Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We're getting a chaps' night out. We take a taxi to the Ben Nevis bar on Sauchiehall
Street for a couple of beers, then stroll round to Mother India for a superb meal that's
interestingly different from the usual sub-continental run of dishes (much as I love them
all). The variety of really tasty fish dishes is especially impressive.
Greenock. Cappielow, hallowed ground of the mighty Greenock Morton Football Club.
We get there in far too much time because on the last occasion we tried to get in to a really
important match, a decade ago when Morton had a slimmish chance of ascending into the
Scottish Premier League (and, oh, how long ago that seems now), we didn't get in. We
were there an hour ahead of time but there were just so many people queuing already that
the ground was full before we got anywhere near the turnstiles.
This time we're there an hour and half ahead of kick-off time and have no problem.
We meet up with Jim and Dave and our friends Ronnie and Nipper. Jim informs us he has
stopped smoking. I think this is what convinces me that miracles really do happen and
Morton are definitely going up. Actually I'd have thought a comparative miracle to Jim
stopping smoking would be Morton winning the European Cup, but sure enough, even
during an often tense football game, Jim does not light up.
It's a long wait before the game (it's a
really
long wait, because the ground is heading
for maximum capacity again and the kick-off's delayed by quarter of an hour to let as
many as possible in) and my feet are sore because this morning we walked from Bruce
and Yvonne's just off Crow Road to Byres Road and back, to shop at Fopp and have
a look round an antiques fair. This end of Cappielow, overlooking Sinclair Street, still
has terracing rather than seats and so I lean on the blue, drainpipe-wide rail and take the
weight off my feet that way.
However it's good to have the time to talk to people, the weather stays fine and when
the game does eventually start it's all okay, because Morton play well, they score a goal,
keep a clean sheet and so go up as champions. It's not a great game except in its conse-
quences, but it's not a poor game either; Morton deserve to win and there are no espe-
cially dubious refereeing decisions or particular reasons for Peterhead to feel aggrieved;
they was not robbed.
Agreed, there is a slight stramash on the touchline when tempers run a little high to-
wards the conclusion of the 90 minutes and it looks like a few fists are thrown, albeit
ineffectually, possibly some of them belonging to coaching staff, but even this is quickly
sorted out and doesn't unduly disturb the flow of the game.
Fitba and the Greater Morality
.
One of the things I dislike about football is its potential for deeply unfair results (this, as
you might imagine, is a well developed and deeply felt theme amongst Morton support-
