Over at the Scottish Comedy FC website, ( scottishcomedyfc.com) theres a couple of lads who every now and again come out with an article, or a book thats a little bit too close to the truth for the mainstream media to pick up on, and so they largely do things themselves.

Unlike the other main producer of Scottish comedy relating to football, Only an Excuse, these guys play it for laughs, and aren’t afraid to tell it how they see it, which is always something to be admired, and if the target just happens to be a club who didn’t have  their troubles to seek before liquidation and supposed rebirth  , then so be it.

In this release, to give it the full title,

The Secret Assistant Manager: Red, White & True: The funniest behind the scenes stories from a club that is definitely not Rangers FC. 

the lads record what went on at a football club in Scotland with help from their assistant manger who would let them know on a weekly basis the facts behind the headlines.

All done in a way reminiscent of the Secret Footballer, a similar but more sensationalistic offering from a serialisation in an English newspaper, which was criticised for being less than accurate, by me mostly, to be fair.

Tt makes  sense for the authors  to collect this information, straighten it all out and release it for the discerning reader to allow him access to otherwise hidden information… information that is not sensationalist, but offers a warts and all view of the goings on inside a footbll club in the modern era.

After ll, it not the stuff the SMSM would normally cover.

Of course, its a parody, more naturalism than realism, but delivered in a way that allows those who want to believe an option to believe, and it certainly has its moments that show that it isn’t that far away from the truth, probably, but sufficiently protects its source to allow him to continue his revelations.. oh, wait, its a parody, isn’t it ?

Isn’t it ?

The assistant manager, writing in first person tells us how it really is behind the scenes, his opinions and values coming across with the child like wonder of a Stan Laurel, or a Father Dougal Mcguire, the innocent and incorruptible priest played by Ardal O’Hanlon in the Father Ted programmes.

Although the idea of a priest at the club who employs the Secret Assistant is perhaps stretching it a little too far.

There are plenty of clues as to his identity, though you will have to be at your sharpest to work it out, and I think I did, but I’m not sure. Which is the idea, I think.

With comedy, its never a good idea to include extracts in a review, which is what hollywood does with its own  output, leaving the viewer desperate for more, but often finding they’ve included all the funny bits in the advert.

The Secret Assistant Manager has a srong narrative, as the events are recorded in a chronological fashion, week by week, with a helpful pointer as to what events the public were hearing about at that point in the season, and then the narrator can tell us what’s really going on, and what he thinks about it.

Full of great one liners, and unlikely-well, you’d have thought they were unlikely, but now we know better-scenarios, this book is ideal for the train, or the plane, or even the beach,  or, indeed,  as your own reading room material, for those who like to read in the, er, reading room, and at 99p from Amazon, you can’t go wrong.

For roughly the same price as the club which it isn’t talking about, you can buy the book of what goes on behind the scenes of another club!

Or, you can be a tight arse and go to the website, at scottishcomedyfc.com and read some of it there.