Scottish sport may be in what may be charitably termed the doldrums (charitable in that the word implies a fresh wind may get up some time in the future) but does it really deserve the Scottish Press?
Of the indigenous newspapers, The Herald is laughably racist, Scotland on Sunday riddled with error (I once counted 36 literals in the sports section before giving up on the fifth page) and the Evening Times, with a one-eyed Bluenose in the editor's chair, cannot be relied on for anything approaching fair comment. The Record is, literally, a comic.
Of the Anglos with Scottish editions, The Sun is run by a Celtic-supporting cabal who, oddly, are vehemently anti-English - despite picking up ludicrously over-inflated payslips from London-based guvnors. The Mail and the Mirror are hidebound by miserly paginations decided elsewhere.
Which brings us to The Scotsman.
The lamentable state of this venerable institution is best mirrored in its veteran football hack, Glenn Gibbons. Like the newspaper he serves Gibbons is a former rabble rouser now in dotage. While the Hootsman shamelessly mimics the Guardian (for G2 read S2) Gibbons is an unashamed and vastly inferior clone of another Scottish-born scribe.
Here's Gibbons:
"Those to whom suspicion and scepticism come naturally would not be alone in concluding that the failure (of Celtic) to issue a categorical denial of the existence of the so-called loophole suggests that to do so would have been an abuse of the truth."
Hugh McIlvanney and Gibbons; are they related by any chance?
Like the newspaper, Gibbons, despite claiming to have friends in high places - notably Sir Alex Ferguson - hasn't broken a worthwhile story in years.
Like the newspaper, he is also hilariously parochial. The Scotsman manages to position the likes of Colin Montgomerie, David Coulthard, Lee McConnell or the tennis-playing Murrays at the centre of every sporting drama, despite the fact that they are basically bit players.
Gibbons is titled Chief Football Writer. In effect, he is Chief Old Firm Writer.
Of the indigenous newspapers, The Herald is laughably racist, Scotland on Sunday riddled with error (I once counted 36 literals in the sports section before giving up on the fifth page) and the Evening Times, with a one-eyed Bluenose in the editor's chair, cannot be relied on for anything approaching fair comment. The Record is, literally, a comic.
Of the Anglos with Scottish editions, The Sun is run by a Celtic-supporting cabal who, oddly, are vehemently anti-English - despite picking up ludicrously over-inflated payslips from London-based guvnors. The Mail and the Mirror are hidebound by miserly paginations decided elsewhere.
Which brings us to The Scotsman.
The lamentable state of this venerable institution is best mirrored in its veteran football hack, Glenn Gibbons. Like the newspaper he serves Gibbons is a former rabble rouser now in dotage. While the Hootsman shamelessly mimics the Guardian (for G2 read S2) Gibbons is an unashamed and vastly inferior clone of another Scottish-born scribe.
Here's Gibbons:
"Those to whom suspicion and scepticism come naturally would not be alone in concluding that the failure (of Celtic) to issue a categorical denial of the existence of the so-called loophole suggests that to do so would have been an abuse of the truth."
Hugh McIlvanney and Gibbons; are they related by any chance?
Like the newspaper, Gibbons, despite claiming to have friends in high places - notably Sir Alex Ferguson - hasn't broken a worthwhile story in years.
Like the newspaper, he is also hilariously parochial. The Scotsman manages to position the likes of Colin Montgomerie, David Coulthard, Lee McConnell or the tennis-playing Murrays at the centre of every sporting drama, despite the fact that they are basically bit players.
Gibbons is titled Chief Football Writer. In effect, he is Chief Old Firm Writer.
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