Andy’s Sting In The Tale (14/02/25) “Known Knowns in an Unknown World”

 

We are living in truly extraordinary times.
It was complex and complicated enough before King Donald of Mar-a- Lago re-arrived bringing his transactional dogma based on self-interest.
What an entry.
Bloody hell what an entry.
It has changed the world and probably not for the better.
I’m not good at predictions but here are three possibles that after an unprecedented week worry me.
He will do the deal that means Putin will walk away with everything he wanted and part of that will be a return to normalised things for Russia like world football because a generous monetary transaction will be done at Fifa, probably with Gazprom.
In King Donald’s mind Ukraine are toast and there to be exploited for rare minerals.
Putin in the meantime has other territories on his list.The Palestine people don’t register on King Trump’s radar or offer any future benefits so Gaza will be cleared as part of a long-time-known Zionist vision. It will be ‘sold’ to the world as being best for them but it will be take it or leave it.
There will be money to be made in the reconstruction for USA and cronies.Countries in Europe will find both of the above unacceptable and this will put pressure on all things international including football.
Fifa and Uefa will have factions like never before but will follow the money.
What Does it All Mean for Scotland?
Nothing and everything.Despite having a seat on IFAB we can never be called major players in world football on or off the pitch.
We’ll continue to say nothing, sit on our hands, rock no boats and follow the consensus at the last minute.I get that, and in all honesty can’t really disagree but deep down I feel the Ukraine deal will be a schism cutting through Uefa.
I don’t personally want to see our teams playing the land grabbers, ever.And all of a sudden a world cup in USA/Canada/Mexico becomes more political than anyone could have imagined.
(Maybe by then Canada will be a USA state?)

At the end of the day the reality is I know I know half of bugger all but even I can see we are deep into the start of an age of uncertainty.
Who knows where it will take us?

Looking to a better future.
In times of turmoil I’d like to see Scottish Football looking to the future and things we can control by focussing on our grass roots.
It’s not something we’ve been good at since the early 80s.
In the time since, our league has become less strong and with fewer Scottish players.
The gap between our top teams and the rest has widened and is only heading one way.
That means our top have a huge gap to bridge when they play in their most important competitions, in Europe.
Celtic did OK against Bayern on Wednesday night but fielded mostly bought-in talent who would all, to a man, swap our league for the Bundesliga, The Premier League or the other top leagues.
That’s why Celtic missed out on signing highly rated youngster Mason Melia the St Pats player two weeks ago.
If he fails at Tottenham then he might join the other players who are only north of the wall because they can’t get the berths they really wanted.

If we get our kids system right we will start to see more Scots youngsters breaking through and playing in both our leagues and also heading abroad like the Lewis Fergusons and Billy Gilmours of the world.

Both would be great.

And it won’t be an overnight turnaround like the Trumpian Style Transactional Deals we are seeing.

Scottish Football needs a reset that elevates kids and grass roots.

That will take resource and talent in the most difficult of times.

 

Andy’s Sting in the Tale

1. Ex Hamilton Defender Facing Spanish Incarceration
2. Politics Before Football
3. Martin’s Wonderful Pod Casts
4. 12 Players and an Illegal Goal
5. Right Sizing at Easter Road?
6. Thanks Patrick
7. Nae Tartan Special in Saudi

1. Spanish Courts Verdict Next Week

The whole world saw ex Hamilton Accies defender Luis Rubiales plant a smacker on victorious Spanish World Cup captain, Jenni Hermoso.
He’s now been in front of the Spanish beaks and we heard all about the sordid tale of pressure on the player to say all was well.
She blew him out of the water.

His defence, “Jenni Hermoso not liking my kiss does not mean she did not give consent”.
I hope he defended better for the Accies.
It’s become a big event and media circus in Spain and there is a possibility he could be on his way to ‘unas vacaciones en una prision espanola’.

I’m cynical and think the outcome will be a closed ranks compromise.
He’ll be found guilty, given a suspended sentence and a fine.

2. Sport and Politics

Uefa will not be happy at the Celtic fans banner the other night versus Bayern.
It said, “Show Israel the Red Card”.
It will lead to a fine and who knows what else.
The fans knew that.
Football is better when the politics are kept for the boardrooms.

3. I Can’t Wait Till the Next One

Romanov Czar of Hearts on BBC iPlayer.Martin Geissler, a Hearts fan, has recorded and shared the madness that football can be and as was at Tynie during the reign of Romanov.
It’s long enough ago that people are willing to open up and be honest and it is a truly remarkable story.
Well worth a listen.

His team SC Heerenveen were 2-1 up against Fortuna Sittard who made a late double substitution.
Two players came on but only one left the field because somehow the officials were not counting.
And one of the subbies who came on won the corner that allowed a score and a 2-2 draw.
SC Heerenveen asked for the points but the Dutch FA spoke to IFAB and both seem to think it was an event not worthy of game forfeiture.
I think that is the wrong call.

5. Seven Million

I write often about football clubs needing to ‘right size’ or they will eventually run out of soft directors loans or confetti share offerings.
Hibs losing £7M in the last year asks so many questions.

Today we heard that Patrick Barclay, the best football writer for many years passed away.
A Dundee fan who could be seen in Frews Bar before matches had written for The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer, Sunday Torygraph and The Times, and I have his biographies of Fergie, ‘Bloody Hell’ and Mourinho, Anatomy of a Winner.
A Scottish great.

7. The First Ever Dry World Cup

When we all get to Saudi for the air-conditioned world cup and want a beer the cupboards will be bare.
Saudi have confirmed the whole country and stadia will remain dry.
Another Fifa balls up.
History will show Fifa don’t care about workers building their world cup stadia or fans on holiday in a hot climate.

There are plenty of countries who could have been hosts.
I guess money is more important to Gianni Infantino.

Andy’s Sting
A weekly column from me untouched by any right-wing owner’s editorial straitjacket.
I’m still a poor soul in an isolated ward on the fourth floor of the QEUH in Govan but my German stem cells are flourishing and there is light at the end of this particular stage of the tunnel.

Sting is Sting.

I just try to find stuff that our mainstream media doesn’t spend enough time on.
And any opinions are mine and are just that, opinions.
Like JM Keynes I reserve the right to change my mind if I get new information.

I wish our politicians thought the same way.

(Still down the Elvis Costello/Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris rabbit hole)

The Chieftains : Further Down the Old Plank Road

Paddy Moloney was a genius because he realised that Celtic music had travelled from Scotland and Ireland over the ocean and flourished as the roots of everything from bluegrass through country and rock and roll.
And seeing the bigger picture freed his whole Chieftains concept into a ballpark much bigger than traditional Irish airs and tunes.
This album is single mindedly rootsy and features Nashville stars like EmmyLou, Roseanne Cash, Charlene Carter, Ricky Skaggs, John Prine and Chet Atkins.

To be fair Paddy was part of a movement that also saw Celtic Connections flourish and the wonderful Transatlantic Sessions establish and celebrate the roots of seminal music that the deeper you dig the more you can see how it dominates.
Celtic Connections is an amazing phenomenon and I wish I’d seen Emmylou there in 1997.

Anyway, this is a delightful and fun album and one of a sequence that includes The Wide World Over, Water from the Well, Down the Old Plank Road and Voice of Ages.

All worth a listen.

My stand out tracks on ‘Further’ are Emmylou’s ‘Lambs in the Greenfield’, and Roseanne Cash’s The Lily of the West but ask me tomorrow and I’d quote a different track.
It’s all good and not too serious.