The Vanity of Human Wishes

[andy steel 0]

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/141-the-vanity-of-human-wishes

 

Let Observation, with extensive view,

Survey mankind, from China to Peru;

Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,

And watch the busy scenes of crowded life;

Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate

O’erspread with snares the clouded maze of fate,

Where wavering man, betrayed by venturous pride

To tread the dreary paths without a guide,

As treacherous phantoms in the mist delude,

Shuns fancied ills, or chases airy good.

(Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes 1-10)

 

Samuel Johnson, apart from being fat, gouty and a dab hand with a quill, was rarely at a loss for a put down of matters Scottish. He'd have loved the infighting of recent years, from the meaningless (football) to the slightly less meaningless (the independence referendum). But even a man as self-regarding as he would surely be a bit taken aback by quite how appropriate his words above are when we consider the 'venturous pride', the 'treacherous phantoms' and the 'fear, desire & hate' on show this weather.

 

As the SPFL struggles through its agonized birthing pains, fans must hope that it becomes a healthier body than either of its predecessors, the SFL or SPL. The omens are not good: were you to study the entrails of a seagull this afternoon, I should think you will find them diseased and disordered. You don't need to be a modern version of Tiresias, the blind seer of Thebes, to see that the mewling, newly hatched SPFL faces a long and difficult struggle to achieve healthy maturity.

 

Maybe we ought not to be negative, as the fantastically out of touch head of the SFA tells us. Maybe this actually will come good and the football will improve, the fans will return, and the game will flourish at domestic and international level. I'm just not sure, at this point, exactly what it is that has changed which will bring this about.

 

Mediocre and under-achieving even by their own modest standards, clubs like Hamilton or Morton are not, surely, in any position to light the touch paper under the much needed revolution in the game. The new deal offers them a chance to continue on the life support machine: it doesn't offer them a means by which they can achieve fiscal comfort and allow them to plan for the future with confidence.

 

Utterly incompetent, the administration of the new league will feature the usual faces spouting the same meaningless garbage in return for more than handsome remuneration packages. This will have to include our former secretary Campbell Ogilvie, which raises the question of whether we're in any position to lecture others.

 

No, we're not.

 

But that, to any sane mind, is no reason for the rest of the game to ape our mistakes of the last two decades with quite so much gusto. Having listened, bored, to many many people berate the Old Firm for their selfishness, their refusal to think of the bigger picture, to allow the minnows a voice, it sticks in the craw to hear Les Gray, for example, berate smaller clubs than his for their selfishness, their refusal to see the big picture, to allow (his) minnow a voice. It's as if, in an especially Scottish fashion, useless chairmen of meaningless clubs have looked around for the worst possible example they can find of self interested carnage being wreaked upon a game and thought "Aye, whit The Rangers did with the SPL looks like a plan!'

 

But then, we got a freakish 1-0 win away to Croatia last week, and our spectacularly crap boss at the SFA tells us the feel good factor is back. So I should stop being negative.

 

It is, though, difficult to get excited about the same teams, in the same leagues, playing the same garbage brand of football, while the same people who shouted loudly about others' self interest parade their own quite so nakedly. I wish it well, I hope we are soon at the pinnacle, such as it is, proclaiming our victory, but given the people involved; given the rationale behind it; given the example (our second worst move ever, helping form the SPL) being followed, I just can't see it.

 

Johnson's title above, 'The Vanity of Human Wishes', has never seemed more appropriate. I foresee the usual crap, but maybe that's just my own vanity wishing enemies ill. Time, as always, will tell, but this time, by the time we find out, no-one may be looking.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Frankie

[Frankie 8,600]

Great stuff mate - I'll get it up now.

 

PS: Good to see you back on the forum.

[Guest Dummiesoot]

Excellent read Andy. I should have stuck in better at English in school. Admire your writing mate.

[der Berliner 3,761]

For a reality check, you'll find Scotland on the 3rd sheet in the ...

 

FIFA World Rankings.

 

Just take a look at how many wealthy and successfully run countries are above it.

[alexscottislegend 2,336]

Yep, great piece of writing. This is why I don't even bother to look at other forums (apart from the fact I got banned by the puerile FF); the standard of writing here is so much more mature than, than... the press.

[D'Artagnan 173]

An excellent read Andy. The new super duper plan which will "save" Scottish football from oblivion reminded me of another piece of clever language use by Dr Johnson...

 

"Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."

[Tumshie RFC 0]

I can't read anything about Dr Johnson without thinking of that Blackadder episode and laughing.

[Blue Moon 1,305]

Thanks for that, Andy. Great read and I am delighted to see you back on the forum.

 

Your absence has been a huge loss.

[andy steel 0]

Oh pfft. Gersnet seems to run perfectly well in between my hissy fits and melodramatic exits. Thanks anyway for all the kind words.

 

"Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

 

Love it! That should be the start of the opinion pieces in the papers, but I suppose we'll have the usual flag waving for the SPL from the usual suspects. Their enthusiasm for this crap is genuinely bewildering - I just can't see what the big whoop is.

 

I can't read anything about Dr Johnson without thinking of that Blackadder episode and laughing.

 

Big Robbie!

[bluebear54 0]

Super. Great read Andy.