Martindale Manager Of The Month. Well They Can’t Give It To Celtic All The Time, Eah?

I had to laugh today when I saw who had won the SPFL Manager of the Month award. The smirking ex-crim at Livingston got it for a record that’s not as good as what Ange managed in November. But you know, if they gave it to Celtic every month what would that be?

How about fair? When it’s deserved. Which this month it was.

Ange was the manager of the month, and let’s not kid on about it. He usually is. He won 3 out of 3, and that makes him the best by any metric that people want to use. If we’re giving it to just about anyone, for anything, why not give it to Van Bronckhorst as a last wee present before he went out the door? If it’s not based on records, what’s it based on?

I get a bee in my bonnet over this kind of stuff quite a lot. But these things are either fair or they’re arbitrary and made based on God knows what criteria. We were told for ages that they were about form and merit, and then when Rodgers completed back to back trebles we were assured that there was other criteria. Then, when St Johnstone won both domestic cups – a once in a generation event – we were told, “no, it’s based on league form after all.”

These folk can’t get their story straight, and that’s why I shouldn’t get so upset. Of course this stuff is arbitrary. Of course it is not based on form, otherwise Ange would need an extra wing on his house just to store all these and no-one from outside Celtic might get the player award for the foreseeable future. Still it does grate on me a bit.

Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things … I just think that exceptional form should be rewarded with the honours. Instead we have to read pish about how the Ibrox club is throwing this away, rather than us putting together the runs of victories.

Only in Scotland friends. Only in Scotland.