Fly on the wall...Celtic v Rangers Cup final 1980......everyone on the pitch!

Sometimes you just happen to be in the wrong place at a particular time. One such occassion for me was the 1980 Scottich Cup Final at Hampden Park, beween Celtic and Rangers. The infamous riot on the pitch.
I must immediately say that I was with the Celtic fans on the day but it all started so calmly My mates were from Johnstone, a suburb of Glasgow and I'd been up quite a few times to see the boys play. They had been telling me about Steve Archibald as a player who was leaving Aberdeen to come to Spurs that year.
On this particular Saturday afternoon we had been in the pub for a few and as we came out the group divided into two. There waiting for us were two buses, one for the Celtic fans and one for the Rangers. We had all been together beforehand but now it was time to go to Hampden. Our bus was packed. All local Johnstone boys who traveled all over during the season to follow the team....we got a match ticket and a ride to and from the ground. As we went, the songs began, all Irish Republican to a tee. Broad Black Brimmer...about an old trench coat. Fields of Athenry and another very Scottish one telling the story of a Celtic keeper John Thomson, killed while playing in 1931 against.....Rangers!
The pope was pretty popular in the songs and for some idiotic reason I shouted f..k the pope at the end of one of them. Silence decended immediately as all around looked at me. Fortunately my mate just pointed and said "ah he's joking" and the party went on with even more passionate renditions of songs I knew nothing about.
Having left the Rangers bus back in Johnstone things were very well organised by the police on the day. The Celtic and Rangers buses were required to approach Hampden by opposite routes. We never came within 200 yards of a Rngers supporter as we made our way off the bus and to the ground. The eighties were certainly a time of trouble at football in Britain. However, I found out as we alighted from the double decker why it was that so many scots got arrested at football. Pissing in the street! Yes, the police were arresting blokes for having a leak in the street....public indecency after drinking beforehand.
Entering Hampden was certainly a new experience for me as an outsider. It was an old stadium that desperately needed an upgrade. We stood right on the half way line next to the fence in what was a completely open side of the ground. To our left were the massed legions of Celtic fans. Green and white to a man. Strangely to me the silk banners and flags were old Irish! To my right were the blue and white supporters of Rangers also massed with hundreds of flags. To my surprise these fans waved British union flags. There was a distinct lack of 'scotishness' about the whole thing....instead both sets of supporters seemed to be something else for the day! We were right on the fence and during the game were exchanging friendly comments with the Rangers fans on the other side. There was no obvious aggreassion where we were and I mentally booked relief that the fanatics seemed to be at either end:) Celtic scored to win 1-0 in what was a scrappy game. Our boys were jubilant if a bit intoxicated. Then it happened. Just as the trophy was going to be presented. It went off. A young Celtic supporter, clad in green, ran to the Rangers goal, produced a ball and fired a shot into their net. He then celebrated briefly in front of them. Big mistake. It was a slight too far. He misjudged the distance and over the fencing came a posse of Rangers supporters. He was outflanked and they swept around to engulf him. Shocked our group on the half way line started to shout as a hordes of Rangers fans came on. "They are spoiling it for us!"........."It is our day.....we have won and they are coming on". In response the whole Celtic end emptied onto the pitch! Rangers then did the same.
As history will atest masses of supporters from both teams started to run onto the pitch. We stood there watching but suddenly the Rangers fans the other side of the fence started to throw bricks and bottles over at us. A champagne bottle wizzed past our heads and Hampden became a war zone! Self preservation kicked in for me and I tried to drag the boys away. 'You've won, you've won I shouted but somehow I seemed to be the only sober one there and the rest refused to move as a massive slow motion riot played out in front of us. About ten police on horses were charging end to end trying to bring order. An unflattering parody from the scots of the Wembley  'white horse final of 1923. Later, I read that when it started to go off there were only 20 police inside the ground. The head of police Iain McKie said "I'd watched it from the tunnel. Can't remember who I was with, but there wasn't many of us. They say there was 400-500 officers on duty that day. Well, I can tell you that the vast majority of them were outside the stadium by the time the match was over. There was nothing unusual about that. It was standard procedure. Most of the trouble at Old Firm matches took place outside the ground; fighting, urinating in gardens, all sorts".
Eventually we started back up the stairs and out of the ground. My thoughts shifted briefly to the English Cup being played that day, West Ham v Arsenal. I bet that was a bit calmer.
Outside the ground we returned to the buses with the Celtic fans. Of course the policing was great outside.....that is where all the police were...... we quickly made our gettaway in double decker safety.
Arriving back in Johnstone we all went back to the pub to celebrate. We had to get rid of all our scarves because you weren't to wear 'colours' in pubs on a Saturday....few fans then actually wore club shirts. Fortunately, when everyone, Rangers and Celtic fans were back together people were calm and normality returned. That evening, after the game, we all went off to a party, together!

Further reading:
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/rangersfc/Tom-English-looks-back-at.6282400.jp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomson_(footballer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5hL6UbstyE


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Arsenal: When the succession plan starts to unravel.

I'll start immediately by saying that I see Arsene Wenger as one of the top three coaches in the world, currently  working.  Apart from SAF he'd probably be my number 2 .....ahead of the special one. Why then does it appear that Arsenal seem to have lost that aura of brilliance they had for so long? The obvious answer would be to point to the recent departure of Cesc and Nasri. Losing two world class players would tax even the best. Yes, but no, this is only part of the story.
We all know that Arsenal have walked a financial tightrope since building and moving to the Emirates, from Highbury.  A new stadium which cost £390 million, plus the cost of associated infrastructure...... £470 million all up. They played their first competitive Emirates game on 19 August 2006 but in truth had been seriously budgeting for several years before then. Arsenal were fortunate to have Wenger who had world class contacts particularly in Europe. Since 1996 he had continually blended his established stars with an assembly line of low cost young French players. True, he had inherited a bed rock team including Adams; Bould; Winterburn; Bergkamp; Dixon and Keown but quickly brought in Petite, Vierra and a young Anelka. The glory of the unbeaten season 2003-4 saw Arsenal at it's peak.....Henry, Pires, Ljungberg and Campbell made up a great side. Since then things have been tougher for Wenger. No trophies since the FA Cup win in 2005 has put pressure on everyone connected with the Emirates not least the supporters. The frugal transfer market strategy of the club has been widely applauded  and criticised......depending upon who you are. Wenger must be almost unique among coaches and managers in his disciplined approach to transfers. Here is a man with a deep insight into the tightrope the club has walked for nearly 10 years. It is hard to imagine (bar SAF) a coach who would not have demanded cash to buy success. For Wenger the line of succession has generally come from the steady flow of youngsters gradually graded into the first team squad.
What has happened to alter this putting him under such pressure?  Firstly, Cesc was always going to go.....Arsene was buying time right to the end. No, the real shock came when upstarts Manchester City managed to prise an 'in contract' Nasri away from them. In July, Wenger had insisted that he would not have to sell either Nasri or Fabregas Wenger said: "Samir's situation is clear for me. He stays. We are in a [financial] position where we can say 'No', and we will … Imagine the worst situation, that we lose Fábregas and Nasri; you cannot convince people that you are ambitious after that."
The 22m that Arsenal received for Nasri is more than the 15.8m they originally paid for him but this transfer is a signal about much more than money. Arsene Wenger has now said that he doesn’t want another replay of the Nasri saga and intends to try and tie Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen and Theo Walcott down to new contracts this season, as they will all have just 12 months remaining next summer. It looks like the horse has bolted .....even Arsenal will now struggle to rid themselves of the 'selling club tag'. This at a time when rivals Tottenham held out to keep Luka Modric from the clutches of Chelsea in spite 40m of oil money.....a line in the sand indeed. Perhaps worse of all for the club, the new generation have not yet stepped up as they did in the past decade. This is the point, they not only failed to hold Nasri but the new crop are struggling, prompting 'transfer window' last minute buys, Gervinho; Mertesacker; Arteta and Benayoun, reasonable at 28m but still leaving some doubt on the quality of the squad to compete......especially with long term absentee Wilshire. The massive reverse up at Old Trafford is an overt sign of the problems Wenger faces to be competitive on a comparative shoestring. On a deeper level the question is now being posed on how far have Arsenal declined....is it terminal? An early test comes on Sunday against Spurs who for the first time in a generation may be ready to slip past the gunners.....surely not the succession plan Arsene Wenger had in mind!

The danger of pass pass and no movement seen today v Wigan

Our first half displays against both Liverpool and Wigan were a joy to watch. High intensity, one touch passing and movement into space. Without the ball we worked hard as a team to regain possession ....we were a credit to BC's vision of how it should be played....Barcelona in white. The occasional choice of a dribble made us difficult to handle. However, we have now seen the downside of when the movement stops. Against Wigan VDV's lack of stamina began to hurt while Sandro was running on empty after 70 minutes. Mr Connector Parker found himself with considerably less outlets for his passes and a one eyed Ade didn't really want the ball. Perhaps the classic instance of us being found out / wanting to only pass and not move, was the 5-3 reverse to Man Utd all those years back. In that game we also stopped the movement and they ran over the top of us.

Credit to Harry for the good stuff so far but he will need to ring the changes even earlier if we are not allow beaten sides to come back in the way ten man Wigan did today.

What is it like to support a Jekyll and Hyde football team? Welcome to Tottenham Hotspur! Watched a fantastic first half an hour against Wigan where we scored two but could have had five. The opposition again made our job easier by getting a player sent off but we failed to go on with it second half conceding a goal and holding on for a 2-1 win. The real problem for Spurs is that they get bored and as in the game against Liverpool actually stopped going forward with the purpose of scoring. That said, we definately seemed to have bought well with Ade and Parker. However I feel we need to play two up front and Defoe(sick yesterday) will be a good foil for the ex-Arsenal man. VDV simply lacks the stamina to play a full game in the EPL and again went off on the hour.Still three wins from three games puts a better gloss on the season so far and next weeks clash with the gooners will be interesting. COYS......Come On You Spurs!