Is There No End To This Suffering?

OK, I accept, Ra Peepul have a long and dark history in Scottish football. I forget the late "Dan" Archer's great quote, something about a constant embarrassment and occasional disgrace, I think; but, have they not suffered enough?

Bad enough to be granted a partial reprieve and banishment to the dungeon of League Two - when the crimes of SDM and Craig Whyte maybe deserved closure, or, at best, greater-banishment, to Central Division Two of the West Region of the SJFA perhaps.

Bad enough too, to suffer the long-drawn-out examination of Ally McCoist's unfitness for management, and the often hilarious to the outsiders machinations of the various investors and directors of the new Rangers Tribute Act.

Bad enough to have to suffer the Kenny McDowall interregnum, when a decent man, a life-long supporter who is a good coach, a good Number Two, but by his own admission not a manager. Who did his best, but was found lacking, in a job he never wanted.

Bad enough too, when the King Over The Water eventually gets the keys to his kingdom and appoints a favoured son as manager, to see him fail to win his first handful of games.

But, how very very cruel, on the day he finally inspires his team to victory, against their closest-rivals in the play-off race, to discover: Charles Green doing his Arnold Schwarzenegger act.

You really would not want to be a Rangers-supporting Unionist these days, with Alex Salmond, smugger than ever after Hearts' runaway Championship win,causing a tidal wave of hatred and anti-Scottish venom around Westminster. Then, suddenly, Green emerges from his French chateau and announces: "I'll be back - maybe".

Is there to be no peace and redemption for Ra Peepul?

WELL DONE Hearts. The Championship was supposed to be the toughest league in Scotland, perhaps in the UK, to win this season, but, under tyro boss Robbie Neilson, backed by a tyro chairwoman, they turned the title race into a procession.

And, well done Craig Levein - who has surely drawn-up the blueprint of how a Director of Football-Head Coach relationship can and does work in this country. Big Craig has surely now cleaned-up an escutcheon tarnished by his torrid time as Scotland boss.



THE two remaining Scottish Junior Cup quarter-finals were settled on Saturday, and, we have a very interesting semi-final line-up.

Almost inevitably, Auchinleck Talbot - the Real Madrid of junior football are once again in the final four, alongside another Ayrshire side, cup-holders Hurlford United. The other two finalists are from the East Region - Linlithgow Rose, whose cup record in recent years is probably second only to Talbot's, and Musselburgh Athletic, another club with a good record of getting through to "squeaky bum time" in the competition which truly defines real fitba.

Being an Ayrshireman myself, I would love to see a Talbot v Hurlford final, a pairing which would surely give Rugby Park its largest crowd of this season. That, however, should not be taken as belittling the two East sides. They are there on merit and, however the as yet undrawn semi-finals pan out, we should have a good final to look forward to on 7 June.