Passing greats, breath-taking negative news placement

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast I did with the LostBhoys on Celtic in the 1950s (superb production quality, you should check out what they are doing), I took the opportunity to mention the Hibs team of the late forties and early fifties, including the celebrated Famous Five forwards.

They won three league titles and narrowly missed out on another two as they unequivocally dominated Scottish football.  They were probably the best team in Europe at that stage, only the lack of a formal European competition denied them recognition.  Celtic battened down the hatches against Hibs in the 1953 Coronation Cup final but nothing would be the same again for the Edinburgh club, although reputation got them an invitation to the inaugural European Cup, in which they reached the semi-final in 1956.

We learned today that the last surviving member of the Famous Five, Lawrie Reilly, died, aged 84.  Their achievement should be suitably acknowledged (this is not an endorsement of Willie Ormond’s later work, obviously).

The news that Hibs have today bid £200k for a striker is significant.  £200k doesn’t buy you much in English football but it is a substantial investment for any club, apart from Celtic.  Maybe Hibs long period in the wilderness is coming to an end.

I only caught up today on the Scottish Sun’s online coverage of the arson attack in Salsburgh (alas, not unique in the bus industry), complete with photographs of Celtic supporters and Neil Lennon (all of whom were four hundred miles from the incident).  I remember reading a story on rape, robbery and assault in London in The Sun back in the 80s, accompanied by inner-city photos featuring exclusively Afro-Caribbean-Londoners going about their business.  Real subtle.

Remember the email Charlotte Fakes produced on negative news stories against ‘other’ clubs being planted?  Utterly breath-taking.  Scottish football, as it was, and for some, still is, is inherently an unstable influence on Scottish society.  We need to take our business elsewhere and I don’t believe any of our top-flight colleagues would object.
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