Now Gordon has taken to lecturing football clubs about  the importance of financial prudence and in particular not running up debts, it seems timely to reflect on what John Reid has to say about these matters.  The former hard man of the cabinet may not be a fan of Gordon, but he knows a bit about football club management since he is now the chairman of Celtic F.C., he says

“If you start getting into a position where you are running up debts that you cannot afford, spending money you don’t have, it is the road not to success but to ruin.”

He also said “If you want a boring crowd of Holy Willies, go to the other side of the city.” The “Holy Willies” is a term taken from a Robert Burns poem about Presbyterian hypocrisy and self-righteousness.  The  “other side of the city” means Rangers, who are based in Ibrox, which was part of the old Burgh of Govan… where one James Gordon Brown was born.  Reid has vowed to speak no ill of the PM, so these allegories are entirely coincidental…