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Sport comment
Heineken Cup underlines foreign players’ value
YESTERDAY, writing about James King’s early retirement from professional rugby, David Ferguson rightly drew attention to the toll the modern game takes on the body.
Swans fancied at 10-11 to end season flying high
THE curtain comes down on a fairly forgettable Barclays Premier League season, with the winners and two relegation spots confirmed in late April.
Glenn Gibbons: Rangers need fans more than ever
Sorely-tried Rangers fans in the past couple of years will surely have formed an understanding of the anguish with which the American writer, Dorothy Parker, would react to the chiming of the doorbell or the shrill of the telephone in her New York hotel room: “What fresh hell is this?”.
89 comments
Martin Dempster: What’s next after Vijay then the Sawgrass war of words?
THE way things are going golf could be heading for an unusual nomination – alongside the likes of Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale in the “Soap” category at the next national television awards.
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Stephen Halliday: Lennon’s ambition may outgrow Celtic’s arena
AS DISMISSIVE as he was publicly about the Celtic supporters’ current favourite chant about ‘ten in a row’ on Saturday, Neil Lennon will privately be fully cogniscant of just how potentially dominant a phase of Scottish football history his club have embarked upon under his guidance.
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David Ferguson: Progress made despite Glasgow defeat
ONE pass lost into the air, a poor refereeing decision, a mistake under pressure and Glasgow’s attempt to reach a first RaboDirect PRO12 Final foundered, but that does not necessarily mean the Warriors’ season was a failure.
8 commentsAnorak: City can win the cup and beat handicappers
Manchester City can beat Wigan and, more importantly to this column, beat the handicapper and win by two or more goals. Victory would give Roberto Mancini his second FA Cup in three years and enhance his chance of a fourth season at the Etihad, enabling him to pit his wits against incoming United manager David Moyes.
Lynsey Sharp: Mixed emotions on drug cheats
YOU always have conflicting emotions when someone in your sport fails a drugs test. Those emotions are all the stronger when it has a direct effect on your own results.
Glenn Gibbons: Ferguson says Stein was the greatest
OF THE avalanche of tributes and criticisms directed at Sir Alex Ferguson since the announcement of his retirement, the most commonly used superlative is the one at which he is most likely to bristle.
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Ian Murray thriving in father-and-Sons role
Well, I must say: the boy’s done good. It was a big ask coming here today and, with all that pressure on him, he’s turning in a committed performance that belies his tender years.
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The greatest day of Ferguson’s Aberdeen revolution
You turned up, you played a game, you got shouted at, you won a trophy, and then you moved on to the next season. This comment, from striker Eric Black, is a gloriously succinct summation of how it felt to be part of Alex Ferguson’s Pittodrie revolution, one that reached a peak in Gothenburg 30 years ago today.
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Allan Massie: Evans and De Luca face fight for place
THERE are implications in the composition of any touring squad, implications, and also players who may be thought unlucky to have been left out.
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Tom English: Sir Alex Ferguson, ruthless genius
IN THE life and times of Sir Alex Ferguson it is hard to know what there has been more of; trophies that proved his greatness or stories that forecast his demise.
10 comments
Martin Dempster: Muirfield loses flavour in LFQ move
ASK many golfing enthusiasts in and around Edinburgh what one of their favourite memories of 15 previous Open Championships being staged at Muirfield is and there’s a good chance the answer will have something to do with the qualifying events for the world’s oldest major.
5 comments
Scott Johnson SRU appointment begs a few questions
IT MAY be that Scott Johnson has the right blend of experience, man-management skills and passion for developing the game that is required to close the chasm between Scotland and the top nations but there are questions about his appointment.
8 commentsStuart Bathgate: SFL breakaway muddying the waters
SCOTTISH football is a shambles and in dire need of reform. Virtually everyone agrees with that, and for years now we have been edging towards a long-term solution.
1 comment
Stuart Bathgate: Hearts need some TLC from fans
IF YOU want to know what the next five years of Hearts’ life could be like, take a look back at the last five of your own. Since the credit crunch began in 2008, many of us have had to cut back on everyday expenditure and cut out luxuries altogether – and we’ve been the lucky ones. Many have lost their jobs, others even their homes.
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Allan Massie: Mystery over forgotten virtue of kicking ball with both feet
OWEN Farrell kicked off for Saracens against Toulon last Sunday. The ball was fielded and in a moment passed back to Jonny Wilkinson who sent it 30 or so yards up field into touch.
6 comments
Glenn Gibbons: Least astute judges are footballers themselves
THE seemingly irrepressible readiness of footballers, past and present, to take a contemptuous view of media chroniclers and critics on the grounds that they have not played the game at the highest level is one of the old game’s most enduring ironies.
1 comment
Tom English: Destruction of evidence adds to scandal
GIVEN his Champions League triumphs with Porto and Barcelona, his Premiership- winning years with Chelsea and the 75 caps he won for Portugal, Deco, at his best, was a thoroughbred footballer who was fond of the turf – as in hurling himself on to it at the merest suggestion of contact.
6 comments
Martin Dempster: Remedy required on slow play
IT’S a pity Paul Lawrie isn’t the man tasked with trying to stamp out slow play in golf. Given how he was feeling after being forced to endure a snail’s pace round on Saturday, it wouldn’t be long before he kicked some backsides and started making the game more enjoyable to both play and watch again.
3 comments
Stephen Halliday: Lennon not first to query awards
NEIL Lennon really shouldn’t take it too personally. In fact, if he were to bring up the subject with either Billy McNeill, Sir Alex Ferguson or Dick Advocaat, he might find he is not the first manager to be left more than a little bemused by the outcome of the Players’ Player of the Year vote in Scotland.
16 commentsLetters: Football and rugby better together
ALLAN Massie’s bilious attack on the state of Scottish football (‘Scottish rugby clinging on as football falls’, The Scotsman, 20 April 2013) as a way of painting Scottish rugby in a favourable light reminds me of nothing so much as one of two bald men fighting over the proverbial comb – rather pointless.
Allan Massie: Lions an entertaining diversion, but they don’t matter too much
SIR Ian McGeechan’s devotion to the Lions is well-known and understandable; Lions tours have been a huge part of his life, first as a player, then as coach.
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Glenn Gibbons: Worries rocking Rangers supporters
RANGERS supporters these days must open the papers and tune into television and radio news programmes with the kind of dread with which the wives and mothers of wartime soldiers would scan the latest casualty lists.
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Tom English: Green in the pink for now
RANGERS’ capacity for finding trouble has gone off the scale, says Tom English, and the action on the field can’t live up to the boardroom antics.
Martin Dempster: Serious golf has no place for DMDs
IT DID not take long this season to come across one of my biggest bugbears about modern-day golf and, by the sounds of things, I’m certainly not alone in being worried about the reliance among youngsters of those dreaded distance measuring devices.
6 commentsStuart Bathgate: Lennon ban could set poor precedent
SINCE the SFA imposed a three-match ban on Neil Lennon after his use of “offensive language”, much of the reaction has rightly focused on the risky precedent it has set.
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Popular Partick will not be SPL whipping boys
THERE has been an almost wholly positive reaction to Partick Thistle’s promotion to the SPL, which was confirmed on Saturday by their victory over Falkirk.
6 commentsThe Anorak: Cash in on Port Vale promotion party
PORT Vale can gain promotion today by defeating Northampton at Vale Park.
Allan Massie: Scottish rugby clinging on
Looking on the bright side, one can say with some assurance that the state of Scottish rugby is not half as dire as the state of Scottish football. Sadly, this is no great compliment, and there is no need for me here to list football’s troubles.
15 commentsRichard Moore: Hoy goes from BMXer to Olympic hero
IT USUALLY takes a bit of time, distance and perspective to assess where an athlete ranks in the pantheon. Whether they are good or great, the best of their generation or, overused though the word may be, a legend.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North
