andy steel

Levein: Mad, bad, and dangerous to know? He's maybe not quite in the same league as Byron, but the aftermath of the Nightmare on Tuesday might give us as many clues to the abilities of the Scotland manager as the game itself. Today's papers tell the story of how Levein roasted two players at halftime, McFadden and Boyd, calling them selfish and lazy; furthermore, he had subbed both before the hour. Having sat and watched Boyd jog around his three markers for the first half, perhaps hoping they woud fall asleep or something, I can't disagree with his appraisal - although McFadden was trying his best, even though it was totally ineffectual. But these things shouldn't have come out! Or more accurately, they shouldn't have even been said. Did Levein think McFadden would just accept being bollocked without a murmur? Or one of his friends wouldn't go running to the papers with a story that carries with it a tidy payment? It shows a level of managerial immaturity from the Scotland boss that has to be worrying. Yes, he's new to the job and yes, he's still a relatively young man but by making his mistakes quite so publicly as he goes along, all that will happen is the team will be weakened. I've been against any thought of Levein taking over at Rangers - the thought fills me with horror, primarily because he has shown himself far too emotional to handle the pressure of a big club. Well, Scotland is a big job, and he hasn't shown any signs of handling it very well so far. In saying that, I support him fully while he's there and wish him 100% success - I just think he's going about it the wrong way. Berating international players nowadays just isn't on. Drop them if you wish - you're the boss. What good is there is speaking out as Levein has done? Wearing your heart on your sleeve is all very well, but you must remember to engage your brain as well! The national manager relies on players actually wanting to play for him - he holds none of the cards the club boss has. A precendent has been set in recent years with Scotland players picking and choosing which managers they want to play for, and it would be no surprise to see McFadden pulling out of squads in the future far more than in the past. No bad thing, you may argue, but are we so well off we can afford to deny ourselves ANY options? I don't think so. Levein is not mad, but he's doing a lot of growing up in public and the team (and the fans) are going to be the ones suffering. He's not a bad man or manager either, but I remain to be convinced if he's good enough to be Scotland manager. In the end, if he succeeds, I'll be happy enough, and if he fails, he's only keeping the seat warm for Uncle Walter to sort things out, once again.

But how? The body rarely removes its own head!

I think your post is more interesting than mine, Barry. There's definitely much to what you say, but I would add that Catholic integration into the means of mass, if you'll pardon the word, communications have played as big a part in Scotland, although not the UK. The English, with their many differing religions to worry about, have to pretty much play it straight or get accused of all sorts from Dawkins at one side to Basil Hume at the other (is he still alive, I wonder?). Here, we have basically a silent Chinese, Jewish and Muslim community, an established one which is to all intents and purposes dead; and one which has enshrined its right to shout from the rooftops about what everyone else is doing wrong in law. They got there by exploiting TV, papers, the law itself, sports, all your cultural outlets. Let's point out though, that it's the freaks we're talking about here, like that Phil idiot who comes on the radio talking about his weeping children from time to time - the vast, vast majority of our Irish community enrich the country. I only mention that lest anyone think I'm lumping your ordinary Joe in with the likes of John Reid and co.

Weak. Best of luck to Brian.

I quite fancy Craig's idea, that would be superb.

Reckon you're being optimistic, Craig, hoping the Turks willl ay on extra ferries for mere fitba fans. They might want the extra baksheesh, I suppose.

I didn't know about the cricketing chap at all! Shows you how folks on the net can bump their gums in total ignorance. It's as well I don't mind making myself look stupid.

I hope the rain gos off..the miserable gits in the museum shop where I got my tickets wouldn't let me choose a seat at the back, thus ensuring my boy and I will get soaked if this (looks out window) keeps up...he won't want to go back, foootball will die and it will be all the fault of a stroppy prick at Hampden.

Maybe I'm getting paranoid, but the repeated use of the distinctly non-Rangers like middle name strikes me as a childish move to raise the spectre of a TIM RUNNING RANGERS!!!! Maybe no-one has gone with the story because the guy values his privacy; maybe there's nothing interesting about him; maybe the fact that the club's finances are approaching something like sustainability means there can be little complaint whatever the banks are up to. I just don't see the point of this, unless it's the McCarthyite whiff of guilt by suggestion.

Brown is a liability we can't afford. Amazing how he's ended up so rubbish, I really thought he was going to be top class.

Note how the highlighted langauge leans the readers against the fans: A court in Manchester has heard details of the violence which marred the Ibrox side’s Uefa Cup final in 2008. A court has heard how a "celebration of football" ended in mayhem and violence as Rangers hooligans went on the rampage. Manchester Crown Court heard how riot police fought hand-to-hand running battles with hundreds of drunken fans of the Glasgow club, who showered officers with bottles and other missiles.[b/] The violences captured on CCTV footage and shown to the court on Thursday as 12 men sat in the dock awaiting sentence for their part in the trouble in the city as it hosted the Uefa Cup Final in May 2008. A number of defendants had brought bags and suitcases, piled up at the back of the dockecting to be going to jail. All will now be sentenced tomorrow. They were arrested after police publicised CCTV footage of the hours of violence during and after the Scottish club's 2-0 defeat to Zenit St Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium. An estimated 150,000 Rangers fans, most without tickets, descended on the city - drinking pubs and supermarkets dry. The court heard that trouble erupted at a fan zone after a giant screen in Piccadilly Gardens in the city centre failed close to kick-off time. Ricky Holland, prosecuting, said the game was prestigious and intended to be a "celebration of football". He said: "The vast majority were well behaved, there are numerous instances, discernable from the footage and statements from police officers of other Glasgow Rangers supporters trying to curb the disorderly behaviour of other people, caught up in this. So by no means was everyone who came to Manchester that day intent on committing mayhem, but that was ultimately what the city was subjected to." Mr Holland said three fan zones with giant screens were set up by Manchester City Council to accommodate ticketless fans who swamped the city from early in the morning of the match. He added: "There was copious amounts of drink already taken, large amounts, a number of public houses simply ran out of alcohol, supermarkets and the like managed to sell all their wares." Dickensian prose, ridiculously outdated, but an indication of the class of person attacking our support. Class is a pathetic indicator of opinion in this day and age, but these parasites, desperate to be accepted by the legal class they aspire to join, have no qualms about using the language of the C19th in a C21st courtroom. But when the big screen in Piccadilly Gardens failed trouble erupted among the 8000 fans assembled there. Engineers attempting to fix the problem were pelted with bottles, causing Ã?£300,000 damage to the screen. Mr Holland added: "Various disgruntled supporters began to vent their frustration on property and police." He told the court riot police had never encountered scenes of such "ferocity and intensity", adding: "It is difficult to recall anything on the scale of what took place here." Police later trawled through hours of CCTV footage to identify the culprits, leading to the arrest of the 12 in the dock. Only they didn't, as far as I know, as no-one arrested or charged was done so on the grounds of anything that happened in the Square. It was elsewhere, and on the grounds of dodgy videofilm. None of which, by an unbelievebale co-incidence, showed any Police officers doing anything remotely outwith the bounds of the law. What are the chances? In the dock The court then dealt with individual defendants, starting with Englishman Michael Hindle, showing film clips of each one's involvement in the trouble. Hindle, 22, from Westmorland Close, Leyland, Lancashire, was seen throwing a bottle at police. A Blackburn Rovers fan, he was classed as a "risk supporter" by local police and has served a ban for shouting abuse at rival fans while following the Lancashire team. Other fans in the dock included Gordon Forrest, 36, from Ledi Drive, Bearsden. He was seen taking part in running battles with police, kicking and pushing the riot shield of one officer and inciting others as hooligans swarmed around a police van to attack the vehicle. Forrest already has a number of previous convictions including two assaults, one on a police officer and breach of the peace. He has pleaded guilty to violent disorder and told police after arrest he had "no recollection" of the entire day as he had drunk 24 bottles of lager at the time. Thomas Murphy, 28, of Flatterton Road, Greenock, was seen on three separate occasions hurling bottles at police. Murphy, who admitted violent disorder, has a string of convictions including for assaulting police officers, assault, carrying an offensive weapon, breach of the peace and an unspecified football-related conviction. Seven days after the trouble in Manchester he was sentenced in Scotland for breach of the peace and assault on an unrelated matter. John Saunders, 32, from Fullarton Road, Cumbernauld was seen draped in the Union flag attacking a police van and throwing a bottle at heavily outnumbered officers surrounded by hooligans. He has admitted violent disorder. He has previous convictions for domestic abuse and is currently serving a five-month jail term for possession of an offensive weapon. All the other defendants face charges of either violent disorder or assaulting a police officer. The other defendants also to be dealt with are: Mark Stoddart, 26, of Westmuir Street, Glasgow, who pleaded guilty to section 47 assault and two offences of violent disorder. The assault charge related to an assault on Pc Mick Regan. David McCullough, 21, of Moorcroft Drive, Burnage, Manchester, has pleaded guilty to violent disorder. David Annette, 35, of Yarrow Road, Chorley, Lancashire, has pleaded guilty to violent disorder. Scott McSeveney, 22, of Hunter Avenue, Shotts, Lanarkshire, was convicted after trial of a section 47 assault and violent disorder, the assault relates to an attack on Pc John Goodwin. Brian McVicar, 23, of Falkland Drive, East Kilbride, and Greg McKenna, 23, of Falkland Drive, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, are also both for sentence for violent disorder along with William McSporran, 18, of Craighouse Street, Glasgow and James Bell, 43, of Corrie View, Cumbernauld. http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-cen...ity-of-mayhem/ In th end, a load of what appear to be scummy wasters who disgrace the jersey will go to jail. While a load of scummy wasters who disgrace the uniform of the Police carry on, as you were. And then they wonder why they are disliked quite so heartily. Were it not for their lack of imagination, one would despair.

Maybe now, although I doubt it, some of our fans will get their heads out of the sand abou this 'Great British' institution called The Rangers. They will piss on you every chance they get. You aren't welcome, unless you are greasing the wheels of commerce, of course. Total fuckn bullshit.

Brown and Robson - abysmal; should have been replaced with McFadden and Dorrans on the hour mark, as we sought to change from holding/breaking to attacking. Levein left it too late, didn't use Boyd to best advantage, but I don't blame him at all as he is using this competition to build impetus for the next WC campaign. He better git it right.

I spent Friday afternoon last week busying myself doing household chores, with the radio in the background tuned to Test Match Special, as England recovered from certain defeat to the brink of almost certain series victory in the space of a few hours. Once again, the summer game offered lessons for the winter one - but is it possible to believe that, like English cricket, Scottish football is capable of learning, or changing? The history of cricket in the last 25 years is very relevant to us, as we survey the wreckage of another failed European adventure - one in which we (Rangers) are quite likely, in my opinion, to share, as soon as we get started. Just as we are utterly uncompetitive at the top level (and even the second or third level), so too were the English test and one-day sides. Regularly thrashed throughout the 70s by the West Indies, English cricket in the 80s and 90s had to get used to being regularly thrashed by Australia, India and Pakistan, while previous minnows New Zealand and Sri Lanka began to record victories over the motherland. While on the surface, cricket appears the most conservative of sports, the administrators of the game were at least willing to try to find a way out of their pickle. Accurately perceiving that despite their failings, they still had a large fanbase willing to pay to watch their teams, the England and Wales Cricket Board split their divisions, withdrew restrictions on recruitment, altered the previous 5 or 6 Test fixtures against the same opponent each summer to 3 (or 5 against the Aussies) against different sides, expanded the one day calendar...the list goes on. Not all have proven successful. The long haul of a 5 Test summer, in all conditions, against players gradually getting used to English conditions, was one of the best facets of the game and one I miss. Another area I think the ECB have got wrong is the acceptance into their teams of too many pseudo-Englishmen. Even for this most tolerant of countries, it is a bit much to have a team with more non-natives than Englishmen in it; however, the facts are that as long as Pietersen, Trott, Strauss, Kieswetter, Prior and so on continue to win, no one else minds too much. And of course, the last few days have seen the ever present threat of corruption appear again, in the guise of some youthful and very probably penniless Pakistani bowlers who are unwilling to live in poverty any longer than they have to. How dare they? They ought to be content to perform for our sakes, yes, and for a pittance too! But they changed. They tried. So we can see that while conservatism certainly exists in the game of cricket, of itself it need not be a barrier to imagination. Can anyone expect the same here? For a start, who do we expect it from? The SFA? Or the SPL? SFL? Government? Everyone knows the shambles of administration we have so there's no need to go on about it, but it has to be said that until the current 'many chiefs' nonsense is rationalised, there's little or no prospect of change. Assuming it does happen, though, I can't see any reason why Scots football shouldn't rise again. After all, the target is hardly winning the Champions League or World Cup. The ultimate aim for our game ought to be qualification for final stages internationally with the occassional progression beyond, and at club level, regular participation up to the quarter final stages in Europe. Given the fan base, given the enthusiasm, given the lack of a serious competitor for attention, football has no excuse not to change. Why, then, even allowing for the administrative shambles, hasn't it done so already? I believe it's the inherent conservative nature preventing progression. As a country Scotland is not fond of change, and in football the mantras of the 1950s still hold sway here. How often have you heard these useless catchphrases trotted out by professionals, pundits and fans alike? "It's a man's game" "Play it long and get them turned" "He's not great, but he's a real trier" "So-and-so put in a great shift" And so on. The emphasis on strength and fitness would make us worldbeaters if allied to an equal fanaticsm for skill! What's needed is a new way of viewing foootball. And this is going to be very hard indeed to sell, because we have a media which relies on the football to keep breathing, especially at these time of recession. Summer football, for example, would be a Godsend for our game - years without international tournaments especially - but the media, which holidays in the summer, would be outraged at (a) having to work their break and (b) having to find something else to fill their winter schedules. This is not a small consideration; it must be borne in mind when media types are railing against summer football, that they have a vested interest in preventing it. Which in itself highlights another weak aspect of our game, the fear of the media. It's easy for me to type 'we must be bullish!' but that is whats needed. If someone at a paper wants to write something criticial, let them! there's no need to go on every media platform to discuss it...dignified silence, backed up with results on the pitch, would be the best riposte. An example: I found myself in a supermarket carpark on Saturday afternoon, after the football, and despite myself listened to some of the awful 'Your Call' show (well, my kids won't let me have 'Jazz Record Requests' from Radio 3 on in the car). Someone phoned in with an ambitious and well thought out suggestion which would see all training facilities pooled between regional clubs, and players produced allocated in the American collegiate system. Dismissed! None of your forward thinking, boy. Such a proposal would draw howls of protest from those who have invested already (such as Rangers) but the way around the problem is not that hard - there could be a levy for a period of years until an agreed sum is recouped by Rangers, or whoever, or else a rental fee could be charged continuously. It doesn't take a genius to work these things out, but it will take someone with the football nous of Rino Gattuso and the hide of a rhinoceros. Which is the main stumbling block I can see. Who will be the man? I thought Gordon Smith woud drive our football forward, but whether through his own failings, the system hampering him or whether I was just too optimistic, it didn't happen. Who will be the man who can achieve what would be a mammoth task against so many vested interests? If there's such a fellow currently active within the game, professionally, in the media or on the terraces, I haven't seen them. Without such a "Mandela" figure I just can't see how we will drive past the many roadblocks in the path of progress, which is a sobering and depressing thought to finish on. Perhaps we ought to be looking outwith the game for the man we need. Again we see how the conservative ethos, so firmly entrenched in the game, is a drawback - it's always the usual suspects whose names are put forward when a task like this is mentioned. Campbell Ogilivie, Henry McLeish, whoever is sports minister, blah blah blah. If we were to think outwith the box and come up with somone (completely at random) like Richard Branson or Stelios Haji-Ioannou, people who would be unwilling to take 'I shall refer that to the General Purposes' committie for an answer and who would, crucially, be given carte blanche to deliver, we may see some results. I fear, though, that that is a pious hope. Scottish football (indeed, Scotland's) inbuild leaning toward small c conservatism will continue to hold us back.

Although it was his deputy who made the quote highlighted, so it could still be accurate, if laughably wide of the mark. Plus, you have to be willing to believe this chap is telling the truth- he could be lying equally as much as the Record. Certainly I know who I'd believe, but I'm just saying.

Smith may well be the more naturally talented of the two, but you have to admit his career was stagnating at Rangers and we were as well trying something else, possibly less talented, but less frequently injured and maybe with a bit more hunger, coming from a dump rather than having been used to the Rangers way for so long. What I'm trying to say is maybe there is more to replacing Smith with Foster than just ability.

Wasn't a small minority I saw, just about every person I saw was pished. And I'm not castigating the whole support, I'm pointing out one of the reasons why we get treated badly.

A bit OT, but I see on teletext that someone has left Cliftonville to go to Germany...anyone know anything?

I wouldn't repeat this outwith the privacy of a Rangers forum, but we bahaved like children in 08 so it's not surprising they treat us like children now. I'm not talking about the trouble, of which I saw none btw, but the bevvying. People who can't handle booze getting slaughtered, it was pathetic to see.

Oh God, not this old rubbish again...

I only saw the Record at work and they were pretty fair, although you'd be hard put to out a gloss on that result! Real Radio were putting the boot in, despite Roughie's best efforts. So were the Celtic fans, to be fair.

Cheers. I was baffled.

If St.Johnstone were playing midweek, it must have been on Wednesday, and we weren't, and there's a big gap in the games available for today....so why are we playing tomorrow?

There was a brief paragraph in the paper today to the effect that Smith was weighing up a move for Richard Foster, of Aberdeen, about whom I know nothing.

Cynics would think we bought him to sell him, if you see what I mean.