From: ach@cs.bham.ac.uk (Alastair C Hume)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer,eduni.football
Subject: Re: Tropical comments
Date: 17 Nov 92 22:23:39 GMT
Organization: University of Birmingham

|> I also believe this is true. Having watched Celtic and Rangers this
|> season (playing United), there are two points i wish to make.
|> 
|> First Rangers, what i saw was a skilled quality team, that had amazing
|> trouble coping with a United side which was a disgrace. Admittably the
|> side featured Duncan Ferguson, but one man does not make a team and this
|> is so true of United. Rangers did not seem to take advantage of large
|> gaps in Uniteds defence and the large spaces free in the pitch which
|> were not manned by United, instead they played to areas crowded by
|> United players, mostly putting the ball out of play due to their
|> difficulty in being able to pass to one another. In fact what could have
|> been a good fixture with quality football (mainly from Rangers) did not
|> emerge, instead the play was  very stilted. Admitably Rangers won but
|> not as much as they could and should have.
|> 
|> Celtic on the other hand faced an extremely motivated United, with all
|> guns blazing. Celtics passing and marking were superb, making good use
|> of all areas of the pitch. The game was most enjoyable, watching United
|> defending by 'blanket bombing' against a much superior team. The only
|> problem was upfront where Celtic did not seem to have the ability to use
|> there skills iin delivering shots on goal. Whether this was due to self
|> confidence or bad strategy i don't know. Given that there performance
|> was so good, i do not believe it would be from bad strategy, but from
|> the knocks of self confidence that they have witnessed over the last
|> month or so. Could this be because of fans reading the Daily Rangers and
|> The Hun and believing the stories. Admittadlly board room squabbles do
|> not help.
|> 
|> I believe Celtic are the better team.
|> 
|> The Arabian Bairn
|>  

I presume you refer to the Skol Cup match since Ferguson did not play in
that league match.  Why did you choose to pick the worst of Rangers' two
performances at Tannadice this season? If you are trying to compare which
team is potentially better (which you must be cos the league table shows
who is actually better) then surely you must compare the best preformances.

I didn't see the United V Celtic match but it must have been one hell of
an improvement from Celtic's recent (last 7 or 8 years) performances to
merit this sort of reaction. The Rangers league match at Tannadice was some 
of the best football I have ever seen - especially in the first half.  
Rangers came out determined to win and did so VERY VERY convincingly and 
actually took the foot of the pedal quite early on because there is very 
little point knackering youselves out when you have to play the amount of 
games they do.  I just can't believe that Celtic last week were any better 
(let alone enough to prompt your reaction) than Rangers were that day.

As far as I can remember from the Cup game it was quite entertaining but with
Rangers leaking goals like they had not done for a few seasons (it was just
after they had lost 4-3 to Dundee) they seemed reluctant to push for much more
than a one goal lead - seemingly lacking slightly in confidenece.  But both
times United equalised Rangers seemed to step up a gear and quickly got a 
goal.  I reckon we should have won that game more convincingly but comming
after the defeat at  Dundee and 4 days before an old firm match (if my poor
memory serves me correctlyt) it was no surprise they weren't the mirror image 
of Brazil 1970 which they are now.  But I thought we played well enough and 
were entertaining... Football is about goals and I remember the Rangers third 
goal being a little bit special.

As for comments about believing stories in the Sun and Record I haven't seen
these papers except at weekends because I'm exiled in Birmingham :-( I can 
image that they may be saying how superiour Rangers are at the moment - and
are probably refering to more than just the on the pitch situation.  We have
a reasonaly settled board (maybe a bit of a one man show but he doesn't 
seem to be doing too badly), a stadium which is built and paid for and a
team which are so far ahead in the league its almost over and is begining
to become a force in Europe again.  Celtic fans go and watch their team
and if they lack any confidence in their team then it is because of what they
see and not what they read in the papers.  If Celtic`s only problem is a lack
of confidence then it is the managers fault and no one else.  Yes I believe
that confidence is one of the major differences between Rangers and Celtic.
Celtic usually take a long time to recover from a bad result while in recent
years a bad result has typically stirred Rangers to some of their best
results - this comes form believing they are the best - something which
Souness installed at Ibrox and Smith has kept going and is also helped by 
the fact that it is true :-)

I am getting sick fed up with all this "Celtic are the better footballing
side" crap which has been going on for years despite their inability to
actually win anything.  I can remember Gerry arguing the same point 4
years ago when I wasted my second year at Uni reading his crap on 
Edinburgh Uni's football newsgroup. How many people have seen both
teams best performaces this season to really judge the situation?  I'll
just have to believe the league table and the league table for last
year and the year before etc!! I personally thing Rangers are playing
the best football I've ever seen them play and at times this season have
been quite spectacular - if Celtic were playing football as good as this
then I find it hard to believe they are so far behind.  

I have great difficulty thinking of a defintion of "better footballing
side" which does not include somewhere the number of games won, the
number of goals scored and the skill of the individual players.  All 
areas where Rangers are miles above Celtic....  I'm just totally 
confused by it all...  and I thought the Arabian Bairn was a sensible
person until I read that message!  


Ally Hume 
Birmingham Uni (Monday to Thursday)
Ibrox Stadium (Saturday)
British Rail Inter-City Express (Friday,Sunday)