I should probably wait with this update until later today, once United and Hibs have their game out of the way, but I’ve got a spare hour in my otherwise hectic schedule, so let’s go for it.
It’s great when someone far more knowledgeable than you does you a favour and writes a cracking article about the Scottish game, saving you the hassle of having to do it. Rob Marrs over at Left Back In The Changing Room has completed his Scotland XI, sticking two fingers up at the experts – and Lorraine Kelly – over at STV. His greatest ever lineup looks like this:
Leighton, McGrain, Nicol, Hansen, McNeill, Bremner, Johnstone, Souness, Dalglish, Law, Cooper
Not sure about Cooper, and I’m not sure about Hansen either, but I can’t argue with the rest. Then again, I’ll be honest with you, I know very little about many of these players because I’ve never seen them actually play.
My first awareness of Scottish international football came on a school trip to Chester (stay with me here) somewhere around 1981, when myself and a few other classmates where chased around the famous Chester Zoo by a bunch of English kids, all wearing that horrid Admiral strip the English had in those days, because one of us was wearing a Scotland strip and they didn’t take to us belting out BA Robertson’s “We Have a Dream” (the single especially created for the occasion of Scotland’s Spain ’82 campaign) in the general direction of the elephants.
It was a trip doomed to fail – I would later be falsely accused of stealing girls underwear – but it did make me realise that being different got you noticed, and that if something could antagonise a group of people as much as the colour of your football top and the accent in which you spoke, then perhaps it was something worth investigating.
On my return to Aberdeen, I remember buying the official SFA guide to the Spain World Cup from the RS McColls on Seafield Road (now a rather dowdy petshop, but once the place where I bought my Panini stickers), that had a picture of Kenny Dalglish on the front and David Narey on the back, and which contained profiles and lineups of teams I never knew even had a football team. New Zealand, for example.
Speaking of David Narey, his famous toe-poke against Brazil, the one which only enraged one of the greatest Brazilian teams ever into thumping us 4-1, is still my favourite Scottish goal of all time, better even than Bremner’s mazy run through the Dutch defence.
Anyway, I digress.
At the time, Aberdeen where massively successful whereas the Scotland side was not, which is perhaps the reason why I lost interest in the national team, and which is probably also the reason why I have nothing to contribute to the “Greatest Scottish XI” argument. Thanks goodness for Left Back In The Changing Room then eh?
The big story of the past week has been the removal of Tony Mowbray from his job at Celtic, brought about by a heavy defeat by St Mirren which ultimately brought to an end what the Times called “a wretched, quite abysmal season, by far his club’s worst in ten years“.
With Neil Lennon now in temporary charge and beginning his time in charge with a convincing 3-1 win over Kilmarnock, there’s been no end of support for the new gaffer, most notably from club captain Scott Brown who reckons Lennon would be a ‘great choice‘ as next manager.
Of obvious concern is Lennon’s lack of managerial experience at this or indeed any level, prompting no end of speculation on a more experienced and ultimately permanent manager. Top of the list are names such as Paul Lambert and Mark Hughes. Lambert has built up a good reputation at Norwich, pushing The Canaries to a commanding 11-point lead over Leeds United in League One, but he seems unlikely to move north, preferring the riches of the Championship to the relative riches of the SPL.
Mark Hughes is another name that’s been mentioned often in the past few days. Hughes is a good manager, but he’s affa pricy and with uncertainty around Zola at West Ham continuing, he may prefer to hang on and stay in the Premiership.
Although …
Roy Keane, like his namesake and current Celtic player Robbie Keane, has never hidden his admiration for Celtic, and with his career at Ipswich on the rocks, he may well be another possibility. His managerial record, not to mention his managerial style is patchy and unorthodox, but he’s the sort of disciplinarian no nonsense hard-man that Celtic need to get themselves back into contention for next season.
Oh, by the way, did you know that Rangers are only four games away from clinching the 2009/10 SPL Title? Apparently, if the Gers beat Hamilton and Aberdeen, then they can take the title against Dundee United on the 14th April. First though, they have to get past St Johnstone, a formality no doubt for the rampaging Rangers who … oh.
Alas poor Dundee. Another defeat, this time at Dunfermline, coupled with Inverness Caley’s win against Ross County sees The Dee now four points behind Terry Butcher’s side. For a while it all seemed so promising: loads of money, a killer strike force and a great manager. Then, a few dud results against Airdrie later and suddenly you’re staring a(nother) very expensive season in the First Division full in the groin. What a gip.
S’laters!
