A recent autumn storm caused the destruction of the metal goal fame in our garden. The small goal with the weather-beaten net had fallen into disuse. But I liked it seeing it there on the grass. I suppose I half-expected, half-hoped, it would be used again. Once, it was a father and son thing and had been constructed carefully from a nice set of plans. At the time, it impressed both son and daughter no end. But that was then, this was now.
One of our trees, blown over by the recent high winds, caused the goal frame’s final demise. As I unscrewed the twisted metal I thought of the hours of innocent fun it had given us. It had been the scene of many goals and not a few great saves. My son, who is soon off to uni, smiled thoughtfully as I mentioned that this was the end of the ‘goalposts of childhood’. Perhaps he knew what I meant.
My own childhood goalposts had been ‘doon the back’. Drawn with chalk on the red brick of the ‘sausage wall’ at one end, and on part of the ‘wash hoose’ at the other. Many a league, Cup and international match was played out between those goals on the Dennistoun dirt. We once put on a parallel version of a historic England v Scotland match while the real match was being played at Wembley. Jim Mone sitting on one of the dykes had a transister radio to his ear. As we played our match he chalked up live score updates on the wall — our Twitter and FaceBook anno 1967. What a day.
We did use a pile of jackets up on the old Dennistoun cricket pitch, but only rarely. Mostly, we played on the red gravel surface at the Finlay Drive entrance. That pitch was fitted with real goalposts — like the ones they had at Hampden. Or so we imagined.
These sentimental memories of receding years accompanied my removal of the ruined metal goal frame. But, as you can imagine, it seemed an almost symbolic act. For fans of Scottish football the ‘goalposts’ that once defined the game of our football childhoods — have not only been moved, they’ve been been twisted and mis-shapen out of all recognition.
The past decades have seen a fundamental change in the way our game is run and governed, at home and abroad. Money is now king and sporting consideration is a luxury we sometimes have to put to one side — or at least, so we’re told.
At the risk of stating the obvious, sport, if it is to mean anything at all, has to be based on clearly defined rules and principles. These rules must be applied equally to all the participants, they are certainly not optional extras. However, to misquote and paraphrase George Orwell, ‘all teams are equal, but some teams are more equal than others’ — at least, when it comes to Scottish football.
The efforts by the SFA to re-interpret rules to fit the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the demise of Rangers FC in 2012 have left most of us scratching our heads. Much of the Scottish media has backed up the SFA’s efforts, something which has added to the general confusion and chaos. In fact, it’s become clear that the death of Rangers, as we knew them, has been such a traumatic event that it must be denied. The authorities and media seem to have been so besotted with one club that its loss is out of the question. And so, it’s been gifted a bizarre kind of immunity from liquidation and death that implies its on-going existence, long after it drew it’s final breath.
This situation has opened the door to a legion of businessmen on the make. They have been allowed to perpetuate the myth, with SFA blessing, that they ‘saved’ Rangers. And their unwavering message is, that they can only succeed if fans keep giving them their hard-earned cash. To those outside the blue bubble it looks like a huge con trick. If the only source of real money in football is the fans, then the Ibrox faithful have been royally fleeced.
How different it could have been if the former club had been allowed a dignified end. A year out of the game would probably have allowed fans to restart a newco of their own. They could have applied for entry into the professional leagues along with the other clubs waiting in line. Chances are they would have been given special dispensation, and walked straight into the bottom tier. Of course, they would have claimed to be the continuation of the spirit of the previous entity — but would anyone have argued against that? How different it could have been if the rules governing the game had been respected. The SFA may even have kept their dignity intact and the press not felt obliged to print half-truths, falsehoods and lies.
You’ve got to wonder why Dunfermline and Hearts fought so desperately to avoid liquidation. After all, the Scottish football authorities now seem intent on convincing us that liquidation has little or no effect on a football club. Even past sins, such as wrongly-registered players are as naught — if, at the time, they were thought to have been registered correctly. By this logic, we have to ask: if a ‘company’ running a ‘club’ bribes a referee, will retrospective action will be taken against the ‘club’. The players and the club, after all, will have done nothing wrong. And since the referee was not known to have been bribed, and not struck off, he was qualified to referee the match in question, at the time. Using the SFA thought process, the result would probably be allowed to stand. Personally, I’m not sure I follow SFA logic. They’ve ‘moved the goalposts’, and (you saw it coming) bent them into an unrecognisable shape.
Which brings me back to our garden. The old metal goal frame is waiting to be driven down to the local re-cycling centre. The twisted metal and worn-out net are useless. Ruined by forces beyond our control. There is no interest in a replacement at present. Perhaps, if we have grandchildren, they will show an interest in football. If they do, I’ll build a new set of goalposts. They’ll be straight and true, the way the goalposts of childhood should be. The way goalposts should always be.
My own reflection on childhood goalposts consists of my rather competitive brother rapping me against some home built ones behind gardens of some houses a few streets away from us after me missing a sitter from about two feet. My feet were sadly both left ones. Good post Danish. Hope all bampots are enjoying the day. I have certainly enjoyed mine.
Congrats DP on an excellent debut guest blog.
An timely reminder that not only have we seen the birth of a new Rangers, but the birth of an attitude at the top of the game which is at odds with the historic (that word again) aims and aspirations of the pioneers of the game in the 1860s. In other words Sporting Integrity is at war with Mammon.
The future of the game will be decided by which of these ideals holds sway with the majority of fans. TSFM is definitely in the SI grouping, and there is still time for us to make a difference. The story is no longer about Rangers. It is about how seriously the game as a whole expects to be taken with regard to its status as a sport.
The only goalposts I remember from my childhood are jumpers.
Jumper goalposts are just like the SFA are to Sevco. Easy to manipulate.
Isn’t that right Campbell? 🙄
A bit late in the day, but wishing all the Bampots a Merry Christmas from Co. Clare.
Keep up the good work in the New Year please.
Peace & goodwill to ALL, hope everyone has had a great day and weathered the early evening tension… 😳 😉
Great post Danish, takes me back to all those winning, wonder goals I ‘scored’ against (usually) England. Invariably with the last kick of the ball as the capacity crowd rose to a tumultuous crescendo… as I went in the back door to get my tea (these mazy runs crowned with a winning goal happened everytime I made my way from the garden gate to the house – the back wall being the goal!)
Or the, seemingly, endless games of world cuppy played up the Mair (common) on grass that would make the apparent crookedness of some of the SFA’s decisions look like a snooker table!
And you know what? Back then the only rules were “nae cheatin”. I dread to think the lessons that are being learned amid the messages the SFA are sending via the dereliction of duty. And not just in a sporting sense.
But thats an argument for another day. May peace and love be with you all, wherever you find yourself this night.
Slainte!
Good post DP. I was lucky enough to live near my school when growing up and had the luxury of two red gravel pitches. The proper football pitch goals just seemed massive and the smaller hockey pitch was always the best option of the two. The best of all however was the sloping piece of grass adjacent to the gravel pitches which was about 80 yards in length, this let us attempt diving headers, overhead kicks etc and played with jumpers for goalposts.
Many an argument arose whether the ball was inside or outside the post, whether the goalie made them smaller as the game progressed or whether the ball was over the imaginary bar!
Looking back then, all the games were played with honesty with the best team winning and the losers living to fight another day, football was honest and fun.
Sadly today the inept leaders at Hampden have changed that for many a fan.
They moved the goalposts
Well done DP…but I didn’t realise you are a “former Rangers fan” !
We all have skeletons in the cupboard… 😉
TRFC seems to be set on a path of further financial distress – and it will continue to be an irrelevance – hopefully.
The most important focus should continue to be the SFA: we all know it desperately needs ‘straightening out’.
And some of the incompetent / corrupt blazers need carting off to the dump ASAP, (but definitely not to a recycling centre. 🙄 )
StevieBC says: (958)
December 26, 2013 at 12:51 am
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SBC, your post raises a pertinent question in my mind; DP, are we to take it that you are a former fan of RFC-IL or is it the case that you ARE a fan of the previous incarnation of Sevco, formerly known as ‘Rangers’ but you didn’t TUPE…
(and, for the avoidance of doubt, it should be noted that if my tongue was any more in cheek it would be in my lug! 😉 )
DP, with no more than a small tincture taken on a very joyous and enjoyable day, may I say that your post brilliantly captures what TSFM- the- blog is all about: the battle against people in ‘authority’, ‘rulemakers’, who put themselves, for base reasons, above the requirements of integrity and truth and honour.
All of us see plenty of that in the ‘politics’ of scum- bag MPs/MSPs, we see plenty of it in the pernicious destruction of truth by people in the media [who said JI?or BBC Sportsound? and stand up the man who shouted out “CY!’]
But to have witnessed it perpetrated in the field of sport by those whose very duty and ‘ raison d’etre’ is to safeguard the truth and integrity of Sport is an experience that has left a huge body of football fans utterly, utterly, utterly disenchanted. And rightly baying for blood.
Many of us who post on this blog have asserted that the offences committed ( and as yet not acknowledged or dealt with as they ought properly to have been under the rules!) by a now liquidated football club are as nothing compared to the offence committed by the ‘guardians’ of football sporting integrity.
The liquidated club has gone, and the new club claiming to be the dead club looks to be heading the same way.
That may in a sense be condign punishment.
But there has as yet been no punishment of the men who really betrayed Scottish Football.: the complicit men in office variously over the years with the dead club and on the SFA board, and, of course, various other individuals in the’law’ and ‘the Press’ who, as part of that complicit network, tried and continue to try, to foist a great deceit upon us.
We will assuredly get them in the end, provided we resist the Big Lie,and force them to vacate the offices which they, by their very holding of them, so pollute and demean.
A new thread but there’s still only one pantomime in town.
I noted that The Rangers Intergalactic Football Clumpany Unlimited plc (Not In Administration) (Yet) were all over the media on Christmas Eve trumpeting their largesse in giving away 650 free tickets to the homeless for their game today against Stranraer.
So far so generous.
However The Herald made a passing reference to these tickets being distributed via the Rangers Charity Foundation. This raised two questions. Firstly, why use the Latin word “via” when what you mean could be expressed by the shorter English word “by’? Secondly, well, just why? If you are giving away free tickets why tie up the resources of a charity to do so? Why can’t the distribution be done by your own ticketing system? Presumably the use of the resources of the charity costs money and if it’s expended on distributing freebies for a football match that’s money that is not going to be spent on other charitable causes. Perhaps The Rangers Etc. (life’s too short) (unless you’re The Rangers Etc.) are paying the Foundation for their services.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t have given the matter any further thought but a couple of things occurred to me. It’s only a matter of months since the Foundation were severely criticised by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator for a number of things including a finding of an inherent conflict of interest. This followed the “charity” match with A.C. Milan when the Foundation decided that the most worthy beneficiary of the charitable funds raised was a football club/company/eternal being, with the word “Rangers” in its name, which had gone into administration the previous month. Yup, the money went to Duff and Phelps. Still it is common knowledge what a sterling job they did for the creditors on whose benefit they were acting. It is noteworthy that despite the damning findings no action was taken against the Foundation. Must be something to do with bodies which have “Scottish” in their title.
Furthermore, this story had the ring of a story at the start of December when the media couldn’t stop telling us of 2000 free tickets being given to schoolchildren for the game against Ayr United. However I recall that at that time a poster on here indicated that the tickets were being charged to, yes, you’ve guessed it, the Foundation. I don’t recall any follow up one way or another.
A quick look at The Rangers Etc. website disclosed a statement headed “Rangers Give Tickets To Homeless” which advised that 650 tickets were indeed being donated and a list of organisations “have all received tickets via the Rangers Charity Foundation”.
Well at least one of my questions has been answered. The use of the Latin word was lifted directly from the official website. Latin in Edmiston Drive? Who would have thunk it?
This still didn’t explain why the Foundation was involved or required.
Their website only confused matters further. Their statement was that ” Rangers FC and the Foundation have donated 1000 tickets for the Boxing Day fixture.” 1000? A continuation page further muddied the waters by referring to 600 tickets. As at today the statement has been edited to read “over 600”.
Who is giving away these free tickets?
Is it The Rangers Etc.?
Is it the Foundation?
If it’s The Rangers Etc. is any payment being received? For example, from the Foundation?
If it’s the Foundation is any payment being made? For example, to The Rangers Etc.?
The answer to the question of whether any payment was made for the Ayr United game would go a long way to answering these questions. If only there were people in the media who had access to ask but you never see, read or hear anything about them.
You realise you’re dealing with people who are, let’s say, economical with the truth, on an epic scale, when not only can you not believe what they say but you can’t even believe the opposite of what they say.
If you are giving away free tickets why tie up the resources of a charity to do so? Why can’t the distribution be done by your own ticketing system? Presumably the use of the resources of the charity costs money and if it’s expended on distributing freebies for a football match that’s money that is not going to be spent on other charitable causes. Perhaps The Rangers Etc. (life’s too short) (unless you’re The Rangers Etc.) are paying the Foundation for their services
============================
Alzipratu has apparently raised this on twitter.
The ”charity” or (foundation) are being ”charged” for the charitable gesture of giving the tickets away to worthwhile causes !!!
I don’t have twitter, but i’ve read alzipratu’s blog
http://alzipratu.wordpress.com
Well worth a read, and highlights how the ”charity regulator” (OSCR) are shit scared to investigate and take meaningful action against abuses of the charity status used by certain ”arms” of football ”clubs”
Or is that business’s
Well done DP, good “post”. I recall as a child living in Briggs with a back garden being jealous of my cousin in Buccleuch St Garnethill who out the back had a Dyke on which he had painted a goalpost. He had no plants to worry about either, the number of balls I had burst from thorns from the roses was unreal. I did patch repairs, a red hot screwdriver (if you were careful) could do the trick. If it was a leather bladder the bicycle repair kit but you never managed to lace up back up properly and ended up with a mis-shaped ball. With no money for a new ball you had no option but to make do until you had enough to buy another. The young kids don’t know they are living. As for the SFA! Well they have done a patchwork repair on our ball and the game aint the same.
The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on.
Further to my 7:47am post I’ve looked at the Daily Record and according to Ace Reporter Hugh “Scoop” Keevins the official The Rangers Etc. website cannot be correct when it says that the organisations had all received tickets via the Foundation because he reports that Jon Daly was on hand to donate 650 tickets. Unless…maybe Mr Daly moonlights as a delivery agent for the Foundation.
Just in case you don’t know who Mr Daly is the Record helpfully take up half the back page with a photograph of him. And just in case you have a bad memory three pages from the back three quarters of a page is taken up with another photograph of him. With a blue Santa hat. With those tickets.
These people would give paracetamol a sore head.
600 free tickets for The Homeless ? Is this something a homeless person would be interested in, in all honesty ?
Fine post Danish Pastry.
But maybe the SFA have not only moved the goal posts, they’ve replaced the square structures with tubular, and told us to believe they are the same goal posts.
On the subject of goalposts I remember the old ones at Hampden, and I used to wonder if they had the deepest nets in the world. There was no danger of the controversy we witnessed a couple of times in the 70’s in England where the ball was hit into and bounced back out of a very shallow goal and the Referee failed to award the goal. As a teenager I raged against the injustice of it all, but the deep Hampden nets always filled me with comfort. The old Hampden goals are long gone of course, as is my misplaced faith that the place represented a sense of righteousness. Indeed, the Hampden goalposts have been moved so far that had we been told in advance it would happen, we would console ourselves that someone, somewhere in the media would report it as the scandal it is and the subsequent outrage would sweep the SFA away and a brave new world would be ushered in. Not so of course, and the only certainty about it all is when the club they moved the goalposts to such an extent for reach the top league, the goalposts will be moved even further to accommodate it. By that time there could be £30M available for a Scottish team reaching the Champions League group stage and I for one would not bet against that club getting access to it sometime relatively soon. That is not paranoia, it is simply an acknowledgement of the level of cheating the SFA have brazenly forced upon us so far – nothing is impossible any more.
If only my sense of injustice was still restricted to a couple of incidents from years ago when a Referee wrongly failed to award a goal scored in very shallow goalposts!
Beautifully written Danish. I wouldnt worry too much about precedents by the SFA (is the F for favouritism? Fraud? Shurely not football?) after all, it seems these rules are made on the fly and by and large the goalposts are only bent to benefit one eternal entity. The rest of scottish football are unlikely to enjoy the same largesse.
DP, An excellent read, and a great trip down Memory Lane 🙂 Some great memories there, but it does bring to mind, how, in some instances, there was a bully, usually reasonably competent but never as good as he thought he was, who would ‘bend’ the rules to suit himself while other times you would rely on the oldest, or best player, to decide. Often the ‘best’ player would decide against his own team, just because he didn’t need to cheat or seek an advantage. I grew up in a none too well to do part of Edinburgh and for a few years we had ‘take ons’ against lads from a different part of that pretty deprived area. Some of the lads were ‘hard men’, some were ‘wanna be hardmen’, but generally, even without a referee, the games were played in the proper spirit, with only the very occasional debate ending in fisticuffs 👿 Some lads, who might well steel from their granny, would become veritable gentlemen on stepping onto the park. There was something about football that could make an honest man (boy) out of anyone. Sadly it would appear that the opposite is now true, with football (or a particular football club) being a catalyst of dishonesty and untruths within the game itself, and more like the bully than the good player, making up the rules as they go along to suit…, well the bully!
Jaikets on the grass down the Dunbeth Park at dinner time. A quick scout after the jaikets were gone would always yield the odd thrupenny bit or better. 👿
Danish…………Were they square?
Good post.
LUGOSI99 says: (9)
December 26, 2013 at 7:47 am
As I suspect you do, my natural inclination is to suspect serial wrongdoers to continue to be serial wrongdoers, who, with every wrongful act that goes unchallenged, see wrong doing as acceptable, at least when carried out by them. With a shamelessly fawning MSM and a totally incompetent/frightened/complicit SFA, none of whom are prepared to investigate the goings on at Ibrox, I can only follow logic and believe that RCF are funding TRFC. This is what happens when proper and honest governance disappears, even good deeds are seen as potential misdeeds, and without the mechanism to challenge TRFC, they will get away with it if they are guilty, or our distrust in them will continue to increase, even if they are not. I somehow think, that had Celtic announced a similar distribution of tickets, via their charity fund, that the pertinent questions would, at the very least, be asked.
On another tack, is it part of CEO Wallace’s recovery plans to give away free tickets?
Sorry allyjambo, my accidental thumbs down, fatfinger/”smart”phone combo. I too spent my childhood in edinburgh, spent most of my freetime up on blackford hill. There was one small flat area where we played football – as kids we thought it huge, its tiny. And given the number of dogs walked in that hill, our sliding tackles sometimes sometimes had dire consequences…much to the amusement if our fellow players!
My point? Maybe there’s always been shite ti deal with in scottish football. Its now out of the long grass and we now have to tackle it…
rougvielovesthejungle says: (77)
December 25, 2013 at 11:17 pm (Edit)
19 0 Rate This
The only goalposts I remember from my childhood are jumpers.
Jumper goalposts are just like the SFA are to Sevco. Easy to manipulate.
Isn’t that right Campbell?
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Indeed rougvie. Jumpers and jaikets are maybe where the original source of ‘discretionary rules’ 🙂
Allyjambo, great point about the best player usually deciding against his own team, and the respect for rules in general. Those who enshrine fair play will always be at a disadvantage.
On the bigger, international stage, the Roma v Dundee United and Rapid Vienna v Celtic episodes were very much a triumph for the bullies, as was the Anderlecht v Nottingham Forest mach in 1984.
Not surprising oor wee matches would sometimes end in chaos as someone walked off with an, “Ahm no playing wae youse.” Unfortunately, it’s people who find cheating in sport intolerable that we can’t afford to lose. The saddest thing to read on here is the “I’m finished with Scottish football” comments from some posters. It’s understandable, but sport needs the honest fans to keep it on the straight and narrow — and now, more than ever.
PS Bawsman, the metal frame was square-ish. Probably more the dimensions of a handball goal (hugely popular game here).
Allyjambo
As far as Wallace and the board are concerned what they don’t want at this stage are swathes of empty seats. To the obvious economic reason, you can add that an empty seat may be construed as a fans ‘No vote’ towards the boardroom and the issues that surround it.
In an ever fluid situation, there approaches confrontation between the board and groups of the support. As ever PR / spin will play a prominent role in the boards efforts to nip it in the bud.
briggsbhoy says: (776)
December 26, 2013 at 8:39 am
Well done DP, good “post”. I recall as a child living in Briggs with a back garden being jealous of my cousin in Buccleuch St Garnethill who out the back had a Dyke on which he had painted a goalpost. He had no plants to worry about either, the number of balls I had burst from thorns from the roses was unreal. I did patch repairs, a red hot screwdriver (if you were careful) could do the trick.
==================================
The SFA is a burst ball, is it to late to apply the red hot screwdriver to the balls of those that burst it.
just to get at the truth you understand.
What about a customary challange for this time of year, predictions for the next 12 months.
How will the story at Ibrox develop in 2014 ?
We’ve heard of various thoughts and theories during the past months, including admin2 and S&LB.
Now that the AGM has come and gone (in itself blew some theories out the water) let those with or without expertise weigh up the situation and put forward how they see the next 12 months panning out.
Other strands may incluse investment and where that may come from given restraints. Another is the RIFC/TRFC transfer of assets theory, the detail and timing of how it could be played out in relation to numbers.
Detail, links and reasoning behind predictions would make it more interesting.
GJ I think it will be all quite on the Ibrox front until we get well into January. It will be interesting to see if the weather will have any adverse affect on the cash flow if games are cancelled.
Is it possible the Sevco players/ boardroom salaries were exorbitant for 2012 and 2013 deliberately because the financial projections for 2014 may indicate that austerity and possible ruination would be the name of the game going forward. By extension, some people would appear to be doing their bit for the good of the clumpany by agreeing to wage reductions and/or returning bonus payments when in reality the reductions were agreed from the very beginning ?
Briggs
I don’t want a full set of projected accounts but if you have the time, outline what you see happening as the months go by. Something to back it up, whether it be numbers, precedent or whatever would be interesting and informative.
One interesting area is investment and where that may come from given restraints. Another is the RIFC/TRFC transfer of assets theory, the detail and timing of how it could be played out in relation to numbers.
I appreciate that the really detailed stuff may be the domain of the resident experts.
Greenock Jack says: (237)
December 26, 2013 at 11:26 am
What about a customary challange for this time of year, predictions for the next 12 months.
How will the story at Ibrox develop in 2014 ?
We’ve heard of various thoughts and theories during the past months, including admin2 and S&LB.
Now that the AGM has come and gone (in itself blew some theories out the water) let those with or without expertise weigh up the situation and put forward how they see the next 12 months panning out.
Detail, links and reasoning behind predictions would make it more interesting.
=================================================================
Hi G.J, my assessment is damning I’m afraid.
To be honest does it really matter what happens? A club from Ibrox will survive no matter what, and will not be challenged in claiming what is sees as all the good bits of history associated with Ibrox since 1872. That much is as clear as day. In addition, throughout the year we will be fed fantasy tales of the Ibrox global brand and the media will nit-pick and sensationalise anything they can to do with Celtic. I also predict the accepted position among the media will be that the Championship is a far better league than the Premiership.
You may of course disagree with what I say and that is your right.
redetin says: (255)
December 26, 2013 at 9:33 am
Ahhh!!!! the memories of Dunbeth Park at dinner time in the ’60s, watching the footie then ‘doggin it’ Period 5. It was bliss till we got caught by two Latin teachers whilst we were hiding in the bushes.
It was all innocent fun then 😀
Great post DP.
Over 600 homeless going to a football match,if they can afford to get to the ground I imagine some with any sense would try and sell their brief on ,I would ,beggers belief at times the thinking behind this.
I predict that Rangers, the football club (not a PLC which happens to have the word “Rangers” in it’s name) will not own Ibrox Stadium or Murray Park this time next year.
There will still be a club called Rangers playing there, they simply won’t own the stadium they play in.
The club may have gone through an insolvency event (for the avoidance of doubt it’s first) but it will survive that, unlike it’s predecessor. It will use this event to downsize, but will survive because it’s main creditor is also it’s owner, at that time.
Rangers (the football club) will get new owner(s) if this insolvency event happens.
Tif
I’m sort of familiar with the broad outline of that hypothesis but not the detail.
What would a hypothetical timeline of events look like ?
I believe that the asset transfer can be made between RIFC and TRFC without shareholder approval but what options are there for consideration or payment between PLC and Ltd company ?
At what point do RIFC and TRFC seperate ?
You seem to infer a successful CVA for TRFC.
Numbers, timeline, how it dovetails with hypothesis as a whole ? Any experts like to have a stab.
Belated season’s greetings everybody 🙂
Why is today not more aptly named Recovery Day? 😐
Excellent post DP to end the year and begin a new one to remind us why Scottish football needs monitoring by somebody because the SFA and SMSM are not up to the task.
Rip it up and start again and if the expected second administration at RFC happens, the SFA who have presided over the whole fiasco since 1999, will have to be brought to account for their role in corrupting our game.
On the goalposts of our childhood: 🙂
As a Calton boy in the mid to late fifties (I only started kicking a football from about age 10) anything other than a whelk strewn* Stevenson Street with lampposts for goal posts, parked cars to dribble around and regular patrols by the fifties’ version of FOCUS, was considered a luxury.
Luxury stretched from playing on the so misnamed Glasgow Green black ash pitches topped with cinder but with real goalposts, that had ASA existed back then, the name would have to have been changed to Glasgow Black.
The absolute luxury of the green Green was out of bounds, not that that stopped us playing, but many an exciting game of a summer’s evening was abandoned when a Parky stopped play.
Back on the Calton streets the Fifties FOCUS used various ploys to try to catch us, from arriving in our midst in a taxi, to sneaking around the back of the tenement with a pen (or pend**) that opened into Well Street in order to ambush us. Neither ploy worked because of our sixth Focus alert sense in Stevenson St (we were always at Preparedness Level V) or the wee boy we bribed with a swizzle lollipop to watch for sneaky polis in Well St.
Being fleet of foot, which once helped me outrun a chasing copper with a loose fitting cap who was questioning my parentage , gave me considerable evasive advantage and I was only caught once in Bain St playing keepie uppy, either by an over zealous newbie or the cop who lost his cap in the previous Well St encounter still hell bent on revenge.
(That was my introduction to the escalating fine which my father paid. It started at ten bob but by the time I started work about 5 years later it had become a fiver. I’m not sure if my auld man was charging interest in the vain hope of repayment or simply getting doddery in his advancing years.)
Then one day, as Glasgow indulged in a period of self ravaging, luxury arrived. A tenement in Well St was demolished and the waste ground left us an area on which we could play more or less free from Fifties Focus scrutiny and with jaickets for goalposts.
The “pitch” was not without its hazards. Broken glass was never totally removed and many a Frido (the one with the knobs on) or Wembley (the dimpled one) was slashed as it sped unerringly from one player to another. Many a bust baw had to be replaced following a quick whip round and it was an event that really depressed our spirit. Sometimes somebody got a cut needing stitches but that was more likely a cause for mirth than depression. (Calton hard men to a man).
The ground of course was not level with a slightly raised concrete platform that was the equivalent of a goal saving tackle if you failed to give the ball a little lift as you negotiated the slab.
The worst hazard though was the extruding gas pipe, about six to eight inches above the ground. I still wince at the memory of one of my mates cry of anguish as he missed the ball and kicked the pipe full on. He was out of the game for weeks.
This was always an accident waiting to happen, but a risk worth taking for the sheer joy of playing the game we all love. The pitch may not have been level, but I played with friends from both sides of the religious divide (my dad’s boast was that I played with the Tims [St Mungo’s] in the morning and the Proddies [St James Calton Boys Club] in the afternoon) who were most definitely level in their honesty.
That honesty is still with us and it is the desire for such that I think prompted Danish Pastry’s excellent memory jogging blog of today and will see TSFM prevail in the coming year.
* The Barras had a couple of Sea Food shops in its vicinity selling mussels and whelks, the latter particularly dangerous if you were motoring down Stevenson St on roller skate.
** There seems to be two versions of pen or pend which was an opening much wider than a close to allow vehicles to enter a building. I imagine “pen” was the Calton version and “pend” came from Kelvinside.
On the football side.
Celtic will win the SPFL premiership and Scottish cup.
Dundee Utd will be second, with Hearts being relegated.
Aberdeen will win the League Cup
My predictions for 2014: Celtic will win the league; Hearts will get relegated; Hibs won’ t win the Scottish cup and England won’ t win the World Cup.
I have no idea what will happen at Ibrox – but I am fairly certain that I will enjoy it more than Rangers fans.
Redetin and Jean
Both Big Jim’s boys and girls then? Probably a few from the old Senior Sec days on here.
Summer dinner times at Dunbeth Park were heaven – but dogging period 5?
In my day there, we started the afternoon on period 6! 🙂
I predict HMRC will win their appeal.
DP,
We must know each other, because I too grew up in Dennistoun & can just remember, actual cricket teams playing on the cricket pitch, which is now of course, home to the newer( not better) Whitehill Secondary, where I was educated…….I think 🙄
Like so many working class communities of the 60’s & 70’s, my generation were all street footballers, because as you’ll know in Dennistoun, there were games going on all the time, with boys & men of differing ages & abilities playing “sidey’s” for hours on end. I played for the BB & the school team, as well as Eastercraigs & other amateur teams, during this period.
And of course, strange things happened in the professional game as well, during these times. As a small country, we had club teams regularly reaching the latter stages of European tournaments. The national team qualified for major championships and we produced world class players and most emerged from the type of background I described, in my first paragraph.
By comparison, football these days is for me is a joyless & souless experience. I cannot abide the EPL, and willingly gave up my Sky subscription. I am however, still a follower of my team Celtic and get a thrill, even at aged 48, from seeing them qualify and compete in the CL, even although that whole competition is distorted and predicated to suit the big clubs from the big leagues.
However, I haven’t lost all hope and one day I just might get to see a Celtic team with at least 75% all home grown young players and it would be great to see the game recover its’ soul and connection to the working class origins that it came from and the modest background that you spoke about?
Greenock Jack says: (239)
December 26, 2013 at 11:54 am
I have no idea what will happen, as you never know with this shambles. I’m only saying that I don’t see much happening until we are into January and God knows what that will be, but I don’t see it being positive that’s for sure. The only positive thing I see happening is the further development of the Scottish team.
Big Pink says: (151)
December 26, 2013 at 1:30 pm
Redetin and Jean
Both Big Jim’s boys and girls then?
______________________________
1961-1967.
1965 was the year that they won the Scottish School’s Cup at Hampden Park. Big Jim wisnae interested in sport though.
Here’s where to check your old school:-
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/ssfa/scottish_football.cfm?page=1554
Is it now suspected that cash donated to the Rangers Charity Foundation is being used to purchase thousands of unwanted match tickets from The Rangers FC Ltd which are then given away to anyone or no one – and this is being presented as an admirable act rather than naked fraud?
If true, it is yet more proof that all morals and acceptable modes of behaviour have been turned on their heads and betrayed by this cankerous farce.
The question is, though, who among our legions of brave Scottish sports journalists will dare to ask the question that must be asked. Namely:
“Has Rangers Football Club received funds from Rangers Charity Foundation in exchange for these thousands of ‘free’ tickets?”
Briggs
None of us know what will happen.
It’s predictions by those who have followed things closely and use their experience in matters Rangers, allied to judgement/expertise in relevant areas.
The area I point towards isn’t a shambles. The fall-out is but as far as the spivs are concerned it would seem to be far from a shambles. It is with that in mind when I ask posters to make their predictions thinking of the ‘organised part of the chaos’.
Re.Allegations Match-Tickets/RCF/Funding
NickMcG and others,
Strong allegations seem to be surfacing, need to see some evidence.
Who from Ibrox would supposedly have made this decision ?
redetin says: (256)
I was 1967-72
I think my old hero and fellow Bailliestonian Phil Cairney (subsequently of the Bully Wee) played in that game. Great goalie – to die for mullet 🙂
Ted McKenna (SAHB drummer) would have been in your year ?
Big Jim was a misanthrope 🙁 👿
http://cards.littleoak.com.au/197576_topps_scottish_blue/Clyde.htm.html
Great Post DP. Memories indeed. We would have died for real goalposts and a net. Heaven!!! We played sidey into Garage doors , which were actually not in line with each other, more Right angle than parallel!! There was no segregation or sectarianism allowed. Mixed bunch of kids Rangers and Celtic supporters playing the game . Thats what it was all about , playing the game. I remember being ill with chickenpox, and the boys came to the door asking if I was coming for a game. When informed of my spotty situation they asked if my ball was coming out for a game!
What I recall through the sixties , seventies, eighties, was a gradual increase in banter which developed into bigotry, hatred, greed , jealousy and ultimately for one club Corporate madness followed by rabid denial.” No one likes us we don’t care,” gradually became , “kicking us when we are down.” That second statement insinuates that somebody or some outside force put them down. When the truth tells us that Murray prompted by the demands of a support who had become infatuated by winning the Champions league put them down. Slowly, gradually their sins of greed and lust for this Holy grail achieved by their greatest rivals, in the end actually destroyed and killed them.
The one main thing I would like in 2014 is the dismissal of the Snake oil salesman Mr Ogilvie. A complete disgrace still envelopes OUR game with this person remaining in office. He, JI, and the rest of the media bandwagon are the biggest collaborators in this farce. Rangers fans who have been fleeced and conned continually should look no further when they are seeking out who put them down. Their consistent denial of truths is the biggest reason Scottish Football clubs and their fans stood up and were counted.
Greenock Jack at 2.20pm:
Who is currently on the board of the Rangers Charity Foundation?
Do any members of this board have a “conflict of interests” when it comes to making “investment” decisions concerning cash donated for purely charitable purposes that may have a material effect on the finances of Rangers International Football Club PLC and the tribute-act club it operates?
The Rangers Charity Foundation article on the free tickets
http://www.rangerscharity.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=462&Itemid=71
It seems that 2000 tickets were given away for the Ayr game earlier this month.
It’s interesting to also have a look at the OSCR page for the Foundation
https://www.oscr.org.uk/search-charity-register/charity-extract/?charitynumber=sc033287
For example 2012, the income was about £328k and the expenditure was about £312k. However of that about £90k was “grants and donations” with about £203k being “cost of charitable activities” . So about two thirds of the money raised went out on “cost of charitable activities”.
I have no idea how that is broken down.
There is also a link to the OSCR investigation into the Milan game if anyone wants to see that.
From said report
• OSCR identified that issues of conflict of interest
inherent in the Charity’s structure had not been
appropriately dealt with.
OSCR concludes that since the Charity was
set up, there has been an inherent conflict
of interest present as a result of the charity
trustees’ connection to The Rangers Football
Club plc.
Based on the information provided to us, we
further consider that the decision-making
process in the Charity, which allowed a decision
to be taken by one trustee to assign the
Agreement with AC Milan Glorie to The Rangers
Football Club plc (in Administration) without
consultation with the other charity trustees and
without a quorum, was in breach of the charity
trustee duties. In addition, the conflict of interest
presented by the assignation was not managed
appropriately and professional advice was not
obtained as required by the Charity’s Trust Deed.
==============================
Question – What has changed to prevent subsequent conflicts. For example the possibility of the charity deciding to buy football tickets from the club, to then give away.
I would find that absolutely stunning if there is any truth in the rumour.
Surely there are things the homeless need more than a ticket to a third tier Scottish football match, on a day when there is little or no transport available.
Mr Danish Pastry
What a delightful piece of writing…..as I was reading I had in my mind that shade of light that only the late summer sunshine in Scotland can create. That is the light that always seems to accompany such golden memories. Thanks for sharing… it was a real pleasure to read.
Love and peace to all and the very, very best for 2014
Peace….
I see that the attendance at the St Johnstone v Celtic game is their highest home league crowd for over 4 years. Did someone mention Armagedon?
Pity many of the home fans seem to have boycotted the game .
Big Pink says: (152)
December 26, 2013 at 2:55 pm
1964 -70 for me. Ted McKenna and SAHB – brings back great memories. It wis wee Sammy Gallagher and Percival who dragged me from the bushes!!!!
The Period 5 gaffe comes from decades in teaching right up to present 😳
Big day for Motherwell today with the win over Aberdeen and Dundee Utd going down to St Mirren.
The fight for second place could be very interesting this season, it certainly has been so far.
Rangers drawing with Stranraer, with what has been described (by the Rangers support) as a very very soft penalty for them.
Dallas Jnr doing the business it seems, some traditions never die.
jean7brodie says: (393)
December 26, 2013 at 4:21 pm
Big Pink says: (152)
December 26, 2013 at 2:55 pm
1964 -70 for me. Ted McKenna and SAHB – brings back great memories. It wis wee Sammy Gallagher and Percival who dragged me from the bushes!!!!
The Period 5 gaffe comes from decades in teaching right up to present 😳
________________________________________________________________________________
I guessed that 🙂 Me too. Soon be like old times then 😈
Big Pink says: (153)
December 26, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Yip, a bit like the SFA, they keep changing goalposts when it suits them 😉
auchinstarry says: (126)
December 26, 2013 at 3:23 pm (Edit)
12 0 Rate This
… ultimately for one club Corporate madness …
———–
@starry, I just heard the Stranraer manager on the wireless mention that he has the smallest squad and lowest budget in the league; and their result at Moneydrainbrox — 1-1. The profligate spending of Sounessism became Walterism and has now morphed into Allyism.
I follow Stranraer on twitter and they are making a huge effort to increase crowds and promote their club profile. Bless them.
Well played Stranraer. They will go down in history as the first team to take a point from the tribute act this season while they still had their Premiership quality squad (sic). The tribute act squad will look a bit different by the end of January and the 11 point lead they currently enjoy will be wiped out when the piemaster has to make do with a squad more appropriate to the league they are competing in and the budget of the puppetmasters.
Merry Christmas all!
Nick
Who is currently on the board of the Rangers Charity Foundation?
——————————————————————————————
I don’t know but was referring more to the club (RIFC if you prefer) and if a director would have any involvement in decisions regarding the foundation and ticket initiatives that might or might not secure revenue.
Now that Imran has gone, who is commercial director ? I can’t remember one being appointed.
Current RCF trustees are
Jacqueline Gourlay, Commander John Livesey RN and Colin Kirkwood
http://www.rangerscharity.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=132
Is it the trustees who decide what happens to money, whether it is a donation to a charity, or expenditure in running the business.
I would have thought that it was the management of the foundation who did that, with the trustees having an overview of how things were being done.
Re the “premiership quality squad”.
I think people might be confusing how much is spent on the squad salary and how good the players actually are.
An incompetent manager and an incompetent board are paying them something over £7m per year. That does not mean they are by far the second best squad in Scottish football just now.
They beat a 10 man Falkirk right at the end of a cup game. Falkirk had been down to ten me from an hour in. Would they really fancy their chances against Motherwell, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen, ICT just now. Maybe in one off cup games, but throughout an entire season.
I think the rangers squad may be grossly overpaid just now, and on that basis it may no be that easy to shift them in January. Who else is going to pay their wages.
As for today’s game at Ibrox, I see the BBC website reports the attendance at somewhere north of 45,000.
How unfortunate, then, that the photo they have of Elbows’s penalty being taken shows only a sprinkling of fans among mostly empty seats. Anyone would think the 45K figure was, er, kind of made up!
Angus, the pic with the sprinkling of fans is of Longworth’s 94th minute equaliser when I would assume half the crowd would be walking towards the nearest underground station as is usually the case at Ibrox. Heard that Super Salary was getting dog’s abuse at the end. One bad result and they turn on him or maybe many were just looking for an opportunity to present itself. Away at Dunfermline next and they, like Stranraer, are going well.
Would like to see Ian Black’s betting slip for today!
I noticed on one of the Bear sites a comment which caused me to smile: ‘If they keep playing like this even the homeless won’t come back’.
As we know – Rangers used to get a hell of a lot of penalties in their favour.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/other-football/now-you-know-johnny-scored-hat-trick-for-gers-against-hoops-146448n.23033314?
======================================
We also know that Sevco get a hell of a lot of penalties in their favour.
Is this another way the SFA are implying that they see Sevco and Rangers as a continuation?
Just askin lyke . . .
Cracking wee images you conjure up there Danish.
My own early football memories are in England. Kicking about in the back garden, playing our own subbuteo version of the 1970 World Cup and either putting down jackets anywhere or going down to the local park to use the goalposts of the local junior team (except in summer when they were removed to accommodate the cricket! – ‘spits’).
You won’t be surprised to hear that Scottish football’s exposure down South was restricted to the internationals, the Scottish Cup final highlights at half time and full time during the English version and the occasional European highlights.
Incidentally, I also played in the same junior school cup final team * and, briefly, in the aforementioned local juniors (Churchdown Panthers) as former striker and ex-Portsmouth manager Guy Whittingham.
* I’m fairly certain that Guy scored with a flukey ‘came off his knee’ lob over the keeper. I’ve also got a vague notion that the referee was 1974 World Cup Final referee Jack Taylor, but that might be p!sh!
Big Pink says: (153)
December 26, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Fortuitous mention of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Big Pink.
I have just watched them on The Old Grey Whistle Test tonight. Delilah with Ted and Hugh McKenna!
The good old days.
Apologies for being OT to the rest of you wonderful people but reminiscing is good for the soul especially in respect of unsullied times.
Having lit the blue touch paper this morning and having read the comments thereon lest it be thought I’m mischief making I think I should confirm my position.
The Foundation’s past actings have stank to high hell and, consequently, they are well worth the watching. The link provided by jimlarkin at 8:27am will take you to two excellent articles by Alzipratu dated 6th and 18th August 2013 which comprehensively expose what was done and why what was done was wrong. No action was deemed necessary by the OSCR.
More tea, Lord Nimmo Smith?
I posted about the two reports of tickets being given away free because after the first report I read a post about a potential link with the Foundation.
I am fairly sure it was on this site but it is possible it was elsewhere. The replies to the last thread are no longer there so I cannot trawl there to check. Anyone who can locate it will have my undying gratitude.
I am completely sure that it indicated that the tickets were being charged to the Foundation. The post included a repost or retweet or the like from Corsica something or similar. There is a Twitter account rangerscharitytheft@Corsica1968 but it is “protected” and I don’t have access thereto.
Corsica1968, as I understand it, is Alzipratu.
If these Corsicas are the same person I would treat the post with respect.
It is possible that the post is incorrect and The Rangers Etc. and/or the Foundation are going around dispensing sunshine, rainbows and lollipops but so far I am unaware of the question being asked far less answered. Even if answered given previous responses I would reserve my position on whether or not I believed the answer.
I think most points raised today have been covered, at least as far as possible, but the question posed about conflict of interest can be easily dealt with. The answer is “Yes”. At the time of the OCSR inquiry there was only one Trustee; Jacqueline Gourlay, who made all the decisions to hand over the money to Duff and Phelps. On the basis that she is a Chartered Accountant employed by The Rangers Etc. and had been employed by the Company That Died it was held to be an inherent conflict of interest. Ms Gourlay continues to be both a Trustee and an Employee. Two further Trustees have been appointed but if anyone thinks they make the decisions and Ms Gourlay declares an interest and stands aside they have more trust and faith than I can muster.
Transparency, the search continues.
Scottish football needs a weaker Stranraer.
jean7brodie says: (395)
December 26, 2013 at 9:34 pm
Fortuitous mention of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Big Pink.
I have just watched them on The Old Grey Whistle Test tonight. Delilah with Ted and Hugh McKenna!
The good old days.
Apologies for being OT to the rest of you wonderful people but reminiscing is good for the soul especially in respect of unsullied times.
___________________________________________________________________
On a rather tenuously on topic reply, the legend that is Ted, along with his bandmates in the finest ever Scottish rock outfit, blew The Who off the stage at Celtic Park in summer 1976 (Who Put the Boot In Tour).
Best gig I had ever witnessed – and still is. Absolutely magical performance from five top, top musicians at their peak. The Who, Streetwalkers and Little Feat were also good 🙂 The Outlaws and Widowmaker not so much 🙁
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/who-ptbin-76-glasgow.html
I’m even in one of these photos. Serious plook alert 🙁
Ted is now Head of Performance Art at Glasgow North College. Cousin Hugh and his singing sister Mae – also St Pat’s FPs, are still performing to today. Talented bunch, but SAHB are in a world of their own – and thirty years ahead of their time. Sadly, not nearly enough video survives. Ironically since they were made for MTV.
OT rant over – apologies.
If the Rangers Charity Foundation were in fact paying TRFC for full or even cut price tickets for anyone, regardless of their housing status, other issues or their income levels, to attend a match they are sailing very close to the wind in terms of charity law.
OSCR’s charity test is not always a black and white judgement but is supposed to be based on OSCRs best judgement given the information the applicant provides as to their purposes and actual activities that should meet these purposes. I would assume that if a complaint or two is received OSCR could well investigate whether RCF are indeed buying TRFC tickets for onward redistribution. If so, to whom? How many? How often? On what criteria? And for what purpose that meets the charitable test and promotes RCFs charitable aims.
I’m assuming the RCF would, if this is going on, argue that these activities are for the advancement of education, the relief of poverty or the promotion of culture and values. Vey dodgy, but given recent experience, they might well get away with it. If they do, what’s to stop other clubs doing the very same?
It’s a bit risky for the trustees though, especially Ms Gourley who has already been investigated and didn’t really come out squeaky clean.
It may be that the tickets a part of a bigger package of support that RCF provides for homeless people, but we’ve not heard this.
( I hope I haven’t given them an out here!)
I posted several days ago about the reply my MSP received from OSCR and would remind folk that I can send a copy if they PM me.
If we are to find out, it behoves us to ask OSCR to look into it.
I know I will.
Do these help?
http://www.tsfm.org.uk/2013/11/past-the-event-horizon/comment-page-19/#comment-76491
http://www.tsfm.org.uk/2013/11/past-the-event-horizon/comment-page-19/#comment-76522
http://www.tsfm.org.uk/2013/11/past-the-event-horizon/comment-page-19/#comment-76523
http://www.tsfm.org.uk/2013/11/past-the-event-horizon/comment-page-19/#comment-76525