Archive for April, 2010

Scottish Professional Football Re-structuring for Dummies

Football | Posted by youngy
Apr 27 2010

Hi folks.

Why not stop blaming smaller clubs and make our "big teams" fight harder for Euro places
I would love to tell you that I have been thinking long and hard about the current plight of Scottish football. I would love to have been able to go on foreign trips and interview people from clubs in Scotland in the way that Henry McLeish has been able to do in order to publish his first, grass roots, report on our game.

But I didn’t think long and hard and I haven’t been in the privileged position of former first minister McLeish.

What I HAVE done, is take, oh…half an hour? (give or take) out of my day to come up with a plan that can fix (the professional level at least) Scottish football. To my mind, we don’t NEED “think tanks”. We more than likely don’t need £500 million from the public sector put into the game either. Let the CLUBS put something back in to the game!

We constantly fail miserably in Europe, yet we place our dropping Euro co-efficient on the fact that sometimes a Gretna, a Raith or even a Falkirk can get Euro places. Why not stop blaming smaller clubs and make our “big teams” fight harder for Euro places….and, by a natural follow-on, drag THEIR European performances up to where they believe they should be?

So, here it is! Youngy’s blue-print for the future of Scottish football.

  1. Take 42 clubs from the current 4 Scottish professional leagues.
  2. Split those clubs into 2 leagues. One, we’ll call this Division 1 for the time being (PR people can think of their own super-duper fancy name once it’s ready to go), containing 20 teams. The other, we’ll call this one Division 2 for the time being (sneaky eh?), will contain 22 teams.
  3. Teams in Division 1 will play each other twice a season and will, therefore, play 38 league games per season – so the same number as they currently do then.
  4. Teams in Division 2 will also play each other twice a season and will, therefore play 42 league games per season. The “extra” games over their current league campaigns can be easily swallowed up by the scrapping of the Challenge Cup, which can go off to live in the Scottish football museum at Hampden.
  5. The bottom 3 clubs in Division 1 will swap places with the top 3 clubs in Division 2 at the end of the league campaign.
  6. If minimum spectator seating requirements are put in place in Division 1, then teams will be given time, whilst playing in the top tier, to bring their grounds up to that level. Initially a three year period will be agreed upon at the start of the new league structure. After the first three years of the new structure being in place, any club gaining promotion to Division 1 will be given a period of one year to bring their grounds up to standard. Failure to do so would see them drop back down to Division 2 and the team which finished 4th in that league would be invited to step up in that particular season.
  7. BOTH national cup competitions will automatically earn a place in the following season’s European competition. If the winner of a cup competition earns a European spot through their league campaign, the European “cup” place will then go to the runner-up in that competition…EVERY SEASON. There will be no scrapping of a cup-earned European place simply because a “diddy” team managed to sneak through to the final. This will cause clubs to place as much importance on cup competitions as leagues and will, in turn, create better, more enjoyable cup matches which will, hopefully, entice supporters back into the game.
  8. League qualification will be determined by a) league placing and b) how many Euro spots UEFA have awarded to Scotland as a nation (after the two cup places have been subtracted). If we, as a nation, want more European spots for our “league efforts” then our clubs are just going to have to get their collective fingers out and perform better on the European stage, which will have the effect of raising the country’s co-efficient (not to mention earning those clubs more money due to longer runs in Europe).
  9. To save things from becoming stagnant in the lower reaches of Division 2, I propose a very simple system. There is simply no need for a complicated “pyramid” structure. All that will require to be done is a simple play-off competition at the end of the Scottish season. All of the teams which finished at the top of their particular amateur/junior/highland league systems will be invited to play in a cup-style competition against each other. The eventual winner of that contest will then be invited to take the place of the club which finishes in last place in Division 2. The bottom team in Division 2 will then be “demoted” into their local amateur/junior/highland league. This will avoid the scenario where teams, such as East Fife in the past, consistently finish at the bottom of the “pro” leagues, yet faced no penalty for doing so.
  10. The SPL, as a governing body, will either be dissolved or incorporated back into the SFL. Preferably BOTH of these organisations would be forced to become departments of the SFA rather than separate entities.
  11. Referees will become “professional” and refereeing performance will be monitored and poor displays censured by an independent body in order to raise the standards of officiating in Scotland.

See…..SIMPLE!!!

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Dizzy, my head is spinning….

Football, Hearts, Life | Posted by youngy
Apr 22 2010

STOP! Please, just stop!

Everyday this week, I have thought “Right, what should the blog be about this week?” and every damn day, something new has popped up to cause me to have a re-think. I mean, seriously. What the hell is going on? Some weeks you can almost hear Scottish sports journalists sitting at their desks almost praying for a story, any story, to come along. Not these week though. This week they have been having to beat stories off with a big stick.

So, where to begin?

Hibernian's very own Billy Bragg look-a-like

I know. I’ll start off at my favourite “comedy palace”. Easter Road, Edinburgh (well Lochend really) and the crazy decision that saw Hibernian FC fine Derek Riordan for…erm…well…for the heinous crime of…telling the truth!!

A quick Google search showed that the young, full of potential Riordan has only ever been fined by Hibs once for all of his “off-field” nonsense (club bans etc) – it may be more but as I say, it was only a quick Google. Yet, he dares to utter that the playing surface at Easter Road is well below the standard that it should be and, quick as a flash, he has been carpeted by Messrs Petrie and Hughes and fined. Now he has – quite rightly in my opinion – gone running off to Fraser Wishart and the lads down at the players’ union.

And to top it all off, the club have said that it is a private matter, between the club and the player. Strange that this is the same club who quite happily announced that they had fined him AND Darren McCormack for their off-field troubles. But taking cash off a player for telling the truth whilst being interviewed as a club representative is all a big secret.

Whilst I am on the subject of Hibs and their new love of fining people. Can anybody explain to me why John Hughes hasn’t been hit by one, or more, of these “tarnishing the club’s reputation” fines? Every week he seems to trot out the old “biggest games”…”need to show fight” comments, and every week since Christmas, his “troops” are found seriously wanting in the “fight” department and show nothing to say that they realise just how big those “biggest games” are. Then, he can be relied upon to spout more of the same tired old drivel after the game.

...except for the fact that St Mirren got mugged for 2 points in Perth....good enough for them!!
Just have a look on Hibs forums and you will see them taking bets before the final whistle in their games as to exactly which quotes old Bingo will wheel out in his post match interview. “lads have been brilliant”…”been great in training”…”cannae defend like that” etc etc etc.

In fact, don’t fine him….I say extend his contract!!!

So, all the Deek’s has been fined stuff broke just before the weekend and then they went and, fairly predictably, put up a better display against Celtic than they have shown for weeks (by the way, I know why…but nobody seems to want to take my views on board about it. oh, well)…..but ultimately lost 3-2 after still being 1-2 up with 10 minutes to go. Neil Lennon is a hero, once more and will almost certainly get the manager’s job full-time…well except for the fact that everybody and his brother have been linked with the job this week, including none other than ex Hibs boss John Collins.

Later that same day, my favourite sports journalist, Chick Young, was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, as Aberdeen defeated Falkirk to all but secure their immediate future in the SPL. After all, Chick no longer needs to take a dip in the North Sea on mid-winter’s day.

There were some other games too…but they all concerned the bottom 6 and had very little to do with me…so I can’t even be bothered to comment on them. Well except for the fact that St Mirren got mugged for 2 points in Perth….good enough for them!!

Due to the fact that Celtic had won on Saturday, my beloved Jambos couldn’t suffer the indignity of seeing Rangers presented with the SPL trophy at Ibrox. Unfortunately the boys in maroon ran out of steam and ideas in the second half and were beaten 2-0 by a very professional Rangers side.

In fact, steam and ideas probably had very little to do with it. Once more it was glaringly obvious to anyone watching that Hearts don’t exactly have their troubles to seek in the final third of the pitch. We were, to be brutally honest, toothless! Completely and utterly toothless.

Funnily enough though, I still think that we may be able to catch Hibs and, possibly Motherwell too, in the race for European places. Than all that remains is the close season and our wait to see if “Jim’ll Fix It”.

So, all the football was done for another weekend, all the journalists thought it was going to be a nice easy week. After all…most of the major stuff had been sorted out right? Rangers will more than likely gain the one point they need to secure the SPL title at Easter Road on Sunday, Inverness could only be caught now if they had an even bigger collapse than the one already suffered by Dundee since Christmas and, well do they ever care about much else?

But, hey. Who am I kidding? The "committee" are never going to allow that sort of thing, are they?
Well, yes, they do. Or, at least they had to, because Gordon Smith, old Smudger, old “and Smith must score” went and chucked his job as Chief Executive of the SFA. No aparent scandal, no rumours before hand, just a quick announcement from Hampden to say that he had gone.

So did he jump or was he pushed? Ah, intrigue and mystery within Scottish football….erm…NO! Does anybody actually care that he has gone? What the hell did he actually DO anyway?

He banned Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor from the Scotland side for life!….And then he didn’t. After all, we had a new manager and that’s what he meant all along wasn’t it?

He was forward thinking and dragged us into the 21st century by introducing video replays and goal-line technology!…Aye, right then.

He sorted out those nasty wee diving cheats out of all levels of Scottish league football!…Except that the first thing he tried (against Livingston’s Robbie Winters) got thrown out and Winters got cleared.

He has left such a trail of “nearly dids” and u-turns behind him that I’m not fully convinced that he has actually gone yet.

And what exactly does the SFA, a body run by committee, need a Chief Executive for anyway? Other than the obvious fact that Gordon Smith and all before him in that position were nothing but scapegoats. Patsies. There, simply, to take the fall and prevent the true, blazer wearing power brokers in our game from being hunted out of town whenever any brown stuff comes within touching distance of fast moving blades.

Hopefully Henry McLeish’s up-coming report on the state of the game in Scotland will have some pretty scathing and far reaching recommendations that will see the old order driven out of their ivory towers and packed off to some retirement community somewhere. But, hey. Who am I kidding? The “committee” are never going to allow that sort of thing, are they?

Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Back where the highlands NEEDS them.

And for my final word, this week. I would like to send my sincerest congratulations out to any and all connected with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Terry Butcher and his team have done a wonderful job in getting them back into the top flight at the first time of asking after, what can only be described as, a very sticky start to the season.

Well done lads, and ….WELCOME BACK!!!

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When you wish upon a star

Football, Hearts, Life, View from Gorgie | Posted by youngy
Apr 13 2010

Sometimes they come true….and sometimes they don’t. At the end of the day, it all comes down to luck. Right?

THEY taught Celtic the footballing lesson...and there were THOUSANDS of Ross-shire kids there to witness it
Well, actually, no I don’t think that it does really. Of all the things things I was hoping for in my last blog post, only 50% of them actually came to fruition, but NONE of them had anything to do with luck.

My first wish – Tiger Woods won’t come straight back and win the Masters. Wish granted, but was it luck? No! It was the skill, determination and sometimes absolute balls of steel shown by Phil Mickelson and, to a slightly lesser degree, Lee Westwood and Anthony Kim that stopped Woods from being able to beat his chest and crow about how much the golfing world had missed him.

Second up – I wished that there would be a power failure at Aintree which would cause panic in bookies the length and breadth of the country. It didn’t happen. Bad luck? No! Just the cause of living in a developed country with a fairly solid power supply infrastructure I suppose. And at the same time, I don’t really grudge people being interested in the National….It’s just that I don’t really care about it one way or the other.

Third in line – Ross County would overcome Celtic to make it to their first ever Scottish Cup final. Now, THIS one I really would like to be able to take some kind of “magical mojo” credit for but, despite Ross County yet again causing me to threaten my larynx with some real damage, it had absolutely nothing to do with either my wishes nor my being at the game. Ross County’s win was down to the simple, age old factor of an abundance of skill, fitness, an understanding of the manager’s tactics and, above all of that, a passion for the game that, quite literally, left me and thousands of other football fans breathless.

I take my hat of to each and every member of the Ross County squad and management and hope to be back in Glasgow to cheer them on in the final.

Which takes me to my fourth wish – That Raith Rovers would be able to complete the “first division double” and defeat Dundee United to join the Staggies in that May 15 showpiece. Unfortunately they could not manage to do that. Again though it had nothing to do with luck, good or bad. They quite simply came up against a Dundee United side who, at this moment in time, seem to be more than a match for any side in the country.

Unlucky lads. I wish you all the best in what is a horrible, horrible run in to the end of your season.

Now, on to the rest of the wacky weekend’s football action.

Hearts made it over the line to finish in the top 6 with a one-nil victory over Kilmarnock. After the game, manager Jim Jefferies stated that where the team had been looking behind them for the last few weeks, they now have no real option than to start aiming for those teams above them. Namely Motherwell, who had a week off due to the cup semi-finals, and Hibernian.

What can I possibly say about the season that Hibs are having this year? It would seem to be less of a “roller coaster” and more like a side view of Mount Everest. They shot out of the SPL starting blocks like an absolute rocket…peaked, right around the same time that John Hughes claimed to have “splitting the Old Firm” in his sights and have since plummeted at a rate not seen since Richard Branson’s balloon escapades came a cropper. Oh, I almost forgot…the Hibees were on the receiving end of yet another 4-1 thumping. This time at the hands of Hamilton Accies.

In England too, there was a cup surprise. Portsmouth, poor old skint, relegated, hopless Pompey put Tottenham, and their old boss Harry Redknap out at the semi final stage. Chelsea took another step closer to a possible league and cup double by breezing past Astom Villa three-nil…yawn!

I have no love for St Mirren, far from it, I couldn't care less if they go down but things do seem to be, almost deliberately, being tipped against them
The “post split” SPL fixtures have also been confirmed. And now Motherwell, St Mirren and Rangers all not happy about the “lot” that they have been handed. Motherwell are reportedly even going as far as making an official complaint and attempting to challenge the fixtures.

And “Good on them” say I….well no, actually I don’t say that at all. Where, exactly have these whingeing buggers been all the rest of the years that “the split” has been in place? Where were Motherwell – who’s complaint revolves around them being forced to play Celtic in Glasgow for the third time – when Hearts had to go to Ibrox three times in one season only last season? Or where were Rangers at that same time? Apparently THEIR annoyance stems from them having to play away from home three times in ten days….presumably AFTER they have possibly/probably wrapped up the bloody title anyway!

The only argument that I have any sympathy in all of this is St Mirren’s. Last weekend’s results saw them dragged DEEP into a relegation battle and they are being forced to play Falkirk – one of the main rivals in that fight – for a third time at Falkirk’s home ground. That in my opinion is scandalous. I have no love for St Mirren, far from it, I couldn’t care less if they go down but things do seem to be, almost deliberately, being tipped against them.

Right, I want to take you back now to what, no matter what anybody else may say in the future, was and will remain a fantastic piece of Scottish footballing history. The first of those Scottish Cup semi-finals. The one which took place between Celtic and Ross County.

You may think that you are about to read a grovelling, worshipping tale of just how fantastic poor little, lowly Ross County were but you’d be wrong.

Yes, the sun was out. Yes, the Ross County did themselves, their club, their fans, Dingwall and the highlands as a whole proud. Yes, the fact that it was Celtic who were defeated made the day even better and funnier.

 Is it going to be a whole load of grousing about how the poor people of the Highlands had to set off at the crack of dawn for a lunchtime fixture in Glasgow then? It could very well have been…but it isn’t.

No. What I am about to write about is the one thing that, even though the day was fantastic, managed to stick right in my craw! Namely two-tone, two-team scarves at domestic football matches.

The scarves that threw Morton fans into a rage

The scarf pictured managed to cause the fans of Greenock Morton to have an absolute hissy fit when they’re local sports shop started selling them in the run up to their Scottish Cup clash with Celtic in January. And quite right too!!!

These scarves have no place in domestic football, plain and simple! As a little marketing gimmick for teams lucky enough to compete in European competition I can understand them. But NOT for a competitive match between two clubs from the same country. Not EVER!

The usual Glasgow “character” street peddlers were out in force on Saturday selling the usual mix of flags and scarves – as is there prerogative – and I have no axe to grind with that. But these two-team pieces of crap really get my goat.

Why? Simple. Do you think for one second that ANY Celtic fan purchased a Celtic/Ross County scarf at Hampden on Saturday? Do you think for one second that any Celtic fan bought a Celtic/Morton scarf in January?

No? Thought not!

These things are produced, to my mind, for one reason and one reason alone. To perpetuate the same old, constant drain on the possible supporter base of every other club in Scotland to the benefit of the “Big Two” in Glasgow.

i.e A mother or Father comes down from Dingwall and buys little Johnny a two-tone scarf for their big, wide-eyed day in the sun that, hey, they don’t really deserve but what fun it will be to be in the big smoke for a day…Celtic (on another occasion it will be the other lot I assure you) quite correctly see off these “plucky” little blighters from the lower leagues and teach them a lesson in how football should be played….little Johnny returns “up the road” and sits thinking “Wow, if only MY team were as good as Celtic. In fact, I might as well start supporting them so that I have a chance of seeing my team getting a bit of success”.

It’s been going on for generations…and it has to stop!! Ross County went about doing THEIR bit to stop it. THEY taught Celtic the footballing lesson…and there were THOUSANDS of Ross-shire kids there to witness it. Kids who previous to the game probably considered County as their “second” team. Not any more!! This time it backfired, thankfully, and all those scarves will do is serve as a reminder of one of THEIR team’s greatest triumphs.

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First footers

Football, Life | Posted by youngy
Apr 08 2010

So, the weekend is almost upon us. I suppose, in a sporting sense, you could say that it starts today.

Perfect outcome for me???? TWO giant killing acts and an all first division final!!
Apparently the whole world will be glued to their television sets sometime between 6 and 7 pm BST this evening to witness the man who is, currently, the most famous cheating husband on the planet making his comeback to competitive golf. I used to quite enjoy watching golf on the telly. It was, unless it was the business end of a major that ended in a close battle, nice and relaxing. Then, along came Mr Eldrick Woods. Yes, he is quite obviously one of the best players ever to wield a golf club. Yes, he earns far more money in a year than I could dream of. But, the bottom line is, he has made golf a far, far more boring sport to watch with his robotic performances. And even less enjoyable to watch with his petty tantrums and spitting. Give me Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez any day before “Tiger”. Give me the late Payne Stewart with his outlandish plus fours and NFL colour coded outfits than Mr “I must wear red on the final day” Woods.

You may gather, then, that mine will be one set of eyes that will not be following Elrond or whatever his bloody name is round one of the most beautiful golf courses on the planet. Although, if you could guarantee that his estranged wife would be stalking him down the fairways swinging the club that caused his…ahem…traffic accident, I would happily PAY to view.

Also this weekend, we have The Grand National. In the words of Adam Sandler in “The Wedding Singer”….WHOOPEEDEDOO. I hate horse racing with a passion. Doing it over fences doesn’t make it any more interesting…it just makes it less safe for the poor cuddies that are given the basic choice of “Get over that enormous hedge camouflaged fence or I will raise a welt the size and shape of a python on your arse!”. So, you would be correct in assuming that I will not be settling down to watch that either. Nor will I be parading down to the bookies to put a “Well, it IS the National” bet on.

Ross County and Raith Rovers come head to head with Celtic and Dundee United in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup

No, the two major sporting events that I will be interested in will both be taking place at exactly the same venue and have BOTH been branded “David and Goliath” affairs.

The first of these two events I will actually be attending…Celtic v Ross County, Hampden Park, Glasgow 12:15. I won’t even bother asking why the powers that be at SKY TV and the SFA decided it would be smart to ask people to travel from Dingwall to Glasgow for a lunchtime kickoff…I can only assume that it has something to do with loading the dice in Celtic’s favour in order to compensate for their continual bitching and moaning about referees etc all damn season. The second event will be played at the same venue 27 (ish) hours later between Dundee United and Kirkaldy’s Raith Rovers.

Perfect outcome for me???? TWO giant killing acts and an all first division final!!

I am fed up with all the whingeing that we have had to suffer over the years of “It’s embarrassing to have smaller clubs represent the country in European competition”…”These small clubs have cost us our co-efficient points” etc etc etc on and on and on! The SFA, the SPL and their greedy, money grubbing clubs are what have cost us European places. Other than two spectacular seasons that saw first Celtic, then Rangers reach but ultimately lose the UEFA cup final, Scottish clubshave done nothing noteworthy in Europe, be they big, be they small. Quite simply…we just haven’t got what it takes. It has nothing to do with which domestic league the club happens to play in.

And hey! Exactly what is the difference between those two “giants” of the Scottish game getting to the UEFA final and the prospect of County or Rovers or BOTH making it into the Scottish Cup fnal? Exactly…NOTHING. Celtic and Rangers got to a European final on merit. Why should it be any different than if these two clubs make it to their domestic final?

In terms of national football “structures” we, quite simply, are stuck in the dark ages. Nothing gets done at any speed at all and when anything DOES get changed, you can bet your last penny that it will be something that will favour the “big” clubs.

Just look at this week’s nonsense regarding the appeals process for red cards.

Gordon Smith comes out and says that there is nothing wrong with the existing system and it would fly in the face of FIFA rules to question the fact that the referee’s decision is final – sorry Gordon…if it’s final, why is there ANY appeals procedure in place?. Then we have SPL big-wig Neil Doncaster, a man who seems at least intelligent and in possession of some common sense, telling us that he (and presumably the SPL as a league) are in favour of the refs having nothing to do with appeals. ….cue Gordon Smith back-peddling so furiously that he could take on Sir Chris Hoy and telling us that, in fact, new procedures ARE on their way and that they may be in place for the start of next season.

In terms of national football "structures" we, quite simply, are stuck in the dark ages.
It’s kinda like David Blunkett taking Helen Keller out for a walk innit?

Anyway, I digress, back to the matter in hand and those Scottish Cup Semi-finals. Pundits all over the place are full of the usual “plucky wee County” this and “cup fairytale for Rovers” that. Utter balls! That’s what I say. Yes, County and Rovers are smaller than the two clubs that they are respectively squaring up to. Of course they are. But BOTH have put SPL teams out of the competition already. BOTH have had decent seasons in that, hellishly competitive, first division. So, why CAN’T they win and both make it to the final? Just because the pundits say so? Oh, right then…cos they never get it wrong do they?

No. This weekend – starting Saturday lunchtime – is the time that “David” will hopefully stand up and be counted once more and bloody the noses of the two big playground bullies!

I live relatively close to Dingwall and I have spent many a day working in Kirkaldy’s linoleum factory (and cushioned vinyl plant when it was still there). Both are ordinary little Scottish towns. BOTH deserve their day in the sun at Hampden. And, hopefully, BOTH will make it through to what, in my opinion, would be both a breath of fresh air and, perhaps more importantly, a timely wake-up call to the Scottish game. One first division side getting to the final can be – and has in the past – put down to luck. Two first division teams getting there?….can that one be put down to luck? Or is it time for that re-structuring I, and many others, have spoken of in the past?

On that score….it’s over to Gordon Smith and Neil Doncaster again I’m afraid. But, as regards this weekend’s cup ties…

‘Mon the Staggies and ‘Mon the Rovers!!!!

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PFA Manager of the Year

Football | Posted by youngy
Apr 02 2010

I like Chick Young, I honestly do. I know to some that might read the same as if I had written “My name is youngy, and I’m an alcoholic” but there you have it. I like Chick Young. 9 times out of 10 he comes across as a pretty intelligent fella who, genuinely, cares about the game of football. Of course, sometimes, he does pander to the two Old Firm clubs – some would say one more than the other – but, at the end of the day, he is a journalist working in Scottish football and, whether we like it or not, Rangers and Celtic are the big box office draw in this particular circus. Chick has even been gracious enough to admit that very fact – about the Scottish game as a whole in the past when he said “There is without a shadow of doubt an agenda in this country which warms to Celtic and Rangers. It is not a level playing field, it never has been.”. So, normally, when wee Chick is talking football, I tend to have a proper listen to what he is saying.

Last night though, I am sorry to have to confess, that Chick got it wrong. Some of his “wrongness” is merely my opinion, and some is simply that he has got his “awards dinners” mixed up (he can almost be forgiven for that – after all, there are a hell of a lot of the damn things every year).

In my opinion, for what that's worth, there are two main contenders for this season's Manager of the Year. And those are St Johnstone's Derek McCinnes and Terry Butcher of Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Whilst on BBC Radio Scotland’s SportSoundprogramme yesterday evening, Chick was discussing the fact that earlier in the day, Scotland manager, Craig Levein had helped to launch this year’s PFA awards dinner. More specifically, Manager of the Year. Chick started by, correctly in my opinion, laughing off Craig Levein’s nomination that Dundee United caretaker boss Peter Houston would be his choice to land MotY by stating that “Houstie” had only been in the job 10 minutes.

He then went on to announce that as far as he is concerned, there is only one man who should be considered for the accolade – Walter Smith of Rangers. Now, I am not for one second saying that Smith should NOT be considered for the award. Far from it! He has done fantastically well since re-taking the Ibrox hot-seat. This season especially.

It has been well documented, just how tough he has had life over the last three transfer windows, not being able to bring in any new faces and constantly being threatened with the possibility of his best players leaving.

I’m sorry but don’t make me laugh!

In my opinion, for what that’s worth, there are two main contenders for this season’s Manager of the Year. And those are St Johnstone’s Derek McCinnes and Terry Butcher of Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Why those two? Well, to put it quite simply, Terry Butcher has done quite a remarkable job in the highlands over the course of this season. From suffering relegation from the SPL last season, losing a handful of his best players over the last couple of transfer windows and having, what can only be described as a horror show of a start to the season, Big Tel has turned things right around and now has ICT sitting right at the head of the 1st Division with only a few games to go. If that doesn’t make him a good manager, I’m not sure what would!

And just look at what, my tip for the title, Derek McCinnes has acheived with the Perth Saint’s in the SPL. As I write this, his St Johnstone side have a very real chance of pipping my own club, Hearts, for a top 6 berth going into the last 5 games.

And is those Perth Saints that bring me back to why, I feel, Chick Young has gotten it so badly wrong by saying that Walter Smith should be voted top dog in the world of Scottish based managers.

Last Tuesday evening saw Rangers on the receiving end of a 4-1 thumping in Perth. But, it is not that result that interests me. That was a one off and was probably due to happen at some point to the champions elect. What caught my eye over the last couple of days was the difference between the two starting line-ups.

Walter Smith has almost nothing to work with and has been working magic tricks to get the level of performance that he has from his Ibrox troops you say? Utter balls!

"There is without a shadow of doubt an agenda in this country which warms to Celtic and Rangers. It is not a level playing field, it never has been."
The biggest thing in Smith’s favour in all this “I can’t buy players” nonsense is that he is working with a settled squad. Yes one or two might be thinking of moving to pastures new. But, NONE of them exactly have to worry about what happens if they don’t get a new contract offer. From a goalkeeper who is reportedly worth somewhere in the region of £8-15 million pounds to the guy who is the top scorer in the SPL ever, the Rangers team is littered with multi-million pound players.

Contrast that with the St Johnstone starting line up from last Tuesday. Only 2, yes TWO, of that entire team cost the Perth side a transfer fee. And the combined cost of those two players is still LESS than Robbie Keane is currently receiving as a weekly wage at Celtic (one cost £37,000 and the other £24,000). One came through their own youth system and one is currently on loan from Celtic. The rest? Zip, nilch, nada! Yet McCinnes has these lads playing great football and scrapping tooth and nail for their gaffer.

So, tell me. Who would get YOUR vote as manager of the year??

(oh and the awards dinner that got Chick all muddled up was simply that he stated that, in his opinion ex Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo did not deserve the award last year. Okay….but he didn’t get that award last year…Gordon Strachan did. Csaba won the football WRITERS manager of the year award…but still deserved it for managing to get the bunch of mercenaries that were masquerading as Hearts players into 3rd spot last term).

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