Ex-pro footballer Mark Reilly talks about his 100-mile Amazon charity runs, playing with Ian Durrant, and winning the 1997 Scottish Cup.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: @PLZSoccer
Also on The Football Show:
Philippe Clement's press conference ahead of this weekend's Old Firm Derby
Reaction to the latest Celtic FC transfer news
Kilmarnock v Copenhagen live preview
Hearts v Viktoria Plzeň match preview
The Football Show Highlights:
00:00:00 Mark Reilly charity runs
00:09:19 Playing for manager Bobby Williamson
00:10:23 Playing with Ian Durrant at Kilmarnock
00:17:22 Kilmarnock v Copenhagen live preview
00:20:37 Hearts v Viktoria Plzeň match preview
00:23:55 UEFA Champions League draw live
00:27:00 Latest Celtic FC transfer news - Engels, Valle
00:30:20 Celtic Champions League record is "abysmal"
00:37:24 Philippe Clement Old Firm press conference
00:39:47 Todd Cantwell Rangers contract rumour
00:42:58 Why midfielders are important in football
00:46:49 Steve Clarke record as Scotland manager
00:53:49 Mark Reilly 100-mile Amazon run
00:56:24 Best five-a-side team of all time
SUBSCRIBE NOW: @PLZSoccer
Also on The Football Show:
Philippe Clement's press conference ahead of this weekend's Old Firm Derby
Reaction to the latest Celtic FC transfer news
Kilmarnock v Copenhagen live preview
Hearts v Viktoria Plzeň match preview
The Football Show Highlights:
00:00:00 Mark Reilly charity runs
00:09:19 Playing for manager Bobby Williamson
00:10:23 Playing with Ian Durrant at Kilmarnock
00:17:22 Kilmarnock v Copenhagen live preview
00:20:37 Hearts v Viktoria Plzeň match preview
00:23:55 UEFA Champions League draw live
00:27:00 Latest Celtic FC transfer news - Engels, Valle
00:30:20 Celtic Champions League record is "abysmal"
00:37:24 Philippe Clement Old Firm press conference
00:39:47 Todd Cantwell Rangers contract rumour
00:42:58 Why midfielders are important in football
00:46:49 Steve Clarke record as Scotland manager
00:53:49 Mark Reilly 100-mile Amazon run
00:56:24 Best five-a-side team of all time
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00Welcome to the football show on PLZ Soccer's YouTube channel, I'm Peter Martin, Tam McManus
00:00:12and I'm delighted to see our special guest, Killie legend Mark Reilly, of course you played
00:00:16for St Mirren as well. Have we missed any other clubs? Motherwell and St Johnson. Yeah,
00:00:22I'm happy with that, which is 4, which is 21, 21 less than yourself. But nevertheless,
00:00:30great to have Mark with us, we've got lots to talk about. Of course, Champions League
00:00:34draw tomorrow, we'll discuss that, Europa League and conference ties for Killie and
00:00:39for Hearts. We'll look at the Old Firm showdown, we'll hear from Philippe Clamont, the Rangers
00:00:43manager and a former Celtic player, Erik Zviachenko has been speaking to Alisson McConnell. Is
00:00:50it the last chance saloon for qualification for the World Cup for Steve Clarke? He's certainly
00:00:55viewing it as the last opportunity within his two years left on his contract and transfers
00:01:01in and out, it's all gathering pace as we head towards the window closing. Are you happy
00:01:06with the deals done so far? Is there a need for more? We'll keep you up to date with all
00:01:11of that. First and foremost, great to have Mark with us because there's so much we can
00:01:15talk about. It's fair to say Killie legend because quite simply, when you win a trophy,
00:01:21Scottish Cup, in a never to be forgotten year, you dine out for dinners. Tell him he's all
00:01:27gone for dinners for the last 10 years on the back of that 1997 win. Certainly the last
00:01:33few years Peter, it's great to be here. It's great, Comarnica really good with their ex-players
00:01:38and obviously a Cup winner, they look after us. We have the odd reunion we had about six
00:01:44months ago. It's good times. Are you a nostalgic person for that sort of thing? Do you look
00:01:51back with great affection, get together with the boys? Not really in terms of possessions
00:01:58or anything, even my medal, I gave my medal away. What? I gave my medal away to a guy,
00:02:03Tommy Adams, who was a commercial guy at Comarnica for a while. Tommy had done a lot of charity
00:02:07work and my daughter's got a condition called Rett Syndrome and he did a Tommy's Trek. So
00:02:14I thought, you know what, Tommy would appreciate my medal. I've got the memories, so I gave
00:02:18Tommy my medal. I've not got anything, I gave everything away. Strips, medals, my League
00:02:22Cup medal. What about the top for the actual final? I gave that away as well. This is the
00:02:29guy who collects it. He's the biggest collector ever, isn't he? Strips and medals. I can't
00:02:33believe you've said that. For the first time ever on the show, Tam, I'm thinking to myself,
00:02:39are you mad? I gave Tommy the medal and stripped frame from him and I gave him that. That is
00:02:46brilliant, isn't it? I have to say, Tam, I'm absolutely... Come on, that's important, what
00:02:49a gift that is. It's brilliant. The funny thing, and again, I'm amazed by it, but because
00:02:57when you have, and I'm not in any way diminishing what you've achieved, when you have one or
00:03:03two special games, you know, if you'd beaten Livingston in that Cup final, that would have
00:03:08been framed and you'd have kept it forever as a winner. I remember asking Tommy Gemmel,
00:03:15you won all these medals, you won nine medals, winning the Championship, you won the European
00:03:21Cup, all of these things. I said, how on earth could you sell it all? And he said, well,
00:03:26my kids can't eat medals. And I thought it was such an unbelievable line from Tommy who
00:03:33then said, you know, exactly what you said, Mark, you'll never take away the memories.
00:03:37Yeah, I mean, everybody's different, Peter, but for me, you know, the memories are there,
00:03:42but actual possessions, I'm not really big on possessions, to be honest.
00:03:45Yeah, brilliant. It's a great way to be. I wish...
00:03:48That's why you went to the Amazon.
00:03:49Yeah. Do you know what, Mark?
00:03:51Flip-flops.
00:03:51I was just about to say, do you know what, Mark? I don't want to jeopardise my marriage,
00:03:56but I feel as if you should have married my wife, because she wants to sell all my
00:04:02memorabilia. That's mental, isn't it? Anyway, listen, let's get into it. By the way, you
00:04:08mentioned there, Rett Syndrome, your daughter Dionne is a tremendous motivation for some
00:04:14people. I mean, I thought it was great running five marathons, but you've taken it to the
00:04:20absolute extreme.
00:04:22Yeah, no, I've done a few kind of extreme events, but it's amazing seeing you've got
00:04:25a purpose. It really is a motivating factor. I mean, I think I started just doing 10Ks
00:04:35and then moved on to Three Peaks Challenge, three highest mountains in Britain in 24 hours.
00:04:40Signed up for an Ironman and I couldn't swim. I hadn't been on a bike since I was about
00:04:4410, and at that point I hadn't run a marathon. Then I went from that to the Marathon de Sable,
00:04:49which is the...
00:04:50What is the Marathon de Sable?
00:04:51The Marathon de Sable, it's an iconic ultra race in the ultra world. It's 156 miles through
00:04:59the Sahara Desert, self-sufficient race, so you've got to carry all your own food, your
00:05:05sleeping bag, et cetera. They put a boviac, which is just like a black sheet of tent type
00:05:11thing up you sleep in at night. It's over five, six days. In the year I did it, 2021,
00:05:18which happened to be regarded as the toughest Marathon de Sable in history. It was almost
00:05:2460 degrees every day. Sadly, a French guy died on day two. A guy in my tent took a cardiac
00:05:30arrest as well and was dead for two minutes. Thankfully, they brought him back. It was
00:05:34a pretty tough year and there was a stomach bug ravaged the camp as well. Virtually everybody
00:05:40ended up with a stomach bug. That was pretty tough. I went from that, completed that, and
00:05:47I'm just back from the Amazon jungle in June there, doing the Amazon jungle ultra, which
00:05:51is regarded as one of the world's most dangerous ultras, I think because of the wildlife, et
00:05:57cetera, in the jungle. 143 miles? That was about 230 kilometers, about 143 miles through
00:06:04that. Over five days. Again, similar concept to the Marathon de Sable. It's self-sufficient,
00:06:09so you carry all your own food and you don't have a sleeping bag as such just to sleep
00:06:15in in the jungle. It was a hammock. I had a sleeping bag inside the hammock, of course,
00:06:21to carry the hammock, so you just ran from point A to point B and then put your hammock
00:06:26up at night and sleep in the trees. Listen, no, the running part of it and the endurance
00:06:34stuff I probably couldn't do anyway, but actually sleeping in the jungle with snakes and panthers
00:06:38and tigers and all that, no way, man. If there's a moth or a spider in the house, I get my
00:06:43wife to go and get rid of it. By the way, I felt scared at Animal Kingdom at Disney World
00:06:50and he's running from... I thought they had big pythons and all that and there's snakes.
00:06:54Listen, Cam, the most dangerous animal in the jungle is officially the dog. We were getting
00:07:02attacked with dogs. You run through villages, it was like Spaghetti Western, some of these
00:07:06villages, all these indigenous tribes, everybody had what you call a street dog. Yeah. So they
00:07:13were territorial. They had never saw these Westerners running through their land. So when
00:07:17we were running by through the villages or the indigenous tribes, we were getting attacked with
00:07:23the dogs. So the dog was officially the most dangerous animal in the jungle and obviously
00:07:27rabies is still prevalent in Peru. So the race organisers, they had antivenom for the snakes
00:07:33and the spiders, but if you get bit with a dog, you were straight to the hospital because of rabies.
00:07:37Tennis Jag, yeah. I mean, absolutely amazing. I mean, I must admit, and this is a psychology
00:07:46of... I can remember actually Andy Walker saying to me, oh, you're keeping good pace in the New
00:07:50York Marathon at 21 miles. He says, what happened? And I says, well, from 21 to 26, there's a climb
00:07:57all the way up to Central Park. But you must have... how psychologically is it because you
00:08:02had that goal for your daughter that you thought, right, I have to read up and make sure that I'm in
00:08:08the zone for this? Yeah. I mean, I think, as I kind of touched on, I think having a purpose and
00:08:13doing it for charity is a big motivating factor. But I seem to get in this zone as well when I do
00:08:20these events. I just switch off no matter what I'm completing. It's quite selfish. Is it an addiction
00:08:27now? I wouldn't say it's an addiction. I do enjoy it. I think it's become a habit for me running.
00:08:35Yeah. So my spare time, I don't get to see much football now. My spare time out with family and
00:08:40work, I run. So I think I'm more a person that likes to participate in something rather than
00:08:46watch. If I can't do it, I'll participate in something else. Yeah. I think it's become a
00:08:50habit for me now. I run most days. But certainly when I get into these events, there's no kind of
00:08:57quitting me, am I? All in or not? Yeah, I'm dragged out. And you finished third, didn't you? I came third, yeah.
00:09:03Well, listen, I know you haven't seen the two boys who beat you. We've managed to get them in
00:09:08from Brazil. The Kenyan and Ethiopian, exactly. And they've got their tops framed
00:09:15with the medal. I cannae believe you, Mark. Listen, Tam played under Bobby at Hibs, so I think
00:09:22he could get through the jungle neighbourhood. Yeah. Just out of curiosity, it's a different mentality.
00:09:28With Bobby, I mean, he's an acquired taste because he's from Easterhouse.
00:09:33Yeah, exactly. And he's one of those guys that he could easily, he hit at most of the press.
00:09:40I got on well with him because I was cheeky to him. And I used to give him pelters, but he must
00:09:46have been, what was he like as a gaffer? Do you know, I played with Bobby and he was probably
00:09:51one of the most aggressive footballers that I played with. He had a right nasty streak.
00:09:57He was quick, he was aggressive. As a manager, he wasn't confrontational. I think I was talking
00:10:04to Tam earlier. He was very much the type of manager that we would work on the defensive side,
00:10:11with Kaby and Jimmy Clarke especially. And Bobby would just let you go and play. So if you had good
00:10:17players on your team, like, you know, Irene Gerrard and people like that, he'd just trust you, don't he,
00:10:21go and play. Yeah. I mean, that's another great thing about it. When you think about, okay, you've
00:10:26won medals playing and you're a really good player in the midfield for Kilmarnock as well.
00:10:32Undoubtedly for St Johnston. But when you get to a situation where you are a young player and
00:10:38suddenly you've got Durant next to you or Tommy Burns. I mean, what a learning curve that must be.
00:10:43The reason I mention that to you, Mark, is we have said continually to the Rangers, Celtic, the St
00:10:49Mirrens, the Hearts, yes, by all means, invest in youth. But there is nothing better than having an
00:10:55experienced player to sit alongside you in the middle of the park or in the back line or up front
00:11:01to give you those golden nuggets of experience.
00:11:05Oh, absolutely. And just like you touched on, Iain Durant, for example.
00:11:10Tamil, can I relate to this? You know, I can remember playing against Iain Durant
00:11:13when he was at the Rangers and you think he's fantastic. But you don't actually realise how
00:11:18good he actually is to your training with him and playing with him every week.
00:11:22And I think post-injury, he probably played some of his best stuff at Kilmarnock. He really got
00:11:29at least a life there. And I think because he became the main player,
00:11:32he relished that responsibility. And he was absolutely outstanding for Kilmarnock.
00:11:38And Tam, Tam as well. Special talent, special guy, really funny. Yeah, a fantastic player as well.
00:11:46Yeah, great. Great noise up as well. Good for you to do.
00:11:50Not many managers would get you up at quarter to one in the morning in the hotel to talk tactics.
00:11:56Well, that's true. He was unique.
00:11:59Is that Tommy or Bobby?
00:12:00No, Tommy.
00:12:01All right, I thought you were talking about Bobby.
00:12:03Story. We were playing Rangers in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup in 1994. So it was our first
00:12:09year promoting back in the top flight. And as I say, it was the semi-final. So Tams took us away
00:12:15to, I think it was Seymour, for an overnight or four a game. And I roomed with Big George McCluskey,
00:12:20ex-hibby as well. So Big George and Tam were best of pals. And it was obviously the time before
00:12:27mobile phones. So Big George was a bit of a nighthawk. And it was after 12, it was about
00:12:32quarter past 12 at night into the morning. And I'm kind of sleeping. Big George was watching
00:12:38telly and the phones went in between the two beds in the room. So Big George has picked the phone up,
00:12:45can hear him on the phone and I'm kind of in and out of sleep. So he's on the phone to Tam.
00:12:50I'm playing for a couple of minutes. And then Big George says to me, Mavis, Tam wants you. He's in room
00:12:56212 to go on and see him. So I've got my boxer shorts on. So I got a t-shirt on. I don't even get any
00:13:04flip-flops, nothing, bare feet. And I'm walking along and my head's starting to work overtime.
00:13:10And I'm thinking, I'm looking at my watch and I think it's 21 quarter to one in the morning.
00:13:14I'm saying, surely he's not pulling me in to tell me I'm drunk for the game.
00:13:20And I'm saying, no, he wouldn't tell me at this time. And then I'm starting to think
00:13:25something's happened to a family member back home and he's been made aware and
00:13:29he's pulling me in to tell me. So I started panicking a wee bit. So I've got his room,
00:13:34jacked the door and he's opened the door. There he is standing, he's full killie kit,
00:13:39trackie, killie t-shirt, trackie bottoms. And I looks in the room and he's got a wee table,
00:13:44similar to that, with the two chairs. And he's got a wee board, a wee miniature board,
00:13:49propped up with a wee cup and he's got a wee magnetic man on it. And I'm looking at it and
00:13:55I'm thinking, surely he's not going to talk tactics to me. So he's letting me have a sit down.
00:14:00So he tells me the team and then starts telling me the shape of how we're going to play against
00:14:05Rangers that day. And to be honest, I'm looking at my watch and by this time it's like
00:14:10ten to one. I'm not taking anything in. I'm thinking, he's bonkers.
00:14:15Ten to one in the morning, he's talking tactics to me. So he turns to me and he says,
00:14:18you listening to me? And I was like, it's ten to one in the morning. He's like,
00:14:23aye I know but I cannae sleep. So fast forward to the game, the two buses draw up at Hampden
00:14:31and they're kind of alongside each other. And the Rangers bus, you've got your McCoy's and
00:14:36your Haitley's and Trevor Stephen's and whoever, they're all sitting playing cards,
00:14:41looking so relaxed. And our bus, you could tell there was a bit of nerves in our bus.
00:14:45So the buses have stopped, the police have stopped the two buses, so they're kind of
00:14:49sitting side by side for like five minutes. So in between time, Tam stands up at the front of the
00:14:54bus and has this team talk. So it's along the lines of, you'd better get out of there with
00:14:59your chest pumped out, head up. We're not here to make numbers up, we're here to win.
00:15:04So he has this type of team talk, the director's not in the bus and then he sits down. I'm up the
00:15:09back of the bus, so he's in the front seat and then I sees his head popping round like that
00:15:14and he shouts, Mavis, come here. So he gets down in the front of the bus, he's like that, sit down.
00:15:20He said, listen, Rangers need to know they're in a game today. He said, so, he says in the first
00:15:26five minutes, first chance you get, I want you to smash Stuart McCall so they know they're in a game.
00:15:33He says, in fact, start a fight with him. I've got all the boys around you, so we're in it as a team.
00:15:40And he said, but you'd better not do it round about the 18 yard line, he says, because we can't afford
00:15:44the early doors to get a free kick away. He says, and you'd better not get sent off either, he says,
00:15:49we can't afford to get down to 10 men. He says, will you go on that? He says, run that by me.
00:15:54I says, right, so I have to smash Stuart McCall, I have to start a fight with him. I've not to do it
00:16:00round the 18 yard line so we don't get a free kick away, and I've not to get sent off. He went,
00:16:04magic, you've got it, away you go. That is tactics, Tam, isn't it? Absolutely brilliant.
00:16:10Did you smash him? I did smash him, actually.
00:16:16He's ended up getting bumped, isn't he? Well, we went to a replay. It was a wee bit
00:16:19controversial, because I still say to this day, one of the goals wasn't over the line.
00:16:24That would have been great for you, yeah. Technology, that's what it's all about.
00:16:28Far back then. Absolutely, listen, brilliant, great stories, and of course, I was just looking
00:16:33at your team that defeated Falkirk in the 1997 Cup Final. Lekovic, Gus, Dylan Kerr,
00:16:42Ray Montgomery, Kevin McGowan, yourself, David Brogan, Alec Bourke, Gary Holt, I see Gary from
00:16:50time to time, Jim McIntyre, and of course, Paul Wright, who I thought was just a fantastic player,
00:16:55and you've got the subs, Ali Mitchell, John Henry, and Tom Brown. I think, actually,
00:17:02Ruffey sold to Tam Burns for Glen Afton, and your manager's Bobby Williamson. Great memories,
00:17:08fantastic. Listen, we'll talk more about that. We've got lots to try and talk about as far as
00:17:15games that are coming up. Give us your thoughts on, not only the games coming up, but the transfer
00:17:19window as well. You can mention it in the comments. Two big games, one involving Kelly.
00:17:25They're 2-0 down. You spoke to us last week on the importance of trying to keep it alive.
00:17:33They're up against it now, 2-0 down, and it was a rotten way to lose the goals.
00:17:39Yeah, no, I never saw the game, Peter, last week, but I think they did quite well in the game.
00:17:44Obviously, a disputed penalty, and then a really late goal as well. Yeah, as I was saying to
00:17:52Patrick last week, Copenhagen's got a fairly decent European history, and it was always going
00:17:57to be a tough game. I just think it's a big ask for Kelly now. I think they'll obviously need to
00:18:05get the first goal, an early goal. If they get that early goal and they go 1-0 up, you never know,
00:18:10but I do think it's a tough ask for them to get through now. I know you won't know this because,
00:18:15obviously, I know you're out in the Lanarkshire area, and you're in Urdingston. The difference
00:18:18between Urdingston and, obviously, Scobride, as Tam will tell you, is Tam has a 50-foot satellite
00:18:23dish, and he can get any game from anywhere in the world, and he can see it, because it was
00:18:29mightily difficult for anyone to see that Kelly game last week. But, listen, it's a game where
00:18:36I think even Derek Mackinnis himself has mentioned to everybody ahead of that match,
00:18:41they really need to get the crowd going, get the players to get the perfect start to cause
00:18:47a little bit of an upset. It's a task we're willing to take on. We've earned the right
00:18:52to take a team of Copenhagen's stature on, but there's no doubt we need to try and make it
00:18:58awful for them tomorrow. We've got to try and make it their biggest nightmare. We've got to try and
00:19:04make the game go our way. To do that, we're going to need to have everybody more or less at full
00:19:11throttle. Yeah, that is exactly what Mark was saying. They're not the Copenhagen of old, Tam,
00:19:19to be perfectly honest with you, and it was an unfortunate late, late goal for them. So,
00:19:25it's not beyond the realms of possibility. If you can pull something off like this, it would be
00:19:29one of Kelly's best results. Yeah, it would be, and listen, they've won a great run, beating Troms
00:19:34in the last round. I don't think a lot of people expect them to go and beat them away from home,
00:19:37particularly after drawing the first leg at home. Mark's right, if you get the early goal,
00:19:42you never know. You could get the whole crowd, a big crowd, I would think it would be a sell-out
00:19:46there. If you can get that early goal, you never know how Copenhagen react to that, but
00:19:51you're saying they're not the team of old. They were in the Champions League, I think,
00:19:54two years ago, I remember them beating Man United. So, they've got a good pedigree in Europe,
00:19:57and they're usually in the group stages of one of the tournaments, whether that's the Champions
00:20:00League or the Europa League. So, big ask, I think, come out of that and massive underdogs,
00:20:04but if you get the first goal, and you get the fans behind you, you never know on the night.
00:20:08Prediction? I think it'll be a draw, going for one each. I just don't think, come on,
00:20:12I've got the quality to go and win the game. I'll go for one each. Yeah, I think, I just get the
00:20:17feeling that they're going to score. I'm going to go 2-1, what are you going, Mark? I was actually
00:20:22going to go, my heart's obviously saying Kelly, but my head's saying I was going to go 2-1
00:20:28Copenhagen. Right, oh right, okay, there you are. It's a shout, it's a prediction, you'll get it on
00:20:33the programme. If Kelly are up against it, maybe not as critical for me as Hearts against Victoria
00:20:42Pilsen. The only caveat I would put in there, Tam, is quite simply, Hearts can't buy a win at the
00:20:49moment. I mean, I thought they were better than Pilsen, I thought they deserved a 0-0 over there.
00:20:54Yeah, I watched that game as well, Peter, and I thought that Hearts, for 90 plus minutes,
00:20:58totally matched Pilsen. I was disappointed in Pilsen, I think, again, they're a club with a
00:21:01good pedigree, been in the Champions League group stages in recent years. I thought Hearts defended
00:21:06really well. Shankland missed a couple of good chances, to go 1-0 up was a different game.
00:21:11A sucker punch at the end, to lose a goal in the 95th minute was a sucker punch, but they're still
00:21:15on the tie. The problem for me is Hearts are not in good form at the minute. You can write them
00:21:20through pre-season, they're hammered with spurs, they're down to fleet when they get beat. They've
00:21:24not won a game yet, and the confidence must be low. Laurence Shankland, I believe, is a doubt
00:21:28as well, with injury, which should be a huge blow. But again, Tynecastle, maybe as I'll tell you,
00:21:32tough place to go, great atmosphere there, and big European nights. If Hearts get the early goal,
00:21:36I would fancy them to go and win the game, but they're just not playing well enough for me at
00:21:40the minute. Again, I think they might draw the game and go out.
00:21:43Team news always important. Patrick Mullin was there at the Ori. In fact, I think he was at Tynecastle
00:21:49to speak to Stevie Naismith today.
00:21:51Hearts are preparing to take on Victoria Pilsen here at Tynecastle Park tomorrow night in what is set to be a
00:21:57crucial game in Stevie Naismith's tenure here at Hearts. They're still looking for their first
00:22:02victory of the season, and Stevie Naismith understands the pressure and the criticism
00:22:07that has come with that form.
00:22:09When you're not winning games, there's going to be criticism. I think it's something, and
00:22:13especially being at a club the size of Hearts, continuously going on about the demand. If you
00:22:20don't win games, you'll be criticised, and that's the case. As I've said before in the past,
00:22:26I'm comfortable with that, but I think we have got a good group of players that can be successful.
00:22:33We need to cut out their soft goals and probably take more of our chances that we've created.
00:22:37The big news today, though, is that Laurence Shankland is a doubt for the game tomorrow
00:22:41night. He sustained a knee injury in their defeat against Motherwell on the weekend,
00:22:45but Stevie Naismith has insisted that they will leave it as late as possible to see if he could play.
00:22:50From the weekend, Shanks has got a wee ache in his knee, just a contact injury, so we'll
00:22:57see how that one is. We'll wait and see. A quick turnaround for the games, there's not
00:23:03much training. We'll give it as long as possible and we'll see how he is tomorrow.
00:23:09It's Hearts versus Victoria Pilsen here at Tancastle Park. Kick-off is at 7.45pm on Thursday night.
00:23:15Okay, I'm going to be optimistic. I'm going to go 2-0 Hearts.
00:23:21Tam touched on Tancastle, great atmosphere, but again, similar to Kilmarnock, not in great
00:23:27form. I'm going to go Hearts to lose 1-0.
00:23:31One each for me, Peter, but I mean, they're guaranteed the group of stage football in
00:23:34Conference League anyway, so they should just go out and give it everything tonight,
00:23:37knowing they've got that safety net of they're still going to be in Europe.
00:23:41I think one each. I think Pilsner will just nick through.
00:23:44Yeah, okay. Okay, I'm the only optimistic one in there.
00:23:50Tamar's got everybody getting battered. We need to get out of that jungle.
00:23:56And with that in mind, that's Europe for you. Of course, the other aspect of Europe is,
00:24:01quite simply, that tomorrow, I think every fan following Celtic will be looking at that
00:24:07Champions League draw, wondering who they're going to get. I might as well tell you, it's
00:24:13one of those things where everybody's going, how does it all work?
00:24:15Are you going to explain it now?
00:24:16I'm going to explain it to you right now. Now, I'm only going to explain it once,
00:24:20on the basis that you get it by the time I explain it, okay? Thank God we don't have
00:24:25Ruffey here, because we could be here all night. But, here's the drill, Mark, if you can follow
00:24:31this. It's guaranteed eight games, so teams will be placed in four pots, and it's according to
00:24:39your seeding and your coefficient. So, each team will then face two teams from each pot.
00:24:46So, you're guaranteed those eight games against the two from pot one, the two from pot two.
00:24:51You don't play all the teams that's in your pot?
00:24:54You don't play all, right? So, over and above that, once they pull them out, the UEFA software
00:25:00will decide the eight opponents. So, your ball's automatically pulled out, they go,
00:25:04there's your name. We're going to now, the software will pick two from each pot for you,
00:25:09and the software will also determine a home and away on this. So, you're guaranteed these games.
00:25:15So, basically, their thoughts on this is quite simply that there's going to be big games for
00:25:22everybody. There's going to be the situation where Manchester City could face Real Madrid,
00:25:26Bayern Munich, Barcelona, which I think is going to be mega exciting. I think that it's been crying
00:25:32out for that change. The software apparently stops teams playing rivals from their own country
00:25:38and means each team can play two clubs from any one country, which is quite interesting as well.
00:25:44UEFA says a computer system plans ahead, so it will ensure no teams further down the line
00:25:49get drawn against teams they cannot face. So, basically...
00:25:54So, it's all computerised?
00:25:55It's all computerised. It's all an algorithm. They'll work it out, but you're getting,
00:26:00basically, what's happening there, Mark, is Celtic are going to get eight absolutely humdinger games.
00:26:09Yeah.
00:26:10And that creates this problem, because if anything, the fans are absolutely at this
00:26:14point looking and thinking, well, are they any better than they were last season,
00:26:18to face the quality that they're going to come up against?
00:26:21I think that's a big thing, Peter, isn't it? I think Celtic in Europe in recent times have
00:26:26been so disappointing. I think they really need to improve and do better in Europe. I think the
00:26:33fans will be looking for that this year. I think the manager will be looking for that this year.
00:26:39And I think it is important for the club that they try and progress a bit in Europe
00:26:44and compared to previous years, where, as I say, they've been so disappointing.
00:26:48Yeah, I mean, that's the key element here, Tam, because when you look at it, the fans are now
00:26:54saying, the clock's ticking, they're heading towards the window and it's late, late show.
00:27:02Engels, they're trying to get him over the line at £10 million. They've already paid £9 million and
00:27:07some say too much for Aida. They've got Bernardo, they've got a 20-year-old from the Barcelona
00:27:13Academy, who's come in today. So suddenly, Alec VARL joins the likes of Schmeichel, Bernardo
00:27:23and Aida, but I think they're looking for more. Yeah, I think they've got to be looking for
00:27:28players in the forward areas, Peter. I think they're needing possibly another striker,
00:27:31another wide player. Engels is obviously a wide player from Augsburg. They've been linked with
00:27:36several players. They've been linked with the lad from LAFC and MLS, the Polish guy who plays as a
00:27:41second striker. So I still believe that Celtic will get three or four in before the window closes.
00:27:46I think they'll be working hard to get players in. They need a cover for left-back and Greg
00:27:51Taylor has been superb since coming in from Comarnet. He's been a great signing. He takes a
00:27:56lot of criticism, but I think he's a steady player. He gets you a 7 out of 10 every week,
00:28:00but they've been needing cover for him for a long time. I've got that with the lad, Alex VARL,
00:28:04coming in from Barcelona. So I still think they're needing a centre-half, maybe to compete with
00:28:08scales to play alongside Carter Vickers. Well, they're talking about Austin Trusty,
00:28:12the USA centre-half from Sheffield United. Who would know, obviously, Carter Vickers from the
00:28:17US national team. Meanwhile, they've banked £2.5 million by selling Mikey Johnson to Sheffield
00:28:23United. Yeah, and I think he's just reshaping the squad, Peter. I think that Celtic have got
00:28:27Lager Bielka there as well, who I think believes close to going out on loan as well. So I think
00:28:33he's got a lot of players he's trying to get out the door and bring more quality in, but there's
00:28:36still three or four days left to bring players in. I think Celtic will bring enough in.
00:28:40Yeah, okay. Interestingly, a lot of Celtic fans on our feed looking at
00:28:48the deals and whether there's enough and who they need. It's been a situation where we've
00:28:54been reading out most of your messages week in, week out, wondering when those players are going
00:29:00to actually trap for Celtic and whether they can get a good record, which I think if you look at
00:29:07the record over the last two decades in European football, it's woeful. I think a lot of Celtic
00:29:14fans are looking for, yes, signings, but they're looking for an improvement and trying to get
00:29:19at least maybe two or three half-decent results, take a couple of scalps, which as Mark alluded to,
00:29:25just hasn't happened. No, it hasn't. You're used to the Martin O'Neill. That's probably when myself
00:29:30and Mark were playing against Celtic, when they were superb in Europe in the Champions League
00:29:34group stages, but it was a different era. They were paying big money. They had Larssons and Suttons
00:29:38and Hartsons and Silly and Petrofs and they signed Paul Lambert, who was a European Cup winner. So,
00:29:43they were really, really strong Celtic team and Rangers back then. It's been a long time, probably
00:29:4820 years, 20 years plus, since Celtic have been really competitive and beating the likes of Juventus
00:29:52and Barcelona in one-off games. Yeah, I'm going to read out this message because I don't think Brian
00:29:56actually listens. Brian says, Peter, once again, anti-Celtic, always looking for the negatives.
00:30:02I don't know how you can possibly, unless you have been in the Amazon jungle, just running behind
00:30:11Mark. I just don't get it, Tam. I mean, Brian's probably of that group of Celtic fans who won't
00:30:19hear anything. As you get lots of clubs, you won't hear any criticism of their team.
00:30:26The record in Europe's abysmal. I don't think anybody can argue it, Peter. It's there in black
00:30:29and white. It's not an opinion, us giving an opinion. The results have been poor, particularly
00:30:35over the last five or six seasons. I think that Celtic need to improve. If you're a Celtic
00:30:41supporter, you're happier dominating domestically and Celtic will continue to do that. Listen,
00:30:45I think they're miles ahead of the Rangers in terms of on the park, off the park, financially,
00:30:50everything. They're well ahead of the Rangers. But in Europe, you don't want to be turning up and
00:30:54finishing bottom of the group every year. The third place gets you into Europa League. Celtic
00:30:58have not been able to finish third in the Champions League in the last couple of seasons.
00:31:03I think they want to be competitive. To do that, you need to sign three or four quality players,
00:31:08nine million pound players. From your day, Mark, what was it like? In your day,
00:31:15Rangers were the dominant team. Was there a sense of we're in for a rough 90 minutes here?
00:31:23Did you, with certain managers, feel we could maybe every now and then cause a wee shock?
00:31:31I think, Tam will probably relate to this, I think in an individual game, as a player,
00:31:35as a football player, no matter who you were playing against, you had a belief that if we
00:31:40play really well today, we could win this. But when you look at it in its entirety, as you say,
00:31:46back then, the Rangers team, that nine-in-a-row team, they were strong. They had talent. They
00:31:53had everything. The Celtic team, Tam touched on, they were monsters. They were men everywhere.
00:31:59Back to the European football you touched on, Celtic Park, even in European games,
00:32:05is a bit of a fortress, beating the likes of Barcelona. It just shows you the quality
00:32:11of players that Celtic had back at that time. Even going back to talking about the Rangers team,
00:32:17they were so strong and powerful, with great ability as well, and some special players.
00:32:26I know you were obviously there to try and smash Stuart McCall, which is a difficult job at the
00:32:31best of times. Was there anybody that you actually played against without, obviously, the managers
00:32:37looking for you to try and close people down? Was there anybody you played against that you thought,
00:32:41my God, this guy is absolutely just giving me the runaround?
00:32:45Gascoigne. You think back to before that, your Paul McStay's. I got all the rotting jobs, Peter,
00:32:53so I got the job of man-marting Maravchuk, man-marting Gascoigne. Back then, you could
00:33:01actually tackle. I remember with Gascoigne, for example, the first chance you got, you would let
00:33:07him know that you were there. I always knew if he ignored me, I knew I'm in for it here. If he
00:33:14wanted to maybe argue with me or say something, or even on some occasions, one night at Ibrox,
00:33:19he actually volleyed me up near the ball. We thought, oh, maybe we have a wee chance tonight,
00:33:25but Gascoigne was phenomenal. He had everything. He was strong. He was as quick running with the
00:33:31ball as he was without the ball. He could change direction. He would just put his big arm out,
00:33:36move it to the other side and hold you off. He was special.
00:33:41We'd love to see players of that calibre back in the league. Of those two generations,
00:33:49you couldn't believe the standard of play we were watching.
00:33:51No, I think the late 90s and early 2000s was when I was coming through. Matt was probably
00:33:56a bit commanding as well. The Rangers team, I remember playing against Mikel Arteta and
00:34:01Barry Ferguson at Ibrox. Bobby was the manager at Hibs. He told me to drop back into one of the
00:34:08midfield players. Honestly, I just spent 60-65 minutes chasing Arteta to Ferguson. They just
00:34:14passed the ball to each other. Just quality players. You couldn't get near them to kick them.
00:34:19You couldn't get near them. Sometimes the manager would say, go and leave one on him,
00:34:23but you actually couldn't physically get near them. They were that quick moving the ball.
00:34:26Absolutely. Of course, as quite a few people have mentioned, the early 2000s was Scottish
00:34:32football at its best. Certainly a lot of money spent. I don't think now, Mark,
00:34:40anybody, whether they're Celtic fans or Rangers fans, I think they realistically look at it and
00:34:45say, we don't necessarily want you to splash out £10 million on a player. We just want you to try
00:34:52and spend it a little bit more wisely and maybe get a better recruitment. As Tam mentioned there,
00:34:59they're offloading Lagerby Elka. Starfelt didn't work out. Kobayashi, in, out. Mikey Johnson,
00:35:09gone. Rangers, close to getting Todd Cantwell out the door. Just sometimes the recruitment,
00:35:15trying to get somebody who can actually contribute, who's maybe a wee bit different from
00:35:20the mediocrity. Yeah, no, it's a good point, Peter. I think the fans would probably, if you
00:35:25gave the fans the option, they might be bringing in five or six signings for X amount of money,
00:35:32but instead of that, the option of bringing in two signings for the same money, who are maybe
00:35:37a better quality of player and the wages would cover that, etc, and make up. I think the fans
00:35:42would probably go for that rather than... I think the criticism recently, it might be said for Celtic
00:35:50fans, for example, is they've been bringing in some younger players and some squad players
00:35:55that maybe haven't improved starting XI as much as they would like, and which they need to do
00:36:01better in European football. Yeah, absolutely, and you come up, you mentioned Gascoigne, but that's
00:36:06the key here, which I think is going to be difficult. We'll hear from Philippe Clermont
00:36:10shortly, but that's the key as everybody looks towards Sunday, which is coming up, which is the
00:36:17big test because Celtic and Rangers will go head-to-head, Tam, but suddenly you're judged on
00:36:22going against a higher calibre player in Europe, and if it doesn't go well, I say it every year,
00:36:30up to December, suddenly the narrative changes and people go, well, why can't you compete? Why
00:36:36can't you get maybe the odd one or two players that can make a wee difference? Yeah, and that's
00:36:40why Brendan's been adamant in the last six weeks that he needs quality players in. It's not just,
00:36:45as Mark said, not just bringing guys in at a million pounds, 20-year-old, maybe played 30,
00:36:5040 games and you're taking a punt on them, it's not going to improve your starting XI.
00:36:53Yeah. Guys like Adam Ida, maybe possibly the guy Engels who comes in, guys like that are going to
00:36:57come nine million pound players, just coming straight into your team, improve it, so that's
00:37:01the type of players that Celtic need to sign if they want to be better in Europe, and they're
00:37:05going to be judged in Europe again this season, Peter. I think they're going to finish miles ahead
00:37:09of Celtic, Rangers domestically in terms of the league. I think they'll finish well ahead of
00:37:13the Rangers and possibly win another treble, but if again they finish bottom of that eight-team
00:37:18group or they don't make an impact in Europe, supporters are going to be going, well, it's just
00:37:22the same old as it has been in the last three or four seasons. Yeah, it's a big game for Philippe
00:37:26Clement. Of course, it doesn't make it any easier when you go to a ground where you don't have any
00:37:30fans, but of course he goes there with hope. Because we were really close last season,
00:37:38we were really close at Ibrox, we were really close in the cup final.
00:37:43The difference in the cup final was one action, that they were efficient and we not.
00:37:48We had the same chances, we had the same position also. So, okay, I know it will be a new game for
00:37:56a few guys and I'm curious now how they're going to react the first time to play an old firm,
00:38:03but I'm also really positive about that way. If you speak about the Jeftes and the Conor
00:38:09Berends, although Conor played there, but it's a different kind of game with Aberdeen.
00:38:15Yeah, it's going to be a different kind of game and going into Celtic Park, I suppose the manager's
00:38:21got to try, and this is where psychology with footballers is key, you've got to try and convince
00:38:26the players, look, the cup final, there was a fine margin, it was one moment where Bernardo
00:38:33breaks from the middle of the park, hits the shot and Ida picks up on a mistake from Butland. It's
00:38:39on those fine moments that he's got to convince the team, you can flip this, you can win.
00:38:46I think for Rangers at the weekend, the old firm game, I think they have to start the game really
00:38:52well. I think they've got to try and impose themselves in Celtic. I think if Celtic start
00:38:57the game and control it the way they can with McGregor and control the game, I think it could
00:39:02be a really difficult and long day for Rangers. I think the start of the game is so vital for Rangers.
00:39:09I think you've got to favour Celtic to win the way they've started the season and I think Tam's
00:39:16right, I think they will look to add as well in the next few days. Really important game for
00:39:23Rangers because it's early on in the season as well, they don't want to fall more points behind
00:39:28already and chasing at this stage. I think the first 20-25 minutes of the game is really important
00:39:37for a Rangers aspect that they're not just sitting back and Celtic controlling it and coming at them
00:39:43with the attack. The other big worry about this, Tam, is quite simply, if Celtic fans are looking
00:39:49and wondering about who's going to come into strength to decide who might make a debut in
00:39:53that sort of game, Rangers fans will be looking and saying, wait a minute, what business are you
00:39:58going to be able to do in that period? Cantwell are going to try and get out, which would release
00:40:04a bit of money, the wages especially. Hadji's a strange one, I can't help but feel as if Hadji,
00:40:12who's said he's willing to help work and fight for the Ibrox team, now in the back of my head,
00:40:18I'm thinking he doesn't seem like a troublesome boy, I just get the gut feeling that if he makes
00:40:24one more appearance he's going to be on. That's a rumour Peter, isn't it? It is a rumour and I can't
00:40:28help but feel that it looks as if it's got to be something like that because if he's fit, surely
00:40:35you're going to look to someone of his quality that he possessed when we saw him in a Rangers
00:40:40jersey. Yeah, he was really, really good under Steven Gerrard, he's fell out the picture, I went
00:40:45on loan to Alaves I believe last season in Spain, was in the Romanian European squad in the summer
00:40:52there, so he's a quality footballer, I think there must be something more to it Peter, I think there's
00:40:57the rumour if he makes one more appearance his money goes up and I don't think he's, they're
00:41:01talking about 25, 30 grand he goes up to, I don't think he's that type of quality, like a real high
00:41:07earner at Rangers, I think he's a good player but I don't think he's worth that type of money, so
00:41:10that's maybe why Rangers are thinking we need to try and get rid of him but all he's got to do is
00:41:15keep it, it's just difficult for him because he knows if that's the case it's nothing to do with
00:41:19football, it's just a financial decision so he's just got to keep his head down and hope that
00:41:23either something changes at Rangers or somebody comes in for him and can get out. Cantwell leaving is
00:41:27no great loss to me Mark, I don't know about you but obviously I tend to look constantly at
00:41:34midfielders and for me the bag for a midfielder is can you hurt the opposition, there are certain
00:41:41midfielders that their job is to you know to destroy and destruct and make sure that the
00:41:47really talented players don't get their way but the midfielders for me that always impress me are
00:41:53those that say I'm going to change the game, I'm going to make a forward pass, I'm going to have
00:41:58an influence on the game, I'm not going to hide, I'm going to come in to pick up the ball, I'm going
00:42:03to be there for my teammates as an available pass and I'm also going to be able to obviously put it
00:42:09in there with my teammates in the middle of the park but the best part for me is a midfielder who
00:42:13can grab the game and go, I'm going to make an impact. Yeah no I think under Steven Gerrard
00:42:21when Rangers won the league, stopped 10 in a row, I think they'd have been looking to keep going and
00:42:28trying to keep slightly improving, I think they've probably stagnated a bit and probably
00:42:34their recruitment's maybe not been, fair to say, not been great and they're certainly,
00:42:40they don't look like a club that's improving whereas Celtic struggled a bit slightly and then
00:42:49kicked on under Ange and then you can just, as Tam says, I can only see them getting stronger
00:42:54and I think it's a really difficult time for Rangers. Was there a midfielder that you played
00:43:00with that you thought, I mean I know you obviously said you had that role where you had, you were the
00:43:06unfortunate man marker but was there somebody that you played alongside at any of your clubs that you
00:43:12thought, this is a joy because he is just like a Rolls Royce? I would say Ian Durant was phenomenal,
00:43:21he was maybe the most talented I played with, he was my favourite teammate, I would probably
00:43:27have to say he was with Ali Mitchell, Ali Mitchell was phenomenal, you got 100% of him
00:43:34every day training, every game, he was probably like a poor man's Roy Keane, he could do
00:43:42everything, he'll be happy with that up in a frame, poor man's Roy Keane, Mark Reilly picture, I mean
00:43:50he wasn't lightning quick, he was quick enough to go by people, he was strong, he was fit, he scored
00:43:56goals. I think he scored a winner at Ibrox, did he not? He did, he did, he was a great player for
00:44:02Kilmarnock. Yeah, what made him? Co-cards, remember him Philip, Co-card the French guy? Co-carded again,
00:44:09fantastic ability, great player, great technical player when he could be blurred. Yeah, there's a
00:44:15great line isn't it? One of my favourite Kelly players, of what I call the, not the regulars,
00:44:21the legends like yourself and other players who have got longevity, one of my favourite
00:44:26players in the short term, and I built my whole game around him Tam, was Eremenko, complete lack
00:44:33of movement but could hit a 40-50 yard pass onto somebody's toe, I mean guys like that you say to
00:44:39yourself, with that much ability, why don't you just realise your potential? It would be the same
00:44:45with Russell, probably against Russell Latipe, Russell was, just never really tried a leg,
00:44:51really in training or anything, just didn't bother about running, just on the end of a Saturday he
00:44:55was, fantastic ability, unbelievable, I remember he turned out, he was the best drunk player I've
00:45:00ever seen, you'd see him, I remember one time, I was injured at the time, it was at three in the
00:45:05morning and I was waiting outside to pick a friend up, outside this nightclub, I love the way he
00:45:12dances around it Mark, so I come out and I see Russell Latipe basically getting held up with
00:45:16this lassie and steaming, and I'm thinking we're training at ten o'clock, so anyway I was injured
00:45:21and I was in the early doors and I seen one minute to ten Russell comes in, he's still got the same
00:45:24gear on, head on right, it's always loving him, and I'm thinking, so I go out to watch training,
00:45:29I'm like wee Russell be honking here, and he was honking a drink, and he was still the best player
00:45:34in the park, I remember MacLeish was giving him abuse, were you out last night and all that, no no no,
00:45:38no gaffer, no gaffer, gets the ball top corner, gets the ball top corner, brilliant, great player
00:45:43Russell, but I think if Russell had a good attitude he'd have played for like Barcelona or something,
00:45:47one of the best players I've ever seen, he just didn't seem to bother or try, he was some player
00:45:54as well, he was a great player, great player, yeah I mean those type of times, can you imagine
00:46:00you, that's what you wanted though, you wanted to have the Russell Latipi skill and be able to
00:46:06get away with it, I did, unfortunately I don't have that ability, I know exactly, yeah he was a fabulous
00:46:11fabulous player, it was good sharing those stories, and unfortunately we signed for Regison and
00:46:17Alec MacLeish left Hibs to go to Rangers, and Alec binned him for Hibs, because he turned in the
00:46:21cup final, he went AWOL before we played Celtic, and he got left at the cup final, remember that,
00:46:25yeah absolutely, he went out drinking with Dwight York, and I think he ended up in
00:46:29the front page of the paper or something with Jordan, Katie Price, and him and Dwight, anyway,
00:46:33and he got binned for the cup final, and Russell went to Rangers for a free, and then about three
00:46:37months later MacLeish went, and I remember talking to Russell and he went, oh no I was out the door,
00:46:41as soon as the big egg come back, because you've got a long memory, of all people, big egg to throw
00:46:47him out the door as well, which brings us nicely to a former Scotland manager to the present one,
00:46:54what's your view on Steve Clarke, I mean it's a man who I thought Kelly fans loved him,
00:47:03international wise we've been celebrating him getting us to tournaments Mark,
00:47:08but at the last tournament I think we're all deflated, yeah I think there's no doubt that
00:47:15every Scotland fan was disappointed, I'm sure Steve Clarke was disappointed, we were really
00:47:19poor, there's no getting away for that, I think you look at Steve Clarke's record as a coach and
00:47:24manager, everywhere he's went he's got the best out of the players he's had at his disposal,
00:47:32and yeah he gets criticised for some people's eyes a doer type of football,
00:47:39but again you can only work with the players that you have at your disposal,
00:47:42yeah and I think there's got to be a bit of responsibility on the players that were selected
00:47:47to play better as well, picking up on that, I like Steve Clarke, so do I, I think he's,
00:47:55as I've touched on, I think he gets the best out of players that he works with, yeah, the biggest
00:48:00problem I had though was we were going to the tournament, Tam and I and Hugh Macdonald and our
00:48:05backroom team were in Germany for the three games, and the one thing that we said on day one was quite
00:48:12simply, and this is true even today as we're just about to hear from Steve Clarke, yet likeable,
00:48:19thoroughly decent man, record that you can't argue with club football and as an assistant and a coach
00:48:26to numerous managers, the problem for us I always thought was, and you said it about players,
00:48:34we can't defend and we certainly can't score goals, that's a problem, that's his biggest
00:48:39problem isn't it? Yeah, no definitely, and I think, I mean you go back to the Scotland team
00:48:46that we used to watch growing up, you know your Douglashes, your Soonases, Fort Arms time, but
00:48:52we just don't produce players like that anymore, we've still got some good players, yeah, but we
00:48:58don't have those top quality players that we had in previous decades. Yeah and he's going to have
00:49:03to find some to help us with the Nations League games, this is what the manager makes of our task
00:49:10ahead of trying in the last two years of his deal to get us to a World Cup. And obviously I've always
00:49:17said I'd love to go to a World Cup with my country, I've got a group of players that are determined to
00:49:21go to a World Cup with their country, and some of them will be their last chance, will certainly be
00:49:26my last chance, so there's your motivation there. So he's basically saying if I don't qualify for
00:49:35the World Cup he's going to walk away? Well of course, two year deal, it's blatantly obvious
00:49:42to him, if he doesn't get us to a World Cup he's going to walk, if he does get us to a World Cup
00:49:47you know you've got to take your hats off to him and say listen you've got us there,
00:49:51maybe in that two years when we eventually get there, the only criticism that I can see
00:49:58from my perspective when you look at it, we beat Spain, you know there was a real point where we
00:50:03were pulling off great results and the whole nation was on a high, I think from our evidence
00:50:10Tam, we just wanted them to be more adventurous. I'm encouraged with his squad, he's got Ryan Gold
00:50:16back in who's a creative player playing in America and he's got Doak in there as well,
00:50:22so I think he realises that Scotland, we need something in the final third different,
00:50:27we were so predictable in the Euros, we tried to get the ball wide, put crosses in, we didn't
00:50:32really have someone special who could go and slip somebody in or take a player on and stick
00:50:37one in the top corner, we don't have that and I think he's realised that at that level there's
00:50:43not a lot between teams but you need that little bit extra in the final third, so I'm glad to see
00:50:46that he's brought Ryan Gold and Doak in because I think those two players in particular can give
00:50:52you something different than what we had in the Euros. It needs a change, maybe there's a Ben Doak
00:51:00coming forward, maybe when we get Hickey, Lewis Ferguson fit, Kieran Tierney, maybe all of that
00:51:06suddenly gives them options. Yeah, I think the players you named there, I think if we can keep
00:51:12some of them fit and introduce some of the younger ones it could hopefully make a difference and
00:51:18improve, I think what's helped Stevie Clarke is obviously as you touched on some good results,
00:51:23beating Spain, qualifying for the Euros, where the criticism comes is the style of football that
00:51:29people are watching that they're not happy with, so if you're not getting the results and you've
00:51:33got that style of football, that's when the pressure comes. Yes, great isn't it, we're
00:51:37football purists Mark, in the last 20 years since Barcelona and we've watched that type of football,
00:51:46I can remember being at a game down at Rugby Park, I think Miksu was the manager,
00:51:50and they were rolling the ball out to the left back and then all you could see was the opposition
00:51:57going right forward, high press, and I'm thinking that's okay if you're rolling the ball out to
00:52:03Abidal and Xavi and Iniesta are giving you an option, but not. Everybody wants to play like
00:52:09that Peter, but if you've not got the players to play like that, you can't play like that,
00:52:11I mean every coach would want to play through the thirds and in between the lines and picking the
00:52:18ball up and playing through the back four, but if you've not got the players to do that Peter,
00:52:23you've got to play to your strengths, and if that's your strengths, get in the channels,
00:52:26like Bobby Ongsun used to always do, he'd play it up to Miksu and flick it on to me and that was
00:52:31probably the same at Kilmarnock, but Bobby was simple and that's the way he wanted to play and
00:52:37it was effective at times. Yes absolutely, I always think though that the great players Mark,
00:52:42the ones who are technically gifted, their automatic thought is not am I going to control
00:52:47the ball, their automatic thought is where is everybody in the park, my vision here,
00:52:52I can make that move, I can make that pass, if you're technically gifted, you're not thinking
00:52:57about how am I going to touch this, control it. Tam touched on it earlier, talking about playing
00:53:01against Barry Ferguson and Arteta, I think if you're an average midfield player or not even as
00:53:08good as that, like somebody like me, you maybe wait until you get the ball and then you think
00:53:13what am I going to do now, because they guys already know before they've received the ball
00:53:19what they're going to do a lot of the time, they're just a step ahead.
00:53:23Yes, they're a joy to watch and two guys you mentioned there, Barry was,
00:53:28God would we kill for a Barry Ferguson in the middle of the park now. Yes, Barry was
00:53:32one of the best midfielders I've played against, I thought he was a fantastic footballer. Yes,
00:53:36absolutely, listen thanks to so many people, I've got to read out some Tam, because sometimes I
00:53:42do have a smile at some of the messages, don't worry they're not kidding you, I've got to read
00:53:48out D67 who says Peter Starfelt was great, both him and Cameron Carter-Vickers never lost a game
00:53:55together, he moved to be closer to his girlfriend, I mean, come on Tam, I mean I love that line,
00:54:05it's just. Are they still together? Yes, they're still together, absolutely, yes,
00:54:10it's certainly, there's no point in asking you Mark, because you're moving all the time to the
00:54:16Amazon jungle, how does your family put up with that by the way? I think they're probably quite
00:54:22glad to get rid of me for a week. Absolutely, I was going to say to you, you've raised a lot of
00:54:26money though. Yes, I think since I started, it must have been in the region of about £100,000
00:54:34maybe now Peter, I had a book out last year as well and all the proceeds of that went to charity,
00:54:40so between the book and the events, it's about £100,000 roughly. Yes, and I think the question
00:54:48that I think is more pertinent for everyone, you did it for your daughter Dionne, how's she getting
00:54:54on? Yes, she's doing well, her general health's quite good, part of the condition is seizures,
00:55:01so recently she's been taking quite a few seizures, been in and out of hospital, but
00:55:06no, she's doing okay. The syndrome, Rett syndrome, your money helps, other people
00:55:14you've obviously helped by raising the awareness, which I think is to your eternal credit,
00:55:20what's the prognosis from the medical side of things as to try and help this, alleviate any
00:55:27symptoms or help her long term? Yes, the charity that I raise for is Reverse Rett,
00:55:35because it's a rare condition, there's no lottery or government funding towards us,
00:55:38it's purely private donations, so the money goes towards research to try and find a cure,
00:55:46but also clinical trials to try and help people who are currently suffering with it, to make their
00:55:51lives better to be honest, so they're now kind of trialling gene therapy as well, to try and
00:55:56replace a faulty gene, so there is a lot of ongoing work going on, they did reverse the
00:56:01condition in the lab in 2007, and they reckon it could be the first curable neurological condition
00:56:09that might help Alzheimer's etc going forward, so they're still obviously a bit away from that,
00:56:15but yeah, there's no cure for it, the condition as it is just now, but
00:56:22say hopefully in the future that will change. Yeah, absolutely, magnificent, well listen,
00:56:27more power to you, I think it's a tremendous achievement, as you said, having a purpose
00:56:32drives you on, but just being able to raise that sort of money to help the charity, to let people
00:56:38be aware of it, I think you deserve tremendous credit, we're not going to let you go, because
00:56:43we know we're down to the last few minutes, we're not going to let you go without picking,
00:56:48you've got five players to pick for your five asides that you've played with, played with,
00:56:53yeah, who would you take in the trenches with you, goalkeeper first, goalkeeper,
00:56:59I would go for five asides, I was going to go for Gordon Marshall, he was a great pro, great
00:57:07organiser, talker, struggled with his knees a wee bit towards the end, do you know what,
00:57:15I'll just go with Gordon Marshall, thank God for that Mark, I'll tell you why, because Marshall
00:57:20and I are pals, and I was just about to go, Marshall, you're out of his fives, submit him,
00:57:27by the way, the worst dresser I've ever seen in my life, I mean his gear is a mile out, but he's in,
00:57:31wow, so there's your goalie, what are you going for, are you going for a tic-a-tac-a,
00:57:35or let's cement the other four players we're playing against,
00:57:41I'm going to jump to my striker, so I'm going to go with wee Bunyan, wee Paul Wright,
00:57:45because five asides, don't let you run about too much, he wasn't the most mobile,
00:57:50but great finisher, left foot, right foot, so I'll go with him up front,
00:57:54you can just stand and not move too much, I'll probably mix it up with,
00:57:59I'll go to throw Ali Mitchell in, because he'll just run about everywhere, that's three,
00:58:07Durant, brilliant, that's four, I'm kind of short of defenders, let's go for Flair,
00:58:18do you know who I'm going to throw in, I've got a really unbalanced five,
00:58:25but because I've got Durant in and I've got Paul Wright in,
00:58:31I'm going to go for two that will just run up and down and can cover at the batting everywhere,
00:58:35I'll go with Gary Holt, oh, there you are, he'll be ecstatic about that by the way,
00:58:41he'll be ecstatic, what about that team Tom? Good side, good team.
00:58:45Good for a noise up there, didn't you imagine Durant in the middle of the park?
00:58:49Aye, he's a cigarrette.
00:58:51Exactly what I was thinking, Mark it's been an absolute joy, I'm glad you mentioned Paul Wright,
00:58:55that was great, he's a great striker from years gone by, and again, brilliant that you come on
00:59:01the show, hopefully in the future you'll come back on, I still can't believe he gave away the
00:59:06tops, that's just done my head in time, and the medal as well, but brilliant.
00:59:11My League Cup jersey went at an auction for charity, this is funny, Ronaldo's Real Madrid
00:59:19jersey was getting auctioned the same night, that went for £1,000, it was a supporters night,
00:59:25that went for £1,000, my League Cup and my medal went for £1,500,
00:59:28so that night and that night only I was a better player than Ronaldo.
00:59:31I'm happy with that Tommy, that sums it up perfectly.
00:59:36From Mark Reilly, from Tammy McManus, from myself Peter Martin,
00:59:39hopefully you enjoyed the show and the banter, don't forget, hit the subscribe button
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00:59:52straight talk, along with not only the football show and the women's football show, but we also
00:59:59have the journals as well, which will be out on Thursday, which is a good listen, we've got Michael
01:00:04Grant, great journalist, big Aberdeen fan, and as you know, Don's flying high, well worth a watch.
01:00:10A countdown to, of course, the Old Firm game is certainly on the way, and we'll continue that
01:00:17all the way through to Sunday as well. Tomorrow we'll get reaction to the Champions League draw
01:00:23on our channel, so don't miss that. From Mark, from Tamm, from myself Peter Martin,
01:00:27thank you for listening and watching.