There might be a World Cup going on - and we’ll get to that later - but the appointment of Michael Beale as Rangers manager continues to be the hottest Hotline topic.
Alan Flett emailed: “Like many Rangers fans, I’m not convinced about the appointment of Beale. I fear we’ve done a Celtic and gone for the cheap option. He may be highly regarded as a coach but Ian Cathro (Hearts) and Shaun Maloney (Hibs) are prime examples of how that counts for nothing when you step up to the hot seat. I firmly believe that Gerrard would still be at the club with Beale as No.2,had he been backed by the board. Beale, on his own, will just do as he’s told.”
But Jim Mackenzie, East Kilbride, said: “To all of the Hotline Celtic fans calling Michael Beale the cheap option...with Celtic being nine points clear, and according to you having a better squad, I take it if Rangers turn things around and win the league you will expect your manager to resign, or what is more likely that as usual you will blame VAR and conspiracies.”
Andrew Lamb, Fraserburgh, emailed: “Let’s stop all the whataboutery surrounding Beale’s appointment. He’s here now, so let’s get behind the man and challenge Celtic. I suspect the Rangers legal team will be more concerned given the amount of litigation being levelled at the club.”
Richard Wharton, Carlisle, said: “When Gerrard won the league he was a genius. Now they tell us that Beale was the master of tactics and he was the brains behind it. Which one was it?”
Arrin Geddes, Irvine, said: “If you go on to the Rangers website you can check out the first team, the B team, the women’s team and now the legal team. For the last few years the latter might not have had the best results but they’ve definitely been the hardest working!”
Onto the circus in Qatar and George Fairgrieve clearly isn’t a Ronaldo fan. He emailed: “Ronaldo could be the first winner of the Golden Loot having tried to steal a team-mate’s goal and given the number of penalties he 'loots'. He claimed he got 'the slightest touch', well, we all know that when there’s 'the slightest touch' Ronaldo goes down like he’s been poleaxed.”
Gary Stevenson, Newtonhill, emailed: “Only Wales could outdo Scotland in the embarrassment stakes. Out of the World Cup and their only contribution to the tournament was the Bucket Hat! This relegates Scotland into second place for their rendition of Yes Sir I Can Boogie.”
John Melrose, Edinburgh, said: “What a performance from Cameron Carter-Vickers for the USA. He was the defensive rock in keeping the clean sheet that took this exciting young team through to the knockout stages of the World Cup and no wonder a lot of big name pundits are raving about him. It just shows the quality of our manager as the £6m he spent on him will get us a £30m return, minimum.”
Thomas Marshall said: “Let’s roar England on. It must be embarrassing for the Tartan Army watching from home once again. As British we should enjoy this occasion as Scotland will never get to the World Cup.”
Back in Scotland, John Bruce emailed: “The Scottish Cup draw brought out some potential giantkiller ties, but the one that caught the eye was Darvel v Aberdeen, as the Dons must fancy themselves for a cup shock.”
Kevin Lord, Drylaw, had this take on the new guidelines regarding heading the ball in training, saying: “Once again Hibs are innovators in Scottish football. We stopped crossing balls into the centre years ago. And our centre halves point blank refuse to head it.”
Finally, Jim Cumming from Glasgow has a point we can all agree on: “Congratulations to young Scottish golfers Ewen Ferguson and Robert MacIntyre for being picked by Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald to be part of the GB + Ireland team to play Continental Europe in the Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi in January 2023...well done lads!”
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