I HAVE known Kris Broadfoot since he was a teenage wannabe with St Mirren. He has always come across to me as a likeable big lad. He is definitely not the sharpest tool in the box, but I find it hard to be critical of him.
He certainly deserves criticism for his stupidity in landing himself in trouble for his much-publicised sectarian rant at an opponent - but - remember this: stupid though he was, Kirk Broadfoot is by no means the biggest bigot in his native village of Drongan.
Some people refer to Ayrshire - God's County, as "Orange County". There is justification for this, and yes, Drongan is if not the biggest, certainly the juciest Outspan or Jaffa in our wonderful administrative area. The local joke, in Ayrshire patois is: "Ye get the photie o' King Billy oan his white horse tae hing aboon the mantlepiece wi the keys o' yer cooncil hoose in Drungan".
That's the boy's upbringing, we have to live with it, until we find a way of eliminating it, unfortunately.
More than 30-years ago, on my first overseas trip with a Scotland representative side - on a rugby tour, one chap who had gone to one of the "right" schools in Edinburgh commented to the other journalist on the trip: "Your friend from Ayrshire, he's a wee bit rough and ready isn't he"?
My fellow hack replied: "Yes, perhaps, but, he's the only member of his rugby club who is allowed out in polite company; don't judge him too badly until you see the rest".
Some weeks later, at a Sevens Tournament, "the rest" were giving it yahoo on the touchlines in front of the Edinburgh player - who sought me out later to tell me: "Bill (the other journo) was correct - you are the only member of your club who can be let-out in polite company. I owe you an apology".
Having seen "the rest" fro Drongan - I cannot be too hard on "Bigfoot".
ADULLAMITE, Dundee United supporter and friend of this blog, has taken me to task over my on-going criticism of Scottish Football's youth development - or lack of youth development - record.
Of course, I am only too-happy to doff my cap to his beloved "Arabs" and their record in this regard, since the days of Jerry Kerr, far less the middle one of the McLean Brothers. Whether it be under wee miseryguts Jim, or the all-too-short-lived Ian Cathro phase, or today, Tannadice has been the Oxbridge of Scottish footbal education.
But, one good example from 42 senior clubs is hardly a ringing endorsement for the superiority of a Scottish football education, and yes as Adullamite suggested in his last comment on the blog, I was being ultra-critical of the Bigot Brothers' development systems.
There is something wrong when these clubs time and again finish first and second in the Under-20 League, but cannot find a place in their senior squads for the boys who have just shown themselves to be the best at their age in Scotland.
OK - we all know, since Bill Struth was a young, up-and-coming manager, Rangers have always used their weighty cheque-book to keep the rest of Scotland in their place. But, if we look at the Rangers team against which I judge all others: Ritchie; Shearer and Caldow; Greig, McKinnon and Baxter; Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson. Bobby Shearer, Jim Baxter, Ian McMillan (in the twilight of a great career) and Jimmy Millar were bought-in, the other seven came through the ranks.
The benchmark Celtic team: Simpson; Craig and Gemmell; Murdoch, McNeill and Clark; Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld and Lennox is an even-better example of grow-your-own. Only Ronnie Simpson, Willie Wallace and Bertie Auld cost the club money - and in the case of Auld, this was to bring back someone who had been through their development group.
The Gothenburg Gang and the Dundee United team which reached a European Cup semi-final and a UEFA Cup final, these too were basically home-grown squads.
I refuse to believe another 11 players from within 40-miles of Glasgow could not be assembled and trained to win the European Cup. In saying that, however, I accept, it will be harder now, since English clubs much-smaller than our two biggest beasts can all-too-easily afford to poach away outstanding Scottish players.
But, for this to happen, Scottish football will need to become better thought-of. We will need to start, once again, making waves in Europe - and - we could, I believe, better do this if we were producing better young Scottish players than we currently are.
Of course, it's all David Murray's fault. SDM bought-in American-trained basketball players to make Murray International Metals the best team in Scotland. I would struggle to name a top Scottish player who came through the ranks at MIM, and, I covered an awful lot of basetball.
He then switched to football and used the same management plan with Rangers. The rest of Scottish basketball, in an effort to keep-up with Murray, put far more money into recruiting cheap Americans than in training young Scots - all but bankrupted Scottish basketball in the process and now, nearly 30-years after SDM pulled the plug on MIM, that game still struggles up here.
Scottish football is still struggling to get over the mad mass rush to buy cheap imports to try to keep-up with Rangers. We are still bringing in too-many cheap English and foreign players, to the detriment of home-grown talent, but, there are signs of us getting back to basics and self-sufficiency. However, I fear, if we do begin to climb the co-efficient rankings, and again become competitive, we might return to buying flash foreign and not properly encouraging oor ain.
More than 30-years ago, on my first overseas trip with a Scotland representative side - on a rugby tour, one chap who had gone to one of the "right" schools in Edinburgh commented to the other journalist on the trip: "Your friend from Ayrshire, he's a wee bit rough and ready isn't he"?
My fellow hack replied: "Yes, perhaps, but, he's the only member of his rugby club who is allowed out in polite company; don't judge him too badly until you see the rest".
Some weeks later, at a Sevens Tournament, "the rest" were giving it yahoo on the touchlines in front of the Edinburgh player - who sought me out later to tell me: "Bill (the other journo) was correct - you are the only member of your club who can be let-out in polite company. I owe you an apology".
Having seen "the rest" fro Drongan - I cannot be too hard on "Bigfoot".
ADULLAMITE, Dundee United supporter and friend of this blog, has taken me to task over my on-going criticism of Scottish Football's youth development - or lack of youth development - record.
Of course, I am only too-happy to doff my cap to his beloved "Arabs" and their record in this regard, since the days of Jerry Kerr, far less the middle one of the McLean Brothers. Whether it be under wee miseryguts Jim, or the all-too-short-lived Ian Cathro phase, or today, Tannadice has been the Oxbridge of Scottish footbal education.
But, one good example from 42 senior clubs is hardly a ringing endorsement for the superiority of a Scottish football education, and yes as Adullamite suggested in his last comment on the blog, I was being ultra-critical of the Bigot Brothers' development systems.
There is something wrong when these clubs time and again finish first and second in the Under-20 League, but cannot find a place in their senior squads for the boys who have just shown themselves to be the best at their age in Scotland.
OK - we all know, since Bill Struth was a young, up-and-coming manager, Rangers have always used their weighty cheque-book to keep the rest of Scotland in their place. But, if we look at the Rangers team against which I judge all others: Ritchie; Shearer and Caldow; Greig, McKinnon and Baxter; Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson. Bobby Shearer, Jim Baxter, Ian McMillan (in the twilight of a great career) and Jimmy Millar were bought-in, the other seven came through the ranks.
The benchmark Celtic team: Simpson; Craig and Gemmell; Murdoch, McNeill and Clark; Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld and Lennox is an even-better example of grow-your-own. Only Ronnie Simpson, Willie Wallace and Bertie Auld cost the club money - and in the case of Auld, this was to bring back someone who had been through their development group.
The Gothenburg Gang and the Dundee United team which reached a European Cup semi-final and a UEFA Cup final, these too were basically home-grown squads.
I refuse to believe another 11 players from within 40-miles of Glasgow could not be assembled and trained to win the European Cup. In saying that, however, I accept, it will be harder now, since English clubs much-smaller than our two biggest beasts can all-too-easily afford to poach away outstanding Scottish players.
But, for this to happen, Scottish football will need to become better thought-of. We will need to start, once again, making waves in Europe - and - we could, I believe, better do this if we were producing better young Scottish players than we currently are.
Of course, it's all David Murray's fault. SDM bought-in American-trained basketball players to make Murray International Metals the best team in Scotland. I would struggle to name a top Scottish player who came through the ranks at MIM, and, I covered an awful lot of basetball.
He then switched to football and used the same management plan with Rangers. The rest of Scottish basketball, in an effort to keep-up with Murray, put far more money into recruiting cheap Americans than in training young Scots - all but bankrupted Scottish basketball in the process and now, nearly 30-years after SDM pulled the plug on MIM, that game still struggles up here.
Scottish football is still struggling to get over the mad mass rush to buy cheap imports to try to keep-up with Rangers. We are still bringing in too-many cheap English and foreign players, to the detriment of home-grown talent, but, there are signs of us getting back to basics and self-sufficiency. However, I fear, if we do begin to climb the co-efficient rankings, and again become competitive, we might return to buying flash foreign and not properly encouraging oor ain.
I agree with your opinion but sadly I gave the wrong impression.
ReplyDeleteI support, from a distance these days, the Heart of Midlothian.
However Dundee United, Hibs and other clubs have brought through many decent youngsters, the OF 'stars' flash for a while and disappear down south or into obscurity.
The OF teams of the past were mostly brought through by themselves and at that time the game was much more equal. Killie finished runners up five times, third one and won it unfortunately in 65 all in a period of seven years!
Maybe it's me but the game was more enjoyable then.
Profuse apologies for mis-identifying your passion, I agree with your opinion about the good old days.
ReplyDeleteOf course, back then, if you played for a reasonably-successful First Division club up here, you were maybe as well-off as an English First Division player, given their maximum wage.
The wages splashing around down South make it all but impossible for a Scottish club to hold on to their talent, should an English club come calling.