Go-kart brawl and SAS kidnap – when team bonding goes wrong

Ah, teamwork is wonderful. a method frequently employed in difficult circumstances that ties together a diverse squad of footballers and strengthens relationships.

“I ended up fighting with Craig Gordon while go-karting”! Robbie Neilson, a former Heart of Midlothian player and manager, recalls on the Scottish Football Podcast on the BBC.

He reportedly threw his helmet at me, I punched him, and he allegedly threw a punch to me before we all started fighting.

Let’s hope Russell Martin had a better time taking his Rangers team for a dip in Loch Lomond this week, for the sake of under-pressure.

When you are going through a difficult period, Neilson says, “It seems to get exposed more.”

The Scottish Championship team’s poor season had ended Alan Archibald’s tenure and the team were second bottom of the standings.

Caldwell, who had lost any of his first five games, called in some assistance from the SAS.

Former Thistle striker Kris Doolan described the players as “guys with masks rag-dolled” and “bouncing off walls in total darkness”

One player escaped into the hills and was dragged back by four soldiers. Another experienced tears as she passed.

Thistle finished the season in sixth place in the second tier. Perhaps it was successful?

In contrast, Neilson’s tale of scrapping with goalkeeper Gordon at Go-karting seems a little stale.

According to Neilson, “I cut him up and put him inside the barriers.” He left and I saw him approaching me, which is a big lad, as we all know.

He removed his helmet, threw it at me, and I thought I had to get in this situation. So I punched him, and the result was a ruckus from there.

Rangers’ trip to Loch Lomond was described as “a change of scenery, a reset, and some team bonding,” according to a club source.

After the toxic scenes Martin and his players endured following their abhorrent home-to-beach defeat by Hearts, that seemed like a wise decision.

“A lot of the time, it’s to try to get a group together and remove the pressure from the outside world,” says Neilson.

The Ibrox side had made their worst league start since losing five games in almost 50 years with the loss.

The fan fury Martin is currently experiencing only increased because of it, but reports after the game suggest the Rangers board will remain loyal to him for the time being.

With a Premier Sports Cup quarter-final matchup scheduled for this weekend against Hibernian, the former Scotland defender is in either sink or swim mode.

On Saturday night, we will get a good sense of how beneficial an open water swimming session was to the team’s cohesion at Ibrox.

When you leave for these activities, you try to make people feel a little more at ease and make connections, Neilson continues.