Why has Scotland produced so many of the best football managers in the world? Based on exclusive interviews with the men themselves, their players or close friends and family, authors Michael Grant and Rob Robertson reveal the huge contribution that Scottish managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, Tommy Docherty, Jim McLean, Kenny Dalglish, George Graham, Walter Smith, Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and David Moyes, as well as a host of others, have made to the world game.

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I automatically have a deep mistrust, resentment and loathing of any football fans that bestow upon themselves the title of “Best Fans In The World™.” Not only does this statement indicate a willing and almost purposeful ignorance of the abundance of other incredibly passionate, committed and supportive fans of other football clubs from all around the world who may be worthy of such a title, it also seems to surmise in most cases that being the “loudest” fans translates into being the “best” fans.

Think of Newcastle fans, one such group of self-proclaimed “greatest” fans. They seem to define being a great fan as protesting outside the club at 11am on a Tuesday morning when everyone else it at work, because the local post-box hasn’t been proclaimed as an accurate, 1:1 scale representation of Kevin Keegan’s phallic endowment, or something to that effect. Had it not been for the astringent criticism and heckling of one Sam Allardyce in the form of protests and the like by the Newcastle fans back in the 07/08 season, Allardyce would probably have still been in a job come the end of the season and, based on what most experts and pundits believe, they would have most likely not been relegated that season. However, the fans believed that their “passion” justified their deluded, myopic beliefs, and that their actions only went on to enhance the credibility of the claim that Newcastle fans are the “best in the world.” Well, it now appears that Liverpool fans are in on the act as well. Read the full story

Four 6-0 defeats in just 20 Premier League matches! So what’s going on? Could there have been such a yawning gap created between the top and bottom of the league? Manchester United could have easily made it five 6-0 scorelines had they taken even half the hatful of chances that went begging in the 3-0 defeat of Newcastle in their opening game. Yet the newly promoted Magpies came back themselves to inflict a six goal hammering of Aston Villa a few days later.

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Having been fortunate enough to become attracted to the magic of  Manchester United just prior to going into my teens a couple of years before Munich, I have lived through the eras of every Old Trafford manager since then, from the great Sir Matt Busby to the incredible success of Sir Alex Ferguson. Those two legends have left their own legacy to both the club and to English football itself which is unlikely to ever be matched.

There was however, one other manager in between who has left an immense impression which still remains today, even after more than 30 years. Despite his many shortcomings, Tommy Docherty was that man, a name which may not mean much to many of today’s younger generation of fans but who still evokes memories of those unpredictable days of the seventies.

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What do you do after retiring from playing football in your early fourties? Most professionals go into management, coaching, the media or something where the vast knowledge built over many years can be used.  Others like Eric Cantona and Vinnie Jones found a new talent in acting to become movie stars. If  you were the man who proved to be the ace in the pack when Manchester United completed that history making treble in 1999 however, you take a totally different career path like Teddy Sheringham did.

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The nature of the revelations contained in John Sweeney’s book Rooney’s Gold about the dubious dealings by Wayne Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford and various other characters prompted a Google search for any other information which may shed further light on the world of footballers, their agents and big money transfers. The following is a six year old newspaper report written by Jamie Jackson and published in The Observer on October 17, 2004. It’s about a court case that involved many of the people Sweeney wrote about in his book and shows an entirely different face of  football which many fans will find highly disturbing.

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