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).
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!
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).
