Sunday, February 23, 2020
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Round 234: Hail Caesar!
100+: 8
180s Missed: 1
Just watched Celtic stumble to a 1-0 victory against a parked bus Kilmarnock. I don't think Lenny's getting the job, as much as I'd like for him to get it. Hopefully Aberdeen get a result against Ranjurs tomorrow, and that will put it all to bed for another season.
Did I enjoy the book? To be honest, I can't remember. It must be twenty years since I've read it. However, I have read MacDougall's Stone Over Water twice, and that's a novel I really enjoyed. It was very much in the same spirit as Alan Spence's Glasgow novels and short stories, and that can't be a bad thing.
A couple of links:
- A nice wee blogpost about the late Billy McNeill and how he forged his connection with Celtic.
- Carl MacDougall's discussing the short stories of Iain Crichton Smith.
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Monday, January 01, 2018
A Judy Collins fan blubs . . .
Monday, August 21, 2017
Monday, August 10, 2015
Flawed Genius: Scottish Football's Self-Destructive Mavericks by Stephen McGowan (Birlinn Ltd 2009)
'Had I known at the time, I would have created merry hell to secure my return to full-time football. It was only many years after I had finished as a football player that I even learned of the bid from Sean Fallon, Jock's old assistant.
'Things began to change after that,' he recalls. 'I parked my car outside a primary school in Greenock one day and young boys were playing football in the playground. One of the lads scored a screamer past the obligatory fat kid in goals. And as I turned the lock in my car door, I heard the shout, "And Ritchie scores!" I thought he was taking the piss. He wasn't, the kid hadn't even seen me. But at that time my reputation was growing all over the place. I was being recognised everywhere I went, from Laurencekirk to Lochee.'
What had also changed was Ritchie's attitude. The good habits bred at Celtic had flown out of the window to be replaced by heavy drinking, major gambling and a 40-a-day nicotine addiction. By his own admission, he played many of his best - and worst - games nursing a hangover. Friday night sessions in the Windmill Tavern in Lanarkshire would be followed on Saturday morning by a panicked search for the family car, a missing wallet and a phone call to an obliging teammate to get him to Greenock for the prematch meal, where manager Benny Rooney would be pacing around a hotel foyer checking his watch.
'I always remember Johnny Goldthorpe driving me to training at Morton one evening in our promotion season in 1978.
'Johnny was 32, had been a good pro and knew a thing or two. I had always looked up to him until the day he turned to me in the car and said, "You'll not last until you're 27 in this game."
'I was angry, furious in fact. I wasn't having that, not even from Johnny Goldthorpe. I was only in my early twenties at that time and I was flying. I was scoring goals, winning rave write-ups and was the best player in the country. What did this old fella know? Well, one thing he did know was the smell of drink - and I was in that car passenger seat steaming drunk. I'd been drinking all afternoon, and some of the morning as well. And that wasn't especially unusual for me. I'd still be stinking of drink when I played games. And somehow I was still scoring goals.
' "I'll do whatever the f*** I want," summed up my attitude best.
'Big Jock Stein had told me towards the end of my time at Parkhead - because I had begun to develop an opinion - that the best thing I could do was take the cotton wool out of my ears and shove it in my f****** mouth.
'Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of all that. I didn't do it to blot out any pain or any crap like that. But I saw no need to change. I had been boozing, gambling and doing whatever and we had still gone to the top of the league.'
Morton finished seventh in the Premier League that season, after leading before Christmas. Part-time football remained a constant despite promises from the chairman, Hal Stewart, to go full-time. To the more ambitious members of the playing staff, it was a betrayal.
Desperate to play for Scotland and increase basic earnings of £50 a week bolstered by a new contract and an afternoon job as a Morton Lottery Ticket salesman, however, Ritchie wanted out. With his gambling now out of control, he needed out.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Full Time: The Secret Life Of Tony Cascarino as told to Paul Kimmage (Scribner 2000)
Saturday, October 11, 2014
The Second Half by Roy Keane (with Roddy Doyle) (Wiedenfeld & Nicolson 2014)
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Late for Maloney
Anyone would think I'm a fair weather fan.
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Another 'What Not To Wear' title post
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Becoming Jimmy
At a push - and a bit of hair dye - the Pat McCourt Story, but Jinky?
James McAvoy is a beautiful man but he could never pull off the portrayal of the beauty that was Jimmy Johnstone.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0ZRnirp_1fQ/TP6UwY7ZObI/AAAAAAAAD7w/k0hA5Nmsp7c/s200/James%2BMcAvoy%2B%252B%2BGlasgow%2BCeltic.jpeg)
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_0ZRnirp_1fQ/TP6UwPKXW_I/AAAAAAAAD7o/3Wdz_lbfiDM/s200/Jimmy%2BJohnstone%2B%252B%2BDundee.jpeg)
What next? Jude Law in the Ralph Coates Story?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
'I should have saved the 'Melting Mowbray' post title for an occasion like this'
Obviously much sooner than I thought. Looks like after last night's hammering, the board couldn't even bring themselves to trust Mowbray getting past Ross County in the cup.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if their real panic was that, on current patchy form, Mowbray's Celtic were in danger of losing second place - and the potential pot of Champions League gold - to an in-form Dundee Utd or Motherwell?
Who's going to be in the frame for the vacancy? After paying West Brom two million for Mowbray, I'm guessing they're going to go for the cheap option. Everton and Bolton fans will be relieved.
Does Charlie Nicholas have his coaching badges yet?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Mixing Footie and Politics (7) Shankly, Socialism and Glasgow Celtic
Just spotted this.
Ian Bone raises that most important of political questions: 'Is there a socialist way of playing football?'
Ian shows his age (and his dress sense) by mentioning the great Hungarian side of the early fifties.
Arguably the greatest International team never to have won the World Cup, they lost the '54 final against West Germany in disputed circumstances, and one of the great ifs of football pub talk is, but for the Soviet tanks rolling into Budapest in '56, how they would have measured up against the Brazil of Pele and Garrincha in Sweden in '58.
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. I show my good taste and access to YouTube clips by pointing you in the direction of the definitive answer to Ian's question.
Bill Shankly describes the great Celtic side of the Jock Stein era:
That wee nugget should be on a T shirt, not this silly bollocks which is currently doing the rounds on the left blogosphere.
"Socialism without the politics." I like that.
Whatever did happen to World in Common?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Jimmy
They should have cast his statue in gold.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45295000/jpg/_45295126_jinky2.jpg)
Kenny Dalglish on Jimmy Johnstone:
"The first time he came to prominence in England was against Leeds [in 1970] when he tore Terry Cooper apart in both games. Celtic won both games and qualified for the [European Cup] final. He had superb ball control, could take people on and because he was so quick no one could get near him. As brilliant as he was as a player, he was equally as good as a person. He was just a fantastic wee fella who is a sad loss to everyone. He is one of those type of people, even if they are not here you still think he is here, although he will be sadly missed. He'll never be forgotten.”"
Jimmy Johnstone in his own words:
""I was always aware I was an entertainer. The crowd provided the expectation, the hair on the back of my neck would go up and I loved the applause. The pitch was my stage. The whistle meant it was showtime. That is why I admired Matthews. The way he took people on and beat them, that was entertainment to me and that is all I wanted to do."Without the fans, you are nothing and what I am most thankful of is that I got a chance to realise my talent at Celtic, because it is a special club, supported by special people."
Both quotes lifted from here.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A welcome back for Maloney?
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0ZRnirp_1fQ/SLSoXiTOxvI/AAAAAAAABlE/ypRkHAJxn8Y/s400/Refugees.jpg)
Banner from Saturday's game at Celtic Park.
Hat tip to Matt C from Socialist Courier blog for the pic.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Lubo vs Naka?
Has to be the bloke with a haircut straight out of an episode of Brookside in the eighties, but who played like someone who wouldn't have looked out of place in the Brazil World Cup team in '82.
The 10th August can't come too soon.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Half-Time Humour
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0ZRnirp_1fQ/SFwJT9yv3fI/AAAAAAAABYo/kqOFDhhTVOo/s200/73ProvanCard+Lge.jpg)
. . . and I don't mean the picture of a young Davie Provan auditioning for an MC5's tribute band.
Take it away Peter Grant:
"Peter Grant says the funniest thing he ever heard in football was during an old firm game.
Davie Provan was running rings round Alex McDonald. After one of his runs he walked past wee Doddy and says.
'I could keep a beach ball away from you in a phone box.'"
Hat tip to the internet.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Whatever happened to the Blues Brothers?
No triumphalist parades in SW6 and G51 for another season, and the super-rich and their flunkies can rest easy that Monaco won't be littered this coming August with empty buckfast bottles (made by monks), discarded union jack boxer shorts (Made in China) and renditions of not so popular folk classics (made up on the Shankhill Road).
What with it being Chelski, R*ngers and 21st century professional football - with its gaudy commercialism and fast buck mentality - the marketing peeps in the Blue Zone have went with the short term view that though not every trophy cabinet can have silverware, every cloud should have a silver lining and, with that in mind, have already rush released the 2007/2008 season's commemorative mementos represented below.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0ZRnirp_1fQ/SDZXkKyUBnI/AAAAAAAABQQ/fvJe3aXsyYQ/s400/025.jpg)
Depending on which side of the blue bed you get out of every afternoon, you can go for the Dave Weir figurine represented on the left or the Frank Lampard special that is slouching on the right.
The figurines are made out of the shoddiest materials to properly represent the personalities of your modern day footballer, and they are tastefully dressed in funereal black to mark another season of abject footballing failure. As is fitting for a season that has gone up in flames so spectacularly, the clothing that Mini-Dave and Fat-Frank are sporting is made out of 100% polyester because it was felt that that was the most flammable of man-made materials.
The jackets have been fitted with long sleeves to hide the questionable tattoos and, with summer approaching, both players have specially bolted on sunglasses to both hide their deadened eyes and to help them avoid the blinding glare of a world where the sun is permanently shining.
As an added touch, ugly scowls have been scarred onto both players' faces and you'll be pleased to note the manufacturers, with an acute eye to authenticity, have specially moulded their wee plastic hands into angry balled up fists.
The manufacturers want R*ngers and Chelski collectors to be rest assured that there are plans for other players to be featured in the series but the design department are currently experiencing teething difficulties with the John Terry figurine: they can't get it to remain upright in the box.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Glasgow Celtic SPL Champions 2007/08
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0ZRnirp_1fQ/SDXzZqyUBlI/AAAAAAAABQA/sDYWJePBDco/s400/Celtic+Champions+2007:08.jpg)
Too emotionally drained (and physically drenched) to write anything intelligible at the moment. Aberdeen proved me wrong. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU, Aberdeen. Celtic were nervous . . . and I'm thinking of renaming Reidski, 'The Nostradamus of New Cross'.
Nice touch with Strachan going up to the winners' podium with a mug of tea in his hand. Only the third Celtic manager in its history to win three titles on the trot. I hope the boo bhoys will take time out to think over that particular stat.
Just as importanly, that air of superiority that R*ngers had previously had with Walter Smith at the helm is now floating down the River Don. It'll still be difficult next season for Celtic but not as dangerous as I once thought.
I still think Riordan should have played a part.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20200828025213im_/http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0ZRnirp_1fQ/SDX8HqyUBmI/AAAAAAAABQI/LEI-48Z5wTs/s400/celtic+line+up.jpg)