JohnMc

I enjoy an international tournament. Unlike so much top level club football there's still an element of the unknown about the Euro's and the World Cup. Yes, the bigger nations have an inbuilt advantage, but less so than the big European clubs have in my opinion. I like that smaller countries like Croatia, Uruguay, Denmark, Portugal and Holland can reach the semis and even the finals of major tournaments. Although the grandparent rule and creeping trend of the nationalisation of players there's still a purity to international football that is long gone from the club game. I like that a player like Gareth Bale has to play for Wales alongside some guy from Div 2, that Ronaldo can't just decide to play for Italy or China, he can only play for Portugal, no matter how good or bad the rest of the team are. I've great memories of watching international football. My first big football memory was the 78 World Cup, I was transfixed by the colour and spectacle of it all. Of course I also believed Scotland were going to win it but that disappointment aside players like Boniek, Hans Krankle, Jonny Rep and Mario Kempes were huge stars for me during the tournament and huge currency in playground sticker swaps. Ten years ago I watched Spain beat Germany in the World Cup semi final in a bar in Pamplona. The San Fermin festival was on and the first big bull fight of the festival was taking place at the same time so the bar was surprisingly quiet. Pamplona is Basque country, I got talking to a couple of guys from San Sebastian who had driven down to watch the game. They wanted Spain to win, Xabi Alonso was Basque so they felt they could support this Spain side, just not publicly in San Sebastian. As the bull fights finished the bar filled up and when Spain scored the only goal of the game late on pretty much everyone cheered. The consensus in Pamplona that evening was that while many of them didn't consider themselves Spanish and were very uncomfortable with outward signs of Spanish nationalism, that Spain team, dominated by Catalans, was one they could get behind. International football has lost some of its sparkle for me though. It's rare now for a player you've never heard of to light up a tournament anymore. That used to happen every couple of years in the 70s and 80s. Nowadays some fleet-footed Scandinavian catches your eye and when you Google you discover he's been a Man City for 2 years playing only one first team game and is currently on loan in Holland. Likewise a hot prospect from South America is almost always in Madrid or Barcelona by the time they've left their teens. I think the truly great players achieve true greatness on the international stage. By either dragging their small, normally also ran nation to a tournament in the first place or by simply excelling on the world stage while the whole world is watching. I remember watching Brian Laudrup go toe to toe with Brazil at France 98, demonstrating to everyone just what a player he was. That same tournament Zidane announced his greatness, following in the footsteps of Pele, Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Platini and Maradona, players who reminded you why love this game in the first place. As for Scotland, well, I'm typing this as we're playing. It's hardly transfixing me and in all honesty their games don't interest me in the same way as Rangers matches do. They did once upon a time and who knows maybe they will again someday in the future. I did cheer Leigh Griffith's goals against England a couple of years ago as enthusiastically as any Rangers goals, and I was gripped by the penalty shootout last year that saw us qualify for the Euros. But I've not been to a Scotland match for decades and the tartan army and their fancy dress leaves me cold. I'll watch their matches whenever the Euros come around, but with little hope and no expectation. I do still take pride in Rangers players doing well on the international stage, whoever they play for.

There was a very good article in The Athletic about Tav at the weekend dB. Aside from interesting background stuff the article was at pains to underline how settled he is in Glasgow now and that whatever happens in his career he plans to make Glasgow his home when he retires. I actually wonder if there's more chance of us selling Paterson than Tav. Tav isn't going to get a crack at Champion's League football in England, I think if we offer him the right contract he's here for the rest of his career. As for the game we left our right hand side exposed. Aribo isn't a midfielder and playing him there means we lose the good parts of his game, it also means we're playing with 2 midfielders and Celtic over ran us in there because of that. Our best spell came when we brought on Wright, suddenly him and Patterson opened the right side and offered attacking options and defensive cover. Had we started with them, or with Zungu sitting allowing Kamara to cover the right it might have been a different match. Either way that was a full strength Celtic, all of their main players are fit and their manager was desperate to make a claim for the job full time. We came off the back of our hardest match of the season and with some big holes in the squad through injury. They still couldn't beat us.

Let me be clear then. The only player you've criticised on this forum is Glen Kamara for not walking off the pitch. How a black man responds to racism seems to be exercising you far more than the actual racism itself. You've offered no support to the victim, only criticism.

You realise you're blaming the victim here? Black player is racially abused, black player is blamed for not reacting in a fashion leatbats agrees with. That's quite the take. If anyone is under any doubt why black footballers feel the need to keep awareness of racism high then surely last night is the

I meant that 4 pages of scorched earth SNP bashing/defending might be to the detriment of recording and holding the BBC to account. The Kelvingrove gathering has made the BBC news app this morning, although so far I've not heard any comments from senior police or politicians. I drove past Kelvingrove Park a couple of weeks ago and it was mobbed, it was the first kinda mild day and literally thousands of people, most of them young, were enjoying the park. As the weather improves you'll see that happening almost daily without their being any specific occasion to 'blame'. Unless the media highlight this and make it an issue it'll pass without comment. We're in an election cycle now so it'll be interesting to see what gets traction and what doesn't.

I'm possibly not the person to respond as i'm not a 'nationalist' as such, but I have voted SNP in the past and I might do again in the future, we'll see. I suspect, like thousands of Rangers supporters, who I support plays no part whatsoever in who I vote for. Any political beliefs I hold have been formed through 5 decades of experiences in several different countries doing several different jobs. I find myself politically homeless most of the time. I've no time for all types of nationalism, be they Scottish, British, Irish, wherever. I mistrust exceptionalism based on nationality. I'm a man out of step though as increasingly different strands of nationalism seem to be the only options open. To answer your specific question of "why being seen to sink the boot into Rangers and Rangers supporters is a recurring theme to the Scottish Government?" I'd say that this isn't something unique to this particular flavour of government. When Glasgow Council and the Scottish Government were Labour controlled we were fair game then as well and regularly held to different standards. I feel you should rephrase your question as "why being seen to sink the boot into Rangers and Rangers supporters is a recurring theme from any Scottish Government or Council?" We'd be here a long time trying to answer that. I love this thread and the heavy lifting you put into it, and I don't want to derail it from it's purpose. Perhaps this is a discussion for a different thread.

Every chance you're right, I'm hoping you are!

Yeah, you could well be right, I'm probably projecting my own listless, slovenly personality onto them. Looking forward to it all the same, it's European football in March, what a fantastic side we have just now.

This was excellent, the best Gersnet podcast yet, in my opinion.

As long as any bans are only for games this season and are only for league matches. The problem we have is Rangers and the players have publicly admitted to the breaches and the players have been punished by the club. No Celtic player was punished and their club said nothing officially. I think a player or one of the management team spoke about 'minor breaches' but nothing official came from the club. I suspect that's the loophole being used here. You wonder if our honesty will come back and bite us or mitigate against further punishment.

After the weekend I'd be amazed if our players are as prepared as we'd like them to be. I don't think the drinking will make any difference, that will be long out of their system by Thursday, but I suspect mentally their focus this season has been achieving the title, with that now accomplished we'll see if they can maintain the focus and energy or if things might start to drift.

This is an enjoyable article from Slavia. Particularly love the story of their first manager! https://en.slavia.cz/clanek.asp?id=From-352-micer-to-AC-DC-Unexpected-links-between-Slavia-and-Rangers-792 "Dressing Madden in a Rangers´ jersey and international cap belonging to Speedie and Robertson, he was provided with credentials that made him acceptable to Slavia."

Bluedell never forgets! There's no doubt for those of us who remember those dark days this past week has been all the sweeter, and the inevitable rage that's followed simply adds to it. Looking back at the thread only you and Craig haven't left or been banned, yet!

Some contrition today - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56292056

That man achieved more in 25 years than most of us will in 3 times that. Great post.

Goldson for me, would have been Helander but for that poor pass in the first half that gifted them a chance. Goldson is so good we don't even notice anymore, we take it for granted. If we lose him for a few matches then we'll all see just what he brings to the team.

Yes, I wondered if there might be a bit of player sharing at some point too. I don't follow German football closely dB so is there a reason why Hamburg and now Schalke are struggling? I mean other than they've got poorer players and coaches than the other sides. Have they finance problems or systemic structural issues or is it just bad luck? I watched some of the Hamburg match the other night. St Pauli had a forward who was a bag of tricks, Muslim sounding name, great close control but poor final ball in half hour or so I watched. Certainly looked to be a better player than lower half of the German 2nd division would suggest.

Henry McDonald, their Northern Ireland correspondent, has been very critical of Greenslade in the past, as he has been about Irish republican violence in general. McDonald's upbringing and background give him an insight into the reality of these people that violence tourists like Greenslade will never understand.

I see a great favourite of many of the journalists who often feature in this thread made the news this weekend and lost his job today. Roy Greenslade, one time Daily Mirror editor, Sun journalist, Guardian columnist and, until today, Professor of Journalism at City University of London was himself the subject of an article yesterday. The Sunday Times reported about Essex boy Greenslade's unwavering support for the Provisional IRA and INLA at the weekend. This of course came as news to absolutely no one who has even the slightest interest in these things. He wrote a column for the Sinn Fein's weekly newspaper under an alias for years while working for some of Fleet Street's biggest papers. Greenslade's love for homicidal maniacs and sectarian murder gangs was an open secret, which makes you wonder just what this weekend's 'revelations' were all about? There were two excellent pieces in the online Spectator today in response to Greenslade's attempts at greenwashing history. Maria Cahill, a one time Irish republican - https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-did-roy-greenslade-demonise-me-when-i-accused-an-ira-member-of-rape- and Fermanagh born Ian Acheson, an advisor on prisons and reform - https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-roy-greenslade-doesn-t-understand-about-the-troubles Greenslade was very vocal when professional Dundonian, Jim Spence, was called nasty names in the street a few years back. Such intimidation can't go without comment after all. Shooting 15 year olds through the knees in the Ardoyne can be ignored though, well they probably had it coming, eh Roy. Anyway, here's hoping we never have to hear his name again.

In some ways not drawing an English side in lunchtime's draw means BBC Scotland Sport can probably survive the pressure they must now be coming under from headquarters in Manchester for a chat with Gerrard. Had we drawn Man Utd can you imagine Match Of The Day, Football Focus and Five Live just accepting they couldn't speak to Gerrard or McAllister, who they must know fairly well. This might still come to pass of course.

Point of order, she's not Glaswegian, take your well deserved ire and point it in the direction of Bute.

You might be right. I understand his style is based around relying on two or three match winning players being supported by everyone else in the team. This was not unlike Walter Smith's Rangers in his first term, but is miles from Gerrard's 'total football' philosophy. I think he is able to organise and motivate players, at least initially, but as @stewarty points out above that can only last for so long. Anyway, nothing was funnier or more enjoyable than watching his own fans turn on him, that's got to have hurt.

Yes, all fair points. The rumours of how his Hibs tenure ended certainly back up what you're saying. I think I'm just touchy to any narrative that suggests somehow our success this season is down to Celtic having a poor manager, I don't think they did, he just isn't as good as ours.

It took me a week to get over the first bloody match and then they go and do that to us! Whatever else you say about this Rangers team they're entertaining. Kent and Morelos were outstanding and while not as effective Hagi worked so hard he too deserves a mention. It's the strangest tie to review, I mean we conceded 5 goals, that would normally deserve much scrutiny and criticism but when you score 9 in reply it can be glossed over. Of the 5 we conceded 3 were poor defensively and one was a dodgy penalty. That said while I don't think we set out to concede so many I do think the game plan was simply to overwhelm them upfront. Two very attacking line-ups was always going to leave us open. Some of our goals over the tie were things of beauty, Kent must be registering on the radars of richer clubs by now, if he wasn't already. Nathan Paterson's goal feels like vindication for the liberal hand-wringers on here like Gonzo, Bill and me... I'd like AC Milan next. For someone of my age they exude glamour and majesty, but whoever we get can I just say how proud I am we're in the last 16 of a European tournament for the second year in a row, Berwick, Brechin and Peterhead feel that bit further away again.

Funnily enough I don't have a problem with them lionising Lennon. If you actually are a Celtic supporter then he probably deserves the title 'legend'. He played over 200 games for them and has managed them twice, that certainly should earn him a place in their virtual hall of fame. He won trophies as a player and as a manager, we have to accept that. I think there will always be a question mark over all the titles he won, but he won the Scottish Cup and League Cup last season, so credit where credit is due. Celtic have only lost 4 league matches this season, 2 of them to us. That's not a terrible record by any rational measurement. But their support's reaction to our imperious form has been hysterical, in both senses of the word. Our loss to St Mirren in the League Cup was no worse than theirs to Ross County, yet we didn't try and storm the stadium afterwards. They had a torrid time in Europe, again something that almost all Scottish sides experience. Almost all. Lennon's biggest problem is his support and his directors, and probably himself, weren't prepared for how good we've been this season. Not only have we been imperious in the league but we've been wonderful in Europe too. In my opinion Lennon is actually a better than average manager. His spell at Bolton apart, and they were in a bad way when he was manager, he's won trophies at Celtic and got Hibs promoted and had them playing decent football when in the SPFL. I suspect he'll get another job in management and don't be surprised if he does fairly well. Writing Lennon off as a buffoon demeans what we're on the brink of achieving this season. Lennon's problem is he's not Steven Gerrard, Lennon's problem is the Celtic 'support' have abandoned him at the first sign of difficulty, unlike our support who traipsed the fishing towns and former pit villages of Scotland to support our side. I don't like Lennon's public persona, indeed I struggle to think of a player I have ever disliked more than Lennon, and I've enjoyed watching him flounder recently, but while ridiculing him let's remember he was an experienced manager with a strong squad and transfer budget at his disposal, and this Rangers side were simply too good for him.