Well that certainly was a dramatic end to the SPL! I watched the game in the Polwarth Tavern near where I used to live in Temple Park Crescent. It used to be a fairly rough and ready pub, but has been transformed into a posh wine bar.
The expressions on the faces of the Celtic fans in the bar, when Motherwell's late goals went in, will live with me for a long time. They were gutted. They all started leaving, and one just couldn't contain himself and started shouting at everyone just as he was going out the door. It's a cruel game. Eerily reminiscent of 1986 when Hearts were on the receiving end of a "final day disaster" and Celtic were the benefactors.
Last season I won £1000 on a bet on Celtic to win the SPL. Last October I decided to re-invest my winnings on Celtic to win the SPL title again, (they were quoted on even money). I should point out that I am a Rangers fan. I just don't rate Alex McLeish as a manager, and forecast another season of disappointment.
After Celtic won at Ibrox leaving them 5 points up with 4 games to play, it all looked done and dusted. However, I noticed on Betfair that odds of 20/1 were being offered on Rangers to win the title. Seeing this as a good way of safeguarding my winnings I put £100 on Rangers, (I presume the guy offering these odds was a Celtic fan). This meant I would win £900 regardless whether Rangers or Celtic won the league. Thank goodness I did that, otherwise an ambulance with a defibrillator would have been urgently summoned to the Polwarth Tavern on Sunday afternoon.
I'm mega chuffed that Rangers have won the title, but still don't have confidence in McLeish. Celtic have clearly lost the plot. It's in Europe that McLeish will be judged, and up till now his performance has been dire.
I'm sorry to see Martin O'Neill go. He's a loss to Scottish football. Someone with intelligence, passion and good one-liners involved in Scottish Football? Hen's teeth etc etc
I had a gig in Glasgow at The Stand on Sunday night. I was slightly concerned about the fall-out from the football, and half expected going west to be like a bad night in Baghdad! However, it seemed strangely subdued on the streets. Perhaps everyone though that the sensible thing to do was to lie low till all the fuss died down.
The gig went well. A fairly small but cheery crowd.
btw there's been a lot of talk of cancer in the media since Kylie's shock diagnosis.
The late John Diamond expressed this much more eloquently than I could, but it gets so tiresome hearing all the "battleground" metaphors associated with the disease.
"winning battles", "fighting", "combatting" bla bla bla
Whilst it's obviously good to have a positive disposition when dealing with the disease, it's insulting to people who've died from the disease to constantly go on about survivors "bravely winning battles" etc It's inferring that those who died from it had less will to survive than those who have been successfully treated. This is total bollocks. Surviving cancer is largely down to good fortune. What matters is how early it is detected, how aggressively it spreads, how good the medical treatment offered is. It's all very random.
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