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What a goal! It’s been great defence so far and we’ve rode our luck at times but what a game, what a goal. Come on!!!

On the way out?

Barry Ferguson and Kris Boyd. Only joking. Le Guen may have a certain frisson towards them, but he’s not a kamikaze pilot.

That was the Sunday Herald on the 31st Dec 2006. Just days later, Paul Le Geun has left Rangers by mutual consent. He left after stripping Ferguson of captaincy and dropping him. It looked liked Ferguson wouldn’t play again under Le Guen and it was certainly a ballsy move by the manager and showed who was boss. So I thought.

Does this mean that player power is really in control at Ibrox? Does Ferguson carry more weight than Le Guen (no pun intended)? Does Murray wield too much influence in that as long as players he wants to play are playing the manager is safe? Certainly the results weren’t of the quality to be expected at Rangers but it looks like the Ferguson incident has brought things to a head. Le Guen had an excellent track record and his appointment was lauded as a great coup by Murray. If he couldn’t turn things round at Ibrox then who can? Interesting days ahead.

Title say’s it all. Stunning performance from the boys but huge, massive credit to Walter Smith for turning this team around. It will still be an almighty challenge to qualify but we should savour the group table while we can. Three games played, three wins and we’ve just beaten the World Cup runners up. Get in.

Italy have just won the 2006 World Cup on penalties. Shame really as I thought France were more deserving and certainly had the better game. Even bigger shame is Zidane - sent off after head butting Materazzi. There was no doubt that he should have been sent off - it was as nasty as I’ve seen throughout the whole world cup…well apart from Rooney ripping Carvalho’s sack apart.

It will take time for Zidane to be remembered for his football skills rather than a crazy moment that overshadowed a world cup final. It was even more poignant as he had guided France through the tournament and you felt there was a bit of a last hoorah as he had announced his retirement before the tournament had begun. Read the wikipedia article for some of his achievements and videos highlighting his skill. It has also been updated to reflect tonight’s events. I still loved the coolness of his penalty though - sheer class.

This is by far the best tournament I’ve ever watched. Great games, spectacular goals and for the most teams willing to attack and win games rather than settle for draws. It’s only failings are the officials. Five per match and yet when the referee is obviously losing control not one of the other four can step in and take charge. Referee Valentin Ivanov in tonight’s Holland-Portugal game awarded sixteen yellow cards and four red. Totally ruined the game for me. Deco can feel particularly hard done by, Figo can feel lucky. The ref never even saw the Figo head butt as he had his back turned so I can only assume a linesman made him aware and yet he only awarded yellow. I also thought the Dutch diving went unpunished…for the sake of the game finishing tonight it was probably just as well.

Graham Poll also lost his cool the other night yet no one intervened. I only hope Fifa can get hold of the situation before they blot the whole tournaments memories with referee’s who seem more intent to make a name for themselves rather than let football do the talking. Tonight’s cards will also have a big impact on the England game as Portugal will be without Deco and Costinha and when (ok…..if) they progress who will they be without then as another five players are carrying the threat of a semi-final ban. Shame….sort it out Fifa.