HOME-GROWN SOLUTION
Manchester reader TOM McGOVERN has firm thoughts on the current state of football in the UK.
“Reliance on the cheque-book for foreign players and coaches is the reason why so many clubs are stuggling to survive,” he states.
“Why are British clubs failing to nurture talent within our shores?
“Why are we (Scotland) struggling so much on the international scene?
“It’s all because managers, coaches and ill-informed media pundits are telling our young players, ‘You are not good enough’.
“This is entirely different to the message sent out by the Shankley brothers (Bill and Bob), Jock Stein, Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson.
“They convinced their young players that they were better than anybody from anywhere else — and they went out and performed accordingly.
“The ability to motivate and blend successful teams was a gift inherent to Scottish managers.
“The cheque-book will never restore it.
“Of the new breed of managers, Gordon Strachan seems to have this gift — and he took Southampton to the FA Cup Final on limited resources.
“However, he is being overlooked by ‘top’ clubs in favour of foreign coaches.
“He is also bluntly honest — again, a Scottish trait — and this does not seem to go down well with many of the English media, just as with Alex Ferguson.”
VICS PLAYED 10 GAMES IN A 14-DAY SPELL — IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN NOWADAYS
Carnoustie Panmure finished a hectic season by playing around three games a week in the past couple of months, their busy schedule caused in no small way by their ultimately-successful campaign in the OVD Scottish Junior Cup.
While not pointing a finger at anyone down Westfield Park way, reader CHARLIE WALKER, of Lochee, Dundee, has a general view of this.
“Some players complain about playing three games in a week nowadays, but not so in the olden days.
"Before they played in the 1925 Scottish Junior Cup Final, Saltcoats Vics played 10 matches in 14 days, including five in a six-day spell.
"In the final, they beat St Anthony’s 2-1 after a replay and 45 minutes of extra time in their second match.
Ian Mather is looking for a photo taken in the mid-1960s of Broughty Athletic Junior FC.
“I played for Broughty Athletic for a season marred by illness back in the mid-1960s,” he said.
“Peter Moncur was trainer then, and other players in the team included Jimmy Carr, Bobby Rice and Davie Robb.
“Robb, in fact, went on to play in the senior grades for Aberdeen and Scotland.
“There was a photo taken of that Broughty team. I would be interested in obtaining a copy. I wonder if any of your readers can assist?”
PAT McCABE writes, “Could you use your integral knowledge of the junior world to find out who scored most goals in their junior careers, Carnoustie Panmure’s Bert Norrie or Eddie Innes, who played for a number of clubs?”
THINGS YOU SAY AND LATER REGRET
Some readers, friends and colleagues, aware of a certain nickname given to me during my schooldays, asked what I thought of England coach Sven Goran Eriksson’s assertion that his current prodigy and 2004 golden boy Wayne Rooney is as good as Pele.
That statement, and the ones from English TV, radio and media pundits that the Boy Wonder must now be beyond the wallet of anyone on the planet, may be regretted sooner rather than later.
Even a couple of weeks after the event, words really do still fail me.
However, if I’m pushed, I’ll put Eriksson’s utterings alongside Sir Alf Ramsay’s view that England international of the 1960s and 1970s Martin Peters was 10 years ahead of his time, and former Dundee United manager Ivan Golac’s statement that West Indian winger Jerren Nixon was worth £10 million.
I think that puts it into perspective.
Arbroath’s SYE WEBSTER agrees, saying, “I find incredible the English media hype regarding Wayne Rooney at Euro 2004.
“I thought it was bad when he was credited with the second goal against this Swiss when it should have been an own goal by the Swiss goalkeeper.
“Then it went into overdrive, saying he was better than Zinedine Zidane and was the player of the tournament.
“However, after his two goals against Croatia (admittedly, he played well), the hysteria after the game was cringe material.
“You could not put on your TV without “ROONEY” being pushed into your face. Even at Wimbledon, they had the Venus sisters signing his name, then, the best of all, they are comparing “Wayne Wooney” to the great Pele.
“I notice they have never mentioned that he collected more bookings than goals for Everton last season.
“Rooney is a very good player for an 18-year-old, and England have a decent team, but he is no way near the class of Zidane and he is light years away of being compared with the great Pele.”
IAIN FERRIE, of Honeygreen Road, Dundee, writes on the same theme.
“The English have, as usual, put their latest hope on a pedestal.
“Wayne Rooney has even been compared with Pele. While I agree that he is as good as Pele, you must bear in mind that Pele is now in his 60s.”
DUNDEE’S CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
Our photo this week is a bit different.
Madge McCabe, who has made several contributions to this column over the past few weeks, writes, “While searching for old photographs of my dad in his footballing days, I came across a Christmas card (pictured at the foot of this column) which my cousin George Merchant sent during his time with Dundee.
“It commemorates the Dens Park side’s trip to South Africa, and shows the players and officials who made the trip.
“George is not on the card because he had just had an operation at that time and he was sent to Shetland for training — a bit different from South Africa.”
DARK BLUES WHO CAPTAINED THEIR COUNTRY
Staying with the Dens Park theme, DAVE YOUNG, Dundee FC’s website editor, has turned to BwB for assistance.
It has not escaped Dave’s notice that readers of this column — from all four corners of the globe — consistently come up with answers to obscure queries.
“We’ve had a topic on the forum at the official Dundee website about players who have played for Dundee and also captained their country,” writes Dave, a lifelong Dark Blue despite residing in Aberdeen.
“We’ve had quite a number of replies, but I’m not 100% sure of all the facts.
“I would appreciate you and your readers having a look at some of these names.
“Maybe you could come up with concrete facts and even some more names.”
Presuming Dave meant Dundee players skippering their countries at the same time they played for Dundee, we’ll have a go.
Kevin Ratcliffe played for Dundee in the early part of season 1992-93 and, indeed, was part of the team which had a memorable 4-3 win over Rangers at Dens.
He was at Dundee for no more than two months — and wasn’t capped by Wales during that spell.
I spoke personally to Kevin several times during his short time at Dens and he intimated he still wanted to be part of the international set-up.
Indeed, he received the last of his 59 caps when he signed for Cardiff City on leaving Dens, playing against Belgium in a World Cup qualifying tie.
Pietor Czachowkski wasn’t Poland’s current captain when he signed for Dundee from Legia Warsaw in September 1993. Neither he nor DARIUSZ ADAMCZUK skippered Poland during their time as a Dark Blue.
GEORGI NEMSADZE (Georgia) certainly led his country during his spell with Dundee.
Fan Zhiyi (China) and MORTEN Wieghorst (Denmark) have certainly played for Dundee and captained their country, but not, I don’t think, while they were on Tayside.
Dusan Vrto (Czechoslovakia and Slovakia) is another who falls into the “unknown” category.
Brent Sancho has captained Trinidad and Tobago, but, whether he did so last season is not known. I’m sure someone will ask him when he returns for pre-season training.
The same goes for JONAY HERNANDEZ with Venezuala.
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