THERE was a quote in a TV pilot recently that I watched. A drug supplier asking one of his dealers about late payment on a delivery.
“You know the difference between a reason and an excuse? Me neither,” the supplier said.
You know what? You can list all the reasons for it in some way hoping that it will soften the blow, you can role out a list of apologists to back your theory, You are just making excuses.
When what really happened was your own self destructive nature leading to your own despair it’s time for introspection.
The problem is introspection and self assessment are adult characteristics that allow you to control what you can control and learn from past experiences. Learn and develop. Move forward. It leaves you with both closure and a spring in your step that you won’t be caught out again.
What’s the quote “Fool me once shame on you. Fool you twice shame on me.”
In the case of ‘Rangers’ it seems the way forward is to get a load of pals in the media to simply apologise for any foolishness and that simply allows foolishness itself becomes an inherent trait.
Aye they were fooled. They were well and truly played.
Scott Brown played their highly strung emotions like a fiddle player leading a pub throng to a medley of rebel songs in any Irish bar across the Country on any given Saturday night.
It didn’t take long for the reactions to kick in.
Alfredo Morelos was perhaps seen as the biggest sinner given his previous 4 red cards. A click of the heels results in a flying elbow. They are down to 10 men.
Ross McCrorie could easily have followed suit only minutes later. Already on a yellow a late tackle that would normally have seen a second yellow was conveniently overlooked by ref Bobby Madden. Crazy behaviour when you’re already a man down. A lucky lad to stay on the field of play.
We then saw Ryan Kent react by throwing a punch when faced with a ball juggling Broony and a smirk out the side of his face. Should have also been a red card but it was conveniently missed by all 4 officials, despite Madden looking straight at it.
They finally did get a red card again but only after the game itself had ended.
Scott Brown is having a celebration, he’s dancing around grinning again with 8 fingers raised in triumph. This time the ‘crime’ is that it’s near the small contingent of held back ‘Rangers’ fans. Andy Halliday suddenly wants to protect their honour. (No sniggering at the back of the class please). Result a second yellow post match. It was the least that Madden could have done.
Halliday could also have see red for the late tackle on Scotty Sinclair deep into stoppage time. Madden didn’t give the foul as he’d have had to send the Rangers player off.
The cold hard fact of it is that ‘Rangers’ could and easily should have trotted down that tunnel with 7 finishers from a starting 11.
So where does the blame land?
For the sake of balance I’ve seen a backlash to Morelos but that’s more to do with his previous than this one violent outburst. Straw that broke the camel’s back.
Young McCrorie has escaped any backlash. Agent Madden deeming the second assault didn’t warrant a second yellow in quick succession allows him to escape the post mortem.
Ryan Kent seems absolved of any blame. Probably as he was the only one who actually performed for them so a minor indiscretion is ignored. It shouldn’t be. Pitiful attempt that it actually was it’s the worst of the violence in my book.
As for Halliday. The guy must wake up every day pinching himself he plays in any top division of professional football.
Given such limited ability he knows his role as ‘fan on the park’ is all that keeps him in a contract.
Whilst Kent’s assault is probably the worst the behaviour of Halliday goes beyond it. The game has ended it should be calming down. He’s simply pandering to his ‘faithful’ What he couldn’t do in the preceding 90 minutes was get close enough to a Celtic player to influence the game. Post match he takes Scott Brown celebrating as a call to arms and he engages. A sad excuse for a professional player.
So with officialdom watering down the punishment on the field to one red card it’s left to to the TV crews and newspaper scribes to point out the emotional failings of ‘Rangers’ players mental toughness on the day. To all intents and purposes we are still waiting.
I’ve seen Michael Stewart and the BBC in general being critical of their discipline and defend Scott Brown, that aside it’s been found wanting, as usual. Instead what we’ve seen is the excuse of extreme provocation from the Celtic captain being bandied about as a reason for their indiscipline and ultimately their downfall. Nonsense.
Jim White, Ian Holloway, Kris Boyd, Adrian Durham have all used media platforms to lay the blame for what happened at the door of Celtic’s captain. Even the Rangers manager Steven Gerrard appeared to indicate that the anagonist should face the same punishment and the violent offender’s. Good to see he has a grip on club discipline. Only in Scotland!
The fact is Brown influenced the game and mainly without the ball. Brinkmanship, gamesmanship call it what you will. Experience is what I’d call it. He got into the heads of ‘Rangers’ players. He knew the pressure was on them.
The difference at the end of the game was status quo, 7 points behind and title race back on or 13 points and game’s a bogey.
When Edouard scores that first goal Brown knows the pressure is building. The mental part of a derby is just as important as the ball at your feet and Broony knows this. Aye he noised them up, aye he got under their skin. Did he kick, did he punch, did he elbow? No he played it within the laws. Had he not you can bet your last tenner that Madden would have had him up the tunnel with his arm up his back.
The blame lies nowhere near the Celtic captain. The blame lies at the players who lost their discipline.
Let’s be honest second half the Bhoys looked tired even with 10 men ‘Rangers’ were causing problems.
Had they kept their heads and a full complement on the park they may have woke up on Monday with flickering hopes of a title challenge. Instead their own behaviour saw that flame extinguished and I firmly believe they know that.
To blame the Celtic captain is simply deflection tactics. We are back to excuses.
‘Rangers’ don’t lack talented footballers. Kent, Morelos, Tavernier and McGregor can play the game well. Mental toughness and guile however is clearly lacking. The blame game that followed it magnifies a childishness in their mentality.
Edouard and Forrest scored the goals that won the league but it was the minds of the Rangers players that lost it.
The indiscipline of the ‘Rangers’ squad has been evident since the winter break. They’ve crumpled under pressure as league points slipped and Aberdeen taught them a lesson at Ibrox. Their bottle crashed. They can play the game with the ball but can they play it with their heads? The evidence is damning.
If Sunday descended into the return of the Glasgow Derby pantomime it wasn’t Brown that caused it it was the reaction under pressure being found wanting.
When your manager panders to it all it’s really no wonder. The apologists in the press can try and justify the violent scenes if the want but the root cause lies closer to home.
Broony may be slowing down physically but upstairs he is sharper than any of them. He remains the puppet master.
Niall J
