AS WELL as covering football, I also pontificate a wee bit on Scottish Rugby. In this respect, I didn't always agree with new Celtic Chief Executive Dominic Mackay, (pictured below), but, I always respected the fact, he was by a country mile the sharpest of what I called “The Junta,” the small central core of paid executives inside Murrayfield.
I was genuinely sorry for the SRU when they lost Dom to Celtic, but, I honestly believe, he will prove to have been an astute signing by the club. I can also tell the new Celtic manager, if he thinks he can, via the press and in person, bully Dom into allowing him to “spend, spend, spend” his way to success – as we say in Ayrshire, he's gonne get a gunk.
Dom knows very well, making money from professional sport is very-difficult and since the Scottish game does not have the global pull or the financial muscle to compete for the cream of the playing talent, Celtic, if they wish to recruit from lower down the food chain, will be unlikely to profit from buying second, third or fourth-rate talent.
I firmly believe, the absolute steal of all time in the transfer market was getting the Magnificent Seven for a mere £650,000. They are highly-unlikely to ever replicate that bargain.
I have long believed, our Scottish clubs should turn back the received wisdom within our game, which has been in-place since “The Graeme Souness Revolution” of 1986. In the 35 years since Souness joined Rangers, the myth has grown that Scottish players are shite, we no longer produce talent, and we have to buy-in ready-made talent.
I am convinced, if we go back to actively promoting young Scottish talent, nurture that talent and give them time to grow, we can get back to the glory days of home-bred Scots winning, in the manner of the Lisbon Lions, the Barcelona Bears and the Gothenburg Giants.
The test of a good coach is, can he improve the players under his charge, get them winning regularly, then keep them winning. Any fool can buy success, growing success is far-harder, but, I wager, more-rewarding.
I remember, over 25 years ago, at a Schools Cup Final, speaking to the two competing coaches. They were great friends, pillars of schools football – but, one had a season ticket for Ibrox, the other for Celtic Park. Their dearest wish, was to get a boy in First Year, coach and encourage him and, in time, see him running out in either the Rangers or Celtic first team.
In fact, the Celtic man told me: “There are over 400 Roman Catholic secondary schools in Scotland. I am no different from the vast majority of the football coaches at these schools, my dearest wish is to one day, see one of my boys wearing the hoops for the first team.”
That is the basic breeding ground into which Celtic can tap. It will not happen overnight, but, if they mine that potentially-rich field correctly, and employ good coaches, within a decade, Celtic could have an all-Scottish XI with the talent to compete for the big prizes.
Jock Stein did this with the Lions – remember, Jim Craig, Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill, John Clark, Stevie Chalmers, Bobby Lennox, Bertie Auld and, of course, Jinky, were “Kelly Kids” rather than “The Quality Street Gang.” The Lions need not be a one-of success.
THERE has been genuine sadness across Scottish football this week following the death, aged 63 of former Rangers captain Ally Dawson.
Dawson, a veteran of over 300 first team games for Rangers, the club he joined straight from school, is one of the less-celebrated former Ibrox skippers, indeed, when he was handed the armband, during the “wilderness years” between the days of Willie Waddell and Jock Wallace, first time round, it was said: “Rangers have more captains than Cunard,” as the job was passed around the squad.
However, Dawson did lead them to success during John Greig's ill-starred spell as manager and he was still there when the Souness Revolution started. His career was also upset by ill-timed serious injuries. However, he was recognised as a quality player, winning five Scotland caps between 1980 and 1983 – a period when Scotland was well-served for full-backs.
It didn't help him either that, when he broke into the Rangers first team, he was succeeding the legendary Sandy Jardine at full-back.
In 1987, he was off-loaded to Blackburn Rovers for £25,000. He later went to Malta where he enjoyed some success as a player-manager. Returning to Scotland, he had spells as an assistant coach with various Scottish clubs.
In latter years, Ally won new fans when he embraced walking football, where he combined being a competitive player, with passing-on his experience to guys who had never been close to the status of games he had enjoyed as a professional. He also returned to Rangers, passing-on his knowledge to the Academy boys and was praised for his work as manager of the Scottish Homeless football team.
His final years were beset by illness, resulting in his untimely death, far too early. He will be much-missed by his many friends in the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment