BILLY BREMNER MEMORIAL JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN
Date: 17th January 2025
(Photo:@Homesoffootball)
Sheer genius by the copywriter Andrew Rutherford, and Martyn Walsh the art director too.
Maggie didn’t like it but was out-voted.
I wish that had happened more and we’d maybe still have some industry and an oil fund like the Norwegians.
Politics.
Politics is in everything and all aspects of football.
I’ve been told it can be a power for good, (mostly by politicians).
Here however, is something ‘political, and not for the good’.
A simple story of how bad political judgement and subsequent action is about to damage vulnerable parts of our game.
(The law of unintended consequences and all that).
I’m talking specifically about our recent heavy-handed budget from our newbie chancellor who may or may not have told porkies on her CV to enhance her ‘gravitas’.
What isn’t a porky is she is about to drop a cluster-bomb across our national sport in a way I hadn’t even considered and you haven’t read about it in the papers.
(More about that in a minutito after a wee definition to set the scene).
We all talk about Politics but what does the word mean?
Here’s a wondrous definition of ‘Politics’, to frame the nonsense.
It comes from Ernest Benn, of the well- known political ‘Wedgewood Benn’ family and also uncle of Labour’s finest ever sage, Tony.
It’s a great definition because it works and explains everything.
It also made me smile out loud.
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies”.
I had to read it twice too.
And the outcomes are a real loss of lots of good things that used to be in our game.
There are of course two sides to most political decisions.
I well remember the frustration that top and ambitious northern clubs like Thistle, my own boyhood team Caley, Elgin and County had when the southern clubs kept the Scottish Leagues out of reach of anything north of the Tay.
The Ferranti/Meadowbank Thistle stitch-up on Inverness Jags was maybe the worst example of that.
But where we are today is probably equally flawed, and does nothing for the work clubs always did outside their first XIs.
Here are some of the issues:
We have a current imbalance between the population of the Highland and Lowland League hinterlands and the ambitions of the members.
I’d say it all needs a genuine shake up and thinking from our best thinkers.
More later.
Andy’s Sting in the Tale
1. The Vacuous Roar of Short-Term White Noise
2. When Andy Had Bertie in His Pocket
3. German News
4. A Caption That Made Me Smile
5. Chairman’s Awards
6. Looking Outside
7. Thanks Denis
1. Easy Copy
Just think if even half of the media effort that goes into telling us if Celtic are maybe re-signing their old full back, or if the Union Bears are getting their shiny new manager in before the crocuses come out, was spent on real stories.
Where did we ever read about what Nat Insurance is about to do to clubs like Airdrie, and Arbroath and what it means?
What is happening now at ICT and Dumbarton?
In my local Margiotta for milk this morning I asked, “who actually buys newspapers any more”.
So here’s a question.
Why then do the BBC talk about the newspapers and what they say every day as if they are important for news and opinion like they used to be when no bugger is reading them?
Why not move on guys and give us your own opinions rather than those structured by click bait and the politics of right wing, foreign based mandarins.
They clapped us off the park and my award was a case of beer for the coach home.
I hope the Broch do the Broch proud on Sunday and give Rangers a case of beer for their coach home too.
3. Two Stories From Deutschland
The first might scare The SFA, The SRU and our big clubs.
A German court ruled football can be billed for the costs of extra policing for big matches.
And I guess for trashing their equivalents of George Square.
I know this particular news will be discussed in high places and to be fair I have never thought the price of big football events should land on local tax payers.
The second is I’m about to be twinned with a 23 year old German male who is a perfect bone-marrow transplant, match.
It all kicks off next week.
And yes, I’m already practising putting towels on sun beds, drinking Becks Bier and all the usual stuff but I do hope to continue getting ‘Sting’ out on Fridays.
Bear with me if I miss a week or two.
5. Nominations Welcome
Who deserves Andy’s Chairman’s Award for going beyond the norm for the game or the fans?
6. You Go Girls
There is chatter about our top women’s teams wanting to look to pastures new and in a league with unbalanced scores like 14-0 I think change is essential.
Long term I can say we need more kids, leading to more elite kids, to better teams etc.
Short term we need better competition.
Simples.
It reminds me of the time when Rugby went professional.
England and France told the three small nations “thanks, but goodbye”, and hastily set up their own ‘Big’ leagues.
The three ‘Wee Guys’, Ireland Wales, and Scotland got together, used the grey matter, united, created the Guinness Leagues and now have Italian and South African sides too.
That’s what Wee Guys should do.
I know there are barriers but I personally support this kind of ambition and think football can learn from the oval ball.
It needs that kind of thinking.
My wee sister, the writer, once wrote that “we should be united rather than divided by boundaries”.
I totally agree.
7. Lawman You Were So Special
Just heard Dennis is gone.
I remember the wee guy with saucer glasses and white pads and how Dennis could ‘hang in the air’.
One of our best ever.
Andy’s Sting is:
A weekly column from me, Andy, a man who enjoyed more than a few laughs, drams, beers and wines with my pal Gordon Paul.
I’ll toast you on Monday, Gordy, with a glass of John’s Blend 2015 and maybe a wee Ardbeg later too.
Sting is Sting, it’s a free spirit of a blog and any opinions are mine.
Feel free to agree or disagree with anything I say and feel free to tell me so, and why if you can be bothered.
Posted in: Andy’s Sting in the Tale, Latest News