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International Football is it? REPUBLIC OF IRELAND O LUXEMBOURG 1 What's not to like?

And the goal scored by Gerson Rodrigues.

JONATHAN NORTHCROFT | CONNOR GOLDSON INTERVIEW ‘Will Uefa really stand that strong against racism?’ Rangers defender Connor Goldson talks about racial abuse, heart surgery and having your hero turn up at your home Jonathan Northcroft Football Correspondent Sunday March 28 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/will-uefa-really-stand-that-strong-against-racism-mw6k092sq Goldson has played every second of the season for Rangers, playing his part in the successful bid for the league title Connor Goldson’s team-mate, a friend so close that they sometimes go on holiday together, suffered racial abuse at his workplace this month. Take the football out of it and just look on a human level: you can understand why Goldson is still chewed up, more than a week after Glen Kamara said that he had been called “a f***ing monkey” while playing for Rangers against Slavia Prague in the Europa League. As Kamara’s captain, as Kamara’s mate, Goldson confronted the alleged abuser on the pitch — Slavia’s Ondrej Kudela — and spoke out powerfully at a press conference the next day. “I was emotional, but stand by everything I said — but will Uefa really stand that strong against racism with the punishment they give?” Goldson says. “We’ve all been party to these movements: Kick It Out, taking the knee, wearing T-shirts, but [racism] keeps on happening.” The human level: “I feel like footballers only get seen as footballers, like we’re these robots that don’t get affected, but when you’re coming off the pitch to messages on social media, players having monkey emojis, banana emojis, the words black players get called, it affects you,” Goldson says. “But listen, it’s not a sob story. I’m proud of who I am. I’m proud of the colour I am. I think we all are. Yet it’s still something you don’t want to see, because it looks like you’re downgraded in society.” Courage, strength and leadership were part of the package Steven Gerrard knew he was getting when he made Goldson one of his first Rangers signings in 2018, driving all the way from his home in Merseyside to Goldson’s house in Brighton to seal the deal. Goldson’s partner, Kayleigh, was past her due date while pregnant with Caleb, their son, so the only place a meeting could be held was the central defender’s abode. “[Gerrard] still moans about it now,” Goldson says. Goldson confronted Slavia’s Kudela after the alleged racist abuse Goldson supports Liverpool. So what do you do, if you are a Koppite and Stevie G knocks on your door? Goldson went into overdrive. Kayleigh had cleaned everywhere and when the bell rang, he ushered in his guest and offered a drink. The request was for water and whether through nerves, eagerness — laughing as he tells the story, he says he is not sure what — Goldson thrust a two-litre bottle of Highland Spring in front of the visitor. “I only wanted a glass, mate,” Gerrard said. That meeting did get better and convinced Goldson to leave Brighton & Hove Albion, for whom he had played in the Premier League but was still behind Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk, to try an adventure in Scotland. “[Gerrard] just sold it to me, what the project was and how he wanted me to be a main part of it — I don’t know . . . I just believed him,” Goldson says. Three seasons on he is a league champion and Rangers’ bedrock, having played in every second of the club’s 48 games during their triumphant season. “An absolute mountain, a warrior,” his manager says. At 28, Goldson feels at his peak and that a combination of boss and environment has pushed him there. With Gerrard, “You know you’re in the presence of a winner, you know what he expects from you every day. He brings complete clarity and I don’t think I’ve ever come out of a team talk thinking, ‘I’m not sure today.’ ” With Rangers, “You have to be here to realise the demands. You can play a Scottish League One team or Benfica and it really doesn’t matter — the fans think you should win every game and the club expects you to.” Scottish football is, he says, “quick, a lot more physical. In the Premier League there was more time on the ball, but the intensity of Scotland is a different level. Some games, I call it murderball.” But what that means, reflects Goldson, is having to be physically and mentally “on it” in every second. “If you’re soft in Scotland or let your standards drop, you’ll get beat. “When I came up here I thought not ‘I’ll cruise it’ but ‘I’ll look very good here’. Then all of a sudden there’s balls into your channels, balls into your box, corners, throw-ins, and you’re conceding goals unless you’re in the zone. The pressure has helped me improve.” He describes Gerrard’s drive to bring elite standards everywhere, whether through the quality and detail of tactics sessions, delivered by his assistant, Michael Beale, or revamping the auditorium at the training ground and canteen, tunnel and changing rooms at Ibrox. The manager has entrusted players to look after improving culture and Goldson is in a leadership group with the club captain James Tavernier (absent against Slavia), Ryan Jack, Steven Davis, Allan McGregor, Scott Arfield and Jermain Defoe, who developed a “creed” that all players sign up to. It includes such tenets as: “I give my obligation to this club to work hard every day, improve every day and sacrifice myself for the team.” “There’s a page of it,” Goldson says. “Attitude. Relentlessness. Togetherness. We always say the team is the superstar, not any of us.” Against Livingston this month Goldson became the fastest player to reach 150 competitive games for Rangers. His availability and readiness to play are quite something for a player told his career could be over when he was 24. In 2017, a routine heart test at Brighton picked up a serious issue, later diagnosed as Marfan syndrome, a genetic condition that can fatally enlarge the aortic valve. He had not wanted the scan, organised by Brighton’s head of medical, Adam Brett, whom he will always thank for a belief (not shared at every club) that players should have routine cardiac screening. “A group of us played Call of Duty every afternoon and I remember being in the gym and saying to the boys, ‘I’m going straight home and getting on.’ I walked through the physio room, just to have a laugh on the way back to the changing room, and Adam reminded me about the screening. I was, ‘Aw, no, do I really have to go?’ ” Goldson says, reliving how close to a different fate that he perhaps came. A specialist in London said that his aorta “was stretched to a point that if he let me carry on, it might pop and I’d be dead. He said he would send me to a surgeon and told me, ‘I don’t know if you’ll play football again.’ That was the worst day of my life. We got back in the car, I remember Gibbo — the player liaison [officer] — drove, our club doctor was in the back and I just cried my eyes out and spoke to my missus. “She said, ‘Keep strong and just wait till you see the surgeon,’ but I thought I was finished, aged 24. I’d bought a house the year before and remember thinking, ‘Seven hundred grand, I’ve got a mortgage, I’ve got bills, how am I ever going to live?’ ” His mind swam with family history too. His grandad died of cardiac problems and his father, Winston, had just turned 30 when he had a heart attack while playing for a Sunday league team in Wolverhampton. Connor was there on the touchline aged three or four, though he does not recall it. “I was out for just four months — and two months involved waiting for the operation,” Goldson says. “I always say I was fortunate. It sounds horrific when you hear the word ‘heart’ but in terms of injuries there are many that put you out longer.” Within three days at the end of May, Caleb turns three, it is Kayleigh’s 30th birthday and they are getting married in Cheshire. It will top off, he says, an amazing year. The future? He loves Rangers but there is an ambition he would like to fulfil. “My dream was always to play week in, week out in the Premier League. Whether that happens, time will tell but I think for any English player that’s the dream. “Playing in Europe against really top teams has made me realise I am good enough to play at that level.” A leader, brave as they come, scores at set pieces, good at build-up play — and does not miss matches. Whenever he does leave Ibrox, there will certainly be interest. Football

Other than the semis and finals I've not watched much Champion's League either, it's lost it's sheen in recent years. I do hope to watch some next season though. Nostalgia is a big part of football. Harking back to a seemingly happier, easier time when youth and ignorance combined with naivety to make the world seem a simpler, happier place, particularly at 4 or 5 decades distance. Now, jaded, cynical and harder to surprise and excite (at least I am) modern tournaments feel like corporate events with a uniformity and shallowness, controlled by PR companies and bland media executives. Yet they still throw up surprises in ways the club football is now geared to avoid. Iceland and Wales reaching the Euro 2016 semi-finals is a magical story and nothing similar could happen in European club football, likewise Croatia and Belgium reaching the semis of the 2018 World Cup should give all similar sized nations hope. None of those 4 associations are high up for sponsors or TV deals, the money pit hasn't been able to consume everything, not yet anyway. I also think today there's a generation of school age supporters who'll recall wistfully back to the current day, when you could send a direct message on social media to a favourite player or something else that seems normal today. National sides have struggled to dominate football in recent times. The first 7 World Cups were shared by 4 nations, but in the 21st century no country has won it twice. I still think international football is where legendary status is achieved, by even the greatest players. Anyway, tonight we have the magic of a country that didn't exist 70 years ago taking on a country that doesn't exist as a country today. Riveting...

You bring back distant memories of being captivated by world cup finals, the exotic mystery of fabled countries like Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. Players you'd never heard of became heroes overnight. It was like opening a window on the world but without the bad taste of politics, poverty, etc. I remember falling in love with the game in 1970, it was like being introduced to champagne. Where did all that go eh? Now these tournaments are like watching the Champions League - same players, same football, different shirts. I haven't watched a CL game in years and the magic of international football died in the money pit long ago.

For those willing to test their German ... Leon Balogun im Interview: "Mich interessieren diese elenden Kampagnen nicht mehr" ... for the rest I snatched the translation from FF Really interesting interview with Leon Balogun in the German football magazine Kicker: "Leon Balogun (32) won the championship in his first season with Rangers. In the interview, however, he also talks about a recent incident that still affects people. Mr Balogun, how much joy about the championship is still there after three weeks? Very much, when I think back to the moment. But our everyday life went straight on. We still had the Europa League and now we still have the cup. And above all, there are still a few records to break. Fewest goals conceded, most games to nil, things like that. Of course we tried to enjoy the moment, but we had to ramp up again pretty quickly. I'm sure that when we then receive the trophy on the last matchday, we'll be able to celebrate properly. For the first time since 2011, Rangers have edged past arch-rivals Celtic. How? I'm probably not one hundred per cent the right person to answer that question. I've only been here a year now and this year everything has been outstanding. There are some people at the club who have experienced and had to experience completely different times. Rangers had to be relegated to the fourth division after insolvency in 2012 and had to work their way back up bit by bit. What I've witnessed at least: Since Steven Gerrard took over (in June 2018, ed.), we've been on the heels of the others. "The others". You're not allowed to pronounce Celtic? What do you mean allowed. I try to avoid it, also out of respect for the deep rivalry. I wasn't there myself, but there must have been a player here once who had shoes that were largely green. Someone on the coaching staff must have made a friendly request not to wear those shoes again. Fortunately, you don't wear a green jersey with the Nigerian national team... On one of my first international trips as a Ranger, I posted something in my Instagram story, whereupon a fan wrote: "Yeah, big guy. I'm happy for you and all. But please reconsider your colours." That was just a joke, of course, but you can already see that it goes very deep. So back to why were Rangers better than "the other club" this time? We didn't collapse. We still took each game on its own merits and always kept the big picture in mind. We're still unbeaten, and then of course you hear a lot of sidetracks, expectations rise. But we've really stayed very relaxed about that. There is meticulous work behind it. After draws, and there were only five of them, it felt like a defeat in the dressing room. Not because it was so dramatic, but because we just resolved so firmly not to allow ourselves to do that. In the past, the other club would strike and take advantage of our mistakes. This time it was the other way round. And you don't get a 20-point lead just like that. Was the special touch of spoiling Celtic's historic tenth title in a row still felt? Yes, because the fans weren't there. A huge part of what makes the club, the derbies and the atmosphere, is gone. The club tried to explain to the new players how much that means. Because they didn't know such a situation. The fans weren't there, but our players were well aware of what a long time of suffering the supporters had gone through in the years before. Then you get a feeling for it. The club had to apologise after the championship was decided because there was a bit too much celebrating with the fans outside the Ibrox stadium. Let's face it, you can't really blame anyone, can you? I can't imagine that things would have been different elsewhere in a long-awaited championship. And I don't think the club is responsible for that. It's not like the club can lock down the whole of Glasgow. All you can do is appeal. But please: Especially in this lousy situation that we've been experiencing for over a year, there was something that made a lot of people in Glasgow incredibly happy. And then they gave free rein to their emotions. Under the current circumstances of the pandemic, was it the best decision? Probably not. Is it still emotionally understandable? Absolutely. The maker of the success is not quite so unknown: Steven Gerrard. Was it him who convinced you to move from Brighton to Glasgow in the summer? Quite simply, yes. How? I was on loan at Wigan and we had five or six games left. My advisor said he had two offers for me. One of which he thought was "unbelievably big". How do you build up a suspense? Yeah, really. I thought, "What's next? What's this?" When he told me, my first reaction was rather calm. It wasn't so much the club I had in mind at first, it was more the Scottish League. I don't think I'm stepping on anyone's toes by saying that this is not one of the most popular in the world now. But apparently you could be persuaded. My advisor told me a few more things, and I did a lot of research myself. I could play in the Europa League, train under an absolute legend. And I could also play for a championship. In Mainz or Brighton, it was always about staying in the league. And what did Gerrard tell you? We arranged a Zoom call with Gerrard and the sporting director, Ross Wilson. I had a bit of a fan moment and admitted it, so we could all laugh about it. He told me what the job was, what he expected from me. That I fit in perfectly with the way he wants to play and that I have the right attributes, i.e. athleticism, dynamism, aggressiveness, security on the ball. That suited his philosophy of shaping the game and pressing high. Then it was really just a matter of coming to an agreement. He would then contact me after games, call me or write to me on WhatsApp. He gave me the feeling that he really wanted me in his team. You were seeded straight away. How does it feel to be in a defensive line when you almost never concede a goal? When we had just one action where the opponent came to cross, we looked at each other as if we were 0:2 behind and almost conceded the third goal. Sure, you develop a certain confidence and maybe even match luck from that, but we never rested on that. It definitely fills you with pride. Just recently, however, something went wrong, and that was in the Europa League. Did you have the feeling that you could have done better against Prague? Prague definitely had that feeling and in the end, unfortunately, they were right. I saw a video where they cheered when they saw our name in the draw for the last 16. We didn't approach it like that at all. Doable task, yes. But difficult. You have to take a team that beats Leverkusen in the group stage and knocks out Leicester one hundred percent seriously. If you look at both games against us, the better team probably won. That's how honest you have to be. After one hour, your teammate Kemar Roofe saw the red card, a little later you received the second yellow. However, the match was overshadowed by a racism scandal. Slavia professional Ondrej Kudela allegedly insulted Glen Kamara. I was already in the dressing room at the time, but I saw it with Kemar in the dressing room and had it all told to me afterwards. What can you say? I wasn't personally affected, but it could just as easily have been me. Or Kemar, who was actually insulted on social media afterwards. These are things that just make you angry. Unbelievably angry. You look at the scene and you see: the guy comes running in from 30 yards and picks out the player. Glen, you should know, is a totally calm and relaxed player, one who always avoids conflict. He had tried to laugh the situation off because he had already been mobbed several times. And then to see the guy holding his hands over his mouth and whispering deliberately in Glen's ear ... That's incomprehensible to me. That was calculating. He knew one hundred per cent what he was doing. There was no apology. Slavia even denied the incident. Kudela is said to have "only" said "fucking guy". An apology would have been a lie anyway. If you're so deliberately trying to cover up what you're saying, you know exactly what you're doing. If you think you have to behave like this, stand up to your husband and don't talk your way out of it afterwards. He seriously tried to make the victim out to be a liar. That's even worse. The incident triggered a huge wave, with professionals everywhere showing solidarity with their teammate. Even outside the Old Firm, Celtic captain Scott Brown gave Kamara a hug. Do you think it helps to avoid further cases? No. I took my hat off to Scott Brown's action, it was unbelievable. A very, very big gesture. Also the way he said after the game that there are things bigger than football. That was huge. It's right that it's making waves around the world, it has to be. But? What's missing is UEFA or FIFA taking action. I'm no longer interested in these wretched campaigns. That's all well and good, but the campaign content must be lived out authentically and not just remain empty words. Designing captain's armbands with the inscription "No Racism" is useless if racist incidents are not punished in the end. I have the feeling that "people of colour" are used to promote the supposedly cosmopolitan and inclusive values of the FIFA and UEFA brands. But when these very players are targeted, all too often there is just embarrassed silence. I wish that the expensive campaigns would be followed by action. You seem resigned. I don't expect much. The past shows us again and again what happens in such moments - namely nothing. It's just sad. But I, for one, will not stop loudly calling attention to these things. In the hope that something will change. There is far too much silence."

You've hidden depths Gonzo, I didn't think the North Macedonia v Liechtenstein match would be of much interest to you. ?

@26th of foot mentions Joe Baker. What a centre forward. Colin Stein with booster rockets. Smashed himself up in a car crash while at Torino but recovered to play for Arsenal and England. But despite his place of birth and the nationality of his dad he was a Scotsman. Unlike Denis Law he talked like a Scotsman but like Law he played with the talented Scotsman’s arrogance. Wilson was a very proficient ‘keeper and played excellently for Scotland but otherwise he didn’t seem very Scottish. Played with the absolute confidence of English goalkeepers of his vintage. Joe’s brother Gerry played for St Mirren and quite well for Hibs but was not in the same class as Joe. Gerry was capped by the US! One Scotsman played for England and his brother for US. Can’t be right.

Even big Jack Charlton must cringe when he watches international rugby these days, these guys don't even need the fabled grandparent. Embarrassing.

Steven Gerrard has bot rid of Lawell, TLB and now Broon the thug, tis indeed been a great season.........................so far!