Classless

[ian1964 10,761]

SEE that telly show Who Do You Think You Are?

Itâ??s high time they had wee Ian Black on it.

Not researching his family tree.

Heâ??d just be sitting in front of a camera, explaining exactly who he DOES think he is.

On the evidence of Saturday, itâ??s someone pretty special indeed.

Part Charles Bronson-style enforcer, part pantomime WWE wrestling baddie. And 100 per cent Charlie Big Spuds.

Well, Iâ??m sorry to be the one to burst your bubble, son. But here is the news. Youâ??re a player who was going somewhere but who chose to swap the top flight for the Third Division and now canâ??t handle the pressure of the shop floor.

And at Tannadice, your attitude from first to last said everything about the total absence of class shown by rank rotten Rangers.

Donâ??t like that summing up much? Not surprised. Iâ??m pretty sure the fans wonâ??t either, because any suggestion that anything to do with their club is any less than the noblest of the noble is met with a counter-suggestion that their critics should f*** off and die in agony.

But sadly, itâ??s just how it was in the Scottish Cup thumping by Dundee United.

And I really do MEAN sadly, because Rangers could and should be much better than this. From the way they reacted when the draw was made to the hopeless way they defended and reckless way they tackled, they showed no class in any sense of the word.

Though to be fair, there is one high-profile exemption to that sweeping dismissal. Their manager.

Ally McCoist has never, in the 30 years in which our paths have crossed, been anything BUT classy. Heâ??s spent half his life pumping out a positive image of Rangers, which is why itâ??s so baffling that, for a guy who is so idolised by the fans, that positivity never seems to catch on.

Look at how he handled himself in the build-up to the United tie. While tâ??mill owner Charles Green was rabble-rousing and fans were manning the boycott barricades, McCoist was doing his best to defuse the nonsense by wishing ex-Old Firm foe Jackie McNamara well as he took over the Tannadice hotseat.

That was a wee touch of quality, of common decency.

Blackâ??s display was the exact opposite. That long, slow swagger off the pitch after being sent off? Embarrassing. A staggering act of self-deluding bravado.

Youâ??ve just got a red card. Youâ??ve let your team down. You should be getting yourself up that tunnel double-quick and having a good think about what youâ??ve done.

Or, alternatively, you could always applaud the two men and a dug in the away section, scowl at the home support while the cameras are fixed on you. Then pretend to pick up a corner flag like youâ??re going to javelin it into the crowd, cos thatâ??s the kind of wacky funster you are.

Black sees himself as a victim. He whines about lower league hammer-throwers being out to get him, but he should have been booked for his first tackle of the game and didnâ??t have the savvy to take the hint and keep his nose clean from then on. So what else can you say but hell mend him?

Maybe he somehow thinks throwing his weight about will endear him to the punters.

Maybe thatâ??s also what drove young sub Kal Naismith to earn an early shower for that ridiculous two-footed assault on Willo Flood.

If so, itâ??s an attitude that comes from the top. Not, as Iâ??ve said, from the dugout, but from the VERY top, from Green with his permanent come-ahead view on the world, a view aided and abetted by the former journalist who is his newly-appointed Director of Provocation as they bash out angry press releases like McCoist used to bang in goals. Theyâ??re the Toshack and Keegan of rabble-rousing. Always sniffing for the next half-chance. Theyâ??ve got something inflammatory to say on anything and everything.

And even when thereâ??s nothing to say, they put out statements anyway. Like this belter on Wednesday:

â??Rangers Football Club today received notification of the SFA Arbitration Panelâ??s decision which ruled that the Club did not inherit the right to continue the arbitration process started by oldco.

â??Suspecting this would be the outcome, the Club had already filed a further Notice to Refer under SFA Article 99. The Club had argued that since oldcoâ??s registration had been transferred to newco the right to continue the case would also have transferred.

â??Nothing has been won or lost at this stage and the Club will continue with its action.â?

Brilliant, that. A complete non-story, yet they still manage to couch it in the kind of conspiratorial jargon that convinces the hard of thinking Thae SFA Basturts are up to no good again.

Everythingâ??s about pointing fingers at the rest of the world, about looking inward and putting their own untidy house in order.

Even as Iâ??m writing this, itâ??s a stick-on that the reaction from the ones Greenâ??s rants are aimed at rousing will be the same as ever:

â??See if you donâ??t like us? Then donâ??t watch us. Donâ??t comment on us. Just leave us be.â?

If only it was that simple. But itâ??s not, partly because Rangers are one half of every game they play, but mostly because they seem oblivious to the irony that they feel entitled to cane everyone and everything they see as not being on their side.

Which is pretty much everyone and everything outside Ibrox Stadium.

With a few more McCoists around the place and a few less Greens and Blacks, thereâ??s no doubt it would be different.

But it seems Rangers have made their choice. They donâ??t want to win people round with a charm offensive.

They just want to be offensive.

 

 

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/leaguedivision3/4777022/Blacks-behaviour-sums-up-rank-rotten-Rangers.html#ixzz2Jt8AgoDs

[Waltersgotstyle 307]

I struggle to see how any journalist can actually make us the bad ones in all of this.

[Annan Bear 0]

He's right about Ian Black though

[26th of foot 6,119]

I do not want to click on the link, is the piece by Bill Leckie?

[GovanAllan 0]

Leckie at his fat faced turd of a man best, and still no mention of the sectarian singing all day long.

 

Great how they all like Ally so much, must be because Ally never pulls them up for the crap they write and wants to build bridges while they are still twisting knife in our back, fool of a man.

Edited February 4, 2013 by GovanAllan

[Cotter 0]

Could have sworn I was on gersnet...

[BlueMazza 0]

Ok. Key words from this article as to why it's utter shite:

 

assault on Willo Flood

Director of Provocation

bash out angry press releases

They’ve got something inflammatory to say on anything and everything

A complete non-story (funnily enough, a trick learned from the scottish mhedia eh leckie?)

But it seems Rangers have made their choice. They don’t want to win people round with a charm offensive.

They just want to be offensive.

 

There you go folks. Balanced Scottish journalism at it's finest.

[kuznetsov 0]

Leckie at his fat faced turd of a man best, and still no mention of the sectarian singing all day long.

 

Great how they all like Ally so much, must be because Ally never pulls them up for the crap they write and wants to build bridges while they are still twisting knife in our back, fool of a man.

 

the media are in love with ally and will dare not criticise him because they are delighted with his work, us being shite makes them happy. the more useless the rangers manager is the happier this hate filled media become.

[26th of foot 6,119]

Appreciate the point being made mate but I'd rather not have Mr Leckie taking the huff about this post...

 

EDITED BY Frankie

Edited February 4, 2013 by Frankie

[redford 0]

Ironically, his article is classless.