Stevie's Staying - Let's Celebrate

SPEAKING as a veteran Killie fan, I have only one reaction to the news in this morning's Hootsmon, that Lord Clarke of Saltcoats had turned down the poisoned chalice of being the Saviour of Ra Peepul; that reaction is: Yippee Ki Yay Etc.

 

 Clarkie has knocked-back the Rangers'  job

If we assume appointing either Brendan Rodgers or Neil Lennon as impossible on the grounds of – they couldn't afford one an the other would see the Directors lynched, and that Craig Levein is another impossible appointment, this means the two leading potential next Rangers managerial appointments from Scottish clubs have knocked them back.

Chasing Steven Gerrard, will sell papers and is quality click-bait, but, come on, don't see this one as a goer. The plain, unadorned fact is, not until they get rid of the GASL and restore some credibility to this tarnished brand, will Rangers be able to recruit a credible, first-line manager. And that isn't going to happen any time soon.

Still the uncertainty will sell papers and draw online viewers, what's not to like from a media perspective.

THE nominations window for the 2018 inductees into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame is now open, and anyone can nominate the player they would like to see inducted at that plush dinner in November.

I've put-in my twopenceworth and this year I have suggested the nominations committee (by the way, where's my invitation, it's long past time I was on this particular body?) induct the following people:

1. BOB GARDNER: Scotland's first internationalist, and first captain, the guy who did a lot of the arranging at the Glasgow end, for that first football international, Scotland v England, at Hamilton Crescent, on 30 November, 1872, then played in-goal for the Scots on the day.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. THE AS YET UNINDUCTED WEMBLEY WIZARDS OF 1928: OK, one or two of the team which beat England 5-1, 90-years ago are already in the Hall of Fame – Hughie Gallacher, Alex James and Alan Morton; but, what of the rest. They won as a team, they should have been inducted as a team. Last year, the HoF marked the 50^th anniversary of Lisbon by inducting those Lions who had missed out. That's the precedent, get the likes of skipper Jimmy McMullan, hat-trick hero Alex Jackson and the rest of the team into the HoF this year.
   
   
   
   The 1928 Wembley Wizards
    
   
3. Dr JOHN SMITH: This one is a personal crusade of mine. Dr John played for Mauchline, Queen's Park and Edinburgh University. He won ten caps in the 1880s and early 1890s, scoring ten goals including a hat-trick against England, in that spell. He also toured New Zealand and Australia with the original 1888 “British and Irish Lions” (although they were not known as such) before becoming a well-known referee, then for many years a GP in Kirkcaldy.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. WILLIE KNOX: OK, Junior Football is, in many ways, the unrecognised “bastard child” of Scottish Football but, this is real fitba, the beating heart of the game up here, it is time the Juniors had a presence in the HoF, and who better to nominate than the legendary Willie. A journeyman player with Raith Rovers, Third Lanark and Barrow, he won everything there was to win as boss of Auchinleck Talbot in the 1970s and 1980s. Nine West of Scotland Cups and five Scottish Cups are among the 40-plus trophies he won while in-charge of the 'Bot. (This image on the Talbot picture gallery, is simply captioned: "God").
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. ANDREW “TIGER” ANDERSON: Some of Scotland's most-iconic players were in our national team in the 1930s: Jerry Dawson and George Brown from Rangers, Jimmy Delaney from Celtic, Tommy Walker and Alex Massie from Hearts, Matt Busby from Manchester City and Wullie Shankly and Andy Beattie from Preston North End. Yet Anderson, who won 23 caps when playing right-back for Hearts is almost never mentioned when that era is discussed. He won more caps than any of them. In fact, from first cap to last, he only missed two Scotland internationals. It is time this giant of his day was recognised.

Please, log-on to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame website and nominate your favourite, and if you want to back the guys I am punting, so much the better.