Aaaaah. That’s better. Football. And none of your EPL fancy-dans with their high wages and their their temperemental wayward forwards. No. Proper football. Sendings off. High winds. Goalkeeping errors. The lot. Brilliant.
Now, I don’t know which team you support dear reader, but I’ll come clean. I support Aberdeen. Say it loud, say it proud. And there was a time that such a statement could only be made with confidence in an enclosed environment, usually in a darkened room away from everyone else for fear of attracting ridicule, but after Saturday’s performance against St Johnstone there are, to quote Ian Dury, reasons to be cheerful. OK, so we didn’t win the game, but we came as near as dammit, something Aberdeen have not done a lot against the team from Perth.
A sweeping move from midfield that started with Jack, Mackie, back to Jack on to Fyvie and, ehm onto the post, could have all seen Aberdeen get off to a happy start if only Vernon at the back post had been a little more alert (or stuck a foot or his head out) when the ball came crashing back from off the upright.
But no matter. Likesay, reasons to be cheerful, because it’s not often you get to see silky sweeping football at Pittodrie, albeit with the aid of a force 9 gale blowing down from off the North Sea. Just ask Peter Enckleman, the Saints’ goalie (and famous for this #facepalm moment, but it’s not for us to dwell on the past) who repeatedly failed to deal with the filled bladder heading his way through gusty north-east skies, bending and swerving like a bending swerving thing.
Oh, and check out my boy Rickie Foster. The much-maligned captain of the Dons for this year sticking up two-fingers at the Merkland End with a couple of long-range howitzers. Nice.
So, what else happened this weekend?
Rangers‘ Ally McCoist gets off to a sticky start at home against Hearts. One full game into his tenure and already the “we back the manager” stories are appearing. We all know by now that these kinds of utterances from ex-managers and sage-like pundits are a precursor to months of crucification by the media into the competency (or not) of the person in question.
I always knew that McCoist would get his fair share of those as Rangers fall behind Celtic, but jings, didn’t think it’d come after the first game . Oh, and the stories about ‘bouncing back‘ are also somewhat early. Fair do’s to Hearts though. They refused to do the obligatory and roll over to Rangers and so spoil what ought to have been a gala day on Glasgow’s south-side. Bwhahahahahaha.
Up in Inverness Terry Butcher, just like Neil Lennon was not exactly happy with the early start to the season. Butcher thinks the whole thing is pure farcical, and goes on to demonstrate just how farcical by putting on display an inept piece of footballery and going down 3-0 to Motherwell. Celtic get their first three points on the board with an emphatic (OK, 2-0 ) win over Hibs. Former Hibee Anthony Stokes got proceedings of to a start. Do’h etc. Oh, Colin Calderwood get’s the excuses in early.
If the brief highlights I saw are anything to go by, Dundee United and Kilmarnock play out an entertaining game. A 1-1 draw leaves everyone happy.
Tonight Dunfermline and St Mirren do battle. Pfffft.
Elsewhere, we found out just how much it costs to keep the Ugly Sisters apart (£2.4m it says here) while ex-referee and total fud Hugh Dallas has obviously gotten around to watching Angels and Demons and knows now quite what the Catholic Church is capable of. He avoids the inquisition by settling out of court.
Yes, dear reader, in much the same way you shouldn’t drink and drive (
