Uilleam

An off form Barcelona team, on a freezing cold November night, came to Glasgow, and - in front of tgfitw, who (it is now axiomatic) create the most magnificent atmosphere in world football- playing within itself, beat rahoops, who were brave (again, axiomatic, nowadays), with little ado. Is there anything else to say?

That's not the right price. The right price is free, gratis, for nothing.

Hold the Front Page! I am advised that the Deed is about 30 pages in total; 2 dozen pages of text seems unmanageable to post on a site like this. Unless someone has it in PDF............

I'm sorry, but it would be very, very useful to see the actual Clauses of the document.

Apparently Sons of Struth has published a copy of the Deed. It's on Facebook or some such application, loved, and used, by the juvenile population, but which is By Attic Greek out of Basque to me. Perhaps some youngster could cause a copy to be posted here. It would be useful to see the whole shameful document.

The story was in the Daily Record, mon ami; ergo, it is safe to assume that someone, maybe a knowledgeable supporter, had to lead the authors by their collective nose. I might observe, also, that the DR, would interpret it as a very bad news story for Rangers, and, thus, publishable, on the front page, on the very day that fhilth fc meets Barca (an even more sanctimonious outfit, but I digress).

You will eat those words when he "drives" the National XI to the next World Cup.

Unfortunately, I think that Messrs King, et all, will have looked at this, and the possibility of charging Gessler for access to stock his shelves. Given that it is war, then perhaps ransom strips could be sold to "Friends of Rangers Ltd", which would then be able to put the bite on the fat git, presupposing that the lease terms do not preclude the possibility of disposing of land affecting access, without such access being guaranteed. Fine toothed combs are needed. Let us hope that the Board, and its consultants, are in possession of several.

I have not seen the lease, but my 1st thought is that the premises are not on a public road, and, thus, require access across land which is not owned by the leaseholder, nor is under his control. It's possible, given the apparent haste with which the deed was done, that Ashley has no right of access, save by implicit implication, and, ahem, "common sense". Room for manoeuvre? Clutching at straws, I shouldn't wonder.

He must have been fun to play against.

Thon Willie Collum looks most reptilian, right enough.

And here he is, in today's Sunday Times Perhaps file under 'Not Sure If Serious'...... FOOTBALL McCoist looking to manage again — but no ‘basket cases’ Former Rangers boss says he has no regrets accepting the job in 2011. By Douglas Alexander Douglas Alexander November 20 2016, 12:01am, The Sunday Times McCoist wants to make a return to management in either England or the United States, but the former Rangers boss has ruled out taking on another “basket case” club after more than three years of dealing with the financial crisis at Ibrox. The 54-year-old revealed he was in the running for the Queens Park Rangers job before Ian Holloway’s appointment last week, yet admits he has been warned off other managerial roles south of the border. “A few other jobs have come up, but, just after I expressed an interest, people got in touch to tell me not to go near it with a bargepole. I’m not going to take anything for the sake of it. There’s no point me moving my family down the road to be back up in three months. “If something comes up, brilliant, I’d love to do it. It’s what I want to do, but I’m in a fortunate position in that I can do some punditry and I have other business interests, which I’m keen to work on. I’m looking at England but there are one or two things going on in America which I’d seriously consider as well. “It’s pointless going to a basket case club like Coventry City. [Former managers] Tony Mowbray and Steven Pressley warned me against that. “At Rangers, there wasn’t a scenario I didn’t have to deal with. Sir David Murray said to me, ‘We still don’t know if you can manage, but we know you can crisis manage’. That’s as near a compliment as I’ll get from him. It was a bizarre time at Rangers, with some of the goings on. I don’t think we’ll ever see that again. It was incredible.” Yet despite his managerial reputation suffering, McCoist insists he has no regrets about accepting the chance to succeed Walter Smith in 2011. “I don’t regret it at all. It’s the opposite actually. I’m quite happy that I took it because I’m not sure what would have happened if someone else had. It wasn’t the best time, but I was happy to take it. I don’t know if someone could have done the same job, but I wouldn’t have liked to take that chance and find out.” While McCoist said last week that Rangers might have to settle for finishing third behind Aberdeen this season, Smith believes they will finish second and said Mark Warburton will also have to provide evidence he can close the gap on Celtic in the second half of the season. “I’d hope they’d do well enough to finish second and I think they will. That’s the proving ground this season, but they have to show through performances they’re getting closer to Celtic and that with a bit more investment they can put in a legitimate challenge. In Scotland, I think Rangers are still the only team that can put in a legitimate challenge to Celtic, but it will take a settling-in period and that is this season.” Warburton, meanwhile, believes Lee Wallace, his captain, has made a claim to be Scotland’s left-back ahead of Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney. The Rangers manager was at Wembley last weekend to watch Wallace perform well in Scotland’s 3-0 defeat by England. “I thought in a positive way he gave Gordon [strachan] a selection problem,” he said. “He’s probably forsaken his international career with Rangers going down and back up again, but I thought he stepped in well. “He’s a very modest guy, but I’d turn round to him and tell him he’s got to say that he’s given Gordon a problem. He was an attacking threat, he got down the left-hand side, giving one-twos and putting balls in the box. He’s shown Gordon that, whenever called upon, he’s ready.” Warburton now wants the likes of Andy Halliday, Jason Holt and Danny Wilson to join Wallace and Barrie McKay in Strachan’s squad and increase Rangers’ representation. “I got a bit frustrated when the squad was announced a few weeks ago and someone asked if Lee was up to it,” he added. “He’s the Rangers captain, so of course he is. A few years ago, the Scotland squad was packed with Rangers players. That’s something we have to get back to, but it’s a building process.” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/mccoist-looking-to-manage-again-but-no-basket-cases-j23kbw5n3

Here is an interesting piece on Mark Hately (with incidental participation by Butch Wilkins) at AC Milan. Hately was a terrific centre forward for Rangers, aggressive, powerful, combative, and a player who seemed to want to impose his will on the opposition, succeeding, more often than not. From The Guardian/ Observer: https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-gentleman-ultra/2016/nov/20/milan-internazionale-mark-hateley-serie-a-derby Milan v Internazionale: the game that made Mark Hateley a Rossoneri hero In the space of six months in 1984, Mark Hateley went from playing for Portsmouth in the Second Division to scoring the winner in the Milan derby By Luca Hodges-Ramon for The Gentleman Ultra, of the Guardian Sport Network Mark Hateley’s goal gave Milan their first win in the derby for six years. Photograph: Bob Thomas/Getty Images Luca Hodges-Ramon Sunday 20 November 2016 10.00 GMT Italian football can be an unforgiving world for British players. The methodical practices, tactical rigours and conformist culture have alienated some of Britain’s finest exports. Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law, Joe Baker and Ian Rush all struggled to adapt to the hard-line approaches of their coaches and the panopticon surveillance of the unrelenting media. Few British footballers have been entirely successful in Italy. John Charles’ prolific time at Juventus between 1957 and 1962 – winning three Scudetti and scoring 108 goals in 155 games – remains an exception. Other players have enjoyed cult status without truly delivering on the pitch. Despite his career-stymieing injuries and psychological battles, Paul Gascoigne’s gregarious, mischievous and down-to-earth personality ensured he was loved by Lazio fans – that and the small matter of his late equaliser in the Rome derby in 1992. Indeed, making a name for yourself in the derby can be a surefire way to endear yourself to Italian fans. For Mark Hateley, this certainly proved the case at Milan. In the summer of 1984, two of football’s most distinguished names earned record-breaking moves to Serie A. Diego Maradona left Barcelona to join Napoli for £6.9m (then a world record fee) and Internazionale paid Bayern Munich £4.7m for Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Accompanying the duo, and joining the likes of Zico (Udinese), Socrates (Fiorentina) and Michel Platini (Juventus) in Serie A’s star-studded cast, was Mark Hateley, who arrived from Portsmouth. Milan paid the Second Division club £1m for the 23-year-old English forward. Hateley was bought to replace his compatriot Luther Blissett, who had spent one dismal season at the club and earned cult status among fans for being a super-bidone (rubbish). Though Hateley had enjoyed a prolific season on the south coast, scoring 22 goals in 38 games, the fact that Milan plundering the English second tier for attacking talent shows how badly they were struggling. The club were recovering from one of the darkest periods in their history at the time. In 1980, they had been relegated to Serie B due to their involvement in the Totonero betting scandal – just one year after winning their 10th Serie A title. Two years later, having bounced straight back to Serie A, they were relegated once again – this time due to desperately poor performances on the field. Their problems were accentuated by the comparative success of their city rivals, Internazionale, who had been crowned Serie A champions during Milan’s first relegation and Coppa Italia champions during their second. Inter’s supremacy was most conspicuous in the Milan derby, in which they had enjoyed a six-year unbeaten run between 1979 and 1984. Throughout these years, Milanisti suffered while their rivals revelled in schadenfreude. That was until Hateley stemmed the tide of blue and black dominance, etching his name into Milan folklore. Hateley was not the only English player who moved to Italy’s fashion capital in the summer of 1984. Ray Wilkins left Manchster United to join Milan and the two players helped each other settle, albeit at the expense of their Italian language skills. Benefiting from his compatriot’s company, Hateley’s impact was instant. In the run-up to the season’s first Derby della Madonnina, the languid forward struck four times as Milan went unbeaten in their opening six games. The Italian press and Hateley’s team-mates were suitably impressed. “He really surprised me,” said Milan captain Franco Baresi. And with the derby approaching, the scene was set for the Englishman’s finest hour in red and black stripes. Six years without a win against your fiercest rivals is an eternity in footballing terms. On 28 October 1984, the Rossoneri were not favourites to change this statistic. They were facing a formidable Inter side, led by a number of influential figures. Walter Zenga played in goal, World Cup winners Beppe Bergomi and Fulvio Collovati led the defence, Liam Brady was in midfield, and Alessandro Altobelli and Rumenigge were up front. Despite Milan’s promising start to the season, they were a side in transition, most notable for the bourgeoning brilliance of Baresi. For Hateley and Wilkins, the tumult that greeted them as they emerged from the San Siro’s tunnel left them under no illusions about the size of the fixture. Wilkins later described the feverish atmosphere: “Blue and black at one end, red and black at the other, the smoke meeting in the middle, it was something quite fantastic.” His side were initially overawed as Inter took an early lead through Altobelli’s diving header. After withstanding further pressure, Milan equalised through Agostino Di Bartolomei, who volleyed home after some intricate build-up play between Hateley, Wilkins and Pietro Paolo Virdis. Then, with 25 minutes remaining, Hateley’s moment arrived. Baresi made a characteristically well-timed tackle to rob Altobelli of possession deep inside Inter’s half. As the ball broke to Virdis, he took a couple of touches to compose himself and curled a cross towards his strike partner. Hateley, who was floating around the penalty spot, towered above Fulvio Collovati – a defender renowned for his aerial ability – and crashed a header past the flailing dive of Walter Zenga. Hateley made it 2-1, and that is how it finished. Praise was heaped on the performances of Milan’s two Englishmen. The most flamboyant tribute was voiced by the Italian director and screenwriter, Ugo Tognazzi, who described Wilkins and Hateley as “two rare and refined English species in a divine dish.” But it was the latter’s goal that entered into the realms of myth. For more than 80 years, the team who had taken the lead in the derby had, at the very least, secured a draw. Hateley’s leap had delivered the Rossoneri divine intervention. Inter fan Tommaso Pellizzari called it an “epoch-making goal”, one that broke Inter’s hegemony in the city. Meanwhile, one Milan fanzine writer declared: “For years I had a gigantic poster of Hateley’s goal by my bed. For us, that game meant a return to winning ways after years of purgatory.” The defeat did not sit well with Inter’s president, Ernesto Pellegrini. In the aftermath, he bumped into his opposite number, Giuseppe Farina, and apparently said: “Congratulations, you won the battle, but the war will be ours.” Inter finished third, two places above their city rivals, but the ultimate prize eluded them and they were helpless to stop the inexorable rise of Osvaldo Bagnoli’s Verona, who won a miraculous first Scudetto title. The image of Hateley climbing above Collovati was also one for the ages. “I was in awe,” said Mauro Tassotti after the game. “Hateley’s leap was incredible, demonstrating his timing and strength.” The former Milan defender was stood just yards away from the goal and he drew parallels between Hateley and Italy’s last great British success, John Charles. “It was the quintessential English forward’s goal, just like John Charles. And against an uncompromising defender like Collovati … it was a moment of incredible athleticism.” Charles himself added to the hyperbole by claiming: “Mark’s fame will surpass my own. Italian defenders are good, but against British forwards like Hateley, their tactical astuteness is not enough.” The goal had embodied the Englishman’s finest attributes: his power, combative nature and clinical finishing. His dishevelled appearance and long hair fit the “warrior” blueprint and the Milan faithful promptly nicknamed him “Attila”, after the fearsome leader of the Hunnic Empire. The Gazzetta dello Sport milked this symbolism, publishing photos of the goal under headlines such as “Mark Attila has struck again.” One reporter wrote: “He is like Conan, the mythical, invincible barbarian. Like a barbarian, Hateley looks his opponents in the eye, like a barbarian he throws himself into the most furious of battles and like a barbarian, he celebrates when his rivals are destroyed.” Physical prowess was not the only weapon in Hateley’s armoury. He was an intelligent operator who was constantly aware of his surroundings and his opponents’ flaws. “Top strikers try to identify the weakest link in a defence,” Hateley later told Scottish journalists during his time at Rangers. This shrewd and ruthless streak made him an especially troublesome opponent for defenders. In Italy, Hateley will forever be remembered for his derby-day heroics. Despite auspicious beginnings, Hateley’s progress was curtailed by injuries throughout his three-year stay in Milan. He went on to score 17 goals in 66 games and his fitness problems irked Milan’s president, Giuseppe Farina. In 1987, the arrival of media magnate Silvio Berlusconi heralded the dawn of a glorious era for the Rossoneri. With the club heading in a new direction, Berlusconi desired grace over graft. Marco van Basten was Berlusconi’s man and Hateley was on his way to Monaco. Nevertheless, Hateley retains fond memories of his time in Milan, especially his winner in the derby. “I keep two huge photos of that goal on my wall at home, one in black and white and one in colour,” he later told Milan Channel. “It was one of the most beautiful and important goals of my life, a joyous moment for all of us and especially for the fans after a number of difficult years.” And just like Hateley, the fans still remember the goal as if it were yesterday. So much so that, during the Derby della Madonnina in January this year, Milan fans unveiled a majestic choreography celebrating Hateley’s famous strike. The display, depicting the Englishman leaping above Collovati, engulfed the entirety of the San Siro’s Curva Sud and was accompanied by a banner read “sovrastiamoli” (“we tower above them”). The tribute had an almost prophetic effect as Milan triumphed 3-0, set on their way thanks to a powerful header by the Brazilian centre-back Alex. Hateley, who was covering the game on TV, was understandably moved: “When I saw my face represented in the choreography I was shocked,” he said later. “My colleagues were discussing the game while I remained stupefied, lost in that image. It’s incredible to think that after 30 years the fans still remember that goal. I can only thank the Curva Sud and those who came up with the idea.” On Sunday evening, the San Siro will take centre-stage once again for the season’s first Derby della Madonnina. Inter might count themselves fortunate as, unlike the derby of October 1984, Milan’s frontline won’t be led by Mark “Attila” Hateley. • This blog first appeared on The Gentleman Ultra And, if you have got this far, and want to see the fans' display, here it is in all its glory: https://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FCaSWwkQWYAA65Zp.jpg%3Alarge&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Ffootballitalia%2Fstatus%2F694846004517040128&docid=vK-qgZpm5sBriM&tbnid=9N8gnQGOhztT9M%3A&vet=1&w=490&h=200&hl=en-gb&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim

"We will fight till the day is done." So why leave early?

It's hard to play against a team packing its defence, I know, but by Christ it's hard to watch, too. Watching these games, and when they actually coax a win, the overwhelming emotion is relief.

EDIT by craig : No streaming links please

The point is that he could not resist the irrelevant jibe that the Club would not have been able to afford the players it had employed, without the use of EBTs, which seemed indicative of a non judicial attitude, which one might interpret as jealousy, the green eyed monster, appropriately enough.

Even if he said it with his "serious face" on?

Drummond Young showed his hand when the "common sense" verdict was published, by declaring that the Club would not have been able to afford the players it had employed, without the use of EBTs (or words to that effect). That was not the matter at issue, was irrelevant to the judgement, and was not a subject on which, as far as I know, evidence had been led. It was nothing more than mischief making of the highest order, to suit a very particular agenda.

Cardinal O’Brien presents Papal knighthood at Red Mass Cardinal Keith O’Brien was the main concelebrant at the annual Red Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, on Sunday, marking the opening of the new legal year in Scotland. Sunday’s Mass was an extra special occasion for Lord Gill, the Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, when his outstanding service to public life in the country was recognised. Cardinal O’Brien, representing Pope Benedict XVI, bestowed upon him the Papal Knighthood. Joining the cardinal and Lord Gill at Sunday’s Mass, were various members of the legal profession in Scotland and their families, including Lord Gill’s fellow judges, Lord Hardie, Lord Drummond Young, Lord Matthews and Lord Doherty. Also present were Frank Mulholland QC, the Lord Advocate, Richard Keen QC, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, and Austin Lafferty, vice president of the Law Society of Scotland. In his homily at Sunday’s Mass, Cardinal O’Brien urged Catholic lawyers in Scotland to remain strong and true to their religious beliefs. You can read the rest here; http://www.sconews.co.uk/news/12774/cardinal-o%E2%80%99brien-presents-papal-knighthood-at-red-mass/

Never forget that it is nothing more than a guttersnipe club, run by guttersnipe, managed by guttersnipe, for guttersnipe, and is the very place where the concept of 'post-truth' originated.

I am inclined to the view that our learned friend is in fact our learned enemy, for reasons about which I can only speculate.

Should have gone to Weight Watchers.

Barton now lies in the dustbin of Rangers' history; sad, perhaps, but true. Time to forget him, and move on.

A National XI, ahem, member did just that, but had his case dismissed, on, I believe, and to his eternal embarrassment, "lack of evidence".....