Oor Wee Ginger General Has The X Factor - He's A Lucky Manager

WELL - I never saw that one coming, as we escaped from Molde with another win. I have long suspected WGS is a good manager, with results such as he is getting right now, he might also be a lucky one, which is more than half the battle.

 

I have to admit, I missed the first half of tonight's game, but, from the downbeat comments of Pat Nevin and big Craig Gordon when I switched over, we were apparently verging on shite and somewhat lucky to reach the break still all-square.

 

However, we got away with it in the end. There was some good football in the build-up to the goal, plus a wee bit of good fortune, not least from the deflection, but, it speaks volumes for Scott Brown that he kept going in a game where, even after his goal, he wasn't as dominant as we perhaps need him to be.

 

The wee man is, at long last, growing into the role of Scotland captain, so it would be ill-mannered not to praise him for his leadership and his goal. I felt Alan Hutton, for all he is over-achieving wonderfully in the wake of being frozen-out at club level, is now beginning to show worrying signs of being off the pace internationally. He really MUST get his personal situation sorted-out before the end of the January transfer window and be back playing regularly, otherwise, WGS will need to replace him.

 

Gordon Greer looked far-happier in his second international than in his first, but, really, if we are going to rely on a guy who is 32 going on 33 as back-up for the still developing Martin/Hanley partnership, then, we are in trouble.

 

We are still a long way short of where we want to be, but, we are now, I think, travelling in the right direction. Let's hope, for once, we get a half-decent group draw for the Euros come February.

 

I still feel, however, the SFA MUST put in place a player development strategy aimed at getting more Scottish players up to European or world speed.

 

 

 

JIM McCluskey lost his long battle with incurable illness on Thursday. He will be cremated tomorrow.

 

Jim always had one unique advantage over his refereeing contemporaries - the fact he had been there, done that and had the t-shirt and the DVD. Far too few players, when the axe falls on their senior ambitions, either through managerial decision or, as in Jim's case, through illness, think out of the box and opt to join the dark side by becoming referees.

 

Maybe the SFA should be putting in place a fast-track system aimed at getting young players, who haven't quite made it, into refereeing early. Jim actually had to see a newspaper advert, start at the very bottom and go through the usual apprenticeship of park games, the juniors and the lower leagues, before hitting the big time.

 

Mind you, he started refereeing in 1975 and was Grade One five years later, so, he must have had something.

 

He was lucky too, in that he lived in Ayrshire and was able to go through the Ayrshire Referees training scheme. This means, if any sort of talent is detected by the referee spotters, sooner or later the tyro is handed the poisoned chalice - and given a Talbot v Cumnock game.

 

It was one such Ayrshire Clan War which propelled Jim into the top flight. He was given a Whyte & Mackay Cup Final, at Blair Park, Hurlford, between the warring neighbours, controlling events so well, the sponsors wanted to give him the Man of the Match award.

 

That display, in front of a possee of Hampden "blazers" sealed his elevation to Grade One.

 

Aside from his refereeing excellence, off the park, Jim McCluskey was one of nature's true gentlemen, he will be sorely missed.