Well done to our Southern neighbours for winning the World Cup, with a display of open attacking football not seen since the Brazil team of 1970 (or the Hibs team of the mid naughties if you believe the Glasgow press)......oh hold on a minute it doesn't start for another 6 months.
As usual our friends in the south have gone into overdrive with the overblown arrogance and confidence before a ball's been kicked. Apparently the Sun (I feel dirty typing the name) had a headline the day after the draw:
England
Algeria
Slovenia
Yanks
See what they did there? It's the same every time. Already they've decided who they'll play right up to the Final. Do they EVER learn? WILL they ever learn?
The English media must be the most jingoistic, narrow minded, pig ignorant bunch of retarded monkeys this side of the Daily Record.
Every time I also promise myself I won't get wound up about it. But I can't help it. I think it's because we're a captive audience up here, getting the feeds from ITV, BBC and Sky which are naturally England biased when it comes to the World Cup. ITV and Sky can do what they like, but the BBC is publicly funded, so Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should have their own studios with punditry to suit.
I'm not suggesting I hate England as a nation, I love a cheeky wee weekend in London as much as anyone, it's the jingoistic media nonsense that you have little chance of avoiding that gets on my tits. The thought of these bastards going on endlessly about a World Cup win is too much to bear - see Ashes win 1995 + Rugby World Cup win and multiply it by thousands. I didn't mind the Ashes overkill - the old hypocrite that I am, I support England in the cricket - but the egg chasing win was hard to bear - that Brian Moore bloke is an insufferable shit at the best of times. He should be made to change his name, it's an insult to the legendary commentator.
Motty, Lawro, Hansen, Wrighty, Lineker, Tyldesly, Green et all just do your head in with their shite. At least two of them are playing at being English which makes it even worse (3 if you include Lawro who played for the Republic of Ireland).
For what it's worth I think they'll do their usual by worrying me half to death by getting to the Quarters before going out in a hilarious fashion to the first half decent side they meet. Hopefully a missed penalty by one of the irritants - Stevie Me or Cashley Hole would do nicely.
If Radio Scotland are doing commentary, I might put the sound down on the telly and listen to that.
Yours in Sport, Mr Narrow Minded Chip on Shoulder Jocko.
Music tonight is Caledonia by Frankie Miller. How everyone should feel about their home country. Never fails to bring a lump to the throat, so God knows how it must be if you listen to it whilst away from Ecosse.
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Monday, 16 November 2009
Burley Out, Who's In
So the inevitable has happened and Gorgeous George Burley has been given the boot by Scotland. 3 wins in 14 games is a dismal record and his failure to get us to even the play offs in a relatively easy group was risible. Yes he had problems with the Rangers element (who doesn't), but he should still have managed to cobble together a team who could get the runners up spot in our group. His obsession with low standard Championship players and Celtic cloggers (McManus, Caldwell and the fantastic Mr Fox for goodness sake) ultimately did for him.
As an ex-Hearts Manager you would think he would have had his finger on the pulse of the Scottish game but his omission of the likes of Wallace, Mulgrew, Conway, Stevenson and O'Brien, good young players surely worth a chance, is baffling. There are murmurs that he was biased against his old charges, hence Wallace's omission, along with Berra not getting a game ahead of Celtic's gruesome twosome. The thought his wee run at Hearts was a flash in the pan crosses my mind, maybe Romanov really was picking the team! He did get Ipswich promoted and into the UEFA cup, but that went pear-shaped pretty quickly too.
The two blazers at the SFA Smith and Peat, should take a long hard look at themselves too. Smith was very critical of the regime as a pundit but as soon as he put the blazer on he went native. Peat is a poor man's Jim Farry or Ernie Walker. Not a compliment.
So who to replace him. It's a bit of a poisoned chalice really. You need someone who will bore us to death but will get results - probably playing 4-5-1 and matching up to the bigger teams and scratching a 1-0 win against the likes of the Faroes. Craig Brown, Walter Smith and to a lesser extent Alex McLeish managed this.
Smith has been mentioned again, but I think he's burned his bridges following his defection back to the Govan horrors. Craig Levein is as usual mentioned. This guy is a media darling (as is the team he manages, the second most successful team from Dundee) and I can't fathom the attraction. Long ball anti-football with 9 physical players, one tricky winger and a diving midget as his usual first 11, he's won nothing wherever he's managed.
So back to my original point about the qualities for Scotch manager. Bore fans to death with a 4-5-1 formation. Match up to teams regardless of who they are. Be able to raise the team for one off games. Be a media darling in spite of doing nothing of much note. Add in unemployed meantime, hence cheap.
Only one candidate - Sir James of Calderwood, the cuprinol coated buffoon recently released from his duties at Aberdeen. I've already got £10 on him at 14/1 - and the odds are tumbling fast. You heard it here first folks.
Music tonight, my 80s theme has been hijacked by this breaking football news, so two for the price of one tonight, choose from "Ally's Tartan Army" by Andy Cameron or "I have a dream" by BA Robertson.
As an ex-Hearts Manager you would think he would have had his finger on the pulse of the Scottish game but his omission of the likes of Wallace, Mulgrew, Conway, Stevenson and O'Brien, good young players surely worth a chance, is baffling. There are murmurs that he was biased against his old charges, hence Wallace's omission, along with Berra not getting a game ahead of Celtic's gruesome twosome. The thought his wee run at Hearts was a flash in the pan crosses my mind, maybe Romanov really was picking the team! He did get Ipswich promoted and into the UEFA cup, but that went pear-shaped pretty quickly too.
The two blazers at the SFA Smith and Peat, should take a long hard look at themselves too. Smith was very critical of the regime as a pundit but as soon as he put the blazer on he went native. Peat is a poor man's Jim Farry or Ernie Walker. Not a compliment.
So who to replace him. It's a bit of a poisoned chalice really. You need someone who will bore us to death but will get results - probably playing 4-5-1 and matching up to the bigger teams and scratching a 1-0 win against the likes of the Faroes. Craig Brown, Walter Smith and to a lesser extent Alex McLeish managed this.
Smith has been mentioned again, but I think he's burned his bridges following his defection back to the Govan horrors. Craig Levein is as usual mentioned. This guy is a media darling (as is the team he manages, the second most successful team from Dundee) and I can't fathom the attraction. Long ball anti-football with 9 physical players, one tricky winger and a diving midget as his usual first 11, he's won nothing wherever he's managed.
So back to my original point about the qualities for Scotch manager. Bore fans to death with a 4-5-1 formation. Match up to teams regardless of who they are. Be able to raise the team for one off games. Be a media darling in spite of doing nothing of much note. Add in unemployed meantime, hence cheap.
Only one candidate - Sir James of Calderwood, the cuprinol coated buffoon recently released from his duties at Aberdeen. I've already got £10 on him at 14/1 - and the odds are tumbling fast. You heard it here first folks.
Music tonight, my 80s theme has been hijacked by this breaking football news, so two for the price of one tonight, choose from "Ally's Tartan Army" by Andy Cameron or "I have a dream" by BA Robertson.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
My Faith in Human Nature was Coming Back Then..........
Well it's been a busy week here at MacBeth Towers. The first half of the week was taken up with Senior Son's stage debut in his Theatre Group's Panto at the Arts Centre in Aberdeen. The wee man did brilliantly. Being the youngest and smallest cast member by some distance everyone was a little concerned he'd freeze when the curtain opened and he was confronted by an audience of about 300. But he rose to the occasion. The cast of 20 kids aged from 7 to 15 staged a brilliant show, with two teenagers in particular giving amazing performances as Ugly Sisters. The amount of work put into this show (the two women who run the Theatre Group wrote and directed the show) was incredible and no-one fluffed a cue or line all night. I was there for the performance the night after as a chaperone for the kids and again the show went down incredibly well.
A couple of weeks previous, I went with my dad, sister and brother in law to see my nephew play football. He is captain of his team and plays sweeper. They expected a tough game against a side who are signing up talent from all over the North East. It didn't help them - they were destroyed 8-1. My nephew has a real chance to play at a higher level, he strolled through the game and has excellent timing of a tackle. The tall centre forward for this side scored 6 goals and I was struck by the teamwork and togetherness of their team, whilst the other mob, thrown together as individuals and with no camaraderie, simply fell apart when the going got tough.
These occasions have really shown me for every "hoody hooligans terrorise neighbourhood" story, there are kids out there with genuine interests doing great things and making their communities proud.
And that was going to be the end of an upbeat blog tonight. But I have to give special mention to the boys in blue who decided to park up in the car park in our village centre tonight in order to stare menacingly at any passing motorists/pedestrians. Is our village viewed by Grampian Police as a notorious 'hood' which requires this kind of policing? Or maybe it's a nice cushy place to sit and while a couple of hours away waiting for the end of your shift.
It's a real shame their car is obviously soundproofed as this is the only reason I can think of for them missing the maniac in a Subaru driving down the main road of the village at around 50 miles per hour with the obligatory huge exhaust howling as he went.
Surely our wonderful Police service wouldn't take the easy option and turn a blind eye to this prat and instead wait patiently for the first poor sod to drive past with a rear light out.....would they............
It's 1980s pop week here on Tragic Kingdom and let's kick off with Duran Duran and Rio. Over the top video, expensive clothes, great chorus, oh it's all so vulgar and all the more wonderful for it.
A couple of weeks previous, I went with my dad, sister and brother in law to see my nephew play football. He is captain of his team and plays sweeper. They expected a tough game against a side who are signing up talent from all over the North East. It didn't help them - they were destroyed 8-1. My nephew has a real chance to play at a higher level, he strolled through the game and has excellent timing of a tackle. The tall centre forward for this side scored 6 goals and I was struck by the teamwork and togetherness of their team, whilst the other mob, thrown together as individuals and with no camaraderie, simply fell apart when the going got tough.
These occasions have really shown me for every "hoody hooligans terrorise neighbourhood" story, there are kids out there with genuine interests doing great things and making their communities proud.
And that was going to be the end of an upbeat blog tonight. But I have to give special mention to the boys in blue who decided to park up in the car park in our village centre tonight in order to stare menacingly at any passing motorists/pedestrians. Is our village viewed by Grampian Police as a notorious 'hood' which requires this kind of policing? Or maybe it's a nice cushy place to sit and while a couple of hours away waiting for the end of your shift.
It's a real shame their car is obviously soundproofed as this is the only reason I can think of for them missing the maniac in a Subaru driving down the main road of the village at around 50 miles per hour with the obligatory huge exhaust howling as he went.
Surely our wonderful Police service wouldn't take the easy option and turn a blind eye to this prat and instead wait patiently for the first poor sod to drive past with a rear light out.....would they............
It's 1980s pop week here on Tragic Kingdom and let's kick off with Duran Duran and Rio. Over the top video, expensive clothes, great chorus, oh it's all so vulgar and all the more wonderful for it.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Rememberance Sunday
Health and Safety tubes have ensured that it's difficult to keep your poppy on your jacket nowadays, the plastic stems just bend and the stick on ones lose the stickiness very quickly.
The anti-war sentiment in this country is running high at the moment and I have to admit to a real unease at our troops being out in Afghanistan. But Remembrance Sunday is sacrosanct. Surely not even the most rabid white poppy wearing pacifist begrudges a minute of silent respect for the millions who have fallen to allow us to air our views in peace.
I see Manchester United (and Liverpool apparently) are not wearing poppies on their strips. Manchester United have given a weasel excuse of "never done it before". A more feasible reason is not to offend supporters of their 'global brand' in areas of the world where war remembrance may not go down well. What an absolute disgrace. As they applaud the Chelsea Pensioners onto the pitch this afternoon they should be ashamed of themselves.
You would think Liverpool and Manchester United, who have histories of disasters and are rightly extremely vocal if these memories are desecrated in any way, would have a little more respect.
Speaking of respect, I see those despicable elements in the Celtic support decided to sing Irish Republican songs through the silence before the game against Falkirk today. Celtic always seem to get off lightly with their bigoted behaviour, but this confirms what most Scottish football fans already knew - they are as disgusting as their partners in crime.
As with Rangers, the media in this country will throw the deflectors up and back them (already they are claiming it was only people outside the ground who were singing and it's been mentioned on Aberdeen fan's chat sites that Sky may have cut the volume during the silence to block out their disrespect). These low life vermin make me sick.
Song recommendation today is that familiar lament to fallen heroes, "Flowers of the Forest". Check out the version by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and feel the tingle run down your spine.
The anti-war sentiment in this country is running high at the moment and I have to admit to a real unease at our troops being out in Afghanistan. But Remembrance Sunday is sacrosanct. Surely not even the most rabid white poppy wearing pacifist begrudges a minute of silent respect for the millions who have fallen to allow us to air our views in peace.
I see Manchester United (and Liverpool apparently) are not wearing poppies on their strips. Manchester United have given a weasel excuse of "never done it before". A more feasible reason is not to offend supporters of their 'global brand' in areas of the world where war remembrance may not go down well. What an absolute disgrace. As they applaud the Chelsea Pensioners onto the pitch this afternoon they should be ashamed of themselves.
You would think Liverpool and Manchester United, who have histories of disasters and are rightly extremely vocal if these memories are desecrated in any way, would have a little more respect.
Speaking of respect, I see those despicable elements in the Celtic support decided to sing Irish Republican songs through the silence before the game against Falkirk today. Celtic always seem to get off lightly with their bigoted behaviour, but this confirms what most Scottish football fans already knew - they are as disgusting as their partners in crime.
As with Rangers, the media in this country will throw the deflectors up and back them (already they are claiming it was only people outside the ground who were singing and it's been mentioned on Aberdeen fan's chat sites that Sky may have cut the volume during the silence to block out their disrespect). These low life vermin make me sick.
Song recommendation today is that familiar lament to fallen heroes, "Flowers of the Forest". Check out the version by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and feel the tingle run down your spine.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Football But Not as We Know It
Watching the Champion's League at the moment, flicking between three of my least favourite football teams on the planet, Liverpool, Arsenal and Rangers. Unfortunately all are winning.
I hate the Champion's League. Along with the Premier League in England, it stands for all that's wrong with the game. It has whored itself out to the highest bidders on the corporate side and the so-called big clubs have turned it into a cartel where the chances of a club like Aberdeen ever winning a European Trophy again are zero. They hoard the money for themselves, excluding everyone else in the process.
The Leagues I mentioned have, along with Sky, attracted the most insufferable of supporters, who have no feeling for the history of the game, glory hunt around the most successful clubs and call football "footy". These fans, or bastards as I prefer to call them, know nothing about the game outwith the EPL and Champion's League. Ask them who the oldest club in the world are, or who are the only Scottish Club to win two European trophies they won't have a clue.
Look at the adverts in between the Champion's League games or Sky's "Super Sunday". Smiling goons kicking footballs around car parks loving "the beautiful game." It's crass, vacuous stuff that drives me up the wall.
Of course I am a complete hypocrite and have Sky and watch the matches. But unlike the johnny come lately's I do not think football was invented in 1992.
Football is a game you need to feel in your soul. To me that involves the tribal instincts of supporting your local club. Not driving from Buckie to Celtic Park every week, putting on a Glaswegian accent as you pass Cumbernauld and pretending you've "always been a Celticmanbyrawaybut".
Anyone for a prawn sandwich?
Tonight's music. The European Song by the Aberdeen Football Club 1983 European Cup Winner's Cup winning team. From the days when teams won trophies on talent and merit, not on who has the most money.
PS Answers to the football matches are either Notts County or Sheffield FC for the oldest club in world depending on how you define it and no doubt about the answer to the 2nd question - the mighty Aberdeen!
I hate the Champion's League. Along with the Premier League in England, it stands for all that's wrong with the game. It has whored itself out to the highest bidders on the corporate side and the so-called big clubs have turned it into a cartel where the chances of a club like Aberdeen ever winning a European Trophy again are zero. They hoard the money for themselves, excluding everyone else in the process.
The Leagues I mentioned have, along with Sky, attracted the most insufferable of supporters, who have no feeling for the history of the game, glory hunt around the most successful clubs and call football "footy". These fans, or bastards as I prefer to call them, know nothing about the game outwith the EPL and Champion's League. Ask them who the oldest club in the world are, or who are the only Scottish Club to win two European trophies they won't have a clue.
Look at the adverts in between the Champion's League games or Sky's "Super Sunday". Smiling goons kicking footballs around car parks loving "the beautiful game." It's crass, vacuous stuff that drives me up the wall.
Of course I am a complete hypocrite and have Sky and watch the matches. But unlike the johnny come lately's I do not think football was invented in 1992.
Football is a game you need to feel in your soul. To me that involves the tribal instincts of supporting your local club. Not driving from Buckie to Celtic Park every week, putting on a Glaswegian accent as you pass Cumbernauld and pretending you've "always been a Celticmanbyrawaybut".
Anyone for a prawn sandwich?
Tonight's music. The European Song by the Aberdeen Football Club 1983 European Cup Winner's Cup winning team. From the days when teams won trophies on talent and merit, not on who has the most money.
PS Answers to the football matches are either Notts County or Sheffield FC for the oldest club in world depending on how you define it and no doubt about the answer to the 2nd question - the mighty Aberdeen!
Monday, 19 October 2009
Scottish Football - A Template for Change
Hi folks. Apologies, but Blogs will be infrequent this week as we are on holiday - great weather as ever for the tattie holidays!
After Aberdeen were robbed of a deserved three points on Saturday by the maroon hammer throwers from Edinburgh I was thinking of how Scottish football could be improved.
A poster on Aberdeen Mad had a great idea which was basically for the rest of the teams in the SPL to resign and re-enter the SFL, meaning the Old Firm were left high and dry. This is an excellent idea. After this happens (!) I would suggest the following:
Reconstruct the leagues - have two leagues of 16; 32 teams in total. We are a tenth of the size of England with around a third of the teams so something has to give. I think 32 is still too much but it's a start. Play each other home and away, 30 games a season.
Promotion and relegation from Division 2. 2 teams go down to be replaced by two non-league sides. These would be the champions of a reconstructed regional non-league - North and South.
Promotion and relegation from Division 1. 2 teams relegated. Top two from Division two promoted. Third bottom on Division one, plays off against team which is third in Division two at Hampden, winner takes all.
League cup back to being a short and sweet competition at the start of the season. Straight knockout, no seeding. Final by the end of October.
Ask Fifa if we can experiment with a new points system. 4 points for an away win. 3 points for a home win. 2 points for a scoring away draw. 1 point for a home scoring draw. 1 point each for a no score draw. Extra point for a team if they score 3 or more goals, that includes in a defeat.
This should ensure more attacking football as there are plenty of incentives to score goals.
This is obviously a simple rough plan but I think there's merit in it. I remember the hoo ha when 3 points for a win came to pass, now you can't remember what it was like before it was implemented. It needs bravery from all - and that's why it will never happen.
Music tonight comes from Elton John - Tiny Dancer. It's got a pedal steel guitar in it - that's good enough for me!
After Aberdeen were robbed of a deserved three points on Saturday by the maroon hammer throwers from Edinburgh I was thinking of how Scottish football could be improved.
A poster on Aberdeen Mad had a great idea which was basically for the rest of the teams in the SPL to resign and re-enter the SFL, meaning the Old Firm were left high and dry. This is an excellent idea. After this happens (!) I would suggest the following:
Reconstruct the leagues - have two leagues of 16; 32 teams in total. We are a tenth of the size of England with around a third of the teams so something has to give. I think 32 is still too much but it's a start. Play each other home and away, 30 games a season.
Promotion and relegation from Division 2. 2 teams go down to be replaced by two non-league sides. These would be the champions of a reconstructed regional non-league - North and South.
Promotion and relegation from Division 1. 2 teams relegated. Top two from Division two promoted. Third bottom on Division one, plays off against team which is third in Division two at Hampden, winner takes all.
League cup back to being a short and sweet competition at the start of the season. Straight knockout, no seeding. Final by the end of October.
Ask Fifa if we can experiment with a new points system. 4 points for an away win. 3 points for a home win. 2 points for a scoring away draw. 1 point for a home scoring draw. 1 point each for a no score draw. Extra point for a team if they score 3 or more goals, that includes in a defeat.
This should ensure more attacking football as there are plenty of incentives to score goals.
This is obviously a simple rough plan but I think there's merit in it. I remember the hoo ha when 3 points for a win came to pass, now you can't remember what it was like before it was implemented. It needs bravery from all - and that's why it will never happen.
Music tonight comes from Elton John - Tiny Dancer. It's got a pedal steel guitar in it - that's good enough for me!
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Go Now Bigots
We've had another week of the bigot brothers from the West Coast telling the rest of Scottish Football how we hold them back and they need to move to the English Leagues to "fulfil their potential". Their mates in the (mainly) Glasgow press have enthusiastically backed them up.
Well I think I speak for the vast majority of fans of other teams in the SPL when I say, just go. Now. Leave us all in peace. We will survive very well without you. The league would be very competitive, with Aberdeen, the Dundee and Edinburgh teams all fighting for the title every season. The likes of Motherwell and Killie would also have a great chance of getting in on the act. You'd never know who was going to win the Cups, it would be wide open.
The crowds would be like the Leagues in Ireland and Wales the Glasgow press advise us. Nonsense. With a chance of winning the title the clubs I've mentioned above would get healthy crowds. Aberdeen games against Hearts and Dundee United have a healthy needle already and that's with only a European place up for grabs. Imagine if it were to win the title.
The TV money wouldn't be enough. Celtic and Rangers hoard 80% of it already. I'd be confident the SPL could negotiate a deal worth more than the 20% the other teams get just now.
We'd also get rid of the disgusting sectarian bile Celtic and Rangers specialise in. Every now and again UEFA make noises about sorting this out. The SFA do nothing. So they continue to sing their songs of hate.
My worry is that the English won't want them. And who can blame them. They saw how the Old Firm behave when Rangers "fans" trashed Manchester at the UEFA Cup Final. They won't stand for the sectarian tosh in London.
If there was a English Premier League 2 and the Old Firm had to start there, how long would it take them to get promoted into the top division? The Championship is a notoriously difficult league to get promoted from. I can't see EPL2 being any easier. A couple of seasons without promotion, no trophies and no Europe and the glory hunters would disappear like snow off a dyke. I remember the early 80's when the attendances at Ibrox hovered around 10,000.
So goodbye and good riddance Old Firm. Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.
Music today Walk on By by the Stranglers. What a cover should be - a totally different take on the original.
Well I think I speak for the vast majority of fans of other teams in the SPL when I say, just go. Now. Leave us all in peace. We will survive very well without you. The league would be very competitive, with Aberdeen, the Dundee and Edinburgh teams all fighting for the title every season. The likes of Motherwell and Killie would also have a great chance of getting in on the act. You'd never know who was going to win the Cups, it would be wide open.
The crowds would be like the Leagues in Ireland and Wales the Glasgow press advise us. Nonsense. With a chance of winning the title the clubs I've mentioned above would get healthy crowds. Aberdeen games against Hearts and Dundee United have a healthy needle already and that's with only a European place up for grabs. Imagine if it were to win the title.
The TV money wouldn't be enough. Celtic and Rangers hoard 80% of it already. I'd be confident the SPL could negotiate a deal worth more than the 20% the other teams get just now.
We'd also get rid of the disgusting sectarian bile Celtic and Rangers specialise in. Every now and again UEFA make noises about sorting this out. The SFA do nothing. So they continue to sing their songs of hate.
My worry is that the English won't want them. And who can blame them. They saw how the Old Firm behave when Rangers "fans" trashed Manchester at the UEFA Cup Final. They won't stand for the sectarian tosh in London.
If there was a English Premier League 2 and the Old Firm had to start there, how long would it take them to get promoted into the top division? The Championship is a notoriously difficult league to get promoted from. I can't see EPL2 being any easier. A couple of seasons without promotion, no trophies and no Europe and the glory hunters would disappear like snow off a dyke. I remember the early 80's when the attendances at Ibrox hovered around 10,000.
So goodbye and good riddance Old Firm. Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.
Music today Walk on By by the Stranglers. What a cover should be - a totally different take on the original.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Tartan Barmy
In case you're not aware, I'm a football fan. Not footy, soccer or the beautiful game, but a fitba fan. I've been going to Pittodrie to watch Aberdeen since the mid 1970's. The game's generally been ruined by the johnny come latelys who believe Sky invented footy (I hate that bloody word) in 1992. I'll blog about that another day, tonight's all about international football.
I find internationals a bloody nuisance. You're just getting into the domestic season and an international turns up and breaks the pattern. I have little or no interest in the Scotland international team for several reasons.
Nowadays very few Dons players get into the international side (although Miller and Langfield are with them this time, because the Old Firm players have picked up "injuries" again. Pound to a penny they are all back playing for the bigot brothers next weekend though). I really can't be arsed watching a team full of Rangers and Celtic reserves, plus some guys who play in the English lower leagues but who our esteemed Manager thinks are good players because there's loads of dosh sloshing about in what is Divisions 3 and 4 in old money.
On top of that you've got the Tartan Army themselves. Now I know guys who follow the National Team and good luck to them. But I can't get excited about wandering the world dressed like I've just jumped off the front of a shortbread tin or arrived from Brigadoon singing Doh a Deer or We'll be coming down the road. Each to their own. I'm a parochial sod and will continue to be an Aberdeenshire loon first and foremost thanks.
But the biggest reason I've little interest in international football is Ally MacLeod. Ally was Aberdeen manager when I started going to the football. Ally won the League Cup in 1976 with the Dons. The picture adorning this blog is of Drew Jarvie and Davie "the Brush" Robb celebrating said win. Ally left the Dons and became Scotland Manager. And told us we'd win the World Cup. I was 9 years old. I believed him. Along with everyone else at school we got the 1978 World Cup tops (HUGE badges thereon). My sis and I had Ally's Tartan Army t-shirts. We sat at home eagerly awaiting the first game against Peru. We lost 3-1. Iran......1-1........Holland (THAT Archie Gemmill goal) win 3-2 but we're out. That wasn't supposed to happen. It's a big deal for a 9 year old for a hero to lie to them.
And so it went on.........1982, Alan Hansen gets in the road of Willie Miller, Russia send us out. 1986, we can't beat a team who were down to 10 men after a couple of minutes.............1990 we get beat by Costa Rica..............
It's too much to bear. I can handle Aberdeen being rubbish. It's my calling in life to support my local team through thick and thin, over the past 15 years mostly very thin. But I can't double up and do the same with the international side anymore. I admire those who can. It's just not for me nowadays.
But I can't be mad with Ally anymore, rest his soul, he was an optimist, something this country doesn't have many of. He also had a personality, which, again, is a rare commodity.
So excuse me if I don't watch Scotland draw with Japan this weekend, but to those of you who do....."We'll be coming, we'll be coming, we'll be coming down the road"..................
Tonight's musical recommendation is from The Smiths. How Soon is Now? Listen to Johnny Marr's guitar on this and wonder, how in the world did he do that. The man is a genuis.
I find internationals a bloody nuisance. You're just getting into the domestic season and an international turns up and breaks the pattern. I have little or no interest in the Scotland international team for several reasons.
Nowadays very few Dons players get into the international side (although Miller and Langfield are with them this time, because the Old Firm players have picked up "injuries" again. Pound to a penny they are all back playing for the bigot brothers next weekend though). I really can't be arsed watching a team full of Rangers and Celtic reserves, plus some guys who play in the English lower leagues but who our esteemed Manager thinks are good players because there's loads of dosh sloshing about in what is Divisions 3 and 4 in old money.
On top of that you've got the Tartan Army themselves. Now I know guys who follow the National Team and good luck to them. But I can't get excited about wandering the world dressed like I've just jumped off the front of a shortbread tin or arrived from Brigadoon singing Doh a Deer or We'll be coming down the road. Each to their own. I'm a parochial sod and will continue to be an Aberdeenshire loon first and foremost thanks.
But the biggest reason I've little interest in international football is Ally MacLeod. Ally was Aberdeen manager when I started going to the football. Ally won the League Cup in 1976 with the Dons. The picture adorning this blog is of Drew Jarvie and Davie "the Brush" Robb celebrating said win. Ally left the Dons and became Scotland Manager. And told us we'd win the World Cup. I was 9 years old. I believed him. Along with everyone else at school we got the 1978 World Cup tops (HUGE badges thereon). My sis and I had Ally's Tartan Army t-shirts. We sat at home eagerly awaiting the first game against Peru. We lost 3-1. Iran......1-1........Holland (THAT Archie Gemmill goal) win 3-2 but we're out. That wasn't supposed to happen. It's a big deal for a 9 year old for a hero to lie to them.
And so it went on.........1982, Alan Hansen gets in the road of Willie Miller, Russia send us out. 1986, we can't beat a team who were down to 10 men after a couple of minutes.............1990 we get beat by Costa Rica..............
It's too much to bear. I can handle Aberdeen being rubbish. It's my calling in life to support my local team through thick and thin, over the past 15 years mostly very thin. But I can't double up and do the same with the international side anymore. I admire those who can. It's just not for me nowadays.
But I can't be mad with Ally anymore, rest his soul, he was an optimist, something this country doesn't have many of. He also had a personality, which, again, is a rare commodity.
So excuse me if I don't watch Scotland draw with Japan this weekend, but to those of you who do....."We'll be coming, we'll be coming, we'll be coming down the road"..................
Tonight's musical recommendation is from The Smiths. How Soon is Now? Listen to Johnny Marr's guitar on this and wonder, how in the world did he do that. The man is a genuis.
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