Hall of fame honour for haunted Rangers’ record scorer

By Michael MacLeod

A RANGERS player wrongly blamed for one of Scottish football’s most tragic accidents is to be honoured in a hall of fame.

Striker Sam English quit football aged 28 after a fateful tackle killed Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson in 1931.

An official enquiry cleared English of any blame, but he was routinely booed by opposing fans and released by the Gers within a year.

But he still holds the record as Rangers’ top league goalscorer with 44 goals in 35 games.

Own goal as Celtic ‘keeper gets speeding penalty

By Michael MacLeod

CELTIC goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska has been hit with a fine for speeding near Edinburgh Zoo.
A speed camera caught the 27 year-old Poland international hitting 41mph in a 30mph zone on the capital’s Corstorphine Road on January 21 this year.

This week he admitted that he had been driving a car over the speed limit.

The Parkhead number two managed to keep a clean sheet in his side’s 4-0 win over Falkirk in the Co-operative Insurance Cup on Wednesday night.

But yesterday (Thurs) he got three penalty points on his licence at Edinburgh’s Justice of the Peace Court.

George Burley deserves time to make us proud

by Shaun Milne

GEORGE Burley has fallen victim of a campaign to have someone with Old Firm credentials succeed him as Scotland manager, it was claimed today.

But the SFA would be far better served by contracting him for at least another four years so he can build a team to be proud of, former Hearts chairman Lord Foulkes insists.

UNDER PRESSURE: George Burley

Foulkes, who was part of a management team at Hearts when Burley set them on a 10-game unbeaten run to top the SPL, said he had no doubt his former comrade could still work wonders.

Policy

He said: “I think there are certain people within the football establishment who would rather continuing this failed policy of chopping and changing managers and who would rather replace George with someone with Old Firm credentials.”

“But he’s not had long to do the job, he’s had hardly any games at all, yet it’s clear the players having started clicking and improving under him.”

Old firm tops crimes league

By Cara Sulieman

OLD FIRM fans are the worst behaved on the rail network according to new figures from the British transport police.

And Rangers fans are detected for twice the number of football-related crimes than their arch rivals Celtic.

But the Chief Superintendant for the British Transport Police in Scotland Martyn Ripley said it was the nature of the crimes that were worrying rather than the number.

As well as the usual urinating in public and alcohol charges, there were a number of fans arrested for sectarianism.

Rod Stewart calls for manager with Hoops roots

By Michael MacLeod

CELTIC-DAFT Rod Stewart phoned the club Board to tell them the ex-Hoops star HE thinks they should hire to take over as next team boss at Parkhead.

The wrinkly rocker called up chairman John Reid and co in a bid to convince them to land the mystery former player on Monday.

A string of names have been linked with the Hoops since Gordon Strachan’s departure, only for them to rule themselves out of the job.

Now frustrated chief executive Peter Lawwell’s Board are getting tips from the 64-year-old Maggie May singer who once let Celtic play in his garden.

Scottish politicians take to the pitch at Ibrox

By Oliver Farrimond

A TEAM of MPs, MSPs and celebrities took to the field at Ibrox yesterday, battling out a high scoring contest in aid of an employment support programme.

The star-studded team, which included Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy MP and disgraced TV presenter Angus Deayton, overcame a team of participants from the Support Employment programme sun by Rangers and Celtic football clubs.

The surprisingly fit celebrity team, clad in Rangers garb, were held until just after half-time, with game finishing 7-4 after a brace of late goals, including a cool finish from Secretary of State Murphy.

Less impressive was Frank McAveety MSP, who had to endure taunts of “We’re playing in blue Frank!” after a series of failed forward ventures down the right wing.

Senior Scottish minister blasts Old Firm thugs as “barbaric”

By Michael MacLeod

OLD Firm football thugs who beat their wives have been slated as “barbaric” by a senior Government minister ahead of Saturday’s potentially explosive SPL title deciding clash at Ibrox.

Communities Minister Alex Neil revealed yesterday that an advertising campaign will be run on TV before, during and after the Rangers v Celtic match being shown live on Setanta specifically targeted to highlight a proven rise in complaints of domestic abuse centred around the Glasgow derby.

Electronic advertising hoardings around the perimeter of the pitch at Rangers ground Ibrox hosting the match will also carry the message: ‘There’s no excuse for domestic abuse’.

MSP Neil revealed that shameful domestic abuse attacks jumped by a staggering 88 per-cent to 231 cases on the last Old Firm matchday in March, sparking demands from police to the Scottish Government that ‘something has to be done.’

CAMPAIGN: Alex Neil, Communities Minister

And Mr Neil, unveiling a new report yesterday, admitted he worries for the wives and partners of drunken football yobs.

Evidence

He said: “We are doing extra this weekend around the Old Firm game because we have very clear evidence that around the game there is an increase in domestic abuse, particularly in the West coast.

“We are deliberately segmenting the message to men and women before and after the game. There’s absolutely nothing worse than for a woman to live in fear of her partner and we take a zero tolerance approach to violence against women, especially drunken violence.

“This is the 21st Century, Scotland is a modern nation and it is absolutely barbaric to engage in domestic abuse, which is one of the worst forms of violence in our society.”