The Whyte Trial - Should Be Fun

I DON'T know who will be happier at the apprehennsion of Craig Whyte - the Capulets or Montagues of Scottish football's permanently warring families.

 

As it stands, of course, wee Craigie has done nothing wrong - these are only allegations, which will have to be tested in court. A pity the case comes under a branch of the law inwhich Donald Finlay QC does not practice; bigger pity that the Blue Brazil's Chairman is strictly a defence advocate - I'd love to see Finlay, acting for the prosecution, questioning Whyte, David Murray and Walter Smith. Won't happen, sadly.

 

I always enjoyed the legal costume drama 'Garrow's Law', featuring as it did such brilliant TV actors as Alun Armstrong and the late Warren Clarke. The bear pit which was 18th century courtrooms, as portrayed in the series, was great fun, so, I have a suggestion.

 

Why not hold the Whyte trial at Hampden, let the public in and let them let rip. They could charge as much as the SFA does for meaningless friendlies and they would make a bomb - between Ra Peepul baying for blood and the Celtic Family, claiming Craig Whyte must stay. All taking to go to charity, it would wipe out poverty in Scotland over the length of the trial; it would be great TV too.

 

Just a wee point. Given his track record and the amount of unpaid bills and bankruptcies he has gone through, I suspect Mr Whyte might require Legal Aid in order to defend himself, so, it looks as if we will be paying.

 

Ach, put it down to entertainment costs.

 

 

 

I WATCHED the Celtic v Saltzburg match in midweek. Celtic were, in my opinion, lucky to get away with a 3-1 beating, but, they will be in Europe after Christmas, so, what's not to like.

 

In reality, this is not a vintage, or anything like a vintage Celtic team. I thought the Austrians were a far-slicker outfit, playing what looked suspiciously like an old-fashioned Scottish passing game.

 

I can understand why Ronnie Diela and Co shop in Aldi and Lidl as it were, Scott Brown's limitations were again exposed in Europe, fo instance.

 

The whole ethos of Scottish football is flawed. We still put effort and brawn before ball-skills and, until we properly address this across the board in our game, we will be a wee, seldom considered off-shore nation of little consequence in the game.

 

 

 

FINALLY, the final whistle blew on Arthur Montford this week. To guys of my generation, Arthur was televised football in Scotland, a legend.

 

Having had the pleasure of meeting him often, when covering games at Cappielow, I can confirm, he was every bit the gentleman he came across as. He genuinely was a football fan, but, I have to say, his real passion was golf.

 

Today's "giants" of Scottish televisied football are pygmies in comparison to Arthur. 

Small Squabbles In A Small League

I HAD my scrum cap on over the weekend, as it were, concentrating on the oval-ball game. Great to actually be there at Rugby Park, for the first full international on an artificial surface, and for a terrific Scotland performance. Whether it be the football XI or the rugby XV, you always have a niggling, back of the mind concern about Scotland taking-on a lesser side, when all the expectations are of a Scotland win.

 

This time, my concerns proved unfounded. Then there was the bonus of the all Blacks flicking the switch to find overdrive and demolish the woefully over-hyped Welsh. This made-up for the Glasgow reserve team's loss at Llanelli/ Then Edinburgh came in on Sunday tea time with a good win over a very poor Cardiff.

 

So, with all that going-on, I couldn't get enthused about the petty school-yard squabbles which were the SPFL games.

 

Even before Stevie Smith stupidly got himself sent-off, I had a feeling the "Nephews of William" would beat the "Sons of William" in the big Championship clash. When are my friends on the Scottish Football Writers Association finally going to come clean with the cohorts - not so-much legions this season - who have bought the illusion that the Tribute Act is really Rangers. The team which wears royal blue and plays out of Ibrox is an utter shambles of has-beens and probably never will bes, managed by a manager who is shown to be getting further out of his depth with every passing season.

 

There must be something the SFA can do to sort-out this weekly example of bringing Scottish football into disrepute. Mind you, there might be something in the combined view of the football intellectuals from my local Orange club, who reckon it's all a plot, organised by Peter Lawwell, to kill the Rangers brand off, once and for all.

 

Maybe the Tribute Act needs a woman's touch at the top.

 

Not that things are all rosey across the city. Yes, the board, under immense pressure, finally caved-in on the issue of the Living Wage, but, as my old mate Michael Grant wonderfully demonstrated, while Lawwell's belief that Celtic could be the biggest club in the world might play well in Baird's Bar and in Croy and Coatbridge, in the real world, it might raise a chuckle.

 

Let's face it. Had Rangers been run properly before that legendary £1 was handed over and it all went tits up, Celtic wouldn't even be the biggest club in Glasgow.

 

And, speaking about big clubs in Glasgow: well done Alan Archibald of Partick Thistle, who revealed he had sepnt some time at Scotstoun finding-out how Gregor Townsend does things at Glasgow Warriors.

 

I bet big Alan's eyes were opened at the sheer work ethic and enthusiasm of the Warriors, not to mention the coaching nouse which Toony has shown since being handed the Warriors gig.

 

If Thistle can begin to replicate Warriors' swashbuckling football in the oval-ball game within the round-ball one, it will surely soon, once again, be Firhill for Thrills.

 

Paris St Germaine away wasn't the worst Champions' League quarter-final draw Glasgow City could have got, but, it wasn't the best either. Still, the girls have shown a wonderful resiliance in Europe this season, so, I wouldn't write them off.

 

Being women's football - I am duty bound, as a male sports-writer, to come-up with some condescending pish here abouts, so, with previous apologies to the girls - I just hope the City management keep them away from Galleries Lafayette pre-match, keep their mind on the game, not the fashions.

 

Finally, an interesting wee tale from Ayrshire over the weekend. In common with another team which wears royal blue shirts, white socks and black stockings with red tops, Irvine Meadow has delusions of grandeur, like the other team, based on deed done in the grand old days of yore.

 

On Saturday, they faced Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup - they even had home advantage. Now, facing Talbot in the League is one thing, in the Scottish Cup, it is quite another and the Meadow didn't have any experience of this phenomenon.

 

Well, they ken noo. Talbot won 4-0. I suppose Liddell's, the local coach hire company in Auchinleck, is already taking bookings for Sunday, 7 June, 2015. That's the date of this season's Junior Cup Final.

Ach, It would have been different, had we voted Yes

THIS is the week when, in my seventh decade, I finally grew-up, football-wise. After our humbling from the Auld Enemy, at Celtic Park on tuesday night, I didn't kick the cat, break my Geordie next door neighbour's windows, or boost Diagio's profits from my attack on the cratur.

 

I haven't moped around like a bear with a sore head ever since. No, this time, I could merely switch off the television and accept: we were well-beaten, by a better team; try to forget it and move on.

 

I wasn't alone in taking this grown-up attitude to the result. Clearly, we are not as bad as we were - although, I never thought we were as bad as some critics tried to make out. But, conversely, we are not as good as we thought we were, and, we are a long way from where we want to be.

 

Just maybe, at long last, we are taking Mr Kipling's words to heart. Perhaps, these days, we can face the twin imposters, triumph and disaster, and treat them just the same (or something like that).

 

Mind you, horrible though it will be once their media goes into overdrive - this England team which Roy Hodgson is fashioning, has the look of one which, a year or two down the road, could be a real force at the sharp end of world football.

 

 

 

SADLY, the English following continues to let this potentially-exciting side down. That said, is our precious Tartan Army much better?

 

The TA has, over the years since taking the conscious decision to go away with a smile on their collective faces and show the world Scotland and England is different, given a whole new friendly reputation to the Scottish football fan. However, always there, in the background, behind all the Comin' Doon the Road and Doe a Deer nonsense, is the implied threat, best summed-up in the Scottish national motto: "Whaur daur meddle wi me".

 

The only time the collective restraints tend to come off, is when faced with the English Barmy Army. A lot of what the English fans were up to in the stands on Tuesday night seemed designed to intimidate and goad, thankfully, their efforts were largely in vain.

 

The English fans' repeated anti-IRA chanting has been highlighted in the English media. Clearly, they knew where they were, but, maybe, they didn't know that trying to wind-up Celtic fans at a Scotland game will rarely be productive.

 

Where it comes to fans' behaviour, football still, I think, hasn't got it right. I will go further, so-long as the police can restrain the worst elements, the football establishment isn't too bothered how the fans behave. Because, the "blazers" don't really care about the fans other than, to extract as much of their cash as they can, as quickly as they can.

 

 

 

WE'VE got a wee rugby international at Rugby Park on Saturday, so, Kilmarnock are on the road. But, for all the rival attraction of the oval ball game at Rugby Park, there is one absolutely stand-out fixture in God's County on the day.

 

All football roads should lead to Meadow Park, where Irvine Meadow's hugely-impressive home record will face it's ultimate test - Talbot in a Scottish Junior Cup tie.

 

For the first time in many a long year, the 'Bot go into a Junior Cup tie as the underdogs. As 'Bot boss Tommy Sloan admitted this week: "It really doesn't get much bigger than a cup tie between Meadow and Us".

 

Very true Tommy. The Meadow are unbeaten, at the top of the West Superleague's Premier Division - played eight, won eight; Talbot lie third, played seven, won six, lost one.

 

To be fair, Meadow have played nobody this season yet, while Talbot, having gone through a sticky patch which saw them surprisingly turfed out of the Senior Scottish Cup by Edinburgh City, then lose at Arthurlie in the League and to Glenafton in the Sectional League Cup final, have bounced back.

 

They beat the Glen 2-0 at New Cumnock on Saturday and will give a typically obdurate performance at Irvine. This game will attract a crowd greater than the majority of Saturday's senior fixtures. Indeed, I would not be surprised to see more people at Meadow Park than at some Premiership grounds on the day.

 

If the match lives up to the hype, it will be quite an occasion.

 

 

 

 

Send Them Homeward Tae think Again

ONE of the online highlights of the Independence Referendum was the Yes supporter, on a rickshaw, getting in amongst and berating through a loud hailer, the Labour MPs who were shipped-up from London for the day to show their support for Bitter Together.

To the strains of the Imperial March from Star Wars, this intrepid freedom fighter urged the good burghers of Glasgow to: "Bow down before your Imperial Masters, who have arrived among you".

A good laugh - if not for the politicos, whose faces were as red as their rosettes. Well, another tranche of our Imperial Masters will be arriving tonight, as the Barmy Army of the self-styled football Master Race come north to Celtic Park, convinced that Wayne an' The Lads will give the Sweaties a footballing lesson.

I am not so sure; I reckon we can win this meeting of two, in international terms, fairly average sides. Neither side will be at optimum strength, and, I reckon we maybe have greater strength in depth than does England.

Not that it matters much, indeed, when it comes to playing Them, nothing matters other than that we beat them. We can have as ugly a win as you like, just win - that's the message.



WHEN it comes to Scotland v England games at Celtic Park, this will be match number six, with the record standing at each side having won twice, with the fifth game - actually the first - drawn. They are even tied on goals scored, at 9-9.

Two of these games were significant, the second, in 1896, being the first international in which the SFA deigned to pick Anglo-Scots. They had five players who plied their trade in England and a 2-1 win, Scotland's first over the Auld Enemy in seven years, justified the change of tack, with one of the Anglos, Everton's Jack Bell, scoring the winner.

The second significant match was the legendary "Rosebery International" of 1900, which Scotland won 4-1, on the back of a hat-trick from RS "Toffee Bob" McColl, of Queen's Park and a High Street near you, and a goal from Celtic's Jack Bell - the same Jack Bell who had scored the 1896 winner.

This game was so-called, because, in honour of their patron, the future Prime Minister Lord Rosebery, Scotland donned his primrose and salmon pink racing hoops.

Tonight's crowd wil not match the 64,000 of 114-years ago, but, we can hope for a similarly emphatic Scotland win.



WELL, at long last, the polis and the Crown Office have got their act together and arrests have been made, following the sorry saga of the demise of Rangers and the rise of the Tribute Act.

Of course, as things stand, the four accused, plus the still unarrested Craig Whyte are all innocent, until proven guilty; and, as everyone knows, these cases which involve alleged business wrong-doing are mine fields for the prosecution. But, public perception has long been that, jiggery-pokery went on and, hopefully, by the time the wheels of justice have finished their lengthy and slow grinding, some sort of closure will be arrived at.

Of course, some on the blue side will not be happy until perhaps a whole team of business-men, whom Ra Peepul view as having ruined their club, are strung-up by their heels from every lamp post on Edmiston Drive.

While, across the city, there will, in some minds, be misery, until Castle Greyskull is torn down and a new green public park is there instead.

I cannot help thinking, however, there will be some nervous men around Hampden, until the last appeal is dismissed. This show will run for years yet. As I have said before, there are kids growing-up in the West End and the leafier Glasgow suburbs, whose school fees are paid for years to come and whose trust funds will be topped-up by the fees their lawyer fathers are making and will continue to make out of events around Rangers and its Tribute Act.

Time To Finally Deliver For WGS And His Men

I HAVE said before, and will doubtless say-so again, Scottish Fitba has a guid conceit o' itsel', but a conceit perhaps based more on a sense of self-agrandisment that on any reality which can be measured in terms of stirring deeds in World Cups, European Championships or success in the big club competitions.

Before my friends in the Celtic Family start screaming Seville at me, the reality is, we have won nothing in Europe since WGS and Mark McGhee were in "Fergie's Furies", more than 30-years ago.

Even when we did have justifiable delusions of adequacy, too-often we would be undone by selectorial blunders, or by indiscipline among a bunch of players, whose approach to being professional footballers was, probably, best summed-up by that of one of the grteatest we ever had, Slim Jim Baxter.

To the imperial Slim One: "Fitba's jist a wey o' gettin' tae shag better-lookin burds, ken". Touched by the Gods as he was, Baxter got away with it - for a time. Those who sought to emulate him, without his sublime skills, helped make us a laughing stock.

Back in the days of Crerand, McNeill and Baxter, we could petulantly drop our other Galactico, The Lawman, and still pump the Republic of Ireland by three clear goals. However, even then, if we under-estimated them, the men in green were more than capable of leaving us with a big reddy.

So-tight is this European Championships qualifying group in which we are oppossed by the Republic, that every point has to be preciously-guarded. Germany may at the moment be shaking-off its Brazilian hang-over, but, we must still expect them to top the group.

We are in a three-way struggle for the play-off place, with the Irish and the Poles, and, we simply cannot afford to drop any home points. We MUST beat our visitors to Celtic Park tonight.

No team managed, selected and organised by "The Blessed Martin" and the simmering rage that is Roy Keane can be dismissed lightly. Given the comparative record of the teams in head-to-heads over the last half-century, we must consider ourselves underdogs tonight.

Well, that is the role in which Scotland traditionally enjoyes itself. We can do it, and beat them, but, I don't expect there to be more than a single goal in it.

WELL done, yet again, the lassies of Glasgow City, who have battled their way into the last eight of the Women's Champions League. Brilliant show Ladies.

And, once again, black marks to the decision-makers on the Sports Desks of our increasingly incompetent and foolish-looking mainstream media, for more-or-less ignoring the story.

If even a quarter of the space devoted to the board-room in-fighting and financial jiggery-pokery around the Tribute Act, was devoted to the feel-good story of Glasgow City's European campaign, we would all be better-off.

If, instead of seeking-out retired "stars" to spout platitudes, or give us their loaded take in response to loaded questions lobbed to them by star-struck reporters, these same seekers after truth and enlightment used their brains and sent after a real feel-good, interesting story, then City would be back page headliners.

But, in the super-mnacho world of Scottish fitba, they are just a bunch o big lassies. 

Aye, but, these lassies are good, very good, and, I salute them.

I WAS commiserating with an Honest Man on Wednesday morning. He had gone along to see Ayr United humbled by Alloa the night before. But, he had managed to put a brave face on things.

"Ach, we were so-bad after the first 20-minutes, at half-time we decided to give-up a bad job and go to the pub, it wasn't too-bad a night".

That's the right attitude to such a hammering as United suffered.

He'll be back for the next game though.

PARDON me for laughing at the latest FIFA "scandal", whereby Russia and Qatar get off Scot-free after an inquiry into the mess which has been the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups - while those guardians of probity and best practice, the FA, have been condemned.

You have to laugh, because, nothing will be done about it. FIFA will continue to be corrupt, the likes of Sepp Blatter and his cronies will continue to stick it to the saelf-appointed Master Race at every opportunity, and, while the loathsome Jack Warner may have been sacrificed as a face-saving exercise by Blatter's Brigade, international football politics will continue to smell every bit as much as real politics.

Mind you, England had it coming. Remember the way the FA was all-too-ready to jump into bed with the bad guys after John McBeth made his all-too-true, but, for him, all-too-silly comments on the probity and practices of some of the "gentlemen" he would have been obliged to sit down beside, had he been confirmed as the Four Home Nations' FIFA vice president.

When it suits them, the English will sup with the Devil - but, they lack a long spoon. Sir George Graham and his cohorts back in the pre-war days were maybe right in wanting nothing to do with foreigners in football.

Favourites - I Don't Think So, Given Our Course And Distance Record

WHISPER it not in Dublin, publish it not on the streets of Limerick, but, when it comes to internationals between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, form favours the Irish.

Friday night's Celtic Park meeting will be the tenth full international between the two nations, with the record showing: the Irish have won four of the previous nine, to Scotland's three, with the other two games drawn.

 It makes even worse reading, when you realise, Scotland has won just one of the last seven encounters. That came in an end-of-season friendly, at Lansdowne Road, on 30 May, 2000, when goals from Don Hutchison and Barry Ferguson overturned the lead Craig Burley's second minute own goal had afforded the Irish.

The countries' two previous European Championship qualifiers, in the campaign leading to the 1988 Champiionships, have seen the Irish hold us to a 0-0 draw in Dublin, before Mark Lawrenson, I mean, Mark Lawrenson!! scored the only goal of the game to win the return tie at Hampden for the men in green.

The Irish out-qualified us in that group, memorably, Gary Mackay's goal against Bulgaria sent the Irish on to the finals, and “Plastic Paddy” Ray Houghton's seminal goal against England.

Aside from that friendly match in 2000, our only other wins over the Republic came in the qualifying campaign for the 1962 World Cup. We opened that campaign with a 4-1 Hampden win, on 3 May, 1961. This was a “Must Win” game for the Scots, who went into it on the back of a 9-3 thrashing from England, last time out. But, the introduction of a new Pat Crerand, Billy McNeill, Jim Baxter half-back line and a brace of goals apiece from Ralph Brand and Arsenal's David Herd, saw Scotland home.

Amazingly, we haven't beaten the Irish in Scotland since that day.

We won the reverse fixture, in Dublin, four days later 3-0, Alex Young, standing-in for the injured Herd, scoring twice, and Brand getting the third.

These World Cup clashes were the first between the nations, and after that good start, things have gone down-hill for the men in dark blue.

Their third meeting, was a Sunday friendly, in Dublin, in June, 1963. The Scots arrived there, fresh from a late collapse which had gifted Norway a 4-3 win in Bergen. Noel Cantwell headed the Irish in front in six minutes and the Scots, led by Denis Law, huffed and puffed to no avail for the remaining 84. So disgusted were the travelling Scottish press pack, there were calls for the team to be sent home before they were humiliated by Spain in their next game – due in the Bernabeu four days later.

The SFA paid no heed, and Scotland thumped Spain 6-2!!

The next meeting came on 21 September, 1969, with the Scots using the game as a warm-up for a “Must Win” World Cup qualifier against West Germany in Hampburg a month later. The match was played on a Sunday, with almost the entire Scottish team having played club games 24-hours before. Worse than that, some of the Old Firm contingent, assured they would not be playing in Dublin, enjoyed an all-night party in Glasgow on the Saturday night, and were less than match-fit when they trotted out at Dalymount Park the next afternoon.

Colin Stein put the Scots ahead, Don Givens equalised for the Republic, while Scotland goalkeeper Ernie McGarr of Aberdeen, saw his debut ended by injury after 24 minutes.

Aside from the aforementioned 1988 Euro qualifiers, the two nations didn't meet again until May, 2003, during the ill-fated reign of Berti Vogts as Scotland boss. Things were going so awry for Scotland then, it was no surprise when the visitors to Hampden, on 12 February, 2003, won 2-0.

The sides last met on 29 May, 2011, by which time Lansdowne Road had become the AVIVA Stadium. This game was the final of the short-lived Carling Nations Cup and a 23^rd minute Robbie Keane goal ensured the trophy stayed in Dublin, as it gave the Irish a 1-0 win.

So, any members of the Tartan Army who still try to look down on our Irish visitors should take cognisance of the past results. The days when Scotland could confidently go into a game against the Republic are some 50-years in the past. It is therefore, long past time, when our record improved. Might this improvement begin at Celtic Park on Friday night?

Well Done To The Tribute Act;s Board

IF the recent Referendum campaign proved one thing, it was that the mainstream media in Scotland is not fit for purpose. If this is true on the serious front pages of the papers, it is even more true on the comic pages at the back, where those intellectual giants of the Scottish football Writers Association hold sway.

 

Back there, the protocol is, basically: "Why bother with opinion pieces, with trying to point-out the many imperfections of Scottish football? That requires thought, dissertation, argument. Better just to find some former Old Firm star who will, for the price of a half-decent lunch, spout platitudes and say nothing.

 

IF we get the press we deserve - to bow to Glen Hoddle's thinking - we must have done something very bad in a previous life.

 

Today's Big Issue in the msm is apparently, SuperAlly making it clear - it wisnae me, a big boy did it and ran away. In this instance, the manager of the Tribute Act is having nothing to do with the decision to go ahead with an Ibrox match, against Alloa, which could, under SFA regulations, be postponed, because the TA has a couple of players on international duty.

 

Let's get into the real world. Suppose you run a big garage, and your best mechanic is a member of the real TA (that's the Territorial Army), and he is called-up to do a tour of duty with the Regular Army; oh, and another two of your mechanics have also been temporarily called-up.

 

You don't shut down for the duration, not in the real world anyway; you bite the bullet and get on with things. Not, apparently, in the mad world of football.

 

Even in the entertainment industry, of which we are told modern top-level football is a part. If the main star takes ill, they rarely cancel a show, the understudy steps up. IK, there may be a refund, but, this rarely happens.

 

Back in the day, when Scotland was a power in world football, even when it came to the match of each successive season - the bi-annual trip to Wembley, it was not unusual for a full league programme to go ahead, even as our brave heroes are doing their bit 400 miles downt he road.

 

I recall, when writing an anniversary feature about the Wembley Wizards back in 2008, one of the Daily Record's then top writers, NOT sent to Wembley, but rostered to Ibrox for a league game, writing in his report that the biggest roar of the day at the Govan Stadium came when the half-time and full-time scores from Wembley came through.

 

The Tribute Act of today is but a shadow of the Rangers team back then. The Ibrox club of today doesn't have a player remotely in the same class as Alan Morton, their single representative in the immortal "Wizards", and, I would argue, even back then, far-more influential a player than any one on the Tribute Act's staff today - but, they managed without him.

 

Also, I would argue that, by keeping the Alloa game on a Saturday, the beleagured Ibrox board are showing a rare example of good sense - on a Saturday, they will surely get a bigger attendance.

 

Also, if Mccoist cannot cover the absence of one guaranteed starter, Lewis McLeod, and a couple at best bench-warmers; then he isn't much of a manager.

 

But, we knew that anyway.

 

 

 

IN the interests of even-handedness, I am duty-bound to comment on Celtic's support of Bulgarian Aleksander Tonev, who is facing a seven-game ban for racial abuse.

 

Celtic are robustly defending their player, however, he has been found guilty of the offence. Better perhaps to aim for a reduction in the sentence, to go down the road, perhaps, of pointing-out, reasonably enough, that English isn't his first language, that, maybe, what he actually said to the Aberdeen player was lost in (mis) translation.

 

Play the contrition card, grovel a wee bit, but, maybe get the ban reduced. But, no, the rest of us are left, yet again, with the view that at Celtic Park, as much as across the city where the Tribute Act sometimes performs, there is a culture of: We play to different rules, we can do what we like, one rule for the rest of you, another for us, which the outraged claims: "It wisnae me" don't quite make real.

 

 

 

 

League Cup Semi-Final Draw - Hype For Hype's Sake

SINCE several hectares of Scandinavian forest will bite the dust to fuel the newsprint requirements of the Scottish press between now and then, I shall deny myself the self-indulgence of commenting on a certain, as yet unplayed, League Cup semi-final tie.

 

Suffice to say, given the poorish quality of both teams, the media hype will probably be in reverse co-relation to the quality of the game, when it is played.

 

Instead, I thought I would allow my feeble mind to meander over one or two other matters which I have let drift of late.

 

 

 

As I have written afore on here, Sporting Halls of Fame are a North American affectation, designed to cover-up that continent's lack of history. I have nothing against them, they are, however, as in so much to do with sports history, blighted by the fact, admission is based on the opinions and bias of the induction panel.

 

At least, in the case of most of the trans-Atlantic HoF nominations, no individual can be considered for admission for at least five years after his or her retirement. This certainly allows some time for due consideration and reflection.

 

This rule doesn't apply in Scotland, I wish it die. For instance, Sir Alex Ferguson was admitted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame while still active in management - the criteria under which he was considered. I would not be daft enough, given his record, to suggest he was admitted too-soon, but, under North American rules, he could not have been considered for his inevitable induction until 2018.

 

But, I digress. I welcome the induction of McCrae's Batallion - a good way to commemorate the Centenary of the Great War, we need say no more.

 

However, this induction allows me to re-mount a particular hobby horse of mine and suggest that the induction committee SHOULD, at the earliest opportunity, induct those members of the 1928 Scotland team v England (the Wembley Wizards), the Lisbon Lions, the 1967 Wembley Winners, the Barcelona Bears and the Gotherburg Giants who are not already in the HoF.

 

Of course, Alan Morton, Hughie Gallacher, Billy McNeill and Jimmy Johnstone, Jim Baxter and Denis Law, Sandy Jardine and John Greig, and Alex McLeish and Willie Miller deserve to be there as individuals - but, they won as members of a team and it is only fitting, if we celebrate these greatest of Scottish teams, that we induct everyone who played.

 

Final word on the 2014 inductees - Charlie Nicholas?????

 

 

 

I FELT ever so sorry for the Scottish Women's team and officials, that they have failed to make it through the play-offs and onto next year's Women's World Cup in Canada.

 

Not being so reimentally tied to the "Aye Beenism" which so-blights Men's football in Scotland, those charged with running the women's side of the game have come a tremendously long way in a very short time. They have achieved their remarkable progress in the face of some antedeluvian male prejudice and it is such a shame they couldn't carry it through, this time.

 

However, I still have a sneaking feeling the Scottish Women will grace the finals of a big tournament before the Men do. If this happens, will it be the end of civilisation as we know it?