hislopsoffsideagain

Are we ever going to have a battle for the league title again? A two horse race isn't much more exciting than a one horse race when you don't have a stake in either, but last season some thought Rangers might be able to push Celtic a bit. Not too many expected them p*** all over Celtic's ten-in-a-row dream. Steven Gerrard's side won the title by 25 points. Can Celtic turn that back around. The evidence of their opening European games was not encouraging. As for the other ten, we're very much back to a situation where the ceiling is third place. Hibs managed it last season, but Aberdeen ar

For the first time since 2014, there isn't a club in this division that could be considered a Scottish football heavyweight - yes, I'd still refer to Dundee United as such, even if they are a bit flabby with bingo wings and move slower than a week in jail. There's also not a club like Dundee or Ross County who have significant financial backing from a benevolent millionaire. So in theory at least the Championship is up for grabs. However Kilmarnock - back at this level for the first time since 1993! - have not messed about and deserve to be described as favourites. Supporters or almost eve

Given that League One is still mostly the domain of part-time clubs, any full-time teams should always be considered favourites. Partick Thistle lived up to that billing last season, eventually. Falkirk on the other hand collapsed like a house of cards in a hurricane; if missing out on promotion was a catastrophe, slumping to fifth place is, er, something worse than a catastrophe? For 2021/22, the Bairns, Airdrie - who have a bit of a hybrid model in their squad - and Queen's Park, who are in a heck of a hurry after throwing off the shackles of amateurism, are the full-timers. But there'

In recent seasons Scottish League Two has been dominated by clubs that have been rather flush with cash for this level - Queen's Park last season, and Cove Rangers the year before. At the other end of the table, the addition in 2015 of a relegation playoff has forced smaller sides who have cruised along at this level for aeons to either ship up or ship out; league mainstays East Stirlingshire and Berwick Rangers have languished in the Lowland League after dropping out of the SPFL, while Brechin City - who finished bottom in the shortened 2019-20 season but were reprieved after the playoffs wer

I think I wrote off Foran after six...but I think we all wish the club had too!

I mentioned my concerns about the signing on Twitter, but a lot of St. Mirren fans have been quite insistent that this kid is a talent and they think he'll do well for us. Fingers crossed.

Neither would have a realistic chance of getting a work permit.

If Storey is away, we've lost eight first team players since the end of the season - Brad McKay and Kevin McHattie in defence, Scott Allan and James Vincent in midfield and Nikolay Todorov, Daniel Mackay and James Keatings in attack (I don't think Arron Lyall contributed enough to be called a first team player) I'd argue that we need to replace all eight. I think it would be ambitious to rely on Nicolson, Fyffe and Hyde to have the same impact that Harper, MacGregor and Daniel Mackay had last season. We've brought back Walsh, so that leaves another seven holes to fill.

We waited twenty-three years for this, and what did we get? An endless barrage of mediocre nausea-related puns regarding the name of the Czech goalscorer. What we didn't get was the epic, all-action, never-say-die, no-one-lives-forever performance from the home side that we were looking for and, frankly, expecting. Heck, no-one even got booked. Don't forget that Scotland were the home side here. Opportunities to play at a major tournament are like hen's teeth for us; to do it on our own turf is a chance that had to be grasped with both hands, not least against our only group opponent t

That is pretty grim. From what I can tell, ICT are one of only four clubs in the whole SPFL who haven't confirmed player releases yet - the others are Celtic (whose player contracts run till the end of June), Annan (who have announced releases in dribs and drabs) and newly promoted Kelty Hearts. It is just downright weird that the club haven't said anything yet...and even weirder if they haven't bothered to tell the players either...

Gardyne is 35 but you wouldn't have known it from watching him last season. Whilst I imagine he doesn't have the same pace he had ten years ago he clearly keeps himself in excellent shape. He's also an extremely intelligent player and uses his experience to compensate for slowing down a bit. There's always an element of risk with signing players of his age but a guy who started 21 Premiership games last season is not to be sneezed at.

I was a huge fan of Walsh during his first spell with us. His ability to get half a yard on the full-back and whip in a dangerous cross with either foot is not to be sniffed at, and he offered a decent goal threat himself too. His spell at Ayr was wrecked by injuries - as was his second season with us - so the key here is keeping him fit. The thought of having two of Walsh, McDonald and Doran (if he signs a new contract) playing wide for us is pretty exciting.

Think it's safe to say that both Gardyne and Vigurs are well past their best and are only going to decline further. Draper seems just too injury prone now. Mckay is an interesting one but I'm cautious about signing a striker who will be 33 in October and whose game is primarily based on pace and movement. I could see us showing an interest in Callum Morris, who has done well at this level before. Jermaine Hylton would be an excellent signing as a wide player but I don't expect he would be interested.

The keeper and back four can be found here. Here's the midfield and attack. This season I've gone for a 4-2-3-1. CENTRAL MIDFIELD: STEVEN DAVIS (RANGERS), ALI MCCANN (ST. JOHNSTONE) Honourable mentions: Lewis Ferguson (Aberdeen), Hakeem Odoffin (Hamilton Academical), Joe Newell (Hibernian), Allan Campbell (Motherwell) When Davis returned to Ibrox in 2019 he looked woefully unfit and I don't think I was the only one who thought his legs were gone; now 36, he looks as sprightly as ever and was a deserving winner of the Football Writer's Player Of The Year award. Remarkably the Ulsterman w

Okay, since it's only two days till Steve Clarke announces his Euro 2021 squad, maybe it isn't too early for me to speculate anymore? So here's who I think - not necessarily who the boss thinks - will be the twenty-six players who will wear the Scotland shirt at a major tournament for the first time since France '98. It'll be interesting to see who benefits from the decision to increase the squad size from twenty-three, given that the three fortunate so-and-so's are virtually certain not to play. Do you just pick the next three men up? Reward the loyalty of longstanding squad members? Brin