'The Team For Me.'

Another book finished and I am glad to have read 'The Team for Me.'  Our friend Mike has put together several books, I am not jealous, and the latest one is a brave account of his fifty years following the Heart of Midlothian.  A jolly atmosphere filled book where all aspects of football fan, from the programme to the reception provided by Glasgow policemen finds a place.  Many times I knew I had been there, many times I understood how the author's emotions jangled, many times I understood why tears appeared, that comes from following a football team, especially this one!
However fans from all clubs will emote as they read.  The grounds change, the club names may be different and the league or division may be higher or lower but the situation in which a man's life is lifted to the heights or brought down to the depths depending on the result of a football game does not change.  This is a book for the 'real fan' not the one who changes scarves at the start of every season t follow the one seen on TV, this is a book the real fan can understand.  
As an example of that as I read I could not get out of my head sitting behind the goals at Love Street Paisley with the sleet in my face as we huddled together singing "We shall overcome" while the  Heart of Midlothian were losing three nil to a St Mirren side that were getting relegated and we scored the first goal two minutes in!  Thank you Danny Ferguson!  Bah!

At just after noon the boiler man arrived keen and willing (keen to be elsewhere and willing to find a reason to charge) and soon he had decided a new boiler was required.  As it happened the landlord, the daughter of the deceased man I knew, was in the building, not that she wished to see me of course, and he rushed off to discuss the deal.
I never saw him again!
An hour or so later a call from the plumbers announced the 5th of October would be a 'New Boiler Day' just in time for winter.  So this sounds very good indeed to me.  A Friday morning which tells me it will be working by noon so they can take the rest of the day off!  Fine with me, I shall run away for an hour or two and let them get on with it.

Sunday Snoozing

What started as a lazy day, I was too knackered to do anything, ended with eye strain looking at small writing on old newspapers looking for a milkman!  Not much happened until I foolishly got intrigued by a picture of an old milkman, the type who arrive on a small horse and cart, pour milk from a jug into your jug which you then store in a cool place, if you have one.  This is not something I remember as this died out after the war.  During the war evacuees in the country drinking milk straight from cows, via jugs that is, (From which side do you milk a cow? From the udder side!) were found to contract brucellosis and this brought in pasteurisation of milk and bottles were everywhere something which we all remember from school.  Well not those A.T. that is, After Thatcher!  She ended school milk as it cost money.  When in the top class at primary we had the task of delivering milk crates to classes, great fun especially in winter when the milk froze!   
Anyway I have done the job and passed on the papers.  Another great thing about the internet is the availability of s many things once locked away in libraries.  Great though these were they were often far away and cost too much to reach.  The British Newspaper Archive is expensive but very useful.  However some papers are not found there as yet and it is to be hoped many more will show up in the future.   

On top of that I came across other details from the distant past another may like so spent considerable time passing these on.  Of course I now realise most of them were passed on may months ago anyway...

I think I will return to reading Mr Smiths excellent book 'The Team for Me!'

'The Team For Me' by Mike Smith

Edinburgh Reporter

Much to my delight another book fell through the door today.  A book all football fan everywhere can relate to, one man's obsession love of the Heart of Midlothian, who can blame him for that?  You will all understand that once a football team becomes yours, and it is 'yours' then you can never leave it.  Wives and children, jobs and money, fame and fortune can come and go but these are fickle things, a football team remains for ever!

Of course as I have several already on the go it would not be possible to read this at the moment so I just dipped into the foreword by the great Jim Jefferies, a man who began his career as a 16 year old with the Hearts, eventually became a stout captain and later led them to the great 1998 Scottish Cup win, a result some of us had waited almost forty years to behold. What a great man to have write the foreword! 
Naturally with so many live games on different channels today I have not been able to read further, well I mean I glanced at the first chapter or two and found myself understanding what life was like when following a football team in the flesh.  The getting ready, the transport there, the avoiding supporters of jealous lower teams all rings true, but I have not read further.
The author?  One Mike Smith, a writer of note who has written several books of this type, most notably 'Hearts greatest Games' which concerns 50 of those triumphs, compare that with the  Hibernian's book 'One Win in 1973,' which did not sell well.  
Look at the time I must sleep, I better take a book through with me....

Hearts Greatest Games

Buy this book from Amazon

I was awoken, just before lunchtime,  by the postman kicking the door in an effort to indicate his presence.  I enquired, as he shoved a packet in my face, why he had not put it through the letterbox, it was big enough to take it.  "I couldn't reach," he grunted, "And I knew you would be asleep, so there," The letterbox stands at eye level and he is six feet four!  So my second sleep of the day was disturbed, and I was anxious it was disturbed for a good reason.  It was!  In my hand I held another tome from the prolific, yet strangely humble, author of good books, Mr Mike Smith!  This time the work concerned the Heart of Midlothian, featuring fifty (only) of their greatest games!   A smart cover, a solid hardback that fits nicely into the hand, full of historical fact, written in a concise yet highly readable manner, excellent photographs, I canny wait!

From the foreword by Hearts great John Robertson, through over a hundred years of top games Mike Smith takes us into the heart of what it means to be a supporter of the Heart of Midlothian. Those who support clubs where money is no object fail to comprehend the reality of football supporting.  The real fan rejoices with each victory but hurts with each loss. The Heart of Midlothian fan hurts often!  Being reared on the mighty Hearts side of the fifties that swept all before it I attended my first game to see the remnants of that glorious side thrash Airdrieonians by six goals to one, I thought it would always be like this!  I watched us struggle to win the next game, versus Raith Rovers, and was given an understanding of reality a week or so later when relegation bound Queen of the South defeated us by one goal to nil. Reality said life is not perfect, and the heart of the Heart of Midlothian fan contains much cynicism!  It still does......

However the bright spots in such a life are indeed brighter for the fan of the Heart of Midlothian than for those 'prawn sandwich eaters' that follow cash rich giant clubs with no heart.  Indeed the book mentions how the Hearts victory over Kilmarnock in the 1962 League Cup Final (a game my father would not let me attend because of 'the crowds' Bah Humbug!) was the last major trophy to reach Tynecastle Park until that marvelous day in 1998 when Stephan Adam slotted home the winner and ended forty years of pain by bringing the Scottish Cup back home. (Excuse me while I wipe away tears, I'm so happy!!!) 

From the first cup final win over Dumbarton, to the double victories over Hibernian, by three goals to one in 1896, and by five goals to one in 2012 (and we all know it ought to have been double that score) through night games versus Lokomotiv Leipzig and Bayern Munich, via the destruction of Celtic by Rene Mollar and comrades that damp November in '69 (a game I well remember) this book speaks the language of the Heart of Midlothian, Edinburgh's Premier Football Team!  Few teams have the record of 'Scotia's Darlings,' few have such an intellectual following, few can begin to compare with the Heart of Midlothian.

Mr Smith offers a glimpse into the Scottish psyche with this book, touching on Edinburgh's history and culture (try saying that about Leith!),  on the desire of the fans for success, and their wary appreciation of how close disaster can be.  None understand that like the cynics at Tynecastle!  Fifty games here mentioned show however that this football team is indeed the 'Talk of the toon, ' and I claim that this book will stir the heart like no other.  And that is 'No idle talk!'

One of the best heart of Midlothian books I have read!

     

Stop press! News has reached us that a Hibernian book along similar lines has been cancelled.  They could not find fifty games worth mentioning.

.

Another Day Another Grumble

This time it is the use of the word 'Golliwog' by Carol Thatcher in a private conversation with Adrian Childs and Jo Brand, so we are told. The word was used in reference to an Australian tennis player. As a result offence has been taken, publicity has been massive, and we are left pondering what really was going on. 'Golliwogs' have of course disappeared from our streets in recent years as white liberals thought black folk would be offended. Few I met ever really noticed them. Robinson Jam used to advertise by using the 'Golly' and the metal badges were prized by kids, and others, up and down the land. This has ceased as the offended bus has overtaking them. Did Thatcher, a woman I have no time for, say something offensive? Or is there more to this than meets the eye? Personally I reckon this was an excuse to remove her from the programme, partly because she is an awful person and partly because of her mother, the mad baroness! Resentment within the BBC regarding Thatchers attitude towards their middle class liberalism remains strong! There can be no doubt many would have resented Carols appearance on such a mainstream programme as 'One.' There can also be no doubt some have been plotting to remove her for a while, Childs one of them maybe? In a sense I am glad she has gone, although I now rarely watch this programme, it has long ago become another 'BBC Breakfast' type, bulimic wee lassies and celebrities selling their novel. Thatcher was not one O would ever want to see on the TV, however if BBC Radio 1 continues to employ the offensive Chris Moyles, and Radio 2 and BBC TV continue with Jonathon Ross then we are right to ask whether this was an offensive word which brought an end to a contract, or just an excuse?

DryIcons

My good friend Mike has been studying Scottish romance recently. He has posted quite a few 'Lonely Hearts' adverts. he does not say however, which are the ones I answered!Here is a sample.

Bitter, disillusioned Dundonian lately rejected by longtime fiancée seeks decent, honest, reliable woman, if such a thing still exists in this cruel world of hatchet-faced bitches. Box /41

Chartered accountant, 42, seeks female for marriage. Duties will include cooking, light cleaning and accompanying me to office social functions. References required. No timewasters. Box 3/45

Bad-tempered, foul-mouthed old b*stard living in a damp cottage in the ar*e end of Orkney seeks attractive 21-year old blonde lady with big chest. Box 40/27