Regular readers of my blog will know of my love of football. Normally around this time of the week following a road trip this season I would be posting the latest instalment in my Stadium Tour of Scotland. This week I'll be postponing that entry.
The reason is that yesterday's trip passed two scenes of tragedy. Firstly just as we were starting out from our Stadium came the news that there was a major crash on the Westbound M8 which we would have to navigate around. As we passed the scene having come through Harthill on the Edinburgh Road we saw the Air Ambulance had landed, 5 ambulances, numerous police and three fire engines were in attendance. We knew it was a very severe incident even then. As we resumed our trip along the M8 the Clyde Health Special Operations van also passed us heading to the scene. A scene that was still being worked at as we passed again 6 hours later.
As we carried on our trip to Dumfries take us down the M74 from where you can see Firhill home of Motherwell. On our return trip this coincidence took on even greater significance.
For any football hearing that any other game has had a major incident treating a player that delays their finishing time is heart rendering. We all hope the player although obviously potential seriously hurt can make a recovery. So was our initial reaction when we heard that Phil O'Donnell the Motherwell captain had been the subject of 5 minutes of treatment on the park following a collapse as he was being substituted.
We continued on our way and past the still lit up Firhill, when the saddest news of all that a player who just that afternoon had been taking part in the game we loved had died. All talk of how our own team had done went by the way.
Bill Shankley famously said "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that". Sadly since Shankley said those at the time inspirational words on many occasions they have proved hollow and today is another day on which they are proved wrong.
If you wish to pay your respects to Phil or add you condolences there are many ways already set up to do that.
His club Motherwell FC have this page where you can email your tribute to the club.
The Scottish Fans Forum Pie and Bovril have this thread.
And I've also found this page as well.
I know there are others and your own teams site may well have one as well. If so post the link especially to one of the two above as football fans of every colour shirt and scarf will always tend to mingle at a time such as this in one community.
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Friday, 28 December 2007
Will This Roll On Diana-esque for 10 Years?
Ok Norfolk Blogger is telling us that the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto may be a strange one. However, he is quoting Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema the Interior Minister, a close assosiate of President Pervez Musharraf, Ms Bhutto's opponent, who says she died from a a fractured skull as the result of banging her head on the lever for the sun roof. Now I'm not sure what speed the car was going at, due to the crowds it was distinctly slow so that would have had to be some knock to achieve what is claimed.
Now forgive me for being a little cynical of the Musharraf government at present, but the surgeon who treated her Dr Mussadiq Khan said she had died of a shrapnel would from the bomb blast. While Rehman Malik Ms Bhutto's security adviser who was at the scene said he thought she had been shoot. Now being someone who studies history I know the importance of first hand accounts which these later two are. Mr Malik is not the only one to speak of gun shots before the bomb went off.
The Daily Mail has Reuters pictures which do show blood on the handle, but an imapct wound of someone falling would not have produced quite so much blood so quickly on a sinking frame especially on a woman wearing a headscarf. They also show x-rays which show trauma to the head and a fractured skull. But what exactly caused that fracture would still be open to debate.
Maybe once the Diana enquiry is out of the way some paper will run with this for as long as Diana conspiracies has been hanging around. Though knowing our press and their coverage of world affairs I doubt it will last more than a few weeks, if that.
Now forgive me for being a little cynical of the Musharraf government at present, but the surgeon who treated her Dr Mussadiq Khan said she had died of a shrapnel would from the bomb blast. While Rehman Malik Ms Bhutto's security adviser who was at the scene said he thought she had been shoot. Now being someone who studies history I know the importance of first hand accounts which these later two are. Mr Malik is not the only one to speak of gun shots before the bomb went off.
The Daily Mail has Reuters pictures which do show blood on the handle, but an imapct wound of someone falling would not have produced quite so much blood so quickly on a sinking frame especially on a woman wearing a headscarf. They also show x-rays which show trauma to the head and a fractured skull. But what exactly caused that fracture would still be open to debate.
Maybe once the Diana enquiry is out of the way some paper will run with this for as long as Diana conspiracies has been hanging around. Though knowing our press and their coverage of world affairs I doubt it will last more than a few weeks, if that.
Is This Also the Burial of Pakistan Democracy?
As is the Islamic custom Benazir Bhutto has been buried before nightfall. With her death being so late that meant today. The Bhutto family are as much martyrs for their country as the Neru/Ghandi family across the border in India.
But what next for Pakistan?
At the moment there are three days of national mourning for the ex-Prime Minster the first female to hold such a position in a Muslim state and plans are still going ahead to hold the elections on 8 January. It is the plan to remain on track with the process of politics that is causing some concern.
Ms Bhutto's rival Nawaz Sharif, who was also a former Prime Minister who was also in Rawalpindi yesterday has said his party will boycott the vote if it goes ahead on in 11 days time in response to the attack.
The violence that has erupted around Pakistan overnight has almost claimed as many lives (17) as the initial attack which claimed Bhutto and her supporters (at least 20). Unrest is something that is unlikely to subside swiftly and this could still be having an effect on elections not too far away.
Obviously the best result for the region is to return to as much normality as possible as swiftly as that is sensible. But for President Pervez Musharraf maintains on track thinking it convenient and opportune, when the leader of the largest opposition party has only just been laid to rest, would appear to many eyes to be potentially self-seeking, but also may backfire on him. It may lead to enhance the anti-Musharraf feeling, and also without someone who was willing to at least move forward with him, although in recent weeks that relationship was becoming strained, he will need the support of more and less influential individuals to advance along democratic lines, especially with Sharif effectively ruling himself out of the equation.
Democracy is not yet dead in Pakistan, but if people aren't careful in the next few days it may suffer fatally under an overhasty stampede, but could also die of neglect if not advanced appropriately. The life support machine is heavily reliant not just on the actions but the timing of those actions.
But what next for Pakistan?
At the moment there are three days of national mourning for the ex-Prime Minster the first female to hold such a position in a Muslim state and plans are still going ahead to hold the elections on 8 January. It is the plan to remain on track with the process of politics that is causing some concern.
Ms Bhutto's rival Nawaz Sharif, who was also a former Prime Minister who was also in Rawalpindi yesterday has said his party will boycott the vote if it goes ahead on in 11 days time in response to the attack.
The violence that has erupted around Pakistan overnight has almost claimed as many lives (17) as the initial attack which claimed Bhutto and her supporters (at least 20). Unrest is something that is unlikely to subside swiftly and this could still be having an effect on elections not too far away.
Obviously the best result for the region is to return to as much normality as possible as swiftly as that is sensible. But for President Pervez Musharraf maintains on track thinking it convenient and opportune, when the leader of the largest opposition party has only just been laid to rest, would appear to many eyes to be potentially self-seeking, but also may backfire on him. It may lead to enhance the anti-Musharraf feeling, and also without someone who was willing to at least move forward with him, although in recent weeks that relationship was becoming strained, he will need the support of more and less influential individuals to advance along democratic lines, especially with Sharif effectively ruling himself out of the equation.
Democracy is not yet dead in Pakistan, but if people aren't careful in the next few days it may suffer fatally under an overhasty stampede, but could also die of neglect if not advanced appropriately. The life support machine is heavily reliant not just on the actions but the timing of those actions.
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Benazir Bhutto Killed in Rawalpindi Rally
In October when Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan only for her cavalcade to be subject to suicide bombers I did asked where next?
With the elections less than 2 weeks away on 8 January, she was out at a rally in Rawalpindi when yet again she was subject to a suicide bomber. At the moment this attempt appears to have claimed significantly fewer lived than the 130 who died on the day of her return from exile.
Reports as to Ms Bhutto’s own safety have slowly been emerging. Initially she was reported as safe, then injured, now reports from one of her PPP party security officials are saying that she is
badly injured.
Earlier in the day also in Rawalpindi 4 people died ahead of a rally that was to be attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Update:
The latest that is coming through from Reuters is that Benazir Bhuto has died in hospital following this attack.
If this is the case she came back to her homeland knowing the dangers she could face seeking to allow democracy to come to Pakistan and she has paid the ultimate price.
Update 2:
The latest according to the BBC's scrolling headline is that Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest before the gunman became a suicide bomber. If that is the case there would have been very little chance of her surviving as her closest aides would also have been taken out by the blast of shots at the point of the blast as chaos ensued.
Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
With the elections less than 2 weeks away on 8 January, she was out at a rally in Rawalpindi when yet again she was subject to a suicide bomber. At the moment this attempt appears to have claimed significantly fewer lived than the 130 who died on the day of her return from exile.
Reports as to Ms Bhutto’s own safety have slowly been emerging. Initially she was reported as safe, then injured, now reports from one of her PPP party security officials are saying that she is
badly injured.
Earlier in the day also in Rawalpindi 4 people died ahead of a rally that was to be attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Update:
The latest that is coming through from Reuters is that Benazir Bhuto has died in hospital following this attack.
If this is the case she came back to her homeland knowing the dangers she could face seeking to allow democracy to come to Pakistan and she has paid the ultimate price.
Update 2:
The latest according to the BBC's scrolling headline is that Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest before the gunman became a suicide bomber. If that is the case there would have been very little chance of her surviving as her closest aides would also have been taken out by the blast of shots at the point of the blast as chaos ensued.
Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
Sunday, 23 December 2007
Football Stadia Tour 5: McDiarmid Park
After a week of freezing fog i the central belt some Livi fans were recollecting a previous trip to McDiarmid Park when the game was abandoned in the 80th minute after fog made it impossible for play to continue. We were glad when we arrived that although the car park was frosty that the lights in the houses on the hill to the south were still clearly visible.
Location
The only league side in British Football to contain the letter J does not come from somewhere called St. Johnstone, nor should it be mistaken with Johnstone in East Renfrewshire. It is the team of the Fair City of Perth on the River Tay.
It is conveniently located just off the City's by-pass to the west of the City on land donated by local farmer Brian McDiarmid after whom the new stadium is named.
The Ground
Opened in 1989 it is deemed to be the first of the modern football stadia, with 4 covered seated, single tier stands holding a maximum on 10,673. There are no obscured views from any seat. Three of the stands are of equal height with the Main Stand to the West being a little higher. The South Stand is the Ormand Stand named after Willie Ormand the teams most successful manager to date. However, in recent years only the main and east stand are opened for league games due to attendance levels unless a big match is being hosted. For our visit we were seated in the Northern half of the Main Stand which is accessed half way up from the raised level of the car park on that side of the hollow in which the ground sits.
In the North East corner is an electronic scoreboard, which can keep excited and nervous fans updated of the scores elsewhere, and brought the news after full time in Perth last year that Gretna with a late, late goal had sealed promotion to the SPL instead of the Saints.
The Atmosphere
The atmosphere was cracking as every at McDiarmid Park, and although we didn't have another fan run unto the pitch our fans kept singing for most of the game. Which when you get to the match report you'll find all the more surprising, especially if you've ever been to Almondvale.
The Programme
Cost £2.50. As expected not a match to last week's zenith, but still a worthy programme. 32 pages and this week featured an early St. Johnstone versus Johnstone game in a little bit of history. The opening notes commented that Colin Mcmenamin had yet to score on his return on loan from Gretna, and predicted that he didn't expect last season's top scorer in Scotland's maiden strike to be long in coming. He proved to be better than Mystic Meg 14 minutes into the game.
Pie and Bovril
£1.10 for hot drinks with the water steaming out of a tap in front of you from the servery counter. £1.30 for a steak and gravy pie. Mine was fine but one of my neighbours said theirs was cold on the inside.
Cost
Admission £17 (most expensive of the season)
Programme £2.50
(Bacon Butty) and Bovril £2.40
Total £TBC
League Table of Cost
Morton £17.90
Clyde £20.60
Dunfermline £21.50
Dundee £21.60
St. Johnstone £21.90
Match Report
Well it was pantomime season and I had jested with one Saint's fan on Pie and Bovril the Scottish Football forums, when he asked surely we couldn't beat them again, responded with oh yes we could, before laying a few conditions, based on our inconsistent showings thus far.
Well the game certainly started looking like oh yes we could. Livi started strong and started to dominate. Time and again getting into danger areas. Before Colin McMenamin got his head on the end of the ball and guided it into the back of the net. The old chant of his name at last resounded from the Livi choir in goal celebration, me very joyfully as I have the Livi number 9 in the sweep from the coach trip up.
However our joy was all too short lived. St Johnstone started to find their feet on the hard pitch and too often the Livi players started to lose theirs. Andy Jackson after some applied pressure got what was a deserved equaliser, but from the starts we were getting more and more anxious about the amount of space and opportunity that we appeared to be giving another team for the second game on the bounce. We were hoping for a goal ourselves, possibly from our other striker Steven Craig. When a Craig scored though it was Saint's defender Liam scoring his first goal for the club in the 41st minute. So for the second week on the trot we conceded a cheap but inevitable goal just before half time.
Livingston came out with a little renewed vigour at the start of the second half but it was soon snuffed out when Rocco Quinn burst through the non-existent defence to grab a third. Things then went from bad to worse and time and again the Livi players were leaving gaps on the park and two and sometimes three Saint's players had time space and no real challenge as they advanced.
We were just hoping there wasn't going to be a fourth goal from the home team. Livi have been in 8 games this season where 4 goals or more have been scored by one team, winning three 4-0, one each 5-0, 4-3 and 4-2, we have also been on the wrong end of 4-0 and 4-1 defeats. However with 18 minutes remaining Jackson scored again making it 4-1 followed 6 minutes later by a fifth from Peter MacDonald.
As I said before the fans were still singing backing their team and when chants of we want six appeared to be misconstrued by some of the players the chant was swiftly changed to '6-5 we're gonna win 6-5'. Just before the fifth goal Tam Pesir came unto the field and started to show the bit we'd been lacking for most of the game it was he who concluded the scoring more or less bang on the 90 minutes, sadly the ref didn't allow any additional time for us to attempt to get the three goal we still needed to draw level the spoilsport.
Final Score St. Johnstone 5 Livingston (St Johnstone: Jackson 22, 72, Craig 41, Quinn 56, MacDonald 78. Livingston: Colin McMenamin 14, Tomas Pesir 90)
Effect on the relative teams' positions. Morton didn't need asking two weeks in a row their draw at Firhill lifted them back above Livingston who dropped back to 6th and it could have been worse if Clyde's pitch hadn't been frozen causing an abandonment. St Johnstone on the other hand benefited from Morton's result leapfrogging Partick into 3rd spot. Winning their game in hand over the top two to bring them within 13 points.
Next time its the third of three consecutive road trips as we head South to Dumfries and Palmerston.
Previous Stadia Dens Park, East End Park, Broadwood
Location
The only league side in British Football to contain the letter J does not come from somewhere called St. Johnstone, nor should it be mistaken with Johnstone in East Renfrewshire. It is the team of the Fair City of Perth on the River Tay.
It is conveniently located just off the City's by-pass to the west of the City on land donated by local farmer Brian McDiarmid after whom the new stadium is named.
Opened in 1989 it is deemed to be the first of the modern football stadia, with 4 covered seated, single tier stands holding a maximum on 10,673. There are no obscured views from any seat. Three of the stands are of equal height with the Main Stand to the West being a little higher. The South Stand is the Ormand Stand named after Willie Ormand the teams most successful manager to date. However, in recent years only the main and east stand are opened for league games due to attendance levels unless a big match is being hosted. For our visit we were seated in the Northern half of the Main Stand which is accessed half way up from the raised level of the car park on that side of the hollow in which the ground sits.
In the North East corner is an electronic scoreboard, which can keep excited and nervous fans updated of the scores elsewhere, and brought the news after full time in Perth last year that Gretna with a late, late goal had sealed promotion to the SPL instead of the Saints.
The Atmosphere
The atmosphere was cracking as every at McDiarmid Park, and although we didn't have another fan run unto the pitch our fans kept singing for most of the game. Which when you get to the match report you'll find all the more surprising, especially if you've ever been to Almondvale.
The Programme
Cost £2.50. As expected not a match to last week's zenith, but still a worthy programme. 32 pages and this week featured an early St. Johnstone versus Johnstone game in a little bit of history. The opening notes commented that Colin Mcmenamin had yet to score on his return on loan from Gretna, and predicted that he didn't expect last season's top scorer in Scotland's maiden strike to be long in coming. He proved to be better than Mystic Meg 14 minutes into the game.
Pie and Bovril
£1.10 for hot drinks with the water steaming out of a tap in front of you from the servery counter. £1.30 for a steak and gravy pie. Mine was fine but one of my neighbours said theirs was cold on the inside.
Cost
Admission £17 (most expensive of the season)
Programme £2.50
(Bacon Butty) and Bovril £2.40
Total £TBC
League Table of Cost
Morton £17.90
Clyde £20.60
Dunfermline £21.50
Dundee £21.60
St. Johnstone £21.90
Match Report
Well it was pantomime season and I had jested with one Saint's fan on Pie and Bovril the Scottish Football forums, when he asked surely we couldn't beat them again, responded with oh yes we could, before laying a few conditions, based on our inconsistent showings thus far.
Well the game certainly started looking like oh yes we could. Livi started strong and started to dominate. Time and again getting into danger areas. Before Colin McMenamin got his head on the end of the ball and guided it into the back of the net. The old chant of his name at last resounded from the Livi choir in goal celebration, me very joyfully as I have the Livi number 9 in the sweep from the coach trip up.
However our joy was all too short lived. St Johnstone started to find their feet on the hard pitch and too often the Livi players started to lose theirs. Andy Jackson after some applied pressure got what was a deserved equaliser, but from the starts we were getting more and more anxious about the amount of space and opportunity that we appeared to be giving another team for the second game on the bounce. We were hoping for a goal ourselves, possibly from our other striker Steven Craig. When a Craig scored though it was Saint's defender Liam scoring his first goal for the club in the 41st minute. So for the second week on the trot we conceded a cheap but inevitable goal just before half time.
Livingston came out with a little renewed vigour at the start of the second half but it was soon snuffed out when Rocco Quinn burst through the non-existent defence to grab a third. Things then went from bad to worse and time and again the Livi players were leaving gaps on the park and two and sometimes three Saint's players had time space and no real challenge as they advanced.
We were just hoping there wasn't going to be a fourth goal from the home team. Livi have been in 8 games this season where 4 goals or more have been scored by one team, winning three 4-0, one each 5-0, 4-3 and 4-2, we have also been on the wrong end of 4-0 and 4-1 defeats. However with 18 minutes remaining Jackson scored again making it 4-1 followed 6 minutes later by a fifth from Peter MacDonald.
As I said before the fans were still singing backing their team and when chants of we want six appeared to be misconstrued by some of the players the chant was swiftly changed to '6-5 we're gonna win 6-5'. Just before the fifth goal Tam Pesir came unto the field and started to show the bit we'd been lacking for most of the game it was he who concluded the scoring more or less bang on the 90 minutes, sadly the ref didn't allow any additional time for us to attempt to get the three goal we still needed to draw level the spoilsport.
Final Score St. Johnstone 5 Livingston (St Johnstone: Jackson 22, 72, Craig 41, Quinn 56, MacDonald 78. Livingston: Colin McMenamin 14, Tomas Pesir 90)
Effect on the relative teams' positions. Morton didn't need asking two weeks in a row their draw at Firhill lifted them back above Livingston who dropped back to 6th and it could have been worse if Clyde's pitch hadn't been frozen causing an abandonment. St Johnstone on the other hand benefited from Morton's result leapfrogging Partick into 3rd spot. Winning their game in hand over the top two to bring them within 13 points.
Next time its the third of three consecutive road trips as we head South to Dumfries and Palmerston.
Previous Stadia Dens Park, East End Park, Broadwood
Saturday, 22 December 2007
In Memorium
Today whould have been my father's 65th Birthday. Sadly in February this year he passed on at the Marie Curie Centre in Belfast.
Today's TV listings would seem to reflect his not being around. The last ever Parkinson a reflection by Michael on his career is tonight. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie, his eldest son's favourite sci-fi is on. Dad was a big sci-fi fan himself and I am working my way through his collection of books.
Also today I'll be heading off to Perth for the St. Johnstone game, another link on this day to my father as his mother was born in a similar sounding and spelt town in Ireland.
Thinking of you today Dad.
Today's TV listings would seem to reflect his not being around. The last ever Parkinson a reflection by Michael on his career is tonight. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie, his eldest son's favourite sci-fi is on. Dad was a big sci-fi fan himself and I am working my way through his collection of books.
Also today I'll be heading off to Perth for the St. Johnstone game, another link on this day to my father as his mother was born in a similar sounding and spelt town in Ireland.
Thinking of you today Dad.
Thursday, 20 December 2007
The New Shadow Cabinet - The Scottish Perspective
Just had a quick scan through the new Clegg Shadow Cabinet and it is a mixed bag for the Scottish Lib Dem MPs.
For starters making room for Ed Davey as Shadow Foreign secretary is Michael Moore, who has been demoted within the same remit to Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. Ouch! Sorry giving him a change or field rather than sitting behind Ed would have been kinder. Although good to see the member for the only Lib Dem seat I've ever lived in getting recognition for his versatility.
Alistair Carmichael remains in situ as the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The two countries of the UK closest to my heart keep up the good work Alistair.
Danny Alexander whilst remaining as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is also Chair of manifesto group and the new Leader's chief of staff following Ed Davey. So a good day for one young Scottish MP.
Not so for another, Jo Swinson, who I recently watched in a excellent recent adjournment debate on allergies, has been Scottish Spokes person and then Woman and Equalities both roles she fulfilled admirably has been overlooked. I'm sure Jo will bounce back sooner rather than later though.
But our newest Scottish MP Willie Rennie has found himself in a new post that of Chair of Parliamentary campaigns team.
For starters making room for Ed Davey as Shadow Foreign secretary is Michael Moore, who has been demoted within the same remit to Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. Ouch! Sorry giving him a change or field rather than sitting behind Ed would have been kinder. Although good to see the member for the only Lib Dem seat I've ever lived in getting recognition for his versatility.
Alistair Carmichael remains in situ as the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The two countries of the UK closest to my heart keep up the good work Alistair.
Danny Alexander whilst remaining as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is also Chair of manifesto group and the new Leader's chief of staff following Ed Davey. So a good day for one young Scottish MP.
Not so for another, Jo Swinson, who I recently watched in a excellent recent adjournment debate on allergies, has been Scottish Spokes person and then Woman and Equalities both roles she fulfilled admirably has been overlooked. I'm sure Jo will bounce back sooner rather than later though.
But our newest Scottish MP Willie Rennie has found himself in a new post that of Chair of Parliamentary campaigns team.
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