FOOTBALL GENERALLY

[Penny Tray]

English Premier League football narrowly escaped a tragedy on Saturday when an advertising barrier collapsed following a crowd surge caused by a player leaving the field of play to present himself closer to adoring fans. Unfortunately, a ballboy was pinned under the barrier with a number of prostrate fans on top.

Personally, I think there should be greater penalties imposed on players who leave the perimeters of the playing surface to satisfy their own ego.

Watching Saturday’s incident, reminded of the following post which outlined an injury sustained by Peter Brogi, Hogarth Place, Ardrossan, at a Clyde/Celtic match at Shawfield Stadium on 14 December, 1957.

viewtopic.php?t=7436&hilit=PETER+BROGI

[Penny Tray]

Thanks for commenting 'brian f' via the "Wall Collapse at Shawfield" topic.

Lord Justice Taylor, in his HILLSBOROUGH REPORT, said that "complacency is the enemy of safety", and I fear that the football world is becoming exactly that again, and the consequences don't bode well.

[brian f]

Don't get me wrong and no reflection on the score as Celtic outclassed Rangers today 3-0.Yes I watched it on tv.
However this carry on with no "away team support" at Celtic park is a negative on Scottish football. I believe it was the boardroom at Ibrox that started this banning the Celtic fans from Ibrox last year.

[Penny Tray]

Brian,

Firstly, in my opinion, the ‘Old Firm’ game is nothing without both sets of fans present.

The first ban, that I can speak of personally, was introduced in January, 1994, when the Rangers’ Chairman, David Murray (now Sir David), announced that Celtic fans had been banned from Ibrox due to repeated instances of vandalism, for which Celtic F.C. refused to take financial responsibility.

Ibrox had been modernised at that time and Parkhead, if my memory serves me right, hadn’t, and Celtic fans maybe felt free every time they visited to damage seating, toilets, etc., knowing that Rangers fans couldn’t really reciprocate, certainly not to the same extent.

Celtic were being allocated the entire Broomloan Stand at this time (capacity circa 7000), and Rangers received an equivalent number of tickets for games at Parkhead.

I’m not sure what the present arguments are about but even if they were settled tomorrow, we’re now talking about opposition fans numbering 700 or thereabouts, not 7,000, which is a nonsense in the sense of generating atmosphere, and not necessarily the safest option at either ground, which someone in authority should be looking at and knocking heads together at both clubs.

Incidentally, to maintain 'a balance', Rangers supporters did their share of damage when Celtic later modernised Parkhead.

On a lighter note, when Celtic fans were banned in January, 1994, some of them hired an aeroplane which flew over Ibrox at kick-off time, trailing a banner which said, “HAIL, HAIL, THE CELTS ARE HERE.” Outside the stadium, Rangers fans were reportedly throwing beer cans at the plane, 5000 feet up .

[brian f]

Penny Tray

Well explained

[brian f]

I cannot understand why so many footballers seem to be out injured so often ... especially a team that plays in blue from Glasgow.

Correct me if I'm wrong we had hard men like Tam Forsyth and Roy Aitken.decades ago but was injuries as common then.

Or maybe the game has changed so and footballers are so much fitter nowadays that any little knock has them in a ice bath???

[Penny Tray]

Brian,

There was a time, not too long ago, when everyone who played for Rangers and Celtic were Scottish, all of whom understood what it meant to play for the jersey and in front or on behalf of their supporters, and would have appeared on crutches if necessary. I’m not sure this is necessarily the case today. I don’t think all foreign players understand, or can be expected to understand that depth of feeling, and there are some Scottish players who do understand, but are millionaires and don’t care.

The ‘manager’ in these days was the ultimate authority too – it was his way or the highway!

I remember having the honour of speaking to the late Jock ‘Tiger’ Shaw, who captained Rangers in such times, and he told me a story that on behalf of the players he made representation to the manager of the day, Mr Bill Struth, an hour or so before kick-off one Saturday – “a pay rise (and we were talking pennies as opposed to shillings) or we don’t play.” Without hesitation, Mr Struth, apparently lifted the telephone on his desk and asked to be connected to the man who operated the public address system, telling him to instruct “all reserve team players’ to report to the dressing room immediately.” The reserves didn’t play that day, Jock returning to the dressing room to report that a pay-rise wasn’t forthcoming.

Times have changed!

Players are represented now by top lawyers and agents who secure watertight contracts on their behalf. The players are paid massive wages, whether they play or not, and if things are not going well and the fans are unforgiving, ANTICIPATE injuries.

And what side of the City did you say was incurring lots of injuries at the moment .

By the way, you and I should envy many things about the modern football player - ice baths shouldn't be one of them .

[meekan]

Another story from yesteryears was that of Patrick Thistle manager John Lambie who when told by his medical team that a certain player had had a bad head knock and didn’t know who he was, said “tell him he is Pele and get him back on”
Back to today’s players in my opinion there are two causes for players of that certain team having so many injuries one being they are over trained and two they are slower than the opposition and have to lunge stretching unnaturally those overtrained muscles. Of course they have to train to have the stamina to last 90 mins but for me they should be training for speed over short distances.

[exile]

Another story from yesteryears was that of Patrick Thistle manager John Lambie who when told by his medical team that a certain player had had a bad head knock and didn’t know who he was, said “tell him he is Pele and get him back on”
Back to today’s players in my opinion there are two causes for players of that certain team having so many injuries one being they are over trained and two they are slower than the opposition and have to lunge stretching unnaturally those overtrained muscles. Of course they have to train to have the stamina to last 90 mins but for me they should be training for speed over short distances.

I liked the Jags manager story a lot.
On the speed/agility of modern players, I remember Bill Shankly's view on then star English striker, Bob Latchford: "a very deceptive player - he's a lot slower than he looks..."

[brian f]

Back to today’s players in my opinion there are two causes for players of that certain team having so many injuries one being they are over trained and two they are slower than the opposition and have to lunge stretching unnaturally those overtrained muscles. Of course they have to train to have the stamina to last 90 mins but for me they should be training for speed over short distances.

Was it Jock Wallace that had the Rangers squad running up and down Sand Dunes? Mr Clement needs to take the present squad down to Stevenston pronto

[Penny Tray]

Was it Jock Wallace that had the Rangers squad running up and down Sand Dunes?

It certainly was, and at Leicester.

https://the1888letter.com/jock-wallace- ... -training/

[Penny Tray]

The Manchester City/Arsenal match at the week-end was interesting to say the least, and having listened to football commentaries for more years than I care to remember, it is the first one ever where I've had to stretch for a dictionary TWICE.

While I have suffered from the football version of it often, UNALLOYED ("complete and unreserved emotion") is not a word which hitherto was in my vocabulary; HOUSERY, which I couldn't find in my dictionary, then confused me, but appears, if you'll pardon me, to be an abbreviated form of SHITHOUSERY ("something regarded as despicable, unacceptable, or bad; specially, in the context of football matches, disruptive or underhand tactics designed to secure an unfair advantage for one's team")

RATTY and TIME-WASTING would have done me just fine!

Should I have heard of HOUSERY before now?