Not Rangers Class - In Fact Not Remotely Rangers Class

HAVING nothing better to do the other night, I watched the Hearts v Rangers match, live on BT Sport. Thank the Lord for Chris Sutton, and guest straight man Terry Butcher; but for their very funny double act as colour commentators, it would have been a gey dreich nicht.

The truth can no longer be hidden – this just might be the worst Rangers team in almost 40-years. I am amazed Ra Peepul still Follow-Follow, so dire is the product they are being served up. The cry was No Defenders, even less of a midfield and, we can only reserve judgement on the attack, since they were given so-little support from the guys behind them.

Rangers are not merely a club without a credit line to the bank, they are living hand-to-mouth on the park too. NRC – that stands for Not Rangers Class, just sums them up nicely.

NOT that Hearts were much better. They were a more co-ordinated team, they had the better players and their success was a good way for Robbie Neilson to sign-off, before departing to MK Dons, where I fear he may sink without trace.

He has left a well-run club, going places and capable of getting better, for the bigger money in England. Little good this did him as a player, I fear he might have similarly mis-calculated as a coach.

Now, the biggest game for the Churnalists and Stenographers of the Scottish Football Writers Association, is – who's gonna get the Hearts job? Immediately, one of the front runners, Gary Naysmith, ruled himself out of contention, by switching from part-time East Fife to full-time Queen of the South.

I wish Gary well at Palmerston, a place where I enjoyed many good days reporting on football. Since they got rid of the toxic Willie Harkness, Queens have slowly re-established themselves, without quite making the breakthrough to becoming regular Premiership players, or even getting there in the first place. The Doonhamers are a sleeping giant, which has been sleeping for too-long. I hope Gary can take them through that final barrier from Championship to Premiership.

IAN Cathro, owes any success he has had in football to the faith big Craig Levein showed in him during Craig's spell at Dundee United. So, naturally, his was another name in the frame for the Hearts job. If I was young Ian, I would avoid Tynecastle like the plague.

I honestly don't think he would be happy as Head Coach at the club. Cathro, thus far, has made his name as a coach of young, emerging talent. He is currently at a bigger club than Hearts, albeit in a Number Two role, but, learning, on a daily basis, from one of the top coaches in Europe.

If I was he, I would stay with Rafael Benitez, continue to absorb the lessons he will learn there, enjoy at least one season in the English Premiership with Benitez and Newcastle, then, maybe, think of a return to Scotland in a Head Coach role. For me, the Hearts' job has come that bit too soon for him.

GOOD Luck too, to Gareth Southgate, the new England manager. I know, I know, what is a fully-paid-up Tartan Army foot soldier doing wishing the new England boss well.

Simples, we need a strong England, to have something to aim at. As a player, Southgate maybe wasn't an absolute top-quality, England-class defender. He might have worn the number 6 shirt, but, he was no Bobby Moore.

However, he never gave anything less than 100% for his country, and even managed to be forgiven for missing that penalty against Germany in 1996. He has served a long apprenticeship via the England age group squads and, for my money, he deserves his crack at the top job.

Mind you, for as long as the obscenity which is the “greed is good” English Premiership is allowed to import any old foreign rubbish as players, paying them grossly-inflated wages in the process, then England will struggle.

The best way to build a great team is to have a great spine – goalkeeper, central defender, midfielder and striker of the highest-quality, then fill-in around this basic core. OK, we Scots have long sought to play down the 1966 World Cup-winning England team, but, look at the spine: Gordon Banks, Moore, Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves – these guys were on any short-leet for the best player in the world in their positions at that time. Add Ray Wilson, who was the best left back in the world and you had half a team of world-beaters. The other six players weren't bad either (and, I know Greaves wasn't in the winning team, but, come-on – Greaves or Hurst, it's a no-brainer”.

Today there is not a single English player who can be said to be the best in his position in the Premiership, far less the world. That is the reality of what Southgate has to work with.

And, just think of the quality Scotland had back then, and we didn't make the 1966 finals. Then look at what we have today. It would bring a tear to a glass eye.