ANOTHER day, another raft of script ideas for 'Edmiston Drive' our everyday story of fitba folk. This latest story line: how the owner of the Phoenix Suns wants to buy the Govan Huns is certainly a belter. However, I would caution Ra Peepul to be very careful - and to reflect on what happened the last time a successful basketball club owner showed an interest in becoming the Right Worthy Master of the Ibrox "ludge".
Things didn't end too well, after David Murray swapped MIM Basketball Club for Rangers Football Club.
That said, Mr Sarver, having upped his initial £18 million bid to £20 million, has perhaps demonstrated to the money men in London, who ultimately control the Rangers Tribute Act, of his seriousness. However, given that Charles Green always maintained: "Rangers are worth at least £50 million", he might have to dig a wee bit deeper into his cash reserves if he wishes to prevail.
Whatever the arguments and opinions surrounding the football club, there can be no doubts - it is in a mess, one which will need real money and knowledge of how to run a successful sports business to sort out.
Certainly, of the known would-be owners, Mr Sarver has, probably, the best track record of a potential saviour. What isn't known is, once he starts doing due diligence, will he still be interested in turning around a real basket case?
If he opens the books, winces, as he doubtless will, but carries-on, Mr Sarver might just be the man. To me, he certainly looks a better deal than any of the other would-be RWMs.
However, Mr Sarver comes from a background in the NBA and in professional sport in North America, what he might make of the good ole boys who run Scottish football is another matter. Professional is not a word one can readily use about the Hampden blazers.
I have been meaning for a week or two to comment on a wee poll which I spotted in some obscure publication. Apparently in Sweden, they recently ran a poll to discover who the Swedish sports fans judged to be the country's greatest sportsman or woman.
The result gave the honour, not unexpectedly, to the great tennis star Bjorn Borg. I don't think there was too-much dissent. However, dissent there was from one corner of the nation. Zlatan Ibrahmovic, who finished second in the poll, was not best pleased, and let his displeasure be known.
Given the bold Zlatan has an ego the size of Jupiter, it is no surprise he should be unimpressed by the result. Personally, what shocked me about the voting was that Henrik Larsson, 'The Magnificent Seven' himself, didn't make the top ten. Swedes - tumpshies mair like, to overlook such a wonderful footballer.
I HAVE spoken to many retired sportsmen and women, and one common thread through these conversations has been the admittance that just about the hardest decision they have to make is when to call it quits.
Rare indeed is the athlete who gets it right - who bows-out at the very top. Football is no different; there is always the temptation to keep going, to give it another season, until the player becomes a shadow of what he once was.
I feel, therefore, Stevie Gerrard has perhaps come closer than most to getting it right, with the timing of his departure from Liverpool. As he showed in the midweek, televised FA Cup third round tie at Wimbledon (well, Kingston-on-Thames actually), he remains the heart, soul and turbine which drives the Reds.
They won't half miss him when he departs at the end of the season, if there is any justice, clutching an FA Cup winner's medal as he flies off to Los Angeles.
AS Stevie G departs, we welcome back someone we have missed these last three years. Ian McCall is back in football, as manager of Ayr United.
I used to be: "The only neutral in Ayrshire", since I covered games at Somerset Park on one Saturday, and at Rugby Park the next. Brown, Richmond, Watson, Beattie, Toner and Kennedy, Stewart, McInally, Kerr, Black and Muir might be the greatest team in the history of Scottish football, (that's my view anyway), but, that doesn't mean I don't have great respect for the likes of John Murphy, Ian McAllister, Henry Templeton, Sam McMillan, Peter Price, John Sludden, "Dixie" Ingram, "Cutty" Young, not forgetting Stevie Nicol, Robert Connor of Alan McInally, who gave me so-much pleasure at Somerset Park.
My late wife was a "Bonnie Lassie", I number a lot of "Honest Men" among my friends and we must not forget that a lot of really good footballers and characters, you might add Robert Reilly and wee Jim McSherry to some listed above, have given 100% in the service of both Ayr United and Kilmarnock.
So, I welcome the wee man back. I am sure he will be good for United. For a start, he might give the club something like the profile it enjoyed during the different spells in charge of the legend that is Ally MacLeod. But, Ian's task is not an easy one, so, I wish him well.
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