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Jeff Winter: The CIS Cup Final - The Pitch 1:0 Football Thursday, 19 March 2009 00:00 Written by Jeff Winter

Now before Celtic fans start screaming “Sour grapes” read on, but more about that later. My second trip north of the border was no where as enjoyable as my first and yes the result did have a major part in me forming that opinion. Let’s start with the good first. Friday 6th March saw me up for a Sportsman’s Dinner at the Park Hotel in Falkirk for the Camelon branch of the Rangers supporters Club.

I shared the mike with Andy Cameron, who like all the other comics I have worked with up there was a top man, great stories and jokes. He will be remembered more though by a young lady who made the mistake of walking past him to get a raffle prize, he gave her a nickname she will no doubt take to the grave, she is now fondly known as “Bouncy, bouncy”, got to say though decent rack but not very supportive bra!!!

George and the boys put on an excellent night and apart from the speeches the night was most memorable for the fund raising, they not only made some money for their branch to help finance travel but did not forget a local hospice, then they even got me to auction my Rangers Erskine Appeal badge, which after donations as well raised £ 160. Great guys a tremendous gesture but I would never expect anything less from Rangers fans.

The following Sunday saw a trip to Hampden for the Old Firm CIS Cup Final, early start and in Glasgow for 11am for pre match at the Ivory Hotel, top nosh and top totty serving it. It promised to be a great day, The Fife boys as usual were there in their numbers and the chance for me to drop off some memorabilia for a forthcoming charity auction in Leven on the 29th March. Tasted haggis and it was not too bad, in fact like everything else on the menu at the Ivory including the waitresses it was top class. I fact perhaps I should have stayed there, because the game was a washout. I have been amazed at Strachan’s comments about the quality of the game, obviously the result helps your overall opinion. In truth they were probably the slightly better of two average at best sides. On the way home we discussed the teams and football in general.

In England despite what the spin doctors might tell you, this season the standard in the Premier League has been poor. The top four apart, Everton and Villa and due to their resources probably Spurs and Man City, the other 12 sides are much of a much-ness with the lack of quality apparent for all to see. You can say that the league is competitive, more so than in Scotland but that is more due to the lack of consistency than the fact that the League is crammed full of good sides. Now taking those comments on board the next opinion tells an even more damning story. How many of the players on view at Hampden would get a regular game in the Premiership? We found it very hard to come up with many. At least the £ 33 ticket price reflected what we watched, it was £ 75 plus for the English equivalent a few weeks ago.

If some think my views are harsh on the players, I have not even started yet. Perhaps I have been a bit cruel as the players had no chance because of the playing surface. I cannot believe that no one appears to have commented on it. My afternoon started to go down hill when I watched the players warming up. It was apparent that new turf had been laid and the ball was just not running true on it. When a pitch is partly waterlogged the ball holds up and likewise this was happening at the weekend, it looked and played spongy. Throughout the game players struggled to cope with the surface, they played short balls as they had to take an extra touch to get not only control but to get the ball moving. Many back passes to keepers did not travel as the ball got caught up in the turf. I almost wish only almost that Celtic had scored the winner in the 89th minute to avoid the necessity of watching another half an hour. I only hope that by the next time a major game is played there they have sorted it out.

Monday saw a trip to the stables of Alan Brown near Malton in North Yorkshire to see the horse that I proudly own half a hoof of in conjunction with a few other Rangers supporters, “Ibrox” is recovering from a slight injury problem and will soon be back on course to help me finance my trips to Glasgow. He appears to act on any surface including sand, so we might see him running at Hampden!!!

Back up soon as I am speaking at the Rangers Supporters Trust Dinner on April 18, my birthday, which means a trip to Easter Road on the way home on the Sunday.

Keep the faith, if you want to buy me a drink, mines a double, a Cup and a title will do nicely!!!!

I am currently receiving a lot of enquiries to speak at Rangers functions if you are interested contact me via my website www.jeffwinter.co.uk

Enjoy your football and here’s to “One in a Row”

Best Wishes

Jeff Winter

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