Here's a strange thing. I should be beginning this column by talking about Barcelona, or goodness me even Stenhousemuir — football at least. But no, the big story over the past few days has been, yet again, an off-field matter detrimental to Rangers and deeply embarrassing to all Scots.

I speak of a right old stinker of a kerfuffle which saw uniformed British servicemen dancing and singing on the pitch at Ibrox during a specially arranged Armed Forces Day.

One might ask why the Govan club alone feel the need to have such a celebration? Any answer to that question would be long but fairly moot, for it’s their business alone. Well, up to a point.

When British troops — paid for by taxpayers of all hues — are filmed clapping and possibly joining in with songs which at best endorse a certain kind of overt British (Protestant) nationalism and at worst are sectarian, it very much becomes the business of wider society.

In this day and age the whole shebang at Ibrox was pretty shoddy. It was — if we wish to be flippant — just so 20th century darling!

Surely we have all moved on by now? Bobby Sands, the UVF, Derry’s Walls. In Glasgow, in 2013, really? Sadly, yes.

A few years back I wrote in The Rivals Game — my book about British derby matches — about the problems of finding “a settled modern Rangers identity” displaying a “pro-Protestant and generally conservative, approach, one which is not in any way anti-Catholic.”

I would suggest that some progress has been made in this respect. Look at Jon Daly, from Dublin, who has settled in without any fuss whatsoever.

Yet for all that the scenes at half-time during the 8-0 victory over Stenhousemuir told us that the club, one in freefall in recent times of course, continues to make poor choices resulting in self-inflicted wounds.

There was a very obvious opportunity, post-liquidation, for a change in emphasis and image. In short a chance to eschew the more vexed and questionable aspects of Rangers’ history.

The truth is some folk simply refuse to see that the world around them is not a pool of stagnant water. Their values may not necessarily reflect those of the community at large.

Now with investigations up and running into what went on at Ibrox senior military officers, police and politicians will find themselves being asked if fans and squaddies alike should be prosecuted.

What was meant to be a grand day out for all has, predictably, turned into an utter fiasco, a disgrace even. Rangers don’t need this, Glasgow does not need it and frankly nor does Scotland.

Don’t pity Moyes, he doesn’t need it – but he does require more time

It would be easy to feel sorry for David Moyes, but don’t bother. The Manchester United manager will not care tuppence for your sympathy no matter how much pressure he faces after the club’s worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.

Moyes, a real football thinker, is also made of tough stuff. No-one could take over from Alex Ferguson and be anything other than up for the fight.

They may be fellow Scots, fellow managers and great friends, but the truth is Ferguson did not bequeath his successor a fitting legacy. Anyone who watched United in the flesh last season would easily have spotted that they were a team likely to become champions only through bloody-minded resilience.

So it proved. The difficulty now is that Moyes has been left to pick up the pieces, enduring “lacklustre” and “embarrassing” performances from his team when a flying start was required.

This may be the hardest job in football, but the new boss also has the very best adviser. Have no doubt Moyes will listen to Ferguson, but for all that the former Everton manager will remain independent and thoroughly determined to be his own man.

That has always been his way, from the start with Celtic, to the day he began coaching at Preston and throughout the 11 years at Goodison.

Six league games into his reign we have no need to rush to judgement — this was always meant to be a period of transition. However even now it is likely to shape Moyes’s time in charge at Old Trafford.

For these days in the fickle world of football there is little patience for coaches who do not deliver — no matter who recommends them for the job.

Let’s hope Glasgow 2014 can leave lasting legacy

It's a big week for the Commonwealth Games, or more precisely those who hope to attend as spectators. The organisers are now in the process of informing those lucky enough to have been offered tickets for next summer’s spectacular Glasgow.

It’s pleasing to think that 2.3 million requests were made for only one million tickets, something which suggests momentum and enthusiasm are really building.

With the Holyrood parliament putting in record levels of state funding to aid the 17 sports featured we can rightly look forward to the Games from a home perspective.

Yet our horizons need not be so limited, for of greater importance is the stated ambition of Sportscotland’s chief executive Stewart Harris, who talks of building “across communities ... to get the nation active and get young people involved in sport.”

With that in mind, roll on Glasgow 2014.

Follow Douglas Beattie on Twitter: @alpha_beatt

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