From: ekjc13@castle.ed.ac.uk (N McLennan)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer,eduni.football
Subject: Re: Tropical comments
Date: 17 Nov 92 10:36:59 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <28212@castle.ed.ac.uk> eftv20@castle.ed.ac.uk (G C Stewart) writes:
>Just thought I'd throw in my tuppence worth, while I take a tea break.
>
>1. Jim McLean interview
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jim McLean, chairman and manager of Dundee
>United FC and widely respected throughout British football made a most
>interesting assertion after his side's 1-1 draw with Celtic last week.
>Now Celtic have faded out of contention for the league championship and
>are widely regarded by the Scottish media to be a few quality players 
>short of being able to compete on the field with Rangers. However McLean
>(on Radio Clyde) remarked that Rangers are in a class of their own in
>the context of Scottish football, with the exception of Celtic. He
>stated that the Hoops were the equal if not better than Rangers.
>                        Now, I've gone on record as having stated that
>Celtic are the best footballing side in Scotland, and whereas I'm
>prepared to take a little flak off Wacko Jacko and friends, I'm glad at
>least to be ridiculed with such distinguished company. There isn't a 
>figure in the Scottish game with more knowledge than Jolly Jim (yes,he
>knows even more than Andy Roxburgh  :-)), and so I hope it makes a few
>cynics (some Celtic fans included) think again about slagging the
>quality of players at Liam Brady's disposal. If Celtic can't do well
>with their current squad, then they'll never do well.
>

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