26th of foot

I wish Graeme every good fortune. He was asked to step in and did not shy away. In his first spell, he went on an unbeaten dozen game run with a midfield composed of Goss, Docherty and, Halliday.

This thread is giving me the fear ...... I missed the three Scottish Cup final games in 1979, I was attending the RMA Sandhurst. I decided to look back after the giving you the fear comment. I have attended Hampden for Rangers - Hibs semis and finals over the years and as far as my memory informs me, we have lost all of them since '79. A Scottish Cup final in 2016, League Cup semi finals in 1973, 2004 and, 1991. Of course, we defeated Hibs 2-1 in the 1993 League Cup final, but that was hosted at Parkhead. The last time I witnessed Rangers defeat Hibs at Hampden was the Scottish Cup semi-final replay in April'71. Fifty years of fear ................

Public Service Announcement. BBC Scotland apologises for today's suspension of broadcasting from Pacific Quay. All your favourite TV and Radio programmes will return late this afternoon after our staff return from attending today's Sellik AGM. Thank you for your patience. I think we should all be excited today for Chris McLaughlin, it's the first time in 20(twenty) years that he gets to taste a different cheese. Peter Lawwell is no longer Chairing and thus the aroma and allure of Ian Bankier's Epoisse de Bourgogne awaits Gollum's keen nostrils.

The Aston Villa wanting Patterson link comes from 90 Mins today. BBC Scotland first voiced it on Friday night immediately after the Moldova - Scotland game. On Saturday, Patterson is put up by Scotland to talk about the previous evening's heroics. Concurrently, BBC Scotland Journos push the Gerrard-Patterson story to 90 Mins. This has the advantage of cleansing the story of their prints and when 90 Mons report it, BBC Scotland can report it again with a bit behind it, not just hopeful speculation. Patterson mentioned in his interview he only heard Gerrard had left the club whilst training in Spain with Scotland. Initially, BBC Scotland suggested Patterson had been contacted in Spain by one of the departing team. BBC Scotland will continue to highlight Patterson as a Scots international unable to secure a club position. I believe Villa have a young maverick right back of their own, Mathew Cash has recently signed a contract extension.

In the immediate wake of Scotland defeating Moldova on Friday night, Big Dick was wanting to know if Gerrard would want to combine John McGinn with Nathan Patterson at club level? Whatever happened to BBC Scotland's long held belief that young Scots players should always be encouraged to continue plying their trade in Scotland for as long as possible? Further, if a young Scot does leave, BBC Scotland always advocates he should not leave cheaply. Scots clubs should be fully rewarded for the development put in, getting said young Scottish player to the necessary level. When it comes to Rangers, BBC Scotland prefers a cleansing. RAB Cosgrove likes Billy Gilmour because although he had spent eight years at Rangers from aged eight to sixteen; Chelsea had taken him and rinsed him off. Rangers players playing for Scotland are deemed awkward and inconvenient these days. They could be booed, they could have a posse of the Tartan Army following them around whilst toting a banner proclaiming, "Lee Wallace is a Grass". BBC Scotland even had a Journo reporting the trail of the banner in Malta, telling us where it received applause. You could take say Ian Black and Ryan Jack and they were appearing for the national team at Easter Road and Pittodrie respectively, every touch was booed only by Hibs and Aberdeen fans. Hhhmmm , just rivalry we are told? No, it's better to move Rangers players on, easier to love. Thus today on BBC Scotland we have Football Gossip and I wonder who penned this : "Aston Villa want to sign Rangers defender, Nathan Patterson following Steven Gerrard's arrival as manager from the Scottish champions - but face competition for the Scotland right back, 20 from Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and, Paris St-Germain". Now, Nathan has been at Rangers since aged eight and has three and half years left on his contract. Bayern and PSG involved, are we talking a transfer fee that could wipe the recently reported £23million deficit? I think BBC Scotland want to take more time to hone this proposition to disappear Nathan from Ibrox.

I agree with Buchan and Stanton, wonderful players. There were three Dandies in the first eleven, Bobby Clark was a more than decent Keeper but I don't know he would have started if the game had not been at Pittodrie. As for Steve Murray, I think the Doc' would have to explain it. Murray got his move to Sellik eventually in his 31st year. I remember he carried the ball for fifty yards then passed the ball five yards. Hibs had more than Stanton and Cropley deserving of a cap, John Brownlie, John Blackley, and Jimmy O'Rourke were most deserving.

Qualification for the ECWC quarter-finals had been done the hard way. We had put out the French cup winners by a single goal and dispatched the Portuguese cup winners on goal difference. The draw for the last eight ratcheted up the pressure another notch, we drew the Italian cup winners, Torino. An article in the Herald explained the boys in maroon were the only talk in the Toon. Turin is a two club city, the more famous Juventus drew it's support from the rest of Italy and beyond. Torino were the favourites of the denizens of the city, reinforced for another reason. Ferrari. The Agnelli family owned the majority of the Juve' shares. Since the majority of locals worked for FIAT, they refused to support their Bosses club. Talking of which, the Agnelli family works team has seen off Aberdeen in the first ever UEFA Cup(taking over from the Fairs Cup as Europe's third competition). Juve' had defeated the Dons 3-1 over two the two legs. The Dandies were Scotland's only losers, all other progressed. St Johnstone had lost 1-0 in Hungary but triumphed 2-1 on aggregate over Vasas. Sellik also made it into the European Cup quarter-finals, defeating the mighty Sliema Wanderers of Malta 7-1 on aggregate. A very fine Dundee side fought back from being 1-2 down against Cologne to win 4-2 at Dens Park for a 5-4 aggregate victory. Rangers return from Lisbon saw them travel to Muirton Park to meet the Perth men. St Johnstone under Willie Ormand was always a tough ask, they had a very good front five. Henry Hall scored plenty, he was the recipient of plenty of service from inside forwards, John Connolly and Jim Pearson(both later transferred to Everton after failed Rangers bids). Winger, Kenny Aird was a handful and midfielder, John Lambie enjoyed a tackle. It was real drama that day in the fair city; ding-ding, seconds out. After our morning school game, we found out our amateur Boys' Club game in the afternoon had been cancelled due to an SFA investigation into S-Form registrations. The opposition manager concerned was Eric Smith who would spend several years as Hamilton Acas boss and where, S-Form registration would revisit him and Acas owner, Jan Stepek. Anyways, four of us caught the Tannochside RSC bus and joined another 20,000 avidly waiting on the tag team action. The teams were : St Johnstone - Donaldson, Coburn, Argue, Rennie, Gordon, Whitelaw, Aird, Lambie, Pearson, Connolly and, Hall. Rangers - McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, Jackson, Smith, Henderson, Conn, Stein, Fyfe and MacDonald. Willie Johnston was on as a Sub' for Fyfe at half time. Muirton Park was a dump, I remember looking down from the back of an end terrace and you could not see the roofless brick toilet for the enveloping cloud of water vapour. The view of the pitch was not much better, Willie Waddell, Jock Wallace and, Willie Ormand rushed on to the pitch, attempting to separate the brawling players. Johan Fyfe was clearly hobbling after a number of late challenges. The Referee awarded Rangers a hat-trick of penalties, all converted by Johnston. Doddie added our second goal in the 55th minute and Pearson notched a consolation for the home side in the dying minutes. Rangers won 1-4 in a bad tempered match. Pittodrie was and remains a toilet. Half a century past, it had an open high terracing running the length of the pitch. The SFA took Tommy Docherty's second match in charge of the national team to Aberdeen. Belgium were the opponents and the Doc' consolidated his good start with a second victory, Derby County's John O'Hare scored the only goal in the fifth minute. Thirty-six thousand squeezed into the toilet to see Sandy Jardine stroll the game. Those in the cobalt blue that evening were - Bobby Clark, Sandy Jardine, Davie Hay, Billy Bremner, Martin Buchan, Pat Stanton, Jimmy Johnstone, Stevie Murray, John O'Hare, Eddie Gray and, Alex Cropley. After five weeks at number one, Rod Stewart had given up appealing to Maggie to wake up. Slade had taken over the top spot with, 'Cos I luv you'. The Wolverhampton stomping rawkers could not fully subdue Rod the Mod, his LP, 'Every Picture Tells a Story' had re-established itself as number one album for a further two weeks. Slow burners were all the rage, November'71 saw a couple of unofficial Miners' strikes in Yorkshire and Kent. There was an NUM election for Presidency between Joe Gormley and Shotts born and bred, Mick McGahey. Gormley won and led the NUM into a seven weeks national strike at the end of the first week of the new year. CPGB founder member, Mick McGahey was the more moderate choice. Next week, Rangers would host Dundee at Ibrox. Another win, our sixth in a row could see us challenge for the number one spot over the festive programme? Benny Hill had just released, 'Ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West'; who would win the race to number one?

David McCallum you say? He is the Actor from Kirkintilloch that played Ilya Kuryakin in Man From Uncle. What is the limit of Putin's reach?

I schooled with Lulu's sister, Edwina and the family are solid. I watched a two hour documentary 20 years past, Jools Holland was hosting a take on early British Blues. We are talking early sixties, on the cusp of the Beatles. Contributors were Tom Jones, Van Morrison, Chris Farlowe, Mick Fleetwood, Al Green .... etc. They talked about the the best interpreters and players. It was agreed the Female contribution was on the light side, obvious exceptions being Dusty Springfield, Kiki Dee, Elkie Brooks, ..... Anyways, the Toms, Vans, Als ..... all agreed the one that could do it live was Lulu, check out her interpretation of , 'To Sir with Love'. Lulu opened the Edmiston Club, the Club should invite her back to open the new Edmiston when opened. A night of Blues with Lulu -sounds good and most appropriate.

Big Dick is a trendy AmDram thespian. When in thrall with his Muse, he can travel the drama spectrum from hatred of all things Rangers to venom spitting hatred of all things Rangers.

Moldova - Scotland post match discussion on BBC Radio Scotland Sportsound tonight and Nathan Patterson is being eulogised, deservedly so. He scored Scotland's opener and made our second. Big Dick wonders aloud if Aston Villa's new manager was viewing and if he would be interested in combining McGinn and Patterson at club level? You can always rely on Big Dick.

The strength of character thing resonates with me. We know the media landscape in Scotland, it's mostly toxic. I think we need a management team that know the score, know the job and, don't panic at the level of expectation. I contributed earlier in this thread about how I was wrong when Walter was appointed. After the sexiness of the Souness years, it was hard to reconcile with a local born and bred lad. Walter and Archie Knox had plenty of inner toughness or if you prefer, 'strength of character'. It may not tick every Gersnetter's box but I would go with Kevin Thomson and Neil McCann?

Double Dutch. The Glasgow Air Traffic Controllers strike had delayed the Rangers party's plans to arrive in Lisbon on the Monday evening. A hastily organised overnight stay in London was arranged and the Rangers party were separated into a a number of smaller groupings as they negotiated the journey from Heathrow to Lisbon. The last grouping arrived late Tuesday afternoon, just three hours before the UEFA deadline. It was hardly decent preparation for an important Euro' match. The added Double Dutch ingredient was about to be added the very second Referee, Laurens Van Ravens blew his whistle. Van Ravens was no stranger to Scottish football, he had officiated when Rangers defeated Real Zaragoza 2-0 at Ibrox in the ECWC quarter-final first leg in 1967. Further, he had been centre stage at Hampden in 1968 when Scotland drew 1-1 with England. In Lisbon on that November evening he was clearly a stranger to the rules. The aforementioned Zaragoza game is a case in point, Rangers won two nil, then lost the second leg by the same scoreline in Spain. Extra time did not separate the teams, thus the Ref' tossed a coin and fortune was on our side. UEFA had changed the rules for all 1971-72 Euro competition, the coin toss was scrapped in favour away goals counting double and if extra time did not reach a conclusion, a penalty shoot out was deemed decisive. As the players entered the pitch at Estadio de Alvalade the Lisbon Chronicle described the attendance as, "Sixty thousand filled the ground both physically and spiritually. The stands were crammed, spirits brimming over with faith. Hope, almost certainly was in the air, in everyone's souls". The teams taking the field were : Sporting Lisbon - Damas, Gomes, Hilario, Tome, Talo, Laranjiero, Vagner, Lourenco, Yazalde, Peres and, Dinis. Rangers - McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, McKinnon, Jackson, Henderson, Conn, Stein, Johnston and, MacDonald. Rangers two Subs were Tommy McLean and Dave Smith. Sporting's initial approach in front of their fanatical support was described by the Herald as, "hammer and tongs". In the 25th minute Yazalde put Sporting ahead, a long range free kick was spilled by McCloy and the Portuguese forward knocked the ball into the net. The Girvan Lighthouse blamed the lightness of the continental ball, "it constantly moved in the air". Two minutes later, Colin Stein was grateful for such lightness, he won the ball then chased his own knock down. He survived another two challenges before squeezing in the equaliser. Lisbon restored their lead five minutes before half time, Tome notching. At the break, the Portuguese side were through on the away goals ruling. It took two second period minutes for Stein to equalise for the second time. Just after the hour mark, Ronnie McKinnon went in for a challenge and did not get back up. Doddie was quoted, "he tackled then sat up with his hand in the air". I urged him to get back into the fray but he just sat there, "he wasn't rolling around and when I went back over he told me he had broken his leg". Ronnie had sustained a double fracture that effectively ended his career, Dave Smith came on as Ronnie was stretchered off. There were six minutes remaining when Sporting retook the lead through Gomes. The game ended 3-2 and 5-5 on aggregate, the home side had the advantage of 30 minutes extra time in front of their own support. The reports of the match I have read all mention the dozen Sporting drummers at the front of the main stand, apparently they increased their beat during the added thirty minutes. They stopped when Willie Henderson's shot found the net but again picked up the rhythm when Sporting won and scored a penalty through Peres. The game finished 4-3 and the tie was 6-6. Rangers had notched three away goals to Sporting's two, thus Rangers should have progressed into the quarter-finals. The Dutch Ref' had other ideas. Stein and McCloy remonstrated with Van Ravens but he was adamant penalties were needed to decide the tie. He consulted his Linesmen and came back to the centre circle where he proceeded to toss a coin. John Greig called and the Ref decided the toss was to decide which end the penalty shoot out should take place. Confusion reigned, Rangers had won on away goals, had won the toss but, missed their first four penalties. John Greig did not get to take the fifth. Sandy Jardine was last off the pitch and he remembered the Sporting Keeper, Damas being chaired around the track. There are two stories as to what occurred next, the first is Daily Express Journo, John Fairgreave approached Willie Waddell post matc with UEFA rule book in hand. The Rangers manager then sought out the UEFA Delegate, Ramirez. He was at the mouth of the tunnel attempting to stop the penalties but the first had already been taken. He then bumped into Waddell and assured him Rangers were through. He then went to the Directors' room and gathered together both clubs' representatives to inform them of Rangers progression. The Portuguese fumed at the Spaniard. Telegrams were sent to Berne, Sporting's President, Guilherme Medeiros booked two flights to Berne, he was intent on pressing the Portuguese claim in person. Medeiros was quoted in the next day's Chronicle, "The Referee's decision is final, he is sovereign upon the field of play. We will go to Berne to defend the prestige of football and sporting ethics and to avoid serious moral and material damage to our club". UEFA responded with a direct telephone call, "don't bother sending anybody, the Referee misinterpreted the rules and, Rangers will be attributed the victory". The Chronicle reported other telegrams had been sent and finished a week later, blaming the fact that the first telegram had not been translated into any of UEFA's three languages (ie French, German or, English) as the reason why Sporting remained out. Concurrently, the Portuguese press were most generous in their appreciation of various Rangers players. Colin Stein was described as, "sensational". The Skipper was, "a defender of extraordinary class" and, Sandy Jardine was lionised by Abola, "three games(including the international) exuding power in the tackle and magnificence in his surges into midfield". Poor Peter McCloy was the only player not worthy of a Rangers jersey, but the Gas Meter would prove his worth in the next games. Rather amazingly, I cannot find a quote attributed to Referee, Laurens Van Ravens.

Assuming Gerrard is on his way to Brum. I was still serving when Souness decided to go back to Liverpool. I remember feeling less than impressed with the appointment of Walter. I thought we should have taken more time. Looking back, I was wrong and David Murray was absolutely correct in his immediate gifting the job to Smith. I had a lad in the Battalion who like Walter, was born and bred in Carmyle. He suggested Walter was the very dab because he was a slow burn, "big Wattie can fight". Similarly to when Souness departed, the Rangers manager's post is far more attractive now than when Gerrard took the job Further, I believe Kevin Thomson can fight?

Rangers 4 Ross County 0 FGS : Sakala.

Brondby 1 Rangers 2 FGS : Morelos.

In reality we should rule out what calamities cannot be laid at the door of Rangers and Rangers supporters. We have a Hotelier born and bred in Thurso complaining about the conduct of the visiting Hibee official Club party. He pointed out that despite frequent reminders of protocol, the Hibees wandered around the Hotel maskless. The Hibs CEO decided not to admit to such rashness, it was a path of least resistance to blame the H-u-ns. His Tweet barely lasted an hour before being deleted. The usual suspects prefer the tweet as opposed to the truth. I suspect he knew that would be the case? So, are we to blame for the Bubonic plague, how about Covid 19 or, there remains the mystery of Eve surrendering the future of the human race for the pricely sum of an apple? A word to the wise to Ben Kensell, ensure Scotland's premier Historian, Tom Devine conjures up some ridiculous evidence to support your utter nonsense before going public. otherwise, you will have to delete your Tweet.

Days of yore in deepest, darkest Lanarkshire presented a number of opportunities. You could join the Band of Hope(sign the pledge), join the Tufty Club, the Wolf Cubs, .................................... the Hamilton ABC Minors. The last was the most exciting, you paid your dosh at the local ABC Cinema, bought a frozen Jubilee, and surrendered to the mid morning darkness. You sucked the colour out of the Jubilee and then launched it. You watched the serials your old man had viewed 30 years before, you booed, cheered, or participated in the weekly talent contest(the lad playing the sash on a moothie always won). The best bit came after leaving the Cinema. You left the town via the racecourse Road to the satellite villages and you flew a bi-plane(the Blue Max), rode the torrent de Valencia(El Cid) or stormed across Bothwell Brig(the Bridge at Remegan). I should mention that apres Cinema excitement only occurred if you were fortunate to survive the flying Jubilees.

A number of Gersnetters have contacted me, asking about the price of attending football fifty years past? If you attended Primary school then the price was asking a fellow attending adult for, "a lifty ower"? You can add from a hundred to several thousand on to any attendance at that time, depending upon the size of the game. Children were lifted over the turnstiles, the turnstile did not klick thus the entry was not included in the attendance. Free entry for under 12s guaranteed Scottish football always had a waiting audience. Entry for the Main Stand was 60 pence(12 Bob), Enclosure was 40 pence(8 Bob), 30 pence for the Ground(6 Bob for the terracing) and, OAPs and Boys' Gate was 15 pence(3 Bob). The Lifty Ower ended at the same time alcohol was banned from the Terraces. The consequences of the Scottish Cup final riot of 1980 went further than most think. When Rangers hosted Killie on Saturday 30th October'71, 25,000 attended without me. I played my school game and climbed into a Coach taking half-a-dozen of us down to Kerswell College for a weekend long selection to represent Lanarkshire schools. It was after evening meal I found out Rangers had triumphed 3-1 to secure seventh position in the Championship. The teams were Rangers : McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, McKinnon, Smith, Henderson, Penman, Stein, Fyfe and, MacDonald. Kilmarnock fielded : Hunter, Whyte, Cairns, Maxwell, Rodman, McGrory, McSherry, Gilmour, Mathie, McCulloch and, Cook. The big Kilmarnock bunnet was worn by Ross Mathie, he notched for the Ershur men in the third minute, Colin Stein equalised on the 15th minute and the game stood at 1-1 at the interval. The other noteworthy first half incident was Sandy Jardine's ordering off. I do not remember this and cannot find a source to explain his red card. If any Gersnetter can provide details, please do. Ten man Rangers scored another two goals in the second period courtesy of Alex MacDonald on the 67th and 79th minutes. We had reached ten points but remained 7 points behind Aberdeen in pole position. Sporting Lisbon had lost their first match of their domestic season, going down 2-1 away to Belevese. I returned home late Sunday afternoon and found out from the evening News that Glasgow Air Traffic Controllers had voted for immediate strike action. The next morning the Rangers party arrived at the Airport and were told to wait for their connecting flight to Heathrow. Eventually, they travelled early evening and missed the last Monday flight to Lisbon. It wasn't going well.

Sacked in the Morning? Craig Levein was the guest on Off the Ball yesterday, he was intent on promoting the new Blog he co-presents with Amy Irons, 'Sacked in the Morning'. A great title and made an even better start last week when Craig referred to Michael Stewart, "as a bellend". An increasingly frustrated Michael took to social media last midweek rueing a missed opportunity to sink another boot into the H-u-ns, "I don't know when I'll appear on Sportscene, I have not been invited". I suspect Michael is a victim of the escalating war between Staffers and Freelancers at PQ? As Michael looks forward to a Jum Spence type future, he will become increasingly reliant on Stuart Cosgrove evoking his memory. The Fir Park scoreline of Motherwell 1 Rangers 6 was described by Cosgrove as, "shocking and frightening" before he grabbed his Jum Spence comfort blanket. Does Jum remain relevant? Did you know Jum has stepped down from his role as Rector of Dundee Uni'? He resigned with a whimper last March claiming he could not effectively support the undergraduates. In other words Jum's conservative catholicism does not allow him to fully engage plus, the unpaid role was a penurious road. Anyways, RAB(rancid auld bigot) Cosgrove liked the 'Well Bois banner, 'Happy Halloween ya Zombie Bastards' and had no hesitation in replying to a Craig Levein story of Souness and Smith attempting to sign him at the Forth Bridge Motel in late 1987 with, "did they offer you an EBT"? Murray did not even own the club at that point, but it is Spence-esque. You know demanding Rangers should be prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act and Jum assured BBC Radio Scotland listeners this was the case because he lectured in Law. Of course, it fell apart when he was asked what was the crime and who has been found guilty? The Staffer - Freelancer conflict is interesting. BBC Scotland regularly employs over a dozen Freelancers for it's coverage of football. PQ can legitimately claim they have no control over the comments of Freelancers and these last thirty years they have used Freelancers to articulate comfortable preferred prejudices. Jum was let go twice because he was a Staffer. RAB Cosgrove and Richard Gordon have been Freelancing for 30 years. Big Dick's prejudices are well documented on this thread, the nearest he came to being relieved was 2007 when he casually abused Rangers player, Filip Sebo. It was the last hours of the Transfer month and Big Dick was hosting, 'Through the Window' on BBC Radio Scotland. He told the listeners he had an e0mail announcing the transfer of Filip Sebo but he would have to clear it with his Producer. This went on for nearly an hour and finally at the end of the show he broadcast, "Edinburgh Zoo have accepted the transfer of Rangers player, Filip Sebo, they plan to exhibit him". The PQ Gang Hut laughed like drains. Rangers supporters took Big Dick the whole way and BBC Scotland reprimanded him. Now, Richard Gordon occasionally refers to this as the worst thing he has ever experienced in broadcasting. Why is it always Rangers and Rangers supporters Rheinhardt? You were raised to hate Rangers and continually, you flash those credentials. Only last week you went off on one from the PQ studio. Apparently, you had a better view from the studio of Sakala being dragged by his jersey to the Ibrox turf, than I and tens of thousands of others had, attending Ibrox. You attempted to involve Pat Bonner in your accusation that a Referee, John Beaton had cheated your beloved Dandy Dons. You did not receive satisfaction thus took to your Aberdeen Press and Journal column to pen the following poison : "The Don's resurgence would have looked even stronger had they not been cheated. The game swung on an embarrassing, but hardly unexpected decision by Referee, John Beaton to award Rangers another controversial penalty and hand them the opportunity to snatch a point. Only the official and inexplicably the Sportscene pundits, thought it was a spot kick and the frustration of Stephen Glass and his players was entirely understandable". Big Dick accuses the Ref' of cheating, it was another controversial penalty and, berated his BBC Scotland colleagues on Sportscene for not being on message. You see the freedom enjoyed by a Freelancer? Yesterday, Dick was sick and vented his frustration again at Sakala, "a hat trick hero but nothing he did in the first forty minutes of the match would lead you to believe he was capable of such an achievement". I guess it's inexplicable. Another inexplicably arrived yesterday, the day before at Celtic Park where Big Dick was present; a visiting American Journo, White House Correspondent Philip Crowther over here for COP26 took in the Sellik-Livi' game and was disappointed at the racism aimed at Ayo Obileye by the home support. He heard 'monkey' being screamed and this was reported in a number of USA newspapers. Similarly, last Wednesday at Easter Road where BBC Scotland had live commentary. Former Sellik View cub Reporter, Andrew Smith took to the Hootsmon to complain long and hard at the constant songs of sectarianism emanating from the Green Brigade. Again, Big Dick ignored something he would have raised if Rangers supporters had been accused. I suggest RAB Cosgrove, Richard Gordon, JumSpence and, Michael Stewart form a self help group.

Did we get a penalty? Apparently, we get a penalty in every game. We have played 12 Premiership games and been awarded 3 penalties. St Johnstone and Hearts have been awarded eight.

Game management, game management, game management, ........ 'Well's right back and Skipper, Stephen O'Donnell has been cautioned, put pressure on him in the second half. Please cut out the Keystone Cops defending, aimless balls upfield going nowhere should be claimed, no hesitation. Put in a real effort in the first 15-20 minutes of the second period to get the third, it's easier to see a game out when you hold a two goal lead.

Motherwell 1 Rangers 2 FGS : Morelos.

BIG DICKER. Reference : Page 29 of this thread, third post entitled - 'Alchemy at Pacific Quay'. I would urge my fellow Gersnetters to read the reference before, during and, after this post. It's a plus ca change type of thing three and half years after the reference post. Wednesday night started in a deserved emotional tribute to Walter Smith. Rangers defence decided on some necessary light relief and embarked upon Keystone Cops defending. We gifted Aberdeen their first goal, then teased them by partly gifting their second. Alfie gave us hope and with nine minutes to go, the Referee awarded a penalty, Tav' converted to secure our third league draw at home this season. Big Time frustration all round. The Big Time frustration was also being played out a mile along the Govan Road at PQ. Big AmDram Quine, Big Dick Gordon was Hosting Sportsound, live commentary came from Easter Road, various reporters were in attendance at a further four Premiership grounds for 'Open All Mikes' exposure. The sixth Premiership ground, Ibrox was covered by Big Dick sitting in a Pacific Quay studio. Remember, there was no live TV coverage of any Scottish game on Wednesday evening. Big Dick is a Dandy Don. He has established his Dandy credentials, he utilised his biography on BBC Radio Scotland nearly 20 years past to right what his fellow Dandies thought was a heinous wrong. Richard Gordon donned the Rangers blazer and necktie to present three or four of the first nine-in-a-row videos. He took the decision, he took the dosh but, did not enjoy the level of opprobrium that accompanied. A minute into his biog' he stated, "I was raised to hate Rangers, absolutely". Regularly since, he has exploited most opportunities to reinforce his hatred. Recently, his best efforts have been begging Compliance Officer intervention reference both Ryan Jack and Alfredo Morelos. Big Dick could not accept John Beaton's decision, in the 45 minute period post match, continually he returned to the penalty award. He could not see why it was awarded. A soupcon of sympathy here, the PQ building is a mile away from the Stadium. On hearing Stephen Glass post match, Big Dick was all out in support, it was a case of 'Cheatin' Beaton'. He attempted to get Pat Bonner's support but one half of the Blarney Bhoys was sated seeing his beloved green'n'grey hooped heroes win at Easter Road. "For the life of me I cannot see why that penalty was awarded and I've watched the incident on a dozen of occasions", was Big Dick's last broadcast piece of BIG DICKERY. I sit on the halfway line in Club'72, I witnessed Tav' lob the ball into the Dons box, David Bates was the wrong side of Sakala and his left hand had a full grasp of the back of Fashion's back of shirt. Bates fell, dragging Sakala to the ground. No one in the Govan Stand with a similar view was not screaming penalty. Simply, I saw it and Richard Gordon did not. The angled TV clip fails to show Bates grabbing Sakala's shirt. All contributors to Sportscene agreed it was a penalty. The consequences of Big Dick's BIG DICKERY is the usual suspects piling on, Chris Sutton says, "it's the worst award I have ever seen". Tam McManus is speechless, I wish he was. The photos of Beaton in his Bellshill local have resurfaced, Big Dick knew what he was doing. We go to Fir Park on Sunday and Gordon's BBC Scotland colleague, Tam Cowan(Well season ticket holder) is on Peter McGuire's PLZ Soccer stating, "Beaton has opened a can of worms". Time we posted a few pictures of Big Dick replete in Rangers blazer and necktie, remind him we know he'll say what is required if you pay the dosh. Reference reminder : Page 29, third post entitled - 'Alchemy at Pacific Quay'.

Yorkie, 'A poor-oot' - I have never heard the term. Do you know the derivation? Born and bred in deepest, darkest Lanarkshire; we were taught there were NO poor people in Caledonia's craggy capital. The service bus went through my village back in the 60s-70s. It was a number 56 and it's destination was 'Cravat City via Shotts'.