Farry's right to target bawl game

Brian Meek

29 Nov 1996

THERE is a tale, apocryphal perhaps, of the manager, banished to the grandstand, who communicates by mobile phone with his assistant down in the dug-out.

"Tell that linesman he is a blind, biased incompetent whose parents definitely were not married," roars the boss .

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or words to that effect.

"Here," says the assistant as the official concerned comes running past, "this call is for you!" There is something faintly ridiculous about grown men shouting at players, many of whom cannot even hear them, abusing referees and their assistants, tearing out their hair and leaping about as though they had swallowed live coals.

It happens every week in football dug-outs.

SFA Chief Executive Jim Farry is surely right to threaten a ban on such activities and to start by suggesting the number of people in the dug-out be reduced.

When I was at Tynecastle recently for the Edinburgh Derby there seemed to be more folk on the Hearts' bench than in maroon jerseys out on the field.

Nowadays it is apparently necessary to have the manager, the physio, the coach, the substitutes, those who have already been replaced, the sprint coach and anybody else without a ticket all yelling advice from the sidelines.

It must be a real pleasure for players to be operating on the far side of the pitch.

Those in the family enclosure with their kids must need the ear-muffs.

No doubt all of these guys will have good reasons for being around, but they do not require to be in the dug-out.

Football, as Tiny Wharton always reminds me, is a passionate game, take away the ardour and you lose the flavour.

I accept that, yet the temptation for disgruntled managers to bandy words with those who they think have made costly decisions is almost irresistible when they are operating just a few feet away from each other.

I thought John Robertson, of Hearts, was fouled before Paul Gascoigne's first goal in the Coca-Cola Cup final.

But I do not believe it was necessarily the turning point in the whole game and hardly merited the violent reaction which came from the bench.

A little earlier there had been a most cynical foul on Gascoigne which might well have merited a sending-off.

Hearts could count themselves lucky they still had 11 men on the park; breaks usually have a way of evening themselves out.

Alex Smith, Chairman of the Managers and Coaches Association, knows the pressures all too well.

An honest man, he admits that there had been a slipping of standards this season.

He firmly believes only the managers themselves should be giving out the instructions.

Put your own dug-outs in order or have it done for you seems to be the message.

Just think what it will do for the blood pressure.

The other talking-point of the week has been the revalation that Old Firm managers Tommy Burns and Walter Smith have had their thinking caps on.

They have been discussing the way forward for Scottish football and have come forward with the notion that Celtic and Rangers might be allowed to use first division clubs as "nursery" teams, in time doing away with reserve sides altogether.

This is an idea certainly worth exploring.

There are difficulties in deciding which clubs are to be used; what happens if the "nursery" teams win their league, should they be allowed to accept promotion? Who pays the wages? It also appears there would have to be changes in the league rules.

These are problems not reasons for clinging to the status quo.

They are there to be solved.

It does not really matter if Celtic's back-up side is denied promotion; what does matter is if the standard of Scottish football can be improved.

In Scottish rugby Hawick operate the most notable feeder system.

There are six other clubs in the Border town all supplying players for the famous Greens.

Which club has won more trophies than any other? You've guessed it.

Of course the football set-up is different but the principle is the same.

To raise the standard more of our players must be tested at a higher level on more occasions than at present.

A reserve league cannot provide that platform, a first division bolstered by some big names might.

Permit me to throw in a couple of caveats.

I think there would have to be a limit on the number of players involved, but they would not necessarily have to be the same players.

Rangers might be permitted to supply, say, three to the "nursery' club each week.

Reserve goalkeepers would benefit considerably.

Secondly, I think the involvement of the "nursery' clubs in cup competitions would have to be carefully monitored.

I would be inclined to leave them out altogether.

That said, Messrs Burns and Smith are to be commended for looking beyond the present and for being prepared to share ideas with each other.

That Hoskins bloke is right - it's good to talk.

Taken from the Herald