Stop Moaning, Start Working As Hard As The Rugby Players

GLASGOW Warriors, the city's only professional rugby team has a hard furrow to plough. Leaving aside the perception, widespread (and wrong) amongst the general male population of West-Central Scotland: that rugby is a game for upper-middle class poofs, there is the small matter of rugby tribalism - genuine football-loving Old Firm fans are, I would suggest, more likely to trot along to watch "the other side" in action in a big game, than some rugger buggers would be to go along and support their "enemies".

 

If Celtic v Rangers, Partick Thistle v Clyde, Ayr United v Kilmarnock, St Mirren v Morton, Motherwell-Hamilton Academical-Airdrie v Airdrie-Hamilton Academical-Motherwell are remnants of clan warfare, while Auchinleck Talbot v Cumnock is the real thing, then, for the men who play with odd-shaped balls, GHK v Glasgow Accies, Ayr v Kilmarnock, Melrose-Gala-Hawick v Hawick-Gala-Melrose is every bit as important. Why, even in the capital, Heriot's v Watsonians v Stewart's-Melville v Edinburgh Academical causes as much winding-up in the New Club and the 19th at Muirfield as Hearts v Hibs does in less-salubrious Edinburgh watering-holes.

 

So, the fact that Warriors, whose marketing slogan is that they are the only professional sports team which represents ALL of West-Central Scotland, while probably true, doesn't put bums on seats. There are rugby men, doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants, dentists, teachers and chartered surveyors, who would rather watch their old school's Former Pupils club, which nowadays will contain narry an FP, play, than go to watch the Warriors.

 

However, the Warriors are winning the battle. Their crowd average is rising, they are getting more media exposure, and, they are doing this by playing entertaining rugby with some style. Indeed, while they are still a wee bit behind the level of their professional peers in the Southern Hemisphere, when I watch Warriors play, I am reminded of the freshness and zing which Jock Stein's Celtic brought to football during their climb to immortality in Lisbon and for their period at the peak of the European game in those years from 1966 to 1976.

 

Stein's immortal Lions weren't a stellar bunch of 1960s Galacticos. Perhaps only Jinky would have got into a World XI of the time, although Murdoch, Gemmell and maybe McNeill would have been mentioned in despatches. Bobby Lennox remains an under-appreciated talent for instance, but, under Stein, the total was worth more than the sum of the parts, while, I am certain, they worked a damned sight harder on their game than many of their contemporaries.

 

That is one of the present-day Warriors' assets. They are fitter, they work harder than some of their rivals, while they have a committed, well-balanced and knowledgable coaching staff.

 

Which brings me to today's sermon. In the wake of their heroes' failure to hurt AC Milan during the long spells on Wednesday night when Celtic were in the driving seat, some Celtic fans are calling for the board to loosen the purse strings and give Neil Lennon the cash to supplement the striking resources, depleted though they have been by the sale of Hooper.

 

Sorry guys, but, IF buying a new striker had been the answer, it ought to have been done during the summer transfer window. However, the reality is, Celtic, given their presence in the down-market SPFL, are not in a position to attract the sort of quality striker who will make a difference in the Champions League.

 

Remember, Rangers tried that sort of thing, and, to make it work, they were forced down the route of EBTs, and we all know where that led.

 

Celtic's best hope is to identify a striker who looks as if he could develop into a real threat in the CL, but who isn't yet able to command CL striker's wages. IF they can find such a young man, then the next thing is to get the whole team working a lot harder at providing him with the ammunition, while at the same time, closing the back door to the sort of teams who can afford to buy such strikers as the finished product.

 

Celtic cannot compete in the top-level of the transfer market, but, I am sure, if they are prepared to put-in the  hours of work which the Warriors players do, then they COULD and should be, like the Warriors in the Pro12, punching above their weight in the CL.

 

That said, the long-term future of Celtic, or any other top Scottish club in Europe, would best be served by some real politicking by the top men at the club and the Hampden blazers.

 

The Champions League is skewed in favour of the big leagues in Europe, those in England, Italy, Spain and Germany. These are just four out of 53. Now, if Celtic and the SFA were to forge alliances with similar-strength leagues, who all have one or two big teams, but are being frozen-out of the CL by the noveau riche of the Big Four; and to put some genuine pressure on UEFA, they just might be able to level the playing field.

 

Of course, for this to work effectively, Scotland would need to be further up the European pecking order. Celtic are doing a sterling single-handed job in bolstering Scotland's co-efficient, it really needs some of the other Premiership clubs to lift their standards and put together some decent results in the Europa League.

 

So, Celtic must work harder, while the rest MUST work harder still, to get-up alongside the Hoops in flying the flag for Scotland in Europe, then building alliances to get us a fairer break within UEFA.