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Tag: Scottish

  • Scottish Cup offers Rangers chance to defy expectations against Celtic

    Scottish Cup offers Rangers chance to defy expectations against Celtic

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    A Rangers season which began with typically lofty expectations could in effect end before May Day. Defeat by Celtic in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final would extinguish the one lingering hope of silverware from a campaign during which Rangers have continued to wrestle with the frustration of being second best in a two-horse race.

    Knockout football is such a fickle beast that some would rail at any assertion the winners of this Old Firm clash will lift the cup. Unfortunately the gulf between Celtic, Rangers and the rest of the top flight is stark enough without contemplating the prospects of second-tier Inverness and League One Falkirk, who meet in Saturday’s first semi-final. Odds of at least 20-1 for either to win the trophy almost seem to underplay the situation.

    A key talking point will and should surround the preposterous assertion of the Scottish Football Association that a crowd of considerably fewer than 20,000 should trot along to the 52,000-capacity Hampden Park on Saturday when the match would be far more sensibly hosted at Tynecastle or Easter Road. The Scottish Cup has no sponsor, the Scottish game very little positive image beyond its own parochial boundaries. Those in high office, who will look on silently from cosy seats as sectarian verse pollutes the Hampden air on Sunday, need to raise their game.

    That this game constitutes Rangers’ last stand will add to the sense of fervour from their end. A desire to do something, anything, to show Celtic can be bruised has lurched towards desperation. There has even been the rising and nonsensical suggestion that Michael Beale, Rangers’ head coach, should come under pressure if he fails to seal a June return to Hampden. This notion resonates in the antiquated notion that winning is everything at Ibrox; Rangers have won precious little in contemporary times without material change occurring.

    “We are not that far from them,” the Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin said of Celtic. On the basis of head-to-head meetings – and Raskin has been in Glasgow only since January – the point has a degree of merit. The league table presses home a deeper story. With five fixtures to play, Celtic head their oldest foes by 13 points and have a far better goal difference. By every available metric relating to squad performance or value, Celtic are superior. A glance at Scotland’s domestic trophy spread over more than a decade dictates this as a concerted period of Celtic dominance.

    Rangers are likely to lose Sunday’s semi-final. Beale, as the man standing front and centre, will field criticism if they do, however it plays out. Neil Banfield, Beale’s assistant, did his boss no favours last week by breathlessly comparing the 42-year-old to Arsène Wenger, Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino. Rangers duly lost tamely, 2-0 at Aberdeen.

    The key point is that in November Beale took over a club that basked so much in the title success of 2021 that in domestic context it forgot how to improve. By the onset of the January window Beale presided over an injury-prone squad which included goalkeepers aged 40 and 35, wholly unconvincing defenders, a one-paced midfield and, in Alfredo Morelos, a moody striker who had quite enough of Scottish football long ago (the feeling is generally mutual). Millions have been squandered on players who make no serious impact on the starting XI. The Rangers board accelerated summer moves for Raskin and Todd Cantwell in an attempt to prove to supporters that revolution was forthcoming. Beale’s summer work must be even more radical. Without that, Rangers are stuck in a cycle of watching Celtic profit on and off the field.

    Rangers’ Nicolas Raskin (left) against Celtic
    Nicolas Raskin (left) says Rangers ‘are not that far from Celtic’. Photograph: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

    Beale is not without error. He made rookie mistakes during the League Cup final defeat by Celtic. Nonetheless, he has rapidly discovered that Rangers can look fluent against dross in the Scottish Premiership without being at all convincing when stakes are raised. He is worthy of an opportunity to alter that, including by pressing home knowledge of the club he is so keen to stress he garnered as a coach under Steven Gerrard. Beating Celtic on Sunday would deliver a morale boost but in bigger-picture terms Rangers need to rejuvenate themselves as an efficient and effective club. Neither presently applies.

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    The case of Ross Wilson emphasises how quickly life can come at you as a Rangers employee. Last May, after Rangers sampled rare domestic glory in the Scottish Cup, the sporting director was posting Union Jack emojis on social media in a lame attempt to ingratiate himself to a supporter base who within months were holding up banners calling for his removal. Wilson, who is very good at talking the talk, has shuffled off to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.

    John Bennett – whose mantra for Rangers of “best in class” is rather undermined by performance – is the new chairman. James Bisgrove will step into the shoes soon to be vacated by the managing director Stewart Robertson. With Bisgrove as commercial director, Rangers have attracted a level of partners which would make Elizabeth Taylor blush. In the domain of Scottish football and its complex politics, though, he is a lightweight; this looks like rearranging deckchairs.

    When dust settles on an inevitably fractious Hampden clash, Rangers will trundle through a handful of meaningless league games. A Scottish Cup final beyond those five humdrum fixtures would increase the club’s sense of status. Thereafter, and more importantly, Beale needs to trigger a seismic shift. Even in this madcap football world, it seems fair to allow him a decent chance at that.

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    #Scottish #Cup #offers #Rangers #chance #defy #expectations #Celtic
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

  • Scottish leadership election leaves gender reform hanging in balance

    Scottish leadership election leaves gender reform hanging in balance

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    The future of transgender rights in Scotland remains in limbo, as SNP politicians warn that a leadership contest must not become dominated by ongoing rows on gender recognition reform.

    Meanwhile, Scottish Greens sources suggest that any rowback on reform could lead to the collapse of the party’s power-sharing agreement with the SNP.

    A key challenge for whoever replaces Nicola Sturgeon is whether to continue with her plan to challenge the UK government’s decision to block Holyrood’s gender bill through the courts.

    Scottish government sources confirmed on Thursday that ministers were still taking legal advice on the prospect of challenging the section 35 order that was announced by the UK government in January, which prevents the bill from going for royal assent. They said a decision was unlikely to be reached until much closer to the 16 April deadline.

    On Thursday evening, the SNP’s national executive committee confirmed that the results of its leadership contest would be announced on 27 March, giving the new leader just over three weeks to decide.

    A number of SNP politicians, both supportive of and opposed to the bill, raised concerns that the leadership election could become mired in the increasingly toxic debate that has dogged the party for several years, leaving voters unclear whether the party shares their priorities.

    One MP said: “People on the doorstep are not talking to me about GRR [gender recognition reform] but about the cost of living crisis.

    “The leadership contest shouldn’t become all about the bill. The contest must concentrate on what to do to unify the party and lead us to independence.”

    While Sturgeon was an unapologetic defender of the legislation, which would simplify how an individual may legally change their gender, Scottish equalities campaigners have raised concerns that a new leader less committed to reform – as at least one potential contender is known to be – might offer concessions to the UK government rather than formally challenge section 35.

    Another SNP MSP who was closely involved in the bill’s progress through Holyrood said that while they expected at least one candidate to emerge who was opposed to the reforms, they would be surprised if the new leader did not continue with the legal challenge.

    “This is about much more than gender reform, it’s about whether the Scottish parliament can pass its own legislation. I’d be surprised if a nationalist leader didn’t challenge that, and I’m much more concerned about winning that challenge,” they said.

    A Scottish Green party source said the party’s joint leaders, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, would almost certainly resign from their ministerial posts if the new SNP leader either delayed or rewrote the gender recognition bill.

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    That would lead to the collapse of the formal cooperation deal brokered by Sturgeon and Harvie in 2021, which led to the SNP sharing power for the first time. “It’s a red line for the party,” he said. “There’s no compromise on this.”

    Sturgeon’s successor would almost certainly see that threat as another significant argument in favour of fighting to keep the bill on track. “I think they would walk if a new SNP leader didn’t do everything in their power to get that bill on to the statute book,” the source said.

    He also suggested that if the government watered down or dropped the bill, SNP MSPs would revolt in far greater numbers than the nine SNP backbenchers who voted against it.

    Senior SNP sources suggest the successful leadership candidate must offer a robust defence of the bill itself but also open up dialogue, while shifting focus to other pressing domestic concerns such as heating and healthcare.

    The SNP MP Joanna Cherry, a vocal critic of the changes, tweeted immediately after Sturgeon’s resignation announcement that a leadership contest must “restore the SNP’s tradition of internal party democracy, open respectful debate and intellectual rigour”.

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    #Scottish #leadership #election #leaves #gender #reform #hanging #balance
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

  • There is a path to Scottish independence. Sturgeon was brilliant, but she just couldn’t see it | Simon Jenkins

    There is a path to Scottish independence. Sturgeon was brilliant, but she just couldn’t see it | Simon Jenkins

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    An independent Scotland has not been hindered by Nicola Sturgeon’s departure; it could well be advanced by it. Her eight years as first minister have been remarkable, but failed to bring statehood closer to reality. The question is whether her intransigence postponed it.

    Sturgeon made a strategic error after her predecessor Alex Salmond lost the 2014 independence referendum. She assumed her charisma could swiftly erode the 55% turnout for continued union with England and secure a victorious rerun of the poll. Despite her electoral successes, she never seriously dented that majority. All Sturgeon could do was plunge an ever more visceral anti-Englishness into courtroom battles with London that she was never likely to win.

    Salmond had in 2014 foolishly rejected David Cameron’s offer of a second referendum option for so-called “devo max”, a radically enhanced Scottish autonomy. This would certainly have passed, with polls indicating 66% support among Scottish voters. While devo max was a constitutional can of worms, it could not have been wished away. It should have begun a drastic restructuring of the Scottish economy away from dependence on – and therefore control from – London. At very least it would have put serious autonomy within the realm of plausibility.

    The question now is how far could a new SNP leader take such a move towards greater autonomy forward, possibly aided by sensible and open-minded leaders of the Labour and Tory parties. To Sturgeon, the issue bordered on the theological. As with Salmond, it was freedom or bust, independence or serfdom. They wanted their own currency, their own debt, a hard border with England, membership of the EU and no UK weapons on Scottish soil. This was fantasy enough but at no point did it engage in the elephant in the independence room – economics.

    david cameron and alex salmond
    Alex Salmond in 2014 foolishly rejected David Cameron’s offer of a second referendum option for so-called “devo max”. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

    Gazing across the Irish Sea, we can all study Ireland’s experience since independence a century ago, when under British rule it was among the poorest nations in Europe. Depending on definition, it is today one of the most prosperous. But it took Dublin 50 years of austerity and pain – including a meagre welfare state – to get there. Not until the 1980s did it achieve such key indicators of growth as a net inflow of investment, population and talent, and “Celtic tiger” status.

    There is no tartan tiger. Sturgeon’s leadership enabled the Scots to have their cake and eat it. Her fierce nationalism gave voters emotional satisfaction. She ran hospitals, schools, trains, law and order, while Covid gave Scotland a degree of administrative discretion. Limited scope to raise top income taxes allowed a generous family support package and free student tuition. But this did not deliver the Scottish people conspicuously better services, and it depended heavily on an annual subsidy from London.

    Scotland’s budget deficit in 2020-21 of 22% of GDP was among the largest of any nation in the western world, though surging oil and gas revenues have recently cut it back. Similarly sized Denmark runs a surplus of 4%. The annual UK government grant to Scotland announced last October was a record £41bn. This is money a Scottish treasury would have to find on its own, which is why Scotland’s standard of living needs union into the foreseeable future. As Ireland shows, there is a path out of dependency, but it is neither easy nor swift.

    the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh
    ‘Federalism covers a spectrum of options but its purpose is to offer Scotland a freer hand to raise and spend public money’: the Scottish parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

    Federal constitutions in Spain, Switzerland and Germany indicate that the key to autonomy lies in fiscal freedom, in the capacity to grow, earn and spend, independent of policies ordained by a central government. The Basques and the Swiss cantons enjoy fiscal discretions unthinkable to the British Treasury – but the key lies in fiscal self-sufficiency. Advocates of independence persistently fail to confront this.

    There is no reason why Scotland cannot approach the prosperity of Ireland or Scandinavia. Decades of reliance on the most centralist political economy in Europe – that of the UK – have crippled Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Devo max might aim to embrace some of Ireland’s libertarian taxes along with Norway’s links to the EU’s single market. It might conceivably join with Northern Ireland in its revitalised Brexit protocol, ingeniously returning to the EU’s trading regime and yet free to trade with England. A digital border would be complicated, as Ireland is showing, but it would honour the clear vote of a majority of Scots against Brexit.

    The concept of devo max – so-called “full fiscal autonomy” or “radical federalism” – is now debated by many on the fringes of the independence debate, in Wales as well as Scotland. The effort is to move forward from political confrontation. Federalism covers a spectrum of options but its purpose is to offer Scotland a freer hand to raise and spend public money, while offering London relief from a heavy burden in Scotland. It would be what Ireland was denied by England in the 19th century, true home rule under the crown. Had it been granted, the old United Kingdom might still be one.

    As for Sturgeon’s successor, such an outcome could deliver a new Scotland mercifully at peace with London. Or it could prepare a path to full independence if that were, in my view sadly, to be Scotland’s eventual choice.

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    #path #Scottish #independence #Sturgeon #brilliant #couldnt #Simon #Jenkins
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )