Willie Collum Does it Again for His Team

 

Another Heart of Midlothian v Celtic game, another example of Willie Collum's deliberate bending of the rules to benefit his team.  Yet again he takes his teams side. This is not new, I make it six penalties he gave in seven games against us, none of which were penalties, and add to this several non red cards which he decided were red and has shown against this club, and he has gone one better today.  Sitting far from home in Glasgow he has made use of VAR to force the referee in today's game to send off a Heart of Midlothian player for no reason.  A foul, if it was a foul was committed, a yellow card shown, if that was required, and the  Willie demands a red, because that is what he does!

Had I been the boss at Tynecastle I would have taken the players from the field and sued both Willie and the SFA for the cheating we have endured.  This is not new, I have seen this as far back as the early 60s when Gordon Marshall was also treated badly by a Glasgow referee.  The 'Old Firm' have always had the refs in their pocket.  Today, ought to have been time for action.  The cowards at the Heart of Midlothian board will fail to react, once again. 

Muddle

Today the Heart of Midlothian parted company with another manager.  I find this one rather sad.  John McGlynn was a decent Heart of Midlothian man who cared for the club and did his best in difficult times.  His common complaint that he had lost several major players through transfer and injury was indeed correct.  Many of the young players he was encouraged to play had been through his hands in times past when he was a youth coach.  Instead of seeing them reach the heights he instead sees a bleak future as one of the unemployed.  For myself I always considered John more as a coach than a manager, an assistant manager rather than the man in the media spotlight.  The pressure of managing a club of the size of the Heart of Midlothian is great, as indeed is the fans expectation.  Both told on him as the season continued.  His tactical knowledge was less than that required and it is clear no Heart of Midlothian side ought to be playing one up front, especially at home.  The Heart of Midlothian must always make attack the policy, as full bloodied as possible and according to the resources available.  Sadly for John his ideas fell flat and the feeble effort against St Mirren on Tuesday night spelt the end for this decent man.  Those who take over have a difficult job to do however the change will actually encourage some players and hope of success still beats.  We have a cup final to look forward to, and I expect us to win it!

  

Today also saw the publishing of Lord Nimmo-Smith's report into Rangers use or misuse of what are called 'EBT's' in paying their players.  For some these are legal, for other a tax dodge, regarding the Scottish Football Association (SFA) these must be declared to them before they begin.  Whether legal or not was not the question, the question was did Rangers under David Murray hide such payments and gain advantage.

The report decides no advantage was gained, but these were hidden and fines a club that has gone into liquidation the sum of £25,000 that cannot ever be recovered.  In short a whitewash of the SFA favourites!  Once again Rangers under Murray have moved the goalposts and got off with it!  Once again the Scottish establishment have come down on the side of their team!  How anyone can believe that giving hidden payments, therefore encouraging the buying of better players, does not lead to gaining advantage is hard to understand!  Of course they had an advantage, of course the titles and cups are tarnished, of course the fine is inadequate!  

Muddle?  No, deliberate moving of goalposts to aid the team that matters.  I am left wondering what political pressure (read that phrase any way you like) has been exerted and where?  If only I supported Celtic, I could see conspiracy and back room dealings being done here among the rich and famous.  However I will not do that.  Scottish football however has been stabbed in the back once again! 

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Corruption?

BBC

Another day, another fiddle in the 'Rangers' saga.


What began with tax fiddling and grew with dubious new owners develops each day into a soap opera of a dimension so strange that no scriptwriter would dare attempt it.  The 'Rangers Football Club' has proved unsaveable and will pass into liquidation (when?) and the latest owner, who may or may not have the money, has attempted to force his way int Scotland's top division (the Scottish premier League) and failed.  He has then attempted to enter the Scottish Football League (the lower division in Scotland) and his friends (one Mr Regan) in the Scottish Football Association (the governing body) and The Scottish premier League (one Mr Donaldson) 
are doing his work for him there.


Various threats have been issued, and those connected with the Ibrox club have issued many threats this year, threats have been issued to the SF: members that refusal  to obey the wishes of those in charge could see millions lost to the game as SKY TV pull out (Sky deny they will pull out)
and several SPL clubs failing and dying.  Loss of cash will affect the lower divisions leaving many of them to go to the wall also.  Clubs are worried, rightly, and annoyed at the threatening manner in which this debacle takes place.


On Friday the SFL clubs meet to decide the new 'Rangers' fate.  This club has no accounts, no players, and a dubious owner.  Whether he has the cash to keep his 'newco' afloat is unclear, his long term intentions are just as unclear.  The clubs today discovered a new twist in the corruption within Scotland's football.  The SFL leaders now wish tod ecide by themselves where this club plays.  Clearly most wish them to begin at the bottom, Division 3, but this idea will simply place them into Division 1 so, they say, to stop money being lost to the game!  This is a disgrace and hopefully the smaller clubs will stand up to this!  Disgraceful!  


There can be little sympathy anywhere for any Ibrox club today.  The bullying gerrymandering of Regan, Donaldson and others reveals the depth of corruption and desperation to keep a sinking ship afloat.  I begin to think dumping 'Rangers' out of the game altogether is the only way forward, followed by the personnel responsible for this mess.  It is time for UEFA and FIFA to step in.  Their rules have been broken, Rangers did go to the Scottish courts to overturn a lenient punishment (which as yet has not been reheard), the shambles behind the scene to keep this club afloat shows the bias within Hampden, and to save the game, with the season less than a month away, someone has to take control NOW!  


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Now I'm not one to complain, but...

This is the scruffy, unkempt face of the Scotland team manager.  He presented it, along with a smile borrowed from a tired airline steward, to the illiterates that form the Scottish press football corps.  These devious lying cretins arrive with only two thoughts, "How can we make this seem bad no matter how good it appears, and how can we get him to talk about our club, Rangers?"  Today they gathered at Hampden pretending to care about the Scotland side. These worm like creatures would have noticed the three Celtic players but only one Rangers player in the squad.  This would have been alleviated by the three ex- Rangers and only two ex- Celtic players announced.  Of such childish sectarianism does the Glasgow media feed!  What would have missed their attention was the ever increasing number of players born outside of Scotland, some of at least one Scots parent, and others selected simply because they read 'Treasure Island,' as a kid or once ate an oatmeal biscuit without any butter to prove they were a man! And that only last week!


It is gone to far now, this foreign import of 'Scotsmen.'  We have reached a stage, although the media miss this as there is no mileage in it for them nor are they willing to think outside of the OF box, we have reached a stage where a halt has to be called to Leveins choice of foreigner. Do players like Murphy and Lasley not matter?  Are Dundee United players not yet ready? I am sure Levein does not wish to play young men too early, and with this I agree, however they have to start sometime, and if they are true born Scots they must get a look in somewhere, even in a friendly. We have to take a chance and develop young players, even if not ready, and use them for at least half a game.  Instead we bring in those not nearly good enough to ever get a call up for the nation of their birth, and indeed of their choice.  It is true some have done well and I do not suggest they be thrown out now they have played, but we weaken the development of young players without a sixteen team league, and by taking away their opportunities by filling the gap with 'journeymen! If we are to play such talents let them be Scots 'journeymen' I say, not English ones!


Maybe Levein is right when he says his job is to Progress into tournaments."  Maybe he is more intent on succeeding here and moving to a better job afterwards down in England, or even juts doing enough to keep his job as manager of the Scotland side.  We all know how trustworthy the SFA are.  Once the press turn against the manager he is out, unless he has Ibrox connections. I have nothing against the chancers players myself, it is just that they are NOT Scotsmen, had no thought for the most part concerning Scotland, and only heard of it when that ageing granny said "Wee," and "Scunner!"  Now they have the chance all players wish for, to play at International level.  Who can blame them?  However I could never put on an England shirt, how can they turn on their nation so easily?  Have they no pride except when lying about '66?  The idea of allowing sons of nationals born abroad is indeed a good one, however where it falls down is when the slightest connection allows you to play thus hindering the development of young home grown players.  This may keep a manager in a job, it may even bring success, but it is NOT right!


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Friday

Scotland play Macedonia at Hampden Park in a very important World Cup match tomorrow. George Burley the manager is 'under pressure' the press tell us repeatedly, and they would know! They have been against him from the beginning so he would be 'under pressure' wouldn't he? Having led the Heart of Midlothian into a position to challenge the finance led domination by the bigot twins in Glasgow he was always considered an 'enemy.' Not belonging to the 'Glasgow Mafia' leads the press, who do belong, to treat you with contempt, no matter the results from the team. In recent days we have been hearing of the importance of this game, the 'pressure,' and that this is 'win or lose,' as indeed it always happens to be! However the 'suits' that matter are shaking out their blazers and clearing the way for Burley's removal and ensuring they do not get any blame! George Peat, the president of the Scottish Football Association has put down his glass to let the world know that failure will remove Burley, and it's not his fault he was appointed. Declaring the managers position will be discussed after the Holland game he let everyone know that if we lose he will be sacked, 'The compensation package is already in place,' he said. What he meant was, 'It's no my fault!' he then returned to his table and the other suits. Gordon Smith was attending a referees meeting at the Lodge and was not available for comment.

Mike at Auld Reekie Rants has been ranting on about the latest attempt to deal with troublesome pupils, sorry, students, in Edinburgh schools. Apparently if the 'child' considers he (and it's always a 'he' apparently) will be troublesome in class he can use his 'Get out of class free' card, and excuse himself. This, considers a gathering of social workers, psychologists and head teachers, is an appropriate way to deal with such youths. Teachers are being instructed on handling difficult situations, and there is a possibility other 'Education Centres' (what happened to 'schools?') . Read Mikes item and then glance through this excellent site and consider your honest heartfelt response to the situation. 'Instruments of Punishment'

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