his plate with a power struggle, somewhat akin to that at Ibrox, going on just along the corridor from his office. Brown can add nothing to events at Ibrox, but, he can, and should be, trying to broker peace at Dens, so he can better do his own job.
NEXT week, at Wembley, Scotland under Gordon Strachan, will be attempting to post what, if they succeed will only be their tenth win at Wembley in 89 years. So, I thought, I would, between then and now, post on here, a brief outline of the previous nine wins, in the order in which I rank them.
England 0 Scotland 1 - 1981
THIS match was won and lost on John Robertson's second-half penalty. The awarding of the kick was never disputed, it was a "stonewaller", which Nottingham Forest's Robertson slotted away past Joe Corrigan with aplomb.
He had to wait to take it, however, as Forest team mate Trevor Francis attempted a spot of mind games. Everybody who had done their homework knew, Robbo would aim to beat Corrigan at the goalkeeper's bottom right-hand corner; so Francis sauntered forward, as Robbo prepared to take the penalty, to have a word in Corrigan's ear, hoping that, seeing this, Robbo would change his usual practice and shoot to the keeper's left.
The plan misfired badly, Corrigan went left, Robbo did what he always did, shot to the right of the goal, 1-0 Scotland, game over.
In truth, this was just about the only note-worthy incident in a dreich game. England tried to claim a late penalty for a typically-brilliantly-timed penalty box tackle by Willie Miller, which won him the ball and left Francis flat on his face - but, the referee wasn't having it and the claims died of embarrassment - that they should try it on so blatantly.
Both sides were under-strength because Liverpool and Ipswich were both in European cup-final action; so, no Hansen, Souness, Dalglish, Brazil or Wark in the Scotland squad and no Ray Clemence, Phil Neal, Phil Thompson, Terry Butcher or Mick Mills in the England one.
England were ripe for the plucking that day. They had lost in midweek to Wales, as-ever, on the back of a loss to a lesser nation, the English media were on a scapegoat man hunt and under-pressure England manager Ron Greenwood was openly at war with his media cheer-leaders.
We won, but, it was a dreich, dour game, best-forgotten. So, only ninth in the order of merit of Wembley wins.
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