Alan Gow

Remember him? The idle Mercenary who never looked bothered. He's just left his club in India (East Bengal) and is set to join a club in Iran (despite government advise warning him not to).

Alan Gow

He must be pleased the way his career has gone.

If it does eventually kick off down there we can expect a few lives lost trying to get the prat out of Iran! What a dik.

Good job we showed the ambition to get him rather than Charlie Adam,eh.

Trust in Stapes.

Greenskin wrote:

Good job we showed the ambition to get him rather than Charlie Adam,eh.

Trust in Stapes.

Blame them bleddy Janners for turning up in their thousands!

People like him really make me mad, he has all the ability in the world at his feet, he scored probably the technically best free kick ever seen at home park, his close control was prem league class, his passing was second to none, but he was almost the laziest player i have ever seen in my entire life. If he could be bothered he would have made the prem league, but he's more interested in putting money in the bank than the ball in the net. Shamefull

With you on that one. Definitely had the talent, but didn't want to work. Bit like Steve McLean, both of them must have had something about them, judging by the number of different managers who signed them, but never really settled for a long period at any club.

Isn't that a bit of a contradiction of terms when saying "could have played in the prem" and then "more interested in putting money in the bank". Would'nt he have put more of one in the bank if he had played in the prem?

Don't see why anyone needs to go and get him out if he chooses to go to the middle east. He chose to go to let him get himself out.

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

Isn't that a bit of a contradiction of terms when saying "could have played in the prem" and then "more interested in putting money in the bank". Would'nt he have put more of one in the bank if he had played in the prem?

Don't see why anyone needs to go and get him out if he chooses to go to the middle east. He chose to go to let him get himself out.

But if the Ayatollah decides he's not fulfilling his potential in Iran, and he goes "missing", then someone probably will go in looking for him. He certainly hasn't gone there to impress Craig Levein and get a place in the Scotland squad. I think mercenary just about sums him up.

This story gets my mind spinning for 3 reasons.

1. Sport should be above politics. As a professional, he should be able to go and ply his trade where ever he chooses, without any kind of fear of repurcussions if things break down further between Iran and the west. This isn't anywhere near the same league as other instances of politics getting involved in sport, such as the apartheid cricket tours, boycotting of Olympics etc. None the less, I think it's a point worth making.

Having said that;

2. He's been advised by the FCO, not to travel there. If it does all go off, some of my colleagues will be put in harms way because he chose not to heed that advice. It's all very well saying 'leave him there, it's his own fault', but at the end of the day, he is a British citizen.

3. I actually think the story is more about making sure Doncaster haven't lost his phone number. Yes, I'm an old cynic.

He should be able to Gib, but anyone in their right mind wouldn't go there to play football at the moment. Just like anyone who was offered a contract at an Egyptian team at the moment, and yes I know their league has been suspended, would only be going for the money and definitely putting their own life at risk, and as you say, probably Armed Forces who would undoubtedly be called upon if things went tits up.

I would have about as much sympathy for him if anything went wrong, as I do for ramblers and climbers who go up Snowdon ignoring weather warnings, which they do frequently, and endanger the lives of Mountain Rescue teams.

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

Isn't that a bit of a contradiction of terms when saying "could have played in the prem" and then "more interested in putting money in the bank". Would'nt he have put more of one in the bank if he had played in the prem?

Don't see why anyone needs to go and get him out if he chooses to go to the middle east. He chose to go to let him get himself out.

Not really sensible, you need to work hard at your talent to get to the prem league, he didnt want to work hard, so just takes a quick buck here and there.

Greenjock wrote:

I would have about as much sympathy for him if anything went wrong, as I do for ramblers and climbers who go up Snowdon ignoring weather warnings, which they do frequently, and endanger the lives of Mountain Rescue teams.

Or people who ignore several days' warnings of severe weather and carry on as normal in heavy snow, then take up several hours of 5Live airtime complaining that they were stuck on the M25 all night.

I wouldn't trust the government as far as I could throw them on foreign matters. We need to be building bridges with Iran, not pulling them up. Having said that, sending Gow over there could only make things worse.

One of the by-products of my employment is experience in studying and interpreting body language. When you know what to look for, and some of it is very subtle, you can read personality traits and character flaws like a 40ft neon signed billboard. Watch Derren Brown at work sometimes, he can make it seem like magic but it's very simple really with experience.

Most of our signings are so obscure all you get is a self penned Wiki entry or comments from opposition messageboards to go on. But because he came from a club with a TV station when he was touted I perused some old interviews on Rangers TV. My conclusion involved the words 'barge pole' and 'don't touch him with'. He had massive ego traits and deciet 'tells' as obvious as if they were literally written on his face, hardly any answer was truthful or honest, hardly any eye contact was made with the interviewer.

When I posted this on PASOTI and warned that we were about to sign a wrong'un I was pillioried as some sort of crazy witch doctor, how could I possibly tell that from an interview they scoffed. When even non scholars of NVC's then witnessed his patheticly disinterested effort they realised I might actually have something. There aren't exactly swear words in 'body language' but if ever a player was screaming 'I don't give a sh1t', Alan Gow was it. Combined with the heavily rumoured 'recreational activities' he was a signing every bit as bad as Simon Walton, Kenny Cooper and the other abominations we saddled ourselves with.

I usually enjoy nothing more than telling people I told you so but it's hard to enjoy it when Argyle wasted 200,000 plus wages on a basket case player. This latest debasement of playing mediocrity doesn't surprise me therefore. He'll keep moving round, he'll keep trading off Rangers and the SPL, he'll keep failing to live up to that initial promise. Why?, because he's a wrong'un, was on Rangers TV and always will be, it was that obvious. As well as agents and financial experts Argyle would be well advised to employ a 'people reader' in player negotiations.

I posted similar (not so detailed....) observations on Ridsdale. Fascinating to watch him in action.

knecht wrote:

I posted similar (not so detailed....) observations on Ridsdale. Fascinating to watch him in action.

Yet at the time I bet you too were pilloried for witchcraft, dismissed as a despicable agenda-monger trying to undermine him .

You're right though, Ridsdale displayed some interesting NVC's although he's much MUCH better at disguising them than Gow. PR has been trained in media work, you can see that, but forehead microspasms and nostril inflections are uncontrolable. Only those who COMPLETELY believe the lie they are saying can stop them............and they are ALL clinically delusional. I'm talking David Ike territory there, doesn't give off tells because to him he's telling the truth when he says he's the son of god.

Another observation on why Gow might fancy Iran is that it shares a porous border with Afghanistan. Just saying like .