Still Game

FOOTBALL is supposedly a young man's game and these days, with the supposed rise of the athlete, when pace is everything, this ought to be more than ever the case.

Instead, what do we find: Davie Weir, in his fifth decade, strolling through domestic games at the heart of the Rangers' defence and largely untroubled in Europe, while further up the park, Kenny Miller, supposedly now on the downward slope since he is in his thirties, showing the young guns how to score.

The Auld Yins are even more on top in the managerial stakes. Just a few days shy of his 70th birthday, Sir Alex still sets the standard in England, while up here, Fergie's former Scotland Schools team captain Craig Brown has just been parachuted-in, along with the equally-venerable Archie Knox, to sort-out the troubles at Aberdeen.

With a distinct lack of respect which ought to be condemned, the current band of youthful Scottish soccer scribes dubbed Craig and Archie "Jack and Victor", after the heroic old scoundrels from the 'Still Game' TV show - and quite clearly, Brown and Knox are still game when it comes to managing.

They are also showing that there is no substitute for experience in management. Who knows, this little twist might yet see Walter Smith seeking out Sir David Murray or, if the proposed sale goes through Craig Whyte, to say: "I've changed my mind about quitting - compared to Broon and Knox, I'm just a boy".

This of course would be bad news for heir-presumptive Ally McCoist, however, I would suggest that for all his image as an enfant terrible, McCoist has been around for a long time and is certainly due his shot at the big job at Ibrox.

He might have benefitted from two or three years away, learning his trade in Fife - spells which clearly helped Scot Symon and Jock Stein when they were put in charge of half of the Old Firm. However, with such able lieutenants as the much under-rated Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant behind him, Coisty should do well when he finally ascends to the Ibrox throne.

Speaking of hiring experience - should Celtic decide putting that accident waiting to happen, Neil Lennon, in charge wasn't such a good move - what chance Mo Johnston, having learned the job in the comparative back-water of North America's MSL, getting a re-call to what will surely be: "The only team I ever wanted to manage".

No, didn't really think so, just flung it in for a bit of mischief-making.