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