One Of The Good Guys

SPORTS writers, like everyone else, have heroes - guys whom we think are special.

Most of my heroes of the written word are no longer with us: Hughie Taylor and Bill Aitken - two old-time, hot-metal men who inspired me as a young journalist; the wonderful Ian "Dan" Archer, Ian Wooldridge and of course Bob Crampsey are all to be found in the great press box in the sky. Some, however are still with us - Hughie McIlvanney, James Lawton, Patrick Collins and Brian Moore are very definitely worth reading.

There is another, who left full-time journalism at the week-end. Doug Gillon has packed his belongings and left the Herald staff. Thankfully, we will still be treated to his insights into athletics and the major multi-sport games; Dougie has stepped off the daily treadmill, but will not, for now, be lost to sports-writing.

He was and still is, a class act. He's been eminently-readable for over 40 years, with the Sunday Post, the Sunday Standard and the Herald and I wish him a long and happy retirement, plus the continued desire to pen his trenchant views for as many years to come as he feels fit.

Not many people know this, but Dougie has appeared on the main Olympic stage - he was the only Scot in the International Press XI which played the USSR Press XI in a football match, in Moscow's Olympic Stadium in 1980. So, in some respects, Dougie is an Olympian. His writing certainly reached Olympic heights over the years.

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THE Open Golf is over, traditionally, with the final putt dropping in the Championships, summer is over and it's time to get back to football. This promises to be an interesting season with Walter Smith perhaps finally forced to do something he has singularly failed to do throughout his managerial career and trust his kids.

Remember how fatigue derailed Rangers' title hopes after they shocked even themselves and reached the UEFA Cup final a few seasons ago? I maintained at the time, and still maintained, had Smith trusted his fringe players then, fatigue would not have been an issue and Rangers might well have won the league. He will have no option but to put the kids on at least in domestic games this season and by so doing, he just might go out in a blaze of glory - if any manager deserves a domestic Treble on his escutcheon it's "Walter".

He might not have the squad depth for Europe, but if his squad is properly managed, he should be able to land all three Scottish trophies and the kids will surely benefit from this.