Sunday Herald journalist replies to shocked Bluenose

Eck,

Thanks for your well-argued e-mail, but I’ll try to explain my thoughts in
the piece.

I neither forgot nor ignored Rangers’ 1992-3 European run. I know Rangers
were extremely close to reaching the final, but which one of the group
results would you say was exceptional? Would you really argue that the draws
against Marseille, even the admirable one away from home, was more
impressive than a 2-0 win at Anfield?

As for Leeds United, those were two hugely-satisfying and rewarding
victories, and, yes, Leeds were England’s champions at the time. But already
Leeds were not the team they had been the season earlier - they finished
17th in the league in a dismal defence of their title.

Inevitably this seems as if I am deliberately denigrading what was a
marvellous campaign - I am not, just explaining here why I did not mention
it in what was a piece about Celtic.

For me there is far more merit in your highlighting of the victory over
Parma. But if it is reasonable to regard Liverpool and Parma as broadly
comparable in terms of calibre, then doesn’t a 2-0 away win seem more
impressive than the same scoreline at home? To be additionally pedantic,
Celtic didn’t lose either leg.

You’re a Rangers fan and arguing for the inclusion of some of your team’s
results. Fair enough. But why, because I did not include one, do you leap to
the conclusion that I am writing from an anti-Rangers point of view. I
didn’t mention Hearts beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in a Uefa Cup quarter-final
in 1989, or little St Johnstone drawing with Monaco - so am I anti-Hearts
and St Johnstone too?

Your case is well made and I guess you’re sensitive to being seen as giving
a knee-jerk reaction to a piece praising Celtic. But I think Old Firm fans
sometimes cannot help themselves from seeing a piece praising their rivals
as a demonstration of bias against their own club.

One last thing. It was as recently as Christmas that I did a piece with
Willie Miller in the Sunday Herald sport section - at the end of a year in
which Celtic had won the championship and were still in Europe - in which we
declared Alex McLeish our “man of 2002″.

Our “Celtic” readers had plenty to say about that…

Yours,

Michael Grant

[I can’t really argue too much with what the man’s saying - although perhaps I’m a bit too flattered by the fact a top-notch footie journo had dropped me a line. Here’s my reply to his reply - am I being too nice? Personally, I don’t think so. I’d blown off some steam and he’d taken the time to put me right … see what you think]

That scene in The Outlaw Josey Wales, the one where the bounty hunter wisely walks away from Clint Eastwood, gets right out the bar, because he knows it’s no contest. Five seconds later he walks back through the saloon doors and, just before he goes into his last ever gun-sling, he tells Clint “I had to come back”. Josey Wales empathises - but he blows the guy away all the same.

I had to come back to you on that piece - and you’ve blown me away by not only being gracious enough to reply but also taking the time to give me a thoughtful argument against my rantings.

Obviously, there are still voices in my head which remain unconvinced (I can’t get away from the fact that our 92/93 run doesn’t even rate a MENTION in the context of significant Scottish Euro performances) but I now have seriously reasonable counters with which to keep them occupied (you were talking about one-off, individual ties as opposed to successful campaigns) while I get on with the business of being another “Mr Sensible from G12″. Many thanks for that.

You’re absolutely spot-on about Old Firm fans taking unreasonable umbrage - I obviously had no problem with McLeish being man of the year for 2002 because, for me, such an accolade was simply stating the obvious! Maybe I wrote to you because I wanted a slap which would allow me to freely enjoying your writing again. Duly administered.

Anyway, don’t know why I should pick only on yourself …

Imagine my horror when, upon retrieving the charred remains of your article from the furnace, I discovered one of my football writing heroes, Gabriele Marcotti claiming Celtic were on the verge of their first European final since 1967. (A guy with his background not remembering a Champions Cup final at the SAN SIRO??!!) Strange that I didn’t chose to drop HIM an e-mail about that one.

Then the Trivia Test claimed only three teams have ever eliminated Celtic on the away goals rule - none of which were FC Basle! I’m onto my lawyer about that one …

And as for that back-page feature on Pilates … sheesh! … don’t get me started … so OBVIOUSLY biased against loyal yoga fans like myself ….

Thanks for getting back to us - appreciated.

All the best

Fat Eck

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Published:
03.25.03 / 11pm
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