We live long enough to learn a bitter lesson; disaster can strike at any time.
But there is a tendency in all of us to imagine it coming on a day like this; under a cold grey sky as though the heavens themselves were brooding over the situation.
The discomfort, the wet, the bleak landscape, it all suggests that something, somewhere, has gone awry with the world.
Of course, that depends which side of the disaster you’re on.
Because one man’s disaster is someone else’s opportunity, and that’s something else that history has taught us over and over again. Since I was talking earlier about TV and the movies, let me do so again; Bobby Axlerod, the protagonist in the ace show Billions, made his fortune selling short airline stocks and Wall Street shares even as his colleagues’ families were mourning their likely dead on 9/11.
That’s based on true events.
There were people who made a fortune that day amidst the chaos.
They knew just how, and they didn’t feel the least bit bad about it.
There is little doubt that as the sky falls on Ibrox that we are sitting pretty.
And the hard rain falling over there is just the start of it.
There is a sense amongst their fans that all they need is a better manager at the helm and this will all fall into place, but he has signed nothing but dreck. He has squandered more money than they had.
It’s not clear that another manager could do better with them.
Turning dogshit into diamonds isn’t the province of the Jose Mourinho’s.
If you’ve got the number for Harry Potter then maybe you’ll get there.
So, let’s do this; look out the window.
If you’re in Glasgow, like me, what you’ll most likely see is the slate grey sky and the rain coming down. Great moments can come on days like this too; they don’t all happen under summer skies and with all the world in bloom.
And I do believe that this is a proper great moment, because this might not necessarily be the day that their pain ends but a step towards an even harder time and an even greater pain.
They face a momentous question right now. Do they sack The Mooch?
Can they afford to? Can they afford not to?
But that decision has to be made, and it has to be made quickly because I talked today about our run of away games, and we’re almost through that. On the flipside of it, we have all the top clubs at home. They have to visit Pittodrie, Tynecastle, Easter Road and Celtic Park. We are good enough to win on an away run like that.
Right now, on their current form, that will crush them. We will have a double-digit lead before they even roll up to Parkhead. They surely cannot allow him to take them into that run.
But of course, this isn’t as simple as it sounds, and neither is the solution.
Sack the manager and then what?
Failing to do it because you don’t have a plan isn’t really a viable strategy over there; it clearly has to be done because he’s got no prospect of turning things around and the Uglies are getting uglier by the day and that fury is going to be turned on the board.
If you were on a burning boat, you would take your chances in the ice-cold sea … so they will have to do it, and I suspect it will have to happen soon. But let us be honest, without a swift rescue you’re trading one horrible ending for another.
He is not going to quit. He’s just given an interview where he’s made that clear. He will cost a fortune to get rid of, which is to say nothing for the cash he’s pissed against the wall in the transfer market.
He has just said “we shouldn’t be getting beat at Ibrox off a team like Aberdeen” as if he expected just to turn up and win … and without a doubt that is the sort of arrogance that has helped to get them here. This is why he wanted the job. He thinks winning in Scottish football comes down to beating one team a couple of times in the season.
I will miss him when he goes, because he is so quintessentially Sevco. I hope their next manager is equally repellent and equally stupid … and I feel good when I consider who that will be. Because the timing of this is lousy, with so many critical games coming up, there is a high probability of them rushing it.
That’s the other thing they can’t afford to do, so what are the odds?
Fear is raging on their forums.
Fear of Celtic. Fear of their board. Fear that The Mooch will get more time to fumble about and cost them the League Cup they thought they were certainties for.
Fear of what might be right around the corner; they are not confident of bringing in a big name and would settle, at the moment, for someone who just knows how to grind out the results.
A David Martindale or Derek McInnes cannot be ruled out friends.
But the next few days are going to be defined mostly by the loathing, and even amongst fans for whom it is the primary emotion, it is something to see how intense it is right now and all of it directed at their own club.
The club itself.
Which has gone from being a source of pleasure for them to being the primary course of frustration and anger in their lives.
Think about that, and enjoy it. The Banter Years just go on and on and on.
And I don’t think this will be the last article I write about this over the weekend.
Is Graham Murty available ??
Just sayin. On armed forces day, the huns surrendered
Was yesterday armed forces day…. Ya feckin’ beauty!
Stop Greetin’ , Jacks-Hun & Keevins..!!
Still Strugglin’ for the Killer Headline for the Sunday Mail….????
How’s about…..” SuperDonsAreFabulist , SevcoWereAtrocious….!!!! ”
Sorted….!!!!
ByeBye BounceyBeale !!!!
BREAKING….BREAKING….
Neil Warnock spotted in Ibrox Directors’ Box today…
“Whit’s The Board Daen’ , Tam….The Big Hoose Must Stay OPEN
Oh The Hoops were sublime in injury time…
Then The Northern Sheep – How they made The Huns weep…
And The Sevco fans booed and for hours they did squeal…
GTF, GTF, GTF, Micheal Beale !!!!
Class…music to my ears.
brilliant….
that side were totally dejected today , the refs have been briefed to stop helping motormouth , has anyone noticed that , even with var ? collum was the coward who did his bit at sevco though , they kept him in a job and now it’s over , a dead man walking , he’ll soak sevco as he won’t walk , G V B must be having an extra glass tonight , he deserves it , a decent man undermined and run out of his job by a 2 bob jellied eel salesman punk !! Karma !!
Wow. Spot on
9/11?
Is ‘based on true events’?
Are you absolutely 100% sure about this, James?
Did you know the same man, Larry Silverstein, had a multi billion dollar insurance policy on ALL of The World Trade Centre buildings, including the infamous ‘Building 7’, which the BBC were reporting ‘had fallen’ live on the the telly while the infamous ‘Building 7’ was STILL STANDING right behind the reporter as she she made the alleged live report?
So not only did Larry win billions on the Twin Towers, which the insurance companies incredibly paid out twice for, he also hit the jackpot with ‘Building 7’.
And the worldwide LIVE VIDEO EVIDENCE, which you were so loudly trumpeting just the other day as ‘irrefutable facts’, proved beyond all doubt that Larry, along with the complicity of the BBC and every other international news network, were in cahoots to make sure that all three buildings came down.
Now I’d like to see evidence of any other concrete, steel and glass building falling apart into dust due to fire.
If you will and in your own time.
Otherwise I might have to start reconsidering your intelligence here.
You are bang on mate.. and it is also a little known fact that jfk was not assassinated in Dallas.. he was ran down by billy Connell in an ice cream van in bellshill. The whole Dallas thing was staged because jfk was actually an alien and was about to be exposed by elvis
Wow. No wonder l,m such a cynic these days.
I really am a cynic now. My head hurts.
So the death sentence for that horrible moleman is just a case of when now?
Should be getting a new contract for the wonderful job, carried out and causing so much pain to all of the Hun scum cheerleaders imo.
Problem still possibly exists with where is the money going to come from to pay off the moleman?
Think there is also a problem as to weather the scum can actually wait a week before the international break?
Who really would want to take over such a toxic shithole? without a pot to piss in? and such a pile of dogshit that can’t be polished up, no matter how anyone tries to?
Now lenny may have given us some amount of misery in our 10iar season, but that’s nothing compared to what the moleman has inflicted upon the scum hoards.
Did the banter years really end?
Not really, only a break for covid, where more important things arose, but should be around for some time now.
Are you right there Michael are you right?
Do you think that you’ll be sacked before tonight?
‘Cos you’re team is playing shite and the end is now in sight,
Are you right there Michael are you right?
I seen it coming, I said a week ago or so, that the filler was applied but not the wallpaper. I will be honest tho, I stuck £40 quid on Aberdeen at 15/2 , remember and bet responsible , I got offered £95 at half time and looking at the stats and the way our referees behave ,I thought, take it, low and behold, the site crashed. Praise the Lord 340 in my account. Bottom line is, they are piss. Hail Hail
According to Phil they’ve only raised half the money they need to sack him, and no amount of confetti can cover it. The ideal candidate would be souness but after extensive talks over the summer they couldn’t even afford to get him to do the ibrox tours. The banter years haven’t even started
Who cares about that bunch of no marks.. stmirren are our main concern
Wee Gerry: Your ticket is punched. You’re done here fella. Take your whackjob conspiracy theory nonsense somewhere else.
Mickybhoy71: Not just a conspiracy theory nutbjob but a climate change nutjob. Look out the window you prick, turn on the news. You too, don’t count on EVER getting a post here again.
Arthur Asker: Disgusting comment, but I hope it’s a real email address cause what you tried to post is a hate crime, and I’m going to report it as one.
Anybody else want to go loony? Hope not.
I,m left speechless after reading this. Still pissing myself. There’s nothing more l can add apart from….. Sevco fan on Snyde last night…… “The League,s over and it’s only October.” Errmmm, yesterday was September mate!
What a sight at Ibrox on armed forces day, thousands of troops surrendering and deserting their posts fully half an hour before the battle ended. Shame on them.
The Mooch is toast.