Scot 100: Ewan McQueen makes his picks for Scottish football's greatest 100
Until the end of March, The Away End are searching for the 100 greatest players in Scottish football history. Ewan McQueen is next to make his choices.
After much deliberating, I have finally come to a decision on who should make my team for The Away End’s Scot 100.
I could easily have filled a few teams and many top quality players have unfortunately had to be left on the sidelines.
Like many others contributing to the search, I have decided to limit my search to those I have seen play in the flesh in Scotland.
Being only 20 that does constrain me somewhat, but I still like to think I have seen enough quality players in the last 15 years to make sure I create a team that would be unbeatable.
Playing in a 4-4-2 formation, this eleven would be a match for any other eleven from any era.
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Jim Thornton's football funnies
Jim Thornton brings you his weekly dose of Scottish football fun.
The Brothers Grimm
They’ve been out of the game for far too long, so it’s good to see the two Johns – Collins and Hughes – back as the new Livingston management team. In fact, you could say their return is just like a fairytale … Beauty and the Beast.
I’m alright, Jack
Peter Lawwell of Celtic, commenting on a possible life without Rangers, is quoted as saying: “We have a stand-alone strategy, a stand-alone financial plan and a robustness hopefully that will take us through that.”
Which translates as: “We’re big and we’ve got bags of money, so we don’t give a monkey’s about all you wee diddy teams.”
How to win friends and influence people
Neil Lennon could surely take anger-management lessons from Swindon manager and former Celtic hothead Paolo di Canio. The volatile Italian is currently serving a two-game ban, his second suspension of the season. So, does he have a pop at the FA and their disciplinary procedures? Does he hint at conspiracies by the men in black? No, he says instead: “I want to thank the Football Association for giving me the opportunity to watch the game from the stands. I give them permission to ban me for the rest of the season. We will win the league anyway.” A loss to the Diplomatic Corps is our Paolo.
Rangers Administration: The Bigger Picture
The day many Rangers fans have been dreading for months, possibly years, arrived on Tuesday at 2.55PM, writes Stephen Temlett.
Like many people I turned the television on and saw the golden bar on Sky Sports News – “Rangers go into administration”.
Even the most optimistic Bear must have seen it coming. Every Rangers fan knew it was coming, they just didn’t know when.
The Glasgow club now face a ten point deduction. Betting company Paddy Power have paid out on Celtic winning the league.
It’s time for everyone in the game to look into the future. What happens next in a football sense?
Before we go any further the word “if” has to feature heavily. There are so many ifs surrounding this whole situation. If there is an immediate fire sale of players, if the Club is shut down for good, if the SPL can continue.
The consequences will be felt in every tier of the Scottish game; a very few positively, a majority negatively.
Why 2012 is so important to Craig Levein
By Shaughan McGuigan:
While the early months of 2012 will see sixteen of the continents international coaches busily preparing for this summers European Championships, Scotland coach Craig Levein's next few months, although slightly more prosaic, are no less important.
If the last unsuccessful qualifying campaign was his attempt to learn on the job then the push for World Cup qualification, which begins with a double-header against Serbia and Macedonia will probably be Levein's swan song as Scotland coach if it proves as fruitless as the last.
Grouped together with Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Macedonia and Wales, Levein may feel that the draw has done him few favours with the lower ranked sides but that he has dodged a bullet or two amongst the top seeds. After all as good as Croatia and Serbia are they are not to be feared as much as Spain, Germany or even England.
If the last unsuccessful qualifying campaign was his attempt to learn on the job then the push for World Cup qualification, which begins with a double-header against Serbia and Macedonia will probably be Levein's swan song as Scotland coach if it proves as fruitless as the last.
Grouped together with Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Macedonia and Wales, Levein may feel that the draw has done him few favours with the lower ranked sides but that he has dodged a bullet or two amongst the top seeds. After all as good as Croatia and Serbia are they are not to be feared as much as Spain, Germany or even England.
Rangers 90 minutes away from relegation!
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England’s dream team
Now that Fabio Capello’s chucked the England job, surely the FA should look no further than Big Ron Atkinson as his replacement? He’s English, he’s been successful at club level, and he’s managed abroad. And he’d get on like a house on fire with John Terry.
Watch my lips
After studying further video footage, the FA has now confirmed that John Terry did not racially abuse Anton Ferdinand. It seems all he did was ask the ex-Sunderland defender about having been a Black Cat.
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And it’s good knight from him
So, Fred the Shred has been stripped of his knighthood because he paid way over the odds for a dodgy foreign bank. Do you think Sir David Murray’s now sweating that signing Tore Andre Flo’s going to come back to haunt him?
But it’s not all bad news for our Freddie. At least he’s still got his job as financial adviser to Craig Whyte.
A big boy did it and ran away
And sticking with our blue-nosed friends, I had to laugh at former Ibrox chairman Alastair Johnston’s comment in the Daily Record’s ‘special investigation’ into Rangers’ financial woes. Referring to a point in time immediately following Craig Whyte’s takeover, and just before he resigned from the board, Johnston says: “I had seen the latest financial statements and knew there was a real problem.”
And who caused that problem, Alastair?
Could Celtic's youth team be playing in the lower divisions?
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Michael, Michael give us a wave
So Motherwell manager Stuart McCall thinks a rogue editor at the BBC might be working to an agenda when selecting highlights to be shown on Sportscene. This follows Michael Higdon’s alleged gesture to his own fans after scoring against Dundee United at the weekend.
Calm down, Stuart. Unlike Leigh Griffiths (see below), Higdon is unlikely to be a serial offender. After all, when is he likely to score again?
Off you go
Staying with Motherwell, Stephen Craigan’s red card against Dunfermline on Tuesday night isn’t all bad news for the Fir Park side. Surely not even the record own-goal scorer can put one in his own net from up in the stand? Or can he?
Tweet tweet
I see Joey Barton has been having a go on Twitter at his former manager Neil Warnock. Strange, considering it was the same Warnock who recently signed Barton from Newcastle and made him QPR captain.
Clearly, wee Joey is not the brightest budgie in the cage. More twat than tweet, you might say.
The fans who make a sharp exit
By Gary McDaniel:
Whilst at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon I was amazed to see that phenomenon of fans leaving a game early is still as popular as ever. There were some even exiting at half time. They said it was too cold.
With the game finely poised at 1-1 many Gers fans felt it was time to head for the exits with ten minutes remaining on the clock. I can slightly accept this notion when your team is comfortably leading, which doesn't happen a lot at Ibrox. To be heading home though when your team could possibly grab a late winner just bamboozles me. I even seen empty seats at both the Etihad and Emirates stadiums when both games were reaching a nail biting conclusion. Would these same people ask to leave the airlines of the sponsors of their respective stadias ten minutes before landing? "Yes can you please let me off here as it will be quicker for me to get home and avoid the crowds at baggage reclaim." In fact Ryanair might catch wind of this proposal and go with it.
As a fan there has to be no better feeling than celebrating a late winner or equalizer in a big match. The relief it brings especially when the ball nestles in the net when there are seconds remaining.
Whilst at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon I was amazed to see that phenomenon of fans leaving a game early is still as popular as ever. There were some even exiting at half time. They said it was too cold.
With the game finely poised at 1-1 many Gers fans felt it was time to head for the exits with ten minutes remaining on the clock. I can slightly accept this notion when your team is comfortably leading, which doesn't happen a lot at Ibrox. To be heading home though when your team could possibly grab a late winner just bamboozles me. I even seen empty seats at both the Etihad and Emirates stadiums when both games were reaching a nail biting conclusion. Would these same people ask to leave the airlines of the sponsors of their respective stadias ten minutes before landing? "Yes can you please let me off here as it will be quicker for me to get home and avoid the crowds at baggage reclaim." In fact Ryanair might catch wind of this proposal and go with it.
As a fan there has to be no better feeling than celebrating a late winner or equalizer in a big match. The relief it brings especially when the ball nestles in the net when there are seconds remaining.
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Won't retweet everything but urge everyone to read the @Scottish_FA timeline #councildebate
NEW ARTICLE: STV presenter @RealMackaySTV picks his greatest Scottish football XI for #Scot100... http://t.co/PwsEdFUq
@CameronHobbs Of course, everyone is welcome to submit an article. Just anytime before the end of March, preferably mid-March actually.
And sticking with the BBC (see how we've linked them?) @richardgordon48 also put forward his greatest XI #scot100 http://t.co/b4Ge2YfS
From one commentator to another, the BBC's @liammcleod79 picked a cracking XI #scot100 http://t.co/STSCHWSV