Neil Cameron and The Trio of Trash

[BEARGER 1,829]

Club 1872 Statement - Paul Gascoigne's Scottish Hall of Fame nomination  The decision of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame committee and the Scottish Football Association to withdraw the nomination of Paul Gascoigne to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, once again highlights the incredible hypocrisy of Scottish football’s governing bodies. As far as Club 1872 is aware, moral issues are not the dominion of the Hall of Fame committee however it now appears there is a moral test which some individuals must pass to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The SFA and the committee should clarify whether they will be assessing the moral fibre of all past and future entries using this test. If Hall of Fame positions are to be judged on contribution to the Scottish game then there is no question that Paul Gascoigne should be honoured. If not, then many more than him will need to be stripped of this accolade or be deemed ineligible for induction. The SFA recently released the new Scotland kit and used a player convicted on racism related charges as the pin-up boy for their marketing campaign. They also employ another individual in a high profile position who has previously made headlines for overtly racist, sexist and homophobic comments. SFA board members indicated no concern whatsoever when these individuals took prominent roles in promoting and running their organisation. They should now publicly clarify which SFA board members objected and if any attempts were made to influence the committee to withdraw the nomination.  Aside from the hypocrisy of the SFA we are also extremely concerned by the attempt to blame Paul’s health for the reversal of the nomination. On the back of Mental Health Awareness Day, this reference is not only offensive but irresponsible, and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of mental health issues. Club 1872 wishes Paul all the best with his health challenges and we hope that the Rangers family and wider football community will be able to provide him with the support that has been so lacking in this troubling and shameful episode. Issued by Supporters Voice Limited, a Club 1872 company   Club 1872

[ian1964 10,415]

 

[StuGers 477]

1 hour ago, BEARGER said:

Club 1872 Statement - Paul Gascoigne's Scottish Hall of Fame nomination  The decision of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame committee and the Scottish Football Association to withdraw the nomination of Paul Gascoigne to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, once again highlights the incredible hypocrisy of Scottish football’s governing bodies. As far as Club 1872 is aware, moral issues are not the dominion of the Hall of Fame committee however it now appears there is a moral test which some individuals must pass to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The SFA and the committee should clarify whether they will be assessing the moral fibre of all past and future entries using this test. If Hall of Fame positions are to be judged on contribution to the Scottish game then there is no question that Paul Gascoigne should be honoured. If not, then many more than him will need to be stripped of this accolade or be deemed ineligible for induction. The SFA recently released the new Scotland kit and used a player convicted on racism related charges as the pin-up boy for their marketing campaign. They also employ another individual in a high profile position who has previously made headlines for overtly racist, sexist and homophobic comments. SFA board members indicated no concern whatsoever when these individuals took prominent roles in promoting and running their organisation. They should now publicly clarify which SFA board members objected and if any attempts were made to influence the committee to withdraw the nomination.  Aside from the hypocrisy of the SFA we are also extremely concerned by the attempt to blame Paul’s health for the reversal of the nomination. On the back of Mental Health Awareness Day, this reference is not only offensive but irresponsible, and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of mental health issues. Club 1872 wishes Paul all the best with his health challenges and we hope that the Rangers family and wider football community will be able to provide him with the support that has been so lacking in this troubling and shameful episode. Issued by Supporters Voice Limited, a Club 1872 company   Club 1872

Spot on.

[Briton 314]

22 hours ago, buster. said:

Can't agree with the former but do with the latter...

 

The very first qualifier for the Rangers HoF is that the club should be your main team of your career. That is not the case with Gascoigne.  Same applies to Butcher, for example.  

[ian1964 10,415]

The Scottish Hall of Fame is for our greatest footballers — not those who lived like monks... it is hard to decide which part of Paul Gascoigne's public humiliation is worse

• Paul Gascoigne will no longer be inducted into the Scottish Hall of Fame
• Former Rangers star was scheduled to join Hall of Fame on October 21
• Some members of SFA board had concerns over his suitability for the honour 
• They were planning to snub the ceremony but nomination has been withdrawn  

By Stephen Mcgowan For The Scottish Daily Mail

Published: 23:42, 12 October 2018 | Updated: 23:56, 12 October 2018

 

It's hard to decide which part of Paul Gascoigne's latest public humiliation is worse.

Inviting an alcoholic with a track record of domestic, racial and sectarian abuse to a night of booze-filled nostalgia in Glasgow.

Or telling a flawed figure with a history of mental health issues that his induction to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame has been cancelled.

The Rangers legend has become a slightly tragic character since the end of a playing career which wrought 57 England caps and two player of the year trophies in his first season at Ibrox. The spiral of decline looks irreversible and the events of recent days won't do much for his state of mind.

Walter Smith always feared what lay in store for Gascoigne when the floodlights dimmed.

He was never blessed with the gift of the gab a pundit on Match of the Day needs.

Guilt caused by watching a close friend's brother being killed by a car before his tenth birthday left him with nervous ticks, twitches and the first signs of compulsive behaviour.

His compulsions were once listed as vodka, beer, Red Bull, cocaine, morphine, paranoia and anxiety, an addictive bi-polar personality leading to bouts of depression and suicidal tendencies.

Drawn to negative headlines the way a moth is attracted to light, innocent victims have been caught in his web of anger and despair along the way.

Condemned by women's groups after headbutting ex-wife Sheryl and throwing her to the floor at Gleneagles Hotel in October 1996, Gascoigne was sent off days later as Rangers lost 4-1 to Ajax in the Champions League.

He was fined in 2016 for using racially aggravated language towards a black security guard at an 'Evening with Gazza' event in Wolverhampton.

In August he was questioned by British Transport Police over allegations of inappropriately touching a woman on a train. As recently as last month internet footage emerged of the former midfielder joining in with sectarian lyrics at a supporters' event in Alloa.

Baseball would have seen all this as a red flag from the start. Sport's ultimate hall of fame skips around the morality question by insisting nominees pass a 'character clause' taking their 'playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions' into account.

But there is no character clause for inductees to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Only the need to have made a 'significant contribution' to the national game.

Gazza's brilliantly turbulent spell as a Rangers player explains why a judging panel of journalists were within their rights to regard to regard him as a gifted performer *on* the pitch.

And why members of the Scottish FA board were wary of endorsing his pretty awful behaviour *off* it.

Attending a Hampden dinner to honour a man accused of domestic, racial and sectarian abuse would have been an awkward stance for Ana Stewart, female chair of the SFA's Equalities and Diversity Board, to take.

Even so, many find this outbreak of morality from the governing body laughably hypocritical.

Some of the board members who felt uneasy about honouring Gascoigne were also part of the decision to appoint Malky Mackay as SFA performance director after he was sacked by Cardiff City following a scandal over discriminatory, offensive texts.

No one is nominating Mackay for the Scottish Football Hall of Fame of course.

But if the SFA *are* trying to send out a message that inductees should be figures of high moral virtue then let's hope they don't start going through the 112 legends already in there with a red marker pen.

Newcastle legend Hughie Gallacher was a hard-drinking bankrupt with a quick temper who threw himself in front of a train rather than face trial for striking his son on the head with an ashtray.

George Graham was sacked as Arsenal manager after accepting bungs worth £425,000 from Norwegian agent Rune Hauge.

Billy Bremner was handed a lifetime ban by the SFA after a boozy incident in a Copenhagen nightclub in 1975.

And don't get Rangers or Celtic fans started on what they think of Jock Stein or Bill Struth. Or the foibles of Jim Baxter or Jinky Johnstone.

The walls of the Hampden museum bear images of men who drunk to excess. Flawed, imperfect figures who mistreated their wives and cheated the taxman. Men who were outstanding at kicking around a football, but ill-equipped for the spotlight a football career shone on their character.

Until this week Scottish Football's Hall of Fame demanded only that they displayed excellence with a ball at their feet. Not that they live their life like monks.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6271345/The-Scottish-Hall-Fame-greatest-footballers-not-lived-like-monks.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-top

[Uilleam 5,429]

John, Ch 8, KJV

 

3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

 

This has always seemed to me the expression of  a very decent sentiment. 

 

Of course, I always wondered what happened to the man taken in adultery, it being a sin (if such it is) that may not be committed alone; although President Jimmy Carter did confess to committing it in his mind, I am not convinced that this is the same thing. 

 

 

[ian1964 10,415]

 

[aweebluesoandso 290]

8 hours ago, ian1964 said:

 

Griffiths is utter racist trash with learning difficulties,  Malky  has had his problems with his sexist, racist outpourings, but what makes Tom English such a hypocritical bigot? 

[ian1964 10,415]

 

[ian1964 10,415]

Gazza's cruel treatment shows how far our game has to go: Scottish Hall of Fame snub is callous, weak and stupid

• Scottish Football Hall of Fame withdrew invitation to Paul Gascoigne this week
• Gascoigne was due to be inducted at an awards dinner next weekend
• The withdrawal of his invitation came the day after World Mental Health Day
• He wasn’t well when they issued invitation and this won’t make him any better

By Oliver Holt for the Mail on Sunday

Published: 22:30, 13 October 2018 | Updated: 22:30, 13 October 2018

It was World Mental Health Day last Wednesday. Among its aims were global mental health education, awareness and the reduction of social stigma. On the very next day, the Scottish Football Hall of Fame withdrew its invitation to Paul Gascoigne, who was due to be inducted at an awards dinner next weekend.

One minute, football tells Gascoigne it is proud of him and the next it says it is embarrassed by him. It is as if we never grow tired of expecting him to act conventionally. It is as if we never stop expecting him to get well. And when he doesn’t, he gets another dose of our disapproval.

The Scottish Football Hall of Fame acted appallingly towards him but they are not alone. The most cynical thing they did was blame health concerns for the rescinding of his invitation.
Gascoigne wasn’t well when they issued the invitation and this humiliation won’t make him any better.

There is only one embarrassment here and it is the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Its actions make it appear cruel and callous as well as stupid and weak. Gascoigne, a man without artifice, has been caught in a web spun by men playing petty political games.
It was in the middle of last week that various influential members of the Scottish Football Association let it be known that they would boycott the awards dinner at Hampden Park because they did not consider Gascoigne a fitting role model. Pressure was applied. The Hall of Fame panicked.

Gascoigne, it was speculated, was suddenly deemed an unworthy recipient of the honour because he had indulged sectarianism rather too enthusiastically during his time at Rangers, because he had attacked his former wife Sheryl during his time at Rangers, because he is locked in an ongoing battle with alcoholism and because his recent antics have been ‘unpredictable’.

A scroll down the list of names in the Hall of Fame reveals a list of brilliant players and managers and some men who may not have been saints in all that they did. It did not stop them being admitted.
The antipathy towards Gascoigne, then, is selective. It’s because his illness isolates him. It’s because he doesn’t fit. It’s because football doesn’t know what to do with him. It is the same with broadcasting. Television stations want him on our screens because of his name and because of the affection in which he is held. And they too have never stopped expecting him to behave conventionally.

His most recent appearance, on Sky’s Soccer AM a few weeks ago, was described as ‘chaotic’. It was accompanied by suggestions he had been drunk. Gascoigne said he had issues with sleeping tablets.

That is the way it has always been. Polite society has never been able to rely on him to ‘behave’. Once, when he was a superstar in his prime, the game laughed with him and said he was daft as a brush but, as he starts to walk uneasily into the foothills of his 50s, it is not laughing any more. He is the guilty conscience that won’t go away.

It would be glib to say that football has turned its back on him. Friends and former team-mates have tried to help him. The PFA have tried to help him. Former clubs have tried to help him.
But they have all realised the same thing: you can fix a knee problem by sending a player to a surgeon in Colorado but what is ailing Gascoigne is way more complicated.

And so what happens is that organisations like the Scottish Football Hall of Fame blunder into the midst of Gazza’s agonies and make things worse. ‘They’ve caused heartache and extra pressure to a man who struggles with the demons in life but has been doing well,’ said his agent Shane Whitfield.

The Hall of Fame blamed his health issues but he has had health issues for a long time. It’s funny how we always use that vague term when we are talking about mental health, in particular. We ignored those ‘issues’ while he was playing because he was too valuable then but now the knowledge of them gnaws away at us. Football is used to fixing things by throwing money at them but even football’s millions have not helped Gazza.

And the truth is that the way the SFA and the Scottish Football Hall of Fame acted was a reminder of just how far we still have to travel in our attitudes to mental health. It is easy paying lip service to the idea that we need to be more aware of what people face but sometimes when we are confronted with those issues, the temptation is to turn our backs and hope they go away.

Because in football terms, Gascoigne deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Sure, he was past his best when he joined Rangers from Lazio in July 1995 but he remains the most talented player England has produced since the 1966 World Cup and he was Scottish football’s player of the year in the first of his three seasons north of the border. He won the title twice at the end of Rangers’ run of nine successive triumphs.

So it was not his football achievements that threw the late and insurmountable obstacles into the path of his induction into the Hall. It was the other stuff. It was the stuff we still don’t like talking about. The stuff that still makes us feel uncomfortable.

Last week was supposed to be about reducing the stigma of the problems some people face. For Paul Gascoigne, it did the opposite. It was a week that told him football, once his refuge, was turning its back on him again. It was a week that pushed him further down the road to being a pariah.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...Gazzas-cruel-treatment-shows-far-game-go.html