Today, Once Again The Hope May Kill Us

 THIS afternoon will be a Red Letter Day for Scottish football, when 23 years of hurt comes to an end and we get back into the big show – with our opening game in Euro 2020, against old enemies the Czech Republic. By rights, the game ought to attract a full-house attendance of the Tartan Army for a full-throated Hampden occasion. However, Covid has put paid to that. Still, we can expect those who do attend to make a day of it anyway.

OK, we have finally got to the big show, however, let's be brutally honest here, Scotland and the Euros have never been comfortable bed fellows. Just look at our record in this competition:

• 1960 – Did not enter

• 1964 – Did not enter

• 1968 – The campaign began on a low note, a 1-1 draw with Wales in Cardiff; improved via a 2-1 Hampden win over Northern Ireland; went absolutely ballistic with the miracle of Wembley 1967 – then frittered awaw, via a loss to a George Best-inspired Northern Ireland at Windsor Park, a scruffy 3-2 come-from-behind win over Wales at Hampden, before withering away completely with a tame 1-1 draw with England, at Hampden. We did not qualify.

• 1972 – We opened with a 1-0 win over Denmark at Hampden, but three back-to-back losses, 3-0 to Belgium in Liege and 2-0 to Portugal in Lisbon, then 1-0 to Denmark in Copenhagen put paid to our hopes and Bobby Brown's tenure as manager. Tommy Docherty came in and led us to a 2-1 win over Portugal and a 1-0 defeat of Belgium, but, it was too little, too late. Again, we did not qualify.

• 1976 – The euphoria of the 1974 World Cup lasted until our first qualifying game of the new campaign, and a disappointing 2-1 loss to Spain at Hampden, in November, 1974. A 1-1 draw in Spain in the return, in February, 1975, offered some hope. However, 1-1 draws, away and at home to Romania, plus home and away wins over Denmark, 1-0 in Copenhagen and 3-1 at Hampden, meant we lost out to Spain. We did not qualify.

• 1980 – An opening 3-2 loss to Austria in Vienna was Ally MacLeod's final game as Scotland boss and brought in Jock Stein to steady the ship. This he did with a scrambled win over Norway at Hampden – two late goals, from Kenny Dalglish (82) and Archie Gemmill (penalty, 87), saved the jerseys in a 3-2 win. A 1-0 Lisbon loss to Portugal was disappointing, but, after a comfortable 4-0 win over Norway in Oslo's Ullevaal Stadion, and a 1-1 Hampden draw with the Austrians, it all came down to the two games against Belgium. Sadly, a 2-0 loss in the Heysel was followed by a 3-1 loss at Hampden. Again, we did not qualify.

• 1984 – Jim Leighton made a winning debut, and kept a clean sheet, as this campaign began with a 2-0 Hampden win over East Germany. However, a 2-0 Berne loss to Switzerland and a 3-2 loss to Belgium put the brakes on our hopes. A 2-2 draw with the Swiss at Hampden had us looking for help elsewhere. However, a 1-1 draw with Belgium back at Hampden and a 2-1 loss to East Germany in Halle meant a familiar story. Scotland failed to qualify for the finals.

• 1988 – Andy Roxburgh's reign as team manager began with a low key 0-0 Hampden draw with Bulgaria in our opening qualifier. Another “draw nae fitba,” 0-0 with the Republic of Ireland failed to lift spirits, while a 3-0 win over Luxembourg was no less than we expected. However, when the Irish came to Hampden and won 1-0, then Belgium hammered us 41 in Brussels, we were again staring at non-qualification. We did finally beat Belgium, 2-0 at Hampden, before beating Bulgaria 1-0 in Sofia; Gary Mackay's goal, however, only served to send the Republic of Ireland through while the less said about our final qualifier, a 0-0 draw with Luxembourg in Esch-sur-Alzette was a (very) disappointing end to a disappointing campaign. A familiar story – Scotland failed to qualify.

• 1992 – This turned out to be a lucky seventh campaign in Europe for us. A 2-1 win over Romania in our opener was followed by a similar result against Switzerland, both games at Hampden. Back-to-back 1-1 draws with Bulgaria did not harm our hopes. A 2-0 away win over the minnows of San Marino was no less than expected. We then drew 2-2 with Switzerland in Berne, were slightly miffed by a 1-0 Bucharest loss to Romania. However, a comfortable 4-0 Hampden win over San Marino sent us off to the finals in Sweden, For the first time – SCOTLAND HAD QUALIFIED.

• 1996 – Football was coming home to England for the 1996 finals, and, having missed out on the World Cup there 30 years before (I believe England won that one, but, since they don't mention it much, I am not sure). Scotland was determined to be there. We wer expected to win our two openers, and duly did, beating Finland 2-0 in Helsinki; then thrashing the Faroe Islands 5-1 at Hampden. A 1-1 Hampden draw with Russia and a 1-0 loss to Greece in Athens stopped us getting ahead of ourselves, before a 0-0 Moscow draw with Russia and a 2-0 win in San Marino meant we were still in the mix. Back-to-back wins, 2-0 in the Faroes and 1-0 against Greece at Hampden had us looking confidently forward to our final two games, wherein a 1-0 Hampden win over the Finns and a 5-0 thrashing of San Marino meant, yet again – SCOTLAND HAD QUALIFIED. We were going to the party.

• 2000 - We went into the tournament ranked sixth, but, in Group 9 of the qualifying stage, we won five, drew three and lost two of our ten games, to finish second to the Czech Republic, who won all ten games. This still gave us a chance of qualifying via the play-offs, in which we were drawn to play England, home and away. With skipper Paul Lambert missing the irst leg, at Hampden, we went down 2-0 to a Paul Scholes double. Then, in the second leg at Wembley, Don Hutchison headed us in front, but, try as we might, we could not score even the second goal which would have levelled matters and thus went out in the most disappointing of circumstances. Another qualifying failure.

• 2004 – Our seeding had dropped from sixth four years before, to 20^th, which put us in Group Five, alongside fifth seeds Germany. We justified second seeding in the group by finishing second and, as four years before, advancing to the play-offs. Here we were drawn against the Netherlands. It began well enough, with a 1-0 Hampden win in the first leg, but, the second leg in Amsterdam is one of those “Disaster for Scotland” nights as we lost 6-0 and crashed out. Another qualifying failure.

• 2008 – The fall of Scottish football continued. Sixth seeds in 2000, 20^th seeds in 2004; for the 2008 tournament, we were seeded 27^th and ranked third in Group B, behind Italy and France. James McFadden scored one of the greatest Scottish goals, in a 1-0 win over France in Paris, but, the seedings played out, we finished third. Another qualifying failure.

• 2012 – At least, our seedings slide was halted and we entered this tournament as the 26^th seeds. This placed us as third seeds in Group I, behind Spain and the Czech Republic. We won three, lost three and drew two of our eight games, justified our third seeding in the group, but, it was the same old story. Another qualifying failure.

• 2016 – The downward spiral continued. We entered the competition ranked 31^st in Europe. This placed us as fourth seeds in Group D, behind Germany, Poland and the Republic of Ireland, but, ahead of Georgia and Gibraltar. And that's where we stayed. We easily accounted for Georgia and Gibraltar; well, ok, we lost in Georgia, but we gathered 15 points, which maintained fourth place. Germany and Poland qualified, the Republic of Ireland reached the play-offs, but, once again the story was: another qualifying failure.

• 2020 – And here we are, bang up to date. Again, we failed to qualify from the group, finishing third in Group I, behind Belgium and Russia. We had gone into the event on a bit of an upward trajectory, having risen to 25^th in the rankings. We finished third in the group, but still had a second chance of qualifying via the new Nations League format. Here we got past Israel, 5-3 on penalties, then had to travel to Serbia for an in terms of qualification, winner takes all match. Again, it went to penalties, where, as we all know, David Marshall earned immortality with a crucial save as Scotland won 5-4 on spot kicks to finally, after a 23-year hiatus, qualify for one of the two big shows.

And that's where we stand, poised on the edge of either great things, or another Disaster for Scotland. One thing about being born Scots and automatically signed-up for the Tartan Army, life is never boring.

We now face Czech Republic and Serbia at Hampden, either side of a Wembley trip to face “Them,” here we go – here we go – here we go, all aboard the roller-coaster.

Haud me back – Ah cannae wait.

For Stevie And The Boys Just Getting There Is A Win

THE JOCKS are on pre-embarkation leave, when they report back to barracks tomorrow, General Sir Stephen Clarke and his staff will begin the process of readying the troops for the real thing and the start of Euro 2020.

 

Like generations of Scots before them, both the Jocks who will actually go over the top to take on the enemy and the Tartan Army who will, even in numbers depleted by the Covid restrictions, are looking nervously ahead and wondering if, for once, it will be alright on the night for Scotland.

Let's face it, to quote the old book title – when it comes to Scotland and international football: 'It's the hope that kills.' 'Twas ever thus, look at our first foray into international football tournaments, the 1950 World Cup. On the back of a run of six straight wins, the SFA Council, in their wisdom, declared Scotland would only go to the finals as British Champions. Game Seven pitted them against England at Hampden; both teams had already qualified for Brazil, but, England won 1-0 and, despite last-minute: “Please, come and play,” requests from FIFA, the Scots stayed at home.

Since then, we have managed – even when we can be bothered turning-up – to repeatedly find new ways of blowing it on the biggest stage, to the extent, veteran Tartan Army foot soldiers while away the pre-match boredom at “must-win” qualifying games, conjuring-up different scenarios as to how Scotland might mess it up this time.

Maybe that's why David Marshall's penalty save has been so-lauded, the sheer unexpectedness. Surely Scotland should lose a penalty shoot-out, with qualification on the line? [As an aside – how did that moment, or the Ryan Christie interview, not make it onto the BAFTA 'Unmissable TV Moments” list?]

Any way, the 23-year wait is over, we're back in the big time: set hopes to maximum.

These Championships are not the Olympic Games, but, surely, when it comes to the Euros or World Cups, Scotland's approach is Olympian. For us: “the glory is not in winning but in having taken part.”

Could we perhaps, this time, get out of the group and through to the knock-out rounds, something we have yet to accomplish in ten previous tilts at final tournaments?

We can take some encouragement from the last time we ended a period of isolation from the big show – the 16 years and 6 final Euros or World Cup tournaments we sat out between Sweden 1958 and West Germany 1974?

Back then, Willie Ormond's squad: Jardine and McGrain, Bremner, Lorimer and Jordan, Dalglish and Law etc went through the group stage unbeaten, but still failed to reach the sharp end of the tournament. They travelled in hope, exceeded expectations, but still found a way to fail – might the same thing happen again this year?

This being Scotland, I half-expect us to draw the other two games, beat England at Wembley and still, somehow, not qualify for the knock-out stages. That would be typically Scottish.

We've got a half-decent squad, a good manager, the squad dynamic in terms of getting along are good – why shouldn't we surprise ourselves and the world with a run deep into the tournament?

As I said, with Scotland: 'It's the hope that kills.'

SPEAKING OF hope, The Celtic Family will surely be hoping Dom McKay (pictured above) and the high heid yins inside Celtic Park can get the job done quickly, and have the new manager – with Australian-Greek Ange Posteceglou the apparent anointed one to put back together the broken chalice dropped by Neil Lennon, and get the Hoops back to where they (the fans) think the club should be, at least in Scotland.

You have to respect Ange's record. However, winning in Australia and Japan is not the same as winning a two-horse race. Second place might be acceptable where he has coached before, in Glasgow, second is failure – if the other lot are first – anything lower is a disaster.

Can he hope with that level of expectation? How will he handle the intense media scrutiny, which will be unlike anything he has experienced before? How will he cope with living legends such as surviving Lisbon Lions Craig, Clark, Auld and Lennox watching at every home game – or having the rentaquote mob such as Sutton, Hartson, Commons, Walker and Provan ever ready to throw-in their twopenceworth.

Then there is the scrutiny of the “Celtic-minded” hacks, from Cardinal Keevins down, far-less the snide remarks from the Lap Top Loyal.

No matter how good a coach Ange is supposed to be – if he does get UEFA clearance to take the Celtic job, he will immediately discover a level of off the training ground troubles which he could perhaps barely even envisage in his football life to this point.

Time is not on Celtic's side. They are due to enter the UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round – the draw for which takes place next week, with the matches due to be played in six weeks' time. Before then, pre-season training is due to start on 17 June.

The Rollins Stones might have had time on their side – Celtic and their new boss, whoever he is, don't.

CELTIC'S managerial travails have given Ra Peepul across the city some additional light relief as they carry-on their restrained and good-natured celebrations of Title 55 (or Title 1 if you're a Celtic fan).

However, it is a weel-kent, if not always acknowledged fact, winning a title is the easy bit, the hard trick is to defend it – and, if nobody else has noted this, I am sure Steven Gerrard has.

A wee bit more pressure for Stevie G to tackle, but, I am sure he will cope.

Mind you, if winning two-in-a-row is a challenge, spare a thought for Scott Booth, (pictured below)who will, next season, have to embark on a quest for 15-in-a-row with Glasgow City. This is a phenomenal run, made all the more-credible since both halves of the Old Firm are now taking their Women's sides a bit more seriously.

Some thought, when this happened, City would fade away, clearly, this is not happening any time soon.

 

We Must Say No Surrender To These Idiots

WAS ANY right-thinking person at all surprised at the week-end bother around Ibrox and in George Square. Having observed Rangers' fans close-up since the 1950s, I was not at all surprised when “Ra Peepul” demonstrated their long-held belief that normal standards of behaviour do not apply to them, in the wake of their League win.

I accept, these are not normal times, but, it would maybe have better served the Scottish Government and the rulers of Glasgow District Council to have said: “We are lifting the current restrictions for one day,” allowed a 50,000 full house at Ibrox for the game against Aberdeen, and kept all the potential trouble-makers in one easily-policed area.

That would have been better than the alternatives – blocking-off Ibrox and its surroundings and George Square and its environs – then trying to control a crowd, a significant minority of whom seemed hell-bent on causing trouble.

Rangers fans' crime sheet is lengthy, off the top of my head I can remember major disturbances in:

Wolverhampton – 1961

London – games v Arsenal and Queen's Park Rangers

Birmingham – game v Aston Villa

Newcastle – v Newcastle United in the Fairs Cup semi-final, 1969

Barcelona – European Cup-Winners' Cup Final

Manchester – UEFA Cup Final

There have also been minor skirmishes, such as the incident which saw the club's then manager in a hedge after defeat to the minnows of Progres, in Luxembourg. I am honestly surprised that some of the Rangers' supporters clubs do not have such “battle honours” woven into the Union Flags they so love to fly.

It is now almost 50 years since the late, great, Ian Archer wrote: "This has to be said about Rangers, as a Scottish Football club they are a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace. This country would be a better place if Rangers did not exist".

“Dan” as those of us privileged to know him as a friend called him, was a brilliant football writer – he was a public-school educated Partick Thistle supporter, but, otherwise was not anti-Rangers. He wrote it as he saw it. Fifty years on, the club remains a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace.

The fact we are still dragging-up Dan's quote, all these years on, helps demonstrate how stupid those quotes from the club's high heid yins on Monday are – the club hasn't had a good name for at least that long.

But, it could all be different; there are measures in place to control the excesses of the club, however, there is a marked reluctance on the part of the Rangers' management, the SFA and, to a degree civic Scotland, to act.

The club claims over 40,000 season ticket holders, in a stadium which holds 50,000 – therefore, they know who 80% of a full-house at Ibrox are, and could easily put measures in place to force them to behave better.

They have a nation-wide network of official supporters clubs; here again, they should know who these supporters club members are, and should be able to have some control on their behaviour.

These supporters clubs generally travel to games via private hire coaches, the police and the Scottish Traffic Commissioners should have a measure of control over the coach operators.

Some fans travel to games by public transport, Police Scotland and the British Transport Police should therefore, be capable of keeping their behaviour on public transport acceptable.

All it needs is the will to be there. And that will to be exercised.

And, just in case, some of the well-behaved Rangers' fans – the majority, feel I am being unnecessarily hard on them, can I say, every other club in Scotland has its share of badly-behaved nutters in their following – just not as many, or as aggressive in their contempt of public decency as the Rangers' lunatic fringe is.

Fans of Scotland's “diddy teams,” the other 40 senior clubs, sometimes wish the football authorities would grant Rangers (and Celtic) their wish, and allow them to depart for the mega-bucks world of the English Premiership. It isn't going to happen, event hough some of the bigger English clubs fancy access to the riches they think lie with the Glasgow giants.

I don't think the English authorities would take too-kindly to marauding gangs of Old Firm fans loose in England each weekend. Imagine too, the potential for carnage if fleets of Old Firm supporters' coaches, from both sides of the divide, came together at some M6 service area such as Southwaite or Charnock Richard, or further south, encountered West Ham, or Millwall or Liverpool fans – total carnage would ensue, I fear.

No, they are our problem and we are stuck with them. So, maybe time to finally lance the boil and adopt heavy-handed means of controlling them.

ON AN associated subject, I see that hardy annual about the Rangers and Celtic second teams playing in the lower leagues in Scotland is back on the agenda. I have long felt this would be a good way of spreading the money around. If either of the Old Firm sides were up at Aberdeen say, on league business, some of those fans who couldn't travel, or had missed out on the ballot for tickets, would surely be willing to go and watch the club's second team playing locally in a lower league game.

Mind you, I still reckon we should be going for our ain wee, Caledonian version of North American sport – with a limited number of full-time teams playing in a Major League, and, as in baseball and ice hockey, associate teams to these clubs playing in Minor Leagues.

Making this happen would mean a few changes to how the leagues are administered, how many players each club could have and, perhaps a salary cap. I would certainly, at the same time, re-introduce what Chick Young dubbed: “The eight diddies rule,” meaning only three non-Scots could be on the park, for each time, at any time. Let's go with Scottish players, rather than cheap, no-better non-Scots.

A Wee Bit Of Film Inspiration For Scotland

SORRY – a wee bit late in getting there, but, having got Friday night's rugby epic in Paris, and Number Two Grandson's mega-epic birthday party on Saturday out of the way, I can reflect on Thursday night's draw with Austria and look forward to tonight's game in Tel Aviv.

The big talking point from Thursday night was the penalty we were not given. That was a stonewaller every day of the week – I think even the members of the Refereeing Loyal would have given Celtic a penalty at Ibrox were such an incident to happen in an Old Firm game. That it wasn't given is a permanent black mark on the escutcheon of the match officials.

Stevie Clarke's current squad is not yet a great Scotland one. However, under a very-good manager, they have a unity of purpose and a will-to-win which has not always been evident in Scotland squads. I fancy they can win tonight, but, would settle for us not losing.

Last week a I watched, on Netflix, a “docu-drama” - 'The Summer of '92,' about Denmark winning that year's UEFA European Championships. You might recall, after falling short in the qualifying campaign, the Danes, under the far from popular Richard Møller Neilsen, were, some cases literally, rounded-up off the beach to replace the suspended Yugoslavs. Unfancied and un-rated, they got over a slow start to win the tournament.

I commend this Danish film to the House, it's a great watch, but, the underlying message is – nil desperandum, miracles do happen. It would be nice if a minor miracle overtook the Scotland team over this summer.

YOUTH development doesn't get a lot of discussion when it comes to Scottish Fitba – more's the pity. In fact, I often feel a good Scottish player comes through in spite of, rather than because of our development system, such as we have one.

Right now, there is a wee bit of talk about development, principally around the suggestion that the Old Firm pairing should be allowed to field reserve teams in the lower leagues of Scottish senior football.

This makes sense, on just one level, and it is this. Rangers and Celtic have more fans than every other Scottish club – each has upwards of 40,000 season ticket holders. The next-biggest Premier Division ground only holds at best some 20,000 fans, so, even if the bulk of the Old Firm's core support wanted to follow their team to an away fixture – they couldn't, because they would not get in.

But, supposing the Rangers or Celtic first team was up at Aberdeen or Ross county on league duty, and only able to take a limited number of fans with them – there would be a lot of fans willing to turn-up at Ibrox or Celtic Park, to see their Colts team take on a lower division club, such as Queen's Park or Partick Thistle.

Even if the OF first team was away from home, an away Colts fixture closer to home than the first team one might attract a good few OF fans, boosting the gate income of the lower league club hosting them.

Say the OF club had a young player who was starting to make waves, and being touted as; “the next big thing,” you would surely expect the fans to turn out to check-out his progress.

I have to admit, that is the only reason I can think of for allowing OF Colts teams to play in the senior leagues. And, I honestly don't think any of the other full-time clubs could rightly claim they have enough fans to justify having their second team in the lower divisions.

What I think would be better would be a total overhaul of the Scottish League. Four divisions, with a total of 42 clubs is, for my money, two divisions and some 20 clubs too many; come down to two divisions, or better still, American-style conferences, with a maximum of 12 clubs in each. Below that, make it regionalised.

I could make a case for these regional leagues to be like the minor leagues in American baseball – with each club tied to one of the big teams and filling a player development role for that club.

JOCK STEIN'S job, up there in the Great Pavilion in the sky, managing Scotland's Heavenly XI, got harder in recent weeks, with the passing of first Ian St John, then Peter Lorimer. Lorimer, who lost his battle with Cancer, was possible the best player I played against. We were contemporaries in Schools football and, even then, it was clear he was going to be good.

He flourished under Don Revie's development system at Elland Road, where he was a key member of one of the best teams in British football history. Peter was revered for his fierce shot, one of the hardest in football history, but, he was more than just a superb striker of the ball.

He played some 800 games for Leeds in more than 20 years on their playing staff. Add another 100 games with lesser clubs, plus internationals, and his playing career, which lasted 23 years, was exceptional. He scored an average of 0.3 goals per game, which is good going for a player who was essentially a midfielder. There are international strikers playing today who cannot match that strike rate.

In retirement, he ran a pub, close to Elland Road, which was a must-visit for football fans to the city, while he was a star turn for the Leeds United Legends team. Later on he had a spell on the Leeds board and was a highly-popular Club Ambassador.

He also scored one of the iconic Scotland goals, our first against Zaire, during the unbeaten 1974 World Cup Finals campaign. He was always very-good with journalists, when asked to comment on Leeds or Scotland issues.

For Scotland, he was maybe under-capped, with just 21 appearances in the big team, however, he is not the only player of whom that could be said. He was, however, by any measure – a Scotland Great, and not merely as a member of that wonderful unbeaten 1974 squad.

My Father Was Simply The Best - Wearing His Sash Down The Penny Arcade

WE DON'T have many banjo players here in the hollers of Hole in the Wall, East Ayrshire – the natives' annoying musical instrument of choice tends to be the flute. Boy were the local “musicians” busy yesterday: 'Simply the Best,' “penny Arcade' and, from the more-traditionally-minded – 'The Sash' were all getting laldy, as the true believers celebrated title number 55.

Aye, it's been a long time coming, but, as Big Carson, the Chief Bigot in the village, was swift to inform me yesterday: “Ra boays is back oan tap, where we belong.”

Pressure just increased on my old mate Dominic McKay, to get his managerial appointment right, when he swaps the alligator-rich swamp of Edinburgh's EH12 post code for that nest of vipers at the top of Kerrydale Street, in post code G40 3RE.

To be honest, I feel Rangers have played some very-good football this season, particularly in Europe. They have thoroughly-deserved their league win, and whoever picks-up the job of dethroning them for Celtic, he faces a huge challenge.

Stevie Gerrard's challenge, meanwhile, is to keep the team focussed. They have now achieved their principal ambitions for this season – killed-off “ten-in-a-row,” achieved the magic 55, but, the team is still in Europe, they can still achieve a league and cup double, and an unbeaten league season is still on the cards. Plenty there to keep the squad focussed and sharp.

Celtic, meanwhile have a different set of priorities. Some of the foreign mercenaries might be thinking of jumping ship, while for others, it's all about making themselves well-nigh indispensable, when the new boss is appointed. Whoever gets the gig, will almost certainly want to bring in his own players, so, stand-out performances between now and next season just make holding onto a first-team jersey that bit easier.

We are now down to the sharp end of the season, with the top-bottom six split. I think, at the top, the European places for next season are now more or less settled, the main interest will be in the bottom six, and the fight to avoid relegation.

As a Kilmarnock fan, I am worried – I can honestly see our long tenure in the top-flight in real danger over the coming weeks. This has been a dire season for the club; they have not had a “new boss bounce” from the arrival of Tommy Wright, and I am frankly, deeply-concerned.

Still, assuming Ayr United can stay up, there is always the prospect of four Ayrshire Derbies to look forward to in next season's Championship. Because, even if Killie can finish second bottom and get into the play-off, I have no great faith in their ability to win that nerve-shredder.

Finally, before I close this shorter-than-usual blog post. Why all the hand-wringing about Rangers' fans' bad behaviour over the weekend. They have never believed they ought to behave with decorum and good sense – it simply isn't in the average Bear's DNA.

Do Bears shit all over good sense and decorum? You betcha they do. 'Twas ever thus.

Farewell to The Saint

WE WERE colleagues together on the late-lamented Sunday Standard sports pages. It was always a joy to talk to him about football, and particularly about Willie Shankly, so I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing, aged 82 of Ian St John.

Saint and Greavsie was a great football show, it was funny, the two presenters realised football was a peripheral activity on life, but, they knew their stuff – having been two of the best strikers in a Golden Age for goal-scorers. In some ways, however, the success of that show rather over-shadowed what they had done on the park. Yes, Saint and Jimmy Greaves were terrific on-screen personalities, but, as TV performers, they were nowhere as good as they were on the football park.

He was a Motherwell boy, joining his home-town team straight from school, as a part-timer, while enduring an apprenticeship which he hated, at the Motherwell Bridge engineering company. The Steelmen sent him out to Douglas Water to be toughened-up in the juniors, before bringing him back once they realised – this young man was a natural goal-scorer.

He was one of the legendary “Ancell Babes” squad, nurtured by Motherwell manager – the former Scotland internationalist Bobby Ancell. Four of the Babes' forward line: Billy Hunter, St John, Pat Quinn and Andy Weir played for Scotland. The fifth forward, Sammy Reid, would later in his career score one of the most-celebrated goals in Scottish football history, for Berwick Rangers against Glasgow Rangers, to clinch one of the greatest cup upsets ever.

Half-backs John Martis and Bert McCann also became full internationalists, while

Bobby Roberts won Under-23 honours, and a big-money transfer to England.

St John won the first of his eventual 21 full caps in a 3-2 Hampden win over West Germany, on 6 May, 1959. He was never an automatic choice for his country. For instance, he was one of the players dropped after the 3-9 humiliation of Wembley 1961, but, his part in the victories at Hampden in 1962 and back at Wembley in 1963 made up for that horror show.

“I was on the park that day, but, in truth I didn't play,” he told me when I once raised the thorny subject of that April afternoon with him.

It was suggested during his Scotland career, that he didn't score enough goals, he managed nine for Scotland, an average of 0.47 per game. However, he supplied plenty of “assists” and although he didn't score that day, I recall him giving Wolves' Bill Slater a torrid time in the drawn Hampden game with England in 1960. That day, he did everything but score, and that was typical of his performances in dark blue.

He also played for Motherwell, on the night of 1 March, 1961, when they thumped Rangers 5-2 in a Scottish Cup replay, at Ibrox. Needless to say, he scored one of the goals and that goal helped secure him a move south, when Liverpool boss Willie Shankly paid a then club-record fee of £37,500 to take him to Anfield. That equates to just under £872,000 today, which indicates what a bargain Shankly struck, given the impact St John would have on Merseyside.

He scored 105 goals in144 Motherwell appearances.

He impressed immediately, scoring a hat-trick in his debut against Everton in the Liverpool Senior Cup, before going on to help Liverpool return to the English top-flight.

His 21 goals helped the Reds win the English First Division (now the Premiership) in 1964, but, his superstar status on Merseyside was clinched the following season, with his extra-time diving header past Leeds' goalkeeper Gary Sprake, to clinch Liverpool's first FA Cup win.

He spent ten years at Anfield, playing 425 games, scoring 118 goals and becoming a cult hero to the Koppites. Along the way he inspired a famous piece of Liverpool grafitti, when a “Jesus Saves” poster was defaced with the line - “but St John nets the rebound.”

He had a short spell in South Africa, before running down his career with Coventry City and Tranmere Rovers. He hung up his boots in 1973 and returned to Motherwell as manager. He then had a spell as Portsmouth boss, before finishing his active career in the game as a coach at Coventry City and Sheffield Wednesday.

From 1979, when he left Wednesday, he concentrated on media work, and was a very-popular turn on the after-dinner speaking circuit, while also establishing the successful American-style Ian St John Summer Football Camps. His partnership with Greaves ran on TV from 1985 until 1992, while he also wrote for several newspapers.

He was perhaps always destined for a career on TV. The BBC ran a nationwide competition to find a new commentator to go to the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico. St John entered and reached the final (anonymously). His commentary in the final was outstanding, but, Sir Alf Ramsey, one of the judges, showing his legendary anti-Scottish bias, made it clear he would not countenance a Scot winning it; so Welshman Idwal Robling got the gig – and seldom got past BBC Wales on TV, while Saint was a national figure.

In 2008 he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Strangely, he is not in the Liverpool Hall of Fame, but, is listed on fan-generated sites, such as 100 Players Who Rocked The Kop.

Ian St John's final years were blighted by Cancer, but, he never lost his impish sense of humour and his passion for the game of football. He will be sorely missed, and mourned by all who saw him play.

My thoughts are with his widow, Betsy, daughter Elaine and son Ian Junior.