Burley - NOTW

[ian1964 10,409]

FOR once the entire country is talking about Scottish football after Wednesday's Old Firm derby.

 

 

For all the wrong reasons.

 

 

The reaction to events at Parkhead has been astonishing.

 

 

Everyone I've spoken to absolutely LOVED the Old Firm meltdown - apart from policemen and politicians!

 

 

I lost count of how many normally sane English friends and colleagues told me they are already counting down the days to the Old Firm League Cup Final on March 20, following the madness.

 

 

Scottish football - or the Old Firm at any rate - has become must-see TV in a freaky, 'Big Brother,' kind of way. Sadly it has more to do with their indiscipline than their football.

 

 

How tragic is it that our top club game, the jewel in our crown, is now regarded as some kind of freak show? The outbreak of childish behaviour has overshadowed the good football we saw in the original tie at Ibrox, yet it turned Wednesday night's event into a nationwide smash hit.

 

 

At times it was like watching a low-budget horror movie through the cracks in your fingers.

 

 

You know exactly what's going to happen in every scene, yet you can't take your eyes off it. That's where we are right now with the Old Firm.

 

 

In an ideal world people would drool over our biggest club game, as they do when Barcelona play Real Madrid, and praise us for our football.

 

 

But people aren't tuning in to watch Paul McStay and Paolo Di Canio mixing it with Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup any more.

 

 

They're tuning in to see El Hadji Diouf and Scott Brown and who kicks the s*** out of who first. It's a shame because Celtic actually have quality players like Izaguirre, Kayal and Hooper who look as if they could play at a higher level.

 

 

The same could be said of McGregor, Bougherra and Naismith at Ibrox. But we seem to have reached a point after five Old Firm games this season where we're entertaining the public but p***ing off the police and politicians.

 

 

It's always dangerous for football when those two bodies get involved.

 

 

 

Salmond described the scenes at Parkhead as 'shameful.' This pair released Libyan mass-murderer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi

 

As the entire country talks about the drama and passion involved, some copper's union chief has a totally different slant on it.

 

 

He wants the fixture shut down or played behind closed doors. Call me cynical, but was it more than just a coincidence that Les Gray, Chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, claimed police wouldn't have enough resources to cope with seven Old Firm matches this season three days before Home Secretary Theresa May told his members to expect a pay cut.

 

 

Needless to say the copper's alarmist talk grabbed more headlines than Libya this week, which brings us not-so-nicely to our politicians.

 

 

It's all kicking off in Tripoli and the Middle East is going up in flames. David Cameron had more on his plate than to concern himself with Wayne Rooney scudding James McCarthy with his elbow.

 

 

But up here the First Minister Alex Salmond and his Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill are disgusted because Ally McCoist and Neil Lennon squared up to each other.

 

 

Salmond described the scenes at Parkhead as 'shameful.' This pair released Libyan mass-murderer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the Pan Am Flight 103 bomb which killed 270 innocent people, and sent him home to a heroes welcome and a party in Tripoli!

 

Now they're going to lecture Celtic and Rangers about the need to clean up THEIR act! It's not so long ago Glasgow was being described as the murder capital of western Europe.

 

 

Knife crime remains a huge problem. Sectarianism and bigotry are rife in the west of Scotland.

 

 

We drink too much, eat the wrong things, there's a drug culture and on top of that we take young impressionable children and send them to separate schools - then bleat about the poisonous religious divide in our society.

 

 

Maybe if we solved some of those problems, most of the issues surrounding Old Firm games would cease.

 

 

Instead, the politicians are going to put the world to rights by taking the Old Firm to task about their conduct! But they can't help themselves when they are presented with a high-profile opportunity to mouth their opinions. I wouldn't give tuppence for politicians getting involved in football.

 

 

What sanity has John Reid brought to our game at Celtic by questioning referees' integrity and supporting Peter Wishart's ludicrous proposal that refs should publicly declare who they support?

 

 

 

Lennon is crossing boundaries all over the place and upsetting a lot of previously reasonable people

 

Reid also publicly branded Rangers 'Boring Holy Willies.' Has this former Home Secretary done anything to calm tensions ANYWHERE?

 

 

Yet he has the power and authority to do some good by looking at his own club and recognising there is a problem with Neil Lennon. He has to ask why it is Lennon has become such a hated figure, to the extent he now requires round-the-clock protection and people are sending him bullets and fake bombs.

 

 

Martin O'Neill was a Catholic who played for Nothern Ireland and went on to manage Celtic. He ticked many of the same boxes Lennon does, yet he was able to go about his business without the same level of animosity. In fact he was grudgingly admired by most Rangers fans. Why is Lennon so different?

 

Whether he admits it or not I'm sure Walter Smith will have had a word with Ally McCoist now he's been confirmed as Gers' next boss.

 

 

Lennon is crossing boundaries all over the place and upsetting a lot of previously reasonable people. Someone in power has to pull him aside, put a fatherly arm around his shoulder and give him some advice.

 

 

They must remind him he is no longer a combatant in these games, he's the manager of Celtic and that comes with a whole lot of added responsibility.

 

 

If a player is over-stepping the mark on the pitch and has lost the plot, it's a manager's job to pull him back in line.

 

How can Lennon do that if he's racing to the touchline to square up to an opponent - even one as objectionable as El Hadji Diouf?

 

Why does he continue to behave the way he does? It's not rocket science. It's because no one he respects in authority has told him not to.

 

 

Right now no one in power at Celtic seems to be sounding the alarm about their manager's behaviour and warning him enough is enough, cut it out now.

 

 

And until someone takes on that responsibility I'm not sure Lennon is capable of policing himself.