Wendy Alexander, Labour’s Holyrood leader, was cut adrift by the party’s Scottish establishment, with two former first ministers joining in the chorus of internal party criticism over her call for an immediate referendum on independence. A match that ended in a riot of recriminations boiled down to one unalterable fact: Rangers won and, in doing so, moved a step closer to winning the championship. Ally McCoist last night sent a message of support to a stricken Paul Gascoigne and expressed his hope that the former Rangers and England midfielder is well enough to attend the UEFA Cup final. On Saturday afternoon referee Michael McCurry was at the centre of controversy after denying Dundee United a penalty, and disallowing a goal for the Tannadice club, in an SPL match against Rangers at Ibrox. The Old Firm seem to be conspiring to take the title race to the last day of the season in a diabolical attempt to shred the nerves of a large constituency of Scotland and elsewhere. Ian Durrant was convinced he had left Ibrox for good. Now, he is reunited with Ally McCoist and working in unison for the European glory that eluded Rangers’ most successful team. Scott McDonald fired the goal that gave his former side a European place and then asked his old Motherwell club mates to do Celtic a favour in the league by beating Rangers on Saturday. Thousands of Rangers fans spent their Sunday queuing for must-have tickets to next week’s Uefa Cup final.
Supporters were forced to line up for hours to get last-minute briefs for the game. Video: Mark Hateley previews Wednesday's UEFA Cup final against Zenit St. Petersburg I grew up bilingual. As a child I was fluent in two languages, and could flit from one to the other without difficulty. Like most people reading this column, I spoke one language in the playground and another in the classroom. What concentrated my tiny mind was that I could be belted for using one of the tongues at the wrong time, in the wrong place. | 
