Weekend at Bernie’s, response to the refugees, Ralph Milne
Well done to the thousands who turned up for the Jock Stein 30th Anniversary game at Dunfermline yesterday. Money from the match is already helping refugees through the British Red Cross’s Europe Refugee Crisis Appeal.
The club site this morning reported David Miller of the Red Cross said, “Celtic FC Foundation and their fans’ support will make a real difference to the refugees and communities affected across Europe and in neighbouring countries. Thank you for supporting the appeal.”
We have a great auction coming up this week for hospitality at the Dundee game later this month, all funds going to the Foundation. Look out for it.
I was sorry to hear of the passing of Ralph Milne yesterday. Ralph was one of the outstanding talents of Scottish football when he won the league with Dundee United in 1983, a day after his 22nd birthday.
His scored the goal which won the league, but the memory of his chance in the European Cup semi-final, a year later away to Roma, still induces regret. 27 years later Roma would admit to bribing the referee for that game, as they progressed to the final with a 3-2 aggregate. A few years after winning the league the writing was on the wall for Ralph’s career.
I watched him playing a student team on a public park, telling the incredulous English person I was with about Ralph’s European Cup semi-final exploits three years earlier. He then floated around the English lower leagues before Sir Alex Ferguson signed him for Manchester United. Fergie remember the Ralph we were all amazed at from the 82-85 era, but by then (1988) Ralph was a a shadow of his former self. One of the game’s greats became one of its parodies.
Kick back and give yourself 20 minutes to have a read at Weekend at Bernie’s, recently published by the Hostile Monkey blog. In the light of last week’s court appearances it is a fully referenced, line-by-line, assessment of the “same club myth”, detailing six areas instances of the debate:
The Lord Nimmo-Smith Commission Argument
The European Football Club Association Argument
The UEFA website argument
The Advertising Standards Authority argument
The BBC Trust Argument
The SFA Registration Argument
It’s worth bookmarking for future reference.