Gordon Irving

[BBC ALBA @bbcalba]

64’| 🔵 Tadhal eile do Rangers, Katie Wilkinson an turas seo!

Rangers grab another! Katie Wilkinson catches Lee Gibson off her line and gives her side the lead with this long range effort 🚀

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@europebarguide I made the bar

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

Lord Foulkes just said the quiet part in the Lords: “working royal” was invented to con the public.

Cutting ribbons and waving is not a job. Teachers, nurses, binmen do real work. You’re funding a multi-home, private-jet aristocracy to the tune of £100m a year so they can perform for the cameras.

Most expensive monarchy in Europe by a mile and the media still treats it like a national religion instead of an expensive costume drama.

Stop the grant. #AbolishTheMonarchy

[Chino @ChinoUTD]

🚨 Luka Modric on Zinedine Zidane:

“Everybody is sharing that touch from Zizou vs Belgium.

I watched it and laughed because people are discovering something Real Madrid players spent years trying to understand.

How does this man still have that touch?

We had a little game in training. If Zizou was near the pitch and the ball went out, somebody would deliberately hit it towards him harder than necessary.

We just wanted to catch him.

One day Marcelo absolutely fired one at him.

Zizou controlled it like somebody had gently passed him the television remote.

Marcelo looked at me. I looked at Toni.

Nobody said anything.

Zizou passed it back and asked, ‘What?’

Marcelo said, ‘Nothing, Mister.’

Zizou smiled. He knew exactly what we were doing.

After that it became worse.

Higher ball. He controls it.

Awkward bounce. He controls it.

One day I told him, ‘Mister, eventually one of us is going to give you a bad enough pass.’

He said, ‘Luka, there are bad passes. There doesn’t have to be a bad first touch.’

Sometimes he would join a rondo and suddenly training became personal.

Casemiro once said, ‘Coach, you know you retired, yes?’

Zizou said, ‘Yes.’

Casemiro pointed at the ball.

‘Does the ball know?’

We all laughed.

People ask why that Real Madrid dressing room respected him so much.

Cristiano. Sergio. Karim. Marcelo. Toni. Casemiro. Gareth. Myself.

Big personalities who had already won everything.

But occasionally the manager would walk onto the training pitch and remind you that before he became the man explaining football to you, he was Zinedine Zidane.

If Zizou stopped training and told me, ‘Luka, your body needs to be positioned differently when this ball arrives,’ what was I supposed to say?

‘Are you sure?’

The man could probably demonstrate it wearing his suit.

Apparently tonight he decided to prove that too.

But everybody will talk about the touch and miss the better part of his performance.

France were losing 1–0.

That is where you really saw Zizou.

He didn’t panic because the match wasn’t following his plan.

He waited.

Around the hour he sent Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki on together.

I can imagine Michael asking, ‘What do you want me to do?’

And Zizou saying something very complicated:

‘Play football.’

Then Da Cunha comes. Later Doue.

Suddenly Belgium have a completely different France in front of them.

Doue scores.

Olise creates Cherki’s goal.

Olise scores.

Then Olise scores again.

4–1.

That isn’t magic. That is management.

I remember after we won one of our Champions Leagues, somebody mentioned how calm Zizou seemed when matches became difficult.

I told them, ‘You think he is calm because you are watching him. Try being the player.’

Sometimes we would be struggling and he would walk into the dressing room like we were 3–0 ahead.

He’d move one thing.

Tell one player, ‘Stay here.’

Tell another, ‘When he receives it, go.’

Then: ‘Okay. Play.’

You’d walk back outside thinking, ‘Surely there should be more?’

Then somehow the game made sense again.

That is why I was never surprised by what he achieved at Madrid.

People can talk about the squad he had. Of course we had incredible players.

But incredible players still need somebody they believe.

Imagine receiving instructions from Zinedine Zidane every morning, then watching him join training and remind you that his first touch might still be better than yours.

He won three Champions Leagues in a row with us.

That doesn’t happen because somebody has aura.

Tonight was a small example of why.

France gave him a difficult match.

He controlled that too.

Then, with practically the final touch of the evening, the ball came towards him on the touchline.

Perfect control.

I laughed again.

All these years later, we’re apparently still trying to give Zizou a bad ball.

And we’re still waiting.”

[Appie Culé @appiecule]

Football is finished, man. Soon, there won’t even be many people left who actually know how to watch it.

Look at Dani Olmo yesterday. He put in a reference level performance as a No.10, one of those games where you can actually learn something by watching him — and barely anyone said a word.

Then you wake up today and X is flooded with posts praising Bellingham.

That’s what football has become for a lot of people. They don’t necessarily talk about the player who actually played the best football; they talk about whoever is more popular, more hyped or gets the most attention.

It’s not about understanding the game anymore. It’s about repeating the names everyone else is talking about.

Olmo can dominate a game technically and tactically, and people will ignore it because he isn’t as popular as Bellingham.

Actually watch football instead of watching the hype.

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@MusicJim2 Funeral song

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@Greggypegg I fear gassama will rip borch or Altena

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@PenicuikAth James that’s ridiculous 😁 tell ur mum n dad im asking for them

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@PenicuikAth @WhitehilWelfare Jamesy👏👏

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@BroxburnAthFC Pick it out 👏👏

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@the_zb_ Why are they building tracks that you can’t overtake on?

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@BroxburnAthFC Take a bow wee man

[Drew Maddux @DrewMaddux]

There's an old African proverb:

Every morning, a gazelle wakes up knowing it must run faster than the lion, or it will die.
Every morning, a lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.

It doesn't matter if you're the lion or the gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you'd better be running.

Life doesn't reward those who sit idle. Whether you're chasing a dream or fighting to survive, motion is non-negotiable.

Stop waiting for perfect conditions. Stop waiting for permission. The sun is up. Start running.

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@GlenCameron16 Nice balanced football player but Boyle will rip him a new hole

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@HitTheByline Here’s to mato

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@LiamAStewart One booking let the ball run past him countless misconstrolled countless

[Dan Neidle @DanNeidle]

Nimesh has spotted something that could easily be a coincidence. Or not:

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@Amoruso1998 I genuinely don’t mind shank n dev leaving they’ll b paying mortgages n nursery fees when fans would b calling for their heads but when someone leaves ur club n does it with class n kind words they go with everyone’s best wishes Fuk delighted Kizi

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@elainesim28 😁😁😁

[Gordon Irving @GordonIrving963]

@AdamDunn1872 I hear he’s available for £22 million