Setting An Example
The general consensus among non-football fans is that professional footballers are overpaid, underworked and wouldn't know a proper days work if it tackled them from behind. Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor have this week confirmed to a lot of people that not only are they guilty as charged with those offences but that footballers do indeed possess small brains totally devoid of any common sense or contact with reality.
The Rangers and Scotland careers of both players are over, in the case of their country they have received a life ban for their eight hours drinking binge following last weekend's defeat in Holland. Their club careers are now also at an end following the pairs failure to heed the advice of the wise old owl that is Walter Smith.
Smith had told them to keep their heads down and avoid any further trouble following the revelations of their drinking and what did the two do on Wednesday night? They made obscene gestures, of the sort an eight year old would have been embarrassed by, at television cameras and photographers during the World Cup qualifier against Iceland.
The errant duo were today suspended for a fortnight and fined wages for the same period by Rangers as the fallout from last Sunday's antics at the Cameron House hotel reached epic proportions. Ferguson has been stripped of the captaincy; privately it has been made clear neither will play for the club again.
The overall conduct of the players during the last week while on Scotland duty has, regrettably, fallen considerably short of the standards expected by Rangers football club and our supporters, and has brought the club into disrepute," said the chief executive Martin Bain.
Walter Smith had contacted the players on Monday to stress they should accept whatever punishment came their way, and with good grace. However matters took a turn for the worse before kick-off on Wednesday as they sat among the Scotland substitutes for the Iceland game.
"Drink-wise, yes, it was in itself wrong," Smith explained. "But they are not the first group of Scottish players to do that. What was more disappointing for me was their subsequent reaction when they were on the bench. I don't think it reflected well on them and certainly did not reflect well on the club. "My own feeling overall is one of disappointment that it has come to this. But I don't feel, as a club, we could be seen to have ignored the incidents."
Ferguson has a contract worth around £25,000 a week until next summer, the Independent carried a story on Friday that Dick Advocaat would like to take his former captain to Zenit St.Petersburg. There has been talk for some time now that Ferguson would be allowed to leave, his form hasn't been great since his return from injury and although his drive in the team takes some beating he is not the most skilful player at an underachieving Ibrox by any stretch of the imagination.
Whilst Ferguson can be, relatively, easily replaced, the case of McGregor is different. McGregor is a quality player, a member of that rare club: a decent Scottish goalkeeper, and his departure whilst being good for his understudy Neil Alexander is a blow to the club's title ambitions. I just wonder how much of the incident was down to Ferguson, somebody, who as captain of both club and country, you can only imagine McGregor would have looked up to.
Of course both players now regret what they have done.
"I deeply regret what happened last weekend and the events during the last week and apologise wholeheartedly for the embarrassment caused to Scotland, Rangers, both sets of supporters and my friends and family," Ferguson said last night.
McGregor added: "We all make mistakes in life and I am very disappointed to have let Rangers, Scotland, my family all the fans down. I am also desperately disappointed that I will not be selected again for Scotland at this stage in my career."
As far as the SPL goes this is great news for Celtic. In recent weeks whilst Celtic haven't been at their best Rangers have failed to capitalise and have dropped three points behind, leaving them once more to chase their only serious rivals in Scottish football for the title.
The Rangers and Scotland careers of both players are over, in the case of their country they have received a life ban for their eight hours drinking binge following last weekend's defeat in Holland. Their club careers are now also at an end following the pairs failure to heed the advice of the wise old owl that is Walter Smith.
Smith had told them to keep their heads down and avoid any further trouble following the revelations of their drinking and what did the two do on Wednesday night? They made obscene gestures, of the sort an eight year old would have been embarrassed by, at television cameras and photographers during the World Cup qualifier against Iceland.
The errant duo were today suspended for a fortnight and fined wages for the same period by Rangers as the fallout from last Sunday's antics at the Cameron House hotel reached epic proportions. Ferguson has been stripped of the captaincy; privately it has been made clear neither will play for the club again.
The overall conduct of the players during the last week while on Scotland duty has, regrettably, fallen considerably short of the standards expected by Rangers football club and our supporters, and has brought the club into disrepute," said the chief executive Martin Bain.
Walter Smith had contacted the players on Monday to stress they should accept whatever punishment came their way, and with good grace. However matters took a turn for the worse before kick-off on Wednesday as they sat among the Scotland substitutes for the Iceland game.
"Drink-wise, yes, it was in itself wrong," Smith explained. "But they are not the first group of Scottish players to do that. What was more disappointing for me was their subsequent reaction when they were on the bench. I don't think it reflected well on them and certainly did not reflect well on the club. "My own feeling overall is one of disappointment that it has come to this. But I don't feel, as a club, we could be seen to have ignored the incidents."
Ferguson has a contract worth around £25,000 a week until next summer, the Independent carried a story on Friday that Dick Advocaat would like to take his former captain to Zenit St.Petersburg. There has been talk for some time now that Ferguson would be allowed to leave, his form hasn't been great since his return from injury and although his drive in the team takes some beating he is not the most skilful player at an underachieving Ibrox by any stretch of the imagination.
Whilst Ferguson can be, relatively, easily replaced, the case of McGregor is different. McGregor is a quality player, a member of that rare club: a decent Scottish goalkeeper, and his departure whilst being good for his understudy Neil Alexander is a blow to the club's title ambitions. I just wonder how much of the incident was down to Ferguson, somebody, who as captain of both club and country, you can only imagine McGregor would have looked up to.
Of course both players now regret what they have done.
"I deeply regret what happened last weekend and the events during the last week and apologise wholeheartedly for the embarrassment caused to Scotland, Rangers, both sets of supporters and my friends and family," Ferguson said last night.
McGregor added: "We all make mistakes in life and I am very disappointed to have let Rangers, Scotland, my family all the fans down. I am also desperately disappointed that I will not be selected again for Scotland at this stage in my career."
As far as the SPL goes this is great news for Celtic. In recent weeks whilst Celtic haven't been at their best Rangers have failed to capitalise and have dropped three points behind, leaving them once more to chase their only serious rivals in Scottish football for the title.
2 comments:
I knew nothing of this...I had seem a couple of headlines as I galnced through news but didn't get round to reading any...waht a pair of twats and the small-brain comment is right, talk about realising too late when enough is enough!
As Bill Shankly once said about footballers, "You're a long time retired." Some people don't know when they have it so good.
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