Nae luck for Craig in the low profile stakes

TOM SHIELDS

20 Mar 1995

THE scene is Cheltenham last Monday night where punters have gathered from far and wide for the Gold Cup race meeting.

As part of their preview of the week's racing, a Channel 4 camera crew visited the Queen's Hotel, a centre of the various social festivities which adorn the racing.

They interview the inevitable squad of Irish and then find a bunch of punters from Edinburgh.

The cameras move on to another chap sitting on his own.

And where are you from, they ask.

Edinburgh, he replies, not looking at the camera and trying to hide under the baseball cap he is wearing.

A voice off from one of the Edinburgh contingent is heard: "Dae ye no' ken who he is? That's Craig Levein o' the Hearts."

The Hearts defender, who spends much of his time these days suspended and thus able to pursue his love of the gee-gees, admitted his identity and added: "But I'm not supposed to be here."

His next encounter with cheery manager Tommy McLean should have been interesting.

* ALLY McCoist continues to suffer ill fortune on the injury front.

It is not news of another fracture of the foot of the Greatest Living Ranger Until Brian Laudrup Turned Up.

It's Ally's racehorse.

Sar matian in which he has a share is suffering from toothache and has had to be pulled from sundry races.

* A PIRATE video is in circulation among afficionados of great moments in TV sports reporting.

It is an interview between Chick Young of the BBC and Walter Smith of Rangers.

The encounter took place the morning after the night before when Rangers made an early exit from the European Cup at the hands -- or feet -- of AEK Athens.

Chick ventured the thought that Rangers had paid £5m for players (Laudrup and Boli) who were not European class.

Walter replied that this was patent nonsense.

Except his language was slightly stronger than that.

In the course of a three-minute interview, in which relations between reporter and manager became increasingly strained, the normally affable Walter Smith used the F-word 21 times.

Walter also pointed out that anybody can have an off-day, just like Chick Young was himself experiencing.

"And your questions to the chairman last week were shite as well," he added.

At one point Walter invited his assistant, Archie Knox, to come and listen to the interview but Mr Knox merely strode briskly in and out of vision and we heard him advise Wee Chick of an interesting place in which to locate his microphone.

For some reason this classic of its genre was never broadcast.

Taken from the Herald