WHEN
I was a boy, it was King Football, the only game in town; today it
is, all too often “'king football”, a tawdry game
stigmatised by that obscene adjective. How are the mighty fallen.
The
new 2016-17 Scottish season kicks-off this weekend, except, we have
already seen our European representatives in action and, having the
big kick-off in the middle of The Open, somehow, it aint right. Any
modern, forward-thinking sport would be keen to have an attractive
opening day fixture list, as a means of luring the fans through
the gates early-on in the new season. Not so Scottish football, the
single fixture this afternoon which catches the eye, and which will,
assuming a good percentage of the potential visiting army of fans are
still not indulging in their closed season ritual of following a
flute band through the city streets, bring in a five figure
attendance, is the Fir Park meeting of Motherwell and Rangers.
By
the way, so-much of the close season football coverage has concerned
a Mr Joseph Barton, and England internationalist of 12 minutes
duration, who is apparently being paid £30,000 per week to play for
Rangers – you might have thought, the Ibrox management would be
keen to have Mr Barton hit the ground running at the big kick-off.
However it appears he has had other priorities, above and beyond the
usual pre-season fitness round, and getting to know his new team
mates during their pre-season trip to the colonies on the other side
of the Atlantic.
That
buzzing sound older Rangers fans are hearing is the sound of Messrs
Struth, Symon, Waddell and Wallace burlin' in their graves.
WHAT
is with Neil Lennon and the Scottish air, or is it something in our
water? During the recent European Championships, wee Lenny was a
popular talking head, whenever Northern ireland played. He spoke with
calm authority and insight – he came across as a really nice,
likeable chap. Fellow hacks, who move in the same West End of Glasgow
circles as the off-duty Lennon frequented in his Celtic days assure
me the TV Lennon is the real one. He is apparently: “one of the
good guys”.
Lenny being sent to the Easter Road stand
Then,
he puts on his manager's clothes and steps into a Scottish technical
area, and he becomes a monster, as witness his dismissal to the
stands during the Hibs v Brondby game in midweek. I think it has to
be something in Scottish water.
However,
I have heard it said that, managers who really want to be aware of
what is going-on on the field, who want the best overview of events,
should decamp to the stand, and leave it to their assistants to be
hands-on from the technical area. However, Lennon always comes across
as more a motivator and wind-up merchant to his players than a master
tactician, so, maybe not.
JACKIE
McInally was laid to rest on Friday afternoon, passing away following
a short illness. Thus, yet another Kilmarnock legend has gone; one
less to get a standing ovation whenever the glorious Class of '65 are
wheeled-out at Park Hotel gatherings.
Big
Jackie truly belonged to a by-gone age. He left school at 15, served
his plumbing apprenticeship, and at the same time underwent a
difficult football one with Kello Rovers, Minishant Amateurs and
Crosshill Thistle. He did his two years' National Service with the
Royal Scots Greys, then, with Crosshill, he took the Scottish
Amateur Cup to the tiny Carrick village, as they beat Eaglesham
Amateurs in the 1959 Scottish Amateur Cup Final.
Twelve
months later, Jackie was back at Hampden for another final, except,
this time, instead of the couple of hundred who had watched him for
Crosshill against Eaglesham, he was performing in front of 108.107 as
Kilmarnock lost 2-0 to Rangers. It is impossible, in 21st
century football, to envisage a player appearing in one season's
Scottish Amateur Cup final, then playing in THE Scottish Cup final
the following season. It simply could not happen today.
Jackie
was terribly unlucky when it came to national cup finals. That win
with Crosshill was his solitary success, twice, in that 1960 Scottish
Cup final and in the following season's League Cup final, Killie ,
and McInally, lost to Rangers. Then in season 1961-62 he was on the
wrong end of the score-line in another League Cup final, as Hearts
benefitted from a ridiculous Tiny Wharton error (in disallowing a
perfectly-good Frank Beattie goal, and no, I am not still bitter) to
win.
Still,
payback for that one came on 24 April, 1965, when Killie beat Hearts
2-0 at Tynecastle to win the League for the only time.
As
if that wasn't sufficient grounds for a permanent memorial to him at
Rugby Park, Jackie scored the winner, which topped-off the legendary
Killie recovery from 0-3 down at the end of the first leg, then 0-1
down early in the second leg (0-4 down on aggregate), to an eventual
5-4 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. He
also had a goal and an “assist” (he was brought down for the
penalty), as Killie drew 2-2 with Real Madrid in the 1965-66 European
Cup – we will not mention the second leg of that tie, however.
He
played in the Bernabeu, he played during Kilmarnock's annual
trans-Atlantic journeys for the New York International tournament,
which pre-dated the formation of the North American Soccer League, he
featured for the Scottish League XI against Scotland in the
International Trial of 1961, but, he never won a Scotland cap.
Alan "Rambo" McInally
His
son, Alan “Rambo” McInally did, however. This was a source of
great pleasure to his father, although, I am not the only old-time
Killie fan who believes his father was a better player than big
“Rambo”.
Rest
in peace Jackie, you will be missed.
Another
former player of the good old days also re-appeared in the
obituraries page last week. He was Willie Logie, a journeyman
professional, born in Montreal but raised in Stirling, who played a
mere 23 first team games for Rangers during season 1956-57, before
winding down his brief senior career with Aberdeen, Brechin City and
Alloa Athletic.
Willie Logie of Rangers
What
made Willie special was, he was the first British player to be sent
off in a European game, when he was dismissed during the second leg
of a Rangers v Nice European Cup tie, in France. Willie tackled one
of the Nice forwards, an Argentinian in the Nice side punched him,
Willie clocked him back, then the cavalry arrived – Bobby Shearer
and Sammy Baird.
With
them on-board, Rangers won the fight, but, Logie was sent off, his
place in history assured. Apparently there was an even better
punch-up in the third match, a Paris play-off, with Shearer again in
the thick of the fighting, but, no sendings-off this time.
Ah!
the good old days of football forging better international relations.
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