In the aftermath of Scotlands win over Ireland, those professing to be experts on the game of football will be proclaiming that from their lofty towers .

To my mind, the perfect game is when those in the crowd want to be on the pitch playing, and those on the pitch want to be in the crowd watching.

Last nights game was one of those.

Our experts will claim it wasn’t pretty, but if they want pretty they can go to a flower show.

Every man on the park gave his all. Each player wanted to win and put in a supreme effort to do just that. Roared on by a massive and passionate crowd in one of sports greatest arenas.

How can it not be one for the “purist ” ?

The goal that settled it was well worked, and showed a bit of guile not seen at Celtic Park. Strachan credited it to Stuart McCall, which was nice, as the former Motherwell boss hasn’t had a lot to be happy about this season;

“I am a proud man tonight,” Strachan told Sky Sports. “That was an epic duel.  We knew what was going to happen and we dealt with that. It was hard, we kept trying to play and from a Stuart McCall corner kick we scored a goal!

“Stuart had the idea. It was a variation on what we were going to try and it worked, you need to be a great player to score a goal like that. 

“Ireland were a handful all night, it was like a British cup tie. This is the hardest group of them all and one goal decides every game.” 

 He added later that every player wanted to run faster, tackle harder and jump higher than their opponent. Which is what every game should be like.

There were a few contenders for man of the match, with several outstanding Scottish performances. David Marshall made some great saves, Andrew Robertson-currently playing second fiddle to Steven Boyd, a late  Irish substitute in the game at Hull, was excellent at left back. Scott Brown and Sean Maloney were excellent in the middle, and Steven Naismith may have tired at the end, but still refused to hide.

 However, Charlie Mulgrew had the game of his life in midfield, where he often shook with the force of some crunching tackles, before getting up and putting in a few of his own. In possession he was calm and used the ball wisely more often than not.

 Strachan agrees;

“Charlie was absolutely immense,” he said. “Normally, you would come in and say what a game Scott Brown had, but Charlie’s actually taken the mantle tonight and ably backed up by the people round about him. He was the best man on the pitch.

“I have to say that our smaller guys, considering the height and power they were playing against, were very brave. There wasn’t much football as such, but any chance they had to do that they did. They were brave on and off the ball, the three behind the main strikers.” 

I’d disagree. Not much football ?

That game was what football is all about.

At 6am yesterday, doors were chapped all over England, and four men were invited to help the police with their investigation into the takeover of old Rangers, shortly before it went into liquidation.

The Record, as usual, is a little confused by events;

Rangers takeover arrests:

Four men detained by police

following probe into sale of Ibrox club

in 2011

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Following a Police Scotland Operation on Friday November 14, four men have been detained as part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged fraudulent acquisition of Rangers Football Club in 2012,

“Around 6am on Friday Police Scotland officers, assisted by officers from Thames Valley Police, Cheshire Police and Surrey Police attended a number of addresses in England and detained four men.”

 So, was it 2012 or 2011 they are investigating ?

They are, of course, two entirely different events. One (2011) was the purchase of the old club from David Murray, who surprisingly , was unavailable for comment, and in 2012 we saw the sale of assets from the soon to be liquidated club to a new entity, solely created to fleece as much money from the stunned support.

The four men detained are David Grier, Paul Clark and David Whitehouse worked for Duff and Phelps, who were Rangers’ administrators and Gary Withey, who  worked for law firm Collier Bristow, which represented Craig Whyte before he bought Rangers from Sir David Murray for £1 in 2011. Withey, of course, didn’t hang around for long at Collyer Bristow, who are actually one of Rangers creditors.

Rangers manager Ally McCoist said: “Obviously I can’t or wouldn’t comment on a current police matter, but I would have to say I’m shocked.”

No, he doesn’t comment on police matters. Like when he didn’t comment on who he thought set fire to the Ibrox team bus…..

“Our concern has always been for the staff and supporters. What’s happened to us in the last two-and-a-half, three years has been very tough, particularly on the staff and supporters. 

Thats about to get worse as well;

There are stories all over the Scottish press that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Craig whyte, yet there is no official statement, or any quote from anyone involved in that matter. He’s reported as being back in Monaco, but he was seen at Celtic Park last night;

Still, even if he does get the chap on his door, he’s been clever enough to tape every meeting he had, which will help the police with their enquiries.

Seems like the endgame has begun, and no doubt there will be more arrests.

David Murray, who used his own unique style of banking to fund the policy that eventually caused the death of his club must be a little worried.

Theres a pattern developing for court appearances for people with a lack of legs.

The controversy with  Burtons is now settled, the retail firm have withdrawn their controversial t-shirt after complaints from the Ibrox hordes;

In a magnanimous gesture, the store has provided the Ibrox board with new suits which they will soon be able to pick up.

Later today, I’m off to Paris, where I’m going to get myself an air rifle, and burst into a number of restaurants before shoutng

” Which way did it go ? ”

Apparently , theres a tiger on the loose over there, and police have warned people not to approach it. Who gets an urge to approach a tiger when its outside its cage ?

Andreas Thom, the East German international who joined Celtic in the ninties was the man in the picture yesterday.

Anyone recognise this young whippersnapper, and the team he is playing for ?