Well Done Peter - I Think You Got Them Out Of The Doo-Dah

WELL DONE Peter Lawwell, you saved the jerseys again, by wheeling-out new Hoops Honcho Brendan Rodgers on Monday, thereby deflecting the churnalists' attention away from how your pals at the SFA will avoid the truck-loads of shite that were heading their way, following Saturday's Scottish Cup Final and its aftermath.

Peter Lawwell and Brendan Rodgers - attention deflected

Your decision to parade Rodgers in front of the world's media and the Greatest Fans In The World also deflected any opprobrium, and there would have been lots, heading Ibrox way following that honking mass of manure which was the Rangers Tribute Act's Sunday statement on the post-match shennanigans.

Now, when big James Traynor first got his own by-line at The Herald, all those years ago, we thought, here was the next big thing in Scottish sports-writing. Here was the heir to Ian “Dan” Archer; his early work on the Wimbledon beat, which he inherited from Brian Meek, marked young James out as the coming man. Sadly, he faltered, once he got into the Scottish Football Writers Association's A Team – those great and good? writers who only cover the Old Firm and Scotland, then, well, it all went ape shit.

Spells at the Daily Express and the Daily Record, followed by his short stint at BBC Scotland saw him reduced to comic book status – the succulent lamb of Scottish football writing. Over the years JT has produced an ocean of pish. On Sunday, he was, apparently, outed as the author of that RTA press release, truly the most awful, unbelievable lot of rancid pish it has ever been anyone's misfortune to read.

James Traynor at work 

The hypocrisy, the lack of self-awareness, the refusal to face facts. I have now decided, there is no longer a Rangers Tribute Act at the top of the marble staircase at Ibrox – the RTA has morphed into real Rangers.

A period of silence, while the SFA names the members of their independent inquiry team, would be no bad thing. I just wonder where in Scotland, they will find independently-minded people to look into events involving Rangers.

It will be interesting to hear the panel's findings. Both clubs have to answer for the behaviour of their fans, what these answers are, and how they are accepted, will be interesting.

At least Saturday's events have, for the moment, silenced calls for the repeal of OBFA (the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act) – but, for how long?

AS TO Brendan Rodgers. As first impressions go, he has done well. He brings seemingly, the right credentials. He did well, with little money available, at clubs such as Reading, Watford and Swansea; he began well at Liverpool, before losing his way when it came to recruiting.

He made some dud purchases at Anfield, leaving me to think, maybe, he is one of those managers who ought not be given a big transfer budget, since he will waste it. His first job will be to separate the wheat from the chaff in the over-bloated first team squad at Celtic. Heads must roll there. Then, he has to try to build a team which can operate in sterner conditions than they will find in Scotland.

Six-in-a-row should not be too difficult, but, it is on the European front he will be judged. He has to discover, quickly, if the bright young players he will have to promote can cut it on the continent.

THE AXE has fallen, Louis Van Gaal is no longer the manager of Manchester United. We now await the arrival of the Chosen One, to take charge at the Theatre of Dreams.

I predict a riot. Manchester United and Jose Mourinho has never been, never will be a proper fit. Like Celtic up here, Unitd do not just have to win – they must win with style, panache, elan. That is the Uniteed way, the way of the 1948 team, the Busby Babes, the Golden Trinity, the Class of '92.

That style of swashbuckling football, of: “You score four, we will score five”, was never the Van Gaal way, it is even less the Chosen One's way. Covering the Old Trafford beat next season will be fun.

Louis Van Gaal - did not impress Zlatan Ibrahimovic

 

A final word on Louis Van Gaal. I refer you to page 124 of the paperback edition of the Penguin biography: 'I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic”. Just six words, a single sentence, some 12 lines down from the top: “Van Gaal was a pompous arse”. Thus sprake Zlatan. 

 

Commenting on how he received one piece of advice on playing centre forward from Marco Van Basten, and contradictory instructions from Van Gaal, Zlatan asks: “Who should I listen to – Van Basten, who is a legend, or Van Gaal”?