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.
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?
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!!!
