The death of Dave Mackay early last week set me thinking about whether there were any of his ilk around in the present day game and I couldn’t think of any who measured up to him for his sheer invincible refusal to know or acknowledge when he was beaten.
I’d give my right hand arthritic though it is, for just one player with that sort of commitment at Formartine.
We seem to have players with a different sort of aproach – instead of never knowing when they are beaten; some never know when they are winning. That’s three games on the trot now that we have seen a noticeable down turn in our fortunes after half time.
It cost us two points at Forres, [from one up at half time] knackered our season against Cove in the Cup [from 1-1 at half time] and gie near caused us huge embarrassment when Strathspey got back to 3-2 yeaterday and then gave us a bit of a runaround for 20 minutes before Callum Dingwall saved our blushes late on.
Teams and players who win stuff just don’t do things like that – they want to win every ball at every turn and it never crosses their minds that they might slip in the clutch and free wheel for a wee while. The idea that they can have done enough before the final whistle – let alone by half time is something that Dave Mackay, Ally Shewen or their ilk could never contemplate.
I get the impression nowadays that some might even think that was being mature and professional. If so they are sadly deluded – they must know by now that it’s almost impossible to turn it back on again after it’s been turned off.
Sad times or am I just aul?