The Long and Winding Road of History

It is with some trepidation that I begin my latest round of incoherent ramblings on something of a pretentious note with a quote from Karl Marx.

In his ‘18^th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte’, Marx wrote;

“Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past.”

Now, I can hear those of you tempted to read this on the strength of the Beatles reference in the title saying “what the f**k has Karl Marx got to do with The Beatles.”

It was, of course, Marx who George Martin drafted in to play drums on ‘Love me Do’. Or that might have been Andy White.

Anyway, enough of this nonsense and on to the point of this article, and yes there is a point to it.

What Marx is saying is that while people, to be not as gender specific as our chum Karl, do make history it is the circumstances that they encounter along the way that really defines how they shape history.

Few people, I would hope, would dispute the influence that The Beatles have had not just on popular music but on society and cultural in general. The rise in the popularity of The Beatles in the US in the wake of the assaination of President Kennedy is another subject for another time but is an example of how events elsewhere can allow others, not directly related to it, to make history.

Sticking, sort of, to this theme could The Beatles have come from anywhere other than Liverpool?

Liverpool was a busy shipping port with strong links to the USA. It wasn’t just goods though that were transported between the US and Liverpool. Travelling from the States to the Liverpool docks came American popular culture, in particular rock and roll.

It is unquestionable that rock and roll had a massive influence on four young lads from Liverpool in the 1950s. Had they not been exposed to this music it is inconceivable that they would have gone on and formed their own rock and roll band.

Yet they weren’t the only four teenagers in Liverpool enthralled by rock and roll. Or the only four talented musicians that wanted to form their own band. Why then did John, Paul, George and Ringo become such a phenomom?

The dynamic that existed between the four lads was obviously pivotal to their success.  For example, there has been no greater song writing partnership than the one that existed between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. How would that partnership had developed had they not both had unconventional childhoods? Paul losing his mother at a young age and John too having to deal with the tragic consequences of his mother’s untimely death after previously been abandoned by his father.

The truth of the matter is that it was a fortunate (or perhaps more accurately, misfortune) set of circumstances that threw unarguably the greatest ever pop group together and we should all be grateful for that. 

Boring, Boring County?

An often heard comment complaint round Firhill these days is that there is a lack of signing and a poor atmosphere inside the Jackie Husband Stand on match days. Well, yesterday there was one chant that was loud and audible, and was heard more than once. It went simply;

“Boring, boring County”.

Now I need to come clean at this point. Four times Thistle have played Ross County this season. Three times County have won, and on each of those occasions Thistle failed to find the back of the net. The only time Thistle did prise a point from County, and score against them, was after they had had a man sent off.

A fantastic run that has seen them lose just once all season in the league, in a game in which they again had a man sent off, has seen County establish a huge lead at the top of the First Division. It is but a matter of time before they are confirmed as champions. It will be a deserved championship, it would be foolish to deny otherwise.

 Yet even in acknowledging that fantastic run they aren’t a popular side. They are in the words of Thistle manager Jackie McNamara “not pleasing on the eye” or, if you prefer the less diplomatic assessment of the Thistle fans, “boring, boring”.

Thistle fans watching the "Boring" Ross County (pic by Tommy Taylor)

County’s popularity, to be blunt, isn’t helped any by their manager Derek Adams who appears to have few friends in football outside the confines of Victoria Park. He even earlier in the season took bizarre offence at McNamara’s comment that Adams’ had spent his budget wisely.

Leaving that issue aside, County’s lack of popularity does raise an interesting question.

Are we football fans entertained by exciting, attacking football no matter the result or are we entertained simply by watching our side win week in week out?

A few years ago I walked out of Victoria Park delighted with a point after a goalless draw. Thistle had at the time being struggling for form and had been guilty of conceding some soft goals. The shape of the Thistle side that afternoon, therefore, was set up to first and foremost make them hard to beat. The performance as I recall was as hard working a Jags performance as I have seen but, to use that phrase again, it wasn’t pleasing on the eye.

It did, however, get the job done and I travelled back to Glasgow afterwards a fairly contented man.

There are times then when it is laudable to do whatever you need to do to get the desired result. I doubt I would complain too much if, for example, Thistle defended in numbers at Ibrox but came away with a 1-0 win. No, chances are you would find me signing loudly ‘One Team in Glasgow’ before falling asleep, drowning in my own drool.

Football is a business and a profession, a precarious one at that, to those that play it and you can understand the attitude that it’s not how you get the result that is important but that you get the result. 

It is also an entertainment.

The vast majority of the 2,500 or so people at Firhill yesterday paid £17 to watch the game. Did the approach of a side 15 points clear at the top of the division, and well on course for the title, take the “the result at all costs” approach too far?

I guess it depends largely on the colour of the scarf that you were wearing. When the County fans are celebrating their inevitable title success it is unlikely that they will gave a damn that the Thistle fans thought their team were “boring, boring”. Derek Adams certainly doesn’t. 

Travelling Hopefully - Let's Hear it for the Diddy Teams

It was Robert Louis Stevenson that wrote “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive”. He wasn’t, of course, writing about Scottish Football but he might as well have been. Stevenson was trying to suggest that hope and anticipation is better than reality. You can’t tell me that that doesn’t sum up perfectly the experience of supporting the vast majority of Scottish football teams.

Scottish Football, as if you needed reminded, is played on a pretty uneven playing field. Two, for now, giant teams dominate the game in this country almost entirely. They share the major honours between themselves to such a degree that from season to season I can’t recall which one has won what. The rest of us are consigned to the ranks of mere also rans or, as one PA announcer at Ibrox infamously put it, searching for crumbs from the master’s table.

Given that the chances of us mere mortals carrying off one of Scotland’s major football honours are slight it’s a wonder why we bother at all.

The game in Scotland may be dominated by the two, for now, richest and powerful teams but while money can buy you titles and honours, hopes and dreams remain free. To paraphrase the words of Robert Louis Stevenson; we continue to travel hopefully across the highways and byways of Scottish football. Sometimes even, as Kilmarnock found out today, the reality does prove to every bit as good as the hope and anticipation.

(40 years on and Thistle are still celebrating - pic by Tommy Taylor)

I’ll not pretend to be any great fan of Kilmarnock, I’ve had too many hairy, scary trips back to the comfort and safety of a Thistle supporters’ bus for that, but my heart soared for them at Hampden Park this afternoon all the same.

I’ve not, yet, had the pleasure of experiencing Thistle play in a national Cup Final but when I do, and it will happen, it will be an occasion that I’ll savour to the full. Today if the pulse rate of a Celtic fan quickened any it wasn’t at the prospect of adding another League Cup to their hoards of domestic honours but rather the latest ‘thrilling’ instalment of their sibling rivalry with their, for now, partners in the Scottish football duopoly. Defeating Kilmarnock to win the League Cup would have been a mere incidental in their point scoring squabble with Rangers. The elation of a Celtic victory today would have lasted just long enough for the morning hangover to kick in.

It was good for Scottish football, therefore, that the game ended in an unexpected triumph for Kilmarnock. It was unquestionably their day but the fan of every ‘diddy’ team in the country shared their joy at the final whistle. It was a vindication of our continued support for whichever one of the less celebrated teams in Scotland that our allegiance lies with and proof in the value of continuing to dream.  

All Aboard the Team Bus

Tomorrow is a day off work for me. Or at least a day off from the job that provides me with a wage slip once a month. The job that pays the mortgage, and the job that keeps the cat in food.

Those that know me, I assume my reader from Brazil stumbled across this blog by accident, will tell you that my other job is Programme and Website editor for Partick Thistle Football Club. It’s something of a misnomer though to label it a job. Writing about the football team that I love is a pleasure, and while there is no pay packet from Partick Thistle come the end of the month there are perks that come with the position that money simply can’t buy.  

One of which is being allowed to travel to away games on the team bus.

(some people, not me , getting off the Thistle team bus)

There was a time when I dreamed that I would climb aboard the Partick Thistle team bus, sign saying ‘Players and Officials’ displayed in the window, with boots and shin pads in my bag rather than the laptop that I do. Given that it is unlikely that Jackie McNamarawill look my way and think that a fat 43 year old is a solution to Thistle’s problems and shout “right Hosie, you are starting up front today”, travelling with the team is the closest I’m ever going to come to being a professional footballer.

I may be 40 plus with responsibilities and bills to pay, but part of me has never grown up, I doubt us men ever truly do. As such travelling with my heroes remains a real thrill. A chance, through them, to vicariously live out my dream of being a footballer for Partick Thistle.

I first travelled on the team bus, a suited and booted nervous individual, on December 27^th 1999 for a trip to Arbroath. The Thistle side of that season wasn’t the greatest ever to represent the Club and I remember the players rushing through their pre-match meal so they could catch part of the old firm game on TV before heading to the game. There were some players that displayed more passion in the hotel watching that game than they did on the park later in the day.

It might not have been the most auspicious of starts to my time on the team bus but there have been some fantastic memories since.

There were goose bumps on my arms when,  after the Second Division title had been clinched at Forfar, the Thistle fans came onto the street to clap the team bus as it pulled away. Okay, I know they weren’t clapping me. It’s back to that vicarious dream again. 

The journey back from Peterhead after the play-off victory was an experience that will stay with me for life. As will the sight of Scott McLean eating a raw pot noddle on a journey back from Stranraer or an, unnamed former player, throwing a strop when the dvd of ‘Sulmdog Millionaire’ froze just at the crucial stage of the film.

This brings me to the main downside of travelling with the team.  Something far worse even than the smell that can emanate from the more flatulent members of the squad, namely, the almost universal appalling taste in films that footballers have.  The more puerile the humour or louder the explosions the more they will love it. If I’ve seen ‘Dumb or Dumber’ or ‘The Wedding Crashes’ once then I’ve seen them dozens  of times. Gerry Britton provided ‘The Life of Brian’ once but you expect that kind of thing from the cerebral King of Spain.

I can, however, live with the poor choice of in-bus movie. Being allowed close to the team is a thrill and a privilege, but all the same spare a little thought for me tomorrow travelling through the night from Dingwall trying to grab even a few winks of sleep. A Jags victory would help make the miles go that bit quicker. 

Red Dog

It’s been a good year thus far to be an animal in the movie business.

We’ve had ‘War Horse’, ‘The Artist’, where the human actors were upstaged by a ten year old Jack Russell by the name of Uggie, and we’ve also had ‘Red Dog’.

Not familiar with ‘Red Dog’? That’s perhaps no great surprise.

‘Red Dog’ is an Australian film that has had a relatively limited release here in the United Kingdom.

A very, very brief synopsis could label this movie as Greyfriars Bobby moved to the Australian outback.  ‘Red Dog’ is based on legendary true story of Red Dog who roamed the outback in search of his master John (played in the film by Josh Lucas) who dies in a motorbike accident.

Just how much of this film is based on legend and how much is based on fact is open to debate but it provides the viewer with a highly emotional journey all the same. This isn’t a film that gently tugs at the hearts strings, rather it is one that gives them a good old yank and leaves you to face the consequences.

You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by Red Dog’s story. Following the death of his beloved master he sits outside the homestead for three weeks staring down an empty dirt track patiently awaiting for his never to return master.

At the end of those three weeks Red Dog abandons his lonely vigil and sets out to find John. An, unsuccessful, journey that takes him across Australia, and into the hearts of countless Australians. Not for nothing has there been a statue of Red Dog erected in what is the closest, for such a nomadic dog, to what could be considered his home town.  

I don’t want to give too much of the story away but if you are in any way an animal lover then I suggest taking a large box of hankies with you to the cinema.

I’m a big, strapping lump of a 43 year old and I’m not prone, as a rule, to outward displays of emotion. I would be lying though if I said there wasn’t a lump in my throat and a distinct moistening around the eyes when watching this. Indeed even that would be a lie. It wasn’t a single tear that gently rolled down my face during the film. It was a veritable flood of tears that gushed down my normally stoic visage. At one point I was even desperately fighting the urge not to emit a pitiful sob. That my girlfriend (yes dear reader I am hetrosexual) was sitting next to me going through the same gamut of emotions didn’t exactly help me in my fight, which I lost, to avoid becoming a gibbering wreck.

If you feel brave enough then this film is well worth taking the time to see it. And if it doesn’t make you cry then nothing ever will. 

A Taxing Issue

Only a fool wouldn’t acknowledge that the events this week at Ibrox has been the biggest story to have hit Scottish Football since, well, since forever to be perfectly honest. Equally only a fool wouldn’t realise that the implications of it extend well beyond the boundaries of G51 2XD.

It is understandable, therefore, that the odd column inch or two has been devoted to the remarkable story as it has unfolded over the course of the week. We are promised further revelations next week, and they too are bound to shock and grip in equal order.

I’ve been watching football in Scotland for 35 of my 43 years and in that time I’ve become used to the fact that two clubs, Fergie’s time at Pittodrie notwithstanding, have dominated the game almost entirely. I’ve got used to football writers desperately trying to shoe horn the ‘old firm angle’ into their reporting no matter how far removed the actual story is from either club. So used to it in fact that it now raises no more than a wry smile rather than my ire as it once did.

Until yesterday that is.

Yesterday found me, as usual if Thistle are at home, at Firhill. Morton were the visitors and while the goalless draw wasn’t a classic it was still a reasonably entertaining, if from a Thistle perspective frustrating, afternoon.

At the end of the game I trooped round the side of the pitch to hear what the two managers had thought of the 90 minutes.

On an afternoon where the icy wind cut you in half, the warmth of the new Firhill press room was most welcome. Morton manager Allan Moore was the first to speak and as usual he rabitted on at a fair old rate with a pretty accurate assessment of the game.

Next into the room to share his thoughts on the game was Morton’s Archie Campbell. Now you can understand the logic of wanting to speak to Campbell whose pace had troubled the Thistle back line all afternoon and it was Campbell after all who had blazed a penalty high into the sky.

(ex Ranger Archie Campbell sends a penalty over the bar - pic by Tommy Taylor)

Now Campbell, if you are unaware, had been on the books of Rangers until the end of last season though he had spent much of the season on loan at Cowdenbeath. Comment on the game he had just played in was pretty perfunctory before the press moved onto what they really wanted to hear; Campbell’s thoughts on what was happening at his old club and I don’t mean Cowdenbeath.

Next to speak was Thistle manager Jackie McNamara and like his Morton counterpart his assessment of the game was more or less spot on.

There was just one Thistle player left to speak before the press’ job was done for the afternoon.

Their choice? Darren Cole who is on loan at Firhill from, yes, you’ve got it – Rangers.

It could be that they wanted to hear what Cole thought about moving back to centre defence after playing left back the week before but I doubt it. At any rate I didn’t hang about to find out and headed off to the pub.

I’ve already acknowledged the significance of the situation at Ibrox but, and it is a pretty big but, these guys were at Firhill to report on Partick Thistle v Morton not Glasgow Rangers.

There were 2,500 or so people at Firhill yesterday and their primary interest was the fortunes of either Partick Thistle or Greenock Morton. Is it unreasonable of them to expect to open up their papers and read what their club representatives thought of the game they played in rather than at events elsewhere?

I’m aware that this has been nothing more than a rant but this ‘old firm at all costs’ sums up so much of what is wrong with Scottish Football and how it is reported on. I accept that both Rangers and Celtic are much bigger clubs than Partick Thistle. I accept that as a consequence of that they will dominate the media as much as they dominate the game itself. I’m not asking for a disproportionate amount of space to be devoted to Partick Thistle. I’m just expecting those sent to cover Partick Thistle v Morton to report on the game that took place in front of them.

Rant over.  

Ticket to Ride Back in Time

A recurring theme running through these infrequent blog entries is that of obsession. Or to be more precise the multitude of obsessions that have afflicted me over the years. One from my youth that hasn't previously been mentioned is that of time travel. Like, I hope, a lot of young boys I was intrigued by the thought of being able to travel in time. Ever the classicist I was more HG Wells' 'Time Machine' rather than Michael J Fox's DeLorean. That said, I'm still eagerly anticipating the flying cars and hover boards that lie just around the corner for us in 2015. 

Anyway, I digress. Given the gift of time travel where, or more accurately when, would I go? As a Partick Thistle supporter then October 1971 would have to feature on any time travelling itinerary. Note to any non Thistle supporting reader who has stumbled across this blog, check out what happened on the 23rd of that month 41 years ago and you'll understand the desire to head back to that particular date.

So where else would I visit on my merry jaunt through time? With the music of The Beatles one of my current obsessions then I would need to take the opportunity to see live a band that split up while I was a mere toddler and stopped touring before I was born.

Sadly, I haven't, as yet, managed to discover how to create a flux capacitor and I can't drive, far less get a DeLorean up to 88mph, so October 23rd 1971 will remain a date that I can only visit via DVD.  

So too am I denied the chance to experience Beatlemania first hand.

The proliferation of Beatles tribute bands though does provide a good alternative. We are fortunate here in Scotland to have in the shape of Them Beatles one of the very best on offer.

(pic nicked shamlessly from www.thembeatles.com)

Them Beatles are much more than a band that play cover versions of Beatles songs. For a start their attention to detail is quite remarkable. To help create an authentic Beatles sound they perform without any pre-recorded music relying on their own skill and craft as musicians, they use instruments from each era, to recreate the music that so thrilled a generation in the 1960s and is still much loved to the present day.

Such is the desire to create as an authentic sound and image as possible 'Paul', expertly played by Joe Kane, even learned how to play his hofner bass left handed. Indeed all four do an astonishing job in creating their Beatle Alter ego. Clark Gilmour, with knees slightly bent, brings to life John's cheeky on stage persona and his gravely vocal, particularly on 'Twist and Shout' is so close a reproduction of Lennon's own performance that an audio recording could fool all but the keenest of ears.  

Craig McGown's depiction of George Harrison, the so called quiet Beatle, is quite remarkable and at the O2 last November provided the audience with a touching tribute to Harrison. Grahame Critcher meantime gives a virtuoso performance on drums and replicates Ringo's laconic vocals when it is his turn to take the mic.

It's not just the music from Them Beatles that sets them apart for other Beatle tribute acts. Their costumes are faithfully reproduced, with the best probably those from the Sgt Pepper era (see above pic).

I've had the pleasure of catching Them Beatles live on four occasions now and each gig has been different in some form. Last night at Platform Three in Bellshill they concentrated on the Beatlemania era with Paperback Writer, recorded in 1966, the latest of all the tracks they performed. They do, however, focus on the entire Beatles career up to, and including, the famous Apple rooftop performance in 1969, the last time The Beatles performed together. 

Them Beatles are perhaps best enjoyed as part of an audience that truly appreciates the effort that has gone into re-creating the sound and look of The Beatles but their performance never disappoints. Do catch them in action if you get the chance.

For more information about Them Beatles and tour dates check out www.thembeatles.com