Jimmy Johnstone

Been a lot of talk recently about discrimination and stereotyping as applied by us, Bluenoses - all the unpleasant stuff which goes along with supporting Rangers.

However, there is a stereotyping of a more enjoyable kind which takes place among both us Bears and the wider environs of Calcio Caledonia. It’s a residual, maybe even a result of the socio-political pigeonholing of the fans who flocked to opposite ends of Glasgow as the 19th Century became the 20th, to make Rangers and Celtic the two greatest names in Scottish Football and two of the most famous on the planet. It’s the stereotyping of style:

Why was John Greig voted the Greatest Ever Ranger? Our only captain ever to lift a European trophy, a man who played an inordinate number of games over a frighteningly long period. Greig bridged the gap from the Baxter team of the early sixties, to the Jock Wallace “double-treble” winners of the late seventies. He was accountable always during the dark days, for us, of Celtic’s Nine-in-a-row and the truly terrible spectre of the Ibrox Disaster.

But, more than that - more than the fact John Greig also managed the club and continues to work for us today - John Greig wasn’t the most skilful man ever to pull on a Rangers jersey by any manner of means. But he was a hard-hitting, no-nonsense player who would rather die than let an opponent pass. And he was unswervingly loyal.

Dour, defensive, solid - with more than a hint of “loyalist”. Like a Presbyterian sermon, John Greig defended the faith and rebutted any idolatrous gaudiness in his own play and that of opponents. That’s why he was voted The Greatest Ever Ranger - because he was so much more than just a superb footballer: He embodied the Rangers self-image.

Celtic are a club with so many honours to their credit that they can’t have failed to have employed some of the best defenders this country’s ever seen. Billy McNeil is a sterling example of how the stereotype of Celtic as a team who don’t care how many they concede as long as they score more is as ridiculous as Rangers being a team who would rather draw 0-0 than 3-3. Davie Cooper, Brian Laudrup, Ally McCoist and so many other entertainers in blue can be paired off with the likes of McNeil, Bobo Balde, Mick McArthy and a list of other no-nonsense Celtic defenders: The stereotype of style is as flawed as any other generalisation.

For me, personally, from a purely cold, analytical point of view - and not just becasue he went to the same school as my mum! - Bobby Lennox would be the Greatest Ever Celt: The only player who was there through the entire reign of Jock Stein and a player who would find the quickest route to goal and get there quicker than anyone else - by himself or with a killer pass. Lennox was a cold, calculating executioner of lightning pace and seriously reliable finishing who epitomised the “modern game” as Jock Stein would lay it out.

But anything as coldly effective as Bobby Lennox, legend that he is down Parkhead way, would never meet the criteria of Greatest Ever Celt. Our sperated Brethren want rebellious, Wha’s-Like-Us, in-your-face entertainment with far too much style, far too much lingering on the ball and just far too much gallusness to be healthy. At Parkhead they want a player who symbolises their belief that they are the opressed turning the tables and that they can do it with a smile on their faces and obvious genius on the pitch: The poor Irish immigrants in the late 19th century found Celtic gave them a voice and an outlet - someone as wee as Jimmy Johnstone had to find a whole cornucopia of trickery, of jinkiness, to make complete fools - now and again! :-) - of the likes of John Greig and other oppressive, hostile forces..

It wasn’t just Celtic and Scottish Football who lost a great man today - it was the game itself.

Any Scotsman with a European Cup medal is a man of note - anyone who won it with a Scottish Club is a legend but anyone who tore the legendary Helenio Hererra Inter defence to bits with ginger hair, pastey skin and an over-fondness for the booze and a laugh is the very embodiment of why this game can be so beautiful. I’m not gonnae pretend I’m happy that Celtic won the European Cup and Nine-In-A-Row before Rangers - but you cannae love Scottish Football and not be proud to talk of the best defences in the world being torn apart by Jinky Johnstone.

A sad day, folks.