Halloween dawns and Sir Taggart at Big Four New World Order HQ will be delighted to hear one of his accolytes Alec McLeish turning up the heat on Manchester City this weekend…
Ferguson wannabe McLeish has not only indulged in arslikhan of his former Aberdeen guru via the hacks, but also questionably appealed to Birmingham’s supporters, a notorious section of whom have previous with a notorious section of City fans, to ‘unleash hell’ at Sunday’s important Premier League clash at Saint Andrews.
In these days of this increasingly sanitised national sport, it remains to be seen whether or not McLeish’s extraordinary call for opposition players to be ‘goaded’ will be deemed as appropriate by an FA hierarchy who have already made their intentions and rulings clear over player-fan exchanges this season.
Firstly, McLeish tripped over himself to talk about the rags at the first opportunity in the build up to his meeting with City:
‘Man City have had a dig at United with the Tevez poster and Sir Alex responded. Maybe one day Man City will usurp United.
‘But United have obviously got a pedigree of being champions and know how it feels. City are trying to get close to that kind of feeling United and their players have.
‘The proof of the pudding will be when Mark Hughes’ team can win something.’
Quite what Manchester football has got to do with McLeish is an answers on a postcard job.
McLeish then seemed to address City’s newfound siege mentality which has led to only one Old Trafford Extra Time defeat all season to date:
‘I know there is jealousy out there towards them as a club. The little guy wants to see the big guy fall and Mark Hughes will be aware of all that kind of talk. Knowing Mark and the character he is, he will try and use that as a weapon to try and beat people up with.’
There’s more than a hint of Rab C Nesbitt-ish angst in amongst McLeish’s words and he doesn’t stop there. He then points his radar straight at fan altercations involving Manchester City players this season and calls for more:
‘The Birmingham fans unleashed hell a few years ago and made St Andrews a tough place to go. They were hostile and I am looking for a return to that. The goading of opposition players is part of the game.
‘Some individuals have to show their emotions like Adebayor and Bellamy.’
Here’s to City staying focused and letting their football do the talking.
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