Noise, Fury, Wind-Ups And Blow-Ups - Just Another Saturday In Glasgow

IF YOU cut through all the “white noise”, and more-so the green and orange noise, which you get with Old Firm surround sound – at its heart, it's all about 22 men chasing a bag of wind around. But, enough about Kevin McKenna. Any way, there are a lot of decent people who care deeply about Glasgow's sporting display of intolerance, so, I hope they will forgive me, if I say little about yesterday's High Noon, Ibrox shoot-out.

"Sorry boss" - Josh Windass upends Pedro Caixinha yesterday - or, as has been suggested: did the Rangers boss dive, in  Jeff Holmes' terrific picture

Indeed, the only reason I mention it, is as an excuse to print the  picture above – taken by my old mate Jeff Holmes of SNS, Scotland's leading picture agency. If this one does not win an award then there is nae justice and the judges in various photographic competitions have no imagination. It's a cracker, chapeau Jeff mate.

Of course, it wouldn't be an Old Firm game without resident pantomime villains Scott Brown and Leigh Griffiths having wee cameos. Leigh has been getting pelters for wiping his nose on a corner flag – I think it was the fact the bogies he left were green which offended the sensibilities of the easily-offended lodge of Rangers' fans. Come on guys, it's a wind-up, and you bought it – 15-0 Griffiths.

I looked at the picture of the alleged affront to human decency, the thing which caught my eye was, Leigh was about to take a corner, and the ball was clearly placed outside the quadrant. This is a new fashion in football, every corner-kick taker seems to do it now. Why? I cannot see any advantage in stealing at best a couple of inches, indeed, it might well be, placing the ball on the line gives you a sort-of golf tee effect. I can only assume – cheating is now so common-place in football, they cannot help it.

Meanwhile, Broonie reinforced his credentials as a thorn in Rangers' side with his half-time “discussion” with a clearly-upset Pedro Caixinha, after Broonie's alleged elbow on Alfredo Morelos. Again, 15-0 to the Celtic player, winding-up the opposition is Broonie's raison d'etre, and he does it rather well. I don't buy this Caixinha macho stance: “He wouldn't have done it if I was on the park” either. Real hard men – Souness and Greig on one side – Aitken and Hay on the other never issued warnings – the trainer coming on with the magic sponge to revive you was your warning.

Even as a very young player Jinky, knew how to deal with the hackers, he kept bouncing back to beat them again and again with his special skills

And speaking of how to deal with supposed hammer throwers – the best response was from wee Jinky, who, no matter how often he was hacked down, simply kept coming back at the guy who had kicked him, embarrassing them with his superior skill. Jinky was, quite simply, the bravest wee man who ever stepped onto a football park, the abuse he took was amazing.

SPEAKING of how to deal with abuse. Paul Wilson, who was taken far-too-soon last week, passing away at just 66, was another who became rather good at that.

One of the legendary Quality Street Gang, the young Celts such as Kenny Dalglish, Davie Hay, Danny McGrain, George Connelly and Lou Macari, whom Jock Stein was nurturing to succeed the Lisbon Lions Legends, Wilson holds a unique place in Scottish football history. In the 20^th century Scotland awarded full caps to 727 players, of these, Wilson was the only “non-white”. He wasn't, in the strictest sense, “black”, but, his mother was Indian. To this day, Wilson remains the only British-Asian to be capped by any of the four Home Nations, winning his only Scotland cap in a European Championship qualifier, against Spain, in 1975, a full three years before Viv Anderson became the first black player to be capped by England. Anderson's first cap is one of these football facts known to everyone with an interest in the game – that Scotland, through Andrew Watson in 1881 and Wilson in 1975 got there first and second is overlooked.

Paul Wilson

Nothing was made of Paul Wilson's race or colour inside the game, indeed, Lisbon Lion Jim Craig, who used to ferry Wilson to and from Celtic Park from their homes in Bearsden, told me of how: “We just thought Paul was one of those guys who took and held a good tan”. Until that is, the day Craig went to collect him and was introduced to Paul's beloved and very-obviously Indian mother.

Wilson's colour was seized upon by opposition fans in the decidedly non-pc 1970s. “Wilson's a darkie” was regularly chanted at him, and not just by Rangers' fans. The Celtic support would then show their support for a very popular player by chanting: “I'd rather be a darkie than a Hun”. Ah! How Scotland had grown-up since those days – not.

He was a good player, in season 1974-75, as well as being capped, he scored for Celtic in four different Hampden finals, while his two goals against Airdrie in the Scottish Cup final that year has to go down as a definite statement, given he had buried his mother the previous day. Wilson always maintained, losing his mother led to him falling out of love with football and, at a time when he should have been approaching his peak, his appetite for the game vanished. He, incidentally, out-scored both Kenny Dalglish and “Dixie” Deans to be Celtic's top scorer that season.

Jock Stein, who he adored, always encouraged Paul to silence the boo boys by scoring against their side – which he regularly did. Indeed, it is reported that, on one pre-Old Firm match, when Stein spoke to him about the terracing abuse and suggested he score, Paul replied: “What if I score twice?” then did.

Perhaps he did not fully justify his talent, but, if so, he would not be alone in doing that in Scottish football. Sixty-six is far-too young to die these days.