The Lions of Barcelona

JamboJen · February 5, 2009

I'm sitting here with a shocked look on my face. Heather is a bunny-boiler, a stalker and basically a complete weirdo! I can't believe Phil didn't run away before the end of the conversation!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

KUTGW 10/3

minisav · February 5, 2009

Is that tenthree or is he getting 10 out of 3 for his work?

I'd say both

tenthreeleader · February 7, 2009

Thanks to all ... Jen, you appear to be inside Phil's mind. Just don't do that when Rangers are at Tynecastle, okay?

___

I tried not to think much about what she might have meant.

Yes, she was a fan. That happens in the world. She has fans as an actress and I happen to like her being a fan of mine. It was flattering.

But as I drove to the ground for the Roma friendly, I allowed my concentration to wander just a bit as to what she might have meant by her comments.

She was quite a fan. Perhaps even too much of a fan. However, I noted with a degree of satisfaction that the way she had chosen to show her loyalty certainly appealed to me, and I don’t say that to impugn her integrity in any way.

She’s a wonderful woman. My hope is that her affection for me is well placed. I have every reason to believe that it is, and even though I barely missed smashing into a lorry before turning onto Edmiston Drive because I really wasn’t paying as close attention as I ought to have to the road, I still felt good about how things are going.

Whether that’s just me saying what I want to hear, I don’t know. All I know is that it is very much unlike me to have such optimistic thoughts. That’s what happens when you get beaten down to nothing emotionally and withdraw into a shell.

It’s no fun. It is a defense mechanism. But once I arrived in the home changing room for the friendly match, all the thoughts were in the back of my mind where they belonged. It has always been that way and I see no reason to change it.

# # #

tenthreeleader · February 11, 2009

There was good news and there was bad news all at the same time. But “bad” news could be defined in different ways.

In the last minute of injury time, Brazilian keeper Doni was picking the ball out of his net and a near-capacity crowd at Ibrox was going borderline insane. It was our third goal of the night, it had earned us a 3-2 lead we wouldn’t lose, and it capped a performance where we more than matched our illustrious visitors.

That was the good news. The bad news was that none of our three goals came off the foot of a Scotsman.

Kyle Lafferty, a 6’4” Northern Ireland declaree who’s so skinny he nearly disappears when he turns sideways, had beaten Doni with a wonderfully placed volley from just outside the area. The play had been made a wonderful pass by another non-Scotsman – Jean-Claude Darcheville – but the result was artful football and a winning goal to remember.

The Scotsmen – or seven of them, at any rate – started the match and as Murray looked on with some satisfaction, they ground the Italians to a 0-0 draw at halftime. Defensively we were quite good but we were playing a bit of what wags would call “anti-football”. I wasn’t about to say anything against my starters as the half wore on, but McCoist kept shooting rueful glares down the bench at me and we both knew what he meant.

“Phil, do we really have to do this all season?” McCoist asked quietly as he passed by to sit to my immediate left.

“We do,” I replied. “Look, it’s only the third friendly. They’ll jell together. Just you wait.”

“I am waiting, and what I see right now isn’t far from dreck,” he said. “Are we playing the Champions League qualifiers like this?”

“No,” I answered. “I can pick the best eleven.”

“Good,” he said, just as quietly, before getting up to pace on the touchline. Usually that’s my job and my right, but McCoist evidently wanted to get his workout in. That was fine with me. If this fails, it’ll be my neck, not his.

# # #

The second half was different.

The same eleven went out to start things off and immediately conceded the opening goal through Simone Perretta two minutes after the restart.

I looked at McCoist. “Well, I’ll be a son of a...” I began.

“I wouldn’t be if I were you,” he replied. I conceded his point.

But just then, our starlet made his impact on the game. Fleck worked his way free and raced into the Roma box before being felled on an unusually clumsy challenge by defender Juan.

Referee Iain Brines, with perhaps a bit of a bemused expression on his face, pointed to the spot and Ibrox came to life for the first time in the match. Just as in American football, where the most popular player on some teams is the backup quarterback, most fans love a good young player who appears to have all the answers.

That would be Fleck, but before he could take the penalty Mendes took the ball from him.

He rifled home the spot kick on 53 minutes to get us level and that meant I could make changes in a positive vein.

I waved players into the game not unlike a traffic cop, standing on the touchline and pointing reserves to the fourth official one by one. Hemdani, Steven Davis, Adam and Darcheville were the first wave, replacing Fleck, Aarón, Thomson and Miller respectively three minutes after the equalizer. A few minutes later it was Dailly, Lafferty and Broadfoot on for Papac, Bougherra and the nearly invisible Kris Boyd.

They were on just after Darcheville had powered home a truly inspired cross from Adam to give us the lead just after the hour. We had fresh legs and a lead to protect and I was curious to see how they’d do.

“Better stuff,” McCoist said to me as we watched the proceedings and I couldn’t help but agree.

“We’ll see if they can keep that lead,” I said, leaning back in my chair on the bench. McCoist’s national pride was what had persuaded him to keep the assistant’s job – despite his frustration in the first half he too would like to see Rangers win as an all-Scottish endeavour – and we watched together as Roma surged back into the match.

Kenny McDowall joined the conversation, with the experience that thirteen seasons as a player with Partick Thistle and St. Mirren gave him, and we evaluated our players under some real pressure.

They bent, though – and broke – on Alberto Aquilani’s equalizing goal on 73 minutes. Naturally, that came while I had more defensive substitutions waiting to enter the game. Doesn’t it always happen that way?

Now Lee McCulloch and Maurice Edu were on the pitch for Mendes and the largely forgettable Steven Whittaker, while Spalletti finally cleared his bench and made four substitutions in the last nine minutes of regular time.

Then Lafferty wrecked it for him, sending the crowd home happy and leaving me to remark that the three goals were scored by a Portuguese, a Frenchman and an Ulsterman.

For me, though, the end result didn’t matter. We were fluent offensively – I even tried a bit of 4-1-3-2 at times during the match and the players didn’t seem to mind it all that much – so there was something to file away for future reference.

But from a confidence standpoint, it was just what the doctor ordered. We were in a bit of awe against Barca – but not so tonight.

Rangers 3 (Mendes pen 53, Darcheville 61, Lafferty 90+2)

AS Roma 2 (Simone Perrotta 47, Alberto Aquilani 73)

A – 50,031, Ibrox Stadium

Man of the Match - Alberto Aquilani, AS Roma

# # #

JamboJen · February 11, 2009

Referee Iain Brines...a bemused expression on his face

Very realistic reporting 10/3. Brines has the same ability to referee a football match as a seive does to hold water. I'm amused at how the mere mention of his name in a story can stir up such utter hatred for the most incompetent official ever to grace Scottish football.

Argh! :mad: :mad: :mad:

PearlJamTen · February 11, 2009

Very realistic reporting 10/3. Brines has the same ability to referee a football match as a seive does to hold water. I'm amused at how the mere mention of his name in a story can stir up such utter hatred for the most incompetent official ever to grace Scottish football.
Argh! :mad:

Let's not get carried away here. Mike McCurry holds that title.

Great story.

minisav · February 11, 2009

Good result there :thup:

Good luck with Europe

PearlJamTen knows the score. Mike is awful. Him in charge of a Rangers match means Rangers will win, no matter what.

tenthreeleader · February 12, 2009

Interesting comments about officiating. Watching the SPL whenever and wherever I can, it seems from across the pond that officiating in general in Scotland hasn't been quite up to scratch this season. I've heard comments about McCurry on the Scotsman's message boards frequently -- most often right around Old Firm time.

___

# # #

The friendly win was nice. What’s coming next won’t be so nice – if I fail.

We are drawn against Latvian champions FC Ventspils in the Second Round qualifiers for the 2008-09 Champions League. This is the two-legged tie for which failure is not an option – if we lose here, we won’t even get to parachute into the UEFA Cup. We’ll just hit the ground with a ‘splat’, with all the financial penalties such a mess will contain.

This is what Murray means when he says we have to succeed. The financial benefits for reaching the Champions League are of course tremendous – and when we are not the SPL champion, we have to earn them through two rounds of qualification.

Celtic will only have to win one round to get in. Our long-term goal is for the SPL to earn a high enough UEFA coefficient to have its champion automatically qualify for the Champions League, which would likely have benefits for other clubs with European ambitions, but at the moment that isn’t in the cards.

This is why I sat in the dark at my apartment watching Latvian football.

To be completely honest, there were things I would rather have been doing. I suppose that should go without saying. But this aspect of my job is so important, so overreachingly vital, that those things had to wait.

Frankly, I don’t see a whole lot about Ventspils that scares me. This is a tie we ought to win easily, but therein, as they say, lies the rub. Ties like these – if Ventspils reaches Europe the windfall they get will keep them afloat for sometime, whereas for us it’s necessary – are real banana skins. We’ll be expected to win and win well at home, to make the road tie a mere formality.

Most every manager likes to play the away leg in a two-leg tie first, and hopefully bend the net once or twice. Especially as the favourite. I’d love to have this all sewed up and in the bag before heading to the Baltic coast in a couple of weeks time. To do that, we’re going to have to put on a show at Ibrox and even though I’m fully confident in our ability to do that, we don’t yet have our match legs and that might cause us some trouble.

So I worry a lot. In the dark.

# # #

“Ventspils? Who’n hell are they?”

I had to laugh. “Champions of Lavtia, Dad,” I answered. “Believe me, I know enough about them now for the both of us.”

“Like being the best hockey player on Guam,” he said.

“Not quite that bad,” I admonished. “They’re in the qualifying rounds for a reason, and it’s because they won their league. I won’t take them lightly. You go ahead if you want to, but I’m not going to follow you.”

“You’ll win, of course,” he said. “Rangers always do, right?”

I couldn’t tell if he was kidding, so I asked him.

“Only a bit,” he said. “You’ll be expected to win, of course. I’m just toughening you up.”

“I’ve read the websites, Dad,” I said. “There’s nothing you can say that I haven’t already heard.”

# # #

salkster2102 · February 12, 2009

it seems from across the pond that officiating in general in Scotland hasn't been quite up to scratch this season.

Officiating in England has been poorer I bet though

minisav · February 12, 2009

Ventspils! I have a jumper of theirs!

Offspring8 · February 12, 2009

Another good story 10-3 following both of them at the moment, keep it goin

Ockenback · February 12, 2009

I've been reading this over the past few days and it's tremendous. I don't envy your challenge as I've tried when playing my beloved 'Gers to field an all Scottish lineup with not much luck! I really enjoy your style of writing and this story is one of the stories that convinced me to give writing one another go.

JamboJen · February 13, 2009

Good result there
Good luck with Europe

PearlJamTen knows the score. Mike is awful. Him in charge of a Rangers match means Rangers will win, no matter what.

Forgot about McCurry. He is woeful and loves the sound of his own whistle, as does Hibby MacDonald.

They are both incompetent. Brines is incompetent and compounds that with his over-riding self interest, making him incapable of admitting his mistakes. That's even worse than just being crap at your job!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/scottishpremier/hearts/4046493/Hearts-fury-over-Marius-Zaliukas-appeal-verdict.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/scottishpremier/kilmarnock/4604016/SPL-bosses-demand-change-to-appeals-system.html

Bring in foreign refs!

minisav · February 13, 2009

Tbf he wasn't wrong about the Hearts one

Not biased at all. I'm an impartial Dons fan that's it.

I think all Scottish refs are bad. I think Aberdeen have had 1 good ref all season at home. It's madness.

Even when they send an opposition player off they make baffling decisions against us. It's really weird.

I miss Collina. A ref you didn't mess with!

JamboJen · February 13, 2009

Tbf he wasn't wrong about the Hearts one
Not biased at all. I'm an impartial Dons fan that's it.

I think all Scottish refs are bad. I think Aberdeen have had 1 good ref all season at home. It's madness.

Even when they send an opposition player off they make baffling decisions against us. It's really weird.

I miss Collina. A ref you didn't mess with!

Totally hijacked the story, sorry 10/3! Scottish refs on the whole are not good enough and are protected by that idiot McVicar and the SFA. Anyway, better let Phil get back to work, wonder how many decisions will go his way since he's an OF manager?! Hope Aberdeen have an awful day tomorrow

tenthreeleader · February 14, 2009

Interesting discussion, all, but yeah, I suppose it's time to get back to our story ... D:

___

“Rangers manager Sharp squares off with press”

The Scotsman’s online headline told the story of quite a contentious press conference indeed. The Fourth Estate has never been high on my list of favourite people anyhow – which may not be a good thing given my current relationship with Heather.

They’re going to be all over me. Yet today, it was the football press that was on my case, equally contentious in its own way.

They may be starting to catch on. Today’s questioning centered around my countryman DaMarcus Beasley, a player I’ve admired for his toughness if not his vast unrealized potential. The press wanted to know why he hasn’t stepped on the pitch for me yet.

“Well, for one thing, he’s been hurt, as I’m sure you know,” I said. “The general idea here is not to rush a player back and get him injured again.”

“But why not play him, when he’s ready?”

“In the first place, the judge of when he’s ready isn’t any of you,” I said, my hackles rising. “We have a qualified physio staff and they’ll tell me when he’s physically ready. I’ll decide for myself when he is ready to play from a football standpoint. That is my right.”

“How about Ventspils?” I was asked. “Will you win well?”

Talk about a leading question. “We’ll play as best we can,” I said. “Right now we are still playing our way into match condition which is one of the perils we face about this tie. Unfortunately, when you don’t win your domestic league and have to play an extra qualifying round, this is the situation you sometimes find. We have a friendly coming up later this week against Anderlecht that means even less now than it might otherwise, since we’ll be coming off a full and complete effort at Ibrox against Ventspils just prior to it. It’s just how the system works.”

“They are friendlies, after all.”

“They are. But the fans still expect a lot out of us, and that’s understandable.”

“What will happen if you lose this tie?” I wasn’t sure who had asked the question but I was quite sure I didn’t care for the inference.

“We still plan to play the SPL schedule win or lose,” I deadpanned.

“That wasn’t what I meant,” the reporter answered. I could now get a look at him – and I was sure I hadn’t seen him before.

“What would you like me to say?” I asked. “We’re shutting down the doors if Ventspils punches above their weight? Be realistic, man. We are just a couple of weeks away from the opening of the season and anyhow, my job is to make sure questions like yours don’t get asked in the future.”

I had had enough. Feeling cranky and itchy, it was as good a time as any to end the news conference. So I did.

# # #

tenthreeleader · February 15, 2009

Generally I don't really care what the papers write about me. However, there's a line that I don't like to see crossed.

What I didn’t like – at all – was a headline in The Sun, which was as wrong as it was hurtful:

"Splits already?"

It was about Heather and me, and it was just awful.

“Reports indicate that doll-faced British screen siren Heather Middleton may already be having romantic difficulties with her new beau, Rangers manager Phil “Spider-Man” Sharp. Sources say Middleton got wind of what killed Sharp’s famed (or infamous) relationship with A-list beauty queen Paulina Fuller– and she didn’t like it at all.
Middleton, whose 14-year live-in relationship with actor Nathan Randolph collapsed two years ago, had been romantically unlinked. Word is that Randolph is now back in the picture and this time he intends to marry the one he described last week as “the unquestioned love of my life.”

tenthreeleader · February 15, 2009

I shook my head sadly and went to work. I really didn’t know what to do.

I don’t suppose The Sun even bothered to run the correction Heather’s publicist issued yesterday, but then I don’t really care. All that matters to me is Heather’s opinion and she had certainly convinced me of her absolute devotion and loyalty.

I really don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t, to be honest. I have given my heart very quickly and quite surprisingly, with virtually no resistance. I say that is surprising because after all I went through since Paulina left me, I always promised myself I would guard my heart.

But with Heather, not only did I not guard my heart, I practically threw it at her. She caught it, and thankfully for me she didn’t decide to crush it because she wanted me at least as much as I wanted her.

So off I went to Murray Park, arriving at noon for my own traditional pre-match workout before the team meal and the trip to Ibrox.

Since I retired, I haven’t varied my own matchday routine, which strikes some people as odd, but I am superstitious enough to want to keep things the same.

It also helps keep me in shape. I do free weight work before each game to keep me in shape as well as to burn off nervous tension. So as a result, before the match even begins I have worked out, showered, and prepared myself mentally for the challenges of managing. I do this under supervision of the physio staff, of course, so I don’t overdo or in case I try something that might damage my health, but I am fastidious about it.

On the road, I do things a little differently. Most clubs we visit don’t have free weights for the use of the visiting manager, but I have some isometric bands I bring with me so I can work out.

But today I had no such difficulty, and I happily worked out while the squad arrived around me. Ferguson, who was in to do his daily physical therapy on his injury, made a comment about me getting ready to step back into the side, and I just laughed him off.

Barry wasn’t aware of my pre-match ritual when I was a player. If he had been, he wouldn’t have been quite so flip.

I served notice on my arrival from Hamburg that nobody in that locker room – not even club legend and captain Jorg “The Hammer” Albertz – was going to outwork me.

I didn’t brag about it, but I was an exceptionally hard trainer and it carried over into my match play. Ask anyone who ever saw me warm up.

I had a ritual that was absolutely iron clad, whether I was in the starting lineup or not. I do wish, though, that I had started it during the days of mp3 players.

I’d pick a fast song and do my routine to it. It varied – I liked funk to warm up to because of the fast-paced cadence, but really whatever had a high tempo would do. And now I was doing it again.

I was thinking about having a good night and a better overnight in talking with Heather, to be quite frank, and so I was able to shrug off Barry’s good-natured jibe at me with some ease. He’s confident, I’m confident, and that generally leads to good things indeed.

But by the time the rest of the senior squad arrived, I was in my tailored touchline suit, showered and ready to go. And then I passed Barry, getting ready in his locker.

“What was that about getting into the side?” I chided, and the captain just smiled. When it’s time for game on, he knows his role and I certainly know mine. With that the squad met and we traveled by coach to Ibrox as a team.

# # #

gavrenwick · February 15, 2009

Your characters never have much luck with journalists

tenthreeleader · February 16, 2009

I like listening to Ibrox.

To me, the grand old place has a soul, and for those who don’t care for the hard-as-nails exterior I sometimes show to the unwary or those who haven’t earned my trust, such an observation might come as a bit of a surprise.

Yet, I do believe that. After the coach arrived, I headed up to the manager’s office at the top of the marble staircase to look out over the pitch. Crews were starting to work through the rows of the stands to make sure the place was spic and span for the arrival of the evening’s crowd.

The tradition is what I love. Silently, for a few minutes, I looked over the still-quiet ground and said nothing. In a few hours, we would be locked in a struggle to get into the Champions League and the tradition of this place would hopefully help will my players on to the effort that would surely be required.

It was time to go. I turned for the door and carefully locked the entryway to Struth’s old office. Nodding with satisfaction, I put the key back on my key ring and headed off to do my job.

# # #

I did as Murray had suggested.

The starting eleven was what I considered to be my best, given the injury situation we faced:

McGregor, Whittaker, Papac, Bougherra, Weir, Mendes, Adam, Novo, Thomson, Boyd, Miller.

Seven Scotsmen. Not bad. And a damnsight better than what I expected to see from the opposition, all things considered. Even though Novo prefers to strike and most Ranger fans believe he’s playing out of position on the right side of midfield, I wanted his moxie and above all his passion for club out there.

Ibrox wasn’t quite full – it was just under 3,000 short of capacity – but it was still a European night and a European crowd ready for the fray. Our visitors, who play in the 3,200-seat Olimpiskais Stadions in Latvia, could have been excused for being a little on the awestruck side.

An aside here: Ventspils has a rather unique claim to fame through its participation in the First and Second Qualifying rounds of the Champions League last season. They played against two teams who had both changed their names within the preceding twelve months.

They first knocked out The New Saints, or TNS, previously known as Total Network Solutions. They then lost out to Red Bull Salzburg of Austria, which had been known as SV Austria Salzburg before their purchase by the Red Bull beverage company.

Rangers themselves have been known by more than one name during their long history, having been called Ibroxonians by some at one point in their early history. Yet for over one hundred years, we’ve been known by the same name.

All that mattered to me tonight, of course, was that we called winners. Hopefully by a good score. The team talk I gave reflected all that.

“All right, boys, no George Patton fire-breathing talk from me,” I said. “You’ll find pretty quickly that when I’m up here talking to you there’s no bulls**t and there’s also no beating around the bush. When you’re good, I’m going to tell you. When you’re not, you can believe you’ll hear that too. We have a job to do and tonight is when it all starts. We have an opponent this evening that will be playing before a crowd that’s about fifteen times larger than it’s used to seeing. Get the crowd into the match early and let’s swamp these guys. I expect good things from you tonight. Deliver, and we’ll be on our way. That’s it. Ally, give them the tactics.”

I stepped aside and McCoist wrote the participants in the 4-4-2 on the board, stepping aside when he was done. “Get on them, like Phil said,” he announced. “Get stuck in. Be stronger than they are and you’ll find room to use your skill. You know you’re to get the ball wide and use your pace. You can dominate this team tonight but only if you’re willing to make the commitment. They’re out to kill giants and tonight the giant has our name written on his shirt. Don’t let that happen to you. Now, go.”

So we did. German referee Helmut Fleischer greeted us at the top of the players’ tunnel heading to the pitch, and the noise was starting to swell. As the opening strains of the UEFA Champions League theme began to play, the lines moved forward and I for one was glad it was time to get down to business.

# # #

weeeman27bob · February 17, 2009

Brilliant as always.

Mousey_MCFC · February 17, 2009

This is really gripping stuff.

I'm really enjoying this, excellent writing, pleasure to read.

tenthreeleader · February 17, 2009

Bob, thank you for the kind words as always ... Mousey, thanks for giving your first FMS post to Lions. I appreciate it!

___

In a way, our start was embarrassing.

Not because we were poor, mind you, but because Ventspils immediately put ten men behind the ball and packed their defense in as tightly as they could. They were trying to prevent the big score and I can’t say that I blamed them.

They must have scouted the Roma match because the first thing they did was try to take away our wide game while packing their remaining players inside their penalty area. Visually, it reminded me of the old college fraternity game where the object was to see how many people you can stuff inside a Volkswagen Beetle.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t do both, and that soon became apparent. Adam and Novo had pace quite superior to anything Ventspils could put out there and even though Charlie was hardly match fit he was putting on a comparative display for the home fans.

He has been an erratic player. That can’t be denied. But I need him, especially given Murray’s all-Scottish mindset. That means he’s going to get a regular run in the side whenever he’s needed, within the limits of form and function. So tonight he was determined to make the most of his chance.

We had to be patient. Sixteen minutes into the match, our patience met with a bit of good fortune as Thomson played the ball up the right hand channel to find Boyd in the process of slipping his man-marker.

No one is ever going to confuse Kris Boyd with Usain Bolt. That’s pretty obvious. However, Boyd was faster than defender Darian Zutautas. So the defender galumphed after Boyd and right as he reached the top of the area, he challenged.

Unfortunately for Zutautas, he challenged from behind and the ball was a stride in front of Boyd. It was a rather ugly challenge and Fleischer jogged up, the foul whistled.

I was off the bench like a shot, standing in my technical area with my arms spread apart. I wanted the call, and really, Fleischer had no other option.

He showed Zutautas the straight red for a professional foul and Ibrox went wild with joy. Not only were the visitors down to ten, they had surrendered a free kick right at the top of the box for a little instant retribution if we were able to execute.

We weren’t. That was annoying. Mendes wasn’t particularly close to the target and play resumed.

However, down to ten men, Ventspils wound up conceding even more of the midfield as they packed deeper and deeper into their defensive third. Now Novo took a short ball from Weir on the right and was off to the races, spinning past his marker and taking the ball straight to the byline.

His cross to the six was true and found Adam at the far post. Charlie didn’t miss, and we led the ten men 1-0 nineteen minutes into the contest.

The breakthrough was well-timed, well-played and obviously quite opportune. This wasn’t the type of match where I was terribly interested in letting the visitors hang around. So while the players celebrated and Ibrox roared, I emerged from the dugout to stand on the touchline.

I betrayed no emotion. Instead, I simply nodded at the players as they resumed their positions. Our work was far from finished.

# # #

Ockenback · February 18, 2009

Good start so far! Adam truly is a frustrating player in reality, and if he worked harder on his conditioning and his concentration I reckon he'd actually be an asset for Rangers. Hopefully he can convince you he's worth keeping around long-term!

tenthreeleader · February 19, 2009

Ockenback, I hope so too ... Adam is an enigma but a player I wouldn't mind seeing step up for Rangers. That team is crying out for width and a good left-sided player to give it to them.

___

Unfortunately, that fact was evidently lost on my players, who proceeded to sleepwalk their way through the rest of the first half.

Against ten men, that was not a good thing. I’d say it was unforgiveable but we did manage to score. So I couldn’t say what was really on my mind when I headed into the changing room, with McCoist closing the door behind me.

“Nice job,” I said, walking back and forth across the room. “You’ve got this match won, I see.”

I didn’t see any opposition to my words, which was both what I expected and dreaded.

“Soft,” I said, and that took people by surprise. “Soft, soft, soft. This is a team that is waiting to be buried by you and you refuse to do it. You made one play and then sat there knocking the ball all over Edmiston Drive for the rest of the first half. That might get the job done tonight but there are teams we’ll play this season that will eat you alive if you keep up that sort of nonsense.”

“They aren’t here to score. They are here to survive,” I said. “And you’re letting them do it. Same eleven is going out there for the second half and I want you to find an answer. Up your ideas. Coisty, it’s all yours.”

I retired to my office and closed the door.

# # #

I wouldn’t have expected the provider of our second half spark to have been Boyd, but it was. Sometimes surprises aren’t the worst things in the world.

Boyd provided for Miller with a wonderful little ball seven minutes after the restart that got the ex-Ranger, ex-Celtic man in alone for a simple sidefoot to make it 2-0. For Kenny, it was a big goal – scoring on his second Rangers debut certainly won’t hurt him as he tries to win back the fans who haven't forgotten his time in hoops – and for us it provided a more acceptable margin.

As the half wore on, it became increasingly obvious that Ventspils was in full damage control mode, but as we flailed away at their packed defense it also became increasingly obvious that we didn’t have additional answers.

Part of that was due to a series of challenges that got the tempers flaring on the part of our visitors. Fleischer was a busy man in the second half – busier than I’m sure he wanted to be.

Shot after shot flew toward the net but shot after shot flew harmlessly wide, over, or in some cases nowhere near the target. Ventspils was completely happy to play for a 2-0 score and unfortunately for us, that was exactly what they got.

Rangers 2 (Adam 19, Miller 52)

Ventspils 0

A – 48,441, Ibrox Stadium

Man of the Match – Charlie Adam, Rangers

tenthreeleader · February 22, 2009

# # #

“Are you disappointed it wasn’t more?”

“Well, you can never count on scoring goals in this game,” I said, annoyed by the tenor of the question. “We did play for quite some time against ten men and then they did do a nice job of stacking themselves up like cordwood in front of their goal. They were hard to break down, and we’re going to have to figure out a way to do that if we want to succeed in Europe.”

“What did you think about the conduct of their players?” I was asked. “They will be fined for failure to control their players after seven yellow cards.”

“They defended with their arms and legs,” I said. “I try not to take that personally, but they were pretty aggressive with challenges and the referee was right to try to take charge of the match.”

“And the red card?”

“What other call could he make?” I asked. “Realistically, what other call could he make? Boyd has the ball and he’s going to go in clear, next thing you know the guy’s got his leg stuck in there from behind and Boydie’s lucky he isn’t in the hospital. No doubt.”

“You could have named your score tonight,” I was informed. “They didn’t have a single attempt at goal, they didn’t complete a cross all night and they had no corners.”

I frowned. “If I could have named my score tonight, the number I’d have picked sure wouldn’t have been two,” I mused. “We have to be prepared to go up there and play in a difficult setting. We’ll need to be good. Better than we were tonight, in fact.”

With that, I returned to my office atop the marble staircase. As the crews cleaned up the stands and the great stadium fell asleep once more, I remarked on a day come full circle. Rangers had won, in the first important match under my charge.

We hadn’t won well, and we probably didn’t win well enough to satisfy our notoriously hard-to-please support. But we did win.

To me, that’s all that matters.

# # #

tenthreeleader · February 23, 2009

The message boards said what I thought they’d say.

After arriving for training this morning, I spent a few minutes lurking. I smiled at what I saw – there were already people questioning my competency at places such as followfollow and RangersMedia – but the point of the matter is that I was lurking as a winning manager.

The usual “Rangers were s**te” posting comments were balanced by a few observers who noted, correctly, that the lack of early friendlies meant we haven’t found our match legs as yet. That did play a role in last night’s lethargy, especially in the second half.

If I’m honest, and last time I checked I was, I have to admit that we were not up to standard. So we’re working on that, and with a completely meaningless friendly against Anderlecht standing between us and both the Ventspils rematch and the start of the SPL season, I’m using the chance to work on conditioning.

Theirs, not mine. But after forcing myself to watch certain part of the Ventspils match on DVD this morning, I figured a little physical training might be just the thing to clear my head before the players arrived.

For me, the goal is to create a level-headed atmosphere. In that respect I’m not much different from Smith, who appeared inflappable at times last season.

However, I’ve got issues that Walter didn’t have to deal with. One of which was the late-season spiral that saw Celtic claim the league as Rangers had to play their final three league fixtures over a space of five days. Our success in Europe and domestic cup competitions along with postponements of some league matches created a fixture backlog that was too much for the squad to handle.

So there’s a deep-seated sense of grievance among some of our harder-core support. They expect results and they expect those results yesterday. I don’t see us gaining a whole lot by creating an intimidating atmosphere from the get-go at Murray Park as a result of all that.

So I do things that will calm myself down. Inside I’m already starting to feel a bit of pressure – that goes for any person who holds this job – so I already know I need to take care of myself to get it all done.

Heather helped with that. She and I talked last night, as she prepared to meet with Bond for the movie.

I’m missing her. I suppose that shouldn’t come as any great surprise.

# # #

tenthreeleader · February 27, 2009

“Do I need a positive result against Anderlecht? Let me think that one through.”

I could see the headline from my news conference now: “Sharp not in best of spirits – again”. Well, with questions like I had just fielded, I could certainly understand why they’d get that impression.

I had just found out that I’m without another Scotsman – Thomson – for the Anderlecht match and more importantly for the return at Ventspils. That’s due to a kick in his right heel that he took late in the match. The heel swelled up overnight and chief physio Pip Yeates had given me the bad news literally on the way to the media room.

“What I want from Anderlecht is to make sure I don’t lose any more players,” I said. “The injury situation at this club right now is putting a real cramp in our style. It has to be said, and it’s not anyone’s fault, but now I can put nearly a full team on a sheet that is not fit to turn out for play. That’s difficult.”

To make matters worse, midfielder Maurice Edu left for Beijing today to play with the United States Olympic Team. A third countryman, DaMarcus Beasley, is finally back in training after surgery caused him to miss the end of last season, and he may well go straight into the bench for Ventspils if he gets any sort of fitness back. Yes, it’s that bad.

So to hear the question I had heard was a bit on the galling side. “It’s still a friendly, and we still respect them, but right now, I need eleven healthy players for the trip to Ventspils,” I said. I knew full well what the media would say.

I can’t be concerned about that. Not that I would be anyway, but I’ve got too much to do at the moment. Right now, that involves meeting about every twenty minutes with physio Pip Yeates and spending a lot of time praying for divine intervention regarding my injury list.

Oh, and once again, hoping that no one else gets hurt against Anderlecht. I’d have to take the pledge if I lost anyone else – especially a midfielder. Touch wood.

I’ve just done it to myself, haven’t I?

# # #

Wegason · February 27, 2009

i think phil's memory is a little poor, steve mclaren wasn't assistant manager in 92 and utd were not in the champions league, nor was it called that

tenthreeleader · February 27, 2009

i think phil's memory is a little poor, steve mclaren wasn't assistant manager in 92 and utd were not in the champions league, nor was it called that

I think that's what happens when I don't proof carefully enough

___

“Coisty, I’ve had a feeling like this once before,” I mused.

“Let me guess,” he said, as we watched a scoreless draw at eighty minutes in our friendly with Anderlecht. “You were having surgery of some kind. Probably without anaesthetic.”

I laughed. “You take all the fun out of my stories,” I replied, as we watched two teams who were really and genuinely disinterested in the outcome moving up and down the pitch like in a mambo performed by drunken partners.

This way. That way. Olé. Olé. Forget the ball? No problem, here it is right back to you. With our compliments. By the way, we’re all meeting for a beer after the match.

At least no one had been stretchered off. I turned to McCoist again.

“Actually, it was a root canal,” I said.

“Aye, I don’t doubt that,” he replied.

“At least it was surgery above the waistline,” I cracked. “Could have been worse.”

He gave me a look that could only have had one meaning as we returned to the match. As we did, Jean-Claude Darcheville made a breakthrough, receiving a very nice entry ball from young Fleck to the right of the goal and turning it in nine minutes from time.

Just like that, after only 81 minutes we had had a good scoring chance. If only life could always be so simple.

Darcheville stood behind the Anderlecht goal and gave his trademark sweeping bow to the fans, some of whom looked like they had gotten up merely for the purpose of stretching their legs. We led the match.

Yippee. We had other things on our minds, and so did Anderlecht, as we both face Champions League return ties at midweek.

I wasn’t too pleased with the thought of my second team thinking it could take a night off for any reason, instead of trying to prove to me why they should be the first team. But Darcheville, now taking a curtain call, had taken just enough of the ire out of his manager to make it palatable for everyone else.

Rangers 1 (Darcheville 81)

RSC Anderlecht 0

A – 33,227, Ibrox Stadium

Man of the Match – Jean-Claude Darcheville, Rangers

# # #

Spav · February 28, 2009

There's never any tips I can give the master, but I'll post just to say carry on producing such fine work. :thup:

tenthreeleader · March 1, 2009

Spav, you're a gentleman as usual ... thank you

___

It wasn’t Murray Park, but it would do.

We were put up in a hotel near Ventspils’ training area prior to what is now the most important match of my tenure – the return Champions League qualifier against Latvia’s champions.

No, they didn’t come near our goal for ninety minutes at Ibrox. No, they were never a threat. But we only scored two on them and should some sort of miracle occur here tomorrow night, my managerial tenure here could be over before it starts.

Before you laugh too loud – and before I dismiss the possibility, all I have to do is utter the words “Artmedia Bratislava”. Generally, those words go together around Celtic fans almost as well as “oil and water” – or “Rangers champions”, for that matter.

Enterprising Rangers supporters put the video on YouTube and you can still see it – Celtic’s 5-0 humiliation in the away leg of a qualifier a few years ago, on the way to a 5-4 aggregate win that saw our archrivals knocked out of Europe. It’s sobering for us, a lesson as to what can happen when a team with better talent doesn’t take its job seriously.

I’m determined that this won’t happen to us. So after a quick but intense training session this afternoon, I dismissed the players to their rest while taking a long walk around the city to clear my head.

This is a surprisingly pretty place. It was one of the very few cities in the old Baltic States that wasn’t exploited by the Soviets to within an inch of its life after World War II, mainly due to its excellent port facilities. When Latvia got its independence in 1991, this city was a key to the rebirth of the country.

Ventspils of course isn’t the capital – that’s Riga – but the cities are connected well. You can walk by the seaside and see museums that celebrate the city’s fishing heritage, street art, fountains that highlight the beauty of the place – and you may even see a leftover cow.

This city was one of the first in Europe to take part in the “Cow Parade”, where artists paint life-sized cows and display them around a community to raise money for various charities. I walked down Ostas Street, which is the main promenade by the coastline, not dissimilar to Blackpool’s famed Golden Mile in its relative importance, and saw an orange and black cow peeking back at me from between buildings.

I did a double take, stopping to take in the unusual sight before me. I suppose when you’ve been to enough places on this planet you can see, and get used to, just about anything.

Smiling, I turned back and returned to the team hotel. The cow had loosened me up nicely.

Returning to the hotel lobby, I ran into Durrant sitting in the lobby. I walked to him and took a chair next to a large fireplace.

“All set then, Phil?” he asked, looking up from a copy of an English-language newspaper.

“Ready as we’ll get,” I responded. “I do worry about our midfield.”

“We’ll have to make do,” he replied. “I love Davis but we’ll really have to get a game out of him.”

Steven Davis, Ulsterman and beloved of the Rangers’ support, is also my third choice central midfielder. With Thomson remaining out until at least the opening SPL match, he’ll be the player in the hub of our engine room. Mendes will hold for him and after that, it looks a little bit grim. Ferguson is injured, Edu is now with the United States Olympic Team, Thomson is out, and Hemdani isn’t sure if he wants to play here any more. He’ll make the bench for tomorrow night but I’m not sure I can risk playing him considering his attitude.

Hemdani may need to meet with me. I’m thinking that won’t be pleasant for either of us. Especially for him.

# # #

Wegason · March 2, 2009

Forgot to comment on how this continues to be a top notch story! Best of luck with Rangers.

minisav · March 2, 2009

Great stuff this. It has been from the start. KUTGW :thup:

tenthreeleader · March 3, 2009

Gentlemen, thank you for the kind words!

___

The Olimpiski Centr Ventspils Piletas in Ventspils is about one-tenth the size of Ibrox. And it needs to buy a vowel.

However, the place was packed to the rafters to watch their beloved side tangle with us in the second leg of our Champions League qualifying tie. They made a lot of noise, and like their team, it was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.

They went ninety minutes at Ibrox without an attempt at goal. And just four minutes into the rematch, Kenny Miller was celebrating another goal, after gleefully firing home from Novo’s inch-perfect cross from the right.

It was a goal by one and a half Scotsmen. Miller, of course, is native-born but Novo is considering British citizenship after having lived and played here for donkey’s years. So Miller had scored assisted by a fellow some wags are already calling “McNovo”.

It was 3-0 on aggregate at that point and we had an away goal, so barring an absolute catastrophe we were pretty much golden. Yet, my goal wasn’t to settle for that.

With the early goal already in the bag for us, I yelled for Davis and motioned him forward. I wanted us to take the play to them since they hadn’t shown anything like an ability to hurt us either on the counterattack or otherwise. One more goal should have done the trick.

On the bench, McCoist looked at me with a bit of a surprised expression. “Isn’t three enough, Phil?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Now’s the time to try this, Coisty,” I said. “If we’re going to bury a team, it may as well be now and it may as well be under these circumstances.”

“With our third choice in the middle?” he asked. “Really, Phil, now’s the time to settle back a bit.”

I looked at him. “How many goals did you score for this club, Ally?” I asked. “And how many of those goals came when Rangers should have settled back a bit? There’s a right way and a wrong way to win. The wrong way is to sit on a lead like this against a team we ought to bury. And I mean right now.”

So my team did as I asked them to do and my assistant manager looked on with a bit of a chastened expression on his face. I don’t know if he had had this sort of conversation with Walter before but now he had had it with me, and my decision to use his own goal scoring exploits as the basis for my argument left him with little to say.

And it reinforced my main message: I’m going to do this my way because I’m the boss. There was no harm in letting that message get out either.

So, the 5,000 or so fans on hand for the match watched us try to overrun their team. About 500 faithful away supporters urged us on, but as the first half wore on it became increasingly obvious that the offensive machine we had seen at Ibrox, such as it was, was misfiring even more badly than it had been at home.

Ventspils went totally defensive for the next twenty minutes after our goal, which I found a bit surprising given that they now needed four strikes to progress. It became increasingly obvious to me that they didn’t want to open up their game because they figured they’d get slaughtered when we got the ball into open space.

So we searched for the rest of the first half to find another opening. They were few and far between, but we did dominate the possession. That’s another good way to hold onto a three goal aggregate advantage.

We trooped off to halftime still a goal to the good and while I couldn’t really complain about that, the application wasn’t what I wanted to see. Boyd in particular really looked like he didn’t want to be there, so I had a little discussion with the player after my halftime inspiration. Such as it was.

At least I was smiling. “Boydie,” I said, standing over the player seated in front of his locker, “you have one head and one hind end. It’s hard to play when they’re merged. I’d like to see a little better from you, okay?”

He looked surprised, but laughed. “Okay, gaffer,” he said. “I’ll make it right.”

Now my smile disappeared. “See that you do,” I answered. “This club needs you.”

# # #

tenthreeleader · March 5, 2009

There was a news flash in the second half. A Ventspils player kicked a ball within the proximity of our goal. Proof positive that there’s a first time for everything.

It spun well wide of McGregor, who might as well have been playing Parcheesi for all he had to do in our goal tonight. It’s hard to stay in match condition when all you do is stand there in front of your goal, and that was pretty much what he did tonight.

Boyd had a hard time raising the level of his play in the second half and on 65 minutes, there wasn’t anything for me to do but to get him out of there. He knew he had had an indifferent match against a team he should have dominated, so a rather upset striker headed past me on his way to the bench in favour of the Anderlecht goalscorer, Darcheville.

It was about at that time that Ventspils returned to the type of game they had played at Ibrox – scything tackles and hard-man tactics near the penalty area that had the Light Blues on the pitch riled up in no time flat.

Unfortunately, the first player they crocked was the new arrival – Darcheville, who had stung the keeper’s hands with our first shot on target of the second half moments after his arrival on the pitch. If they thought they were teaching him a lesson of some sort, the Ventspils defenders were cruelly disillusioned.

That was due to the presence of Weir, who arrived in ill humor after Darcheville was hacked to the ground just outside the Ventspils area.

While our French striker was rolling on the ground clutching his right shin, Weir was earning the ire of the home fans by pursuing Darcheville’s antagonist. The five thousand in the stands were starting to make noise equal to a much greater number – and now I saw that Weir’s loyalty was leading to an unintended consequence.

“Use your head, Davie!” I shouted, and he turned toward me with an expression of surprise, as did many of the players on the bench.

“Don’t get these people riled up,” I said, as my captain for the evening jogged over to me. “They aren’t hurting us and we’ve got the free kick. We’ve made our point.”

He gave me a look of surprise but shrugged his shoulders and headed back to the fray. Meanwhile, I turned to the fourth official.

“And now I’m going to make my point with you,”I said, zeroing in.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter much. I made my point but once again, we were disappointing in the final third. We were through, but it wasn’t what any of us wanted in terms of our performance. We’re sluggish and slow. That has to change.

Ventspils 0

Rangers 1 (Miller 4)

A – 5,066, Olimpiski Centr Ventspils Piletas, Ventspils, Latvia

Man of the Match – Steven Davis, Rangers

# # #

“We just didn’t do what we wanted to do. What we did was enough, but it wasn’t good enough for where we want to go.”

The post-match media consisted of three people; their reporter, a stringer from the Press Association and a reporter from The Scotsman whose name I didn’t yet know. It wasn’t exactly a huge throng, but that was okay since we hadn’t exactly played like a huge club.

So that was annoying me. I had had two disappointing European ties in a row but we have a better club ahead of us in our quest to make the Champions League proper. We’ll face Rapid Wien, or Vienna, in the last qualifying round.

“We’re just going to have to be better,” I said. “The players know that because I’ve made it abundantly clear to them. We aren’t ready for prime time yet.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I had made a headline that people all around Scotland would read. It will start debate. It will start discussion. And it will make the hot seat I occupy even hotter.

# # #

gavrenwick · March 5, 2009

Terrific writing Tenthree, thats all I can say to be honest.

tenthreeleader · March 6, 2009

“Saturday Night Live”, the headline read.

The Not Ready For Prime Time Players were given their roasting in papers all over Scotland today. My admission of last night got the reaction I thought it would, and several of the writers questioned whether I’m the fellow to get them ready for the big stage.

I think I am. Murray thinks I am. So there.

I expect that controversy to move into next week, while we prepare for our league opener at Falkirk. I’m pleased to note, because I’m a cruel sort of fellow in this way, that they have even more problems than we do in terms of injuries. And I didn’t think that was possible.

We’re missing eight players – Smith, Naismith, Ferguson, Chris Burke and Darcheville to injuries, Edu to the U.S. Olympic Team and Weir and Novo are gone through suspension from last season. But even that figure pales by comparison to our hosts:

Brian Allison has a broken foot. Dean Holden has a broken leg. Thomas Scobbie has a broken pelvis, which I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Loanee Arnau has a damaged kneecap that matches teammate Graham Barrett’s. Burton O’Brien and Steve Lovell have thigh strains, Carl Finnegan is out with a twisted ankle, Mark Stewart has a broken arm and onetime Ranger Neil McCann is down with a hamstring injury.

So that makes ten. I do like our chances.

# # #

I spent a quiet night at home this evening simply talking with Heather. It seems like it’s been ages since I’ve seen her.

That’s because it’s been a few weeks, which for me seems like a long time. When I haven’t been at the ground working I’ve been thinking about her, and the fact that she’s gone hasn’t helped either our relationship or the rumours that will soon start to spread in the tabloid press.

None of that appeals to me. Heather just shrugs it off – she tells me that she’s with me to stay and considering how long she stayed with Nathan I’m thinking I can trust that kind of statement – but I do miss her.

Tonight we talked about how she grew up in Surrey and moved around London as her father worked in various places during her formative years.

She really has been a lifelong football fan, but when I asked her who she supported as a girl, she mentioned she hadn’t been to the grounds when she was growing up.

I nodded. I knew the stories well. The early 1970s were times of great unrest in English football, with crowd trouble the rule rather than the exception, it seemed. Fights broke out on the pitch as well – the infamous incident between Leeds’ Billy Bremner and future England manager Kevin Keegan when he played for Liverpool in the Charity Shield springing immediately to mind – and it seemed the beautiful game might choke itself to death. So the battlegrounds of the old First Division were no place for a tender young girl.

She moved on to other things – an interest in theater, acting and dancing being the most notable – and she soon became a fixture in the local theater companies of the day.

She attended the Royal Academy in London and launched her career, while keeping a side eye on the football she had followed as a girl. But over time, career took over, and so did her relationship with her old co-star.

Heather settled into a domestic life that suited her greatly, but was unfulfilling in one important respect: she had the commitment she wanted without the ring to make it final. She bided her time because of her feelings for him, but over time she saw things weren’t going to work as she wanted.

I was pretty unhappy for a long time,” she said. “After Nathan and I split up I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with myself for awhile. Finally, I had the chance to suggest a trip to Glasgow with the theatre company, and it was brought up to me that King’s Theatre had a marketing arrangement with Rangers. So that was it. I came to Glasgow hoping to meet you and that’s what happened.”

Then she blushed. “And once there, I sort of threw myself at you,” she said.

“I wasn’t struggling,” I said. “And I think you know that.”

# # #

tenthreeleader · March 7, 2009

“You just cannae leave well enough alone, can ye?”

I laughed. “Dad, it was just an observation,” I said.

“And not a very good one,” he said. “D’ya not think that sayin’ such a thing to the press will get you into trouble? I thought I raised ye smarter than that!”

“Dad, you’re slipping into your Glesca,” I laughed. He always does when he gets upset or excited. He can’t help it.

“Aye,” he answered. “You’re nearly into the Champions League and here you are shootin’ yourself in your foot!”

“Did you ever think I might want my squad to hear what I’m saying?” I asked.

He paused. “Why on earth would ye do that?”

“Believe it or not, I get to have opinions too, Dad,” I said. “I called out the players in the changing room after the match because I was darned unhappy with how they played. We just weren’t very good. Now, you know the standards you worked for, right?”

I imagined I could see him puffing up with pride on the other end of the phone. “Aye, I do,” he said.

“What I saw the other night wasn’t up to Rangers standard,” I said, wanting this particular conversation to come to an end. So I pushed hard. “If I don’t run this team to Rangers standard, what’s going to happen to me?”

“They’ll sack you,” he said.

“Would you want it known that your son was a failed manager of the club you love?” I asked. “Think about it, Dad.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“I need to motivate these players,” I explained. “Right now we aren’t up to scratch and we have to get the league season started this weekend. We have to be better, Dad. That’s my job. It’s my responsibility to make that happen. If I don’t do it, I’ll be sitting in a Rangers pub with you someplace next season wondering who the guy is that gets the next chance.”

“That bad, is it?” he asked.

“I don’t intend to find out.”

# # #

tenthreeleader · March 10, 2009

You know, there’s nothing like a good controversy to get the Scottish league season started.

Watching on television today, I had the opportunity to watch referee Calum Murray award seven yellow and two red cards during Celtic’s season opening match against St. Mirren at Parkhead.

Every one of the cards went to the visiting team, and Celtic pounded the nine-man Saints by four goals to nil.

Watching the match, I didn’t see a way Gus McPherson’s men were going to get much joy out of the proceedings in any event, but having two players sent off – one in each half – certainly wasn’t going to change things.

Gus is a pretty patient fellow on the touchline. Yet, when the camera closed in late in the match, I could see the red starting to run up his neck as card after card wound up given to his players. At the end, it was frankly surprising that there weren’t more – the only way his exhausted players could catch up to the Celtic attackers by then was to grab and foul – but by the time the match ended, there was no doubt that the Saints had been run ragged.

The visiting support screamed bloody murder as Murray and his assistants left the pitch, but they were drowned out by a chorus of green-and-white-clad Hoops supporters cheering their team off the pitch. Like the match itself, it was a debate that had only one outcome.

# # #

Hamilton Accies made their SPL debut today as well. They are the newly promoted champions of the First Division but couldn’t get the job done at home, falling 2-1 to Dundee United.

Kilmarnock used a pair of late goals to surprise Hibs 2-1 at home and Aberdeen, our rivals from the north, could find neither joy nor a way through to goal in a 0-0 draw with Inverness Caley Thistle.

We play Falkirk tomorrow and Celtic already have an impressive goal difference thanks to their win today. We’ll have our work cut out.

But at the same time, I got some interesting news from the front office. If fans are disappointed by our showing against Ventspils, they aren’t showing it through staying away from Ibrox. All the season tickets the club cares to sell – 39,109 of them – are sold.

That means revenue certainty, and that is a big load off the minds of the financial people. Which, in its way, is a load off my own mind. The more people I can keep happy, the more likely I am to be able to implement Murray’s desire for the club.

It’s all interrelated, I guess. And from my point of view, that’s a good thing. If I go down in this position, I want everyone to know it was a team effort. So to speak.

# # #

Spav · March 10, 2009

Watching on television today, I had the opportunity to watch referee Calum Murray award seven yellow and two red cards during Celtic’s season opening match against St. Mirren at Parkhead.
Every one of the cards went to the visiting team, and Celtic pounded the nine-man Saints by four goals to nil.

I'll be interested to see if Rangers' opponents get similar treatment at Ibrox. I know the visitors to the Camp Nou are getting the short end of the stick in my Barcelona game.

KUTGW tenthree. :thup:

tenthreeleader · March 13, 2009

Me too, Spav ...

___

I found it a bit odd to be thinking of Mel Brooks while leaving the touchline today, but sometimes my mind works in odd ways.

The match against Falkirk was difficult. It was always going to be tricky, and any time a Rangers manager makes his debut some of the fans will, albeit unintentionally, make it even harder.

The message boards were alight with comments about the league opener, and that shouldn’t have been surprising. Celtic’s blitz of St. Mirren yesterday has already set the bar high and playing away from home, that added a little more pressure to the events of the day.

Due to the proximity of the ground, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, we took an early coach from Murray Park this morning. I’m a big believer in letting players sleep as close to home as possible for as long as possible before a match – though not at the expense of control over the squad. We arrived early at Murray Park for a team breakfast and video before getting onto the bus.

We got off the bus into a good old-fashioned gullywasher. That didn’t bode well. It rained hard, off and on, for most of the time we prepared for the match. Referee Brian Winter soon knocked on the dressing room door asking for me.

I met up with Bairns boss John Hughes in the tunnel and Winter told us what was on his mind.

“I’m considering calling it off,” he said. That was the last thing I wanted to hear as the visiting manager, but I could understand why Hughes, with ten players out injured, might not have minded so much.

We looked at the pitch – which wasn’t in that bad a condition, but the obvious concern was that it would be unplayable by match time. I looked at Hughes.

“Yogi, what do you think?” I asked.

“I think it’ll come right,” he said in a rather remarkable gesture of sportsmanship. “It drains all right, the pitch does. Unless it keeps raining I’d say we should play.”

I nodded. The home manager’s opinion counts for much and since he wanted to play, and since I was here to play, I had no objection. I headed back into the changing room and spoke to the players.

“Fellows, the pitch is waterlogged and we need to be mindful of that,” I said. “We’re going to need to play a fairly direct game today and take advantage of the pace we have to beat them to whatever 50-50 balls we see. Find gaps. That’s vital today. Get into space and let’s see what can be done.”

# # #

Our industry was commendable. However, the weather made sure that our application wasn’t nearly as good.

The best part of the first half was that we didn’t let Falkirk near our goal. Allan McGregor was pleased, but he did get fairly well soaked when the rain started again about ten minutes after kickoff.

Prior to that time, Christian Dailly missed just wide to the right from the edge of the box and Lafferty missed two chances within sixty seconds of each other just before the rain started.

That was a bit frustrating. I paired Lafferty with Miller up front to try to get a big-little partnership going – and also, frankly, because Boyd had disappointed me over both legs against Ventspils. I need him to get going and Rapid Wien is the perfect opponent for him to start.

Adam was preferred on the left side of midfield and Charlie didn’t do much to reward my faith. Unfortunately. There was little service from that side of the pitch and while he sorted things out, Scott Arfield was skinning him with regularity on the opposite side of the pitch.

“What in blazes is Charlie playing at?” I asked McCoist, who was as befuddled as I was.

“No idea,” he admitted. “He shouldn’t have that kind of trouble.”

Just then Arfield went right by Charlie to create Falkirk’s first scoring chance of the match, but proceeded to screw wide of the target from fifteen yards.

“At least he can’t shoot the thing,” McCoist said, in a bit of gallows humor.

“Let’s hope we don’t give him another chance.” I whistled for Adam’s attention. I tapped my forehead in an unmistakeable gesture, and he nodded in reply.

He has all the talent in the world. It’s just that it’s so hard for him to harness it all the time. That’s disappointing. He’d feature for Scotland if he could harness that ability but so far, it just hasn’t happened.

Darren Barr then upended Miller and wound up in the book, but we couldn’t take advantage of the ensuing free kick. Mendes, also making his debut today, was running all over the place looking to create but ran into the same problem everyone on the park was having – the rain was starting to come down in sheets now.

Finally, Lafferty played a neat ball through for Thomson, and the central midfielder was alone on keeper Scott Flinders seven minutes from the break. Thus enabled, Thomson put the ball into the stand behind the goal.

“This isn’t what I wanted to see,” I admitted. McCoist smiled.

“That’s why you get the big money, Phil,” he said, and it was hard for me to tell whether he was kidding.

But then Mendes actually did create. He flicked a perfect through ball to Miller just as he was crossing the center line and he was behind a Falkirk defense playing far too high a line. Barr chased him, but being on a yellow card, he couldn’t risk dismissal by playing aggressively.

Miller moved into the box, rounded Flinders to the right and buried a shot for a 1-0 lead four minutes from the break.

One moment of brilliance from our Portuguese provider had overcome a completely turgid first half. It wasn’t the half I had hoped to see, but in the conditions we faced I would certainly take it.

My halftime message was pretty positive, all things considered, and in the second half my hope was that we could find a way to expand the lead. The Bairns weren’t threatening much – having that many players out through injury practically guaranteed it – so what I wanted was a second goal.

That task became a bit easier right after the hour, when Barr again clattered heavily into Miller just outside the Falkirk area. The scowl on referee Winter’s face told me there could only be one outcome, and the defender was sent off for his second bookable offense moments later.

So, we were playing against ten on the road. And not doing too much with it, I might add. The attempts came, especially after I turned up the attacking tempo on our alignment. I snuck Thomson in behind the strikers in case he could find an opportunity to poach a clinching goal, but it didn’t work the way I had planned.

I pulled Thomson off in favour of Boyd a few minutes later – I figure sooner or later he has to show me something in the attacking third – and we laid siege to the Falkirk goal.

Ten minutes from time, Adam went down in a heap under a challenge from Patrick Cregg – and was slow getting up. Finally, he simply sat down and the Bairns booted the ball into touch so he could get treatment.

That wasn’t good. Even playing below his standard, yet another injury wasn’t going to help matters. Physio Pip Yeates looked at me and shook his head. He had to come off.

So I took a bit of a risk and put Fleck into the game. I wanted some energy down the left and in the friendlies the lad had certainly given us that. I tempered that optimism, though, by taking Lafferty off for Hemdani. I wanted two holders in the game with the youngster now in the game. It might not have been the prettiest alignment in the world but then, we didn’t need to score.

Naturally, that was when we broke through. And this time, it was Boyd who did the dirty work. About forty yards out from goal, he was surrounded on three sides by Falkirk defenders, who converged on him in a triangle.

He faked toward the goal and then moved upfield, spinning to loft a wonderful ball through to the run of Miller, who found himself sans defenders between himself and the goal. It was a simple thing for him to round Flinders for the 2-0 lead that settled the issue one minute into injury time.

I don’t know that we’d have scored a clincher against eleven men, though. So that’s why I was thinking of Mel Brooks as we left the pitch, with our opposition reduced to ten men. I could sympathize with the supporters who whistled the officials off the pitch – as St. Mirren’s had done at Celtic the day before.

“It’s good to be the king,” I thought to myself. I’m sure somewhere down the road I’ll rue that sentiment, but the three points are in the bag. That’s what matters.

Falkirk 0

Rangers 2 (Miller 41, 90+1)

A – 7,152, The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk

Man of the Match – Kenny Miller, Rangers

# # #

salkster2102 · March 13, 2009

Great stuff as always 10-3. Just one question though you used pedro mendes but weren't you going to use an all scottish team in the league?

minisav · March 13, 2009

Needs must I believe. 9 Scottish injuries iirc?

tenthreeleader · March 13, 2009

The challenge, as I read it, is to win a European trophy with an all-Scottish team. I'm interpreting this to mean that I can play non-Scottish players in the league. However, minisav is quite right ... the injury crisis I have at the moment means I am unable to field an all-Scottish eleven at the moment without dipping to youth. Since Phil needs to keep his job, I have therefore elected to play non-Scottish players where necessary. And you never know ... it might wind up as a story arc sometime soon

___

“Only two?”

“Dad...”

“I’m kidding, Philip. Don’t worry about that. But you’re not top.”

“No, Dad, we’re not. Celtic has goal difference on us. They were at home, we were away, we played in a rainstorm, they didn’t, they played against nine, we played against ten, but they scored more goals than we did. So they’re top.”

“Thank you for the update,” he laughed. “But you aren’t making excuses, are ye?”

“Of course not,” I said. “We didn’t play well enough to be top of the league. So we’re going to try again next week against Vienna to find our form. If we can do that, it’s the Champions League for us and that will be a success.”

“So what in hell’s wrong with Kris Boyd?”

Now I stopped laughing. “I wish I knew, Dad,” I answered. “I don’t want to put him on the bench but he may leave me no choice until he starts picking up his ideas. It has to come sooner or later.”

“Sooner would be good,” he mused. “You don’t need the papers asking questions about why he is or isn’t playing.”

“Too late,” I said. “But then, that’s part of the job.”

# # #

stoehrst · March 13, 2009

Kris Boyd set up the second goal against Falkirk, didn't he? You know, he gets no love, whether in FM or real life

salkster2102 · March 14, 2009

thats because he spits his dummy when he doesn't get picked by the manager

mark wilson27 · March 14, 2009

Top notch as always Tenthree....what more can be said

stoehrst · March 14, 2009

I would too, if I scored 72 goals in 102 league appearances for Rangers and still wasn't getting regular starts for Scotland!

tenthreeleader · March 15, 2009

I got quite a surprise on my television tonight. Right after I arrived home from the match, my mobile buzzed with a text message from Heather.

“BBC 3 from eight o’clock, my love. I’ll call tonight!”

So, I did as she asked. What I found was Walk of Fame, an interview show presented by the strikingly beautiful Desiree Wilkinson. Sure enough, after the show’s open, the presenter got down to business.

“There has been a great deal of buzz lately in the British show business industry over the casting of Heather Middleton to star opposite Neil Bond in the coming production of what is now tentatively titled English Teacher,” she said.

“Miss Middleton won the BAFTA award for Best Actress in 2005 for her role in Emerald Isle and is seeing quite a bit of scrutiny from the tabloid press since signing for the movie earlier this month.

She’s hot, she’s talented and best of all, tonight she is here. It’s my pleasure to introduce the lovely Miss Heather Middleton!”

The curtain opened to reveal my lady, dressed wonderfully in an all-red outfit, complete with red hose and pumps. She wore her hair back, held in place by a beret, and she advanced to Wilkinson with a little pirouette that drew a cheer from the onlookers and wasn’t too bad for my morale either.

She wore a tasteful gold necklace that complemented the equally tasteful neckline on her strawberry red dress. The skirt was hemmed just below her knee so she could cross her gorgeous legs as she sat on Wilkinson’s guest couch.

She gave Wilkinson the made-for-TV peck on the cheek and the two of them sat.

DW: Heather, thanks so much for being here, and you look wonderful!
HM: Thanks, Des, it’s lovely to be back and I do thank you for your kind words.

DW: All right, let’s get to it. Neil Bond. Your thoughts?

HM: I’m thrilled, obviously. It’s a wonderful role and I’m really looking forward to working with him. Everything I’ve heard has been positive and I know he’s a perfectionist so we should get along fine.

DW: How did this role come to you?

HM: Actually, the same way a lot of roles come to people, believe it or not. His people saw Emerald Isle, and I guess they liked the way John Stevenson directed me. My agent got a call from Neil’s people in Hollywood asking if I would want to screen test for the part in his next movie.

DW: And of course you said no. (Audience laughs)

HM: (Smiling) Well, I should say not! Though I have to admit, since winning the award last year I am a little shocked by some of the things people want put into movie contracts.

DW: Such as?

HM: Conduct clauses, buy-outs, special terms. You know the ones I mean, like the rock stars always having to have a certain color candy in their dressing room.

DW: You mean Neil Bond is like that?

HM: No, not him. He’s the producer and director, he can do what he wants. I won’t say whom, but there are people on that set who have interesting deals. It’s all part of the business.

DW: And what are your special terms?

HM: I really don’t have any, except for Phil getting to visit me on the set if he is able.

DW: Okay, time to sidetrack for a moment. Let’s talk about that man for a moment. We’re of course talking about Phil Sharp, former footballer and current manager of Rangers.

HM: Yes, that would be the fellow. (Audience laughs)

DW: What on earth is going on between you two? (More laughter)

HM: Not what the tabloids are saying, that‘s for certain. He is just a wonderful man, kind and considerate and I love him very, very much. (Applause)

DW: The stories in the press are old hat to you, I’m sure.

HM: Yes, I read my share of them during my last relationship. But Phil, even though he deals with the press every day in his job, isn’t used to them writing such personal information and getting it wrong as often as they get it right.

DW: Your last relationship was with your longtime beau Nathan Randolph.

HM: Yes.

DW: You seem to have recovered well, though.

HM: I was with Nathan for nearly fifteen years. That’s a long time in a relationship without being married. We were very comfortable together but it just didn’t work and that happens in life, not just in show business.

DW: How did you react to Paulina Fuller attempting to contact you? Didn’t that seem odd?

HM: She didn’t just attempt, she succeeded. I do wish people would stay out of other peoples’ lives, quite frankly. She sent me correspondence that I wish I hadn’t received and it really had one objective, to try to drive Phil out of my life. It didn’t work. We’re closer than ever and we can’t wait for the time we can share together.

DW: How much time is that, really? You’re here, he’s there managing a club, and you both have outside priorities.

HM: Not as much as I wish we had, to be perfectly honest. We talk as often as we can, but he’s had a lot to do of late with the early schedule. But the issue for us is finding time, as it is for most every working couple in this country.

DW: Does he get to go to the set with you when you shoot, and what of all these stories about him being jealous of you in a love story?

HM: I hope he will, yes, and he’s fine with the movie. Those stories are all rubbish and he knows perfectly well that at the end of the day I am completely his.

DW: And how do you feel about being back in a relationship? The stories I saw after you and Nathan split suggested you might not try again.

HM: Things get said sometimes and I must admit that at the time, I wasn’t too keen on finding someone else for my life. But then Phil came along and it’s funny how some people can just make you change your plans!

DW: While you’re pretty new, do you find yourself having to be careful that you don’t go overboard, so to speak?

HM: I learned in my last relationship that love doesn’t work if it’s halfway. You have to go out there into the world, make something happen for yourself and do the things you need to do to be happy. Phil found me at the perfect time and I will be only too happy to introduce him to Neil Bond or whoever else wants to meet him when he comes for filming.

DW: Your other projects may get a boost too from your filming. Tell us about your Reading for Life project?

HM: Happily. Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I like nothing better than curling up with a good book when I have a spare evening. Well, as you know I was born in Surrey, and for some years now I’ve been working with schools in the Southeast on reading programs both for those with special needs as well as gifted students. Our reading program is really doing well in their schools and we’re ready to expand it into the London and Glasgow areas. We want everyone to read regardless of their level of ability and most importantly we want everyone to improve their skills. We believe firmly that a well-read youth population will make better citizens in the future. (Applause)

DW: That’s wonderful! Best of luck with your project. And back to you for a moment. You’ve had a wonderful career in television and on the stage but your film career was waiting for a role like this, wasn’t it?

HM: To an extent, yes. This is a dream role, no doubt about it, but to suggest I wouldn’t have been fulfilled if I didn’t get it would be false. I am proud of my career and I’m proud of what I’ve done. All that said, though, I would be lying if I didn’t say I was excited. Every actress dreams about the big role, and this certainly seems to be mine.

DW: What will you take from this aside from your reported salary for the film?

HM: The honor of being picked for a great role by one of the great stars of this generation. How could you not be excited about that?

DW: When does shooting begin?

HM: We’ll start shooting at the first of October. The movie is set in the fall so that’s when we do all the outdoor scenes. We’ll shoot for 6-8 weeks and then go into post-production for a spring release.

DW: And then it’s off to Ibrox for you?

HM: With any luck at all!

With that, it was over, and I smiled widely. She had said some of the sweetest things I had ever heard said about me by anyone – and she had said them publicly.

Then we talked. I got to praise her for another five-star performance.

“If there is a man in England who is not drooling down his shirt after seeing you, I’ve really missed my guess,” I said.

“You’re the sweet one,” she teased. “I’m glad you liked what I had to say.”

“How could I not? I’m looking forward to stepping into your world for a bit and I can’t wait to have you all to myself again!”

“Selfish,” she giggled. “But then, there’s nothing really wrong with that!”

# # #

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