ALSY

ICT superstar turned delivery man? Can only be Marco de Barrowboy... I can't be bitter towards Broonie - he's been part of too many heroics to begrudge him his chance. Football is unforgiving and all that, and he's been at the top of his game for a couple of seasons now. We'd be quick enough to bin him if his form dipped. Much as I'd like to be proved wrong, though, I don't see him making the Celtic jersey his own even if he does get a crack at being no 1 - can't see him commanding his area against Champions League forwards. Then again, maybe the facilities and fulltime goalkeeping coach at Parkhead will add that to his game, and he did say in his interview that he'd become a better keeper at Celtic. Obviously money's got to be a huge factor - Richard Gordon suggested tonight he could be getting "5,6,7 times his current salary" at Celtic. Also, even if he doesn't make it, merely being associated with Celtic means he's more likely to get a chance at a more monied (if not necessarily "higher") level - English Championship clubs are more likely to take a punt on an old firm reserve than a first-teamer from any other Scottish club. No doubt his agent's made that clear to him. As we can't match those wages, what we need to do is concentrate on bringing through our own and cherrypicking the best from the lower leagues: so come on Mikey Fraser.

58 minutes gone, 4-1, the sheepies have rolled over and are getting thoroughly pumped. Looks like the Hibs players wil be fresh and on a high for Sunday. Only possible bright spot - 2 Hibs subs at half-time (Stewart & Beuzelin I think). Maybe a couple of injuries? As for Aberdeen - when will Tangoman learn that you can't play Lovell from the start?...

I think the Masters tournament has kind of superseded it, although obviously that's for ex-players rather than current ones. The wife & I went to see it a couple of years ago at Braehead as her team (Motherwell) were appearing. Most entertaining thing was seeing Stevie Cowan turning out for Aberdeen looking about the same size as Mr Creosote from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Shocking considering he occasionally turns a buck nowadays on Sportsound criticising the stamina of current players. Would be great to see ICT enter a team tho' - Jimmy C, Teasdale, Ian McArthur, Wilson Roberston, Stewarty and of course Charlie would be my starting VI. Incidentally, Celtic won the final against 'Well with a dodgy penalty. Plus ca change...

Having seen Brewster's influence on an otherwise pretty uninspired team tonight, I've a horrible feeling we'll still be waiting for our first win against them come 5 pm Saturday.

Hope the SFA get all the compensation they are looking for. I notice that Smith had the experience to describe it as a "very difficult decision" - McCoist has lost every Scot's respect by describing it as a "no-brainer". With commitment like that we're probably better off well shot of him.