Old order faces youthful challenge
, and signify the changing of the old guard and the coming of the new breed of football manager in Scotland - and it's a welcome development.
All three are articulate, media savvy and thoughtfully opinionated in their musings on the game. They ally their football experience with an understanding of social trends and change, and a readiness to embrace these, whether it be in re-working youth systems, their managerial techniques, or their willingness to challenge a cosy media consensus.
Similarly, a new breed of supporter has been patiently working to ensure that the old order of Scottish football must accept change.
once told me that Light Blues fans had the "big man in the big hoose mentality" - that cringing Scottish readiness to accept what one's betters insist is good for you.
Along with his fellow Trust members, he must now be gratified to witness a much more bolshie side to the Rangers support, as .
Presumably, they've concluded that they can make no worse a job of running the club than those who got it into .
But highly intelligent managers and highly qualified fans alike face some serious opposition. They are often too sharp and too clever by half according to those who currently run the game and whose power is threatened by those inclined to a more open, democratic and accountable approach.
For the three managers mentioned and others emerging of a similar ilk, the game's ruling bodies and, indeed, even some referees and members of the media, may see them as too much of a threat to the status quo and that marks them out as dangerous and unpredictable.
All three have been eloquent and vocal in defence of perceived wrongs against their clubs and, while those in authority bristle at criticism, in a healthy and mature democracy, a concept often alien to Scotland, it is a welcome and overdue development.
For organised fans groups, too, there is a danger. They threaten the power base of some who instinctively feel it is their birthright to run clubs or organisations like the Scottish FA, Scottish Premier League, or Scottish Football League as personal fiefdoms and who respond with arrogance and disdain to fresh and innovative thinking.
But the good news is that intelligence will win out.
In a world of modern communications, the truth shall indeed set you free if you are a manager or a supporter ready to challenge the established order.
Football fans now communicate instantaneously and, in a world of Twitter, email and You Tube, the football establishment is open to a scrutiny never before endured.
Information is shared in an instant around the football community and there is no hiding place for duplicity.
The old football order will fight to the death, but "the times they are a changin", as Bob Dylan said, and football will have to change with them.
They pay me to watch football and talk football. That’s some people's idea of Christmas every day. I can't deny it's mine too. I view the football world through a different lens from some journalists, because I live and work in Dundee. The Old Firm are interesting, but so was my breakfast this morning. There is a whole lot more on the Scottish football menu than the big two. From the SPL to the juniors, the game offers lots of dishes, and they all get my taste buds going.
Comment number 1.
At 2nd Dec 2009, H Burns wrote:There is nothing new about these guys. Jock Stein visited Italy to see how the Italians trained and Eddie Turnbull had his own unique ideas. There are a host of others that were 'new' in their day. Of course the present ones are railing against decisions taken against their own clubs but that is nothing new either. If they were speaking up on perceived wrongs against other clubs . . . . now that would be a first.
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Comment number 2.
At 2nd Dec 2009, Fraser - (Insert Appropriate Topical Comment) wrote:If they were speaking up on perceived wrongs against other clubs . . . . now that would be a first.
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you mean like Jim Gannon on saturday?
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Comment number 3.
At 2nd Dec 2009, phillibens_left_peg wrote:Yep, Motherwell were not hard done by on saturday, but Gannon was complaining about the general standard of refereeing - hindering the game rather than letting it flow.
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Comment number 4.
At 2nd Dec 2009, BentheHoose wrote:I'm not entirely convinced that Mr McGhee's comments are or have been the most 'eloquent'. His and indeed those remarks from the AFC website in the aftermath of the Hibs game would tend to suggest rampant paranoia. The comments and attitude spouting from AFC suggest a Ferguson like adoption of a' wronged' mentality. That is neither an adult or responsible attitude.
In Gannon's case,I understand that during his tenure at Stockport he acquired a reputation for verbal jousting with officialdom. Therefore, his criticism of Refereeing in the SPL is a rehash of his opinions historically.
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Comment number 5.
At 5th Dec 2009, Iain Jack wrote:Change is what it's all about. I didn't know that Bob Dylan was a fan of Scottish football but if he was he would probably have said:
Come gather 'round Fans
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your Clubs to you
Are worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or they'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come journalists, critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For you’re losers now
And you know you can’t win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come Club Chairmen, Managers
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the Goalmouth
Don't deflate the ball
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll shake your existance
As Third Lanark still calls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come SFA fathers
Throughout all the land
Please don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
For clubs that were once first
Are now sinking fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
We’re no longer first now
‘Cause we’re comin’ last
For the times they are a-changin'.
Like Bob Dylan had the sense to point out, we all contribute to Change.
If anyone is thinking of making a contribution - make it a good one.
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Comment number 6.
At 6th Dec 2009, JayMac wrote:Its good to see this in managers. The two Jimmy's went round europe to try and improve their coaching abilities. I think there should be a rule that any manager working in the SPL has to spend at least week every year at a top european club watching how they train players (should be extended out to the SFA and SPL blazers). Could tie it into a two week winter shutdown.
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Comment number 7.
At 9th Dec 2009, Iain Jack wrote:Jim,
Now that I’ve calmed down after venting my Spleen at your evoking the name of Bob Dylan, I suppose I can forgive you for what I saw as misconstruing the message he was trying to convey.
On Your Call recently, Jim Traynor asked 3 questions on behalf of one disillusioned fan:
‘how do we get rid of the Blazers?’
‘how do we make them look at league reconstruction?’
‘how do we make them admit that things are wrong and that we need to start again?’
Whilst Your Call, Sportsound, Blogs and the like offer fans a means of getting things off their chests, they are hardly likely to have any real effect. People have the right to express their views and it is right that they do so but as I pointed out in an email to Jim Traynor (which I doubt will se the light of day), references to ‘Blazers’ and ‘Old Farts’ will only harden the resolve of the SFA.
Looking for a hero to lead the charge against them may give some fans a feeling of hope but whether we like it or not, the only person in a position to provide real leadership needed to bring change is the SFA Chief Executive.
Write to him, keep it clean (he has a secretary), keep it short, don’t confuse the issue by demanding this change or that, just demand change. Tell him what you will do if he fails to deliver, make it something that is within your power to do, e.g. find some other way to spend your hard earned cash, join the growing campaign for his resignation if you feel that way, vote with you feet or whatever, but keep it short and to the point.
They say the ‘pen is mightier than the sword’ but don’t wield it like an axe.
People have suggested that’s time we dig a big hole bury the SFA. Why go to all that effort when you can bury them under a pile of mail.
Write that letter, tell your friends and telll them to tell theirs. Send the letter and resend it until the message gets through.
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