PromDeAnglais 5,470 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Their football will transform the Scottish Premiership... don't rule him out as a potential England manager. Mark Warburton's Rangers are easy on the eye and play out from the back An estimated 100,000,000 watched the Old Firm game around the world Rangers' return to the top flight will bring passion back to Scottish football As I walked up to Hampden Park for Sunday's Old Firm game, I wondered if Mark Warburton ever thought there would be a scarf with his name emblazoned across it for sale outside a football ground. I know for certain he would be bewildered to find that Mark Warburton scarf next to a William of Orange scarf at the same market stall. Inside the ground the atmosphere was electric; I was dismayed to see some terrible banners held up by both sets of fans at either end of the ground just before kick-off. Words like 'paedophiles' and 'H** scum' don't belong in football grounds. The songs sung by the crowd were predominantly sectarian; it's an issue that will re-emerge massively with the return of regular clashes between Celtic and Rangers – will the authorities ever get on top of it? More needs to be done. But I'm not interested in religion, and not interested one bit in bigotry. I am interested in football, and what followed was a wonderful game – with Rangers playing some super stuff. Warburton has something special going on at Ibrox. They play out from the back, he trusts his players to pass the ball and it's so easy on the eye. Don't underestimate the potential value to the national team of what Warburton's doing: he is coaching several Scottish players, and giving them confidence on the ball, and the ability to pass and receive the ball. It won't be long before the national team benefits from that. In stark contrast, the lack of progress made by Gary Mackay-Steven since he arrived at Celtic over a year ago is massively disappointing. He was utterly dreadful on Sunday in a game that totally passed him by. Rangers' quality football will transform the Scottish Premiership – other clubs will follow suit, and that can only be a good thing. Warburton's aim is take Rangers back into the Champions League. If he does that, and Rangers show up well in Europe's top competition, don't rule out Warburton's name being linked with the England job in the future. His teams play wonderful football. On top of that he is a diplomat who has handled the Old Firm rivalry with class and ease, and he is brilliant with the media. He ticks so many boxes with the Football Association. What I really liked on Sunday was the fact that he told his winger Barrie McKay to stay on the wing. This 21-year-old hugged the touchline, and he tormented Celtic. A year ago I gave Jamie Vardy 10 out of 10 for his performance as bottom of the table Leicester won at West Brom. And I'm giving McKay 10 out of 10 for his display on Sunday. Even without his breathtaking wondergoal the 21-year-old was the absolute star of the show. Great game, great drama, and a brilliant show from Rangers, with the victory to back it up. There can't be anyone but the most hard-boiled Celtic fans left who thinks Rangers haven't brought something absolutely massive back to Scottish football with their return to the top flight. They'll bring some football quality for a start. But they'll bring so much more. A sub 20,000 crowd turned up at Saturday's semi between Dundee United and Hibs, and probably even fewer watched it on TV globally On Sunday, over 50,000 were inside the same stadium for the Old Firm game, and an estimated 100,000,000 watched around the world. Passion has returned north of the border. It's obvious Scottish football was desperate to get Rangers back in the big time. But it had to be a good Rangers, one capable of being competitive. In a short space of time, Mark Warburton has delivered on that – he's the Englishman coming to the rescue of Scottish football. Sunday was just the beginning. Fair play to the likes of former Celtic captain and manager Neil Lennon, showing himself to be a class act for speaking positively about the return of the Old Firm game. Hard to swallow for some, but it's the reality. You might dislike Rangers a lot. But if you care about football in Scotland, you should be relieved and grateful they're back. Although I appreciate that some may feel they need to say something different publicly. Full story: http://dailym.ai/1rdiMWY Some fair points by Durham. Obviously this is just the start of something special and we have a long way to go... the obsessed are already commenting absolutely raging... Surely MW wants to taste Champions League football a good 4 or 5 years in a row before going for an international position Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giffnockger 4,840 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 50,000 inside the stadium, we could have sold 10 times that easy! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coopsleftboot 5,512 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Great positive piece, open and honest. You'll never see this in the parochial, fearful, sycophantic scottish press; it's just not allowed. And the rating of Barrie McKay is absolutely spot on, he was simply superb and capped the display with a wonder goal. But the BBC simply ignored that and bummed up Tierney.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluewhitevanman 1,619 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Doesn't like bigotry one bit? He's a wanker. Lol. That was a good piece there he knows we've got the top manager in the uk. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
K.A.I 36,183 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 He lets himself down talking about bigotry - went right down in my estimation wonder if he can tell me what bigoted songs were actually heard? Just one ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1872 20,654 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Never heard any bigoted songs but seen a bigoted banner. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryju84 3,170 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 1 hour ago, PromDeAnglais said: Some fair points by Durham. Obviously this is just the start of something special and we have a long way to go... the obsessed are already commenting absolutely raging... Surely MW wants to win the Champions League a good 4 or 5 years in a row before going for an international position Fixed it for you Anything less than winning the Champs League 4 times in a row and MW doesn't deserve to be at Rangers Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johanhentze 14,073 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 12 minutes ago, Ryju84 said: Fixed it for you Anything less than winning the Champs League 4 times in a row and MW doesn't deserve to be at Rangers We are known to break records on occasion Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courtyard Bear 41,357 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Good read, apart from the predominatly bigoted songs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bombaybadboy08 15,660 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Disagree with him regarding the paedophile issue, always room for those type of banners at these matches. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaffbear 4,096 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 I'm still fuckin buzzin Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ritchieshearercaldow 22,123 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 If we had been singing bigoted songs, I'm sure the Scottish Media would have been all over it...not a peep He's obviously a fan of the boss though.......who wouldn't be Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ritchieshearercaldow 22,123 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 4 minutes ago, bombaybadboy08 said: Disagree with him regarding the paedophile issue, always room for those type of banners at these matches. Our banner stated facts, you can't condem facts, their banner was just hatefull pish, our banner accused no one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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