The Promised Land Is Still Far Away For Ra Peepul

I WATCHED Partick Thistle v Rangers on Friday night. “Firhill for Thrills” it most-certainly was not. I appreciate, Rangers are a work-in-progress, but, on the evidence of Friday night, it's going to be a long job. Sure, they put together some good passages of passing football, however, this was done in areas where they were never going to hurt Thistle – who are nothing more than an average Premiership team. If they cannot hurt Thistle, they will never hurt Aberdeen or Celtic, far less any reasonably-good continental team, and, European football is, after all, where Rangers want to be.

Playing passing, possession football, is all about patience. Time and again, Rangers would play the ball around in their own half, Thistle didn't really press them there, preferring to operate what in basketball terms is: “a half-court press” - pressing high up the park is: “a full-court press”. Therefore, Rangers had time and space in which to play the ball around, but, rather than passing their way up the park, somebody, even a Portugese-trained player who you would think would know better, would lump the ball up the park – meat and drink to the Thistle defence.

 Niko Kranjcar - missed by Rangers

OK, Niko Kranjcar was missing, but, they had NOBODY who could play the “killer” ball through the Thistle rearguard, for a forward to run onto. No, for me, on that form, Rangers will struggle to even be top-three this season. Mind you, they still appear to have the referees in their pockets, from some of Willie Collum's decisions; and that will help.

“Phil four Names” keeps insisting, all is not well within the Ibrox dressing room. The local stenographers, of course, don't want to know about this. But, old Phil just might, as he so-often is around Rangers, be on the money here. Look what happened when skipper Lee Wallace went off – he handed the arm band to Kenny Miller. Nothing wrong with that, KM is, after all, a former Scotland captain, who has apparently been playing since the days of below the knees shorts, brown Manfield Hotspur boots with leather nailed-in studs and leather T-balls. No problem with that, it is established practice in sports such as cricket – when the captain isn't available, the “senior professional” takes charge – and professionals don't come more-senior than Kenny.

Later in the game, Kenny was substituted, whereby he handed the arm band to Graham Dorrans. Nothing against Dorrans, he is, after all, a Scotland internationalist, but, he is only just in the door. The expectations were, pre-season, that manager Pedro might appoint the hugely-experienced Bruno Alves as club captain. Bruno has captained Portugal in the absence of CR7, and he is a top-quality defender and inspiration.

The fact Miller went to Dorrans, will add fuel to the conspiracy theorists, such as old Phil Four Names, who insist the dressing room is split into two cliques – Brits and foreigners. IF that is the case, well, it will not make the gossip-mongers and doubters go away.

THE NEXT week will be what I term a “yawn week” in Scottish football, as the churnalists and stenographers focus entirely on one game – Saturday's High Noon Ibrox shoot-out between Rangers and Celtic. Seemingly every former Old Firm star, whose name is in a modern-day football writer's contacts book, will be invited to give his views on what will happen. The old boys in blue will do their best to talk-up their successors, while the grey-hairs in green will try not to appear too-smug as they discuss by how much the Hoops will win. As if their opinions matter, or make a jot of difference.

If concentrating on Old Firm coverage made a difference, fair enough. But, newspaper circulations in Scotland are melting like snaw aff a dyke. Instead of concentrating on the banal and obvious, maybe the desk jockeys should be asking the foot soldiers to come-up with some different stuff, and to curb their Old Firm obsession, for the sake of Scottish football writing.

I SUPPOSE, by the hair-trigger standards of English football, Chesterfield were quite restrained, in giving Gary Caldwell eight months, which included relegation, before sacking the former Scotland captain at the weekend. But, one win in eight games and already anchored in one of the relegation places – which in the Spireites' case would mean losing league status, well, that's sacking form for any manager.

Gary Caldwell - sacked by Chesterfield 

Caldwell has not had the best experience of management. He was perhaps given the job too-soon at Wigan, where his tenure ended in the sack. Now he has “failed” again at Chesterfield. This leads me to believe, British football is a bit over-keen to turn well-known players into managers, without them going through an apprenticeship.

I don't see it happening any time soon, but, maybe if they adopted the North American system whereby, a professional sportsman, who fancies the uncertain world of coaching has to start at the bottom, with a High School team, before rising via assistant coach or specialist coach roles at a college, will get his chance in “the Show”, as the major leagues are known.

Bobby Robson always insisted, you cannot, either as a player or coach, beat, what he called: “time on the grass”. It's like anything else, if you want to succeed, you have to learn your trade, from the bottom up.

Mind you, even when, as in the case of Frank De Boer, you served your time as an assistant, and had a really good grounding in management – you could still find yourself in-charge of an English club which wants success yesterday. English football truly is crazy.

IN THE latest FIFA rankings, Scotland has risen 15 places, from 58 to 43. Big deal. The overall world rankings matter not a jot to Scotland. The important figures is the UEFA confederation rankings, because, when it comes to World Cup and European Championship qualification, where we stand in Europe is the benchmark.

To be fair, our 15-places rise in the overall world rankings, does equate to a one-place rise in the UEFA confederation placings, and, crucially, while we have risen one place, Slovenia have dropped four, which has enabled us to overtake them. We are now ranked third of the nations in our World Cup qualifying group, behind England and Slovakia.

As I have long held, the crucial game for us in what remains of the qualifying campaign, is the away match with Slovenia. It could all come down to that game, IF we take care of Slovakia first. I would never under-estimate the Slovaks – they have spoiled our hopes before – but, you would like to think a full-house Hampden could roar us to victory on 5 October, which, if past history is any guide, will make for a nervous night in Ljubliana three nights later.