Another Day Of Pride

They hate being lumped together. Which is as good a reason as any for writing about them together.

And, yet again, it's an article that I don't really want to write. Another article about how the sections of idiots that both Rangers and Celtic have in their support are making numpties of us all.

On Wednesday night Rangers fans got involved with police in Romania. The club are walking a tightrope of condemnation for the fans and also for the authorities. Ally McCoist has, again, had to speak about his concerns of the club being tainted by a minority.

Sorry, Ally, it's gone beyond that now. The club maybe can't afford to alienate fans at the moment. But what level of provocation is needed to rip a seat off its stand and fling it at a policeman?

Rangers now run a very real risk of either playing behind closed doors or being banned from Europe. Rangers will not be able to guarantee a trouble free trip to Seville. UEFA will act. The bank are going to love that!

And then today a number of Celtic supporters, allegedly, chose to remain outside the stadium and sing their Republican ditties during the minute's silence for Remembrance Sunday.

I know they were outside the stadium. The suggestion that this was some kind of pre-planned protest will forever remain debated. Yet seconds after the event the commentators seemed to know. But they'll be anti-Celtic idiots. Their opinion won't count. How can it if they're not Celtic minded?

Were that heartily voiced band unaware that there would be a minute's silence? Are they alone in Scotland in not knowing that this happens every year?

Did no soldiers from Ireland, north and south, die in the battlefields of France? Did no Celtic fans die in the Libyan desert or the Western Front? Are no Celtic supporters risking the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan?

Is it, in any way, a legitimate protest to embarrass their memory, their sacrifice?

Different teams, different circumstances. But these are the two biggest teams in Scotland. It is Celtic and Rangers that, rightly or wrongly, present to the world the public face of our football.

And, time and again, thanks to a minority on both sides that is an ugly, snarling face full of misdirected hate, labouring under the grotesque misinterpretation of history that is the comfort zone of the extremist.

On Thursday night in Hamburg the home supporters greeted Celtic with Union Jacks and No Surrender banners. After everything that Scotland has given the world we are now exporting hatred.

“Wha's like us?” Damn few – and maybe that's a good thing.

***Over on Scotzine they've tackled the minute's silence issue. The "Celtic minded" fans have come out in force to decry the writer as a "hun." He's not. He also never fails to decry the idiotic Rangers fans. When he does that he's a "Tim."

He can't win. But he's right when he chases any of the idiots that shame their club and shame Scotland.

A Lifelong Hatred

Reading Leo McKinstry's excellent biography of Sir Alf Ramsey (of which more later) I've been struck by Ramsey's long standing loathing of the Scots.

It's not unusual to hear ex-Scottish internationals talk about how much beating the Auld Enemy meant to them, with Denis Law and Pat Crerand both lingering on this in their autobiographies.

And England players often talk about how much the annual clash at Wembley or Hampden meant to them with Bobby Charlton among those ex-players who has called for the match to be resurrected.

It is less normal to read about a life long loathing of an entire nation, one which surely ran beyond the confines of sport.

Quite what the “strange little men” north of the border ever did to Sir Alf is not clear but his hatred extended to refusing to wear Paisley pattern pyjamas. Take that Paisley!

“Not since the Duke of Cumberland” writes McKinstry, “has any Englishman had a more visceral dislike of the Scots.”

Ramsey used to say “I'd sooner anybody beat us than the bloody Scots” and his normal team talks became more demonstrative when the opposition was in dark blue. Roy McFarland remembers a match in the 1970s and Sir Alf sending the team out with the words: “Come on boys, let's get into these Scots fuckers.”

It's not surprising to learn that Alan Ball was one player who shared Ramsey's hatred and with stunning originality referred to “skirt wearing tossers.” Indeed Ramsey, the great upholder of fair play and decorum, tacitly condoned Ball when he wiped his nose on a Saltire at Hampden.

A pre-tan Jimmy Calderwood later played briefly for Ramsey at Birmingham City and remembers a meeting attended by all the Anglo-Scots in the squad:

Sir Alf said: “Now I know you lot fucking hate me. Well, I have news for you. I fucking hate you lot even more. But, you know, I never missed a game for him. He really was a fantastic manager.

Only in the 1980s did Ramsey soften his stance when he offered Alex Ferguson advice before the Mexico World Cup. It says much for his loathing of Bobby Robson that Sir Alf saw helping the Scots as the lesser of two evils.

Does any of this matter? Not really. The attitude might be better seen as a product of Ramsey's time. George Orwell had a similar view of the “Jocks” until he fought next to a Glaswegian in the Spanish Civil War.

It was simply one of the many quirks of a man who achieved much but whose complex brittleness made him very difficult to love.

And does it not add a certain sweetness to those pictures of Jim Baxter toying with England in the Wembley sunshine of 1967?

The Weekend Ahead

Rushed this week as I prepare to host a dinner party. Middle class excess and all that. Still I hold on to the fact that I'll always be more Morrison's Value than Bullingdon Bertie. Such small moral victories keep us on the side of the righteous.

On football matters I have been a bit detached this week. That two draws on the road is some kind of European triumph says all that needs to be said about this season.

And so to our predictions for the weekend ahead:

Hearts v Hibs (ESPN, 12.30)
Flaming Nora. Many more derbies and I'll just get the glazier to move in such is the frequency with which I am forced to cast my form book out the window. Hibs arrive as favourites and in second place. The hosts are short of form, short of luck and short of goals. A dead cert away win then? Well, these games have a habit of throwing up surprises. They also have a habit of being dour and tense, enlivened more by red cards than goals. Still I'm backing Hibs to add to the Tynecastle malaise.

Aberdeen v St Johnstone
A topsy-turvy start for both teams. Aberdeen are a team in transition with finances causing a major hangover. St Johnstone seem to have brought everything but consistency to the SPL party. Fancy an away win though.

Hamilton v Motherwell
Another derby clash. Hamilton will be buoyant after last week while manager of the month Jim Gannon continues to get impressive results with a team he does not seem entirely happy with. Could be close but I back Motherwell to edge it.

Kilmarnock v Dundee United
After last week's defeat at Celtic Kilmarnock will be glad of home comforts and main man Kevin Kyle will be asked to deliver the goods again. I expect them to be outdone by a United team that has more strength and will not be overawed by a physical battle. Away win.

Rangers v St Mirren
Rangers will look to clear the memories of that last minute goal on Wednesday with a barnstorming home display. St Mirren's good run was brought to a shuddering halt by Hamilton last week. Can't see past the home win.

Falkirk v Celtic (12.45, Sunday)
Away win. Simple as.

How I Stand: 21 out of 53 after an almost unheard 4 out of 5 last week.

Champion's League Chumps?

4-1, 4-1. Not only Walter Smith’s most likely formation for tonight but also the defeats Rangers have suffered in their last two European games. The perceived wisdom is that it’s a formation that works better away from home. As it’s the formation that will be in use against Unirea Urziceni you’ve really got to hope that’s the case.

Do Rangers go into tonight’s game in crisis? Domestically they’re still in touch but in Europe they look to be completely out of their depth, unable to compete against even the most limited of continental opposition. And even in the SPL they don’t look comfortable. Winning, they say, is a habit and this Rangers teams looks to have lost it.

Apologists will say that the off field problems at the club are at the root of this malaise. But these are still well paid players, some of whom were brought it in at some expense. They should be able to go out and perform without worrying unduly about arguments between accountants. The obvious conclusion is that these players simply don’t care enough about the club to knuckle down and fight through the adversity. That’s fairly stunning indictment of the calibre of player that Rangers have attracted in the past few years.

But you’re only as bad as your last mistake and the same players can make amends in Romania this evening. It won’t be easy and it will need to be done without some key players including Madjid Bougherra and Pedro Mendes.

Kenny Miller, the man most likely to act as Rangers’ first line of defence, summed up the size of the task ahead with rather more aplomb than he’s been controlling the ball and dispatching chances of late:

It probably would be all over if we get beaten here, we know what's at stake. No matter what the form is going into this game, we've got to go and get the three points. We'll have to wipe it from the memory. It's a new game. We've had a couple of games since then. We seem to have upped our performance. We know we can win but we need to remember what they did to us in the first game and hopefully turn it around.

There is a feeling at Rangers that the result against Unirea the last time out was a freak. Maybe it was but the Romanians did enough to show that they have to be taken seriously. More than that they have hungry players, players who are somewhat unbelievably living a Champion’s League dream and are desperate to progress.

Maybe, more than any technical deficiency, that will be the vital difference tonight as it was a fortnight ago.

Still we shouldn’t kid ourselves that Dan Petrescu’s team are world beaters or that Walter Smith has somehow been rendered incapable of getting a performance from his team. The second half performance and creditable draw against Stuttgart proved that Smith can still rally this bunch of players.

Rangers recent success away from home has, however, been built on a fairly limited, negative platform. With moneymen and supporters screaming for success tonight Smith faces a dilemma. Play the attacking game that others will demand but which he thinks is above the capabilities of the players at his disposal but might wrong foot the opposition.

Or go for the tried and tested method, hope to nick a goal and then hold on. There are no easy answers. But if he gets it wrong then we’ll probably have more of an idea about Smith’s future and short term prospects of this Rangers side than we have over the course of an uncertain couple of weeks.

Prediction: Tricky. Are the Romanians really a side that should beat you 4-1 at home? No, but after they’ve handed out that beating it makes your chances of beating them at home much trickier. In truth an ignominious end to this European campaign is what Rangers deserve after their last two matches. I expect them to lose by the odd goal tonight but they’re in with a shout of snatching a draw to keep their faint hopes alive.