It shows that league extensions are not unusual in Scottish Football and that far from repeatedly questioning their “sporting integrity”, Celtic FC have benefited from them more than once.

I believe this is a very important article and I wanted to ensure it has a web presence.

‘THE RANGERS HISTORIAN’ can be bought for £1.50 per copy plus p & p from, PO BOX 1872, GLASGOW G43 2WU. Cheques/P.O payable to ‘TRUE BLUE PUBLICATIONS’ All back issues are available from the same address.

You can also catch ‘The Rangers Historian’ on matchdays walking towards the Stadium from the Ibrox Underground. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The abridged article was published last season before the UEFA Cup final and before any league extension was decided.

Article Begins:

LIES, DAMNED LIES, SPORTING INTEGRITY AND LEAGUE EXTENSIONS

At the time of writing Season 2007-08 has been a long and draining campaign (both physically and mentally). On the field of play, Rangers have to date dominated both at home and in Europe. Off the field, controversy has reared its’ ugly head with a bitter dispute between (principally) Rangers and Celtic over whether the season should be extended.

Surely only in Scotland would such a debate occur – in almost every other country across the globe clubs would be actively assisted were they engaged in International competition. It is certainly also true that seldom – if ever – have relations between the two Glasgow Giants plumbed such depths as they have this season.

Sadly Rangers, although with absolute right on their side, have been losing the public relations war on this and other matters. Since the Celtic Chief Executive came away with his infamous “sporting integrity” interview, a series of black propaganda interviews and statements have permeated through both the broadcast and written media.

A few examples:

1) Celtic Manager Gordon Strachan stated that in 1982-83 Aberdeen played “something like 73 games” – in actual fact the total was just sixty. Rangers this season will play either 67 or 68 games, dependent on whether they reach the UEFA Cup final.

2) Tosh McKinlay in his column in the ‘Glasgow Evening Times’ stated that no help was offered to Celtic in 2003 en route to Seville in terms of their SPL campaign – in fact their home game with Dundee was advanced from Saturday to the previous Wednesday to give them a clear week prior to the final. Just for good measure, Dundee Manager Jim Duffy fielded what was effectively a reserve team. Celtic won 6-2, which came perilously close to turning the title race in their favour – Rangers of course were crowned champions by one goal. The bold Tosh also claimed that Celtic played as many games in 02-03 as Rangers will this season – they actually played 62.

McKinlay also stated that Dundee Utd received no extension to the season in 1986-87 when they lost to IFK Gothenburg in the UEFA Cup Final. Wrong – their last League fixture was played on Monday 11 May against Hearts. The rest of the League programme had finished the previous Saturday. United played a total of 66 games that season.

In a blatant untruth, the former Celtic full-back claimed that one of Rangers’ outstanding games was a fixture they had themselves requested be postponed prior to the Lyon game in the Champions’ League. Wrong once again – the Gretna fixture was played in January, although it should be stressed that the postponement was something your Editor was categorically opposed to.

Nevertheless, four statements opposing a league extension – and every one of them erroneous. Takes some doing Tosh…

3) The ‘Daily Record’ carried interviews with Tommy Gemmell and Bobby Lennox in which the two former players recalled playing three games in five and four days respectively at the end of Seasons 1970-71 and 73-74. Whilst this is true, what was not mentioned is that in both instances all of these games were extensions to the season AFTER the official end of the League season:

In 1970-71, the campaign officially ended on Saturday 24 April – Celtic played three games in the next week on Monday 26^th, Wednesday 28^th April and Saturday 1^st May. They required three points from these three games to clinch the title.

In 1973-74 the campaign officially ended on Saturday 27 April – Celtic, already champions, played League games after the deadline on Monday 29^th and Tuesday 30^th April together with Monday 6^th May. The games on successive days were at Celtic’s request in order that they had four clear days prior to the Scottish Cup Final on Saturday 4^th May.

Since the war, the League season was also extended in Seasons 1946-47, 47-48, 48-49, 49-50, 50-51, 51-52, 52-53, 55-56, 56-57, 57-58, 59-60, 62-63, 64-65, 65-66, 66-67, 67-68, 68-69, 71-72, 75-76, 76-77, 78-79, and 89-90.

In other words, on no fewer than 25 occasions since the war has the League season been extended to accommodate a backlog of fixtures. The relative absence of extensions from 1980 onwards can easily be explained by the introduction of undersoil heating, and the failure of Scottish clubs to progress in Europe beyond Christmas.

Indeed extensions to a season was never a contentious issue until Peter Lawwell’s “sporting integrity” comments.

In both moral rights, sporting integrity and historical precedent, Rangers were absolutely entitled to an extension to the season – it is simply not good enough that no-one at Ibrox bothered to make all of this public. One wonders exactly what ‘MediaHouse’ Public Relations Consultants (employed by the club) do for their money…?

Copyright ‘The Rangers Historian’. All Rights Reserved.

Article End.

I hope this article impressed you as much as it impressed me. It is a metaphorical sledgehammer to the “sporting integrity” nonsense spouted by Peter Lawwell. All of these facts were in the public domain, and it is astonishing that The Rangers FC did not have the will, or knowledge, to put this forward.

It is also disturbing that so many Scottish Sports Journalists either did not know the above, or worse, did know but kept it quiet. I recall after Peter Lawwell mentioned “integrity”, that four of the ‘panel’ on Radio Clyde also repeated the exact same – and uncommon – term when discussing their personal views of a possible league extension.

Amazing coincidence don’t you think?

‘THE RANGERS HISTORIAN’ can be bought for £1.50 per copy plus p & p from, PO BOX 1872, GLASGOW G43 2WU. Cheques/P.O payable to ‘TRUE BLUE PUBLICATIONS’ All back issues are available from the same address.

He can’t hold the ball up; rarely wins a ball in the air; is always on the ground looking for a free-kick and if not actually lazy, certainly comes across as such. And yet and yet. That boy can finish.

What a goal that was. It was similar to the Marco Van Basten goal in the Euro Championships all those years ago, except it was on the left and was more direct against the slight dip Van Basten gave his shot. I can’t be the only one who was slightly in shock at how wondrous a strike it was. I was expecting the ball to worry NASA, especially as it was on his left foot, yet it was possibly goal of the season.

That was the 25th minute and after such a great start it was disappointing that Thistle equalised eight minutes later.  After a nice one-two outside the Rangers box, Stephen McKeown hit a low and hard shot across Alexander that reached the net. It was a good strike, and I hope I am not being unfair to the Rangers Keeper, but I felt he could have done better. Although, as I said after the Motherwell game – I have no worries for Alexander. He is as good a number two as you can get, and he saved us late in the game from an excellent double save when Thistle were clean through.

The rest of the game, including extra time, was one that both teams dominated in spells and gave both teams plenty of chances,  but no-one was capable of getting the winner. Novo in particular had one of his off games. Nacho reminds me of the old “Billy’s Boots” comic strip. For those of you who are unaware with this work of genius (well if you were twelve it was genius), our hero Billy is a rubbish young footballer who after finding a very old pair of boots that once belonged to a professional player, he is the new Maradona. Of-course he wears the boots one week and he is superb, while the next week he conveniently forgets them or they are lost, and he plays like Novo did last night. I think Nacho is the new owner of those boots because he is either brilliant or hopeless, never in-between.

I don’t ‘t worry about Novo though. He is always liable to these games and it is no surprise. He still made plenty of chances and on another night he will score a few.  I will only  worry when he doesn’t get chances. He’ll probably score the winner at the weekend.

So, it was an exciting, if frustrating game, and 25 minutes into extra time it looked like going to penalties. Rangers have a great record in penalty kicks over the years, but you always have the feeling that run would come to an end sooner or later, and I feared the worst.

But I shouldn’t have been bothered because we had the best player in Scotland on the park, namely Mr Pedro “Walks on Water” Mendes. A nothing ball down the inside right position and two tired Jags get themselves mixed up and the ball breaks to Beasley. He flicks the ball forward and Mendes, on the right-hand corner of the box,  hits another beauty with the outside of his right peg. It is hit hard, but with a slight curl, and all is well with the world again.

To celebrate, he runs up to the Rangers fans, which I am certain prompted many Celtic fans to look up their address books for radio phone-in numbers. I give it ten minutes on either Clyde or Real Radio, for someone to say he should have been booked.

For him not to be booked is the end of existence as we know it. As Kenneth Williams said, “Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it infamy.”

In summary, a win is a win, but we really must do better.

Talking Points -

Referee – Steve Conroy had an excellent game. His Linesman made one mistake when he called for offside against Thistle when the player was in-line at the very worst. However, for the rest of the game he was hardly noticed which means he had a great match. I give refs criticism when they have a bad game so well done Mr Conroy on having a good one.

Man of the Match – This is difficult because there weren’t many good performances, but I have to give it to Steve Davis. I love the way he is always looking for the ball and always quietly at the centre of things. Keep it up wee man.

Rangers effort – I don’t think it was good enough. They have much more class than Thistle, but fight can make up for a lack of skill when you don’t give as much effort as the opposition. I don’t know if it was an off-day or Rangers were too cocky, but the first thing you have to do is match the effort of the other team, then hope your talent wins through. This should be automatic.

Kevin Thomson – Like above, I am not sure if he just had a bad game, or he wasn’t giving 100%, but he was way off the pace. He looked as if he had took a couple of valium before kick-off. Many fans say “who will drop out when Ferguson comes back?” I have said before Thomson is the man to go out, and on that shocking performance I have not changed my mind.

Thistle fans – Just there for the banter? Not quite. They spent the whole match booing, whether it was Rangers players or Rangers fans. But not just a mild back of the throat noise, but a full-chested, red-faced Booooooo. It was so bizarre I actually started laughing. If they supported their team with the same fervour as they booed Kirk Broadfoot, Nacho Novo or British people having the audacity to sing the British National Anthem, they would be the new Fenerbahce.

Kris Boyd – I touched on the enigma that is Boyd above, but as I am torn between his woeful performances and his occasional Gerd Muller-esque scoring I have decided to do a full article analysing the mystery man.  Look out for it in the next few days.

Billy’s Boots – For those who want a bit of nostalgia, or those youngsters who wanted to know what football mad kids did before Computers, here is a link to Billy’s Boots wiki. Click here.  Going the newsagents to get the ‘Shoot’, ‘Roy of the Rovers’ and the ‘Rangers News’. Those were the days!

Well fans enjoying Europe

For the second week in a row Rangers played good attacking football and created plenty of chances – especially in the the early stages of the second half -  yet had to nervously hang on for the last few minutes because they failed to kill off the opposition.

The Light Blues left the field at half-time nil-nil, when the truth is they were the only team on the park. The Rangers played a lot of clean passing football, but when the play ended up at Beasley or Boyd it invariably broke down. Simply put we had all the possession, but not as many clear chances as the dominance suggests.

The two noticeable attacks both came from Kenny Miller, who was simply outstanding. The first chance was one he created for himself. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box, back to goal. He dropped his shoulder one way and then moved the other way, in the way Michael Mols used to do to such effect. This allowed him the space for a low curler and it was only a great save from the Motherwell keeper Graeme Smith that kept the ball from entering inside the left hand post.

This was in the 32nd minute but he had another opportunity a few minutes later when Kris Boyd played a nice pass through to give him a one-on-one opportunity with Smith, but he managed to knock it past. It should have been scored, but to be fair he didn’t have much time and had to hit it fast before the Keeper was all over him.

The closest Motherwell got to a goal was when Neil Alexander, in goal for the dropped Alan McGregor, kicked a ball against the back of a Motherwell attacker which for a moment in the stands looked goal bound, but in reality was going twenty yards wide if Alexander didn’t re-collect.

From the second kick off, The Rangers, although having the same amount of possession, looked far more dangerous. Mendes and Miller linked up particularly well and both of them were involved with everything good Rangers did.

For the first goal,  it was Miller who played a good pass to Davis ensuring he was clean through. As a football fan you will know the feeling of a player through on the Goalkeeper and whether you really believe he will tuck it away or not. With Davis, I just knew he would score and he duly did, confidently side-footing the ball past Smith’s left side. It was fitting that an Ulsterman scored on the unofficial Ulster day.

Rangers kept plugging away and Miller should have had his first Ibrox goal. He attempted to play a one-two with Boyd inside the box that would have almost certainly ensured a Miller goal if he received it back, but to the dismay of the Stadium, Boyd decided to try a fancy flick behind him that came to nothing.

For the second, it was that man Miller again who, on the 76th minute, received the ball from Davis on the right and played an intelligent low cross over the six yard box, with Nacho Novo bundling it over the line.

It seemed we were on easy street, but for the second consecutive week, we stopped playing the attacking football that was pinning Motherwell back in their own half. Standing off the ball, we allowed the Steelmen to get back into the game. And get back into the game they did, hitting the post and then scoring in the 87th minute through David Clarkson. Motherwell are too good a team to just stand back and watch and we need to learn that the best form of defence is attack. A cliche for sure, but also the truth.

At the end there was always the feeling that the Well would nick that equaliser, but the football gods decided they didn’t deserve it and we got through unscathed. Another victory and another three points.

All’s well that ends ‘Well.

Talking Points -

Man of the Match – Undoubtedly Steve Davis had a great match, but I have to pick Kenny Miller. He still can’t shoot fish in a barrel but his creative play was excellent. It was as good a performance from a striker (without actually scoring) as I can remember. I was desperate to see him score, and he was unlucky a few times, but his build-up play was superb and if you were guaranteed that performance every week – even without any goals – you would still play him because others would still score from his creativity.

Kris Boyd – As good as Kenny Miller’s game was, Boyd’s was as bad. A truly, truly shocking performance. He spends most of the game on the ground, is always on the back foot and is woeful in any build-up play. There were lot’s of really clever play by Miller and Mendes that broke down because Boyd received the ball. I know there are Boyd fans out there, although no-one around me at Ibrox seems to be, but I just don’t think he is good enough. I will be astonished if he starts next week.

DaMarcus Beasley – Does nothing. He doesn’t beat a man and seems to hide. As I said last week, how he gets a game before Novo should be in the next ‘X Files’ film.

Walter Smith – I loved the way he made sure the hopeless (and that is me being generous) Eddie Smith came over so he could give him a few choice words. This was after a brutal challenge on Mendes where the Ref astonishingly played on instead of giving the free-kick, then instead of playing on as he first decided, waited 30 seconds to stop the game and then give a bounce-up. Do one or the other – but to do neither does not show competence.

Allan McGregor being dropped – I can only guess that Walter Smith wants to give him a kick up the erse. A fright will do him no harm. He is still our number one, but he has to cut out the silly mistakes. I have no worries about Alexander. As good a number two as you can get and inspires confidence. Had a few good saves today and will not let us down.

Steve Davis – As I said above, an excellent performance from the wee man. He is always involved; always looking for the ball and can create as well as tackle. His finish was also taken so well it looked easy. When a footballer makes the game look easy, you know he is good.

Rangers Fans – Quieter than last week, but still got behind the team when it was needed and did not panic when it was 0-0 so late into the game. Still Simply the Best.

Credit – Photo by Michelle Fouineur under Creative Commons Licence

One member of his congregation, who wishes to remain nameless because we all know he is made up, has said he believes there is no malicious intent to this. However, he did point out he wore blue socks at the time, which is an extraordinary coincidence.

On a serious note,  how long before the Sunday Mail write something like this? In a time when we are all trying to seriously deal with sectarianism, we have a national newspaper making or receiving a video of a Church Service and publishing that he sang a Tina Turner song to his congregation IN PRAISE OF GOD, doing their best (no pun intended) to turn it into something it is not.

click here for the full article and video

How low can we go? Really, these are the same people who lecture us all, doing something that even the most rabid Rangers and Celtic fan would not do. What truly scares me is that this happened months ago, and yet they wait to today to publish this innuendo when he is refereeing……a Celtic game.

I am genuinely scared at the level of intellect and intent, that would publish a video of a  Church Service and then make a front page story out of it. I urge you all to look at the video below. If you are anything but bored at the utter banality of it all, there is something wrong with you.

I am not going to say any more because you can either see what is happening here or you can’t. However, I make one plea. Whether you are a Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist or other, that you look past any petty rivalry and ask yourself why a national newspaper would put on their front page a man who says to his congregation this:

“And we’re going to tell Jesus we think he’s simply the best.”

What is their motivation? What is being implied? Why wait months until he is refereeing a Celtic game that very morning? Is this good journalism? Is this responsible journalism?

The Bank of Scotland is under threat; there is a massive terrorist attack in Pakistan; there is a current Food Crisis in Ethiopia and Somalia, but here is the main story of the day:

It is those who have some influence among others yet hide behind false civility, using it as a shield to let out innuendo and hidden meanings, that always cause the most damage.

With this in mind I would like to call on Rangers to open up the debate and for everyone to say what they think is the problem. Rangers have nothing to fear from such a process. Anything, rightly or wrongly, that Rangers have been attacked for is gleefully used by those supposedly neutral against us anyway. We have nothing to hide.

After Martin Bain’s unexpected, but welcome, message that Rangers FC are quite happy to fight to end any form of sectarianism, but would like the zero tolerance message to be implemented fully for all football fans, and not just those who wear Rangers colours, he could do worse than take the initiative. It would be in Rangers benefit to do so.

As I have said before zero tolerance for sectarianism should be for all (click here). If we really want it to end then go for it. However, it is noticeable that in some quarters this has not gone down too well. For some it seems zero tolerance of sectarianism does not really mean zero tolerance, but a stick to beat Rangers with. Until, that is, it gets too close to home then it is just a laugh or tit-for-tat.

In any case, debating in the open, whether for Rangers benefit or not, is always the right thing. I no more want some innocent lad who supports Celtic to get hurt because he supports a football team, than many Celtic fans would want an innocent Rangers fan to get hurt. If we can stop the “youse are worser” argument, we will stop the looneys who use it as a crutch to lean on.

It’s time for some maturity and honest discussion. I’m sure we can all handle it. The worst comes to the worst we can always blame the Aberdeen fans anyway!

(Only joking).

Can you just imagine Real Madrid buying Ronaldo then worrying that they don’t have a Paul Hartley to make him look good? It’s crazy talk.

In any case, it’s great news to read on the Rangers website that after his successful ankle operation he has resumed training and is looking to be back playing in a month. (You can read the article here).

He will have witnessed the lovely passing football that Rangers have been playing and he will be desperate to get that blue jersey on again. In fact he admits he is “hungry” to get back playing and that can’t be anything but music to every Rangers fan’s ears.

It will be like signing a new player and I for one can’t wait to see a Rangers midfield with Mendes and Ferguson in the centre.

The only problem – and it is a good problem – is who to drop? I would ideally pick Ferguson, Mendes, Davis and Novo, but I am open to suggestions. What would your midfield be when the Rangers Captain returns?

Credit: Photo by Luligaia

“Clearly some supporters feel aggrieved that a song they believe to be no more than a tit for tat ‘wind up’ of Celtic supporters should be singled out in this way and merit the attention of police, governments and anti-racism organisations. In recent times, the absence of sanction or attention directed at any other club supports the contention that this is very much a one-way street. This is despite the best efforts of this Club to highlight such issues in constructive discussion with the relevant authorities.

The Club shares supporters’ frustration that offensive and wholly unacceptable songs such as those ‘celebrating’ the Ibrox disasters or inciting death threats to our players are sung by supporters of other clubs on a regular basis with little or no comment or reprimand from any quarter.

The Club also believes that the issue of unacceptable conduct and anti-social behaviour at football matches has at times been used by individuals or groups to pursue their own agendas and there have been instances of this in the recent past.”

Click here for the full article.

I have been saying this for a while. See my article for RangersMedia:

Rangers, Sectarianism and Hypocrisy (click here)

and also on this site under:

Raith Rovers to investigate Sectarian Chanting (click here)

It is not zero-tolerance that people want. It’s victory for their own point of view.

• Calling someone an Orange B*stard is a laugh – Calling someone a Fenian B’stard is a crime.
• Singing about the IRA is culture – Singing about the UVF is a crime.
• Singing about the British to go home is political – Singing about the Irish to go home is a crime.

and so on.

Very few people want all of the above to stop. They just want the other side to stop. Well, it all has to stop and it’s time for the Media, Scottish Government, Churches, SFA, SPL and fans to demand that it all stops, not just the views they don’t personally like.

There should be no more pretence. It is time for Rangers fans like you to stand up and demand Zero Tolerance for all sectarian behaviour wherever it is found, and not just for those who wear blue.

Let us now see how many of the Sectarian Crusaders really want bigotry to end. Well zero tolerance is what they want…isn’t it?

Rangers started where they left off at Celtic Park by playing the same passing and moving football and it was only a moment of madness at the back that allowed Kilmarnock to go one up. In the ninth minute, the ball was lobbed over the heads of the Rangers defence and the Rangers Keeper was slow to react. He allowed the ball to come at him rather than go towards it, and after the bounce – even though he could use both hands – astonishingly lost out on a fifty-fifty high ball with Frazer Wright. The Kilmarnock player knocked it over McGregor then turned and scrambled it home.

The Killie fans went understandably wild and after a few moments of silence, the roar coming from the Rangers fans showed they knew this one was a game we just had to win. Rangers continued to push forward in the first half and had their chances. Most notably, a wonderful save from Alan Combe at point-blank range from Boyd and another when Beasley was through after a lovely slide-rule from Edu. Unfortunately, the Rangers winger failed to do anything with it, even though he had enough time to stop, make a cup of tea and then slot it home.

So Rangers were one-down at half-time, and although there was no panic at Ibrox, there was a sense of frustration that Rangers totally controlled a match they were losing. Beasley had a very poor first half, and it was no surprise that he was replaced on the forty-five minute mark by Nacho Novo. He very rarely, if ever, made it to the byeline to knock over a cross, preferring to fall down every time he was touched. This is not so much a criticism of diving than an acknowledgement that he is incredibly lightweight for the SPL and he can be pushed over rather easily. I don’t rate him at all and Novo is twice the player Beasley is. It is no coincidence Rangers were much more incisive in the second half.

And it was that man Novo who gained the penalty in the fifty-seventh minute to put the teddy-bears level. The little Spaniard was effectively wrestled down by the Kilmarnock defence and even the referee could do nothing other than give a penalty. The Kilmarnock players did everything they could to put Boyd off. Alan Combe was particularly guilty, by first standing on the edge of the penalty box refusing to go into his goalmouth, then walked towards the already placed ball, picked it up and then threw it down again right in front of the ref Calum Murray. I don’t blame the Kilmarnock players for trying to put Boyd off his game, but how is it possible for a player to do all this inches from the referee without being booked? It summed up the atrocious refereeing throughout the match, where he was never really in control.

Of-course Boyd slotted the ball home, and only four minutes later got the winner after hitting a ball on the turn past the raging Kilmarnock Keeper. From then on, Rangers went into their shell attempting to defend the lead instead of just blowing Kilmarnock away with their stylish attacking football and were nearly punished when the impressive Papac was forced to clear the ball off the line. Rangers too went close a few times, especially in a four versus two situation when Charlie Adam should have scored, although to be fair he brought out an excellent save from Combe again.

Overall, a continuation of our win over Celtic. Some nice football was played and it’s always good to see your team win after going one-down. As Jock Wallace might have said it shows character.

Make no mistake – this Rangers team is the real deal.

Talking Points -

Referee Calum Murray – I am not one of those people who believe any Scottish Referees are in any way biased. They are not, they are just hopeless. I thought Calum Murray was one of our fitter refs but he seemed way off the pace throughout the match, turning down a Rangers penalty claim while half-way down the field. He never gave Rangers any fifty-fifty decisions and he seemed not to understand the advantage rule, preferring to blow the whistle immediately, instead of waiting a split-second to see if any advantage was gained.

Maurice Edu – The Rangers fans I spoke to seemed split on how good or bad he played today. However, most agreed he was nervous. I thought he played quite well, and I liked that he seemed eager for the ball. He made some nice passes, but also some poor ones too, so the jury is still out. One thing that does seem clear – he is not a bruiser. He likes to play football and that can’t be bad.

Kris Boyd – Another player who splits the support. I’m afraid I am not a fan of his. His workrate and touch is very poor and I don’t think in big games that he is good enough. Take away his penalty goals from his scoring to games ratio, and it may surprise you. However, I can totally understand those who think they can’t do without him as a goalscorer. He certainly did the business today and lets hope for more of it.

Sasa Papac – My Man of the Match. Apart from a poor couple of passes very early in the second half, he was simply outstanding both in defence and attack. I can’t say enough about this guy. He very rarely lets Rangers down because he sticks to doing the simple things effectively. He is no Arthur Numan, but he doesn’t attempt to be and that is his strength. He has made the left-back slot his own.

Nacho Novo – I don’t know why Walter Smith likes to pick Beasley in front of Novo. Even when Novo has one of his off-days he still looks for the ball and creates chances and opportunities with his excellent runs on and off the ball. Beasley isn’t half the player wee Novo is and he should get a game more regularly.

Rangers fans – At times you could feel the excitement and passion pulsing through Ibrox. The crowd got behind the team and helped push for the much-needed goals. We know this team can be Champions and it was great to see and hear the fans doing their bit. Simply the Best.

(Photo by Superleague Formula: thebeautifulrace)

So, it was with a little trepidation that I saw Scotland’s game in Reykjavik. I had hoped that the Scotland players did not underestimate the Icelanders, especially with the talented Eidur Gudjohnsen in the team. But, looking back I need not have worried. In the first half Iceland were bad. Really bad. So bad in fact, that Scott Brown looked like a good player. 

But it wasn’t the Celtic player that broke the deadlock in the 18th minute. That was left to the big Rangers man, Kirk ‘Zico’ Broadfoot, on his international debut to put the ball in the net. It all came from a good corner from Barry Robson (also known as Zico, but I think he stole it from Kirk) and the big Ranger’ was more determined than anyone to get to the ball. He duly did and scored to wild Tartan celebrations.

This was the score at half-time, and although Iceland came back much stronger in the second-half, this partial come-back was helped by Scotland dropping the pace. There weren’t really any clear cut chances to worry about, although Kristjan Sigurdsson came close with a bizarre looping effort that Craig Gordon happily parried over the bar.

It was that man Kristjan Sigurdsson who was involved for the second goal of the match, but this time he was doing damage in his own box. He clumsily hacked down the Tartan Army’s wonder-boy James McFadden and it was McFadden himself who took the spot kick. The keeper saved it, but luckily for the Dark Blues, there was three Scots on the rebound with McFadden getting the final touch.

Sixty minutes gone and two-nil to Scotland. Easy-peasy? Well not quite. With little more than fifteen minutes to go, a good cross on the left for Iceland puts the ball into the back post for an Icelander to attack. The big Scotland Captain, Stephen ‘Mick’ McManus had a moment of madness when he tried to attempt a cross between Maradona’s ‘hand of god’ and Superman. The result of this folly was that Iceland received a penalty and McManus gets sent off. I have said before – I think McManus is a good Centre-Half and I like his aggression, but sometimes he has rushes of blood to the head. I hope he learns from this mistake and… on second thoughts, let’s hope not.  

Anyway, Eidur Gudjohnsen duly slotted the ball home, and it’s suddenly squeaky-bum time, knowing Scotland have to do it the hard way…again. But, they hung on and Scotland get the three points we craved so badly. It’s a reprieve for Burley and the Scotland team as a whole. We live to fight another day, and with so many teams of roughly equal quality in this section – anything can happen. It’s going to be a long journey but you never know. You just might get to see Scotland in a World Cup finals again. 

Other results of note tonight:

Croatia 1-4 England. Walcott gets a hat-trick and England become the first country to beat the Croats on their home turf. 

Northern Ireland 0-0 Czech Republic

Russia 2-1 Wales

FYR Macedonia 1-2 Netherlands. 

Switzerland 1-2 Luxembourg. I hope the Swiss coach gets a good pay-off because that is a shocker. Update – The new Swiss coach is the great Ottmar Hitzfeld, so he will survive. It does show though, that good organisation can go a long way nowadays.

In the Sunday Mail today Gordon Waddell says:

“Again no-one deserves to feel their family is under threat. As I said in May the song the Celtic fans sing about him dying via a bullet from the IRA should be highlighted far more for the disgrace it is.

But why was he wrestling security to throw his shirt into the crowd after a game where he’d played for 12 minutes and contributed zero? And that’s without even touching the stories of him spitting towards fans as he got off the team bus.”

For the full article click here.

Stories? Can you believe a supposedly reputable journalist gives credence to “stories”? Do you see what he did there? He is not saying these stories are factual because then he would have to show facts. He is using this method as a shield because it means he can always say the “stories” are not his. The unenlightened reader will not see this nuance and take these “stories” as factual. It is the worst of the worst form of gutter journalism.

As for his accusation that Novo was “wrestling security”, I will not say much. The video of Novo “wrestling security” is here for you to see and it speaks for itself.

UPDATE – This is another YouTube video from a different angle. It shows even better that nothing happened. Thanks to reader D Elliott for pointing this out.