Only England Knows

I'm a day late in flagging mentioning Highlander's canny The Late St. George's Day post but that's OK as he posted his personal response to St George's Day a date late himself.

And of course, my reason for plugging it on the blog is because, in many ways, H's experiences mirrored my own.

He was born in England but educated in Scotland, whereas I was born in Scotland but was educated in England. Both of us romanticising the country of our births when growing up and both of us falling victim to 'ninety minute nationalism' (I'm still weak in that regard), but both finally reaching the same conclusion of being ". . . of a class and that class is not an 'English' class, a 'British' class or even a European one - it is global, its aims are global and my feeling for it is global."

Elegantly put by H himself and, yep, you've got me bangs to rights on it being far more dreamy, romantic and ultimately hopeless than any flag of St Andrew or St George that has been made in China.

Flag day is on May 1st, companeros.

Full Time Sour Lemon Slice

Whistle blown on the telly on a game that, in reality, finished a few hours ago.

Fair play to Scotland on a respectable result. The Croats were a class act despite the bad weather conditions and don't let the matter of them turning over the 'Trevors' home and away in the Euro qualifying campaign detract from the fact that they are an excellent team. (Even the Arsenals and Man Utds of this world have to dispense with the Derby Countys if they are to win the championship.)

Scotland acquitted themselves well - though I'm not sure why Gordon's getting the plaudits from the journos reporting on the game in various papers - and I liked the fact that there was a bit of a bite to the game. One minor gripe, though, and its less to do with the performance and more to do with tonight's team selection.

There were four Celtic players - Caldwell, McManus, Hartley and Brown - in Scotland's starting line up as opposed to one R*ngers player, Kris Boyd, who came on as a substitute in the 72nd minute. Of the Celtic players, only Brown got substituted and that was in the 66th minute. What's the big deal with that? Well, only that Celtic are playing R*ngers this Saturday at Ibrox in a must win game in the SPL . If they lose, that's bye bye to the title. Doesn't that seem a bit one-sided?

I don't buy into conspiracy theories, whether it be politics or footie, but it seems a bit off when Derby County and Sunderland provide more players on the night than R*ngers. It's not even as if they can use the old excuse of not having any Scottish players at Ibrox. Throw an Irn Bru bottle into their dressing room - please, do it now as a scientific experiment - and you're guaranteed two things: 1) Allan McGregor won't catch it; & 2) It'll hit someone with a Scottish accent and unsightly tattoos. I bet if Hutton was still at R*ngers, he wouldn't have been playing last night.

Has former Scotland manager Smith has played it cute? Or is Strachan just a straight guy with a patriotic streak? Who knows, but I do know that it's the first time I've thought well of McGeady for being a plastic paddy. Five Celtic players in the starting line up would have been taking the piss.

Sorely tempted to make my way through to Manhattan on Saturday morning to Jack Demseys bar so I can witness first hand via Setanta the misery of witnessing Celtic getting gubbed. At least I'll be able to shout and holler my disapproval of Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Christian Dailly and Allan McGregor for pulling out of Burley's squad.

Gone Wishing

Turn The Other Cheek, Christian

Don't mind me. I'm only four years late with this YouTube clip of what many people consider to be Christian Dailly's finest moment, and which occurred in the aftermath of Scotland's 2-1 defeat to Germany in the qualifying stages of the 2004 European Championships.

The outburst is fascinating to me if only because I never took Dailly to be the Keano type, and because the BBC Sports report of the game gives no indication that the penalty was in any way considered dubious. Obviously something was getting on Dailly's wick that night as this clip further confirms, and it suggests there should now be a rethink on Dailly's career before he retires. Maybe after all this time, it turns out a 'Keano' should in fact be entitled a 'Dailly'.

Don't mind my fluff posting on such trivial out of date matters. I'm cranking out the posts at an accelerated pace at the moment to get myself behind a blogging landmark that is currently looming on the horizon. And when you couple that with the fact that I'm suffering from a temporary bout of "Ninety Minute Nationalism", it adds up to me scouring YouTube for cinefilm of the Wembley Wizards, and putting the finishing touches to a five thousand word blog post on why I think England's fifth goal in this infamous game was offside.

This current bout of NMN better pass soon, 'cos I don't have the legs to pull off the feat of wearing a kilt. And the more I think about it, Scotland qualifying for the 2008 European Championship will seriously mar any chance I get of actually enjoying the tournament next year.