Neil Lennon, Johann Mjallby and Gary Parker will leap into a private jet after todays game at Tynecastle is finished, and head out to Italy to watch the Torino – Milan game in a bar on the telly.
Well, probably not. They are professionals, and its only supporters who travel miles to go to the game and then find it difficult to leave the pub.
Well, certainly me and a few others off our bus.
Oh, alright. Just me.
Lennon told us why he wanted to travel to the warmer parts of Europe;
“It’s important you go and watch them live,”
“You have to be able to see how they set up defensively and what they are like on the counter-attack.”
“You look at how the forward players interact with each other.”
Although the Milan game on Wednesday seems to be at the forefront of Lennons thinking, as it gives him a weekend on the beer in Turin, ( actually, if its Turin its not worth it, but he could pop to Milan and wait for everyone else to join him ), there is the small matter of todays game against Hearts.
The Tynecastle side have won admiration from neutrals after they accepted their punishment for an insolvency event, and never felt the need to threaten journalists, march to Hampden or hold a dodgy share issue. They just got on with it. Surprisingly, given their ties to Campbell Ogilivie at the SFA, they didn’t seek any favours or rule changes either.
With two wins and a draw from their opening five games, they have clawed themselves to within nine points of second bottom St. Mirren and deserve credit because they have done it with kids, and they have tried to put their house in order.
We still need to stuff them though, because a win at Tynecastle is one of the highlights of the season, as the home crowd can always be depended on to create a cracking atmosphere, and very often form a welcoming committee on the Gorgie Road
Manager Lennon stressed the importance of the game,
“Contrary to a lot of belief, we have not got the biggest of squads,” he explained.
“I want to win the game against Hearts and to go into the Milan game in good heart.
“It is always difficult after the international break to pick up where you left off, and we were all on a high after the Karagandy then Dundee United wins.”
He went on: “I have only been working with the players for one day this week. Efe Ambrose is going to meet us in Edinburgh, and Emilio Izaguirre has not trained because of his travelling.
“Teemu Pukki only came in yesterday and is in the squad for Tynecastle.
“So, it’s always a difficult balancing act after internationals and with the games coming up. But we will go strong.
“I don’t want to leave any players out at Tynecastle. We should have enough recovery time between Saturday and Wednesday in Milan.
“I don’t want to drop any points. I don’t want to lose any games in the league.
I want to go into Milan with our confidence up after a decent performance at Tynecastle.
“It’s a great game for us to have now.
“Last season, I got the feeling maybe some of the players were saving themselves for the Champions League games.
“I’ve made it pretty clear that, if I detect that this year, then there is a distinct possibility they won’t play in the Champions League.
“Now, I’m not giving out ultimatums. I just think it’s important they play at full steam in the league games.
“They have got plenty of time to recover.”
Failure to win could see early season pace setters Inverness put a bit of space between themselves and Celtic, and although the competition is fantastic, and adds a bit of spice to the weekends football, now that I’ve had time to think about it, I preferred it when we were way out in front. On our own. If I want tension and excitement I’ll watch Emmerdale.
Inverness are away to Kilmarnock today, and its unlikely they will slip up. Kilmarnock are terrible and a good outside bet for relegation. ( Thanks to a Mr. Black for that one )
With captain Richie Foran winning the player of the month award for August, Terry Butcher has them on a roll up there, and we need to be wary of them pulling ahead by too far. They have already drawn at Celtic Park, and a run of wins while Celtic have their heads turned by Europe might actually make this years title a bit more exciting.
For those who like that sort of thing.
Anyway, the Celtic game is on BT Sports at lunchtime, and the Milan game is on tonight. Get the beer in.
It might also be time to get some Jelly and Ice Cream as well, as the annual administration of clubs who are based at Ibrox draws ever closer. That place is a bit of a jinx , with the previous residents Rangers in 2012 looking likely to be followed by present tenants Second Rangers International The, or whatever their real name is.
Jim McColl, who does have a few bob and a lot of business sense has already walked away, and he was joined yesterday by Frank Blin, who has a few bob and a lot of business sense, and Paul Murray, who has a couple of pals with a few bob and a lot of business sense.
It appears the “Rangers Men ” have given up. The spivs released some accounts yesterday, which had great big chunks missing, such as who has shares, who gets paid what, and what they spend it on.
Craig Mather, this months CEO issued a statement last night to try to calm the now restless waves, but in actual fact just waffled for a while when a simple ” No Surrender, we are the people ” would have pretty much summed up what he was saying. The first lines set the tone;
” Rangers fans are entitled to be asking what is going on at their Club and I can fully understand their concerns. There have been times when I have also questioned the motives and logic of a few people over the last month or so and I have been right in at the centre of the discussions and meetings.
On occasion it has felt like being anchored in the eye of a storm of wild accusations hurled by men who have been determined to do everything in their power to slow this Club’s progress back to the top.
Let me say now and to every single fan: We will not be deterred. We will continue our rebuilding of this Club and even though our support have had to deal with scaremongering of the worst kind they will, in time, see that everything the current Board are doing is for the good of Rangers.
It is easy to toss insults and misinformation around like confetti without ever putting forward a coherent business plan with any degree of credence. It’s easy to decry the work of others and to cast aspersions. It is, however, much more difficult to admit when you are wrong.
There are dozens of terrific people working for Rangers. They are committed to this Club and they also deserve a period of calm and stability so that they and the Directors can get on with our jobs.
Both as a director and someone who has invested my own money in the future success of the Club I know that there are many of us who have been working tirelessly for Rangers and we believe totally that we are making a difference, even though some of us have been referred to as burglars, amateurs, asset strippers, you name it, we have kept going. The Club must come first and it would have helped enormously if only those who have tried so stubbornly to derail our process could have had a similar priority. ”
No, I didn’t read it all either, but would recommend it to anyone who has trouble sleeping .
This was in response to the spivs who said…. oh who cares what they said? It was probably shite anyway.
Last word today goes to Tom English, who tweeted this;
” Ally McCoist has no problem with Ian Black or his bets. Sorry, but that’s an irresponsible and feeble response from the Rangers manager ”
Its more than that, its pathetic and absolutely unacceptable, but I suppose irresponsible and feeble will do for starters. How about a big feature on players who bet against their own teams, and the punishments they get, or managers, or even cricketers ?
It goes against everything that sport is supposed to be. Which I suppose could actually sum that club and its predecessor up…
And it is a predecessor. Although we all knew that anyway, this wee clip from the UTT announcement yesterday, thats the Upper tier tax tribunal, scheduled for early next year, defines a football club as this;
” Before coming to the detail of the case it is worth making a preliminary observation. I have referred above to the strong feelings of many football supporters. Perhaps because of such feelings, professional football clubs are often regarded as having a special status. In some respects that may be the correct view; but it should nevertheless not be overlooked that a modern professional football club is not a “club”, in the sense of an unincorporated association of members who join together in pursuit of a common purpose, but a commercial enterprise whose function is to generate profits for its shareholders. From that perspective it has no special status, and there is no reason why its tax affairs should not be as open to scrutiny as those of any other profit-making organisation. ”
Seems like Hector doesn’t intend to lose this one.
And guess who is back ?
Its not the end yet, but its getting closer…
Jim Morrison said it best:
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes…again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need…of some…stranger’s hand
In a…desperate land
Lost in a Roman…wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
Here we go, here we go, here we go. Lost again!
Why is it always my crackers? 🙂
H H
Solid performance today. Only downside (apart from the baying Tynie hordes) was the injury to Matthews. Hope he is ok for Wednesday.
Fantastic to see Pukki score on his debut following an out of this world set-up from Stokesy. I have often been Stokesy’s biggest critic only due to his sometimes infuriatingly tunnel-visioned greediness but his set-up today allied to his assist for Forrest’s winner against Shakhter show he has finally taken heed of the many well placed boots up the erchie Lenny has given him and we are now reaping the rewards of a more rounded player.
The sooner Zombie FC die the better. How longer do we have to bear the attitude of ‘business as usual, nothing has changed except shedding multi-millions of pounds worth of debt’?
The Jim Spence CSC.
Anthony Stokes has always had a tremendous amount of individual skill and technical ability.
He is a wonderful supporting striker as he proved many a time setting up his former partner in crime Hopper over the past couple of Seasons.
I don’t think he has the know how to play the lead striking role myself but as the supporting striker we have non better at the Club IMO.
The setup for Teemu was top drawer.
I think Ledley wants dropping for a week or two he has been below par this Season and might need a boot up the erchie.
After the performance from stokes today that should guarantee a place on the bench. Its never good to play someone in CL games when they are on form just won’t do.
Watched the Milan game last night and l have to say our chances of getting a result will greatly increase if they put that team out against us and play like that.
Very susceptible to the counter at pace and they tend to play through the middle most of the time not going wide.
Both full backs were ropey and Abiati in goals looked a bit nervous on set pieces,shooting from range he seems a bit slow across the goals.
Sammy, Derk and Commons could cause them problems l feel and our height on set pieces could be a real threat with Lustig ,Virgilc and Mulgrew.
Balotelli spent most of the game sulking incidently.
Kaka and Muntari need to be shackled though most of their good stuff went through them particulary the latter.
Montolivo went off around 40′ clutching his thigh so could be out..bonus as he’s the Captain.