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hislopsoffsideagain

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Blog Entries posted by hislopsoffsideagain

  1. hislopsoffsideagain
    It is ten months since Covid forced Scottish football into lockdown. After all this time we still have no fans at matches, all divisions from League One downwards have been stopped until at least the end of January and the Scottish Cup has been halted. How depressing.


    And that is of course because of the even more miserable fact that Covid is still out there. Vaccination will hopefully provide a light at the end of the tunnel. But for Scottish football clubs that light cannot be reached quickly enough, and there is always the underlying fear that it will turn out that the end of said tunnel is on fire.


    It is reassuring that so far none of the 42 SPFL clubs have hit the wall, and that none appear to be in imminent danger of doing so. Government grants of £500,000 to each Championship club, £150,000 to each League One club and £100,000 to each League Two club, coupled with the philanthropy of James Anderson, have been a real boon.


    Meanwhile Premiership clubs can access a reasonably generous loan scheme from the government. This week Kilmarnock were the first team to confirm they'll be taking up this opportunity, admitting they expect a seven figure loss for this season. That's a huge sum of money for a club of their size and there's no reason to believe other similar-sized top flight clubs - with the exception of Motherwell, who sold David Turnbull to Celtic for megabucks - aren't in the same boat, even despite taking advantage of the furlough scheme during the spring and summer.


    But that government support should mean they can weather the storm till the end of the season...as long as the season ends.


    The big fear now for Premiership - and other SPFL - clubs has to be that Covid forces things to a halt again. That would mean missing out on several million pounds of TV money from Sky Sports and would therefore reduce the size of the prize money pot drastically. 


    And while the top flight has managed (with a few notable exceptions) to keep going since August, the bottom line is that Covid restrictions were a lot more relaxed then than they are now. The halting of the lower divisions seems based on the not unreasonable logic that sending mostly part-time players, who may be exposed to Covid as part of their day jobs, all around the country is not especially wise; in order to continue, Championship clubs have had to start their own testing regimens. At a cost of £18,000 per month, I wonder whether a few of those teams might be quite happy to stop too; instead of paying players to play in front of no fans, they'd be able to go back to furloughing and save money.


    One potential consequence of that though would be one which is also staring League One and League Two in the face: not being able to complete this season either. Whilst calling the leagues by points-per-game was pretty acceptable after playing so much of the 2019/20 season, the clubs outside the Premiership are not even halfway into a truncated twenty-seven match 2020/21 campaign. Clyde of League One and Cowdenbeath and Albion Rovers of League Two have only played eight games. Can promotion and relegation be decided if clubs can only play each other twice - or worse, if they can't even manage that? I imagine that scenario gives Ann Budge at Tynecastle sleepless nights.


    League One and Two clubs have apparently sent a plan to the SPFL for restarting in the next few weeks. My cynicism is somewhat heightened by the fact that virtually no details of the plan are in the public eye aside from a commitment to testing. Given the cost of the protocols that the bigger clubs follow would surely be prohibitive (and I'm sure the Scottish Government would not look kindly on large chunks of public money being frittered away on tests) I suspect the plan advocates use of the cheaper lateral flow tests...which by any medical standard are a pretty lousy test. I would be surprised if such a scheme garnered support.


    For too often it is forgotten that the welfare of football, and of the clubs, is of minor importance compared to that of society in general. For all Neil Doncaster's claims that Scottish football is too important to the economy, it was last estimated to be worth £214m a year (0.12% of GDP) and support 5700 FTE jobs; for comparison, Debenhams employed 11,000 people in Scotland alone before it's recent crisis. It could be argued - and I bet it will be by folk who aren't interested in the sport - that the government have been very generous in their support, especially given much of the value of the game and many of the jobs it supports will be focussed very much on two big Glasgow teams...and I don't mean Partick Thistle and Queen's Park.


    So it is quite possible that until restrictions are eased considerably, which may be several months away, that the lower leagues will remain in stasis. Heck, if there is another outbreak at a Premiership or Championship club in the near future, despite all their protocols, one might imagine the pressure to halt those divisions becoming too great.


    Ditto if there is another scandal anywhere near the level of Dubaigate. And it did not go unnoticed that in amongst a rant that will rank up there with the Jim MacLean punch and Billy Brown's Bin Places, Dun Hings as one of the most infamous Scottish football interviews of all time, Neil Lennon decided to take aim at St Johnstone and Hamilton Accies, whom he suggested had not provided Covid-friendly facilities for Celtic when they had visited.


    Both clubs have strongly denied this - St Johnstone's assertion that they gave Celtic four dressing rooms suggests that Lennon's comments were mostly a combination of whataboutery and vindictiveness - but then Derek McInnes poured a bit more fuel onto this dumpster fire by saying "there are a couple of grounds where the concerns are clear right from the outset and you are a bit nervous about that next Covid test."


    This is not helpful to anyone. From a public health viewpoint, if clubs had concerns they should have been raised immediately and not alluded to weeks later when any damage will have been done. For the powers that be, this innuendo just gives politicians more ammunition if they do decide to force a stoppage.


    For all Lennon's ravings about a 'political' agenda, I'd say it could be argued that the government have been pretty good to Scottish football during all of this. Now the question is whether our game can be careful enough, clever enough and, I daresay, lucky enough to get out the other end of this frightful era.


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly. 
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  2. hislopsoffsideagain
    Does a season go by without Scottish fans getting angry about a cup semi-final kickoff time?

    Well, for the upcoming League Cup semi-finals we have two clubs, and their supporters, up in arms. Aberdeen face a Sunday lunchtime kickoff at Hampden against Rangers. Hearts have a 1945 start the very same evening to take on Celtic. Neither are happy campers.

    The Dons have certainly been here before. Their issue is not really the distance - it's 150 miles from Pittodrie to Hampden according to Google Maps - though that would mean pretty early starts for those travelling by car. The problem is public transport, or the lack of it. The first train from Aberdeen to Glasgow that day gets in at 1214, 14 minutes after kickoff. Though given the capacity of a train runs in the hundreds and the Red Army can be expected to number several thousand at least, a single train that ran on time wouldn't make a massive impact.

    Hearts complain that the evening kickoff will also prevent fans from attending - for example plenty of families are likely to be put off by the prospect of a late trip back from Glasgow on a school night. It should however be remembered that up until a few years ago the League Cup semi-finals were played in midweek, mind...

    There are also lots of concerns being raised about the prospect of both games being played on the same day. But crucially the police seem cool with it. Since this is the same police who won't let fans drink on trains and have previously predicted a catastrophe before a Hogmanay Old Firm game, their agreement with the move is rather reassuring. After all, if the presence of four sets of fans in the same vicinity on the same day is a recipe for a riot, should we not be spending more time bemoaning the fact that we can't trust said fans to behave?

    The fixtures have been scheduled in this way for two reasons. Firstly, both Rangers and Celtic are playing on the Thursday night in the Europa League. Whatever some say, it wouldn't be fair to have another game within 48 hours. Frankly, if Aberdeen had made the Europa League Group Stages and been forced to play on the Saturday they would be raging about it.

    Secondly, it'll be because BT Sport, and their cash, say so. And that's the nature of it. If the clubs don't want awkward kickoff times then they can watch the TV money disappear. BT aren't going to put one of these matches on against an English Premier League game at the same time because even a decent number of Scottish fans would rather tune in to (checks schedule) Manchester United v Everton.

    And both Aberdeen and Hearts know this. They are also members of the SPFL, the organization that has made this decision. They therefore have the power to demand changes, and they also have the power to try and vote off members of the board - *cough* Neil Doncaster *cough* who don't accede to their wishes. Last year both Aberdeen and Hearts had representatives on the SPFL board. Did they not have any opportunities to deal with this issue in all that time?

    The cynical part of me - which is pretty much all of me - suspects a lot of the whinging from Aberdeen and Hearts is just playing to the gallery. There is a good chance both clubs sell their allocations for the ties, or at least sell as many tickets as they would have done for a 3pm Saturday kickoff. Certainly the TV cash will make up any shortfall. The sympathy for their supporters may be genuine, but publicly using words like "appalling" certainly keeps them sweet and gains a few column inches.

    That's not to say I agree with this plan. There are bound to be a few twits at the first game who wreck some seats in a terrible rage because "the referee is clearly an orange/fenian (delete as applicable) b*****d" which will be a headache for the second match. I'm curious as to how the long-derided Hampden surface will hold up with two matches on the same day. And there is a far better option available, which was to play the second game the following weekend instead.

    And don't forget the traditional PR cockup from the SPFL. All of this controversy was totally predictable, after all. Any vaguely competent organization would have acknowledged these issues when the announcement was made, explain the decision-making and take control of the narrative. And the slogan 'Semi Final Sunday' rolls off the tongue so easily. But some things never change.

    However, as long as supporters keep turning up for games and subscribing to the TV channels then this is going to keep happening and nothing will change. And deep down we all know that, really. But that's okay because this at least allows football fans to do what they enjoy doing best - feeling aggrieved!


    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.

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  3. hislopsoffsideagain
    All in all, it's practically pre-season already for Celtic and Rangers. The former's victory over the latter last weekend all but guaranteed them the title. Rangers, now eleven points behind their rivals but eight ahead of the chasing pack, are almost nailed on for second spot. They have only one match left that really matters - a home clash with Celtic. In addition to that game Celtic have their remaining Scottish Cup tie(s) to focus on. Aside from those matches the two clubs can pretty much phone in the rest of their performances.

    And the extra time to think about the 2019/20 season will be welcome in both halves of Glasgow. Because there remains uncertainty over who will be in each dugout for the next campaign.

    You don't think Steven Gerrard's position is under threat? It certainly wasn't when the winter break came round, after an Old Firm win put Rangers level on points with Celtic. In fact, the attitude at Ibrox was so bullish that Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe were added during the transfer window. They might 'only' have been loan signings, but even the most conservative estimates of their wages are enough to raise eyebrows.

    And since then they've dropped points to Kilmarnock (twice), St Johnstone and Hibernian in the league as well as Celtic and been knocked out of the cup in a home replay by Aberdeen. Last midweek's victory over Hearts ended a five game winless run, their worst run since putting their feet up after winning the 2015/16 Championship.

    After spending millions last summer on fees and highly paid free transfers, they are only four points better off than at this stage a year ago when Murtyball was running out of steam. All in all, Gerrard has won 28 out of 55 matches in charge of Rangers. That win percentage is much worse than Murty's. It's also worse than Pedro Caixinha's. Heck, it's worse than Paul Le Guen's.

    About the only thing more disappointing than that record is the club's accounts. Another year, another loan from financial house Close Brothers - and you don't need to be an accountant to know that borrowing from someone other than a bank comes attached with an eye-watering level of interest attached. The club won't at last turn a profit for the first time in the Banter Years, not by a long shot.

    So there's plenty of ammunition that can be used against Gerrard. And there seems to have been a wee shift in attitude towards him from the media. Given that Ibrox's resident Jabba The Hutt exerts an element of control over what local hacks are allowed to say about the club, the fact that they've been given licence to take even the smallest pop at Gerrard suggests that at the very least the club hierarchy are underwhelmed by his performance.

     And yet...lies, damned lies and statistics.

    For one thing, there's the eye test. Yes, Rangers have toiled at times this season against well-organized, dug-in opponents. And as regards the gap between them and Celtic, the table does not deceive. But this is not Murtyball. There is a coherent strategy here. There isn't a decent Plan B but just having a Plan A that works more often than not at Premiership level makes Gerrard the most competent manager of the Newco years.

    The failures in both domestic cups were a disaster, but I feel Gerrard was entitled to a lot more credit than he got for getting them to the Europa League Group Stage - and making them competitive there. In many an away game he was able to set them up to grind out a result. (It's the Europa League games that wreck that win percentage, by the way). And lord knows what those interim financial results would look like without the prize money earned from that campaign.

    That's not to say Stevie G is the next coming of Bill Shankly. Not by a long shot. But if Dave King and co. are tempted by the thought of trying to force him out, they need to resist it. This club is crying out for a bit of stability and consistency.

    So too are Celtic. And that's why they shouldn't appoint Neil Lennon permanently.

    In contrast to Gerrard, the stats favour the Northern Irishman. Celtic have played seven games since Lennon was parachuted in and they've won five...including a derby...and drawn two. And of course he won three titles and two Scottish Cups during his first spell at the club.

    A sizeable proportion of the club's fanbase - those ones who feel Rodgers betrayed them by leaving for Leicester City (and who therefore really need to get a life) - will also point to Lennon being 'a Celtic man' as a crucial factor.

    But the eye test which is so much more forgiving to Gerrard is far less so to Lennon. In six league games they have won three via late goals and been held to a draw at Celtic Park by both Aberdeen and Livingston. Against Hearts, Dundee and Rangers they got the job done but played for long periods not just as if the handbrake was on but also that they couldn't work out how to release it. Rodgers' Celtic won with ten men at Ibrox last year; Celtic were deservedly pegged back by Rangers' 10 men last week and you wouldn't have confidently said they were the most likely to nick a winger before James Tavernier's blunder. It's hard to believe that, with Rodgers pulling the strings, there wouldn't have been more energy and more creativity both from the players on the pitch and from the management team.

    As for Lennon's own record as a manager, it remains more patchy than many would readily realize or admit. His three titles came during the season that preceded liquidation and the two that followed - titles that you and me could have guided the club to. His time at Bolton can be whitewashed because of the massive problems there, but while he met expectations in his first year at Hibs (with promotion) and surpassed them in his second year by finishing fourth everything had gone wrong when he left Easter Road. He didn't resign, and he wasn't sacked, but results were so bad - 2 wins in the last 14 league games - that he was heading for the exit door soon enough.

    Yes, he'll always have Barcelona at Celtic Park. But that feels like quite a rare example of getting his team to punch well above their weight.

    Moreover, Celtic's playing style was transformed by Rodgers. It's a style worth continuing both at first team level and below. And doing so requires a coach with similar principles to Rodgers. Lennon is, basically, a different coach.

    That's not to say finding a successor will be easy; far from it. There's certainly no obvious internal or Scottish candidate, and the world's most renowned coaches have much bigger fish to fry than Scottish football can provide. There's quite a significant risk that they could end up with another Ronny Deila. That reason alone might tempt the board into the safe option, which is undoubtedly Lennon.

    But if Celtic want to continue on an upward trajectory, their best option is a new face. Whereas if Rangers want to do the same they are better sticking with who they already have.


    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.

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  4. hislopsoffsideagain
    With league action returning this weekend after the international break, and the transfer window shut - except for free agents - till January, now seems like a good time to look back at each Premiership club's summer activity and decide who has strengthened and who looks worse off...

    ABERDEEN
    BEST SIGNING?
    Lewis Ferguson was supposed to be one for the future, but he's already established himself as a first choice in midfield and that goal against Burnley will be remembered for years to come. Given he only turned 19 in August, he should still have plenty of room for improvement.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Dominic Ball didn't exactly set the heather alight last season, so bringing him back for a second year on loan looked like an odd move. His verstatility comes in handy - he has played in central midfield and at right-back so far this season rather than in his preferred centre-back role - but too often he looks like the weak link, a jack of all trades but competent at none.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Unquestionably Kenny McLean, who was outstanding in the second half of last season. The exit of McLean and Ryan Christie has led to increased emphasis on the wide players for creativity but the former leaves a gap that was always going to be hard to fill.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER?

    It's easy to argue that the defence is stronger. If James Wilson lives up to his pedigree the forward line will be too. But the midfield has taken a step backwards, so I'm going to say they're slightly weaker overall.

    CELTIC BEST SIGNING?
    There aren't exactly many to choose from. Whilst Filip Benkovic could prove to be an upgrade in defence, we haven't seen him play yet. So we'll have to pick Odsonne Edouard, whose signing on a permanent deal looks a shrewd move after that deadline day fiasco/

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Youssouf Mulumbu clearly made an impression on Brendan Rodgers when he put in one of the great individual performances in Killie's win over Celtic last season. But it's difficult to see where the veteran midfielder fits into the lineup.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Obviously Moussa Dembele, though getting £20m for a £500k signing goes down as phenomenal business. The issue here is as much psychological as anything else - what sort of message does it send to the squad and the fans about the club's ambition going forward if they sell their best player?

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Weaker, though Dembele's departure should be covered by Edouard and Leigh Griffiths. If Benkovic solves their defensive problems Celtic will be just as far ahead of the pack as they were last season.


    DUNDEE BEST SIGNING?
    Benjamin Kallman was considered a big prospect in his native Finland so getting the young striker on a loan deal was a good effort. He's already got off the mark too.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Has Kenny Miller still got it? I strongly doubt the 38 year old striker will prove the answer to any of the number of problems that have beset the Dark Blues this season.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Steven Caulker not so much for his quality but for the fact that, according to the club, they had turned down a seven figure offer for the player earlier this year. To then lose him for zilch is a complete ****-up.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? That's very hard to judge. The club moved on a whopping 21 players, yet few tears have been shed over any of them. Meanwhile the 11 newcomers haven't really been around long enough to give us an idea of their abilities. A lot will depend on whether Kallman keeps scoring and whether deadline day signings Andy Boyle and Ryan Inniss finally solve their defensive woes.


    HAMILTON ACCIES BEST SIGNING?
    It may turn out to be Scott Martin, who was quite highly thought of by many people at Hibs but who has been allowed to leave and spread his wings. There's also defender Matthew Kilgallon who comes with an impressive pedigree.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    The clear winner here is Adam Phillips, who returned to parent club Norwich before the end of the transfer window after playing only twice. Though former Falkirk squad player Tom Taiwo's signing seems to be tailor-made for blogposts like these.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    David Templeton was a class above all Accies' other forwards last season, offering both goals and creativity. Where those will come from now is anyone's guess.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? The loss of Templeton, Lewis Ferguson and Ali Crawford strongly suggests they will be weaker. Martin Canning made a whopping 17 signings in the summer window (including the now-departed Phillips) - is it too much to hope that some of these newbies will turn out to be gems?


    HEARTS BEST SIGNING?
    Plenty to choose from here, which is clearly a good sign. Take your pick between Peter Haring, the central defender from the Austrian second tier who has turned out to be a midfield colossus, and striker Uche Ikpeazu who has been bench-pressing defenders every week.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Ryan Edwards looked like an odd signing at the time, and even more so when Craig Levein continued to sign midfield players. Unsurprisingly he's now been punted out on loan to St. Mirren.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin is about the only player who Levein couldn't find an upgrade on, which is not surprising considering how impressive he was last season.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Unquestionably stronger in every area except in goal. No-one has done better in this window than Hearts have.


    HIBERNIAN BEST SIGNING?
    Getting Flo Kamberi on a permanent deal for about a hundred grand is outstanding work. So is teaming him up with Jamie Maclaren again.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    There aren't really any standout candidates here. The jury is of course out on Mark Milligan, a 33 year old Australian defensive midfielder who hasn't played yet - but it is a position of need.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Clearly John McGinn, though the blow to Hibs fans was softened by the fact that instead of being unsettled by Celtic he was immense in the Europa League qualifiers and then signed for Aston Villa instead.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Lennon himself said that McGinn was pretty much irreplaceable, but retaining their best strikers and improving in wide areas could compensate for that. So I'm going for 'about the same'.


    KILMARNOCK BEST SIGNING?
    Greg Stewart wasn't all that great at Aberdeen last year but his amazing debut at Pittodrie suggests Steve Clarke will get the best out of him.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Ross Millen wasn't even the best player at Queen's Park in League One last year. His move to Killie clearly comes on the cheap and because his dad is on the staff, but still...

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Youssouf Mulumbu of course. The Congolese midfielder was far too good for a club like Killie and instead of trying to replace him Clarke has sensibly changed his tactics to compensate for his departure.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Weaker, because you just can't replace a guy like Mulumbu. But not as much as I thought they might be.


    LIVINGSTON BEST SIGNING?
    He's out injured at the moment, but I suspect that when he's fit Ryan Hardie will be this team's best hope of getting goals. Getting him back on loan from Rangers again was a big plus.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Can I say Kenny Miller? No? In that case lets choose one of his own loan signings. James Brown returned to parent club Millwall after only one appearance where he got less-than-glowing reviews.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Can I say David Hopkin? No? In that case, whilst Liam Kelly has done alright in goal, Neil Alexander proved last season that he was still a very decent goalkeeper as well as offering invaluable experience. His retirement was a shame.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? They're a newly promoted side who have brought in sixteen players. They had better be stronger.


    MOTHERWELL BEST SIGNING?
    Danny Johnson has been a massive hit so far up front since arriving from Gateshead.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Stephen Robinson had apparently been after Spanish schemer Alex Rodriguez Gorrin since January. Now he's got him, he's barely played him.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    The exit of Cedric Kipre on the eve of the first league game was made all the more worse by the near-simultaneous injury to Charles Dunne that leaves Motherwell short defensively. Still, they got a million quid for Kipre which is pretty good given they signed him for nothing a year ago.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Probably weaker because Kipre has gone, though Johnson and Connor Sammon have strengthened the attack.


    RANGERS BEST SIGNING?
    Either Connor Goldson or Nikola Katic - nether central defender came cheap but they have massively strengthened the club's weakest area.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Umar Sadiq's record before coming to Ibrox wasn't that great, and the striker has barely got a sniff of action so far. The arrival of Kyle Lafferty risks pushing him even further away from the starting lineup.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Steven Gerrard has actually done really well in pushing unwanted players towards the exits and keeping those who were attracting attention from elsewhere. But David Bates was arguably their best central defender last season and losing him for nothing was reckless.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Definitely stronger. Not strong enough to challenge for the title, mind. And there may be a lack of depth that is exposed by the heavy schedule of the coming months.


    ST JOHNSTONE BEST SIGNING?
    The romantics among us hoped that Tommy Wright might be the manager who could salvage the talent of Tony Watt. So far, so good; Watt was Player Of The Month for August.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Hearts fans have not been complementary about Ross Callachan, who offered little positive other than the occasional well-timed arrival in the box during his time at Tynecastle. He's done little to deserve another chance at this level.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    To be fair, the time had probably come to move on from Steven MacLean anyway. But the veteran striker has been such a fixture for years that it still feels odd to watch Saints play without him.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Stronger. Wright has been given the chance to revitalize the squad, which is just as well as fresh blood was needed. Not only are St. Johnstone better, they are also better to watch.


    ST MIRREN BEST SIGNING?
    Ooft. There are 13 names to choose from and yet none of them feel right. In theory, Lee Hodson and Ryan Edwards should prove decent enough in time. In theory.

    MOST DUBIOUS SIGNING?
    Only one? Lets go for Jim Kellerman, signed from Aldershot Town on a two year deal but already sent back to England on loan.

    BIGGEST LOSS?
    Lewis Morgan obviously, but his departure was expected. Why Alan Stubbs withdrew a contract offer for Gavin Reilly, the club's best striker, is an absolute mystery.

    STRONGER OR WEAKER? Quite remarkably for a promoted club, you could easily argue that they are weaker. Oran Kearney has a lot of work to do to salvage this mess.


    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly
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  5. hislopsoffsideagain
    Another week, another episode of the Stephen Dobbie show
    If you looked up 'futility' in a dictionary, you might find the clip of a drunk Ayr fan - at least, we hope he was drunk - invading the pitch as Stephen Dobbie missed a penalty (QOS were 4-0 up at the time, and it wasn't even half-time yet). Or you might find Daniel Harvie, shown a second yellow for dissent in the second half. Harvie has given away a penalty and been sent off in each of his last two league appearances for Ayr.

    Or you might simply find the word's definition is now 'trying to defend against Stephen Dobbie'. Despite having that spot kick saved, the striker scored a stunning four times in the Doonhamers' 5-0 win. That's following on from his hat-trick at Falkirk last week and moves him onto eighteen goals this season. Add in a treble on the last day of last season and he's on twenty-one from his last eleven matches. It led Dobbie to joke afterwards that he'd only leave Palmerston if Rangers moved for him.

    Lest we forget, Dobbie is 36 in December. Remarkably whilst his experience no doubt contributes to his wonderful decision-making and off-the-ball movement, he still clearly has a burst of pace over a few yards which is enough to gain space on defenders. He also seems to be enjoying his football as much as ever, going by his repertoire of goal celebrations.

    Dobbie is not the only talent in the Queen of the South squad, though he is unquestionably the biggest. Lyndon Dykes is proving the perfect foil for him up front, while fellow veteran Gary Harkins continues to wind the clock back with some glorious performances and a superb goal of his own at the weekend. The price of having all three at a club with a limited budget is threadbare depth, so if any of those three get crocked the team will be an entirely different proposition. If that doesn't happen, they could go as far as Dobbie can fire them.



    Dunfermline's defensive woes continue
    Allan Johnston worked hard to improve Dunfermline's attacking options ahead of the transfer deadline. Schemer Malaury Martin should do well at this level after a torrid spell at Hearts, while Robbie Muirhead is less than two years removed from being a first choice at Tynecastle and could tear apart this league. Another forward, Aidan Keena, was also signed.

    But the Pars' problems are at the other end of the park. They've now shipped twelve goals in four league games, and after a close first half they went to pieces when they fell behind to Inverness. As soon as the home side started chasing the game they were picked apart, with Liam Polworth and Aaron Doran wreaking havoc for the visitors.

    The club are still recovering from losing lynchpin Callum Morris in the summer, but it's unclear whether the problem is lack of quality, or the three at the back system, or both. Mark Durnan and Danny Devine arrived at the club on the back of terrible years at Dundee United and Partick respectively and both have continued their lousy form. Worryingly the previously solid Lee Ashcroft has been dragged down with them.

    And playing all three means no space for a creative player like Kallum Higginbotham. Even when they went to a back four at 1-0 down Johnston didn't help things by sacrificing right-back Ryan Williamson for Higginbotham and moving Ashcroft to an unfamiliar role on that flank where he struggled badly. A solution needs to be found quickly before any more ground is lost.



    Another game, another disappointment for Dundee United
    Coming off back-to-back league wins, United's draw at Alloa - who continue to show they can punch well above their part-time weight - could on the face of it be regarded as a blip rather than a disaster, especially when it took a wonder-goal from Iain Flannigan to deny them the three points. But United had toiled for long periods before goal machine Paul Watson's opener and the fact that they didn't deserve the win stuck in the craw of the travelling Arabs.

    There were plenty of signs for concern aside from the performance, with tales of midfielder Adam Barton getting into a slagging match with supporters criticizing his efforts and a disagreement between the two benches at the end when Alloa boss Jim Goodwin went to shake hands just before the final whistle rather than after. Whilst United still have enough quality to win without playing well, there are too many signs still that this will be a re-run of the last two seasons.



    Thistle look reinforced and ready to challenge
    The post-game focus at Firhill was understandably on the goal that somehow wasn't given, but thankfully Thistle won anyway so the assistant referee's moment of insanity didn't matter so much. More importantly, after a tough start to Championship life there are clear roots of recovery. Alan Archibald has managed to reinforce a squad that was dreadfully depleted a few weeks ago. Deadline day signings Tam Scobbie and Jai Quitongo weren't ready for this game, but Brice Ntambwe did enough on his debut to suggest he can fill the midfield gap vacated by Abdul Osman. With Souleymane Coulibaly hopefully available soon, this now looks like a very decent team.

    But most crucially of all, Stuart Bannigan made his first appearance for nearly a year with a 15 minute cameo off the bench. If he has finally overcome his injury problems he could light up this division just like he did five years ago...which is when Thistle last won it.



    County's strength in depth puts them top
    Ross County took 68 minutes to break the deadlock but don't let that fool you. They absolutely dominated against a Falkirk side clearly treading water until Ray McKinnon takes over this week and the victory, which takes them top, was pretty much inevitable.

    The fact that the two goalscorers, Jamie Lindsay and Declan McManus, were substitutes shows what incredible options County's management team have on the bench. Ross Stewart also came on, while Davis Keillor-Dunn was unused. Harry Paton and Ryan Dow weren't even part of the matchday squad. With so many options available in the event of injury or loss of form, County's depth going forward is awesome and will prove crucial over a full season.



    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.
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  6. hislopsoffsideagain
    Archibald running out of time to kickstart Thistle's seasonYou know that old adage about players coming back to haunt their former clubs? In Inverness it only worked in one direction. Sean Welsh is remembered rather more fondly at Partick Thistle than Mark Ridgers, who shipped eight goals in one and a half games at Firhill. Welsh netted a penalty against his former club while Ridgers saved one at the other end.
    Ridgers' stop came from ICT old boy Miles Storey who had one of those days where nothing would go right for him. At least he put in a shift before being subbed, unlike Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo whose return to the Highlands suggested that he has improved little in the two years since he left.
    Mutombo and Storey were not helped by the constant chopping and changing by Alan Archibald as he tried to get his side back into the match. Storey started at centre-forward with Chris Erskine behind him, but after Thistle went behind both were pushed wide with Mutombo stuck up front - a decision which made all three less effective. Only when Erskine returned to the centre and Stuart Bannigan was brought on for the hapless Brice Ntambwe did they find a system which seemed to work. By then they were 3-0 down and it was far too late.
    Clearly Archibald still has to find his best eleven. The loss of Tam O'Ware to injury doesn't help at the back - Niall Keown had a torrid time against the clever Jordan White - and the attack remains toothless whilst Souleymane Coulibaly remains in registration limbo. A solution is needed soon because Thistle have already lost too much ground in the promotion race as it is.


    Ross County still aren't clicking Ross County haven't found their strongest XI yet either. There was yet more tinkering from their management duo, who switched to a back three for the trip to Dumfries despite Marcus Fraser's injury with Ross Draper dropping into defence. That certainly didn't do any harm to the defence - Draper was arguably their best player as he contributed to a clean sheet - but County's problems were further up the pitch as they failed to muster a shot on target.
    The decision to favour Declan McManus over Billy Mckay was a surprise given Mckay and Brian Graham had combined well in the last two matches, both victories, and McManus certainly didn't seem to click with his targetman partner in this one. It didn't help that the midfield didn't click either with Iain Vigurs and Don Cowie struggling to provide the creativity expected of them.
    Still, they kept out Stephen Dobbie which is no mean feat. And it has set up a very tasty Highland derby next time out.


    Fans losing patience with impotent Dunfermline On the bright side, this was Dunfermline's first point at East End Park this season. That wasn't enough to satisfy the home support though, who got stuck in at the final whistle. Whilst Alloa are indeed a better team than they get credit for it was galling for the Pars that this was an even encounter where they struggled to create much even with a very attacking lineup.
    Allan Johnston's side simply haven't recovered from losing Nicky Clark and Declan McManus in the summer, but they really should have. It's inexcusable that his three summer signings up front, Faissal El Bakhtaoui, Myles Hippolyte and Robbie Muirhead are yet to muster a league goal between them. Four games without a win since opening day, that win at Tannadice in August now feels like an anomaly.


    Rumours of Falkirk's recovery are greatly exaggerated So can Falkirk take encouragement from the fact that they were two up at half-time at Ayr (and deservedly so)? Or should they despair over a catastrophic second half collapse that saw them concede three in seventeen minutes, including the most farcial of winners?
    Ray McKinnon certainly didn't hold back, complaining his players "simply didn't follow instructions" in the second half. His claim that "we overplayed the ball in midfield" appeared to be a thinly veiled dig at Andrew Irving, who gave the ball away to Lawrence Shankland for Ayr's first goal. But Leo Fasan's chocolate wrists should have kept out Shankland's shot from distance. This was the sort of goal struggling teams concede; Fasan's own goal which completed the comeback was a hundred times more so, as Lewis Kidd's goalline clearance hit his prostrate keeper on the back and flew in.
    The bottom line is that these are the results and performances that are associated with teams that get relegated. And the Bairns, now pointless after five matches, are already beginning to fret about the prospect.


    Will Fyvie's return do United more harm than good? Fraser Fyvie's sub appearance against Morton was his first league game for Dundee United this year, and how they could have done with his quality in midfield at the end of last season and the beginning of this. His recovery from a cruciate ligament injury coincides with a hernia problem for Sam Stanton, but the duo should soon form the best central midfield pair in the division. The hope for United is that they can give the team a platform from which they can finally realise their potential.
    But the fear remains that United are unsalvageable under Csaba Laszlo. While Fyvie saved them a point against Morton with his late equalizer it was barely deserved as the home side toiled and struggled to create much of note, not helped by the lack of width caused by Laszlo's insistence on keeping his full-backs as narrow as possible (to the chagrin of Arabs, the manager later claimed afterwards that it had worked effectively). A fit-again Fyvie will surely improve things, but the worry is that it will simply delay Laszlo's increasingly inevitable-looking exit.

    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly
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  7. hislopsoffsideagain
    Another week, another strange Ross County lineup
    Are two heads really better than one? That's a reasonable question to ask of Ross County's co-managers after yet more chopping and changing to the starting lineup did more harm than good. This time it was the benching of Iain Vigurs, so often able to control Championship games on his own, and Josh Mullin, the team's only quick wide player. It was no surprise that County were too narrow yet unable to dominate in the centre of the pitch; for the first three quarters of the match Inverness were more likely to score.

    With the duo introduced as substitutes the home side finished far more strongly and could have snatched a winner, but it was ultimately too little too late. Whichever one of Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson is currently choosing the tactics needs to admit that it's the other one's turn. If it's both of them together, then they need to get a grip because they are holding back their players with strange decisions like these.

    (Edit 26/9/18 - at the risk of sounding cryptic, it has subsequently become clear that there were good reasons for County's lineup decision on Saturday which reflect rather better on Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson. So feel free to ignore what I wrote above)




    Dunfermline need a decent keeper
    Lee Robinson's CV probably has 'journeyman' stamped on it. Only at Queen of the South, where he spent three seasons as first choice keeper over two spells, has he ever really settled. And the Doonhamers dumped him a year ago, despite him being goalkeeping coach as well. He only ended up in Dunfermline in January as an emergency signing because of Sean Murdoch's injury. As I said, emergency. And yet he is still here, because Murdoch is still out.

    The Pars have another goalkeeper in Cammy Gill, but the 20 year old has been stuck on the bench since Robinson's arrival despite being highly rated. Perhaps Gill's time has come. Robinson hasn't inspired much confidence; his nadir came with a dreadful blunder that gifted Morton an equalizer and denied Dunfermline their first league win since opening day.

    In truth, Allan Johnston really should have worked harder at reinforcing the position in the summer. Murdoch is hardly an outstanding shot-stopper himself, but Robinson could be the weakest first choice goalie in the Championship. And a club with such aspirations need someone more talented to be their first line of defence.


    Alloa's resilience won't last forever
    "I didn't think there was much between the sides. They're a good side but I think we held our own for a part-time team. The difference between the sides was Lawrence Shankland." Jim Goodwin's post-match comments were fair enough, and were meant to be a positive take on another battling effort from Alloa. But it was another battle lost. They remain above Falkirk in the table, but are still winless since their return to the second tier.

    The yardstick for the Wasps is of course last season's dreadful Brechin City team. Alloa are vastly superior to them in every respect and will certainly finish with a far better record. But even the hardiest team lose confidence eventually if they are being beaten most weeks by opponents with better players and better resources. Goodwin's side have put so much into the opening two months of the season - how much competitive fire have they left for the remaining 30 games, when their situation already looks pretty hopeless?




    Falkirk's hard work may count for little
    Ray McKinnon isn't messing about; according to midfielder Paul Paton, Falkirk players are being put through three training sessions a day as the new manager tries to drill them into something vaguely resembling a Championship team (if it's also because they need to build up fitness, that reflects pretty badly on his predecessor). The Bairns were certainly better organized but that was far from sufficient against a pretty ordinary Dundee United side...though it would have helped if Leo Fasan hadn't cocked up for the first goal, or if Deimantas Petravicius hadn't spurned a golden chance for a leveller.

    The concern remains that organization is not the issue, or at least not the only issue. The club chairman issued a bizarre call to arms this week that reminded fans that there were "more than ninety points still available" as if a promotion challenge was still a possibility. The truth is that Paul Hartley has left McKinnon with a bunch of haddies to pick from. Big changes can't be made until January and even Guardiola himself couldn't make some of these duffers look like professional footballers. And so Falkirk's target has to be eighth, and anything higher is a pipedream.




    Thistle can't only depend on home comforts
    Having lost half of their league games so far, it says something about the tightness of this league that Partick Thistle are only four points off top spot. There was plenty of evidence in favour of them being one of the better teams in this league - not least the 18 pass move finished off by Kris Doolan for their first goal. The return of Stuart Bannigan has made an enormous difference and if he can stay fit then Thistle are a much different proposition.

    However, a push up the table mainly depends on finding some away form. Thistle have maximum points at Firhill and zero elsewhere. Next up is a travel to Dunfermline, before hosting Ross County and Dundee United on their own patch in a game brought forward to an international weekend from a midweek at the end of October. Where Alan Archibald's side are after those three games will tell us a lot more about their prospects.


    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.
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  8. hislopsoffsideagain
    Life after Laszlo begins now Dundee United fans had predicted a day like this for a long time. Recent results may have been acceptable, but sooner or later a half-decent opponent would rip up the facade and show them for what they really were. Whilst Ross County were far better than 'half-decent', in truth they only needed to be two things - professional and ruthless - to annihilate United on their own patch. Whether bad attitude or low confidence (or both) were to blame, this was the sort of result and performance that gets managers the sack...and so it proved.
    Chairman Michael Martin might have pulled the trigger early enough to save their season, what with twenty-nine league games still to play. However by waiting till the end of September, and backing Csaba Laszlo until then with whatever funds he requested, his successor faces the tricky task of moulding a coherent team out of the bloated squad Laszlo has left behind. Given 14 players were signed in the last transfer window and further funds will have been used up to 'mutually consent' the Hungarian, there's surely not much cash left lying around.
    And with the failure of both Laszlo and Ray McKinnon to get this side looking like anywhere near the sum of their parts, Arabs will fear that whomever sits in the dugout is somewhat irrelevant, and United are simply a broken club that needs overwhelming change in every facet.


    Injuries limit Johansson's impact at Morton Talking of managers inheriting someone else's squad, we come on to Jonatan Johansson at Morton, whose second game in charge, and first at Cappielow, ended in a catastrophic 5-1 defeat to Ayr United. And yet in plenty of parallel universes - ones where Michael Tidser either scored the penalty at 1-1 to give Morton the lead or handed responsibility over as he was clearly injured at that point - Morton would have won the game.
    Johansson actually has a decent nucleus to work with; the trouble is that there isn't much else. The loss of Tidser and veteran midfielder Chris Millar to injury in the second half led to an almighty collapse in which Ayr scored four times in the last 15 minutes. It's the side-effect of the time taken to install Ray McKinnon in the summer, which led to many senior players walking rather than waiting to see if they would get new deals. McKinnon did a remarkable job to build as good a squad as he did, but inevitably there is a lack of depth.
    And with Tidser and Millar joining striker Denny Johnstone on the treatment table, Johansson's focus now has to be on just getting a team out there rather than introducing his own ideas. It looks like the next little while could be quite a maangerial baptism for the Finn.

    Aidan Connelly's last chance to shine? One wonders what Aidan Connolly thinks of Andrew Robertson's career progression. The winger, a year younger than Robertson, played with him at Queen's Park and joined Dundee United at exactly the same time. Robertson of course has gone on to play in a Champions League final and become Scotland captain. Connolly drifted out of the United team after Jackie McNamara left and ended up at Raith Rovers, York City and now Dunfermline. His current career high point is scoring the winner in the FA Trophy final.
    Since returning to Scotland in the summer, Connolly had mostly been utilized only as an impact sub even as the team struggled for form and flair. But he has started the last two games and most crucially popped up with the winner against Partick Thistle on gaelic telly on Friday night. That result could kickstart Dunfermline's season; both they and Connolly, still only 23, will be hoping it can kickstart his too.



    Queen of the South find success by keeping it Semple Highlights were few and far between at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, aside from a fine array of tricks and flicks from elder statesmen Stephen Dobbie and Gary Harkins (the latter's humiliation of Sean Welsh in the second half, where he nutmegged the ICT midfielder but allowed him to catch up with him 20 yards further up the field so he could skin him and leave him on his backside, will live in the memory). Queen of the South set themselves up to defend deep and stifle the home side with Kyle Jacobs man-marking Liam Polworth for long periods, largely eliminating the duo from the game.
    Despite this, Caley Thistle would still have expected to offer more in attack but their linkup play was utterly ineffective. The main reason for this was an outstanding showing from central defender Callum Sample, on loan from Sheffield United for the season. Only 20 last month and far from fully developed physically, Semple was expected to struggle against the bigger, stronger and more wily Jordan White, but blanketed the target man completely and in the process prevented Inverness from being able to utilize White to hold up and lay off the ball. His positional sense was also on show with a crucial late clearance from his own six yard box.
    Whilst Dobbie justifiably is hogging the headlines, there are signs that the Doonhamers are quietly developing a very useful young defender.


    Alloa need to find goals from somewhere Jim Goodwin was not in a magnanimous mood on Saturday evening, to say the least; he derided Falkirk for "embarrassing" time-wasting and was also furious that Falkirk's second goal had been given. There was certainly grounds for anger about the latter, as referee Steven Kirkland was well positioned to see Zak Rudden knock the ball over the line with his left arm and yet somehow didn't see it (the Falkirk TV footage, almost mockingly, shows the GoPro footage of the indiscretion).
    That said, Falkirk were deserved winners as Alloa offered very little again in an attacking sense. They now have three league goals this season - a fortunate deflection and a penalty at Inverness, and a direct free kick against Dundee United - which is a pretty dire record. They may still be above Falkirk on goal difference, but it feels like only a matter of time until that changes and the Wasps end up in bottom spot.


    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.
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  9. hislopsoffsideagain
    United in crisis...and we've only just started
    If Dundee United were to put a motto on their club crest, I would eschew the traditional latin for something French - 'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose', perhaps. A new season, plenty of new players - eight were making their first league starts for the club - and yet it felt like nothing had changed since the campaign...nor the previous one. 

    United toiled badly and were lucky to scramble their way in front before the break; when they conceded it was no surprise that they collapsed, letting in three in twenty-five minutes. Worse, a significant chunk of their tactical plan was based on physically upsetting their opponents. Faissal El Bakhtaoui was clearly a target, and Christoph Rabitsch was very fortunate that Willie Collum was in an unusually lenient mood when he flattened the forward with a challenge that should have got him a second yellow before half-time.

    Whilst we hardly expect tiki-taka, United should be dominating teams with the quality of their play, particularly given they clearly have the highest budget in the league by a decent margin. Given the dreadful League Cup showing, Csaba Laszlo is justifiably feeling the pressure. A few more results and performances like this and his position becomes untenable.



    Three's a crowd for County
    In Jamie Lindsay, Ross Draper and Iain Vigurs, Ross County have three excellent central midfielders. They also play a 4-4-2 system which makes shoehorning them all in very difficult. With Michael Gardyne suspended against Alloa, it was no surprise to see Vigurs line up on the left of midfield, and no surprise to see him wander inside. But given left-back Sean Kelly offers little threat on the overlap, County were unbalanced, lacked width and the centre of the park had a 'too many cooks' feeling.

    Only once Draper had been substituted for winger Davis Keillor-Dunn did County really get a grip on the game, and it was the replacement who set up Marcus Fraser's winner. That gives co-managers Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell two selection headaches going forward - whether to use Gardyne or Keillor-Dunn on the flanks, and which of their talented trio is going to have to drop to the bench.



    Thistle are still suffering their relegation hangover
    According to Alan Archibald, Partick Thistle were without two players suspended and another who was ill, which explains why they only had three outfielders on the subs bench at Ayr. But the main problem of course is lack of depth. Thistle seem determined to hang on till the end of the transfer window to try and pick up quality players, but they risk a slow start and playing catchup all season.

    In the meantime they look like a side still affected by last season's malaise, which is odd given their lineup contained only five players left over from relegation. In contrast, Ayr still appear buoyed by the elation of promotion, with Lawrence Shankland taking his awesome form up a division. They thoroughly deserved their win, but the question is whether it was a sign that they are better than we thought, or that Thistle are worse.



    Falkirk need time to gel
    Caley Thistle fans will have got a sense of deja vu from watching the home side here, with the uncertainty and lack of coherence remarkably similar to that of Inverness last year as John Robertson tried to gel a lot of new players together and took time to find his best lineup.

    Falkirk had nine players making their league debuts for the club and it showed particularly in the first half as the visitors looked far more comfortable on and off the ball. Paul Hartley can maybe take solace from an improved display in the second period where his side probably did enough to deserve a draw. But the worry will be that they are at real risk of emulating Inverness' nightmare start to last season which wrecked their playoff hopes before the clocks changed. Next week's trip to Firhill will be an acid test for both the Bairns and their opponents.



    Morton grateful to Scully
    I'm looking forward to seeing the highlights from Cappielow - the only ones not available at the time of writing - mainly because of the exploits of Morton keeper Ryan Scully. Named man of the match, the ex-Partick man made one second half double-save so good that it was lauded on Twitter by Derek Gaston...the keeper who Scully has replaced. Now that's what I call team spirit.

    Despite blowing a two goal lead, the home side could consider themselves somewhat fortunate to get a point. They had only three shots on goal, two of which went in. Reassuringly for the Doonhamers, it turns out that players other than Stephen Dobbie can score goals.


    Lawrie Spence has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.
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  10. hislopsoffsideagain
    We won
    This is the most important thing to take away. Realists would acknowledge that Steve Clarke has had barely any time at all to get the hang of this international management malarkey and has been denied the luxury of training camps and friendlies to get his ideas across before competitive action; therefore a lack of cohesion was inevitable.

    You don't find many realists in football crowds though, as the half-time jeers indicated. The Tartan Army's patience has long been exhausted and just because Clarke was a popular choice didn't mean that they would tolerate toiling against a country ranked 89th in the world by FIFA. The victory may not have been convincing but it's the same number of points as we'd have got by thumping them. And it largely shields Clarke and a squad low on morale and belief from further pressure and criticism. With the trip to Brussels on Tuesday something of a free hit - nobody expects a positive result there - the focus can now move onto the next round of matches in September and, realistically, building a team that can win the Nations League playoffs and qualify for Euro 2020 that way.


    A decent striker would make the world of difference
    Having a world-class striker that opponents need to plan for can make such a difference - just look at Poland (Robert Lewandowski) or Wales (Gareth Bale). Scotland simply don't have that; here they also missed Steven Fletcher, Leigh Griffiths and Oli McBurnie who all might have fancied themselves as the starting centre-forward had they been fit. The obvious logic to picking Eamonn Brophy was that Clarke likes his attackers to defend from the front and as a Kilmarnock player Brophy could do that job without a second thought. And he did it fine.

    The problem was that 'the wolf' offered no bite. Apologists will say he was starved of service but in truth Brophy struggled to get even half a yard of space on his markers in open play and when he did so he was generally offside. James Forrest and, in the second half, Ryan Fraser got into plenty of dangerous positions but Brophy was never in a position to feed off them. He was, sadly, out of his depth.

    Whilst he was up against tired legs, Oli Burke looked so much brighter, linking up play with intelligent headers and stretching the game with his pace. Even before his goal he looked like someone had hooked him up to an intravenous drip of confidence before coming on. This was the Burke we've been waiting for ever since RB Leipzig paid £15million for him, but he needs to do it for more than twenty minutes to become a viable first choice up front.


    At least there was a clear plan and shape
    Coming up with a plan of attack is so much harder for a coach than getting the defence organized - and even more so at international level because of the lack of time available to work with players. But even at this early stage the difference between McLeish's Scotland and Clarke's Scotland was night and day. The attackers and midfielders clearly knew their roles without the ball and once the first ten minutes had passed and they had adjusted to Cyprus' surprise decision to play a back three the home side completely controlled the game. Unlike during his predecessor's tenure, it was also clear that the boss had done his homework; I was perturbed by the lack of defensive midfielder in the lineup, but Clarke clearly anticipated that there would be few defensive responsibilities needed in that area and so deployed a more technical player, Kenny McLean, in that position.

    Clarke also made important changes at half-time, instructing Callum McGregor to get higher up the pitch and encouraging Ryan Fraser to carry the ball instead of crossing early. These contributed significantly to the improved second half performance.


    Cyprus never actually looked much like scoring
    Yes, I know that sounds daft given that they did score but David Marshall made one save in each half and could have spent long periods leaning on the post doing Su Doku puzzles. I was supremely confident that we'd see it out at 1-0 because the players looked like they knew exactly what they were doing and actually looked more likely to score than Cyprus did. And whilst they were let down by a rare lapse by Andrew Robertson, who blotted his copybook by losing his marker at a corner, the back four looked really comfortable in open play. Scott McKenna had arguably his best game in a Scotland shirt, undoubtedly helped by having an experienced partner in Charlie Mulgrew.


    What next?
    The next four qualifiers are Belgium away, Russia at home, Belgium at home, Russia away. Ooft. It's certainly not all that unlikely we won't win any of them - and even if we do the chances of finishing second in the group are minimal unless we can get four points or more off at least one of those two teams. Realistically the onus has to be performance rather than results, with next spring the priority. Rome wasn't built in a day.


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.
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  11. hislopsoffsideagain
    The last time Celtic lost three consecutive home matches, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, Kylie Minogue was at number one with 'Tears On My Pillow' (no, I've never heard of it either) and Rangers were on their way to Two In A Row.


    Admittedly in the subsequent thirty years there won't have been many times when Celtic played back-to-back-to-back games at Celtic Park against teams of the quality of Rangers, Milan and, um, Sparta Prague, but still.


    How has it come to this?


    Yes, Rangers have improved. We're yet to find out whether yet another post-New Year slump will derail their title push, but it would obviously be foolish for Celtic fans to pin their hopes on that. Steven Gerrard's side are playing with confidence and no little skill. It's worth remembering at this point that, for all the spending down Govan way, Rangers' budget is still way behind Celtic's. For them to be so superior at this point is quite startling...and the way they are going about it is also exposing Celtic's problems for all to see.


    The bottom line is that Rangers have a plan, and Gerrard's squad has been built with it in mind. In contrast, if Celtic's grand strategy for 2020-21 was all about the switch to three-at-the-back, it made no sense to this blogger. Playing three central defenders in the Premiership against teams who sit back and soaked up pressure just unnecessarily robs the team of an attacking or creative player...even more so given Lennon's insistence on deploying Scott Brown at the base of midfield as well.  In Mohamed Elyounoussi, James Forrest and Mikey Johnston they have three wide players who don't obviously fit into that system, though the injuries to the latter two have made this less of an issue than it might have been. Ditto the more natural number tens like Ryan Christie and Tom Rogic.


    The Shane Duffy factor has been thoroughly dissected elsewhere, but the bottom line is that this is not a player that fits what Celtic need in central defence - either in a back three or a back four - in the slightest. Duffy is not a bad player, but his weaknesses are woefully exposed and his qualities are rarely on show in this situation. It is a failure of recruitment. 


    And it isn't the first one. Celtic have signed three left-backs in fifteen months. Greg Taylor and Boli Bolingoli cost £3million each and whilst Kieran Tierney's shoes were always going to be impossible to fill the bottom line is neither player can hold a torch to Rangers' Borna Barisic. Nor were they especially well suited to playing as a wing-back; ironically, as soon as Lennon signed a player tailor-made for the left wing-back role - Diego Laxalt - he reverted back to a back four which currently makes Laxalt look very uncomfortable.


    Meanwhile, the list of players currently out on loan and with no future at the club includes Bolingoli, Vakoun Issouf Bayo, Jack Hendry and Maryan Shved. It's not clear who is leading transfer policy at Celtic, but it does seem that folk are not all on the same page.


    As for the coach himself, it is increasingly tempting to wonder whether Lennon's first spell at Celtic Park was really all that. After all, his three league titles came when the closest opposition were a Rangers side on the brink of liquidation, Motherwell and Motherwell respectively; to be frank Celtic would have won those leagues with you, or me, or even Ronny Deila in charge. In continental competition, take away Tony Watt's goal against Barcelona - bear in mind that Celtic, with 11% possession, rather rode their luck that day - and results were not impressive; they finished rock bottom of their Champions League group in 2013-14 after nearly losing in the qualifiers to Shakhtar Karagandy, while they missed out on both the Champions League and Europa League groups in 2010-11 and only got into the Europa League groups the following year after Sion were disqualified.


    His return in early 2019 as a stopgap made a fair bit of sense given Brendan Rodgers' sudden departure, but in truth the team's form for the rest of that season was hardly all that and they huffed and puffed their way past a pretty putrid Hearts side in the Scottish Cup Final. It was not a performance that justified offering Lennon the job permanently after the match, but it was the romantic option and perhaps the easy one too. It was probably cheaper also in terms of wages, but it could be argued that the European qualifying failures of this season and last have made appointing him very expensive indeed for the club.


    The fact is that since Rodgers left Celtic have largely coasted, as if they feel they are untouchable. In fact, 'stagnated' may be a more appropriate term. On the pitch, there is very little sign of tactical imagination. The formation may have changed recently but in the final third the strategy seems the same; to rely for moments of individual brilliance to unlock defences. It's worth noting that both they and Rangers have endured their star player and talismanic striker suffering a collapse in form this season. Rangers have barely missed a beat despite Alfredo Morelos' struggles; Celtic simply do not look the same without a potent Odsonne Edouard.


    Edouard isn't the only one out of sorts. After the Sparta game, Lennon didn't hold back. He accused the players of being 'lazy' of 'lack of application', 'lack of hunger' and suggested they weren't working hard enough in training and that there was a need for a 'culture change'. The obvious elephant in the room there is the question of who is responsible for working them in training. After all there is precious little evidence during matches that they have worked on anything particularly intricate tactically. Heck, back in August Kieran Devlin at The Athletic reported that a number of players employed their own fitness coaches because they were unsatisfied at what the club was offering.


    There's still time to turn this around - two-thirds of the season in fact. And the Celtic squad has more than enough quality to do so. But it is fair to say we have reached the point where you'd be surprised if Neil Lennon was still in charge by the end of the season. And it's also fair to note that if you're going to change manager, an international break - like the one coming up next week - would seem like the least painful time to do it. Do they take the plunge and sack a manager for the first time since Tony Mowbray? The fate of their Ten In A Row dream may well depend on what decision they make.


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.

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  12. hislopsoffsideagain
    The last time Celtic lost three consecutive home matches, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, Kylie Minogue was at number one with 'Tears On My Pillow' (no, I've never heard of it either) and Rangers were on their way to Two In A Row.


    Admittedly in the subsequent thirty years there won't have been many times when Celtic played back-to-back-to-back games at Celtic Park against teams of the quality of Rangers, Milan and, um, Sparta Prague, but still.


    How has it come to this?


    Yes, Rangers have improved. We're yet to find out whether yet another post-New Year slump will derail their title push, but it would obviously be foolish for Celtic fans to pin their hopes on that. Steven Gerrard's side are playing with confidence and no little skill. It's worth remembering at this point that, for all the spending down Govan way, Rangers' budget is still way behind Celtic's. For them to be so superior at this point is quite startling...and the way they are going about it is also exposing Celtic's problems for all to see.


    The bottom line is that Rangers have a plan, and Gerrard's squad has been built with it in mind. In contrast, if Celtic's grand strategy for 2020-21 was all about the switch to three-at-the-back, it made no sense to this blogger. Playing three central defenders in the Premiership against teams who sit back and soaked up pressure just unnecessarily robs the team of an attacking or creative player...even more so given Lennon's insistence on deploying Scott Brown at the base of midfield as well.  In Mohamed Elyounoussi, James Forrest and Mikey Johnston they have three wide players who don't obviously fit into that system, though the injuries to the latter two have made this less of an issue than it might have been. Ditto the more natural number tens like Ryan Christie and Tom Rogic.


    The Shane Duffy factor has been thoroughly dissected elsewhere, but the bottom line is that this is not a player that fits what Celtic need in central defence - either in a back three or a back four - in the slightest. Duffy is not a bad player, but his weaknesses are woefully exposed and his qualities are rarely on show in this situation. It is a failure of recruitment. 


    And it isn't the first one. Celtic have signed three left-backs in fifteen months. Greg Taylor and Boli Bolingoli cost £3million each and whilst Kieran Tierney's shoes were always going to be impossible to fill the bottom line is neither player can hold a torch to Rangers' Borna Barisic. Nor were they especially well suited to playing as a wing-back; ironically, as soon as Lennon signed a player tailor-made for the left wing-back role - Diego Laxalt - he reverted back to a back four which currently makes Laxalt look very uncomfortable.


    Meanwhile, the list of players currently out on loan and with no future at the club includes Bolingoli, Vakoun Issouf Bayo, Jack Hendry and Maryan Shved. It's not clear who is leading transfer policy at Celtic, but it does seem that folk are not all on the same page.


    As for the coach himself, it is increasingly tempting to wonder whether Lennon's first spell at Celtic Park was really all that. After all, his three league titles came when the closest opposition were a Rangers side on the brink of liquidation, Motherwell and Motherwell respectively; to be frank Celtic would have won those leagues with you, or me, or even Ronny Deila in charge. In continental competition, take away Tony Watt's goal against Barcelona - bear in mind that Celtic, with 11% possession, rather rode their luck that day - and results were not impressive; they finished rock bottom of their Champions League group in 2013-14 after nearly losing in the qualifiers to Shakhtar Karagandy, while they missed out on both the Champions League and Europa League groups in 2010-11 and only got into the Europa League groups the following year after Sion were disqualified.


    His return in early 2019 as a stopgap made a fair bit of sense given Brendan Rodgers' sudden departure, but in truth the team's form for the rest of that season was hardly all that and they huffed and puffed their way past a pretty putrid Hearts side in the Scottish Cup Final. It was not a performance that justified offering Lennon the job permanently after the match, but it was the romantic option and perhaps the easy one too. It was probably cheaper also in terms of wages, but it could be argued that the European qualifying failures of this season and last have made appointing him very expensive indeed for the club.


    The fact is that since Rodgers left Celtic have largely coasted, as if they feel they are untouchable. In fact, 'stagnated' may be a more appropriate term. On the pitch, there is very little sign of tactical imagination. The formation may have changed recently but in the final third the strategy seems the same; to rely for moments of individual brilliance to unlock defences. It's worth noting that both they and Rangers have endured their star player and talismanic striker suffering a collapse in form this season. Rangers have barely missed a beat despite Alfredo Morelos' struggles; Celtic simply do not look the same without a potent Odsonne Edouard.


    Edouard isn't the only one out of sorts. After the Sparta game, Lennon didn't hold back. He accused the players of being 'lazy' of 'lack of application', 'lack of hunger' and suggested they weren't working hard enough in training and that there was a need for a 'culture change'. The obvious elephant in the room there is the question of who is responsible for working them in training. After all there is precious little evidence during matches that they have worked on anything particularly intricate tactically. Heck, back in August Kieran Devlin at The Athletic reported that a number of players employed their own fitness coaches because they were unsatisfied at what the club was offering.


    There's still time to turn this around - two-thirds of the season in fact. And the Celtic squad has more than enough quality to do so. But it is fair to say we have reached the point where you'd be surprised if Neil Lennon was still in charge by the end of the season. And it's also fair to note that if you're going to change manager, an international break - like the one coming up next week - would seem like the least painful time to do it. Do they take the plunge and sack a manager for the first time since Tony Mowbray? The fate of their Ten In A Row dream may well depend on what decision they make.


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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  13. hislopsoffsideagain
    I don't care what anyone else says, the Championship is the most interesting division in the SPFL. What's that you say? "You're only saying that because the team you support is top of the table"? That's an outrageous allegation that I can neither confirm nor deny at this time.


    We are now nine games, or one quarter, of the way through the season. So here's a breakdown of how the ten clubs are faring, with a grading system shamelessly stolen from the legendary Tell Him He's Pele site of years gone by...




    ARBROATH    A
    If anyone needs reminding, Arbroath are a part-time team. This is their third season at this level but they are not only surviving but thriving. They are outside the promotion playoffs only on goal difference and their only two defeats are to the clubs first and second in the table. I simply cannot overstate how incredible this is. This is the strongest team they've probably ever had, though they will find it hard to replace the outstanding striker Joel Nouble when he inevitably returns to parent club Livingston in January. Nouble has deservedly got the headlines for his terrific play which has also brought out the best in Michael McKenna, who has seven goals already after scoring only six in the league in the previous two seasons combined. More under the radar is Nicky Low, the former Aberdeen prodigy who had been strolling around the Lowland League until last Spring and yet is the closest thing this level has to a quarterback. His range of passing has made the Red Lichties more expansive and his superb set pieces give them yet another type of threat. Add in the traditional Dick Campbell levels of organization and you get a club which put many far better resourced peers to shame.


    AYR UNITED    C-
    Teams are (and correctly so) often pilloried for sacking a manager as early as September. However United got it right by binning David Hopkin after a dreadful start where they took a single point from their opening four matches and Hoppy seemed to blame the supporters for their struggles. Since Jim Duffy took over there's been three victories and a jump into mid-table. There's no question Ayr are now better organised and less likely to cause your eyes to bleed, though Hoppyball set the bar pretty low there. The recent 4-0 thumping by Partick Thistle exposed their limitations though. The biggest concern is the lack of quality and balance in the squad Duffy inherited, which is desperately short on central midfielders. Up front Tomi Adeloye looks like the only potent goal threat. Expect reinforcements in January which will determine whether they can steer clear of a relegation battle.


    DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC    F
    Bottom of the league and still winless, Dunfermline couldn't even get through the international break without shooting themselves in the foot. Peter Grant's insistence last week that the Pars could still win the Championship (a 500-1 possibility according to the bookies) was relatively small beer compared to the spectacularly ill-thought out statement released by the board the week before which seemed to defend the hapless manager whilst slagging off the supporters at the same time. The draw at the weekend against Kilmarnock was a welcome improvement but is it an aberration or a sign of a corner turned? Whilst the takeover by a German consortium did not have the fans expecting the next Franz Beckenbauer, this squad is supposed to be challenging at the top end rather than propping up the table. It's not unfair to point the finger of blame at the dugout; Grant has brought in roughly a million central defenders, fell out with Dom Thomas shortly after making him captain, took too long to drop calamity keeper Deniz Mehmet and persisted for ages with playing widemen through the middle. It's also worth noting that the team look better without injured marquee signing Graham Dorrans, whose main contribution so far is to get in a slagging match with some supporters after another defeat. It can get better, but it is unlikely to do so until Grant is replaced.


    GREENOCK MORTON    C-
    As if being ninth wasn't concerning enough, the fact that Morton fans consider keeper Jack Hamilton to have been their best player so far this season is probably not a good sign. Gus MacPherson won more matches during the relegation playoffs at the end of last season (three) than he has done in sixteen Championship matches as manager (two). The glass-half full view is that MacPherson is still integrating some intriguing last minute loan signings in defender Oisin McEntee, wide players Jaakko Oksanen and Tom Allan and striker Gavin Reilly. A more realistic take is that this is a young and thin squad; Kyle Jacobs aside, the midfield is very raw while among the forwards only Reilly has a pedigree for scoring regularly at this level. If their hitherto impressive goalie hits a patch of dicey form as he so often has in his career, the Ton could be in for a ton of trouble.


    HAMILTON ACADEMICAL    D
    It's not unusual for newly-relegated sides to struggle to find their feet in the early weeks of the Championship season. They don't usually hit the skids as spectacularly as Accies though. Brian Rice's departure after two matches hasn't helped - not that the fans minded - and any hopes that a win over ICT was the sign they'd turned a corner evaporated in a 6-1 shellacking at home to Partick Thistle. That victory over Inverness is the team's only home triumph since opening day weekend. The truth is that this is a remarkably weak squad given the club spent the previous seven seasons in the top flight. At the back Mihai Popescu looks more like the jobber that won this league with Hearts than the titan who won it with St. Mirren, Shaun Want is yet to find his level and highly-related youngster Jamie Hamilton's progress has stagnated and loanee Luke Matheson looks lost. Lewis Smith and Josh Mullen are bright sparks but otherwise the midfield has struggled, though this might improve when Lewis Spence gets fit and Miko Virtanen is played in his more natural deeper role. And up top the long-term injuries that have limited forwards David Templeton and Andy Winter to one start between them have left them dreadfully blunt with just Andy Ryan and David Moyo to pick from. Still, are they really so weak that they could go down again? Surely not...


    INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE    A
    ICT are not only top of the table but five points clear, which makes it all the more remarkable that they have blown their opponents away in only one half of football so far - the second forty-five at home to Partick Thistle. Otherwise they've proven adept at grinding out results, often getting in front and seeing out the game with relative comfort and control without really getting out of second gear. It could be argued that there is plenty of room for improvement, but is just as possible that they could regress to the mean. It feels a far cry from the intial poor results and performances in the League Cup under Billy Dodds though; after some rocky defending in those matches the Kirk Broadfoot-marshalled backline has turned into a strength. Mark Ridgers is the sort of reliable keeper that many clubs would die for, and the most important veteran is ex-Ross County midfielder Michael Gardyne who has chipped in with four goals. A more reliable goalscorer would really make this team dangerous - Billy Mckay is threatening to fill this role having finally got a run in the team - and whilst it is debatable if they have the depth to stay at the top all season one would suspect a few quid could be found behind the sofa for reinforcements if they are in the mix come January.


    KILMARNOCK    B-
    Tommy Wright essentially signed a new team following relegation and so it maybe shouldn't be that surprising that Killie are still a work in progress. That said, the club's budget is light years ahead of their peers and so expectations are, and should be, higher than third in the table at this point. Has Wright found his best team yet, or even his best formation? He seemed to start out with a 4-2-3-1 which would bring the best out of Liam Polworth but difficulty in breaking down deep-lying opponents, plus attacking reinforcements, has led back to 4-4-2. With Oli Shaw, Callum Hendry and Scott Robinson available up front they now look far more lethal and yet in recent games against Raith and Dunfermline they've started letting in soft goals at the other end. That should be easily fixable though; the trick for Wright will be to reduce the dependence on Chris Burke - 38 in December - for creativity. Both Blair Alston and Fraser Murray need to step up to the plate. But Kilmarnock remain the odds-on favourites for promotion for good reason.


    PARTICK THISTLE    A-
    120 goals have been scored so far in the Championship. 37 of them - nearly a third - have been either for or against Thistle. They have been as entertaining as that sounds. Veteran targetman Brian Graham and young predator Zak Rudden have twelve league goals between them so far, more than seven of the clubs in this division have managed. Scott Tiffoney has been electric on the wing. At the other end of the park keepers Jamie Sneddon and Harry Stone have both blundered on occasions and the back four look decidedly dodgy and exposed. Ian McCall seems to have made his peace with this and is unwilling to sacrifice attacking edge for defensive stability, at least for now. Certainly Thistle can consider themselves to be challengers at the top end of the table and have the right to believe they can emulate the example of Livingston a few years back and win back-to-back promotions. 


    QUEEN OF THE SOUTH    C
    What are appropriate expectations for the Doonhamers? They may be full-time, but this is a squad built mainly by taking fliers on young players from the lower divisions or from outside Scotland. Some, such as striker Lee Connelly (admittedly on loan in this division at Alloa from Sunderland last season) or central defender Roberto Nditi (signed from Forfar Athletic) have been spectacular successes. But most are either still finding their feet or never will. And of the two signings most likely to be described as 'marquee' Aidan Fitzpatrick can at least claim he is still short of match fitness after joining last month but ex-Hearts starlet Harry Cochrane looks like his confidence is completely shot. It's never a good sign when the manager is still changing formations and deciding on his best XI nearly three months in - Wullie Gibson has played in about half-a-dozen different positions already and whilst QOS are seventh in the table they have lost more matches than anyone else and it feels as if they are heavily dependent on Connolly for goals. If he can't keep it up, they will be in a tough spot.


    RAITH ROVERS    A-
    After Regan Hendry left in the summer and Lewis Vaughan injured his knee again, Rovers were expected to regress. In fact they've barely missed a beat. John McGlynn has stuck with a crisp passing game where the full-backs are encouraged to be extremely adventurous - in the win at Rugby Park Liam Dick scored and Reghan Tumilty set up a late goal with a lung-busting run up the pitch - and wingers Dario Zanatta and Aidan Connolly drive infield. Zanatta looks back to his best after two rotten seasons at Partick and Ayr. In defence Christophe Berra has looked far more comfortable (and far less exposed?) than he did at Hearts last season and has quickly formed a good partnership with Kyle Benedictus, while Jamie MacDonald is still a fine keeper. It's a marker of the progress the club are making that they were able to sign ex-Aberdeen midfielder Ethan Ross last week; when he is up to speed his arrival protects nicely against the impending exit of Dylan Tait in January to Hibs. Raith's obvious weakness is up top where loanees Ethan Varian and Matej Poplatnik put in big shifts but rarely look like scoring. Regardless of that this is a side who are certainly one of the best in this league.


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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  14. hislopsoffsideagain
    I did it for the first 9 games, so the law dictates that I have to do it again: here's a look at the second quarter of the Championship season.








    ARBROATH    A+
    First, a caveat: whilst Arbroath are indeed part-time, this is not a bunch of guys playing for expenses money and a post-game booze up. Dick Campbell's squad contains plenty of players who could - should - be at full-time clubs but who probably make more money from the combination of football and a day job than plenty of full-time players at this level. Not only that, but they get Campbell's expert tuition. Arbroath are unquestionably the best coached and best drilled team defensively in this division, but on top of that they have quality in every area. They have lost just once since opening day, and despite missing playmaker Nicky Low for most of the last two months they actually scored more points in the second quarter of the season than in the first. Whilst it may indeed be a sad indictment of some of the wealthier clubs in the Championship, Arbroath are top of the table on merit. Can they stay there? Joel Nouble's return to parent club Livingston will make things a lot harder. But Campbell has already said he has replacements lined up. Logic says they will run out of steam eventually, especially if Covid leads to postponements and a fixture backlog. But it would be foolish to bet against them doing the impossible and winning the league,


    AYR UNITED    F
    The first quarter report was focussed on the dismissal of David Hopkin; remarkably, the second quarter one comes a few days after Ayr punted Hopkin's replacement, Jim Duffy, after 104 days in charge (including as caretaker). United picked up seven points in Duffy's three games as interim manager and only seven more in the eleven games since. The fact they are still as high as eighth is more a reflection on the struggles of the sides around them. Expect Ayr to be extremely busy in January with new Chief Executive Graeme Mathie (recently of Hibs) and the new boss - Marvin Bartley and Darren O'Dea have been linked - working to get some balance and quality into a squad which lacks both. The defence particularly needs improvement, as their 31 goals conceded is the joint-highest in the Championship and they haven't had a clean sheet in three months. The trouble is they have approximately a billion defenders on the books and it won't be easy to move on the duds. Ayr are in a relegation battle; the appointment they make here will probably decide whether they stay up or not.


    DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC    C-
    Peter Grant's dismissal came as no surprise, but we're only three league games (the win in Inverness was under Greg Shields, though Yogi did turn up for the half-time team talk) into John Hughes' tenure, so it's hard to know what strides the Pars have made so far. They certainly look more potent going forward, with Lewis McCann providing the spark and goals that more seasoned - and better-paid - strikers Craig Wighton, Nikolay Todorov and Kevin O'Hara were struggling to produce. Graeme Dorrans seems the sort of midfielder tailor-made for Yogiball. However Dom Thomas could be missing for another couple of months after knee surgery, leaving them without their best wide player. I'd imagine Hughes will want to make some moves in the window but this is a pretty big squad - 23 players have started league games - and he may not have much room to maneouvre there. Dunfermline's next two games are at home to the division's top two teams, which should give a better idea of where they stand.


    GREENOCK MORTON    F
    The dismissal of Gus MacPherson on 4 December wasn't overly a surprise; he won only three of twenty-four league matches in charge. MacPherson seemed to gamble that his group of loan signings from the end of the summer window would click and lift the team, but while Oisin McEntee has done well and Jaako Oksanen shown flashes, Gavin Reilly is yet to score a league goal, Tom Allan has offered little and Jimmy Knowles offered little before getting injured. Otherwise the squad is dreadfully weak, especially as veteran central defender Alan Lithgow has really struggled. Dougie Imrie now takes over a team that are bottom of the Championship, with only one league win since 7 August (over a managerless Dunfermline side) and who haven't been victorious in the league at Cappielow since 20 March. No wonder MacPherson's replacement Dougie Imrie looked like a hostage in the photos announcing his appointment.


    HAMILTON ACADEMICAL    B-
    A cup humiliation at Auchinleck Talbot seems to have finally stirred some sort of life in Accies, whose improvement in recent weeks culminated in a come-from-behind win in Inverness which was born less out of quality and more out of guts. That will give heart to Stuart Taylor, who seemed to be struggling to find his way with the squad he inherited in August from Brian Rice. A promotion playoff spot is surely already out of reach but mid-table seems a likely bet and that in itself is a relief. Having Scott Martin and Andy Winter back from long-term injury can only help now, though David Templeton was sadly forced into retirement. That might free up a wage for new signings up front, though David Moyo has come into form. Otherwise the primary aim of the rest of the campaign may be to develop young talents like Lewis Smith, Reegan Mimnaugh, Marley Redfern and Winter, and given the alternative the fans will probably be cool with that.


    INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE    C
    ICT have by no means an outstanding squad by Championship standards but if they miss out on promotion this season they may well have only themselves to blame. Behind Arbroath only on goal difference, the early pacesetters have shot themselves in the foot with defeats on home turf to the Red Lichties, Dunfermline and Accies - the latter two after scoring first. Sometimes Inverness can see a game out (eg Killie at home, a 1-0 win), sometimes they let opponents back into it (QOS away, a 2-1 win) and very rarely do they keep their foot on the gas (Morton away, a 6-1 win). In truth, they've not looked nearly as potent going forward since the apparent disappearance from existence of Michael Gardyne (everyone knows why...). Whilst Billy Mckay's renaissance is welcome, Billy Dodds needs to get in another winger or rejuvenate either the stale Tom Walsh or aging Aaron Doran if a title challenge is to continue.


    KILMARNOCK    D
    We're used to managers getting fired after a bad result, but after an abandoned match? Rumour has it that the board discovered that the fog didn't make the team any less difficult to watch. Anyway, Tommy Wright - a manager known for pragmatism and who was brought in to keep them up - couldn't set up a team to play on the front foot. Tactically Kilmarnock didn't seem to have a philosophy; some players such as Blair Alston and Liam Polworth seemed to be brought in for a 4-2-3-1 but then so many strikers arrived that a 4-4-2 was almost obligatory even though none of them seemed to have complimentary traits. The bottom line is that Killie took just four points from eight matches against the other teams in the top half of the table and and lost 1-0 four times in a row in the league before Wright's exit. If the new man can at least decide on how on earth he wants the team to play, that would be a start. For all their travails, they are only five points off top with a game in hand and remain bookies' favourites to go up.


    PARTICK THISTLE    B
    A 4-0 win at Ayr aside, the goals dried up a bit - the side who were the division's leading scorers in the first quarter promptly had three consecutive goalless draws - but the points keep coming along nicely for Thistle, for the most part. Wins at Rugby Park and at home to Raith Rovers prove why they are in the playoff places, and a home defeat to Arbroath explains why they aren't at the top of the table. The improvement in defence looks sustainable though and there's reason to think Brian Graham and Zak Rudden will return to form up front. Thistle have been linked with signing James Maxwell (on loan at Ayr from Rangers) and a couple more additions should set them up nicely for the second half of the campaign.


    QUEEN OF THE SOUTH    C
    On paper one might argue that the Doonhamers have the weakest and thinnest squad in the whole league, but they have made themselves hard to beat (only two of their league defeats were by more than one goal) and have managed to nick enough points - especially against the teams around them - to be out of the bottom two at least at the time of writing. Lee Connelly's penchant for the spectacular helps, and Innes Cameron does have goals in him. One worries QOS will fall behind if the other sides at the bottom go on signing sprees next month - do they have the resources to do so themselves?


    RAITH ROVERS    B-
    This author has mused more than once that Raith might be the Championship's best side on their day, when Aidan Connelly and Dario Zanatta are raiding in from the flanks, Brad Spencer is running the midfield, Liam Dick and Reghan Tumilty are flying on the overlap and Christophe Berra is strolling at the back. Ethan Ross took them up another gear, and Sam Stanton's imminent arrival will cover for the departure of Dylan Tait to Hibs. But how they could do with a reliable centre-forward; Ethan Varian and Matej Poplatnik are willing but goalshy. That could be the difference between them going up and staying in the second tier. Can John McGlynn rustle up a potent striker? 




    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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  15. hislopsoffsideagain
    Aside from a game between Morton and Queen of the South that needs rescheduled, the Scottish Championship has reached its halfway point. Eighteen games down, eighteen to go.

    It would be a stretch to say there is a title race.



    Thirteen points clear with eighteen games left? Surely Dundee United can't blow this.

    United haven't been perfect (their three defeats include a loss to Alloa and a 4-0 trouncing in Dumfries) but they have been close enough. At the time of writing they've won nine straight. Obviously having Lawrence Shankland helps - he has nineteen league goals already and has broken into the Scotland setup - but this United team is miles ahead in every area compared to the ones that have stunk up this division for the last three years. Once they get in front they have enough backbone and street smarts to see out games and pick off opponents at will. Aside from Shankland, Mark Reynolds and Calum Butcher have been particularly outstanding.

    Therefore the teams immediately below are realistically battling for the three playoff spots; getting second place and a 'bye week' could make a significant difference to a club's chances of promotion via this route.

    It's Caley Thistle who currently have a little bit of breathing space here. Not that they have been overly impressive - three teams have scored more and three have conceded fewer - but they've been a little less inconsistent than the rest.

    Crucially their last three home games have been victories against the three clubs immediately below them in the table, and with clean sheets to boot. That suggests that the backline is returning to form after a shaky autumn. Their problem remains a lack of goals. They've scored more than two in a game only once and no individual has managed more than four in the league. Finding a reliable forward would cement that second spot. Certainly you would fancy them to reach the playoffs again though.

    Next up are Ayr United who started like greased lightning with six wins out of seven but have hit the skids dreadfully since Ian McCall upped and left for Partick Thistle. His rookie replacement Mark Kerr hasn't been helped by a small squad incapacitated by injuries but its remarkable they are currently third given they've won just one of the last six.

    Unless they can reinforce considerably in January they are unlikely to stay there, especially as Kerr himself intends to hang up his boots next month. With other veterans such as Michael Moffat, Steven Bell and Andy Geggan looking past their best it could be tough going forward.

    In contrast Dundee will feel they are in the ascendancy now - and about time too, given this team can boast Kane Hemmings and Danny Johnson up front and Graham Dorrans in midfield. If one was being generous it could be said that manager James McPake had to gel together several new players, but the bottom line is that the Dark Blues are performing remarkably like their neighbours in the last few years - playing down to the opposition, often relying on talent rather than tactics to do the business.

    Still, they've won their last two and got into the top four. Their next three matches are against the trio currently above them, starting with the Boxing Day derby. A positive result at Tannadice would do wonders for confidence, not least because the two derby defeats so far have wrecked confidence for weeks afterward. The bottom line though is that anything other than a top four finish would be an embarrassment.

    Dunfermline have dropped back to fifth after a recent purple patch had put them into the top four. But they'll take that given Stevie Crawford looked under a fair bit of pressure when they won only one of their first eight league games.

    The turnaround has been mostly down to the outrageous form of striker Kevin Nisbet, who before last weekend's loss in Inverness had scored twelve in seven league games. If he can keep finding the net and the Pars can get the best out of midfield loan trio Greg Kiltie, Harry Cochrane and Anthony McDonald then they will be playoff-bound.

    I was actually surprised when I looked at the table to find Queen of the South up in sixth. Whilst they've had some impressive wins (such as the aforementioned drubbing of the league leaders) they've only won back-to-back games once. Has Stephen Dobbie begun to fade at last? The 37 year old has only five league goals so far this season. However the club have just given him another new contract and his acumen still looks plenty sharp for this level.

    The Doonhamers are another team who have a relatively small squad that struggles to deal with any injuries. An optimist would say they are still in the playoff race but they are closer to ninth than fourth and an injury to Dobbie would cripple them.

    I was also taken aback to see Arbroath down in seventh. Only six weeks ago they were in a playoff spot after crushing ICT at home but that might have been their ceiling. Since then they are winless. That shouldn't distract from the remarkable job Dick Campbell and co have done this season with a squad of gnarly part-time veterans from the lower divisions. They have gone toe-to-toe with everyone.

    And yet they could still be pulled into a relegation battle. There's always a risk that the semi-pros will run out of batteries towards the end of a long season. But these guys have been around the block often enough to deserve the benefit of the doubt.

    Just above the bottom two are Morton who will have probably had higher expectations than this when they appointed David Hopkin as manager. Perhaps its true he wasn't the brains of the operation at Livingston? Morton's home form is the reason they are this high; only last weekend did they pick up their first away league win.

    There's plenty of experience in Greenock with Jim McAlister, Chris Millar, Brian McLean and John Sutton amongst those playing significant roles. But few of the youngsters have pushed on and their two most prestigious summer signings, Aidan Nesbitt and Robbie Muirhead, have struggled. They need top scorer Bob McHugh to bounce back from a hamstring injury asap.

    Whatever former boss Gary Caldwell claims about putting together a squad capable of promotion, pre-contract moves for Ayr's Ross Docherty and QOS's Darren Brownlie tell you that Partick Thistle have no aspirations for this season beyond getting the hell out of the basement and retaining their Championship status.

    Sixteen points from twelve games under McCall is certainly progress but expect Thistle to be very busy in January strengthening the squad and trying to move on some of Caldwell's duds.

    And finally we have Alloa. Staying up last season was a minor miracle for the Wasps but repeating the feat will be very tough. Peter Grant has done a solid job succeeding Jim Goodwin in charge and they've not been pushovers by any means. But four straight defeats has seen them plunge to the bottom.

    Grant was quite prudent in the summer and it will be interesting to see if there is much squad turnover in January. Certainly if Alloa are going to survive they need to bring in new players, though they will remain tough opponents regardless.

    So here are my predictions for how it'll finish...and how confident I am about said predictions:

    PROMOTED
    Dundee United (would bet my mortgage on it)

    PROMOTION PLAYOFFS
    Inverness CT (very confident)
    Dundee (very confident)
    Dunfermline (wouldn't put money on it)

    RELEGATION PLAYOFFS
    Morton (not confident at all - could see Arbroath, QOS, Partick all ending up here)

    RELEGATED
    Alloa (pretty confident but they've proven us wrong before!)


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
    View the full article
  16. hislopsoffsideagain
    Aside from a game between Morton and Queen of the South that needs rescheduled, the Scottish Championship has reached its halfway point. Eighteen games down, eighteen to go.

    It would be a stretch to say there is a title race.



    Thirteen points clear with eighteen games left? Surely Dundee United can't blow this.

    United haven't been perfect (their three defeats include a loss to Alloa and a 4-0 trouncing in Dumfries) but they have been close enough. At the time of writing they've won nine straight. Obviously having Lawrence Shankland helps - he has nineteen league goals already and has broken into the Scotland setup - but this United team is miles ahead in every area compared to the ones that have stunk up this division for the last three years. Once they get in front they have enough backbone and street smarts to see out games and pick off opponents at will. Aside from Shankland, Mark Reynolds and Calum Butcher have been particularly outstanding.

    Therefore the teams immediately below are realistically battling for the three playoff spots; getting second place and a 'bye week' could make a significant difference to a club's chances of promotion via this route.

    It's Caley Thistle who currently have a little bit of breathing space here. Not that they have been overly impressive - three teams have scored more and three have conceded fewer - but they've been a little less inconsistent than the rest.

    Crucially their last three home games have been victories against the three clubs immediately below them in the table, and with clean sheets to boot. That suggests that the backline is returning to form after a shaky autumn. Their problem remains a lack of goals. They've scored more than two in a game only once and no individual has managed more than four in the league. Finding a reliable forward would cement that second spot. Certainly you would fancy them to reach the playoffs again though.

    Next up are Ayr United who started like greased lightning with six wins out of seven but have hit the skids dreadfully since Ian McCall upped and left for Partick Thistle. His rookie replacement Mark Kerr hasn't been helped by a small squad incapacitated by injuries but its remarkable they are currently third given they've won just one of the last six.

    Unless they can reinforce considerably in January they are unlikely to stay there, especially as Kerr himself intends to hang up his boots next month. With other veterans such as Michael Moffat, Steven Bell and Andy Geggan looking past their best it could be tough going forward.

    In contrast Dundee will feel they are in the ascendancy now - and about time too, given this team can boast Kane Hemmings and Danny Johnson up front and Graham Dorrans in midfield. If one was being generous it could be said that manager James McPake had to gel together several new players, but the bottom line is that the Dark Blues are performing remarkably like their neighbours in the last few years - playing down to the opposition, often relying on talent rather than tactics to do the business.

    Still, they've won their last two and got into the top four. Their next three matches are against the trio currently above them, starting with the Boxing Day derby. A positive result at Tannadice would do wonders for confidence, not least because the two derby defeats so far have wrecked confidence for weeks afterward. The bottom line though is that anything other than a top four finish would be an embarrassment.

    Dunfermline have dropped back to fifth after a recent purple patch had put them into the top four. But they'll take that given Stevie Crawford looked under a fair bit of pressure when they won only one of their first eight league games.

    The turnaround has been mostly down to the outrageous form of striker Kevin Nisbet, who before last weekend's loss in Inverness had scored twelve in seven league games. If he can keep finding the net and the Pars can get the best out of midfield loan trio Greg Kiltie, Harry Cochrane and Anthony McDonald then they will be playoff-bound.

    I was actually surprised when I looked at the table to find Queen of the South up in sixth. Whilst they've had some impressive wins (such as the aforementioned drubbing of the league leaders) they've only won back-to-back games once. Has Stephen Dobbie begun to fade at last? The 37 year old has only five league goals so far this season. However the club have just given him another new contract and his acumen still looks plenty sharp for this level.

    The Doonhamers are another team who have a relatively small squad that struggles to deal with any injuries. An optimist would say they are still in the playoff race but they are closer to ninth than fourth and an injury to Dobbie would cripple them.

    I was also taken aback to see Arbroath down in seventh. Only six weeks ago they were in a playoff spot after crushing ICT at home but that might have been their ceiling. Since then they are winless. That shouldn't distract from the remarkable job Dick Campbell and co have done this season with a squad of gnarly part-time veterans from the lower divisions. They have gone toe-to-toe with everyone.

    And yet they could still be pulled into a relegation battle. There's always a risk that the semi-pros will run out of batteries towards the end of a long season. But these guys have been around the block often enough to deserve the benefit of the doubt.

    Just above the bottom two are Morton who will have probably had higher expectations than this when they appointed David Hopkin as manager. Perhaps its true he wasn't the brains of the operation at Livingston? Morton's home form is the reason they are this high; only last weekend did they pick up their first away league win.

    There's plenty of experience in Greenock with Jim McAlister, Chris Millar, Brian McLean and John Sutton amongst those playing significant roles. But few of the youngsters have pushed on and their two most prestigious summer signings, Aidan Nesbitt and Robbie Muirhead, have struggled. They need top scorer Bob McHugh to bounce back from a hamstring injury asap.

    Whatever former boss Gary Caldwell claims about putting together a squad capable of promotion, pre-contract moves for Ayr's Ross Docherty and QOS's Darren Brownlie tell you that Partick Thistle have no aspirations for this season beyond getting the hell out of the basement and retaining their Championship status.

    Sixteen points from twelve games under McCall is certainly progress but expect Thistle to be very busy in January strengthening the squad and trying to move on some of Caldwell's duds.

    And finally we have Alloa. Staying up last season was a minor miracle for the Wasps but repeating the feat will be very tough. Peter Grant has done a solid job succeeding Jim Goodwin in charge and they've not been pushovers by any means. But four straight defeats has seen them plunge to the bottom.

    Grant was quite prudent in the summer and it will be interesting to see if there is much squad turnover in January. Certainly if Alloa are going to survive they need to bring in new players, though they will remain tough opponents regardless.

    So here are my predictions for how it'll finish...and how confident I am about said predictions:

    PROMOTED
    Dundee United (would bet my mortgage on it)

    PROMOTION PLAYOFFS
    Inverness CT (very confident)
    Dundee (very confident)
    Dunfermline (wouldn't put money on it)

    RELEGATION PLAYOFFS
    Morton (not confident at all - could see Arbroath, QOS, Partick all ending up here)

    RELEGATED
    Alloa (pretty confident but they've proven us wrong before!)


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.View the full article
  17. hislopsoffsideagain
    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 that didn't reach a 2018 World Cup Semi-Final. If this had been a 2-0 defeat at home to the Czech Republic in qualifying, in this manner, the postmortem would have been pretty grim. There should be little sympathy or patience just because "at least we qualified".


    Okay, it came down to fine margins and sure, Scotland were grossly short-changed on this front. We could probably afford to lose Kieran Tierney less than any other player in the squad. The Czech goalkeeper had a fine match. Jack Hendry hit the bar when the score was 1-0. One simply cannot allow for an extraordinary moment like Patrik Schick's second goal and perhaps it is unreasonable to expect such a strike to be anything other than a knockout blow.


    But on a day that demanded a carpe diem spirit, Steve Clarke set Scotland up in such a way that this match was only ever going to come down to fine margins. The starting lineup looked quite adventurous with Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie and John McGinn all there to ostensibly provide support to Lyndon Dykes but the reality was anything but. Somehow we managed to lack an attacking threat because we played too many attack-minded players.


    With Tierney injured and Scott McTominay back in midfield none of the Scottish back three were either comfortable enough in possession or confident enough to step out with the ball. Carpe diem? We couldn't even manage carpe pila. With no Ryan Jack, Kenny McLean, Callum McGregor or Billy Gilmour on the pitch and McTominay closed down whenever he came deep, the only out ball was a long punt forward.


    This worked marginally better when Dykes was joined by Che Adams in the second half, but even then the play was depressingly archaic: either hit it at Dykes and hope he can flick it on, or get it wide and ping it in the box. That's 'get it wide left', obviously, because for the vast majority of the match only Andy Robertson looked capable of making anything happen...and the Czechs were well aware of this, which is why they offered us the chance to pass to Stephen O'Donnell as much as possible.


    No-one can doubt the Motherwell defender's effort, his contribution to team camaraderie and his impeccable home baking but at this level he is a Standard Grade maths student being asked to give a calculus lecture at St. Andrews. In the second minute he took a pass on the right touchline, looked up and let the ball run under his foot with no-one near him. He ruined one promising attack by inexplicably getting in Christie's way after the Celtic player had managed to beat two defenders. His crosses never beat the first man, he gave away possession time and again and ultimately he was the one who was so, so slow to get out and close down the two-on-one the Czechs created to cross for the opener.


    That said, Grant Hanley has one job. ONE JOB. TO WIN HEADERS.


    Perhaps the most depressing aspect was how little influence John McGinn had on the match. Most of Scotland's finest play under Clarke has involved the talismanic midfielder doing damage in the final third. Here, whilst he seemed to be playing ahead of Armstrong, he was neutered. It says it all that his sole highlight moment, a 360 degree spin out of trouble that left an opponent dazed and confused on the turf, took place twenty-five yards from his own goal...and that when he then looked for a teammate to pass to, there were none.


    As a close friend texted after the final whistle, "most disappointing of all, Clarke was crap". Scotland's cerebral, savvy, streetwise coach was supposed to be the great equalizer that compensated for the lack of quality in some areas of the team. When we look back on this game for years to come, people will think of that fifty-yard strike, but many will not forget that Scotland's team selection hamstrung them from the start.


    So, what does Clarke do now? Unfortunately, the only answer I can think of is 'pray'. All the optimism has been sucked out of the Tartan Army now and replaced by an overwhelming feeling of dread in the pits of our stomachs; that's not Schickness at the Czech result, it's the very real fear that if we play like  that at Wembley on Friday we are going to be humiliated.




    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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  18. hislopsoffsideagain
    So when I first did one of these, Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, I had a hairline that was still within communicating distance of my forehead and Allan McGregor was playing for Rangers. What? Oh. 
    Anyway, this is the fifteenth annual Team Of The Year. Here's the previous fourteen. I regret nothing. Except Daniel Majstorovic, but that goes without saying.


    2007/08: Allan McGregor (Rangers), Alan Hutton (Rangers), Carlos Cuellar (Rangers), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Lee Naylor (Celtic), Barry Robson (Celtic), Stephen Hughes (Motherwell), Barry Ferguson (Rangers), Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Steven Fletcher (Hibernian)


    2008/09: Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United), Andreas Hinkel (Celtic), Gary Caldwell (Celtic), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Sasa Papac (Rangers), Scott Brown (Celtic), Bruno Aguiar (Hearts), Pedro Mendes (Rangers), Andrew Driver (Hearts), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Kris Boyd (Rangers)


    2009/10: John Ruddy (Motherwell), Steven Whittaker (Rangers), David Weir (Rangers), Andy Webster (Dundee United), Sasa Papac (Rangers), Steven Davis (Rangers), Morgaro Gomis (Dundee United), James McArthur (Hamilton), Anthony Stokes (Hibernian), Kris Boyd (Rangers), David Goodwillie (Dundee United)


    2010/11: Marian Kello (Hearts), Steven Whittaker (Rangers), Daniel Majstorovic (Celtic), Michael Duberry (St. Johnstone), Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic), Steven Naismith (Rangers), Beram Kayal (Celtic), Alexei Eremenko (Kilmarnock), David Templeton (Hearts), Nikica Jelavic (Rangers), David Goodwillie (Dundee United)

    2011/12: Cammy Bell (Kilmarnock), Adam Matthews (Celtic), Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic), Paul Dixon (Dundee United), James Forrest (Celtic), Victor Wanyama (Celtic), Ian Black (Hearts), Dean Shiels (Kilmarnock), Jon Daly (Dundee United), Gary Hooper (Celtic)


    2012/13: Fraser Forster (Celtic), Mihael Kovacevic (Ross County), Gary Warren (Inverness CT), Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Stevie Hammell (Motherwell), Victor Wanyama (Celtic), Nicky Law (Motherwell), Murray Davidson (St. Johnstone), Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian), Michael Higdon (Motherwell), Billy Mckay (Inverness CT) 

    2013/14: Jamie MacDonald (Hearts), Dave Mackay (St. Johnstone), Virgil Van Dijk (Celtic), Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Andrew Robertson (Dundee United), Scott Brown (Celtic), Stuart Armstrong (Dundee United), Peter Pawlett (Aberdeen), Kris Commons (Celtic), Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock), Stevie May (St. Johnstone)


    2014/15: Craig Gordon (Celtic), Shay Logan (Aberdeen), Virgil Van Dijk (Celtic), Jason Denayer (Celtic), Graeme Shinnie (Inverness CT), Ryan Jack (Aberdeen), Greg Tansey (Inverness CT), Greg Stewart (Dundee), Stefan Johansen (Celtic), Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee United/Celtic), Adam Rooney (Aberdeen)


    2015/16: Jamie MacDonald (Kilmarnock), Callum Paterson (Hearts), Igor Rossi (Hearts), Andrew Davies (Ross County), Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen), Nir Bitton (Celtic), Jackson Irvine (Ross County), Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen), Kenny McLean (Aberdeen), Marvin Johnson (Motherwell), Leigh Griffiths (Celtic)


    2016/17: Joe Lewis (Aberdeen), Callum Paterson (Hearts), Jozo Simunovic (Celtic), Joe Shaughnessy (St. Johnstone), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen), Stuart Armstrong (Celtic), Adam Barton (Partick Thistle), Scott Sinclair (Celtic), Moussa Dembele (Celtic), Liam Boyce (Ross County)

    2017/18: Jon McLaughlin (Hearts), James Tavernier (Rangers), Scott McKenna (Aberdeen), Christophe Berra (Hearts), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Scott Brown (Celtic), Dylan McGeouch (Hibernian), John McGinn (Hibernian), James Forrest (Celtic), Daniel Candeias (Rangers), Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock)

    2018/19: Allan McGregor (Rangers), James Tavernier (Rangers), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic), Craig Halkett (Livingston), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Callum McGregor (Celtic), David Turnbull (Motherwell), James Forrest (Celtic), Ryan Christie (Celtic), Ryan Kent (Rangers), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)

    2019/20: Mark Gillespie (Motherwell), James Tavernier (Rangers), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic), Jon Guthrie (Livingston), Borna Barisic (Rangers), James Forrest (Celtic), Callum McGregor (Celtic), Ali McCann (St. Johnstone), Niall McGinn (Aberdeen), Odsonne Edouard (Celtic), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)
    2020/21: Benjamin Siegrist (Dundee United), James Tavernier (Rangers), Conor Goldson (Rangers), Jason Kerr (St. Johnstone), Borna Barisic (Rangers), Steven Davis (Rangers), Ali McCann (St. Johnstone), Ryan Kent (Rangers), David Turnbull (Celtic), Martin Boyle (Hibernian), Odsonne Edouard (Celtic)

    As is traditional, we start with the goalkeeper and the back four. It's always been a back four. Maybe one day we'll try three at the back, but not today...


    GOALKEEPER: CRAIG GORDON (HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN)
    Honourable mentions: Jak Alnwick (St. Mirren), Joe Hart (Celtic)


    An easy pick to start off with. Gordon is approaching his fortieth birthday, yet may be playing the greatest football of his career. Were he ten years younger he'd command the same transfer fee that Hearts received from Sunderland for him many moons ago. Just like last season in the Championship he was personally responsible for a decent number of the points Hearts picked up.


    Alnwick looks likely to leave St. Mirren this summer after two seasons where he has very much enhanced his reputation. Hart, to the disappointment of many of us who were hoping for entertaining bloopers, has been extremely reliable and is enjoying something of an Indian Summer in Scotland.




    RIGHT-BACK: JAMES TAVERNIER (RANGERS)
    Honourable mentions: Josip Juranovic (Celtic), Calvin Ramsey (Aberdeen)


    Tavernier is the first player ever to be in my Team Of The Year five times, thanks to another season with lots of goals, lots of assists and defending that is better than he is given credit for. And that's without factoring in his Europa League heroics.


    Juranovic has proven a fine addition for Celtic, slotting into the inverted full-back system that Ange Postecoglu has introduced and proving an excellent deputy on the left flank too. Add me to the list of people who has drunk the Ramsey kool-aid; the youngster looks set for a huge move to Liverpool this summer and is an extraordinary talent.




    LEFT-BACK: STEPHEN KINGSLEY (HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN)
    Honourable mentions: Scott Tanser (St. Mirren), Greg Taylor (Celtic)
    Last year I wondered why on earth Kingsley was slumming it in the Championship, and this season I'm wondering why on earth he's slumming it in the Premiership. He defends like a centre-back, attacks like a midfielder and has a mean free-kick in his arsenal.


    Other than the Hearts man, there was a bit of a dearth of options here. Tanser was quietly effective for St. Mirren, with his excellent delivery providing a decent creative threat for them. Taylor always seems on paper to be one of the least talented in the Celtic lineup yet keeps churning out solid performances.




    CENTRE-BACKS: CAMERON CARTER-VICKERS (CELTIC), RYAN EDWARDS (DUNDEE UNITED)
    Honourable mentions: Carl Starfelt (Celtic), Craig Halkett (Heart of Midlothian), John Souttar (Heart of Midlothian), Connor Goldson (Rangers)


    Carter-Vickers can head a ball further than I can kick it; in that respect he reminds me of the wonderful Michael Duberry who used to play for St. Johnstone. But CCV's pace and calm in possession make him a real standout at this level and he was the best CB in this league by far. I've plumped for another behemoth beside him in Edwards, who was solid defensively for United and offers a goal threat on set-pieces too.


    Starfelt (who came on leaps and bounds after a rough start in Scotland), and the Hearts duo of Halkett and Souttar would have been worthy of making the final cut too. It's a joy to see the latter fit again and long may his achilles tendons hold up. Goldson was the brunt of some unfair criticism this season at times; whilst he wasn't quite as outstanding as last season he was still very very good.


    The midfield and the attack will be up later this week...if I can be bothered...


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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  19. hislopsoffsideagain
    The keeper and back four can be found here.


    We're going 4-2-3-1 this year, as for some reason none of the strikers in this league could hit Adam Rooney levels of goalscoring, let along Michael Higdon levels. On the other hand, the midfield could get a bit over-run and there may be more wingers than there are wings. Still, it's my site and my rules, so there.


    CENTRAL MIDFIELD: CALLUM MCGREGOR (CELTIC), JOE ARIBO (RANGERS)
    Honourable mentions: Lewis Ferguson (Aberdeen), David Turnbull (Celtic), Tom Rogic (Celtic), Jason Holt (Livingston)


    McGregor fits into Ange's system like a glove and is back to the high levels he hit in Brendan Rodgers' time. Is Aribo too attacking for this position in my XI? Maybe, but there's no question he should be in it. I wouldn't be surprised if Premier League clubs come calling this summer.


    Maybe Ferguson only stood out for Aberdeen because his competence was out of keeping with the shambles unfolding around him this season. Turnbull was great until an injury mid-season and is the player best placed to take advantage of the imminent exit of Rogic; the Australian leaves Scottish football having had possibly the best and certainly the most consistent campaign of his career. Holt was super-efficient in Livi's midfield.




    ATTACKING MIDFIELD: REGAN CHARLES-COOK (ROSS COUNTY), BARRIE MCKAY (HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN), JOTA (CELTIC)
    Honourable mentions: Connor Ronan (St. Mirren), Martin Boyle (Hibernian), Alan Forrest (Livingston), Liel Abada (Celtic), Ryan Kent (Rangers), Greg Kiltie (St. Mirren)


    As I said, too many wingers. But Charles-Cook (who some idiot who shall remain nameless put in his top ten worst signings of last season) was the top scorer in the Premiership this season, McKay would have been an assist machine had anyone finished off the gazillion chances he created, and Jota will be a bargain if Celtic make his loan move permanent for about £6m.


    Ronan stood out for St. Mirren because he scored so many Goal Of The Season contenders, but his all-round play was excellent too. Boyle was clearly Hibernian's MVP given how they fell off a cliff following his January departure. Forrest came to life after the winter break and is heading for a decent move when his contract expires. Abada isn't even 21 yet but still hit double figures. Kent wasn't as impressive as last season but even when he's putting in half-assed performances he's still better than most. I have a big soft spot for Kiltie and he delivered when he finally got a run in the team.




    CENTRE FORWARD: ALFREDO MORELOS (RANGERS)
    Honourable mentions: Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic), Tony Watt (Motherwell/Dundee United)


    No, Morelos wasn't as good as he has been in the past. But he was still effective and was showing signs of his best before injury ended his campaign. Kyogo's extraordinary start to his Celtic career was abruptly halted by injuries as well; imagine the damage he could do if available for more than half the games. Watt gets on this list for his performances for Motherwell before January where he scored nine goals, rather than a meh-second half of the season at Dundee United.


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
    View the full article
  20. hislopsoffsideagain
    Aye, it's that time again. Fourteen years we've been doing this, and frankly I'm worried the universe will end if I shirk my duties.


    No surprise that there's a lot of representation from the blue cheek of the Glasgow arse this year.


    For posterity, here's the previous thirteen editions:


    2007/08: Allan McGregor (Rangers), Alan Hutton (Rangers), Carlos Cuellar (Rangers), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Lee Naylor (Celtic), Barry Robson (Celtic), Stephen Hughes (Motherwell), Barry Ferguson (Rangers), Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Steven Fletcher (Hibernian)


    2008/09: Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United), Andreas Hinkel (Celtic), Gary Caldwell (Celtic), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Sasa Papac (Rangers), Scott Brown (Celtic), Bruno Aguiar (Hearts), Pedro Mendes (Rangers), Andrew Driver (Hearts), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Kris Boyd (Rangers)


    2009/10: John Ruddy (Motherwell), Steven Whittaker (Rangers), David Weir (Rangers), Andy Webster (Dundee United), Sasa Papac (Rangers), Steven Davis (Rangers), Morgaro Gomis (Dundee United), James McArthur (Hamilton), Anthony Stokes (Hibernian), Kris Boyd (Rangers), David Goodwillie (Dundee United)


    2010/11: Marian Kello (Hearts), Steven Whittaker (Rangers), Daniel Majstorovic (Celtic), Michael Duberry (St. Johnstone), Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic), Steven Naismith (Rangers), Beram Kayal (Celtic), Alexei Eremenko (Kilmarnock), David Templeton (Hearts), Nikica Jelavic (Rangers), David Goodwillie (Dundee United)

    2011/12: Cammy Bell (Kilmarnock), Adam Matthews (Celtic), Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic), Paul Dixon (Dundee United), James Forrest (Celtic), Victor Wanyama (Celtic), Ian Black (Hearts), Dean Shiels (Kilmarnock), Jon Daly (Dundee United), Gary Hooper (Celtic)


    2012/13: Fraser Forster (Celtic), Mihael Kovacevic (Ross County), Gary Warren (Inverness CT), Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Stevie Hammell (Motherwell), Victor Wanyama (Celtic), Nicky Law (Motherwell), Murray Davidson (St. Johnstone), Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian), Michael Higdon (Motherwell), Billy Mckay (Inverness CT) 

    2013/14: Jamie MacDonald (Hearts), Dave Mackay (St. Johnstone), Virgil Van Dijk (Celtic), Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Andrew Robertson (Dundee United), Scott Brown (Celtic), Stuart Armstrong (Dundee United), Peter Pawlett (Aberdeen), Kris Commons (Celtic), Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock), Stevie May (St. Johnstone)


    2014/15: Craig Gordon (Celtic), Shay Logan (Aberdeen), Virgil Van Dijk (Celtic), Jason Denayer (Celtic), Graeme Shinnie (Inverness CT), Ryan Jack (Aberdeen), Greg Tansey (Inverness CT), Greg Stewart (Dundee), Stefan Johansen (Celtic), Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee United/Celtic), Adam Rooney (Aberdeen)


    2015/16: Jamie MacDonald (Kilmarnock), Callum Paterson (Hearts), Igor Rossi (Hearts), Andrew Davies (Ross County), Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen), Nir Bitton (Celtic), Jackson Irvine (Ross County), Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen), Kenny McLean (Aberdeen), Marvin Johnson (Motherwell), Leigh Griffiths (Celtic)


    2016/17: Joe Lewis (Aberdeen), Callum Paterson (Hearts), Jozo Simunovic (Celtic), Joe Shaughnessy (St. Johnstone), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen), Stuart Armstrong (Celtic), Adam Barton (Partick Thistle), Scott Sinclair (Celtic), Moussa Dembele (Celtic), Liam Boyce (Ross County)

    2017/18: Jon McLaughlin (Hearts), James Tavernier (Rangers), Scott McKenna (Aberdeen), Christophe Berra (Hearts), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Scott Brown (Celtic), Dylan McGeouch (Hibernian), John McGinn (Hibernian), James Forrest (Celtic), Daniel Candeias (Rangers), Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock)

    2018/19: Allan McGregor (Rangers), James Tavernier (Rangers), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic), Craig Halkett (Livingston), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Callum McGregor (Celtic), David Turnbull (Motherwell), James Forrest (Celtic), Ryan Christie (Celtic), Ryan Kent (Rangers), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)

    2019/20: Mark Gillespie (Motherwell), James Tavernier (Rangers), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic), Jon Guthrie (Livingston), Borna Barisic (Rangers), James Forrest (Celtic), Callum McGregor (Celtic), Ali McCann (St. Johnstone), Niall McGinn (Aberdeen), Odsonne Edouard (Celtic), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)



    So here's the goalkeeper and defence for 2020/21...


    GOALKEEPER: BENJAMIN SIEGRIST (DUNDEE UNITED)
    Honourable mentions: Allan McGregor (Rangers), Zander Clark (St. Johnstone)


    At least until he broke his wrist a few weeks back, no keeper in the Premiership had made more saves than Siegrist, which tells you that he has had a cracking season and also that Dundee United's backline has not. If United sell him this summer, they could get a very decent fee for the Swiss keeper. 
    McGregor is now 39 but shows no signs of slowing down and will play on at Ibrox for at least another year; he remains the best Scottish keeper around. Clark came to prominence with his big performances in the cup for St. Johnstone but had a perfectly solid season even before that.




    RIGHT-BACK: JAMES TAVERNIER (RANGERS)
    Honourable mentions: Marcus Fraser (St. Mirren), Shaun Rooney (St. Johnstone)


    Tavernier becomes the second player after Kris Boyd to make my Team Of The Year four times, and the first to do so in four straight seasons. Remarkably at the time of writing he is still Rangers' top scorer in all competitions with eighteen goals, but he has also rarely been pulled up for his defensive play this season and frankly would be a worthy winner of Player Of The Year.


    I've previously decried Fraser as not being athletic enough to be a right-back at this level but he proved me completely wrong this season with the best campaign of his career as Jim Goodwin got the best out of him in Paisley. Rooney had a rocky start after making the step up from Inverness but has been electric since the turn of the year; he has all the physical tools and his football IQ gets better and better with every game.




    LEFT-BACK: BORNA BARISIC (RANGERS)
    Honourable mentions: Josh Doig (Hibernian), Julien Serrano (Livingston)


    Barisic has been terrific for two years now; that left foot is like a wand. It would be no surprise if Rangers have to fight off suitors offering big money for the Croat this summer.


    Otherwise the left-back position was not one of strength in the Premiership this season. Doig is clearly the next man up after winning the Young Player Of The Year award and is still only 19 so his potential is really exciting. After that you can take your pick, but I always enjoyed what I saw of the Spaniard Serrano who has done well after making the loan switch - and culture change! - from Monaco to Livingston.




    CENTRE-BACKS: CONOR GOLDSON (RANGERS), JASON KERR (ST. JOHNSTONE)
    Honourable mentions: Filip Helander (Rangers), Paul Hanlon (Hibernian), Conor McCarthy (St. Mirren), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic)


    Did Goldson put a foot wrong all year? Not only was he almost impregnable defensively but his passing out from the back is terrific too. Crazily, he has played more than 160 games for Rangers in three seasons...even though one of those was shortened due to Covid. Kerr has been right at the top of his game this season and at 24 the time has surely come for the centre-back to move to a bigger club.


    I could have easily justified putting Helander in if I had wanted to, Rangers have never lost a league game in which he has played. Hanlon is playing as well as at any other point in his career and was rewarded with his first Scotland cap in October. McCarthy had a really good year for the Buddies and is still young enough that he could go really far. Ajer in contrast had a down season but that doesn't mean he doesn't still stroll through most of this matches, and it's not his fault he's spent much of the year trying to cover for Shane Duffy and Stephen Welsh...


    The rest of the team will be up later in the week...


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly. 
    View the full article
  21. hislopsoffsideagain
    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 was previously named in my Team Of The Year eleven years ago. I went for an all-Northern Irish pair here by picking McCann, who has been a major part of St. Johnstone's sensational season. That's two years running that I've plumped for him.
    It was a bit of a toss-up for that second spot though, with Odoffin (despite Accies' dreadful campaign) having had a season to delight the statisticians and the hipsters at the base of Hamilton's midfield while Newell has been terrific since being moved in off the wing. It's also worth flagging up Ferguson - who was a rare shining light in a dour year for Aberdeen - and Campbell, who was again a tenacious whirling dervish for Motherwell and who looks to be heading for a big move this summer.


    ATTACKING MIDFIELD: RYAN KENT (RANGERS), DAVID TURNBULL (CELTIC), MARTIN BOYLE (HIBERNIAN) Honourable mentions: Mohamed Elyounoussi (Celtic), Ross Callachan (Hamilton Academical), Chris Burke (Kilmarnock), Joe Aribo (Rangers), David Wotherspoon (St. Johnstone), Jamie McGrath (St. Mirren)
    Kent was as good this season as he was in his first campaign for Rangers, and that was pretty damn good. Someone will bid serious money for him this summer, but the Champions will not I imagine be inclined to sell. Turnbull had to be ultra-patient but when he got his chance he took it with a series of great performances even as his teammates flattered to deceive. Boyle's sheer pace always makes him a threat but having managed to avoid serious injury for a couple of years he was consistently excellent.
    McGrath is unlucky not to make this team, even if ten of his seventeen goals were penalties. He was superb for St. Mirren and has a lot of suitors. Elyounoussi shone for Celtic when he could be bothered, but that wasn't often enough. Callachan got into double figures for Hamilton after being moved into a more advanced midfield role. Even at 37, Burke was Kilmarnock's big (only?) creative threat and lord knows where they'd be without him. Aribo was more consistent this season than previously and is a better player than some give him credit for. Wotherspoon might have had the best season of his career after being moved more centrally.

    STRIKER: ODSONNE EDOUARD (CELTIC) Honourable mentions: Kevin Nisbet (Hibernian), Kemar Roofe (Rangers)
    Like many of his teammates, Edouard had a down year. And he still scored eighteen in the league. I still believe he will shine with a bigger club in a bigger league.
    Nisbet's goals came in fits and starts but he more than justified the fee Hibs paid for him, the seven figure bids in January and his call-up to Scotland's Euros squad. Roofe was Rangers' top scorer in the league this season even though most of his work came from the right flank; is it possible he is a better option up top than Alfredo Morelos now?


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly. View the full article
  22. hislopsoffsideagain
    It is not fair that Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer were relegated from their respective divisions without having played out the full season, nor that as a consequence they face significant financial pressures going forward. They are quite right to legally challenge this decision.

    It is outrageous that there is any question of Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers being denied promotion. It is also outrageous that these clubs are having to fund legal teams of their own to defend this, at considerable cost to them.

    The above statements are both true.

    And that is the problem for Scottish football right now.

    These clubs can all reasonably claim that they are in the right, yet it is impossible to see how an SFA arbitration panel can come up with a solution that isn't catastrophic for either the M8 Alliance (as some papers have dubbed Hearts and Partick) or the East Of Scotland Massive (which absolutely nobody except me is calling Dundee United, Raith and Cove).

    Unless reconstruction is resurrected, of course. But that train has left the station. Arguably, it never arrived.

    Which brings us onto another important point. Reconstruction did not fail because the other clubs were determined to screw Hearts, Partick and Stranraer, or to deny Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers their shot in the SPFL. It failed because too few clubs were convinced the risk of change was worth taking. I'm not even sure what Ann Budge's plan was in the end - 14-10-10-10? 14-14-14? 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34? (I knew I should have made a bet with someone that I could fit the Fibonacci sequence in a blog) Then there's the uncertainty of promotion and relegation places, whether it was permanent or temporary, plus the sneaky suspicion that if Hamilton Accies or St. Mirren had been bottom nobody would have given the tiniest of s**** about expanding the top flight to save them.

    Clubs acted not out of cruelty, as some blinkered fans suggest. They act, of course, in their own self-interest. That has brought just as much criticism, but what do you expect? They are all businesses, and almost none of them are profitable at the best of times. They can barely deal with certainty; no wonder most ran a mile at the thought of the Budge Plan and the clear unknowns that came with it.

    Ultimately the issue is not the behaviour of the clubs. It is the system that they operate in.

    For example, for reconstruction to pass, the plan needed the support of thirty-two clubs including eleven Premiership ones (out of twelve!), six Championship ones and fifteen from League One and Two. Agreeing to end the season early - a far less debatable decision, whatever some say - required the same level of support and only went through because of the infamous Dundee vote. Carrying a resolution that might upset more than a quarter of clubs is pretty much impossible. Compromise is but a pipe dream.

    As for the Dundee vote, the one boon of this arbitration is that the details of this grisly saga should finally see the light of day. It seems very possible that they and other clubs were offered certain carrots in order to vote for 2019/20 to end early. Were the Dark Blues given assurances of a future friendly in the USA with Celtic? Were they, Hearts and others duped into believing a 14 team top flight was well supported when it was anything but? We'll find out soon enough.

    What I suspect we'll discover is what we already suspect; that the governance of the SPFL is dodgy to say the least, that Doncaster and others relied on unkept promises and/or threats to force things through.

    Unfortunately for Hearts and Partick, 'ethically dubious' and 'illegal' are not the same thing. In the same vein the Dundee vote stinks like a pile of dog poo but it is an oddity of law that in these situations 'no' votes can be changed whereas 'yes' ones cannot. At this point, I think they will most likely lose their case. A close friend who is a solicitor - though not an expert in company law, I might add - suspects the same.

    Instead it will be laid plain for all to see that this is how the SPFL board operates, and has to operate, to get anything actually done. Until this setup changes, we are essentially stuck.

    But in order to change the setup, the SPFL would have to get thirty-two clubs to agree to it. Good fecking luck with that...


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.

    View the full article
  23. hislopsoffsideagain
    It is not fair that Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer were relegated from their respective divisions without having played out the full season, nor that as a consequence they face significant financial pressures going forward. They are quite right to legally challenge this decision.

    It is outrageous that there is any question of Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers being denied promotion. It is also outrageous that these clubs are having to fund legal teams of their own to defend this, at considerable cost to them.

    The above statements are both true.

    And that is the problem for Scottish football right now.

    These clubs can all reasonably claim that they are in the right, yet it is impossible to see how an SFA arbitration panel can come up with a solution that isn't catastrophic for either the M8 Alliance (as some papers have dubbed Hearts and Partick) or the East Of Scotland Massive (which absolutely nobody except me is calling Dundee United, Raith and Cove).

    Unless reconstruction is resurrected, of course. But that train has left the station. Arguably, it never arrived.

    Which brings us onto another important point. Reconstruction did not fail because the other clubs were determined to screw Hearts, Partick and Stranraer, or to deny Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers their shot in the SPFL. It failed because too few clubs were convinced the risk of change was worth taking. I'm not even sure what Ann Budge's plan was in the end - 14-10-10-10? 14-14-14? 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34? (I knew I should have made a bet with someone that I could fit the Fibonacci sequence in a blog) Then there's the uncertainty of promotion and relegation places, whether it was permanent or temporary, plus the sneaky suspicion that if Hamilton Accies or St. Mirren had been bottom nobody would have given the tiniest of s**** about expanding the top flight to save them.

    Clubs acted not out of cruelty, as some blinkered fans suggest. They act, of course, in their own self-interest. That has brought just as much criticism, but what do you expect? They are all businesses, and almost none of them are profitable at the best of times. They can barely deal with certainty; no wonder most ran a mile at the thought of the Budge Plan and the clear unknowns that came with it.

    Ultimately the issue is not the behaviour of the clubs. It is the system that they operate in.

    For example, for reconstruction to pass, the plan needed the support of thirty-two clubs including eleven Premiership ones (out of twelve!), six Championship ones and fifteen from League One and Two. Agreeing to end the season early - a far less debatable decision, whatever some say - required the same level of support and only went through because of the infamous Dundee vote. Carrying a resolution that might upset more than a quarter of clubs is pretty much impossible. Compromise is but a pipe dream.

    As for the Dundee vote, the one boon of this arbitration is that the details of this grisly saga should finally see the light of day. It seems very possible that they and other clubs were offered certain carrots in order to vote for 2019/20 to end early. Were the Dark Blues given assurances of a future friendly in the USA with Celtic? Were they, Hearts and others duped into believing a 14 team top flight was well supported when it was anything but? We'll find out soon enough.

    What I suspect we'll discover is what we already suspect; that the governance of the SPFL is dodgy to say the least, that Doncaster and others relied on unkept promises and/or threats to force things through.

    Unfortunately for Hearts and Partick, 'ethically dubious' and 'illegal' are not the same thing. In the same vein the Dundee vote stinks like a pile of dog poo but it is an oddity of law that in these situations 'no' votes can be changed whereas 'yes' ones cannot. At this point, I think they will most likely lose their case. A close friend who is a solicitor - though not an expert in company law, I might add - suspects the same.

    Instead it will be laid plain for all to see that this is how the SPFL board operates, and has to operate, to get anything actually done. Until this setup changes, we are essentially stuck.

    But in order to change the setup, the SPFL would have to get thirty-two clubs to agree to it. Good fecking luck with that...


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
    View the full article
  24. hislopsoffsideagain
    It's the hope that kills you. Any Scotland fan knows that all too well.

    And yet, and yet.

    For the first ten minutes last night, Scotland ripped into Russia. The sheer energy and will took the visitors - and the Hampden crowd - by surprise. The full-backs flew down the flanks; Callum McGregor demanded the ball at each stroke; John McGinn snapped at every Russian heel; Scott McTominay bestrode the midfield like a colossus. Steve Clarke's lineup and plan were absolutely perfect for the occasion.

    And then John McGinn scored.

    Goals change games. I'm not sure I've ever seen one change a game like this though. They buoy spirits, lift the crowd, inspire the scorers on.

    Instead Scotland instantly metamorphosed from a feral beast into a frightened hedgehog, unnerved even by the slightest passing breeze and rustle of leaves. This was not as a result of quality play by the opposition, nor pressure from the stands, nor tactical caution from the dugout. Having created a springboard to win the match, the players collectively baulked at actually jumping on it.

    The captain summed it up perfectly afterward. "It was as if it scared us".

    Andrew Robertson was hardly exempt from criticism himself. When cool, experienced heads were required, the captain was stuck in Liverpool mode. Every time the ball came his way he put his head down and charged up the pitch with it, even when every moment pleaded for someone in dark blue to put their foot on the ball, stop and take a deep calming breath. At one point he tried a backheel by the corner flag - his own corner flag.

    They were all at it though. Charlie Mulgrew, 33 years old and with over 40 caps to his name, could be excused for being bullied by Artem Dzyuba, whose physique had more in common with the twenty-two at Murrayfield than the penalty box at Hampden. There was no reason however for him to treat the ball like a hot potato, acting as if Dzyuba was constantly breathing down his neck even when he was twenty yards away catching his breath. Punt after punt after punt after punt. With the midfield struggling to get even into the same postcode as Oli McBurnie it was no surprise that the ball kept coming back.

    And what of the midfield that contains so much talent and started as if they intended to prove it? The quartet playing in front of McTominay looked like rabbits stuck in Lada headlights. James Forrest and Ryan Fraser dropped deeper and deeper, negating their use as an attacking outlet without offering any actual protection to their full-backs. McGregor and McGinn looked stuck in No Man's Land, neither pressing their opponents nor dropping in beside McTominay, who had now gone from proverbial Colossus to actual Colossus, a tall, leaden-footed statue watching as people swarmed around him.

    With the exception of David Marshall, whose outstanding efforts in preventing a shellacking will probably be forgotten, and Stephen O'Donnell, who just had a good old-fashioned mare, this felt very different from, say, a debacle like Kazakhstan where tactics were poor and players looked uncertain and unwilling from the off. Here the plan was great and was initially executed well, which tells us that the manager knew what he was doing and the players had the ability and nous to pull it off. Their subsequent reaction is perhaps more terrifying than if they had just played like horses**t.

    As Robertson said, they were scared.

    I grew up watching players like Colin Hendry, Kevin Gallacher, James McFadden and many others who seemed galvanized by wearing the Scotland shirt in the way we all believed we would be if, as in our dreams, we ever played for the national team. Now the wearers of said shirt appear burdened with the weight of twenty-one years of failure on it. Even in such a favourable situation, with a home crowd behind them and the reassurance of knowing that their strategy was working, the players simply could not deal with the pressure of being ahead against an opponent considered to be superior to them.

    How on earth do you fix that? All the clever management and tactics and quality in the world will only take you so far if in moments like that you simply can't help thinking "we're going to screw this up because we're Scotland".

    The only thing I'm certain of is that you don't fix it by playing Belgium three days later.

    The caveat: even if last night had gone well, the onus was still very much on preparing for those Euro 2020 playoffs. Those are the games that count now. Everything else is about building towards those. And there remains no doubt in my mind that if anyone can pull this off, its Steve Clarke.

    The fear is that even Clarke can't manage it. What if all those years of failure simply infect the Scotland National Team to such an extent that there's no shaking it?

    Or, to put it bluntly, what if there is actually no hope?


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.

    View the full article
  25. hislopsoffsideagain
    I've done this every year for sixteen years, and to be honest it's never felt more like a chore. When you don't have any skin in the game - that's six years Caley Thistle have been stuck in the Championship - it becomes even harder to be motivated by watching Celtic and Rangers pump everybody. It's also more difficult than ever to pick players from other clubs for this XI, because I'm very close to crossing the 'taking the p***' line' by doing so. Still, I've tried my best.


    For historical record, the previous fifteen lineups:


    2007/08: Allan McGregor (Rangers), Alan Hutton (Rangers), Carlos Cuellar (Rangers), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Lee Naylor (Celtic), Barry Robson (Celtic), Stephen Hughes (Motherwell), Barry Ferguson (Rangers), Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Steven Fletcher (Hibernian)


    2008/09: Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United), Andreas Hinkel (Celtic), Gary Caldwell (Celtic), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Sasa Papac (Rangers), Scott Brown (Celtic), Bruno Aguiar (Hearts), Pedro Mendes (Rangers), Andrew Driver (Hearts), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Kris Boyd (Rangers)


    2009/10: John Ruddy (Motherwell), Steven Whittaker (Rangers), David Weir (Rangers), Andy Webster (Dundee United), Sasa Papac (Rangers), Steven Davis (Rangers), Morgaro Gomis (Dundee United), James McArthur (Hamilton), Anthony Stokes (Hibernian), Kris Boyd (Rangers), David Goodwillie (Dundee United)


    2010/11: Marian Kello (Hearts), Steven Whittaker (Rangers), Daniel Majstorovic (Celtic), Michael Duberry (St. Johnstone), Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic), Steven Naismith (Rangers), Beram Kayal (Celtic), Alexei Eremenko (Kilmarnock), David Templeton (Hearts), Nikica Jelavic (Rangers), David Goodwillie (Dundee United)

    2011/12: Cammy Bell (Kilmarnock), Adam Matthews (Celtic), Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic), Paul Dixon (Dundee United), James Forrest (Celtic), Victor Wanyama (Celtic), Ian Black (Hearts), Dean Shiels (Kilmarnock), Jon Daly (Dundee United), Gary Hooper (Celtic)


    2012/13: Fraser Forster (Celtic), Mihael Kovacevic (Ross County), Gary Warren (Inverness CT), Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Stevie Hammell (Motherwell), Victor Wanyama (Celtic), Nicky Law (Motherwell), Murray Davidson (St. Johnstone), Leigh Griffiths (Hibernian), Michael Higdon (Motherwell), Billy Mckay (Inverness CT) 

    2013/14: Jamie MacDonald (Hearts), Dave Mackay (St. Johnstone), Virgil Van Dijk (Celtic), Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Andrew Robertson (Dundee United), Scott Brown (Celtic), Stuart Armstrong (Dundee United), Peter Pawlett (Aberdeen), Kris Commons (Celtic), Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock), Stevie May (St. Johnstone)


    2014/15: Craig Gordon (Celtic), Shay Logan (Aberdeen), Virgil Van Dijk (Celtic), Jason Denayer (Celtic), Graeme Shinnie (Inverness CT), Ryan Jack (Aberdeen), Greg Tansey (Inverness CT), Greg Stewart (Dundee), Stefan Johansen (Celtic), Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee United/Celtic), Adam Rooney (Aberdeen)


    2015/16: Jamie MacDonald (Kilmarnock), Callum Paterson (Hearts), Igor Rossi (Hearts), Andrew Davies (Ross County), Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen), Nir Bitton (Celtic), Jackson Irvine (Ross County), Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen), Kenny McLean (Aberdeen), Marvin Johnson (Motherwell), Leigh Griffiths (Celtic)


    2016/17: Joe Lewis (Aberdeen), Callum Paterson (Hearts), Jozo Simunovic (Celtic), Joe Shaughnessy (St. Johnstone), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Jonny Hayes (Aberdeen), Stuart Armstrong (Celtic), Adam Barton (Partick Thistle), Scott Sinclair (Celtic), Moussa Dembele (Celtic), Liam Boyce (Ross County)

    2017/18: Jon McLaughlin (Hearts), James Tavernier (Rangers), Scott McKenna (Aberdeen), Christophe Berra (Hearts), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Scott Brown (Celtic), Dylan McGeouch (Hibernian), John McGinn (Hibernian), James Forrest (Celtic), Daniel Candeias (Rangers), Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock)

    2018/19: Allan McGregor (Rangers), James Tavernier (Rangers), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic), Craig Halkett (Livingston), Kieran Tierney (Celtic), Callum McGregor (Celtic), David Turnbull (Motherwell), James Forrest (Celtic), Ryan Christie (Celtic), Ryan Kent (Rangers), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)

    2019/20: Mark Gillespie (Motherwell), James Tavernier (Rangers), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic), Jon Guthrie (Livingston), Borna Barisic (Rangers), James Forrest (Celtic), Callum McGregor (Celtic), Ali McCann (St. Johnstone), Niall McGinn (Aberdeen), Odsonne Edouard (Celtic), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)

    2020/21: Benjamin Siegrist (Dundee United), James Tavernier (Rangers), Conor Goldson (Rangers), Jason Kerr (St. Johnstone), Borna Barisic (Rangers), Steven Davis (Rangers), Ali McCann (St. Johnstone), Ryan Kent (Rangers), David Turnbull (Celtic), Martin Boyle (Hibernian), Odsonne Edouard (Celtic)

    2021/22: Craig Gordon (Hearts), James Tavernier (Rangers), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Ryan Edwards (Dundee United), Stephen Kingsley (Hearts), Callum McGregor (Celtic), Joe Aribo (Rangers), Regan Charles-Cook (Ross County), Barrie McKay (Hearts), Jota (Celtic), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)

    Onto this year's vintage. As per tradition, we'll start with the goalkeeper and back four. It's always a back four...


    GOALKEEPER: TREVOR CARSON (ST. MIRREN)
    Honourable mentions: Joe Hart (Celtic), Zander Clark (Heart of Midlothian)
    Carson's previous four seasons? Three as Motherwell's backup keeper and one as Dundee United's backup keeper (before moving to Morecambe on loan). So yeah, I think we were all a bit surprised that the Northern Irish veteran has suddenly become amazing. Unquestionably the 35 year old has had the best season of his career.


    Yes, Hart is surely the best goalkeeper in Scotland but its hard to judge the quality of a player who faces about one shot on target every three months. Clark's move to Hearts looked strange to me - was being number two to Craig Gordon for a year or two that good a career move? - but Gordon's injury has given him an opportunity that he has grabbed with both hands.


    RIGHT-BACK: JAMES TAVERNIER (RANGERS)
    Honourable mentions: Nicky Devlin (Livingston), Ryan Strain (St. Mirren)
    That's just the six straight years that the Rangers captain has been in my Team of the Year, though this season it's as much down to a lack of competition as anything else. Still, sixteen league goals is a heck of a return and whilst Rangers have a few problems to deal with this summer he isn't one of them.


    Devlin's consistency for Livingston has earned him a summer move to Aberdeen. Strain has had an excellent first season in Scotland, not least because of his skill with a dead ball. I'm still insisting that players have to have played at least 19 league games to qualify for this, so that rules out both Alistair Johnston and Max Johnston. Don't @ me...


    LEFT-BACK: GREG TAYLOR (CELTIC)
    Honourable mentions: Borna Barisic (Rangers), Alex Cochrane (Heart of Midlothian)
    Taylor has just been so consistent. His development under Ange has been far beyond what I expected and he held off the challenge of new signing Alexandro Bernabei with ease.


    Barisic is probably beginning to decline but is still better than most left-backs in this league, which isn't saying much. Cochrane was superb in the first half of the season but his form has dipped along with his teammates in 2023.


    CENTRE-BACKS: CAMERON CARTER-VICKERS (CELTIC), CONOR GOLDSON (RANGERS)
    Honourable mentions: Carl Starfelt (Celtic), Jack Fitzwater (Livingston), Kye Rowles (Heart of Midlothian), Ryan Porteous (Hibernian)
    Carter-Vickers is far too good for this poxy league and Celtic will be hoping it takes him a few more seasons to realise that. It's remarkable just how much CCV and Goldson are missed when they're not there; the drop off to the backups at Rangers and Celtic is steep indeed.


    If I'd been feeling more reckless I'd have picked Porteous on the back of his performances before he signed for Watford in January. Rowles was amazing before the World Cup but mediocre after. Starfelt was solid except when CCV wasn't alongside him (coincidence?). Fitzwater is the next Livi player who will go on to better things this summer. Oh, and Mattie Pollock just didn't play enough matches for consideration, but he was very good for Aberdeen.




    The midfield and attack will appear at some point. Eventually.


    Lawrie Spence has whinged about Scottish football on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.


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