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Andy’s Sting In The Tale (27/12/24) “Football Needs the Good Guys”

Date: 27th December 2024

 

(Photo:@Homesoffootball)

This week Scottish Football prematurely lost one of my dearest friends, one of the good guys who cared more about the game as a whole and the game’s future in Scotland rather than whether his club won the last match or who they might be signing in the January window.
With a Larkhall granny his deeply formed West Coast childhood alliance is easily guessable but he switched in middle age to an East Coast club who play in green because of how they went about their business and how they treated his son who progressed through the various age stages there.
He also got uncomfortable and fed up with Scottish Football’s particular nasty bile that still flourishes because it has been monetised.
As a footballer he was fit, fast, skilled but also hard and scrupulously fair and likeable.
He was like that in life too.
He hated the cheating that has become endemic at all levels.

He was also an avid reader of this wee blog, and sometimes a contributor and we often talked long and hard about the game.
Today’s Sting is dedicated to him and all the others like him who know what Scottish Football has to do to flourish rather than manage its seldom talked about, straitjacketed decline.
Our game simply doesn’t ever ask for the insights that would predicate real thought and the right changes.
Cheers pal, Christmas day at 10 am will never be the same in the Smith household.discounts purchase shop Letter write Wish a Santa letter Activity Christmas to Blank The santa
Letters to Father Christmas
It’s the time of year that those who still believe send requests to the man asking him for  what they want.

A nice dynamic. that ordinary people make work.

 

Earlier this week I went back through my postbag and social media interactions and have compiled a list of the things you collectively believe need to be done.
It’s non-exclusive and effectively just a starter for ten.
But first thanks to Tommy.
Tommy  from up North  has long been an inspiration to this column.
He used to kick lumps out of me when we were in different strips but eventually we became team mates.
“Andy thanks again for bringing a non-partisan fan’s view to a game that pretends to manage itself for our collective benefit but in reality is just about grabbing power.
We talk about Sting in the pub the way we used to mention the papers.
They just fill their pages with forgettable gossip. Your Sting in the Tale is not always an easy read because you make people think about stuff”.
But fan’s voices need to be heard, listened to and actioned.
And did you know if you google Father Christmas in one of the  anagram sites you get ‘Hear Smithcrafts’.
Andy, that made me laugh.So, can we have your Christmas Sting based on what we the  fans have to do for the game by the fans by the fans”?So there you go, let’s hear some `Smithcrafts’.But I’m not going to write them.
And big thanks Tommy and everyone else whose opinions I am highlighting because this Sting is now a collective letter to Father Christmas, aka Santa.

And, the underlying theme of  this week’s Sting  is now Tommy’s anagram, ‘Hear Smithcrafts’.

The Smithcrafts are worth hearing about too and simply feature solutions suggested by you and other real fans.
They come from a wide range of our membership from Henry our ex East Fife full back and ex First Minister, Wullie O who gets it and should have his own column, Sarah who has stopped going to games because of pyros, a Scottish based Government Minister,  a bunch of others and me too.

If you are not a member of the SFSA then please join.
It belongs to. The fans.
It is free, always will be and we value your opinions and insights because that is why we exist.

And Change Starts at the Top

Petersfield Bookshop on X: "These were the fourteen sacks that went off to the Post Office yesterday... more today... https://t.co/7ii7QQgdCl" / XSo this week’s ‘Sting’ is a bit different and just ‘Letters to Father Christmas’ because despite our collective  battle-weary cynicism, we all care. And despite club loyalties if you dig deep enough the vast majority of us actually want the same things.
I’m constantly amazed that when fans have open discussion that self-interest for just their own club soon gets overtaken by what the game as a whole needs.

And if you can go from being a Larkhall, Central- Casting ‘Bluenose’ to a Hibby then anything can happen in our wee fotball world.

So thanks old pal.

I’ll really miss you.
 

Andy’s Sting in the Tale

1. ‘Hear Smithcrafts’

Aka  what real fans want from Santa in no particular order and all are deeply interlinked in a deeply integrated  game even if those at the top seem to forget that truism.

 

Please Santa:

 

Make all the Scottish Leagues bigger

They are too small, this mean that there are no safe places to breathe, develop young players and this kills everything else at the club instead of the 1st team. Fans get bored with 4 matches plus a season.
And please sort the bottom of the pyramid out, it has to be a proper up and down valve.
The way to do this is to narrow the gap between SPFL and what lies below.

Summit to discuss Scottish football's pyro problem - BBC NewsNo More Pyros
The clubs don’t want them, the players don’t want them.
Most fans don’t want them.
Punish the clubs severely at first and progressively.
Turn the pyros igniters into club-damaging pariahs and self policing will kick in.
Sorted.


Strict Liability Works in Europe
If we ever want to attract families and wholesome sponsors we need to extinguish the West Coast, mostly, anti Irish catholic racism and the politicising of our quasi para militaries.
Things like fans causing damage in George Square. These fans are identifiable and belong to individual clubs. Football needs to work with other stakeholders including the government and eradicate  stuff that damages our game.
Publish the 5 Way Agreement
Rangers: SPFL expects request for 'flexibility' over Ibrox games - BBC SportThere should be no secrets in Scottish football.
2012 saw the new Rangers club get taken over and ‘financially raped’ by people who saw the SPFL and SFA coming.
Fans understand the pressure of time back then but this chapter should be in the public domain rather than festering.

 

Tell the BBC, Glasgow There are More Than 2 Clubs in Scotland

Yes they have the most supporters but news and football coverage and renta-quotes should be broader and just because Rangers are featured in one bulletin doesn’t mean that Celtic have to be covered, nearly equally, but never quite as much, too.

Publish All ‘Guest Lists’ at Hampden and With the Scottish International Teams

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf accused of 'smirking' as Tartan Army fans loudly boo God Save The King | The Scottish SunWho gets the freebies?
Public Domain is best because secrets are cancerous.
And publish all dealings with the Scottish and Westminster Governments like contact reports in any good business.
(And the MPs and MSPs can declare their own taxis)

Make Government Monies Public

List for the records, all monies from Holyrood and Westminster being noted, totalled and more importantly what they are used for to be in the open, not as per now where nobody gets told anything.

Start Up Scottish Football’s Very Own’ Fan Fund’

Like our very own Scottish Fan’s version of the very successful Norwegian Oil Fund where profits are invested in long term infrastructure projects for the good of all the game.
Don’t let it become a dripping roast for anyone but the game and its future.

Play More Scottish PlayersNapoli move for Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour was music to Steve Clarke's ears as he reveals talks on Ben Doak loan | The Scottish Sun

It used to be the norm.
It isn’t now.
Our academy programmes have failed to feed the clubs.
(This ties into a bigger debate and need for real long term planning)
Get the best brains in the business to come up with a real and workable plan.

See Kids as the Number 1 Priority

Blow away the severe short termism and invest progressively into all aspects of the kids game.
A 40 year rolling plan to get back what we used to have.
Schools, local grass roots clubs, elite recruitment not based on year group relative age and  size.
Work with the Scottish Government and COSLA and all other stakeholders.
No compromise and proper funding commercial and governmental.
Why is football not free for kids?

 

Also, Scotland Needs a Full Time Sports Minister

Independent review of Scottish Parliament systems - BBC NewsLinked into health, but with a brief to allow all sports to flourish across all age groups.
Everything from diet, to ethics, to self-help  fitness programmes.
Not having a dedicated one is myopic.

Kick Gambling Sponsorships Into the Past

Scots refusal to follow EPL lead on banning betting sponsors draws political anger - Inside World FootballGirls and women’s football took the positive decision to eschew links with gambling and alcohol.
Well done.
We know there is a gambling epidemic that hurts young adults the most.
We know there are suicides directly linked to the normalising of 24/7 gambling on smartphones.

We know that bookies are algorithm-driven cash-gatherers and not the local guy in the wee office up the steps in the market.
Gambling Cos are aggressive and football is damaging its own.
Any player wearing a shirt with a gambling logo has no self-respect and is damaging kids.

Yes gambling does offer the most money but clean up the game and become a better partner for better long term and wholesome sponsors.

Show All Scottish Internationals on Free to Air

BBC announce new Scottish football highlights show and increased number of live SPFL matches - Daily Record95% of Uefa based fans all over Europe watch their teams free.
What we have is not normal.
Our SFA hide behind the way they have chosen to allow Uefa total free rein in selling their family silver.
It’s a bollocks response.
And Westminster need to step in and stop the current nonsense that sees Scottish viewers getting all England matches free but not our own.

 

Bust Clubs (3 right now, including my own)

Ensure not just football debts get paid.
Look after the wee guy suppliers in the communities as part of any pre-pack administrations or any phoenix new starts after liquidation if the club claims to be the same as the one that went bust.

Think Bigger

ScotRail travel warning for Scotland fans over last train from Hampden Armenia clash | The Scottish SunAbout everything.
Like a new Hampden in a central Scotland location with good transport links, integrated  hotels, retail and whatever else makes the deal work.

 

 

 

Get rid of Our Toxic Hat Trick Doing Untold Damage

Self Interest
Short Termism
Entitlement,  where the big clubs think they are more important than the other clubs they need, or they wouldn’t have leagues to play in.

Santa, that’s just a few of the things on our list.

 

Andy’s Album of the Week : Blue, Joni Mitchell

Blue (Joni Mitchell album) - WikipediaI shared my favourite Xmas tracks last week with’ River’ as my top pick.
That took me ‘straight. back  to source with’ Blue’, a 1971 album that I missed out on when it came out , (too young and too full of short-lived crap, by long forgotten rock bands).
But thankfully I became familiar and blown away when it was never off a friend’s turntable some years later.
Rolling Stone have it as their No 3 album of all time but I feel it is better and deeper than the Beach Boy’s ‘Pet Sounds’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ both of which I have and like.
Joni hadn’t quite hit the quite amazing jazz trail that flourished in the mid/late 70s,  but this seemingly simple collection of intimate songs about her life had depth that maybe only Carole King ever  came close to, and only once, on Tapestry.
Joni’s octave leaping voice is amazing and still makes me stop whatever I’m doing some 50 odd years later.
And what was maybe most different as a singer/ songwriter/ composer was her honesty that really fits the amazing musicality.
It all shocked contemporary onlookers and friends and lovers like Graham Nash, James Taylor and I guess Cary Radiz the cave dwelling ‘chef’ from Crete who stole her camera.
He featured in California“I met a redneck on a Grecian Isle
Who did the goat dance very well
He gave me back my smile
But he kept my camera to sell”

And on ‘River’ a line said to be about Graham Nash, who I remember beaming on Top of the Pops as one of Manchester’s Hollies.

“I’m so hard to handle, I’m selfish and I’m  sad. Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby that I ever had”.

Looking back she said, “At that period of my life, I had no personal defences. I felt that I had absolutely no secrets from the world, and I couldn’t pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there are no defences there either”.

Have a Nice New Year
History of Auld Lang Syne: What Does It Mean? | by Bill Petro | Medium

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