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Days of yore in deepest, darkest Lanarkshire presented a number of opportunities. You could join the Band of Hope(sign the pledge), join the Tufty Club, the Wolf Cubs, .................................... the Hamilton ABC Minors. The last was the most exciting, you paid your dosh at the local ABC Cinema, bought a frozen Jubilee, and surrendered to the mid morning darkness. You sucked the colour out of the Jubilee and then launched it. You watched the serials your old man had viewed 30 years before, you booed, cheered, or participated in the weekly talent contest(the lad playing the sash on a moothie always won). The best bit came after leaving the Cinema. You left the town via the racecourse Road to the satellite villages and you flew a bi-plane(the Blue Max), rode the torrent de Valencia(El Cid) or stormed across Bothwell Brig(the Bridge at Remegan). I should mention that apres Cinema excitement only occurred if you were fortunate to survive the flying Jubilees.

A number of Gersnetters have contacted me, asking about the price of attending football fifty years past? If you attended Primary school then the price was asking a fellow attending adult for, "a lifty ower"? You can add from a hundred to several thousand on to any attendance at that time, depending upon the size of the game. Children were lifted over the turnstiles, the turnstile did not klick thus the entry was not included in the attendance. Free entry for under 12s guaranteed Scottish football always had a waiting audience. Entry for the Main Stand was 60 pence(12 Bob), Enclosure was 40 pence(8 Bob), 30 pence for the Ground(6 Bob for the terracing) and, OAPs and Boys' Gate was 15 pence(3 Bob). The Lifty Ower ended at the same time alcohol was banned from the Terraces. The consequences of the Scottish Cup final riot of 1980 went further than most think. When Rangers hosted Killie on Saturday 30th October'71, 25,000 attended without me. I played my school game and climbed into a Coach taking half-a-dozen of us down to Kerswell College for a weekend long selection to represent Lanarkshire schools. It was after evening meal I found out Rangers had triumphed 3-1 to secure seventh position in the Championship. The teams were Rangers : McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, McKinnon, Smith, Henderson, Penman, Stein, Fyfe and, MacDonald. Kilmarnock fielded : Hunter, Whyte, Cairns, Maxwell, Rodman, McGrory, McSherry, Gilmour, Mathie, McCulloch and, Cook. The big Kilmarnock bunnet was worn by Ross Mathie, he notched for the Ershur men in the third minute, Colin Stein equalised on the 15th minute and the game stood at 1-1 at the interval. The other noteworthy first half incident was Sandy Jardine's ordering off. I do not remember this and cannot find a source to explain his red card. If any Gersnetter can provide details, please do. Ten man Rangers scored another two goals in the second period courtesy of Alex MacDonald on the 67th and 79th minutes. We had reached ten points but remained 7 points behind Aberdeen in pole position. Sporting Lisbon had lost their first match of their domestic season, going down 2-1 away to Belevese. I returned home late Sunday afternoon and found out from the evening News that Glasgow Air Traffic Controllers had voted for immediate strike action. The next morning the Rangers party arrived at the Airport and were told to wait for their connecting flight to Heathrow. Eventually, they travelled early evening and missed the last Monday flight to Lisbon. It wasn't going well.

Sacked in the Morning? Craig Levein was the guest on Off the Ball yesterday, he was intent on promoting the new Blog he co-presents with Amy Irons, 'Sacked in the Morning'. A great title and made an even better start last week when Craig referred to Michael Stewart, "as a bellend". An increasingly frustrated Michael took to social media last midweek rueing a missed opportunity to sink another boot into the H-u-ns, "I don't know when I'll appear on Sportscene, I have not been invited". I suspect Michael is a victim of the escalating war between Staffers and Freelancers at PQ? As Michael looks forward to a Jum Spence type future, he will become increasingly reliant on Stuart Cosgrove evoking his memory. The Fir Park scoreline of Motherwell 1 Rangers 6 was described by Cosgrove as, "shocking and frightening" before he grabbed his Jum Spence comfort blanket. Does Jum remain relevant? Did you know Jum has stepped down from his role as Rector of Dundee Uni'? He resigned with a whimper last March claiming he could not effectively support the undergraduates. In other words Jum's conservative catholicism does not allow him to fully engage plus, the unpaid role was a penurious road. Anyways, RAB(rancid auld bigot) Cosgrove liked the 'Well Bois banner, 'Happy Halloween ya Zombie Bastards' and had no hesitation in replying to a Craig Levein story of Souness and Smith attempting to sign him at the Forth Bridge Motel in late 1987 with, "did they offer you an EBT"? Murray did not even own the club at that point, but it is Spence-esque. You know demanding Rangers should be prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act and Jum assured BBC Radio Scotland listeners this was the case because he lectured in Law. Of course, it fell apart when he was asked what was the crime and who has been found guilty? The Staffer - Freelancer conflict is interesting. BBC Scotland regularly employs over a dozen Freelancers for it's coverage of football. PQ can legitimately claim they have no control over the comments of Freelancers and these last thirty years they have used Freelancers to articulate comfortable preferred prejudices. Jum was let go twice because he was a Staffer. RAB Cosgrove and Richard Gordon have been Freelancing for 30 years. Big Dick's prejudices are well documented on this thread, the nearest he came to being relieved was 2007 when he casually abused Rangers player, Filip Sebo. It was the last hours of the Transfer month and Big Dick was hosting, 'Through the Window' on BBC Radio Scotland. He told the listeners he had an e0mail announcing the transfer of Filip Sebo but he would have to clear it with his Producer. This went on for nearly an hour and finally at the end of the show he broadcast, "Edinburgh Zoo have accepted the transfer of Rangers player, Filip Sebo, they plan to exhibit him". The PQ Gang Hut laughed like drains. Rangers supporters took Big Dick the whole way and BBC Scotland reprimanded him. Now, Richard Gordon occasionally refers to this as the worst thing he has ever experienced in broadcasting. Why is it always Rangers and Rangers supporters Rheinhardt? You were raised to hate Rangers and continually, you flash those credentials. Only last week you went off on one from the PQ studio. Apparently, you had a better view from the studio of Sakala being dragged by his jersey to the Ibrox turf, than I and tens of thousands of others had, attending Ibrox. You attempted to involve Pat Bonner in your accusation that a Referee, John Beaton had cheated your beloved Dandy Dons. You did not receive satisfaction thus took to your Aberdeen Press and Journal column to pen the following poison : "The Don's resurgence would have looked even stronger had they not been cheated. The game swung on an embarrassing, but hardly unexpected decision by Referee, John Beaton to award Rangers another controversial penalty and hand them the opportunity to snatch a point. Only the official and inexplicably the Sportscene pundits, thought it was a spot kick and the frustration of Stephen Glass and his players was entirely understandable". Big Dick accuses the Ref' of cheating, it was another controversial penalty and, berated his BBC Scotland colleagues on Sportscene for not being on message. You see the freedom enjoyed by a Freelancer? Yesterday, Dick was sick and vented his frustration again at Sakala, "a hat trick hero but nothing he did in the first forty minutes of the match would lead you to believe he was capable of such an achievement". I guess it's inexplicable. Another inexplicably arrived yesterday, the day before at Celtic Park where Big Dick was present; a visiting American Journo, White House Correspondent Philip Crowther over here for COP26 took in the Sellik-Livi' game and was disappointed at the racism aimed at Ayo Obileye by the home support. He heard 'monkey' being screamed and this was reported in a number of USA newspapers. Similarly, last Wednesday at Easter Road where BBC Scotland had live commentary. Former Sellik View cub Reporter, Andrew Smith took to the Hootsmon to complain long and hard at the constant songs of sectarianism emanating from the Green Brigade. Again, Big Dick ignored something he would have raised if Rangers supporters had been accused. I suggest RAB Cosgrove, Richard Gordon, JumSpence and, Michael Stewart form a self help group.

Aye good days a pie for a tanner the half time scores on a board that you couldn't see but the best bit was having a piss in a beer can with a jagged edge hoping Forrest or Brand didn't score ? or you could get circumcised, I loved it

Can't remember what I first paid into Ibrox(circa 62/63) but when I went to Kilbowie Park to see the Bankies with my cousins it was an old tanner.When we could we silpped under the collection window,no turnstiles,and were able to spend our money on the "chocolate macaroon bars. Also used to go to La Scala in Clydebank with a "jeely jaur" for entry. GOOD OLD DAYS.?

I don’t recall the Jardine ordering off. Even David Docherty’s excellent The Rangers Football Companion has no descriptive comment on it.. The book covers all Rangers competitive games post-war up to 1985-86. You get dates, both teams, results, scorers, attendances and sometimes a wee note about anythIng significant. Maybe the author thought Sandy deserved it so didn’t want to embarrass him further. When I first paid my way through the turnstiles it was two shillings - 10p.

Conte to Tottenham, confirmed. Newcastle have supposedly identified Unai Emery as their first choice target.

the toffees need to do a lot better

England have made a good start batsmen and bowlers both performing well But could it be an early bath for India.

I've always had time for Levein. That doesn't mean I agree with everything he says but his willingness to express an opinion makes him a treasure in this age of conformity and compliance.

Reports of racist abuse at Parkhead today. Already spreading on international news channels. Yet to get picked up by local media.....

I fear your stay in Edinburgh was ill served if you were not educated into the vernacular. Or it may be that you are simply too young to be aware of the custom?. Poor-oots were a regular occurrence in my youth in the 60s. It helped that I live opposite the church. Anyway, from the Scots Language Centre website, here is the definitive explanation poor oot n. the throwing of coins of for children to catch prior to a wedding. In the tenements of Edinburgh, as the bride was leaving her home for the last time with her father, small children would gather round the limousine or horse and carriage and chant "poor oot! poor oot!". The father, who had possibly been collecting coins for some considerable time, would throw this money into the crowd of waiting children. The earliest example in the Scottish National Dictionary (SND) comes from J H A MacDonald's Life Jottings, where he bemoans the passing of this custom : "I also remember the shower of silver which was thrown to the crowd as the bride and bridegroom drove away, a custom no longer in use. The cry of "pooer oot" is no more heard in the land. A "pooer" of rice or pasteboard confetti does not draw as did the shower of coins." (1840). However, the custom did continue long after this date. The Scots Magazine number 392 of April 1894 quotes the following: "A marriage was about to take place in a private house in Bristo Street, Edinburgh. Crowds of children round the door assailed the guests as they arrived with the well-known cry of "Poor oot!". Indeed, it continued into the twentieth century as shown here from the Scottish Daily Mail of 25th July 1959: "The bride laughed as her architect-trained husband leaned from their bridal car for the "poor-oot" the old Scots custom of throwing coppers and silver for children lining the pavement." Nowadays, the custom seems to have died out but is still remembered as part of popular culture as shown in this example from Scotland on Sunday (2002): "Like any wedding poor-oot or scramble - the ancient custom of brides and grooms distributing coins to waiting urchins - plenty people were willing to accept the largesse, no questions asked." : https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/id/4538

It's perhaps the obvious strategy but if we're effectively calling them one-sided publicly it makes any partnership untenable. We should be lobbying privately for sure.

Great stuff from Rick as always. In terms of their action, seems to most people they're being led by the hand politically more than ever and their recent tweets infer an organisation trying to appear objective but failing miserably. Rangers are in a difficult position here - do we pull out of any of their initiatives (which are often pretty good) and look worse than ever or do we hold our nose and attempt to influence?