[mp_row]
[mp_span col=”12″]
Everyone on this site has football experiences, views, stories and opinions. Everyone also wants things to be better in the future too. These are bonds that make us who we are and this forum what it is.
I’ll share a few experiences with you now.
I will never forget an impromptu and inspirational 60 minute Q. and A. masterclass by Davie MacParland to a group of relative youngsters at Hampden in 1975 after Scottish Unis had played a friendly with his team.
It was “over the moon Brian” time for me on finding a £5 note in my shoe. This was after I played my first game (unexpectedly) as an S form in the Highland League when my club’s Aberdeen-based players had been held up by a road incident.
So happy and corrupted was I that I never questioned the widespread practice of giving money to amateur players thereafter so I’m part of the problem.
I also sat next to a young Jim Leyton who came to Butchart to watch himself on a match video after he had let in two goals when we dumped Deveronvale (where he was on loan) out of the Aberdeenshire Cup. It was the very early days of video and Jim had never seen himself on a tv before.
Every person in the SFM community will have equally diverse and interesting experiences and I’m going to share one more with you now in a little more detail.
In the mid 90s I was given an amazing insight into how Scottish football really worked. In many ways it hasn’t changed much since.
Back then I was part of a small group brought in to help find funding for the upgrade of Tynecastle with the urgent need to construct three new stands. At the time it was a massive requirement for a very financially challenged organisation and at a push there were potentially just about enough pots of monies available from several sources to trigger the investment from the Football Trust and squeak over the line.
The most critical pot was mobilising the fans.
My role was to find a way of getting them to come aboard working with some fine lifetime Hearts fans like the late Alex Kitson so it would all look like a Hearts Community rather than a Mercer initiative.
The then, colourful Hearts majority owner was under constant pressure on other fronts at the time.
The team was not really performing with relatively new manager Jim Jeffries trying to get best out of predecessor Tommy Mclean’s mixed bag of old pros and kids. Making things worse was a growing, highly critical and very vocal consortium of local business people trying to get Mercer out (and themselves in).
I guess you could say in today’s parlance that they were RHM and civil war was very much happening down Gorgie way.
Anyway I can’t now recall all the detail and apologies if my memories have fused a little but a key AGM type meeting for Hearts shareholders at Ingliston was coming up and there was an agenda that looked like it might hurt “The Chairman” as Wallace liked to be called.
Never any flies on him though, he had seen the danger signs and was ready in his own way.
He turned up with his trusted few and simply yet quite brilliantly hijacked the negative agenda and ignored the real issues. He didn’t have a solution for them and couldn’t implement the changes that were in reality needed but quite simply he kicked all the trouble into the long grass.
He did this because he fundamentally understood that most shareholders in the room were just ordinary football fans and wanted nothing more than to be able to talk about football the game, Hearts their club, who they were due to play next and who would be playing.
It was that simple.
Mercer’s message to all that night was “Yes things have been tough but our best possible future is with me”.
He rammed this home by confidently telling the assembled body that Hearts were on the up because we had a new manager who needed time and then blew everyone away by announcing he just signed three amazing new players for them, Giles Rousset, Bruno Pasquale and Hans Eskilsson. After the applause and mayhem died down he had won.
Bruno and Rousset were newsworthy in any Scottish football context one being a French International and the other an ex Juventus tough guy with a EUFA and a couple of Coppa Italia winners medals.
Oh and Eskilsson had amazing hair.
Mercer’s simple bit of insight, showmanship, brinksmanship, call it what you like, led to the survival of his regime.
In a parallel maybe to what the SFA did after their meeting with Craig at the Hotel Du Vin in Glasgow, Mercer had enough time to be ready for the trouble he knew was coming and used his power to ignore the real issues and the detail and move on with a big gamble.
Looking back Wallace got a lot right .
He understood what the majority of ordinary football fans wanted. He’d also learnt that good press was needed and came from feeding the football writers enough tasty exclusives so they’d look after him in a symbiotic relationship, the kind of relationship that remains much the same today.
Even back then in the days when there were less full-colour pages pre-allocated to certain teams to fill and more able journalists to fill them, the sports pages were about game reports and gossip rather than insight.
The packs of hacks all craved being handed tasty semi-exclusive stories.
It was and ever is thus and in those days the Daily Record was a wee gem with circulation nearer 700K than the 200K-ish today and amazingly all its costs were covered by it’s advertising revenue alone. The proud boast of Endell Laird was the purchase price was pure profit.
With hindsight Wallace may only have postponed the inevitable campaign by the RHM rebels that night at Ingliston. History tells us that the Robinson/Deans rebellion eventually forced their chance. They did have to dig much deeper financially than they ever wanted when their time eventually came, and soon fell out too, but that’s another story.
Wallace’s long grass was just never going to be deep enough to hide the issues he wanted to ignore but to his credit on his watch the stadium was upgraded and the first Scottish Cup since 1956 was paraded to the fans.
Mr. Mercer was an operator who like others before and since could see personal and business value in owning a club.
He cultivated friendly football writers.
He learned that the SFA could be difficult to deal with but much less so when you placed people on their various management boards. That was key to the inner power sanctums and brought you at best influence and at worst early warnings.
He may have been autocratic but knew you needed powerful friends at other clubs too and was always close with David Murray in particular.
So what has this little piece of retrospection and a handful of Finloch football stories got to do with a blog on SFM?
Last week I met Big Pink for the first time over a few coffees.
It was like meeting an old friend in the pub because of all the stuff we’ve lived through and shared over the last 5 or so years.
We talked about stuff and traded stories and opinions on life, football and about SFM what it does and what we are.
We got on to the subject of it’s future and with my business background he asked me to consider a piece for the blog about where the SFM, our fledgling business might go from here.
I maybe agreed too hastily because I have found it challenging to gather and spell out my thoughts.
So this is very much a starting couple of steps to bring in the SFM minds and set up future discussions following this blog and when we meet in Perth in April.
My starting point was to first consider what we are today.
It’s a personal view but to me SFM is a valued medium I come to most days. It’s for when I want to find out or to discuss what is happening.
It is populated with a bunch of people with different backgrounds, skills and insights, is always polite and often very funny.
I’d actually like to see more headline blogs because I enjoy them but our biggest value will always be analysis discussion and good humour.
SFM is fundamentally different to the MSM back pages that still offer us all a mono diet of whatever day-to-day gossip they have been spoon-fed by the Level 9’s of this world or made up and maybe embellished with a random phone call for a quote.
Yes their world is declining and will inevitably see fundamental restructure and change but that change has in reality nothing to do with how they cover and will continue to cover Scottish football.
I’d even posit (to use a wee word I’ve learned from the excellent JJ site I visit sometimes) that the red tops currently see their style of football coverage as a way of slowing their inevitable declines because it delivers the difficult to reach male audience their advertisers crave access to.
As a spectator I’d say the MSM in Scotland mostly seem to suffer from a polarised demographic focus/ bias too but that can never excuse their revisionism or the Spiers and Haggerty episodes we’ve just witnessed.
There is one benefit though. One you maybe hadn’t thought about from all the dreadful MSM football reportage.
The stuff they collectively generate enables all of us to have daily conversations with friends and strangers without actually saying anything about anything.
It gives us our daily top-up for the international language of football minutiae we all converse in every day.
I’ve been able to speak it fluently since I was in my teens. You know the kind of thing – the ins and outs, the ups and downs, the comings and goings and the toings and froings.
The good news, the bad news the made-up news – its all part of being involved with a team or indeed just being a football fan and it’s all conversation for the males of our species.
There are plenty of places I can and do get access to that kind of stuff but SFM isn’t and never has been a source.
I quickly found out that most of my pals don’t want to talk about side letters in the pub on a Friday, or the need for asterisked titles because they are more interested in tomorrow’s match and who will be out of contract at the end of the season.
Without being disrespectful in any way I think they are cut from the same wood as the majority of Mr. Mercer’s Hearts shareholders and if I’m honest part of me is too.
That has given our administrators and clubs too easy a ride.
Beyond the gossip it is fair to say in the last 40 or 50 years football has changed beyond all recognition.
It has become a source of power and money and as we know proverbially and in real life power can corrupt and money can be the root of all-evil.
The stuff happening at FIFA now can be no surprise to any fair-minded fan and I’d be inclined to think that there have been finagled decisions at the top for longer than the current stewardship of Mr. Blatter.
Way longer.
Football-land is a dirty world. A world where all the transparency is for show and real stuff has always been controlled and rewarding for those in the right places.
Closer to home football in Scotland is no different. Power and money have been the origins of our own North of the Border soap opera saga.
Its sometimes been very funny, often been entertaining too but is ultimately tragic and a sad indictment on our country.
Being Scotland nothing is ever as simple as it should be.
We started from a unique kind of place where for over a century we have had to live with an unhealthy, quasi-tribal, two-club duopolistic domination of all things football including the fans, the trophies, the money, the media attention and the administrators controlling our game.
The stark reality of 2016 is our biggest club/economy now finds its real ambitions thwarted, potentially forever, by its location in our restrictive league structure. It has nowhere currently to go and annoyingly the biggest league in the world is just over the border and part of the same country in political terms.
This is a destabilising influence on our game that won’t go away until change allows the next evolution.
Our second biggest economy as we now know had to cheat a little to keep up, post Fergus, and is now making its way back to the top end but with some truly nuclear baggage that I guess we still really only know the half of. Nothing will be simple in its return to what we’re told everyday is its rightful place. It too is a latent destabilising influence awaiting like a grumbling volcano.
What depresses me is the fact that the much-vaunted return of our dysfunctional duopoly is not a formula to recreate the European success we all took for granted for so long. Those days will never return.
The decline of the Scottish giant that was and is Rangers has dominated our thoughts because it encapsulates so much more than what is wrong with our game.
It is a huge business and establishment fall from grace. A shocking story that has become an elephant in the room to our politicians, our media and many of our fellow fans and is still playing out to deafening silence in some quarters.
In the manic run up to the decline of David Murray’s club we benefitted from insights from the seminal RTC and were bombarded with mass denials from almost everywhere else.
We witnessed the £1 sale to Craig Whyte, the subsequent McCoist European failure, the eventual slide into messy liquidation with tax issues etc.
Our administrators failed us all the way through because they had a different agenda.
Our MSM didn’t want to know partly because it involved more than regurgitating press releases and partly because it was real news for real reporters and not back pages gossip.
Their editors failed us there too, big time.
Now the revisionism and invention of the post-liquidation ephemeral club and company scenarios has been creative to say the least.
I remember Mr. Traynor’s initial headline and smile how he and others are now wading in a contradictory swamp of their own making. It’s all confusion when it needn’t be.
I only know the kind of stuff that really happened because of this site and its RTC predecessor.
Four or five years on and I think these guys (SFA, SPFL) acted like Wallace Mercer did at Ingliston and ran roughshod over process to “win”.
These well paid admin staff were never off-piste though and our clubs share complicity for their actions to varying degrees.
If I was Regan’s or Doncaster’s devil’s advocate I could just about comprehend that they acted because they feared for their TV revenues. The prospect of being without half of their duopoly ace card and the blue fans scared them and they were mandated by the clubs to maintain the status quo.
I don’t mean all the clubs but if we look at the key committee structures we’ll easily see who were in that inner sanctum at the time. They collectively decided to throw their rulebook out the window and there is no grass long enough to bury their collective actions because truth always outs.
Cast yourself back a few years not long before the St Valentine’s day 2012 news when the push was all for a 10 club league.
I remember Stewart Milne aggressively trying to sell us all a 10-club league because of the TV revenue it delivered (to the few).
At that time there seemed to be a collective “TV Gold Fever” prevailing in the cabal of top club chairmen that makes the real decisions and tells our administrators what to do.
Luckily they failed.
They nearly failed again too in 2012 with their tawdry 5 way agreement and we all owe a debt of gratitude to the late Turnbull Hutton whose personal integrity, bloody-mindedness and leadership meant a significant change to the premeditated 5 way plan that our top clubs had all signed off.
Since then we’ve all suffered from Armageddon and long may it stay.
SFM has been at the forefront of the last five years. A place where fans from all the clubs come together to question, analyse, give insight, balance, consciousness on all aspects of the meandering road that has been this story so far.
It’s all recorded on our archives somewhere too. We’ve noted and discussed the following and more –
- Two different signatures from the same club on the 5-way agreement
- Two different and concurrent memberships of the SFA
- Players TUPE-ing for free and no lawyers getting rich in trying to get them back
- Pre-season games being cancelled because of registration and insurance issues
- The Brechin game coming too soon for the paperwork
- The entry-round in The Ramsdens Cup for the old club or is it the new club?
- Record crowds, an even more aggressive songbook
- Ian Black getting a surprise call-up and a bit of a game to legitimise The New Rangers with their first cap
- Millions raised from a gullible city and desperate fans but still several last gasp saves needed to avoid new financial stramashes
- A charity that pays for holidays in America
- Quasi-legal stuff with dodgy parameters for questionable enquiries like Nimmo Smith
- Bryson and his logic that Spartans could and should have used to stay in the cup
- A “Hopelessly Conflicted Chairman” re-elected and a new one who has fitted in seamlessly
- Real legal stuff like HMRC appeals, and phrases like side-letters
- Charlotte Fakes and maybe even Fake Charlotte Fakes
- Fit and proper persons running our clubs
- Recorded conversations
- Onerous contracts
- Metaphysical concepts of what football clubs in our courts with big bucks being spent on our behalf by our administrators
There is and has been a whole lot more and more to come on the schedules too.
How much of this would I have found on our MSM?
Very little – so thanks to those who go the extra mile for us including John Clark, EasyJambo and others at the courts, Phil who will never go away, James Doleman and others too including JJ – all playing blinders where the hacks don’t dare.
Finally fast-forward to today.
Most Scottish fans probably know a little about the stuff I’ve touched upon and we’ve debated in depth. Not enough though.
But we have Darryl Broadfoot who is the SFA so we can all sleep rest assured each night.
Going forward we must address how we communicate as a medium to spread the word.
Ask yourself – Is what we do more important than knowing Rangers signed Dean Windass’s son from Accrington Stanley on a free because he’s going to play for England one day and stuff like that?
I’d say it is different although both have a place.
Our challenge is to create more impact with ours.
In finishing I have one serious starting proposal to make as a community but first a thank you.
Thank you to all the blog writers and posters because we have collectively created a site where real stuff can be dissected and discussed politely and in a non-partisan way.
Well done to the mods in particular and to our community In general
My simple proposal as our first step forward is to start a Wikipedia style library of the facts and keep it on our site.
Dates, happenings, people and all the stuff that will not allow any of it to stay buried forever in the long grass. The kind of detail that is in Auldheid’s amazing and resolute Resolution 12.
Chapter and verse whys and wherefores with dates and names.
This will achieve three things.
- It will create bedrock for us as a trusted media channel whatever we decide to become.
- It will put stuff factually into the public domain forever.
- It will contradict any highly paid revisionists trying to change what really happened for their own agendas into the future.
[/mp_span]
[/mp_row]
There is a huge part of me that would love to see a massive boycott of the first Glasgow Derby next season. But to watch my team go out against them without our support would be heart breaking. It’s a difficult one.
When Willie Warbler takes to the stage at the Ibrox post match karaoke, does he sing a well known Urethra Franklin song.
I’ll get my sou’wester
jimbo 25th February 2016 at 11:20 pm #There is a huge part of me that would love to see a massive boycott of the first Glasgow Derby next season. But to watch my team go out against them without our support would be heart breaking. It’s a difficult one.
“jimbo 22nd February 2016 at 11:05 pm #‘The’ Rangers are a new club, est. 2012. End off”
——————————————————–
Very simple then Jimbo, open your match programme and read the notes regarding previous meetings then get up walk out and never return until the clubs come to their senses.It is quite liberating (I did sneak back to watch Aberdeen against Celtic last year)but I am now clean and sober…..ish.
John Clark,
“Warburton’s latest piece of nonsense is not just ‘nonsense’ but pernicious nonsense designed to bolster the pretence that the new club is the old club, and must be the old club, because, of course, everyone ‘needs’ the ‘Old Firm’ and if the Celtic support in particular buy into that myth for tribal reasons so much the better.Personally, I would be happy to see the gene”
Mr Warburton expressed an opinion on artificial pitches. Mr Deila apparently said his viewpoint was old fashioned. Mr Warbuton, while at pains to say “if he in fact said that” thought that remark was disrespectful.
The above are the facts. I fail to see how this in any way could be called “pernicious nonsense designed to bolster the pretence that the new club is the old club”. If your comment is on media spin, fair enough. But Mr Warburton is the one being tarred by your comments and I think that is very unfair in view of the actual comments made.
Corrupt official 25th February 2016 at 11:27 pm
That is probably the most circumspect way to say he is talking urine.
Gunnerb,
Whereas I have been disappointed in Celtic FC not being more vocal in their condemnation of the goings on at Ibrox and the SFAs corruption around it, I don’t think they will be stupid enough to state in the programme ‘welcome back’ , founded 1872, 54 titles or any such nonsense.
No, it will be dignified and skirt around the issues. One might even say Diplomatic.
woodstein 26th February 2016 at 12:12 am # That is probably the most circumspect way to say he is talking urine
——————————————————————————
I was thinking more a tube that spouts p***
RyanGosling 25th February 2016 at 11:42 pm #John Clark,
“Warburton’s latest piece of nonsense is not just ‘nonsense’ but pernicious nonsense designed to bolster the pretence that the new club is the old club, and must be the old club, because, of course, everyone ‘needs’ the ‘Old Firm’ and if the Celtic support in particular buy into that myth for tribal reasons so much the better.Personally, I would be happy to see the gene”
Mr Warburton expressed an opinion on artificial pitches. Mr Deila apparently said his viewpoint was old fashioned. Mr Warbuton, while at pains to say “if he in fact said that” thought that remark was disrespectful.
The above are the facts. I fail to see how this in any way could be called “pernicious nonsense designed to bolster the pretence that the new club is the old club”. If your comment is on media spin, fair enough. But Mr Warburton is the one being tarred by your comments and I think that is very unfair in view of the actual comments made.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ryan
I know you are just defending your team and Mr Warburton but wouldn’t it have been simpler for him to have said:
“I have no way of knowing if RD said that and the context in which it was said and so can’t really comment”.
But he didn’t because the “Old Firm” agenda is being ramped up again in the MSM because TRFC look nailed on for promotion and he was playing to that because it sells season tickets.
It would be better and safer for all concerned if the two managers took a step back from the MSM agenda and played it down.
jimbo 21st February 2016 at 3:57 pm
# With regard to Ronny Deila’s opinion on artificial surfaces. I know nothing about them. But I seem to remember reading an article last year (maybe during Euro games) that he had no big deal with ‘plastic’ pitches they are used widespread in Norway for obvious reasons. Where he did have an issue was that they should be sufficiently watered before a game.
40 2 i Rate This
———————————————————————————————–
As you can see I broke the story about Ronny’s opinion on artificial surfaces days before Mark Warburton took it all personal.
Who needs the Daily Record?
I feel disrespected.
I suspect DP is simply having a bit of an SFM rest period, at least from posting. He’s still tweeting regularly
It must be hard for MW,you go into your work everyday and all around you are shuffling about ready to fire the myths at you again but in a different format,no genuine conversation takes place because there are none,living the lie day in day out must take its toll hence the drivel that he has come out with lately,next week and the weeks after that who knows what pish he will spout because that’s all we are going to have to listen too,at least MW,try and make it some interesting pish .
RyanGosling 25th February 2016 at 11:42 pm
=================================
I think it’s as simple as two managers having a different viewpoint. Why MW chose to label it disrespectful because RD disagrees with his viewpoint I find baffling. He needs to reign in the constant ‘respect’ stuff IMO, as too often it has been a one way street with him. The verbals with Alan Stubbs earlier this season are another case in point.
Its only a matter of time before Warburton is asked for his thoughts on the Brexit.
Incidentally, as Sevco approach the promised land i have noticed a distinct ramping up of celtic/sevco talk. Not just here either. Looks like the more things change the more they stay the same.
Is ‘(dis)respect’ the new ‘absolutely’?
I think Mr Warburton is to ‘respect’ as Real Rangers Men are to ‘dignity’! Words that are used, by them and about them, but seldom displayed, to give an aura of superiority. From the first time Mark Warburton used the word – no, demanded – ‘respect’ in the media, he has shown a veritable lack of respect for other clubs and managers at every turn.
You’d think Level5 could come up with a new buzz-word for him; maybe openness and honesty could be used, though that might prove to be a bit awkward – and I’m not joking!
I think we have to give Warburton the benefit of the doubt. He is inexperienced in the ways of the MSM – a is Deila I suppose – so it is relatively easy for some of the bottom feeders to elicit what can be spun as a hostile comment.
By way of an example, I remember members of the press having a quiet word in Martin O’Neill’s ear after matches, relaying comments made moments earlier on TV by ex-players – simply to create conflict.
One particularly noteworthy occasion was after a Champions’ League match in Milan where two wee “Teeny Leeks” in the press pack ratted out Charlie Nicholas and Andy Walker to the Celtic manager.
The conversation, which I heard first hand went along the lines of
As an aside, Andy Walker was totally correct, but to his regret, O’Neill fell for it. Stitched up good and proper he was.
Stirring the pot has long since become a substitute for proper research amongst journos in Scotland – and of course it is also a side-effect of the closed shop arrangements between the “official” press and authorities in general (not just football).
My guess is that Warburton will feel he has been “done” in that fashion. He isn’t the first to be subjected to that kind of sophistry by the MSM, and he won’t be the last. Hopefully he won’t make the same mistake again.
I did read the original Record articles, and I think the Record is deliberately stirring things up here.
We don’t have a transcript, obviously, but here’s the contentious part of the Deila interview, as reported in the Record article- http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/celtic-manager-ronny-deila-artificial-7435029#EXg63CJwXk3zcAEc.97
I take from that extract from the Record article that the “journalist” asked whether plastic pitches should only be used for kids’ football. I don’t think Warburton ever suggested anything of the kind, by the way. And Deila gives a sensible reply to a rather silly question.
Now let’s see what the Record does with such an apparently innocuous exchange, an exchange in which, remember, Warburton is never mentioned. Here is an extract from the Record’s follow-up article- http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mark-warburton-vs-ronny-deila-7440631#rlabs=1%20p$3#5EUZ3O4e52ZJi5hX.97
Now, unless Warburton’s view is that plastic pitches should only be used in Kids’ football (and he actually appears to accept that they are good enough for professional, adult football outside the “top level”) then Deila did not refer to Warburton’s views at all, much less “brand” him as anything.
I take from that extract, that the Record put it to Warburton that Deila had branded his views on plastic pitches “very old fashioned”. Warburton took offence, although as Ryan points out, he qualifies his response with “if Ronny said that”.
So there we have it. The Record mischief making to stir up some of the “Old Firm” rivalry they crave so much. Using distortion and deception. Who’d have thunk it, eh? An absolutely disgraceful example of the depths to which the Record is prepared to sink in pursuit of its own agenda. And a very worrying harbinger of what we can expect next season. It ain’t going to be pretty, that’s for sure.
How naïve is Andy Goram?
“Goram said: “Dave King has said there is that much money there to spend on players.
“So if we can get four or five really good quality players there is no reason why we can’t challenge Celtic.
“The manager has spent wisely. He didn’t need £20m to get promoted. There should be a big chunk left.” (of the £30m).
I wouldn’t hold my breath Andy.
Regardless of whether Ronny Deila was specifically disagreeing with Warburton, or just answering a general question, is it really “disrespectful” to have a difference of opinion with someone? Is that what the world is coming to?
Jimbo
what bar was this interview conducted in and was it just before closing time ,we demand to know.
Bit of a round-up of comments from me. Apologies in advance for the scattergun approach.
::
::
Homunculus 25th February 2016 at 8:47 pm
He is also alleging that recent funds provided as a loan to Rangers from people based in Hong Kong is money which Dave King has removed from South Africa and hidden in Hong Kong.
————————————————
…but, but, but an award-winning Scottish jangleist (guess who?) has published that DCK has invested several millions of his own money. Where did that money come from & who are we to believe?
::
::
Re plastic pitches: once again, I feel that Ronny Deila has suffered in the press due to English being his second (or third, or fourth) language. I interpreted his comments as meaning that a good grass pitch is the best surface & that a good plastic pitch is preferable to a poor grass surface. Simple as that.
::
::
For those in need of a smile or laugh on this cold Friday, you should read Euan McLean’s piece in the Record today.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-boss-mark-warburton-people-7442673
A flavour:
“Among more than 2000 words that flowed out of Mark Warburton’s mouth yesterday was one telling phrase that reveals his appreciation of the scale of his job atRangers.
“The weight of the jersey.”
In these modern days of stay-cool, sweat-wicking fancy fabrics, football shirts have never been more lightweight and comfortable to wear.
But that badge on the left breast still weighs a ton.
To wear those elaborate swirly, interwoven letters RFC is to carry a burden of expectation that many would find too heavy to bear.
It requires a special, steely type of character – and when Warburton looks around the home dressing room at Ibrox he sees a place full of them…”
It continues, ad succulentum.
Oh for Heaven’s sake, that’s not a piece for a newspaper it’s a preafce for an autobiography.
Jingso.Jimsie
chris jack will be fuming,are we in for the lamb wars
Preface for a hagiography I think Homunculus.
Jingso.Jimsie 26th February 2016 at 11:10 am
It continues, ad succulentum.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
THAT has made my day!
Ta.
toadinthehole 26th February 2016 at 10:42 am
I think you have hit the nail on the head there.
Warburton’s daft comment re ‘disrespect’ matches my and some colleagues’ experiences of late where others do not appear to appreciate that having a different opinion on some matters does not make you disrespectful nor, more importantly, does it make you right or wrong.
Many people today seem incapable of admitting they may be wrong, that there may another way of doing things or that different opinions and approaches are actually OK. Too much huffing and puffing and macho self centred BS going on for my liking.
The sadness of the whole issue is, as other have said and neepheid (26th February 2016 at 10:20 am) has so kindly illustrated, that a seemingly intelligent man such as Warburton has fallen hook line and sinker for the MSM nonsense.
Most folk on here are but humble fans yet we know exactly how the MSM operate, especially in relation to ramping up stories re the two larger Glasgow clubs.
Therefore a bit like Martin O’Neill, he is not as smart as he thinks he is (my personal opinion of MO) or he is more than happy to get dragged into the seedy ‘Old Firm’ game like those before him.
Surely the plastic pitch thing was yesterdays chip wrappers and Warburton could have said I have no comment to make with regard to what Deila, Celtic or anyone else has to say on plastic pitches, I’ve said my bit so can we concentrate on the upcoming game re St Mirren.
Big Pink 26th February 2016 at 10:11 am
While I have no doubt that you are correct in what you say about the ‘bottom feeders’, I think there is a big difference in the way MW is treated as opposed to RD. While MW is put across as some worldly wise sage, RD is treated as a man out of his depth and not up to his role as Celtic’s manager. What’s more, Warburton’s continued use of the word ‘respect’, demanding it for himself while accusing others of ‘disrespecting’ him, is, unless he is being continually misquoted, quite nauseating and deserving of criticism, though it seems that this has only just dawned on a few media men, who have done no more than to comment on it’s overuse rather than to suggest it is, in itself, disrespectful of others.
Many inexperienced managers have fallen into the traps of the press packs, and have continued to do so throughout their careers, but none get the protection and deference traditionally given to the manager at Ibrox. In the same way that Ronny Deila’s faux pas are exaggerated, I’m certain Mark Warburton’s will mainly go unreported or glossed over, unless or until he starts to upset the TRFC board and they want him shut up, come into line with the required narrative, or to be forced out.
Could it be that Warburton has already stepped outside of the party line and said something that contradicts the board’s ‘vision’, or just given out clues as to their true financial state, hence the mild humour the hacks are displaying at his ‘respect’ overload?
If Mark Warburton is the worldly wise sage of all things he is portrayed as being (by the Level5 led press), surely it will dawn on him that a phone call to his opposite number at Celtic Park might well be in his, and RD’s, best interest to halt the slide into public enmity. Of course, that might only happen if the way the ‘rivalry’ is being ramped up doesn’t suit an agenda that he is a part of!
If you’re determined to be offended, check out JJ’s latest in “The Old Firm”. I realise it is written tongue in cheek in his usual ascerbic style. You can scoff at the cheap shot. You can wish he rues his “almost virtually nailed on promoted” line, you can even pick one or two inaccuracies in his ‘facts’ albeit his logic is pretty hard to miscall.
But the one thing you won’t be able to do is disagree!
Do you think Mark Warburton sees the irony with regards disrespect. The disrespectt he has shown to wards Kilmarnock for effectively blaming them for worsening an injury to one of his playes, and indeed to every other team who choose to use a perfectly acceptable artificial surface, probably for financial reasos.
Does he see how that irony is doubled by the fact that his own club use the same pitches for training on.
Or is it only disrespectful if someone disagrees with his position.
It seems to be “have a pop at Mark Warburton for nothing” season.
He commented that if Mr Deila’s quote saying the view was “old fashioned” was accurate then he thought it was disrespectful. That is not the same as saying Mr Deila can’t have his own opinion. If I say to you I don’t agree with you, that’s fine. If I say to you “you’re stupid, I disagree with what you said” then that is in fact rather disrespectful and Mr Warburton is perfectly entitled to respond to a question in this manner.
But why let that stand in the way of having a dig at him.
RyanGosling 26th February 2016 at 1:40 pm
=================================
With all due respect, maybe people disagree with you.
In other thoughts, what is actually “disrespectful” about saying someone’s views are “old fashioned”. It seems a perfectly legitimate thing to say.
Male A – I think there is no place for artificial pitches in the top division of Scottish football and they should not be allowed.
Male B – I think that is an old fashioned view. Modern artificial pitches, if looked after properly and watered prior to games whilst not as good as a well maintained grass pitch are better than a poor grass pitch in bad condition. there is definitely a place for them
Please explain to me where Male B is showing “disrespect” to Male A.
Allyjambo 26th February 2016 at 12:59 pm #
=====================================
Here is my (admittedly biased) point of view on this. The media set up a situation to create some sort of conflict between the managers of Celtic and Rangers where none actually exists. By doing so they have been able to put across the notion that good guy Warburton has been treated disrespectfully by not so good guy Deila. I looked at several back pages in the supermarket this morning and every one had a headline screaming that situation right at me. It’s all ridiculous of course because if Deila were to phone Warburton or vice versa I’m sure both are intelligent enough to see through what’s happened. The only concern for me is the media have once again chosen to make the Rangers manager look like the good guy when in truth neither of them have done anything wrong.
Next season already has a horrible feeling about it, and I’m not talking about on the park.
Big Pink,
[moderated]
Equating the two managers as somehow being equal in the eyes of the media, is being disingenuous in the extreme.
[moderated]
RyanGosling 26th February 2016 at 1:40 pm
Mr Warburton seems to use the word ‘respect’, in various forms, as a verbal weapon. Other than to use it in the overused and insincere phrase, ‘with the greatest respect’, I cannot recall anything he’s said that has actually shown much respect to anyone, or any other club. I am sure he used it a lot in his previous guise as a City Trader, a career where the only thing truly respected is money, and insincerity is a prerequisite of the role.
In our criticism of what your club’s manager says, we are also criticising the way the media fawn over him and hang onto his every word; if they treated him half as badly as they do, say, Ronny Deila (but not only him), then he would have every reason to feel disrespected. I can’t recall Deila using the word, at least not about himself. As you know, monitoring of the media’s role in all that is wrong with Scottish football and it’s biased agendas, is uppermost in our stated aims.
Like trust, respect is not something that can be achieved by demand. In fact, people who expect it seldom achieve it. By it’s very nature it is only ever earned – and I’ve heard nothing from Mark Warburton that has earned it from me. Of course, a great many people, including the SMSM, consider being a ‘Rangers’ manager extolls unlimited respect on whoever is the incumbent. Ally McCoist is a case in point, do you think he deserved it, the respect? Do you think less respect and more interrogation of him by the press might have served your club better?
Between them, I think Neepheid and AllyJambo have nailed this one. But we should get back to the key issue, which is the ongoing manipulation by the SMSM and the football authorities to project a single outdated image of what Scottish football needs (by which they don’t mean a strong Arbroath unfortunately).
By arguing among ourselves about what manager A or B said, may have said, or should have said we are actually helping them in their ‘battle-lines’ agenda.
I suppose in the absence of anything more interesting we – myself included – have been debating the Warblings.
To be fair, mibbees we can give some benefit of the doubt to Warburton wrt media dealings etc. as IMO he is still a rookie manager, [PR advisers aside.]
Warburton only had a mere c.18 months management experience – at Brentford – before joining TRFC.
[Dec 2013 to May 2015, then moved to Glasgow June 2015.]
But the current SMSM coverage is a bit concerning: it does look like they are attempting to develop some sort of imaginary personal ‘vendetta’ between MW & RD – perhaps just to create a bit of extra spice to their teams meeting next season ?
Not an encouraging sign, and irresponsible behaviour, IMO – yet again – from the SMSM.
This one from Regan at 57.12 in is right off the irony gauge.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0736pxv
However the guy following him Jamie Fuller of www.newfifanow.org is spot on in what is required and that applies to the SFA as well as FIFA. Might be worth while trying to contact.
The Fraudco preliminary hearing has been adjourned until 19th April. Three people remain on the indictment, for the moment.
RyanGosling 26th February 2016 at 1:40 pm
Ryan, if we are talking about having a pop at anyone lets look at whats gone on the last week or so.
Pop at Killie’s Pitch and plastic in general
Pop at Scottish Football’s Development League
Pop at Deila
Not saying anything wrong in what Warburton is saying but if you are going to offer opinions about others you must respect and expect that people may have something to say in return. If you can’t handle it then you are in the wrong job.
SFA gives backing to plastic.
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1961&newsCategoryID=3&newsID=15985
Nice to see them having a more concrete opinion for once.
wottpi 26th February 2016 at 4:56 pm #
SFA gives backing to plastic…
====================
I thought the preference was cash, [via an EBT] ?
Infantino elected as new FIFA president.
He lives in a Swiss village called Brig. The next village along, Visp, is home to … Sepp Blatter.
Just a completely off the wall thought. Just maybe its the press reporting a heavily edited, slanted comment by the Rangers Manager which the (non first language being English) Celtic manager feels obliged, indeed no doubt is actively encouraged (with equally questionable motives) to respond to. Indeed if recent Sportsound interviews with the man are anything to go by the press pack will actually be feeding the answers to him thus setting up the usual tomorrow’s ecksclushive as we await, with baited breath, one’s witty retort to the other’s snidey retort and so the boring boring old firm diatribe goes on and on and on and on.
An attack on the Celtic manager! Please spare a thought for the supporters of the vast majority of the clubs that could not give one flying fig on the thoughts of either manager on anything!
Sorry.
easyJambo 26th February 2016 at 5:04 pm
‘..Infantino …lives in a Swiss village called Brig.The next village along, Visp,..’
________
Next village to the ‘Brig used to be Airdrie, was it no’?
With respect, I think that it may be time for Mark and Ronnie to utilise “media minders” at their pressers to keep control of the output .
Also, did nobody tell Martin Canning about tempting fate ?
SFA President McRae was the man given the honour of opening the envelope to read out the name of the new FIFA supremo.
However, Fifa’s 209 nations gathered in Zurich were left stunned as the event unfolded…
“Hawd the bus !!!” said the bold Alan as he started to open the envelope…
“Thur’s nae stamp oan this lettur !?!. We’ll hiv tae start again !!!”
Completely OT, but does anybody know who TRFC fans’ spokespersons are nowadays ? I miss their input .
Smugas 26th February 2016 at 5:06 pm #
Absolutely no relevance to what I was trying to say.
It is not MW that I have any issue with. It is the media’s treatment of the two managers.
A treatment that has historical resonance, as my previous post explains.
It is the media who have facilitated and in many cases driven the agenda which has destroyed Scottish football.
I genuinely believe that it is beyond redemption, as the will is not there to clean it up.
At least I have 65 years of memories to keep me warm.
Ryan, go back to bed and get up on the other side.
You’ll see then that the SMSM are engaging in attempts to get fans wound up before next season starts, all in the the forlorn hope they can boost their flagging sales.
Despicable lot that they are, the SMSM will then be the first to decry the fans for any trouble that they, SMSM, are in fact a party to encitment.
jimbo 26th February 2016 at 12:16 am #
“Whereas I have been disappointed in Celtic FC not being more vocal in their condemnation of the goings on at Ibrox and the SFAs corruption around it, I don’t think they will be stupid enough to state in the programme ‘welcome back’ , founded 1872, 54 titles or any such nonsense.”
I woudn’t be so sure. Commercial pressure may force Celtic to go ‘all-in’
“No, it will be dignified and skirt around the issues. One might even say Diplomatic.”
Given your adamant “sevco..end of” statement I presumed that anything less than official support for this opinion would be difficult for you Jimbo .Just exactly what would be the ‘diplomatic’ skirting around the issue notes that would give you comfort?
wottpi 26th February 2016 at 4:56 pm #SFA gives backing to plastic. http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1961&newsCategoryID=3&newsID=15985
Nice to see them having a more concrete opinion for once.
___________________________________
John Clark 26th February 2016 at 6:02 pm #
Next village to the ‘Brig used to be Airdrie, was it no’?02
__________________________________________________________
Aye and the Brig is still lovely btw
easyJambo 26th February 2016 at 5:04 pm
Infantino elected as new FIFA president.
He lives in a Swiss village called Brig. The next village along, Visp, is home to … Sepp Blatter.
—————————
John James once stated that the SPL’s favourite (former) law lord lived in the same street as a previous, recent owner of a southside football team.
It really is a small world
Coming home on the bus today I picked up a copy of the Metro and read the sub-heading,”Delia disrespects Mark”. This sums up a lot of what other have written about the SMSM’s leanings. I wonder if the reporter understands the meaning of “respect” and if he deliberately set out to disrespect RD.
RyanGosling 25th February 2016 at 11:42 pm
‘..John Clark,……. I fail to see how this in any way could be called “pernicious nonsense designed to bolster the pretence that the new club is the old club”. If your comment is on media spin, fair enough. But Mr Warburton is the one being tarred by your comments and I think that is very unfair in view of the actual comments made. ‘
________
Not for the first time, RyanG, I expressed myself less than clearly.
I think subsequent posters got my drift, though, relating their comments not so directly to Warburton personally, but to the media spin that tries to drive forward the belief that everything is back to pre-liquidation ‘normality’, with the good ‘Old Firm’ rivalry at the heart of Scottish Football and Celtic warmly welcoming back their old rivals.
It is precisely because that is NOT the true situation that I used the words ‘pernicious nonsense.’
I feel that Warburton, perhaps willy-nilly, has been increasingly dragged into the ranks of the Liquidation /New Club deniers in both the Club and in the SMSM, and has been pressured to come out with ever-increasingly confrontational utterances as the likelihood of promotion gets stronger, and games against Celtic draw nearer.
It seems to me that the cynical so-and-sos on the RIFC and TRFC Boards are ready to turn Warburton into the kind of dog-whistler of a manager that we all know, in order to squeeze every penny they can out of the ‘Lowest common denominator’ of supporter.
Jingso.Jimsie 26th February 2016 at 7:26 pm #
John James once stated that the SPL’s favourite (former) law lord lived in the same street as a previous, recent owner of a southside football team.
It really is a small world
======================
Not for the first time JJ got that one wrong.
SDM lived in Easter Belmont Road (Murrayfield) and LNS two miles away in Ann Street (Learmonth/Stockbridge)
Are Craigan and McDonald’s knowledge of the laws of the game not an embrrassment to Motherwell?
tykebhoy 26th February 2016 at 10:02 pm # Are Craigan and McDonald’s knowledge of the laws of the game not an embrrassment to Motherwell? 1 1 i Rate This View Comment
Bogs Dollox 26th February 2016 at 10:28 pm #tykebhoy 26th February 2016 at 10:02 pm #Are Craigan and McDonald’s knowledge of the laws of the game not an embrrassment to Motherwell? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mods – please remove.
I know Celtic only got a draw tonight but this sort of stuff brings this site down. As a Well fan I find it disrespectful that we have two employees whose opinions are disregarded in this way.
————————————————————————-
Whoa Delete nothing
Hello boys a mention of Motherwell after a Siberian winter of non mentions. I’m in.
What did we do ?
Did we say something. Get it copied to all papers now!
I was actually going to start a new fitba stushie about the teams in Scotland that now just shove players to the ground without sanction. Its the new way to win folks. I could name the culprits but Ill leave it to the audience.
You guys are really not helping tonight. I was wanting cheered up. Let’s go back to talking about TRFC.
They are skint.
I for one will miss the ” Old Firm ” games next season unless of course Dundee United manage to avoid relegation but I don’t hold out much hope for that lol.
Shug, keep your hopes up with Dundee Utd. One thing that’s for sure nowadays in Scottish Football is that there is no sureties. Look at Celtic tonight.
Every team can go on to the park with a 50/50 chance. Barring idiotic referees of course.
Surprised no one is surprised another establishment suit has eased himself into the FIFA chair.
I await developments which will not surprise me.
At least this one is under a microscope and it will not take long for tales to unfold.
jimbo 26th February 2016 at 11:47 pm
‘…….One thing that’s for sure nowadays in Scottish Football is that there is no sureties…’
_________
On the contrary,jimbo, there are three sure things, as far as I am concerned:
One, a monstrous act of sporting cheating was perpetrated over many years by one football club.
Two, our Football authorities knowingly aided and abetted that cheating.
Three, our Football authorities allowed and continue to allow a new club to pretend to the identity of a club which was liquidated and ceased to be entitled to participate in Scottish football, thus destroying the necessary connection between Truth and Sporting Achievement. They thereby destroyed any moral identity as a Sports governance body, and turned Scottish Football from being an openly fair and honest sport into little more than a gambling game played in a crooked casino.
The Football Authorities now have no moral credibility whatsoever. They lied and cheated once, big time and continue to lie. They must be expected to do so again whenever it is expedient. What trust can be placed in them? What credit can there be in ‘winning’ any sporting honour? What would be the point in making any effort, when, with a few bob and some threats, you can buy your sports achievement in a secret deal, as corruptly as the mad psychopath Nero won his empty music and acting awards from a scared and fawning audience?
That is the damage that the ‘need ‘ to defer, over many years, to the Lance Armstrong of football has done.
They know it, and deny it, relying on pitiful apologists for journalists to help them try to deny any wrongdoing.
Well OK, APART from those three certainties !
Gunnerb, Just caught up with your post from yesterday 6.50pm.
“Given your adamant “sevco..end of” statement I presumed that anything less than official support for this opinion would be difficult for you Jimbo .Just exactly what would be the ‘diplomatic’ skirting around the issue notes that would give you comfort?”
The short answer is none. I would love to read the programme notes saying ‘welcome to The Rangers the new club founded in 2012 following the demise of Rangers FC’.
But I can’t see that happening it’s my guess that Celtic will avoid all controversial references to oldco/ newco. For the past 4 years the Celtic board have by and large kept quiet about all things down Ibrox way. I don’t think they have the stomach for it. I don’t envisage that changing anytime soon.
I’m not convinced that they are waiting for the final outcome of the EBTs case at the Supreme court.
John Clark 27th February 2016 at 10:06 am
=============================
John, can I take exception to one part.
Rangers were not liquidated. They are in the process of being liquidated. The club still exists, it just had it’s name changed whilst the liquidation process is being carried out.
That could take many years under the current circumstances. It has taken several already.
Rangers still exists, it just doesn’t play football anymore. Someone else bought the assets and they now field a football team.
I think John James may be losing the plot again.
In an unrelated reply to his latest blog he has a go at Allyjambo for questioning him. He concludes with.
” So you can either believe Allyjambo, who accurately points out that SDM’s more modern house was 2 miles west of Ann Street, or you can believe me who actually lived in that area.”
Or, to put it another way, you can believe the person who I acknowledge is correct, or you can believe him because of a former address.
I’ll go with believing the bloke who was right every day of the week.
Homunculus 27th February 2016 at 11:56 am
‘….Rangers were not liquidated. They are in the process of being liquidated.’
______
Quite right, Homunculus, thank you, and I appreciate the reminder that until the liquidators conclude the whole process and the liquidation ends in Companies house striking the liquidated club off the record, RFC(IL) is the properly accurate description to use. (Indeed, it’s the fact they still ‘exist’ that confirms the sheer nonsense of the pretence that TRFC is the same club.)
Did anyone catch the interview with Stewart Regan following the FIFA presidential vote?
He only went and stated that it was vital that the new president returned ‘integrity’ to the game.
I think Stewart’s playing with us now.
Hamilton v Celtic
At the second penalty last night
The ball from a corner was in the air travelling above head height
The ball was half way into the penalty box and came to the point where the Hamilton defender had two arms clutched around the opposing player`s chest
The Referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot
While he was still blowing his whistle and pointing to the spot
The ball came down to head height and was headed into the net by a Celtic player
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Two question re – application of the rules
Do the rules indicate that the Hamilton offender should be automatically yellow carded for denying a goal scoring opportunity in the penalty box? Or does the referee have discretion not to book the player?
If so it would have been a second yellow resulting in dismissal
And
Would it have been within the rules for the Referee to have waited a split second to see if a goal had resulted
from the melee before awarding a penalty.?
I heard him on the radio yesterday morning and nearly swerved off the road as he seemed to be saying FIFA had to start doing some of the things that the SFA had done over the last few years. I had to wonder what he was talking about
Goosey,
Thank you for bringing up the subject as there is a valid point within it.
Craig Thomson says to the Hamilton player, “what you are doing at corners isn’t allowed. If you do it, I’m going to give a penalty.” The player then proceeds to completely ignore Craig and, laughably, when the inevitable penalty is given, before the ball has even entered the box negating the advantage rule you state we are treated to a comedy gold head in hands “NNNNOOOOO.” Personally I would have booked him for protesting/ acting in an unsportsmanlike manner as well.
Further, and separately to this, the refereeing body needs to be at Regans door on Monday morning. Whatever rules are in place to stop deliberate fouling are clearly not working as evidenced by that comical 3 minute segway. I am happy to criticise Willie Collum for some of his nonsense but the same principle applies the other way, you have to absolutely back up the ref and support him to the hilt when he gets it spot on. He even tries to help the offending player (who, no offence and having never met the man, is clearly none too bright) by issuing a warning but, when faced by the continuing ignorance of a petulant 2 year old, takes action accordingly.
I personally would have no issue with him missing another couple of games on some form of disrepute charge. These holier than thou, I know better attitudes when accompanied by blatant fouling need to be nipped in the bud.
Interesting article by Jim Spence this morning: Spence on Saturday: Making a pitch for rethink on grass. I do hope his reference to ‘the Luddites in the Scottish game’ is not seen as disrespectful…
The new johnjames post seems to me to be sailing close to the winds of contempt! ⚖
Just saw the STV version of ssn…….got a long way to go
Homunculus 27th February 2016 at 12:05 pm #
JJ may well have attributed that to allyj however, was it not in fact posted by ‘easyjambo’?