Scotland's Best Sporting Professionals

Andy Murray Achievements in 2016 

Andy Murray is the first British singles Tennis player to top the world rankings emulating his brother who is currently number one in the men’s doubles rankings as well.  Before he bet Djokovic on the 20^th of November, he was world number two for the past 76 weeks, by beating the Serbian Murray put an end to his 122 weeks as World number one and propelled himself to the number one spot for the first time in his career. It has been quite a year for Andy he has been, quite unbelievable, in 11 finals in his last 12 ATP tour events.

 

2016 has been the most successful year in Andy Murray's career

 

Chris Hoy

The cyclist was born in Edinburgh and has said to been inspired by the classic 1982 film E.T.  Before track cycling, Hoy raced BMX between the ages of 7 and 14 and was ranked second in Britain, fifth in Europe, and ninth in the world.  Athens 2000 was the first Olympics Chris Hoy participated earing his first medal.  It was silver alongside Jason Queally and Craig MacLean in the Team Sprint.  Overall, Hoy is undoubtedly the most well-known Scottish athlete in cycling of all time. The Scotsman has eleven world championship titles and is a six times Olympic champion therefore he is the 2^nd most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.

 

Sir Chis Hoy is Britain's second most successful

 

Kenny Dalgish

 

Dalgish more commonly known as “King Kenny,” was a Scottish football player.  The striker played for Celtic between the years 1969-1977 and Liverpool between 1977-1990 after a spell as ‘player-manager’ from 1985 onwards.  In total he scored 230 goals in 559 matches for his clubs and also played over 100 games for the Scottish National Team.  In 1981, Dalgish won the European Cub and the league cup with Liverpool alongside a young Ian Rush.  Kenny Dalgish has won 4 league titles with Celtic and 6 first division wins in England with Liverpool.  Many say that he was the best ever Scottish football player.

 

'King Kenny' is considered one of Scotland's most gifted footballers

 

 

Billy McNeill

Billy McNeill was the captain of the Lisbon Lions Celtic team when they beat Inter Milan 2-1 to win the European cup.  He spent 18 years with Celtic, playing 486 games earning the nickname Cesar.  The captain also played 29 games for the Scottish nation team and scored 3 goals.  The Lisbon lion was named the best Celtic captain ever in 2002 and was named in the best ever Celtic starting eleven.  He won 9 titles, 7 Scottish cups, 6 league cups as well as European cup In 1967.   He is the only Scottish football player to captain a Scottish side to European cup glory and I believe that will most likely remain the case for the years to come.

 

Captain Billy McNeil leads out the Lisbon Lions against Inter Milan in 1967

 

 

Is Andy the best this country has seen?

I personally think people ask this question because of the media coverage.  Murray is well known and a very successfully tennis player but there many other sporting athletes in the past that could compete with him.  I do believe he is the best Scottish athlete in the last 15 years however; several athletes in 20^th century like Kenny Dalgish, Billy McNeill, the rest of the Lisbon lions, Bob McGregor and Eric Liddell can also match his achievements although not perhaps his huge profile.

 

 

by Innes O'Donnell

Luke Randall's Talking Points of the Month....

Performance of the Month

 

Bournemouth showed Hull who the real relegation side are this October

Eddie Howe described his side as 'faultless' as they tore Hull apart in a 6-1 thrashing at the Vitality Stadium on 15^th October. Both Bournemouth and Hull are teams many will have as relegation favourites this season, but Bournemouth looked a class above their opponents. Bournemouth came into the match in 13^th, just 2 places above Hull in the table. Hull left in 16^th, falling just one place, although it must have felt like they had fallen to 20^th  as they looked at their relegation ‘rivals’ and became accutley aware of the gulf in class between the two sides.

The two teams contested quite evenly for most of the opening period, before Bournemouth scored two quick fire goals before half time. The second half was more of a late show, as after their fourth goal on 65 minutes, Wilson and Gosling waited until the 83^rd and 88^th minutes to hammer the final nail into Hull’s coffin.

Bournemouth only enjoyed 49% possession throughout the match, but threatened the Hull goal 22 times; a fantastic conversion rate and double the total number of shots that Hull produced. This result took Bournemouth to 13^th, and since then they have climbed to 10^th, just 2 points behind Manchester United.

Player of the Month

Dembele, Celtic's best since Larson?

Moussa Dembele, possibly the buy of the summer in Scottish football for just £500,000 from Fulham, has not stopped producing the goods. It started when he scored a perfect hatrick against Rangers in early September and scored 2 goals against Manchester City in the Champions League. Apart from missing a penalty against Barcelona, he has brought nothing but goals galore to Celtic. Since the10th of September, including the hatrick against Rangers, he has scored 8 goals, his latest being a late goal against Ross County on Wednesday 26^th October. The main question regarding Dembele is how long can Celtic keep him? This is a player who Rangers fans will want to forget in a hurry. Even if he does not play that well, he still scores. He has been quoted as a £40 million striker so it will be interesting to watch what happens in the January transfer window.

Goal of the Month

 

 

My goal of the month goes to Gaston Ramirez, who opened the scoring in a 2-0 win for Middlesbrough over Bournemouth on Saturday 29^th October. His 39^th minute goal helped Middlesbrough climb to 14^th in the table.

It was a wonderful solo goal which saw Ramirez almost run the whole pitch before scoring. He blocked a Bournemouth shot and then took the loose ball from near enough his own box and used a nice piece of skill to take him past the Bournemouth midfielders towards the half way line. Then, he used the space he had found to drive toward the Bournemouth box before brilliantly cutting inside past the final defender (Andrew Surman) and slotting the ball into the net, leaving Bournemouth keeper Arthur Boruc with absolutely no chance.

It was a truly superb strike from Gaston Ramirez which earns a goal of the month award from me.

 

Moan of the Month

A dejected bunch of Scotland players trudge away from another Slovakia goal

Scotland have already made the dream of going to Russia in 2018 for the World Cup a nightmare, after just 3 matches. They cruised to a 5-1 win over Malta in the first match but in the October Internationals, drew at home with Lithuania and lost away to Slovakia. My moan of the month has to be the recent Scotland performances. They dropped points against Lithuania, a country outside the top 100 teams and then went to Slovakia and were beaten 3-0 by a less than average side that hadn’t scored in a number of games previously. They sit in a poor 4^th place in the table and though they aren’t far off top they still look destined not to qualify. Scotland’s next match is against England at Wembley, and though Scottish will be right up for the Wembley clash, hope seems to be fading very quickly.

Why can Scotland never manage it? A good number of their players are playing at a good level in the English Premier League, notably Robert Snodgrass for Hull and Crystal Palace’s James McArthur who scored 2 goals against Liverpool recently. Other players either play in the English Championship or the Scottish Premiership. You could not say the Scotland manager (Gordon Strachan) is poor either as he has managed top sides before, including Celtic and Southampton. Why then can these players never capture their form when they put a Scotland shirt on? Man for man, the Scots have as good a squad as many top sides inside the top 15 or 20 in the FIFA rankings.

Is it the expectation of a nation? Is it that the players don’t play well together as a team? Is it that Gordon Strachan should select different players? The same old faces are given the run out every time. Why does Leigh Griffiths not start? Why is Ross McCormack not in the team? Why are there Scottish Championship players in the squad, such as John Mcginn of Hibernian? Should different players get the call up? Change is needed and fast or Gordon Strachan could be the latest Scotland manager to say goodbye. Hope of a first major tournament in 20 years seems to be disappearing.

 

 

 

by Luke Randall

Innes O'Donnell's Talking Points of the Month.....

 Best Performance

Celtic’s draw with Manchester City is a game that Scottish Football should be proud of. Celtic bounced back from a very poor result away to giants Barcelona in the previous round of matches when they lost 7-0.   As a result many people were expecting a repeat for Celtic to lose yet again.   The comparison between the amount of money that Scottish clubs get from TV rights playing in the SPFL is almost miniscule from what many English clubs get in Premier League.  So for Celtic go out there and score 3 goals against a team of superstars coached by the supposed best coach ion the world seemed implausible.

Manchester City were on great form in the BPL and looked unstoppable under Pep Guardiola who when the time came to play Celtic at Parkhead had still not dropped any points as City manager.  The tactical genius from Brendan Rogers was to put massive amounts of pressure on the Manchester club as they were playing out from the back. Celtic’s star players really did perform on the night with Moussa Dembele scoring two and a Kieran Tierney shot leading up to a Raheem Sterling own goal.  It will remain as a historic night for Celtic under the Rogers Revolution.

 

 

Player of the month 

Kieran Tierney has been putting in some fantastic performances for Celtic and was perhaps the only player in the Scotland team who could be given pass marks in their recent qualifying games.  He has stole Emilio Izaguirre place at left-back and has won over the fans with the Green Brigade making up the chant “Shalalalalalala Kieran Tierney!” In my opinion he has been the most inform Scottish player around the world.  Tierney’s chance against Motherwell when he cruised past 3 or 4 defenders and then proceeded to hit the cross-bar really showed his attacking ability as well as his composure.  He thrives defensively as well, when Tierney was picked for the Scotland team the Celtic captain Scott Brown told the BBC that Tierney wasn’t afraid to go into a challenge and it was great to play alongside him.

 

Celtic's £30 million man..??

 

Best Goal

James Maddison’s goal against Rangers was an absolute stunning free kick from 35 yards out.  It has remained as a very significant goal that showed yet again the troubles of the Rangers defence.  There was controversy leading up to the freekick as even the referee admitted after the game that the tackle on Jonny Hayes from James Tavernier was fair. It was in the very last minute and many people presumed that Andy Halliday’s leveller for Rangers was going to mean the game ended in a draw.  However Maddison, the Norwich loanee, stood up for the freekick and placed it right into the top right corner giving Wes Foderingham absolutely no chance, it was an absolute cracker!

 

James Maddion's goal of the month effort helped Aberdeen sink Rangers with the last kick of the game

      

Biggest Moan

One of the biggest moans in Scottish Football has to be National team.  The tartan army’s first game was against Malta and they hammered them 5-1.  It was great result with Snodgrass scoring a hat trick although against minnows Malta the result was expected and anything less would have been a real disappointment.

 

Scotland didn't need pink strips to look silly in their recent World Cup Qualifying games

 

So there was reasonable confidence into going into the next game at Hampden against Lithuania however, it wasn’t to be. A very poor display meant Scotland found themselves behind at home to Lithuania only a late goal from James MacArthur levelled the score at 1-1.  Gordon Strachan appeared to be at fault from many of his player choices and overall bad tactical performance.

The former Aberdeen, Manchester United and Leeds  player chose to play Chris Martin ahead of Leigh Griffiths which was a real source of frustration.  A lot of Scotland fans consider that Martin doesn’t suit the loan-striker role and doesn’t make the correct runs, and is in fact completely ineffective at times up front in a Scotland shirt. Leigh Griffiths scored a total of 40 goals last season and seemed like the player that would fit perfectly into the striker role, yet he started the game on the bench. 

Scotland’s team played Slovakia later in the week at their ground and another disappointment came.  The 3-0 loss has made it nearly impossible for Scotland to qualify and many fans called Strachan for the sack.  The Russia Dream seemed to be a complete imagination and looks over already

 

 

 

 

by Innes O'Donnell

Callan McCabe's Talking Points of the Month.....

Performance of the month

I have opted not to settle for one performance and instead have chosen Chelsea’s performances since losing 3-0 to Arsenal in September.  This season is going to be big for Chelsea to see if new manager Antonio Conte can bring back success to Chelsea. At the of end of last month they lost to Liverpool 2-0, after this defeat Conte when back to the drawing board and came up with the 3-4-3 formation that has been bringing so much success since, so far the Chelsea squad has been transformed into something new and in the month of October they  had 4 clean sheets. Chelea were exceptional against Manchester United winning comfortably by a four goal margin without conceding in a game Manchester United managed Jose Mourinho was woefully under-prepared for. Mourinho after the defeat complained to Conte saying that “celebrating with the fans at 1-0 is okay but at 4-0 its humiliating”. Mourinho should be more concerned with how far his team are lagging behind a rejuvenated Chelsea side.  

 

Player of the month

This month I think Diego costa has marginally been the best striker so far in the Premier League. He has the back of the net 8 times so far this season which has helped him become the top leading goal scorer one ahead of Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Everton’s (and former Chelsea striker) Romelu Lukaku. Costa has brought his form back this season and he is looking sharper and much more consistent. Although everyone thinks of Costa as a player who gets angry a lot Conte is using this to his advantage and controlling and using Costa’s aggression. At this moment in time I would say it is working really well. When Chelsea lost to Arsenal 3-0 Conte changed the formation to a 3-4-3 allowing the attackers to stay up and not push back too much. This has brought the best out of Victor Moses playing in a new position on the right allowing Costa to float around the midfield and do what he does best, SCORING GOALS!  

Diego Costa has looked like a different player under Antonio Conte this season

 

Goal of the month

Goal of the month for me would be Jordan Henderson’s strike against Chelsea. Henderson showed good composure to collect the ball move it to his right foot and smash it top right out the reach of Chelsea keeper Courtois’s reach helping Liverpool to a 2-1 over Chelsea.

Henderson's impressive strike gave Liverpool an important win over their potential title rivals

 

Moan of the month

My moan of the month is Sir Alex Ferguson commenting Manchester City, Liverpool , Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United are title contenders but that Chelsea are not. This is despite the fact Man United are 8^th in the league and Chelsea are 4^th in the league, his comments have left Chelsea manager Antonio Conte baffled. It’s just the start of the season and everyone knows anything can happen but at this moment in time I personally don’t think Sir Alex Ferguson  can say Chelsea aren’t title contenders when Chelsea’s last four games have been clean sheets one of which was a 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United. United haven’t won a league game since the 24^th of September when the beat Leicester City 4-1, surely it is Chelsea who are the more likely side to top the Premiership table come the end of the season.

 

 

 

by Callan McCabe

Match Report: Larbert High Senior verus Chryston High School

Wednesday 5th October. Larbert High School

Larbert High Seniors 2-2 Chryston

                                '49 Keir Stevenson                                             '3 Chryston no.9
                                 '80 Taylor Gavin                                               '46 Chryston no.5
                                                                                                    

(Chryston win 7-6 on penalties)

 

Larbert had a dramatic last gap equalising goal in the Scottish Cup but couldn’t go on to the next round after losing 7-6 on penalties in a dramatic penalty shootout.

 

It was a closely contested Scottish Cup between Larbert and Chryston

Larbert had a good first few minutes possession but quickly found themselves behind. After losing possession at the edge of the centre circle Chryston struck from the edge of the penalty box and slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner giving the away team an early lead. Larbert High got into the game slowly as a shot skimmed the bar shortly after the Chryston goal. Larbert had a corner late in the first half but the ball was blazed over the bar from yards out. As half time approached Chryston had another good opportunity they broke free of the Larbert defence and on-on-one with goalkeeper Adam Reape he made a good save to keep the score at one nil at half time.

 

Into the second half the visitors doubled their advantage within a minute after winning a corner the Chryston centre half scored with a powerful header. But Larbert wouldn’t be denied and started to get themselves slowly back into the game. They responded with a strike from Kier Stevenson shortly after the Chryston goal, he got onto a through ball and sent the keeper the wrong way. Larbert were back in the game and almost equalised on the 75^th minute when a cross was headed narrowly over the bar. Larbert eventually got the equaliser their play deserved in the 80^th minute when Taylor Gavin scored to make it 2-2.  Later in the 89 th minute Larbert had a chance to win the game but a miraculous save from the Chryston goalkeeper who tipped the ball over the bar ensured the score remained 2-2 and the game was headed into a penalty shootout.

 

The Larbert team prepare for penalties

 

The game went to penalties Chryston missed their second penalty but then Larbert missed their fourth. Each team maintain a 100% record after that and with the score tied at 6 each Larbert had their penalty saved, Chryston scored to make it 7-6 and move onto the next round. It was an unbelievable comeback from Larbert but in the end it proved a step too far and ended in Scottish Cup disappointment.

 

 

 

by Luke McGuire

 





The Four Questions I Would Ask.....Stuart Hogg

The four questions I would ask Stuart Hogg…

Stuart Hogg has been the stand out player for Scotland during some bleak times

 

I would ask Stuart Hogg who inspired him to play rugby and what age was he when he started? I would want to ask him this because he is one of Scotland’s best full backs ever along with Chris Paterson and Gavin Hastings and I would like to know if another fullback inspired him or if it was a player in a different position or a family member. Stuart Hogg has gone onto score 22 tries in his 86 caps and he has 148 points to his name and at only 24 he has plenty of time to get more.

 

I would also ask who is the best player he’s ever played with for club and for country. I would ask him this because he plays in a terrific Glasgow Warriors side that has performed well the last couple of years. He’s played for Scotland since 2012 and lots of good players have broken into the first team. I would want to know if he thinks a young player like Fynn Russell is the best youngster he’s seen, or if he would pick a more experienced player such as Grieg Laidlaw or Sean Lamont.

Stuart Hogg with another try for Glasgow Warriors, but what's more important club or country..???

The next question I would ask Stuart Hogg would be if he would ever leave Glasgow and what team would he leave for. I would ask him this because he’s been at Glasgow for a while and I’d like to know if he sees himself spending his career there or if he would consider a move to another team perhaps a struggling team and build them up or if he would go to one of the bigger clubs in the pro 12 such as Munster or Cardiff blues.

 

The next question I would ask him would be would he rather win the pro 12 with Glasgow Warriors or win the next 6 Nations with Scotland. I would ask him this because I would like to see what is more important to him a club medal or International title, and with Scotland improving over the year I would say it’s certainly looking more possible than in the last couple of years.

by Andrew Gilchrist

The Four Questions I Would Ask.......Walter Smith

Walter Smith was possibly the greatest manager in the history of Rangers Football Club. He won 21 major honours and reached many Cup finals and went through many good European campaigns, notably beating Leeds Utd in the ‘Battle of Britain’ and reaching the UEFA Cup Final in 2008. If I was to interview legendary Rangers’ manager, Walter Smith, I would ask:

 

1) When You First Moved to Rangers, did you think you could achieve just quite as much success as you did?

 

I would ask Walter Smith this because when he went to Rangers as assistant manager to player-manager Graham Souness after a fairly underwhelming playing career, could he really have imagined quite so much success – or even becoming the manager of the football club? He has, over time, developed a swagger when it comes to lifting trophies, and has beaten Celtic more than Jock Stein’s Celtic beat Rangers. He has won 21 major honours with Rangers, more than a sixth of the club’s total honours and has reached European finals and Domestic Cup finals many times. He was a crucial part of Rangers’ record 9 titles in a row throughout the late 80s and the 90s. What’s more is that he returned to Rangers in 2007 and achieved success again, with far less resources than in the 90s. He beat the trend of, ‘It’s never the same the second time round.’ Could he even have imagined becoming the manager of Rangers, taking over from Graham Souness, who galvanised the club and took them to their first league title in years in a very short space of time. He won the league at Pittodrie, where they had not got good results in years. If I was in his position I don’t know if I could imagine what was to come for Walter. It would be good to hear his thoughts.

Walter Smith pictured with one of his many top flight titles

2) Why couldn’t Rangers win a tenth title in a row and did you think Rangers would win it at the start of that season?

I would ask this because Rangers achieved so much success and glory throughout their 9 titles in a row, including many cups and European journeys. They had produced so many World class players. It was the greatest era in the club’s history and most of the players stayed on to try and go for ten in a row. Was it just fate that determined Rangers to fail in the final fixtures or was it his aging team? Was it because Walter had announced he would be departing at the end of the season? It would be interesting to hear if there was a particular reason he thought stopped a legendary tenth title in a row. Did he believe they could do it beforehand?

3) If Rangers hadn’t come calling in 2007, do you think you could have taken Scotland to a major tournament?

I would ask this because I remember Walter Smith saying he would not have left Scotland job for any other management job. He left and did a fantastic job at Rangers again but could things have gone well for the Scots had he stayed? He had been doing a fantastic job at Scotland. He had taken Scotland from Berti Vogts’ losing formula to a winning formula. He beat 1998 world champions France and had helped Scotland climb the World rankings. Does he think that he could have guided Scotland to a World Cup or European Championship? How far could they have gone in these tournaments? How long would he have stayed?

Could Walter Smith have been the right man to take Scotland to a major tournament?

 

4) What do you think of Mark Warburton so far and how long will it take for Rangers to be looking to challenge for the title?

 

Mark Warburton built a squad from a low budget and changed McCoist’s legacy of failure, followed up by Kenny McDowall’s disaster and Stuart McCall’s attempt at promotion. He won promotion to the premiership at a canter, won the challenge cup and led Rangers to the Scottish Cup final, beating Celtic on the way, before narrowly losing in the final. He has made an underwhelming start in the premiership this season so far, not meeting Rangers fans’ expectations. He has set records for worst starts in the top flight in years, despite many convincing performances. What does Walter think, as he has attended many matches and witnessed Mark’s new, fluent style of attacking football? Does he think Mark has done a good job so far? How much time should he be given to get Rangers consistently winning and how many years should he be given to guide Rangers to a 55th title? Walter knows better than anyone of the pressures of being the Rangers manager. Does he think Warburton is coping well with these pressures despite some slightly unusual comments and criticism of ‘The overly negative media’ in Scotland?

by Luke Randall