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Is International football outdated? Do we really need it anymore?

Bloody international football. It's like the world stands still for two weeks several times a year and millions of football fans have to feign interest in games they'd rather weren't happening at all. The only interest I have is seeing Ryan Jack return uninjured.

‘s boring innit? Not always so. It used to be like going to see Rangers with star guest performers. Since the war fifteen players have captained Scotland while on Rangers’ books. Four of the Iron Curtain did it, Jock Shaw, Geordie Young, Willie Woodburn and Sammy Cox. The ‘keeper Bobby Brown and surprisingly, Ian McColl didn’t. Both made up for that omission by later successfully managing the National side. Eric Caldow and John Greig were each fifteen times captain. Jim Baxter, Sandy Jardine, Tam Forsyth, Graeme Souness, Richard Gough, Colin Hendry, Super, Barry Ferguson and Kenny Miller all got at least one shot at it though Souness’ last match as Scotland captain occurred when he had signed for the Famous but hadn’t actually played in a club game. Stephen Presslie, Christian Dailly and Davie Weir were Scotland Captains but not as Rangers players. Gary McAllister also did the job. Never a Rangers player, of course but he did a bit of assistant-managing. The greatest captain of them all was George Young on no less than forty eight occasions. There’s a photo of Young and England’s redoubtable Billy Wright leading the teams out. Wright was no skelf but Young towers over him. Having looked all this up, I’m now fired with enthusiasm to the extent that I might possibly try to find out against whom Scotland are playing. If the weather’s bad and there’s nothing else on the telly, I might even watch them. But only if Ryan Jack plays.

.........And such would be easily proved. Barcelona could publish and be damned, or publish with suitable redactions, to protect the innocent. How many referees, etc were there working in La Liga over the 16 year period? There will have be a churn , but is that enough to justify 400K per annum for reports on them? Therefore, the majority of the expenditure would, it seems, have been spent on reports on youth players. This, again, could be proved easily. However, there remains the question of why would you ask a referee to scout players, and pay him handsomely to do so?

It's about 400K GBP per season... That's a lot of reports, and a lot of data to assimilate, particularly when it is likely that more than a club will have other sources providing information, opinion, and stats.

Players with Scots Grannies 🙄 I would be happy to see the back of it.

Martin Bain climbed the greasy pole by using Nick Peel for the necessary leverage. Sir Duped gave him the nod to prompt newly appointed Chair, John McClelland and ensure he adhered absolutely to the rails laid down by Sir Duped. You are correct, he did successfully manage down the debt, I seem to remember he had it down to £18 million? We did have fun with Martin - those advertising hoardings immediately outside his office window adorned with invitations to join the RST - the BHS Catalogue photos of the then male model, Martin Bain in his pyjamas(looked very Andrew Ridgely) and - Martin gave a Sunday broadsheet interview where he told of spending all his down time, hillwalking. At our next meeting I asked if the hillwalking interfered with his munro bagging? The ensuing delicious silence went on forever.

Bain was never a CEO under Murray. He was acting purely as an MD, acting under Murray's instructions. However, near the end when Murray had been neutered and Bain was running things along with the likes of Alastair Johnston, he did OK and the financial situation was being brought under control and the net debt had reduced to £27m.

Aye, the Sir Duped / Martin Bain combination turned out disasterous. Towards the end, Lawwell entered into the disaster zone with the Hampden Showers appointment of The ticking time bomb, Lennon. By that time, he was past his sell by date.

The new shirt really is a thing of beauty but £90

Alas you're right, a fully empowered CEO is more likely to emerge when you have a board dominated by one powerful shareholder. I think what we might have is a board where no one has secure control and everyone feels they need to keep a hand on the reins. I always thought Lawwell was Desmond's chosen surrogate rather that a normal board appointee, which is OK as long as he's competent but a disaster if he's not. I thought it was revealing that Lawwell's replacement didn't last 5 minutes.

To accurately appraise Wilsons performance I think we would need to be fully aware of his operational parameters, budget and crucially, how much weight, others, including managers and directors have within his remit. More complex and nuanced than just one man buying and selling players. One good window, couple of wins against SEFC and Wilson would be a genius, tis ever so. In regards to Robertson, I'd assume he's a first rate administrator and office manager. Too many supporters think he is a CEO though, a blue Peter Liewell and judge him thus. His "Walter the softy" persona, unfortunately, only exacerbates the frustration associated with this misconception. The real issue for me regarding the MD is not the man but the role. Sack Robertson? Then what? Appoint another administrator who may or may not be better the incumbent? Pretty much futile and damaging IMO. I have always said we need a strong CEO, to lighten the burden on our directors who all have other businesses very demanding of their time and resources. The right man would be costly, he would need to be strong, ruthless and tactically astute. A strong character who our enemies fear. Not ten a penny granted, but they do exist.