I’ve never treated the Ballon d’Or seriously, but would you be alarmed if your manager overlooked two of the most outstanding footballers of all time, to vote for one of the poor relations in an outstanding, if waning, Barcelona team.
England manager, Roy Hodgson, is entitled to his opinion but in nominating Javier Mascherano, he’s started a debate which will not reflect kindly on him.
I remember when Martin O’Neill was in charge of Celtic, he could do or say anything and no matter how incongruous it seemed, we all looked for hidden wisdom. Martin knew much more about the game than all of us but this authority was uniquely evident. I don’t remember any other Celtic manager being regarded with such awe, and I go back to the latter Stein days.
Whether Mascherano is fit to pass the ball to Leonel Messi is beside the point, Roy’s opinion is a prisoner of fortune. He’s dead meat to his critics.
For all of Martin’s brilliance he wasn’t one for cutting edge tactics. He knew what worked for him and stuck to it. So when Gordon Strachan came along with some new, ‘ideas’, the reaction was not appreciative.
Gordon’s early days (years) were remarkably hostile but it’s what I’ve regarded as The Ross Wallace Deployment which remains in the mind as an unfinished debate.
Ross was a left winger. But, five goals down after a first leg capitulation in Bratislava, Gordon deployed him on the right. The outcry was palpable. We’d never heard of playing a left footed player ‘out of position’ like this. What is now commonplace – to mix a left and fight footed full back and winger on the same side – was both new and proof positive that Gordon Strachan was a deluded simpleton.
There’s value in the opinions of the outliers, so my vote for the Ballon d’Or would have gone to Efe Ambrose. Gordon Strachan was a better manager than any of us knew at the time.
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blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
09:26 on 14 January, 2015
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Hi amigo – hope yer well.
Anyway, big Daryl Murphy seems to have found a manager that knows how to play him, long may it continue.
HH
MickTT
09:29 on 14 January, 2015
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I’ll no be there.
As for the ticket – dunno havent spoken to bro?
HH
Kevj
I always remember the goal he scored v Dundee Utd the day our friend Pablo passed away
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
09:32 on 14 January, 2015
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Jeez, so it was.
Makes ye think eh.
UNDER-fire referee Willie Collum will not take charge of a Scottish Premiership game in the next two rounds of fixtures.
Collum last week saw two red cards overturned on the same day after sending off three players and awarding four penalties in his first two Premiership games of 2015.
The FIFA list official took charge of Hibernian’s Scottish Championship game against Falkirk last weekend and will be fourth official for the top-flight clash between St Johnstone and Partick Thistle on Saturday. He is not involved in the following midweek fixtures.
67 heaven
I like him.
Not the biggest but does not hide when the intimidation starts.
Loved his performance against the team that died a few years ago when Bartley or whatever his name is tried to get tough.
The lad is already a hunskelper.
Seems to stay fit as well although that may change if he becomes a Celtic winger!
Anyway….Off oot, bye.
The Busted Flush will no doubt use Fat Jum to launch his incredible line of incubators……..
Will be interesting to see if GMS is any better than Tonev or Wakaso (both are the same age as him with far more international caps).
I guess he may represent better value for money and be at a similar level to them. I would imagine Wakaso would cost 3m+ and Tonev would be around 1.5m.
Richie…….Best wishes for your op’. HH
Ayrshire is Green and White
The Messi rumours are nonsense.
Charlie Mulgrew to Camp Nou with Messi plus £5m for us???
Would have to be at least £10m plus Lionel
From It’s a mad,mad,mad,mad wrrld
Lennie Pike: *Everybody* has to pay taxes!- Even businessmen, that rob and steal and cheat from people everyday, even *they* have to pay *taxes*!
Except here!!!!!
skyislandfill @ 02 16
” that Glen Campbell is a decent guitarist”
Indeed ! .
Part of the legendary LA session crew -The Wrecking Crew .
He was the guitarist and the bass player for The Monkees .
He was the guitarist on most of Phil Spector’s stuff .
He played guitar for Lee Hazlewood ( and Nancy Sinatra ) .
He played guitar for The Beach Boys ( all of the early stuff and most of the Pet Sounds Lp He played guitar for .Frank Sinatra ( Strangers in the Night etc ) .
He played guitar on the first Gene Clark LP .
He played guitar for Jackie De Shannon ( Needles and Pins Etc ).
etc etc.
naillo83,
Gonnae no :) cheap option again
Looks like wee Shaun is off to Leicester, so not heading back up to us then
south of tunis
09:49 on 14 January, 2015
skyislandfill @ 02 16
” that Glen Campbell is a decent guitarist”
₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩₩
Now that’s something
HH
alfie noakes,
Je parle merde! De questions, je ne repond pas.
Ring any bells?
AR
Canamalar,
I’m not really starting the cheap option debate.
I guess I’m just concerned that we have such a big squad that we need to trim and we already have 3 left wingers (Tonev, Wakaso and Boerrighter). Is GMS any better than those 3??
I hope he will be….but not very confident really!!
new article posted.
Naillo..,
And like we are desperate for wingers, it’s no even papering over the cracks, it like ripping a hole on another part of the wall to distract from all the other holes, I’m beginning to think we have been deliberately run into the ground
Glen Campbell is one of the greatest musicians in history, but he never wrote his own songs so he didn’t. Neither did Elvis for that matter.
It’s no big deal anyway.
TET – Delighted to hear that your ghirl is on the mend.
Richie – Good luck and best wishes mo chara.
BT – Speedy recovery for you as well chief.
Aff oot for a wee dander in the snow.
LoveTheSnowCSC.
HH.
FFin’ Stuart Waiton and free speech:
“in Scotland, force is used on a weekly basis to arrest people who do nothing more than offend other people: and yet this is called ‘tolerance’. The Offensive Behaviour Act makes being offensive at football matches a criminal offence. How does this square with the ‘steadfast defence’ of a ‘fundamental freedom’ to speak and to offend in Scotland?
Stuart Waiton
Take a Liberty Scotland”
——
“Hugh Dallas was Charlie … and he got hounded for it!”
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“one of the great lows in the recent re-orientation of our society by celtic fc and the RC church in scotland”
——
“I’m afraid my greatest fears about Scotland…. have been realised… Freedom of speech has gone and we are becoming more like the Republic of Ireland by the day.”
——
“I still maintain the Famine song is not bigoted”
——
“Surely the famine song was all about the [Sevco] fans being satirical…. sometimes you would think that muslims have integrated better into our society than catholics.”
——
“Je suis billy boy.”
——
“Not only do we not have the right to be offensive we can’t even be offensive against… fenianism!”
——
“It was always going to come around to this….wrong that it had to take the Charlie atrocity to focus minds.
Nous somme Hugh Dallas.”
——
“We need a huge banner at the next game (after the boycott)
NOUS SOMMES LES BILLY BOYS”
Antipodean Red – “there are other windows in this house” – that’s me finetred!