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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. View the full article

Top ten time! Here's the countdown from 25 to 11, if you missed it. 10. JOHN SOUTTAR (RANGERS) There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and John Souttar getting injured. Inevitably Soapy got crocked on his Rangers debut and was missing for eight months; giving him an Old Firm game at Celtic Park for his first start felt like a disaster waiting to happen and so it proved with the centre-back gifting a goal with a dreadful backpass. Rangers need a reliable partner for Connor Goldson; Souttar is unlikely to be that player. 9. DEJI SOTONA (KILMARNOCK) Even Killie fans may not recognise the name; the Irish striker joined on loan from Nice, made a couple of sub appearances and was never seen again. It was all rather reminiscent of the sort of player Lee Clark signed for the club back in the day. Sotona is now turning out for Burnley's under 23s. 8. MOMODOU BOJANG (HIBERNIAN) I wouldn't believe there was a football club called Rainbow FC had Hibs not signed Bojang on loan from them. The Gambian forward was a low-risk, high-reward signing but was clearly out of his depth and ending his loan spell early in January was best for everyone. 7. PHILLIP CANCAR (LIVINGSTON) Australian Cancar actually started for Livi on opening day against Rangers, only to be hauled off after a torrid 34 minutes before he got an inevitable second yellow card. He made a couple of sub appearances after that before disappearing off the radar from September onward. In January he returned permanently to Oz, six months into a two year deal with an optional third year. 6. JOSH MORRIS (MOTHERWELL) One of Graham Alexander's last signings, it's not clear whether it's injury that has kept him out of action since the autumn or whether he is just unwanted at Motherwell. Regardless, HE clearly wasn't rated by Stevie Hammell and isn't being missed by Stuart Kettlewell; Morris only registered on Scottish football's radar for somehow not getting sent off after poleaxing Celtic's Carl Starfelt back in October. 5. MARK BIRIGHITTI (DUNDEE UNITED) Birighitti forced his way out of Central Coast Mariners to "chase my dreams", which invites the obvious question "In Dundee?!". He has improved in the last month or so...not that this would be hard, given the extraordinary number of individual errors he has made over the course of the season, whether it be flapping at crosses or parrying shots straight to strikers or most infamously being slide-tackled by Stevie May for a St. Johnstone winner. But with United having loaned away backup Carljohan Eriksson and having only the equally hapless (at least in his one appearance in Dingwall) Jack Newman as competition, the Australian is still between the sticks. And don't forget that United actually paid money to sign him... 4. RABBI MATONDO (RANGERS) Four years ago Matondo was so highly rated that Schalke paid £11m to sign him from Manchester City. Rangers paid just a fraction of that to sign him last summer but he hasn't even looked worth that. An injury in the new year hasn't helped but the Welsh international has struggled to justify anything more than a succession of late appearances off the bench. The most damning thing one can say is that Scott Wright is usually preferred to him. 3. JAYDEN RICHARDSON (ABERDEEN) On paper, the young Nottingham Forest right-back looked like a good signing with plenty of potential and the Dons paid £300,000 for him. Unfortunately he was following in the footsteps of Calvin Ramsey, but even if expectations had been low Richardson would have failed miserably to meet them. By the autumn Jim Goodwin was already playing centre-backs and midfielders (Matty Kennedy!) ahead of Richardson on the right side of the defence and he's made one start and one substitutes appearance since November. He is under contract for another two years, by the way. 2. HARRY MCKIRDY (HIBERNIAN) If you're going to insist on a pink mohican then you really need to be pretty special. McKirdy...isn't. It didn't help that within two months of moving north he was suggesting on social media that he wished he hadn't. And then having kept his head down for months and got himself back into the first team picture at last he mouthed off on Instagram last week about being stuck on the subs bench. He still hasn't scored a single goal for Hibs (he managed two for Swindon in August before moving north). 1. ANTHONY STEWART (ABERDEEN) Making a new signing club captain straightaway is a bold move. Partly because of this - and partly because of his dreadful performances and the dreadful performances of his fellow defenders - Stewart became synonymous with Aberdeen's struggles under Jim Goodwin. It doesn't help his cause that Barry Robson's first act on replacing Goodwin was to punt Stewart out on loan to MK Dons and since then Aberdeen have been pretty much rock solid at the back. What really did for Stewart though was the League Cup Semi Final; beforehand he did a crazy press conference where he discussed how he thought Antonio Colak was better than Alfredo Morelos, and then in the match itself he got himself sent off right at the end of normal time with a lunatic hack on Fashion Sakala. The Dons had no hope of getting through extra time a man down and there was no way back for him; within two and a half weeks both boss and skipper were out. Still, he has a year on his contract left to come back too... 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

So I don't have the time to blog much these days. But this series has been going on since 2012/13 and I'm worried that the world will end if I stop. Also, people tend to enjoy it; there's something so very Scottish Football about fans complaining that their team's duffer isn't at the top of my list. The ten previous winners, by the way: 2012/13: Rory Boulding (Kilmarnock) 2013/14: Stephane Bahoken (St. Mirren) 2014/15: Jim Fenlon (Ross County) 2015/16: Rodney Sneijder (Dundee United) 2016/17: Joey Barton (Rangers) 2017/18: Eduardo Herrera (Rangers) 2018/19: Umar Sadiq (Rangers) 2019/20: Madis Vihmann (St. Johnstone) 2020/21: Shane Duffy (Celtic) 2021/22: Matty Longstaff (Aberdeen) I feel like I really should shoehorn a goalkeeper into top spot this season, so I have a proper starting XI of calamities (one with an awful lot of forwards, mind). Let's start the countdown from 25 to 11... 25= DILAN MARKANDAY & PATRIK MYSLOVIC (ABERDEEN) My final list had 26 names so I'll include these two January arrivals together. Markanday was signed on January deadline day by the Dons, but lord knows why. The lad has at the time of writing played just seven minutes of football for the club and probably has splinters in his backside from sitting on the bench. The winger was considered quite the prospect at Spurs and then Blackburn, but his loan from the Rovers has proven to be a waste of his and everyone's time. The Dons have an option to make Myslovic's loan signing permanent but since the Slovakian has only managed a handful of sub appearances since arriving in January it seems unlikely they will do so. I can neither confirm or deny any rumours that there may be a few more Aberdeen players on this list... 24. ROLANDO AARONS (MOTHERWELL) Played 53 minutes of football over three sub appearances. Got injured. Went home. That about sums up Aarons' second spell at Motherwell, which was a shame because I remember a few flashes from him when he first pitched up at Fir Park in 2020. 23. JAIR TAVARES (HIBERNIAN) Hibs keep bigging up Jair's attitude in training and performances for the reserve team, which has a feeling of 'damning with faint praise' about it. To be honest, I think we all expected rather bigger things from a Portugal U19 international signed from Benfica who has been limited to only a handful of brief cameos off the bench since August. Either he's far more a 'one for the future' than we assumed (they did give him a contract till 2026) or it just isn't happening. 22. JORDY HIWULA (ROSS COUNTY) When Hiwula was signed by County, there were plenty of Doncaster fans on social media suggesting that they were glad to see the back of a striker who had scored just once for them and whose workrate had often disappointed. That sounded like sour grapes after Hiwula scored three goals in the League Cup group stages...but he has hit the net just once since then. The January arrivals of Eamonn Brophy and Simon Murray have pretty much bumped him out of first team contention. 21. SCOTT BITSINDOU (LIVINGSTON) A typical low risk, obscure Livingston signing, Congolese midfielder Bitsindou was signed from the Belgian second tier. He was trusted with just one minute of league action for Livi before being loaned to Arbroath in September though, and given he's 27 next month it's safe to say it wasn't for his development. He has had his good and bad moments in the Championship (the latter mostly when deputising in central defence) but injuries have limited his action in the last few months. 20. TOYOSI OLUSANYA (ST. MIRREN) After a few League Cup outings, injury restricted Olusanya to just one substitute appearance for St. Mirren - in January - where he was himself substituted after eleven minutes. Shortly after that he was loaned to Arbroath where he has managed a solitary goal so far. One suspects he may not see out the second year of his two year deal in Paisley. 19. OLLY CRANKSHAW (MOTHERWELL) "Olly is exactly the profile of player we need at the minute" enthused Stevie Hammell after signing him in January. "He will excite fans with his style of play". Crankshaw, who had an unimpactful loan spell at Dundee a few years back, has not exactly lived up to Hammell's expectations and has been out of the team since Stuart Kettlewell took over. Maybe he has been injured, but if he has been he is not important enough for anyone to say so. 18. CALLUM ROBERTS (ABERDEEN) Roberts cost Aberdeen £100,000 and has so far managed all of four sub appearances due to ongoing problems with a hamstring injury. He still has two years on his current deal so I suppose he might be salvageable? 17. GRAHAM CAREY (ST. JOHNSTONE) St Johnstone fans on Twitter made a compelling case for the veteran midfielder's inclusion: "started ok but the last 4 months have been a bit of a nightmare"; "his high point of the season was losing rock, paper, scissors"; "Carey has been really poor, but also Callum Davidson's obsession with trying to find a way to fit him into the team has kind of doubled down on it too". So I'll take their word for it. 16. OLIVER ABILDGAARD (CELTIC) A rare miss for Celtic's recruitment team. The Dane's loan from Rubin Kazan was supposed to be for the whole season but was cut short in January due to lack of gametime. Abildgaard made nine sub appearances and zero impact; he is now at Verona in Italy where he counts ex-Hibs man Josh Doig as a teammate. 15. JAKE EASTWOOD (ROSS COUNTY) Gets ranked higher because he's been on this list before - two years ago after a nightmare loan at Kilmarnock where his infamous solitary league appearance saw him gift a goal to Hibs and then go off injured at half-time. That's one more league appearance than he managed in Dingwall where he became the latest goalie to completely fail to displace Ross Laidlaw from the starting lineup. The loan deal was cut short in January. Still technically Sheffield United's player despite having gone out on about a billion loans so far in his career. 14. SHAYDEN MORRIS (ABERDEEN) Another long term contract (four years!) and another long-term injury. Morris has made a single start for Aberdeen and has barely played since October (and not at all in 2023 so far) because of a major hamstring issue. Maybe he'll be like a new signing next season. Or maybe it'll be like he never existed... 13. ARNAUD DJOUM (DUNDEE UNITED) There's a fine line between 'experienced' and 'past it' and the evidence is that Djoum has crossed it. Liam Fox will argue that he brought in the 33 year old partly for his influence and attitude, but what United needed was an enforcer in midfield; sadly the Cameroonian is a shadow of the player who strutted about the middle of the park for Hearts a few years back. 12. AIDEN MCGEADY (HIBERNIAN) Now McGeady did start looking the part in the New Year having recovered from an ankle injury that sidelined him until the World Cup break. But then he wrecked his hamstring in February and is done for the season. Given he'll have been on a decent wage, the veteran has simply not been decent value. And going to watch Celtic B one weekend instead of his current club wasn't a good look. 11. ESMAEL GONCALVES (LIVINGSTON) Sadly the Goncalves of 2023 is nowhere near the Goncalves of 2013 who inspired St. Mirren to League Cup glory. The Guinea-Bissau forward was in fact exactly what we all suspected of a guy who has spent the last few years playing in Uzbekistan, Iran and Bangladesh. He managed more red cards (one) than goals (zero) for Livi and pitched up at Raith Rovers on loan in February where he at least managed a debut goal against Motherwell in the cup. The top ten will be up some time in the next few days/weeks... 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

At one end of the scale, Scottish football finances are in rude health. Celtic and Rangers both reached the promised land of the Champions League group stages this season, which means megabucks. Whilst Rangers have had some interesting spending habits over much of the last decade, this along with the sale of Calvin Bassey will surely leave them no longer dependent on the riches of Douglas Park. But 2023 could be a very difficult year for a number of Scottish football clubs. The main reason for this is the rising cost of, well, everything. Day-to-day running of a club has never been more expensive. Ditto travelling. And whilst attendances have been remarkably robust up till now the cost of living crisis is taking its toll on millions and tickets to the fitba will prove an unnecessary luxury for plenty. The main focus of concern is the Scottish Championship. There are no particular warning sirens going off at any top flight clubs right now - and after the Setanta debacle, the Rangers liquidation and the end of Romanov at Hearts we all have a pretty good idea of when the midden is heading for the windmill. At Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United - in terms of support, the next four biggest clubs in the country - it helps to have decent financial backing. All but the Jambos have a rich owner; Hearts have a seven figure sum of 'donations' coming into the club every year related to fan ownership, as well as wealthy individuals. Hearts will be a particularly interesting case to watch going forward. Their participation in the European Conference League - which is guaranteed for the Cup winner/third placed team in the league (if the cup is won by either of the top two) - earned them millions. Their two wins in the group stage alone made them nearly half the prize money that they got for coming third in the Premiership last season. Whilst it is still breadcrumbs compared to the vast riches the Old Firm bring in, it gives them a significant financial boost in comparison with the rest of the domestic opposition. If Robbie Neilson's side can pull off another 'best of the rest' this season - as looks quite likely at the time of writing, then it is conceivable they could find themselves much stronger than the rest of the pack, though still a million billion miles behind the Old Firm. As for the rest, one assumes they will be just fine...as long as they stay in the Premiership, or at least get out of the second tier at the first attempt. Kilmarnock spent a lot of money to escape, and I suspect there would have been a huge austerity drive at Rugby Park had they not managed promotion. One area where there has been impressive progress has been in recruitment strategy. Scottish clubs are exempt from the same stringent work permit criteria that restricts English clubs from bringing in non-UK players, and many have taken significant advantage. Ange Postecoglu's knowledge of Japan has allowed him to bring such rough diamonds as Reo Hatate, Daizan Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi to Celtic on the cheap, with more on the way in this transfer window. Other clubs have done well out of Australian players, with Hearts, Dundee United and St. Mirren all boasting players that went to the World Cup with the Socceroos. In general these signings have proven to be unmitigated successes, and almost certainly will have been far cheaper than British equivalents. They also tend to be young and so have potential resale value, as Hearts and St. Mirren will likely find with Kye Rowles and Keanu Baccus respectively. I can't help suspecting that eventually some chairmen in the English Football League will cry foul and pressure the Home Office to close this particular loophole, but until then Scottish clubs are going to make hay. As I stated earlier, it's clubs further down the ladder that I'm more worried about. Part-time teams, less so. Whilst they will also be hit by the same increase in costs as everyone else, they should find it easier to manage because their playing budgets are lower and can be lowered further if necessary (albeit with an effect on the quality on the pitch). Full-time clubs have a wage floor; there is a level of income that a full-time player must receive in order for it to be viable for them to stay full-time. With the cost of living crisis that floor is going to get higher and it is going to become very difficult for some clubs to deal with that without becoming part-time. Deloitte's recent description of four unnamed Championship clubs as "showing signs of financial distress" is pretty vague to say the least. However I would note that Dundee, Queen's Park and Ayr United have wealthy owners and are safe unless they pull the plug. Cove Rangers also have plenty of funding whilst fellow part-timers Arbroath are in rude health after last season's successes. As for the other five...well, I would worry about them. Hamilton and Raith Rovers have admitted they can't continue running the way they are, Morton already have the tiniest squad you can get away with (though fan ownership seems to be going pretty smoothly) and there are plenty of rumours in the Highlands that all is not rosy at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Goodness knows where Partick Thistle are at after all the ownership shenanigans there, though I'd like to think they are less likely to be heading for a Help Ma Boab situation. If there is going to be a catastrophe somewhere in 2023 it will be in this division. Hopefully (fingers crossed) there won't be. 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

To be honest, these days the Premiership preview is a slog to write. That's partly because my own team aren't in it, partly because I don't have the time to do pieces on individual clubs anymore and partly because for my entire football life it has been either a one horse or two horse race. And a race like that isn't interesting unless you're backing one of the two horses, So I'm happy to accept that this is a bit thin and fully expect to be quickly proved wrong on most of it before the clocks go back. The prediction I'm most confident of? That the gap between second and third - which was 28 points last season - will not come down to below 20 points. With Celtic rolling in the Champions League money and Rangers with a chance to do the same, that chasm is not closing. I suppose I'd better make a title prediction. Celtic have pretty much kept the band together, while Rangers lost Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo. Whilst Giovanni Van Bronckhorst has signed some intriguing players, I'm going to go with the tried and tested and fancy another Championship for Ange Postecoglu. But neither team will drop points often. It is far more fun to discuss the clubs who are in crisis. The obvious place to start is at St. Johnstone, who were 45 minutes away from the drop before finding their mojo against Inverness, but they have now lost Zander Clark, Jamie McCart, Shaun Rooney and Callum Hendry and replaced them with guys who aren't that far away from Masters football. There is a fine line between 'experienced' and 'washed-up'. The biggest concern is that you wouldn't bet on any of their forwards getting near double figures for goals. Motherwell might have qualified for Europe but they stank the place out in the second half of last season and have a squad (and tactics, perhaps?) that desperately lack flair. Paul McGinn has been added to a backline that looks okay on paper but has been allergic to a clean sheet in 2022, and aside from the able but erratic Kevin Van Veen it's hard to see much attacking threat. The defeat to Sligo Rovers has justifiably enduced panic in the support and Graham Alexander is feeling under pressure. He certainly needs some new bodies through the door to save his bacon. I'm also not feeling great about St. Mirren where Stephen Robinson struggled to make a positive impact after arriving in February. League Cup defeats to both Arbroath and Airdrie don't bode well either. The Buddies will also miss Connor Ronan badly after he returned to Wolves, and he has far bigger suitors for the coming campaign. That said, they have signed seven new players, including Robinson's former Motherwell stalwarts Mark O'Hara and Declan Gallagher who previously played their best under his management. If Australians Ryan Strain and Keanu Baccus are hits then that would be an enormous boost, and Jonah Ayunga has hinted he might have the eye for goal that the club's other forwards lack. It could go either way though. As a newly promoted side Kilmarnock are probably obliged to be in this conversation but I'd expect Derek McInnes to make them tough to beat and to grind out enough results to be comfortably safe. Keeping goalie Zach Hemming for another year will help, but sooner or later time will catch up with talisman Kyle Lafferty. If it is sooner, Killie really need Oli Shaw to step up. The best of the diddy teams? It's easy enough to make an argument for Hearts again as Lawrence Shankland's signing cancels out the end of Ellis Simms' loan but they will miss John Souttar and I don't know that they have the depth to balance their domestic action with the guaranteed European games. That might open the door for Aberdeen who have been refreshingly aggressive at spending the cash generated by the sales of Calvin Ramsey and Lewis Ferguson. Jim Goodwin certainly has a plan, but it seems pretty high risk, high reward as it depends on a lot of new faces settling quickly and gelling quickly. Dundee United's manager's job appears to be afflicted by the same curse as the Defence Against The Dark Arts, but they've found another decent incumbent in Jack Ross and are another club showing some imagination in their recruitment, bringing in Australians Mark Birighitti and Aziz Behich. The former should adequately replace Benjamin Siegrist in goal. Steven Fletcher returns to Scotland 13 years after leaving Hibs and should still have plenty to give even at 35. Most remarkably they convinced Dylan Levitt to sign permanently from Manchester United after a superb loan spell. Whoever is in the dugout, United seem to have a plan. That's rather more than can be said for Hibernian, who are surely too good for a relegation fight (though this is Hibs we're talking about, so anything can happen) but new boss Lee Johnson hasn't endeared himself to the fans or anyone else with a dreadful League Cup campaign and then his incredible claims that they were set up to fail by the authorities. Poor Rocky Bushiri, a player that the club supposedly didn't want to sign permanently but had to after playing him in too many meaningless games at the end of last season, and who then was played against Morton when he was suspended. On the plus side David Marshall is a definite upgrade in goal and they got a big fee for Josh Doig but it's hard to see what the club's strategy is right now. The man in charge of recruitment is the owner's son though so it's bound to be fine in the end. And that leaves us with clubs that look too strong and too well organized to go down whilst also not quite having the resources to push for third. Livingston continue to punch above their weight thanks to the skills of David Martindale and their creative recruitment that this summer has rustled up ex-Hearts and St. Mirren forward Esmael Goncalves among others. Martindale finally ran out of patience with accident-prone keeper Max Stryjek and has forked out a decent fee - the most they have spent in about twenty years - on goalie Shamal George. Crucially they have in Bruce Anderson a striker who scores more frequently than most in this league. One or two good loan signings would turn them into bona fide top six contenders. And lastly Ross County got better and better as 2021/22 progressed, suggesting that whatever your thoughts on him as a person there is no question that Malky Mackay is a top coach. Last year they were dependent on a lot of loan signings who have moved on, along with the superb Regan Charles-Cook. But their relationship with Southampton has allowed them to bring in the exciting young winger Kazeem Olaigbe, while striker Jordy Hiwula has settled in quickly. They've also gone to Canada to get midfielder Victor Loturi and William Akio and improved the defence with the experienced duo of Callum Johnson and Ben Purrington and goalkeeper Jake Eastwood. They should justifiably believe they can make the top half again. So here's my predicted table. Should I allow for my suspicion that Hibs, St. Mirren, Motherwell and St. Johnstone will all change managers before Christmas? I suppose it might not change my predictions much... 1. CELTIC 2. RANGERS3. HEARTS4. ABERDEEN5. DUNDEE UNITED6. ROSS COUNTY 7. LIVINGSTON8. HIBERNIAN9. KILMARNOCK10. ST. MIRREN 11. MOTHERWELL 12. ST. JOHNSTONE 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

Here we go then. The Scottish Championship is my bread and butter, by which I mean that I make the same blunders as in all the other previews but with much more confidence. Allegations that I predicted Arbroath to finish bottom last season and Dunfermline to make the playoffs (no,not those playoffs) are absolutely outrageous and completely true. In recent times this division has tended to be dominated by a single club who clearly have more cash to throw at the squad. Out of the last eight champions, only St. Mirren didn't have cash to burn (or to throw at Charlie Adam and Jason Cummings, which is essentially the same thing). Whilst Dundee are the wealthiest team in the division this time around, thanks to their generous yet hapless American owners, the lack of reinforcement so far this summer suggests that there will be no poundshop galacticos coming to Dens Park - sorry, Leigh - which may not be a bad thing. The squad that was relegated is probably strong enough to win the title anyway, especially if striker Alex Jakubiak can finally stay fit for more than five minutes. A little more depth would be helpful and there are question marks over all three goalkeepers but most crucially they have brought in a manager, Gary Bowyer, whose CV screams 'competent'. And that in itself is enough to make them clear favourites. I am always wary of cursing Inverness Caledonian Thistle with any positivity that might encourage the universe to crush me or them in revenge. But ICT were 45 Perth minutes away from promotion in May - now let's never speak of that second half again, please - and whilst they lost Kirk Broadfoot (who was heading for the knacker's yard anyway) and quality loan players Reece McAlear and Logan Chalmers they have kept the rest of the squad together. George Oakley should be a competent striker at this level and I'm excited by Daniel Mackay's return on loan. They should be there or thereabouts, particularly if Oakley, Billy Mckay or Austin Samuels proves a consistent source of goals. Should Arbroath be in the conversation too? After all, only two of their best XI at the end of last season - Chris Hamilton and Jack Hamilton - are away. And their League Cup performances suggest there's no hangover from last season. That said it is always asking a lot of a part-time side to sustain such a high level for so long, and some sort of drop-off seems inevitable. But should Dick Campbell procure some super-talented loan signings, as he often has done in the past, they could cause havoc once again. Last season proved we should never be fooled into underestimating them; they have several players - Tam O'Brien, Ricky Little and Nicky Low are the ones that stand out to me - who could play for a full-time team if they wished but instead choose to supplant their day jobs with a generous part-time football income. The last of the promotion playoff sides from last year, Partick Thistle have fairly overhauled their squad with ten new signings and many departures. Ian McCall is determined to relieve the goalscoring burden on veteran Brian Graham, bringing in forwards Danny Mullen, Anton Dowds and Tony Weston. They'll need Weston and midfielder Cole McKinnon to contribute far more than last season's Rangers loanee Juan Alegria did. Bringing back Steven Lawless looks smart too. If there's a question mark it's over the defence; Jack McMillan is a good signing but if Harry Milne can't make the step up from Cove then there's not a lot of alternatives, especially as Kevin Holt's future seems to be at centre-back. I suspect McCall isn't finished wheeling and dealing yet. Aside from winning the Challenge Cup, Raith Rovers had a pretty dreadful first half of 2022 and the time was probably right to part ways with John McGlynn. Ian Murray is the new boss but his few signings so far have been from League One (Scott Brown, Dylan Easton) or Scunthorpe (Ross Millen). Options are a bit limited just now; Tom Lang, Ross Matthews, Brad Spencer and Lewis Vaughan all miss the start of the season with injury, whilst He Who Must Not Be Named is still technically on the books but will never play for the club. Starting the season with Christophe Berra as the only fit senior centre-back no senior centre-backs after Christophe Berra suddenly retired this week, and with Jamie Gullan as the only fit senior striker, is not a good situation. Can Murray hold out until the treatment room clears or does he have to hit the market? It feels like a transitional year for them. Rovers aren't the only club short of numbers; Dougie Imrie's first team lines for the League Cup had all of one sub due to injuries and suspensions and he made it clear that he wasn't expecting to get any more funds for his Greenock Morton squad. Morton improved dramatically under Imrie in the second half of last season but were unable to convince keeper Jack Hamilton or forwards Gary Oliver and Gozie Ugwu to sign new deals. Lewis Strapp did decide to stay on and Darragh O'Connor and Jack Baird will replace departed loanees Oisin McEntee and Jason Brandon but there is going to be a huge emphasis on youth and on temporary transfers - if goalie Brian Schwake (who was excellent for FC Edinburgh last season in League Two) and striker Jaze Kabia struggle then so will they. There's also plenty of room for additions to the Cove Rangers dressing room. The squad hasn't been strengthened much following promotion with only teenage Aberdeen defender Evan Towler coming in on loan and English non-league attacker Gerry McDonagh joining permanently. Manager Paul Hartley left for Hartlepool and replacement Jim McIntyre looks like he has work to do to get the team ready for the step up. We'll soon find out if veterans Mark Reynolds, Shay Logan and Iain Vigurs still have the legs for this level and whether Mitch Megginson and Fraser Fyvie can light up the Championship like they did the lower divisions. Expect lots of newcomers in the next few weeks and only then can we properly gauge Cove's prospects. Queen's Park actually finished three places below Cove in League One last season before coming up through the playoffs, yet it could be argued that the Spiders' trajectory is the one pointing upwards. Bringing in Owen Coyle was a sign of their ambition and they have been ruthless in moving on all but the best players from the promotion-winning squad. The arrivals of Josh McPake (on loan) and Dom Thomas should make them dangerous going forward, though they may need Simon Murray to rewind the clock a few years if they are to score enough goals. If this young squad clicks, their first campaign at this level in 39 years could be an exciting one. Trying to assess the prospects of Hamilton Academical is even harder. Accies had a tumultuous offseason to say the least, taking several weeks to sort out the binning of boss Stuart Taylor and losing a fair bit of preparation time in the process. The good news: replacement John Rankin gives the impression of being an intelligent coach. The not so good news: the club's own former (as of this week) CEO predicted "the hardest season we've had in the 20 years we've been here". The only new faces are Michael Doyle (let go by Queen's Park) and young midfielder Jonny Ngandu. If Andy Winter continues his development then they might be okay up front but a lack of depth here and a lack of quality elsewhere - aside from the impressive Steve Lawson - is hugely concerning. It's not unusual for Accies to depend on youngsters, but aside from Winter it's not clear there are any other academy products ready for this level. It's not been a great summer for Ayr United either. Having avoided a relegation playoff by the skin of their teeth, they also lost star striker Tomi Adeloye, with outstanding loan players Kerr McInroy and James Maxwell also away. However there was an expectation that a full preseason under Lee Bullen, coupled with the manager's impressive contacts down south, would result in new signings and an improvement of the current squad. Defensively they should be better after bringing in Frankie Musonda, Alex Kirk and David Bangala. However their League Cup campaign was a disaster. Forwards Sam Ashford and Dipo Akinyemi haven't clicked yet and aside from Andy Murdoch there are concerns about the midfield. Bullen still has a lot of work to do if he is to keep United away from another relegation battle. So here's the inevitably wrong predicted table: 1. DUNDEE 2. INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 3. PARTICK THISTLE 4. ARBROATH 5. QUEEN'S PARK 6. RAITH ROVERS 7. COVE RANGERS 8. GREENOCK MORTON 9. AYR UNITED 10. HAMILTON ACADEMICAL I'm pretty comfortable with my top four. I have absolutely no idea how to rank the other six. I worry that Accies are dysfunctional, Ayr are just not very good and Morton are broke, so they are my bottom three. But Cove seem unsure whether to spend what is required to take them to the next level, Queen's Park have a 'boom/bust' feel to them and it'll be tough to evaluate where Raith Rovers are at until the window is closed. And here's what the universe thought when I asked their opinion: View the full article

As someone with a wicked sense of humour and a deep love of schadenfreude, League One will doubtless bring me lots of joy every season as long as my own team aren't stuck in it. It's a beautiful combination of full-time clubs who feel the seaside leagues are beneath them - and whose players too often play as if they feel the same - and part-time sides who range from battle-hardened, dangerous units to a complete omnishambles (sometimes both in the same season) with everything in between. It seems fair to begin with Falkirk, who seem to have Mr Burns' 'You're Stuck Here Forever' demotivational plaque and are onto their gazillionth manager since they crashed down here just over three years ago. The thing is, this time said supremo is John McGlynn, whose wonderful achievements at Raith Rovers included getting them out of this hellhole. It's hard to believe he can't at least make this motley crew the sum of their parts, which in itself would probably be enough to win the division. It just seems mad that players like Coll Donaldson, Paul Watson, Stephen McGinn, Kai Kennedy, Callumn Morrison, Aidan Nesbitt and Gary Oliver are here instead of in the Championship. The trouble will come if they feel the same way, particularly after a scudding or two. Dunfermline Athletic are the other big fish in this particular rockpool after a catastrophic relegation. They too have a new manager in James McPake, who I didn't rate at all at Dundee. He has so far mostly stuck with the bunch that went down, either believing he can bring them back to form or because they're all on contracts the club can't get shot of. Again, there are lots of names that on past history belong in the second tier; Aaron Comrie, Graham Dorrans, Chris Hamilton, Kevin O'Hara, Craig Wighton, Nikolay Todorov. You'd think they'll be challengers, but the last time they were relegated to League One we thought the same, and they were stuck for three years until they got the right man in the dugout. Time will tell if they've managed that already. Also coming down from the Championship are Queen of the South who didn't really improve much after Wullie Gibson took over from Allan Johnston. Perhaps Gibson deserves a Mulligan now that the veteran player-boss has a chance to mould his own squad. Improving the defence with Stuart Morrison, Ciaran McKenna and David McKay is a good start; bringing back Iain Wilson, Gavin Reilly and Connor Murray was also impressive; but the icing on the cake is the retention of striker Lee Connelly. They are giving this a good go, not least because it's hard to see them being able to remain full-time if they're stuck down here for multiple seasons. The last of the full-time (-ish in this case, as they have a bit of a hybrid scheme going on) clubs, Airdrie have had a tumultuous summer with manager Ian Murray leaving for Kirkcaldy and taking star attacker Dylan Easton with him. At the time of writing the club have a tiny squad which includes player-boss Rhys McCabe (only 31 years old!) and his assistant, centre-back Calum Fordyce (age 30!). It's hard to see them repeating last year's second place finish unless McCabe is the next Alex Neil and he gets to sign a platoon of new players by the end of August. Of the part-timers, Montrose have been the most consistently impressive in the division in recent years with a string of promotion playoff appearances on the back of a remarkably settled squad and a miracle-worker coach (Stewart Petrie) who doesn't want to give up a lucrative day job to manage at a full-time side. That said, the Gable Endies have brought in minimal reinforcements whilst also losing both Cammy Ballantynes (yes, there were two). There's still plenty of quality though which should stop them slipping too far back. They might be usurped by the upstarts from Kelty Hearts though. Kelty breezed through League Two at the first attempt and have aspirations to emulate Cove Rangers. They should be competitive at this level from the word go with a decent sized budget that has allowed them to field the likes of Jamie Barjonas, Michael Tidser, Joe Cardle and Nathan Austin among others. Kevin Thomson's decision to leave in the summer wasn't ideal but they have high hopes for replacement boss John Potter. Can they immediately challenge at the right end? Alloa Athletic also fancy they can get in the promotion playoffs, having improved immeasurably after replacing Barry Ferguson with Brian Rice in the dugout. They'll be relying more on Rice's acumen and improving the squad they've got than on making lots of signings but an attack with Ross MacIver and Connor Sammon should score plenty and immortal defender Andy Graham is still there along with other longstanding players such as Scott Taggart, Kevin Cawley and Jon Robertson. It'll be weird without Alan Trouten though. As for those perhaps more worried about the drop, FC Edinburgh are obvious candidates given they came fourth in League Two last season before fighting their way through the playoffs. They were much more impressive after Alan Maybury took charge in the spring and have strengthened with the signings of veteran Liam Fontaine and full-back Kieran MacDonald (a regular with Raith and Hamilton the last few seasons) as well as signing Innes Murray permanently. Whether that'll be sufficient to enable them to make the step up is another matter. And the less said about the godawful name change the better... There's not a lot of optimism to be found at Clyde who of course no longer have He Who Must Not Be Named scoring shedloads and masking their deficiencies, and who are now playing at New Douglas Park after getting ejected from Cumbernauld. There's been a clearout - including a number of players who declined new deals - and Danny Lennon somehow has to mould a new team without being able to take them to an island for five years first. Holding onto keeper Neil Parry, midfielder Barry Cuddihy and forward Ross Cunningham helps but it could be a tough first campaign as Hamilton's tenants. But the most dire situation is in the Blue Toon; Peterhead were so short of numbers for the League Cup games that they drafted in players from the local non-leagues (I'd never even heard of Banchory St. Ternan or Rattray XI) to make up numbers. Geography is a big issue, and they cannot compete with Cove Rangers for the best local part-time players. If there is hope, it is in the return of Ryan Dow to the club and the permanent signing of impressive loanee Danny Strachan. But Jim McInally may not have faced a bigger challenge in his decade at Balmoor than keeping them up this season. So here's the inevitably wrong predicted table... 1. FALKIRK 2. DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC 3. QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 4. KELTY HEARTS 5. ALLOA ATHLETIC 6. MONTROSE 7. AIRDRIEONIANS 8. FC EDINBURGH 9. CLYDE 10. PETERHEAD And the Twitter takes on the season ahead: View the full article

Those of you who have read my previews before (all three of you) will know that I put a large onus on budget as a factor in how well clubs will do. And with good reason. After all, last season League Two had Kelty Hearts; the season before that there was Queen's Park, who won the title by 16 points in a campaign only 22 games long; in 2019-20 Cove Rangers were 13 points clear when the final quarter was written off. And for 2022-23 we have, well, nobody who really stands out. Which should mean a wide-open title race. There are maybe three teams I'm confident will not be in with a shout (famous last words...). The first is newly promoted Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic who simply do not have the resources that the likes of Kelty and Cove boasted when they came up and who so far have made only modest additions to the squad that got them up in the first place. Sweet stories like that of striker Kieran McGachie, who played for the club when they were still in the Junior ranks, only take you so far. But they'll be hoping the nous of veteran striker Kevin Smith (signed from East Fife) will help establish them in the SPFL. And let's face it, the champions of tier 5 are generally at least mid-table League Two standard. The next to be written off are Albion Rovers, partly because it's no secret that their wage bill is essentially buttons. Manager Brian Reid has moaned that everyone dismisses them as relegation candidates out of ignorance, but really it's because Rovers have finished in the bottom half of League Two four years in a row. Reid has attracted Ayrton Sonkur from Stranraer and Kyle Fleming from Annan, and most crucially he convinced midfielder Charlie Reilly to stay another season. But three players decamped to Dumbarton, including skipper Aron Lynas, and the loss of Kyle Doherty and Declan Byrne leaves them pretty lightweight up top. And then there's Elgin City whose recruitment seems more limited by geography than ever. Their most southern signing of the summer came from Jeanfield Swifts and the exits of Euan Spark and Conor O'Keefe leave them rather short of depth. Expect a number of loan signings before the end of August, and expect further dependence on striker Kane Hester to fire them out of trouble. Elgin chose to stand by boss Gavin Price by bringing in Jim Weir as his assistant in a relationship that has a very Evans-Houllier feel, and one suspects a similar endgame. What about the top end? Obviously the clubs relegated from League One come to mind. Dumbarton stood by boss Steve Farrell despite a second consecutive relegation from that division (he took Stranraer down the year before) and gave him licence to bring in ten new players, with an onus on experience in League One or Two. Keeper Brett Long, defender Aron Lynas, midfielder Ally Love and forward Ryan Wallace should add nicely to the backbone provided by Gregor Buchanan and Ryan McGeever at the back and Joe McKee and Stuart Carswell in the middle of the park. East Fife also took the chance to rip it up and start again; Stevie Crawford has signed a mixture of experience (goalkeeper Allan Fleming and forward Alan Trouten) and youth (defenders Sam Denham and Lucas Williamson and forward Ryan Schiavone) but has also lost most of the better players he inherited midway through last season. The midfield looks particularly underwhelming and the Methil side are likely to be very active in the market in weeks to come. Annan Athletic are the apparent exception to my beloved budget rule. They were narrowly denied promotion in the playoff final by Edinburgh City and enter their fifteenth season as a league side...and as a fourth tier side. Manager Peter Murphy is very much this division's "why on earth is he not managing at a higher level?" candidate as he seems to lose his best players every summer and yet still manage to cobble together a competitive team despite one of the smallest budgets. Owen Moxon, who has got his big move to Carlisle United, will be their biggest loss by some way this time around while former Leeds youth Josh Galloway is probably the most intriguing of a typically unexciting bunch of new faces who will probably go on to do perfectly well, just like their predecessors. Their outstanding League Cup campaign suggest they should be thereabouts again. One place above Annan in the table last season, Forfar Athletic lost in the playoff semis to the borderers but will fancy they can build on that. Forfar used the loan system well last year and expect them to do the same in weeks to come; in the meantime Roberto Nditi, Tomas Brindley and James Keatings (if he stays fit) look like great additions. The midfield quartet of Kyle Hutton, Craig Slater, Craig Thomson and Callum Moore might be the strongest in the league. They will surely be in the mix again. Stenhousemuir have also been super-busy wheeling and dealing. Stephen Swift brought in an entire squad last year and has ditched the players that didn't work out to make space for another ten signings. They got better as the season went on and will look to carry that momentum. 35 year old Craig Bryson is League Two's marquee signing this window but keeper Conor Brennan and defender Daniel Higgins should also strengthen them. There are high hopes that ex-Stranraer frontman Matt Yates and lower league goal machine Will Sewell can provide plenty of firepower. As for Stranraer, they underwhelmed under Jamie Hamill last time out and to be honest they haven't done much to suggest they're on the up. Bringing Scott MacLean back north might provide a creative spark but a number of key players including the aforementioned Sonkur and Yates plus Sean Burns have moved on. They also have very little up top other than 38 year old Darryl Duffy. And finally there's Stirling Albion, who probably underachieved under Kevin Rutkiewicz even if he suggested otherwise on his departure. Darren Young knows this level well and went back to former club East Fife for a trio of players including winger Danny Denholm. Robert Thomson is a good solid striker and loanee Harrison Clark should be better than this level. Stirling certainly have ambitions to finish above mid-table. And therefore my predicted table is: 1. FORFAR ATHLETIC 2. ANNAN ATHLETIC3. DUMBARTON4. STENHOUSEMUIR 5. STIRLING ALBION6. BONNYRIGG ROSE ATHLETIC7. EAST FIFE8. STRANRAER9. ELGIN CITY 10. ALBION ROVERS Fans of the bottom trio might want to screenshot this so they can use it against me in nine months time... Here, for interest, are what the Twitterati think... View the full article

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

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. View the full article

The players ranked 25 to 11 can be found here. Before we move on, there has to be an honourable mention for Caleb Chukwuemeka, whose exploits for Livingston had escaped me before I published the first part of this double-bill. Chukwuemeka, on loan from Aston Villa, suffered the ignominy of being subbed just seven minutes after coming off the bench against Aberdeen with David Martindale criticising his work-rate. That was less than a month after arriving; the forward has made a couple of appearances off the bench since but has disappeared in recent weeks, suggesting Martindale's opinion of him hasn't improved. So he probably should have been in the top 25 somewhere... Anyway, on to the top ten! 10 ALEX SAMUEL (ROSS COUNTY) Striker Samuel claimed on arrival in Dingwall that he hoped to use his move to Ross County to force his way into the Wales squad. Given he hasn't started a league game since October and has played more minutes in the cup (sixty) than in the league (fourteen) since then, I'd say he's probably not on Robert Page's radar right now. Samuel may well have had injury problems but County do tend to be Pyongyang-esque in their levels of secrecy (the joke about Dingwall is far too obvious and has therefore been removed - Ed.) so it's not clear whether that is the case, or that he is just out of the picture. 9 BEN WOODBURN (HEARTS) Woodburn isn't on this list because he's been a waste of space; he's on it because he was playing in the Premier League at age 17 and has eleven caps for Wales, so expectations were appropriately very high. But he's been in and out of the team - mostly out since Ellis Simms arrived in January - and has managed just three goals and a single assist. Whoscored.com rates him about the same as James Brown and Eamonn Brophy for this season, which is not a good look. 8 JACK GURR (ABERDEEN) What can you say about Gurr, other than to feign horror and shock that a guy who was a fringe player for Atlanta United's reserves would turn out to be out of his depth in the Scottish Premiership? Thankfully Stephen Glass realised this quickly so that he didn't take precious minutes away from the talented youngster Calvin Ramsay. He returned to the USA in January, and Dons fans will never speak of him again. 7 JAMES MCCARTHY (CELTIC) Following on from Shane Duffy, it now appears to be enshrined in law that every season Celtic must acquire a Premier League player who was a boyhood fan of the club. I'm pretty sure Ange had nothing to do with this signing, given his attempts to strengthen the midfield area in January. McCarthy is an okay option off the bench for Celtic and he's largely managed to stay fit for the first time in a number of years...probably because he's only started six games all season. The trouble is that he's on decent money that's out of proportion with the gametime he's getting, and that a player with such an injury history was given a four year contract at the age of 30. Still, he's better than Ismaila Soro. 6 JAY EMMANUEL-THOMAS (ABERDEEN) To be honest I was already prejudiced against Emmanuel-Thomas after he put 'JET' on his jersey at Livingston last season. The Dons thought they were getting a jet, but instead they got a Sopwith Camel (it was pointed out to me on Twitter that Sopwith Camels were relatively successful in WW1, but I thought it was a more polite comparison than calling him a Fokker). Emmanuel-Thomas managed one goal for Aberdeen; Bruce Anderson, who went to Livingston from Pittodrie last summer, scored nine. Most damningly, Jim Goodwin publicly called him out on his fitness, which improved so much that the player had his two year contract terminated before it was halfway through. 5 EETU VERTAINEN (ST. JOHNSTONE) How Callum Davidson complained about the work permit delays that left Vertainen waiting several weeks before being able to play for St. Johnstone. How Davidson bigged up the Finnish striker as having bags of potential and loads of ability. How Davidson insisted for the next two months that Vertainen wasn't ready for more than the occasional cameo off the bench for a team struggling for goals. And how quickly Davidson turned on him, subbing him at half-time in his first start, and again a few weeks later as the scapegoat for a goal by Rangers scored after Vertainen gave away possession cheaply. At the time of writing that's his last appearance for the Perth Saints, as he is currently on loan at Linfield where he scored four in one game last month, but hasn't scored any other goals before or since. 4 LEIGH GRIFFITHS (DUNDEE) Oh, Leigh. His return to Dundee on loan was clearly high-risk, high-reward; in the end it was all risk and no reward. He managed just a single goal from open play - though a free-kick goal at Pittodrie was insanely good - and was quickly restricted to the subs bench; to be honest he was lucky to be available at all after he was arrested for kicking a firework into the crowd during a cup game, but the SFA held off banning him until the end of the police investigation (and we're still waiting). Celtic activated an option in his contract to release him in January and Griffiths went on to become the marquee signing who would definitely fire Falkirk to promotion from League One...or not... 3 JAMES SCOTT (HIBERNIAN) It feels like a long time since Hull City paid Motherwell £1.5m for Scott, but it's actually been just over two years. It looks like injuries have wrecked the 22 year old either physically or mentally, but he's been a shadow of the young starlet he was. Jack Ross dropped him due to his poor fitness and publicly called him "selfish" and "lazy". Shaun Maloney showed more faith in him, but the lack of impact during his sub appearances was such that Scott was actually booed when introduced late in a win over Ross County. And then in recent weeks, with the forward line decimated by injuries, Scott has finally got a run in the starting lineup. Number of goals scored? Zero. Number of Hibs fans who want him to make his loan move a permanent one? Probably about the same. 2 MAX BIAMOU (DUNDEE UNITED) Biamou made more than thirty appearances in the English Championship for Coventry last season, so he looked like a pretty solid signing for United in October 2021. He made three sub appearances as he built up his fitness... and then in late November he injured his foot. And he hasn't played since. With Tony Watt brought in during January Biamou and United agreed he should leave...but then he injured his thigh just before the window ended, scuppering any move. So the Frenchman will finish his United career having played 55 minutes of first team football and having got pressure sores from spending so much time on the treatment table. 1 MATTY LONGSTAFF (ABERDEEN) Longstaff spent the second half of the season at Mansfield Town where by most accounts he was the outstanding player in League Two during that period. He spent the first half at Pittodrie, complainingn afterward that Scottish football was "long ball" and "more of a fight, there's probably not as much quality there as there is in the Premier League". That last bit is obviously true, but the rest? Given how honking Longstaff - considered a potential star in the making ever since a Premier League goal against Manchester United in 2019 - was for the Dons I think we can store this away as powerful evidence that the Scottish Premiership is a higher standard than the English fourth tier. Stephen Glass' statement that "Matty would've liked more game time, clearly we would've liked better performances" had a mic drop feel to it. On the bench by October and out of the matchday squad by November, Longstaff left Aberdeen with three starts, five appearances in total and one Worst Signing Of The Season award. 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

Ten years I've been doing this. Man, there have been some duffers. Here, for the record, are the nine previous 'winners': 2012/13: Rory Boulding (Kilmarnock) 2013/14: Stephane Bahoken (St. Mirren) 2014/15: Jim Fenlon (Ross County) 2015/16: Rodney Sneijder (Dundee United) 2016/17: Joey Barton (Rangers) 2017/18: Eduardo Herrera (Rangers) 2018/19: Umar Sadiq (Rangers) 2019/20: Madis Vihmann (St. Johnstone) 2020/21: Shane Duffy (Celtic) Here we go for year 10, with the countdown from 25 to 11. 24= LIAM SHAW (CELTIC) 24= OSAZE URGHOGHIDE (CELTIC) The duo joined Celtic from Sheffield Wednesday, both costing compensation of around £300,000. With about forty Championship appearances between them, the young pair clearly have potential but they were signed before Ange Postecoglu pitched up. Both were trusted with a single start for the club - in a Europa League dead rubber - and both were loaned out in January. Shaw can't get into Motherwell's starting XI, but Urhoghide is at least playing regularly in Belgium. Neither have a future at Celtic. 23 MICH'EL PARKER (MOTHERWELL) This writer had actually heard of Parker before he pitched up at Motherwell, having won the National League South in Football Manager 2020 with him at centre-back. The youngster, who'd remarkably been on the books of Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham at various times, was probably a low-cost, low-risk signing but he made the bench for three League Cup games in July and then was never seen in a matchday squad again. After his contract expired in January he signed for Linfield but can't get a game for them either. 22 COREY PANTER (DUNDEE) Given Dundee couldn't defend worth a damn, it says something that Panter still couldn't get a game. His only league start was on Boxing Day, though he played - and scored - in both the League Cup and for their Colts side in the Challenge Cup. Luton recalled him in January due to lack of game time. 21 YOSUKE IDEGUCHI (CELTIC) Ideguchi looks worse because Ange Postecoglu's other Japanese signings have been so outstanding, but £850,000 is a lot of money for a benchwarmer. He has had some injuries but even when fit he seems to be well down the midfield pecking order - even behind James McCarthy! - and there's no sign of that changing soon. His previous foray into British football at Leeds United was a flop and so far his time in Glasgow hasn't been much better. 20 CURTIS MAIN (ST. MIRREN) St. Mirren surely knew what they were getting from Main's previous spells at Motherwell and Aberdeen - a strong, willing runner up front who will press centre-backs all day...and who doesn't score many goals. Main seemed to prove the doubters wrong by hitting the net in his first two matches for the Buddies in the League Cup, but has managed one goal in the 29 games since then and finds himself behind New Zealander rookie Alex Greive in the pecking order now. 19 ALEX ROBERTSON (ROSS COUNTY) Ross County fans were entitled to have reasonably high expectations for this loan signing for Manchester City, who is an England under-18 international; The Guardian even profiled him as one of the most exciting 60 prospects in the world in the 2020 edition of their 'next generation' series! For whatever reason, it didn't work out in Dingwall. One start and five sub appearances later, Robertson returned south. 18 NIALL MCGINN (DUNDEE) It turns out that 77 is McGinn's squad number, not his age. Unfortunately the once lethal forward is rather past his best, which makes it strange that Dundee would offer him an 18 month deal and expect him to create or score the goals that would keep them up. At the time of writing his last league goal was in March 2020. 17 TIM AKINOLA (DUNDEE UNITED) The midfielder was signed on loan from Arsenal in January, was subbed at half-time in his only appearance and then picked up an injury that caused his loan to be terminated early. That went well. 16 HARRY PANAYIOTOU (LIVINGSTON) Livingston do like signing an interesting-sounding striker from the English lower leagues. Panayiotou - a St. Kitts international via his mother, who was born in England and has a Greek Cypriot father, making him (I think) eligible for four national teams - certainly sounds interesting. Unfortunately his 12 goals for Aldershot the previous year seem to have been an outlier. He made five sub appearances for Livi and was let go in January, 6 months into a two-year deal with the option of a third, and returned to his old club, where he claimed that things hadn't worked out in Scotland because the environment at Livingston was 'toxic', which seems harsh; I know those roundabouts get frustrating after a while, but still... 15 THEO BAIR (ST. JOHNSTONE) Sure, maybe Bair will come good; Callum Davidson has made a big song and dance about how he just needs time to acclimatize, as he did with Guy Melamed (with some justification) and Eetu Vertainen (less so). As of now, he is a Canadian international striker who cost a significant fee for a club of St. Johnstone's size and who has so far failed to start a game or score a goal. 14 JAY CHAPMAN (DUNDEE) James McPake didn't half big up Chapman, a Canadian international with plenty of MLS experience at Toronto and Inter Miami, as a real coup of a signing in January. The midfielder has so far played 35 minutes of first team action over two substitute appearances and has vanished from the bench in recent weeks. He might be injured, but if he is no-one is saying so. 13 NATHAN WOOD (HIBERNIAN) Summed up pretty much perfectly by journalist Craig Fowler: Wood went back to parent club Middlesbrough before the end of November. 12 AMAD DIALLO (RANGERS) Manchester United paid around £20m for Diallo two years ago, so one would expect him to have rather more impact in a diddy league like ours...and when he scored just five minutes into his debut in Dingwall it looked like Rangers had found a gem. So much for that. The Ivorian was hooked at half-time four days later in the 3-0 thumping by Celtic and he hasn't been trusted for anything other than cameos off the bench since. One suspects Diallo, still only 19, will probably still go on to better things than the vast majority of his Ibrox contemporaries but this is has been a waste of a half season for him and probably of a loan fee by Rangers. 11 JAHMAL HECTOR-INGRAM (ST. JOHNSTONE) St. Johnstone went on a striker binge at the end of the January window, with former Derby forward Hector-Ingram one of the many brought in. And after sitting on the bench a handful of times he seems to have disappeared into thin air. The top ten will come soon, I promise... 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

I have been taking pictures at BMO field, in the stands since the opening season in 2007. Getting the camera into BMO Field has always been an issue, so much so that for the first few seasons I carried not only a printout of the BMO and TFC camera policies but also a letter from Paul Beirne specifically noting that cameras were permissible for personal use and that my use had been verified as such. This website exists for friends and fans alike, its personal rather than professional and I never thought it would be around for 15+ years if I am honest, but it has just kept plodding along. There is no commercial element to it, and although we have google ads on here, realistically they have never generated enough to pay for a memory card let alone anything else. The site is actually funded based on Ad revenue from another site that I have been running for 28 years (CaleyThistleOnline). My photos have only ever appeared in print once (other than the odd Wikipedia page) and that was in Joshua Kloke’s book, for which I asked for and received nothing but a thank you. Over the years, with or without the letter from Paul (mostly without since he has been gone for a fair few years now), I have had varying experiences with security at BMO mainly on entry. Once in the stands in section 113, everything is fine. The security and guest services personnel are typically those who have been around for a few years so a camera with a zoom lens is no surprise. However, getting to 113 is sometimes a challenge as I have been told everything from its absolutely not allowed, to its a professional camera (I use a trusty old D7000 which is not exactly state of the art, nor good enough to be down pitchside with a mega zoom lens) to the fact that I need a press pass … I was always able to be assertive enough or ask for a supervisor to get me in the gate but its a bit draining to be honest. However, it looks like this may be even more challenging during 2022 as COVID measures from 2021 have been continued in terms of a more restrictive bag policy. I understand and respect what they are trying to do for everyone’s safety, but it seems just a little too restrictive for me. I have access to a regular camera bag (approx 1/2 size of a backpack) and this is not allowed. Fair enough its really a backpack type item and I basically didn’t take it before because it was the one that always seemed to draw over-officious security at the entrance gate like a magnet. I also have access to a small 6x5x4 cube camera bag that snugly fits and protects the camera and not much else. It just falls within the size limit for an allowed clutch purse but it IS a camera bag and that is explicitly banned according to the BMO Field website. It may not be worth trying to reason with security personnel for any of this and I don’t see the camera fitting into, or being protected by, any of the approved bags so there may be a dearth of photos again this season unfortunately. Got to figure out if there is a way I can take any kind of bag which I can use until I get to BMO then just put in my pocket (like one of the black TFC drawstring bags ~ also not allowed) and sling the camera around my neck as the camera policy hasn’t changed, just the bag policy. I will endeavour to keep the stats and other pages up to date as I know there are several people who come here regularly to view that info but in case anything is a little behind then I absolutely recommend that you follow @martyn_bailey on twitter if you don’t already. In fact, follow him anyway as he has all sorts of instant stats at his fingertips that he regularly posts before, during and after games. I’ll keep bashing away at the stats for as long as I can and maybe make some other enhancements to the site if the photos become an issue. Lets hope we are all posting some positive stats this year both from the football world, and the real world. View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

Lyndon Dykes will be missed in Moldova Dykes reminds me of the character in the Monty Python 'Upper-Class Twit Of The Year' sketch who "doesn't know when he's beaten, this boy, he doesn't know when he's winning either. He doesn't have any sort of sensory apparatus". I had no doubt at all that the naturalized Ozzie would be unfazed by his penalty miss against Israel, and there was something very Dykes about scoring a goal by essentially karate-kicking the ball. But whilst he remains somewhat limited - some of his movement off the ball is just so random rather than thought-out - he continues to develop as a player and he is yet to hit his ceiling. If only because of his remarkable self-belief he is Scotland's best option up front just now; the hard-working Che Adams is still uncomfortable in front of goal, while Kevin Nisbet just looks like a guy trying too hard because he's not sure he belongs at this level. Unfortunately, Dykes' suspension means Scotland will have to go back to playing a striker up front in Tiraspol next month, rather than some sort of force of nature. It's not ideal. Nathan Patterson is our least-bad option at right-back Patterson was one of many who struggled in the first forty-five against Israel, but his appearance as a sub in the Faroes proved pivotal as it was his terrific cross that led to the winner. The problem for Clarke is that none of our right-back options are great just now. Stephen O'Donnell is probably the pick for matches against elite opposition because of his adequate (-ish) defensive play but he is always identified by other teams as a non-factor going forward; in Vienna he often had a bus lane to work with on that flank because his final ball was guaranteed to be rubbish. Ryan Fraser is a winger, not a wing-back. Defensively he was frequently out of position in Torshavn though he did become more dangerous going forward as the game progressed. Patterson is the one who not only has the tools to play wing-back but also is the one who has the potential to be a really special player. The rewards for Scotland of playing him, both for the present and the future, outweigh the risks. Billy Gilmour needs another playmaker beside him Gilmour is ridiculously special. He has also elevated Callum McGregor's game; with the duo in the centre of the park Scotland are better in possession than I've ever seen them. The balance wasn't there with Scott McTominay in midfield though - more on the Manchester United man later - and Gilmour only really took control of the Faroes match after McGregor arrived as a substitute. The thought of Ryan Jack sitting beside - or slightly deeper - than Gilmour is an intriguing one, though the Moldova/Denmark double-header may come too soon for the Rangers midfielder. Jack's defensive work is better than McGregor's and might be a useful option against quality teams without reducing our quality on the ball significantly. McTominay's best position for Scotland is at the back (at least right now) Ooh, controversial! Not too many folk would argue that McTominay is a better defender than Jack Hendry, but I feel the former's positional lapses are balanced out by the latter's tendency to lose concentration and make silly errors. What McTominay does give the back three is another player who is comfortable bringing the ball out from the back; Hendry has the ability to do so too but his decision-making just isn't as strong. Meanwhile neither McTominay nor Scotland look comfortable when he is in the centre of the park, though I can't quite figure out why. Is he trying to do too much? It's a long time since the players and fans had it as good as this As Scotland took the ball to the corner flag to waste time at the end of the Israel match, Ryan Christie could be seen extolling the crowd to get louder. That was somewhat optimistic, given Hampden was already at fever pitch. That game had the perfect synergy between the players on the pitch and the supporters in the stands - the latter encouraging the former on with a wall of noise, and the former giving the latter (and Ally McCoist in the commentary box!) sufficient reason to lose their s***. Too often in the last two decades it has been the complete opposite, with a support that felt mostly let down and embarrassed and players who often looked devoid of confidence or just like they didn't want to be there. Yes, we needed an injury-time winner to beat Israel, a competent but non-elite opponent, at home. And an 86th minute winner in the Faroes (bear in mind Denmark took 85 minutes to crack them, and by then the Faroes were down to ten men). If these are the 'good times' then that says a lot about what the bad times were. After all, Scotland will probably need to win in Moldova (or at home to the Danes) and then defeat two high-quality opponents in the playoffs to reach the World Cup. That's a hell of an ask. But to be as close as this is such an improvement on what came 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

Are we ever going to have a battle for the league title again? A two horse race isn't much more exciting than a one horse race when you don't have a stake in either, but last season some thought Rangers might be able to push Celtic a bit. Not too many expected them p*** all over Celtic's ten-in-a-row dream. Steven Gerrard's side won the title by 25 points. Can Celtic turn that back around. The evidence of their opening European games was not encouraging. As for the other ten, we're very much back to a situation where the ceiling is third place. Hibs managed it last season, but Aberdeen are reinventing themselves, Hearts are back in the top flight and St. Johnstone will look to carry the momentum of two cup wins into the new campaign. At the other end of the table, Hamilton's relegation means that for the first time in years we don't have a clear and obvious favourite for the drop (the fact that Accies kept proving everyone wrong is by the by...) ABERDEEN (2020/21: 4th; 2019/20: 4th; 2018/19: 4th) Derek McInnes and Stephen Glass have very different ideas of how football should be played. Aberdeen had unquestionably gone stale by the end of McInnes' tenure but Glass has inherited squad with some young talent in Ross McCrorie and Lewis Ferguson and solidified the backbone with the signings of Scott Brown and Declan Gallagher. The Dons often looked toothless up front last year, and they'll be looking to American striker Christian Ramirez to solve that issue. CELTIC (2020/21: 2nd; 2019/20: 1st; 2018/19: 1st) How the mighty have fallen. Assuming Odsonne Edouard will be out the door imminently, they still need at least a goalkeeper, two full-backs, a centre-back, a defensive midfielder and a striker. The Champions League exit reduces the budget by a significant amount. Ange Postecoglu has been asked to win a poker game with a two-seven off-suit hand, and he's not even bluffing about it. The business they have done so far looks pretty decent at least, but it could well get worse for Celtic before it gets better. And yes, I know how daft that sounds when their floor is still second place, but that's Scottish football for you. DUNDEE (2020/21: 2nd in Championship; 2019/20: 3rd in Championship; 2018/19: 12th) Has James McPake found his feet as a manager, or did Dundee just go on a streak at the end of last season and luck into a playoff with a joke of a Kilmarnock team? We'll find out soon. A lot of their transfer activity has been about improving depth though Ryan Sweeney and Corey Panter will compete for a place in the centre of defence. Charlie Adam will be eyeing this season up as something of a swansong. There are a lot of players here who have previously flattered to deceive at this level though, particularly up front. And can they get something consistent from Jason Cummings? DUNDEE UNITED (2020/21: 9th; 2019/20: 1st in Championship; 2018/19: 2nd in Championship) United fans are filled with trepidation after a summer which saw them promote Tam Courts from the youth academy to be new head coach and only two new signings so far (one is a backup keeper and the other is 168 year old Charlie Mulgrew). There is going to be a clear emphasis on playing youngsters here, and there are high hopes for defenders Kerr Smith, Flynn Duffy and Kieran Freeman, midfielder Chris Mochrie and forward Logan Chalmers. But it's a risky strategy, though if Courts can get Lawrence Shankland scoring regularly again they should be okay. HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (2020/21: 1st in Championship; 2019/20: 12th; 2018/19: 6th) Hearts somewhat underwhelmed despite cruising the Championship last season, too often playing down to the opposition. The question is whether they can step it up again, and the return of John Souttar and exciting arrival of Beni Baningime should help with that. Liam Boyce is a top class striker and should be amply supplied by Gary Mackay-Steven and Josh Ginnelly. If Souttar and Peter Haring can stay fit then they actually should be in very good nick. And if worse comes to worse they've still got Loic Damour... HIBERNIAN (2020/21: 3rd; 2019/20: 7th; 2018/19: 5th) Hibs have only lost Ofir Marciano and Jackson Irvine from the side that finished third last year and with Jake Doyle-Hayes arriving to bolster the midfield there's no reason for expectations to be lower. A bit more consistency from young talents Josh Doig and Ryan Porteous in defence, midfielder Kyle Magennis and new winger Daniel Mackay would make this team rather dangerous. Striker Kevin Nisbet deserved his Euros call up, and the electric Martin Boyle could (should?) be playing for a bigger club than this. LIVINGSTON (2020/21: 6th; 2019/20: 5th; 2018/19: 9th) We all know Livi will do things differently from everyone else, and so far that's worked for them. But they won only one of their last fifteen games last season which was alarming. There's been lots of squad turnover although only the loss of Jon Guthrie seems a particular blow and Tom Parkes should replace him in defence. Bruce Anderson looks like a fine signing up top and loan players Adam Lewis and Ben Williamson look like useful midfield additions. Can David Martindale blend this unusual looking squad together though? MOTHERWELL (2020/21: 8th; 2019/20: 3rd; 2018/19: 8th) Graham Alexander has not beaten about the bush when it comes to recruitment; eighteen players left this summer and there are nine new signings (and he wants more!). Getting Liam Kelly back in goal is a coup and Callum Slattery should add quality to the midfield. Can one of their four new strikers score consistently though? Well also seem to be completely devoid of wide players. Alexander is clearly a man with a plan, but to the uneducated such as myself it's not totally clear what the plan is... RANGERS (2020/21: 1st; 2019/20: 2nd; 2018/19: 2nd) The Champions will essentially go again with the same squad that won the league last year, with midfielder John Lundstram and forward Fashion Sakala adding slightly more depth. There's not much talk of their top players legging it - though that might change if they falter in the Champions League playoffs - and unless motivation is a problem (which seems unlikely) they should walk the league again. ROSS COUNTY (2020/21: 10th; 2019/20: 10th; 2018/19: 1st in Championship) Having managed to stay up, County gutted the squad (correctly), replaced the manager (harshly?) with Malky Mackay (controversial) and then spent the time they should have spent on recruitment on trying to explain to everyone why the appointment wasn't controversial at all. And then they had a Covid outbreak. Given that they're never short of cash, it's concerning that they've only brought in five new faces to replace the fourteen they chucked, though full-back Jake Vokins is a good pickup on loan. While one would assume Mackay will have them well-drilled, more signings are surely needed. ST. JOHNSTONE (2020/21: 5th; 2019/20: 6th; 2018/19: 7th) Make no mistake, they were really, really good in the second half of last season, and most of the cup winning players are back again. If they can hold onto Jason Kerr and Shaun Rooney the defence will remain strong and David Wotherspoon continues to fly under the radar but the midfield could maybe do with another set of young legs alongside the outstanding Ali McCann and having lost Guy Melamed they could do with a reliable goalscorer. They should have enough to have another tilt at the top six though. ST. MIRREN (2020/21: 7th; 2019/20: 9th; 2018/19: 11th) Jim Goodwin has quietly done a very good job of making the Buddies just a little bit better each year, partly through excellent recruitment. Curtis Main seems a striker tailormade for the club and who might bring the best out of Eamonn Brophy, while Greg Kiltie may thrive away from Kilmarnock but hopefully won't have to fill the shoes of the much-sought after Jamie McGrath. Scott Tanser should improve a decent defence further and whilst Tony Fitzpatrick's dreams of them winning the Champions League, curing cancer and solving climate change are a bit optimistic, another step a little further up the table is a fair aim. And here's the predicted table: 1. RANGERS 2. CELTIC 3. HIBERNIAN 4. ABERDEEN 5. HEARTS 6. ST. MIRREN 7. ST. JOHNSTONE 8. MOTHERWELL 9. DUNDEE UNITED 10. ROSS COUNTY 11. LIVINGSTON 12. DUNDEE As ever, I expect to be proven very, very wrong... 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

For the first time since 2014, there isn't a club in this division that could be considered a Scottish football heavyweight - yes, I'd still refer to Dundee United as such, even if they are a bit flabby with bingo wings and move slower than a week in jail. There's also not a club like Dundee or Ross County who have significant financial backing from a benevolent millionaire. So in theory at least the Championship is up for grabs. However Kilmarnock - back at this level for the first time since 1993! - have not messed about and deserve to be described as favourites. Supporters or almost every other side can legitimately dream of having at least an outside shot at the top four though. But they can also brick themselves at the possibility that they could get relegated. It's not unusual for a more established club to have a nightmare of a season and finish bottom. Who might that be this time around? ARBROATH (2020/21: 7th; 2019/20: 5th; 2018/19: 1st in League One) Surely the only part-timers in the division can't survive and thrive at this level forever - though you wouldn't dare say that to Dick Campbell's face. The Red Lichties still have that excellent back four, marshalled by Tam O'Brien, and are better at using the loan market than most. They really need one Livingston loanee, Jon Nouble, to replace the goals that were provided in the second half of last season by another Livingston loanee, Jack Hamilton. If not, lack of firepower will give them a real problem, especially since the talismanic Bobby Linn is nearly 36. AYR UNITED (2020/21: 8th; 2019/20: 4th; 2018/19: 4th) United didn't really pick up after David Hopkin replaced Mark Kerr in charge and won only two of eleven league games under him. Hopkin has gone back to Morton to try and strengthen the defence, and though neither Markus Fjortoft nor Sean McGinty impressed in Greenock he has lured talented young keeper Aidan McAdams from his former club. They're another team who look dicey up top; with Michael Moffat now 37 they need young striker Marc McKenzie or new signing Tomi Adeloye who has more clubs in his career than he has goals. DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC (2020/21: 4th; 2019/20: 6th; 2018/19: 7th) Dunfermline's new German owners seem happy to rely on more traditional recruitment for the moment and on paper it has worked well for them. The addition of Reece Cole and Graham Dorrans should give them a strong midfield and winger Kai Kennedy is a terrific signing on loan from Rangers. With Nikolay Todorov and Craig Wighton as established goal threats and Dom Thomas creating, they will be very dangerous going forward. The defence will miss Euan Murray but it seems reasonable to expect at least one of new signings Rhys Breen and Ross Graham or Lithuanian international Vytas Gaspuitis to step up. New boss Peter Grant should go from a relegation battle at Alloa last year to a promotion battle this time around. GREENOCK MORTON (2020/21: 9th; 2019/20: 7th; 2018/19: 5th) Covid has not helped Morton's preparations but with only four new signings it feels like they have a lot of work to do in all areas. At the back Gus MacPherson will need Jack Hamilton to shake off a rotten few years at Dundee, while Alan Lithgow should be an improvement at centre-back. The midfield needs young players like Cameron Blues and Reece Lyon to finally step up, while up front Gary Oliver and Gozie Ugwu work hard but score too few. Robbie Muirhead is the X-factor but shows his ability all too rarely. MacPherson won just one of his twelve league games in charge before the playoffs last season and the jury is out on whether he is yesterday's man. HAMILTON ACADEMICAL (2020/21: 12th in Premiership; 2019/20: 11th in Premiership; 2018/19: 10th in Premiership) In some ways it seems laudable that Accies stuck by Brian Rice despite relegation, but in plenty of other ways it seems crazy. In Hakeem Odoffin and David Templeton they have two players who would stroll this division...but Odoffin will surely move on and Templeton is perennially injured. Basically Hamilton are looking to cobble together a promotion challenge with a combination of players who proved out of their depth in the top flight and unproven youngsters. Can Rice really convert them from a mindset of battling to avoid relegation every year to taking the initiative against most opponents? INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE (2020/21: 5th; 2019/20: 2nd; 2018/19: 3rd) The suggestion from some bookies that ICT are third favourites seems rather optimistic after watching them defend in the League Cup; at the moment they look very much like a side with a rookie manager (Billy Dodds) and an aged centre-back who needs put out to pasture (Kirk Broadfoot). Maybe it'll all gel, maybe Broadfoot will aid the development of young defenders Robbie Deas and Cameron Harper, and maybe fellow veteran signings Michael Gardyne and Billy Mckay will add quality and nous. Or maybe not. If wingers Tom Walsh (back for a second spell), Anthony McDonald and Aaron Doran can stay fit they should be fun to watch, but it's hard to predict how they'll do until Dodds has had a couple of months to show whether he's up to management or not. KILMARNOCK (2020/21: 11th in Premiership; 2019/20: 8th in Premiership; 2018/19: 3rd in Premiership) Just the sixteen new signings as Tommy Wright overhauled the side that shockingly got relegated. It's essentially a new team with only Brandon Haunstrup, Chris Burke and Rory McKenzie from last year's team likely to start. Jason Naismith, Scott Robinson and Liam Polworth look like particularly great additions, while Euan Murray, Fraser Murray and Dan Armstrong proved last year that they can cut it at this level. If Innes Cameron can fulfil his potential - at the moment he looks like he's going to be given an extended chance to do so up front - then it's their title to lose. PARTICK THISTLE (2020/21: 1st in League One; 2019/20: 10th; 2018/19: 6th) Ian McCall built a tidy squad to get out of League One and won't be content simply with survival. Brian Graham and Zak Rudden provide a fine combination of experience and youth in attack and Cammy Smith is a terrific addition to the midfield. McCall also signed Ross MacIver and Scott Tiffoney permanently after successful loan spells and if the defence, reinforced by loanee keeper Harry Stone and centre-back Lewis Mayo and permanent addition Kevin Holt, is up to the task then they will be closer to the top than the bottom. QUEEN OF THE SOUTH (2020/21: 6th; 2019/20: 9th; 2018/19: 9th) Another summer, another big clearout in Dumfries with only a handful of last season's starters remaining. Like last year Allan Johnston has had to take chances on players from the lower divisions and from down south who are largely unproven; the exception is former Hearts starlet Harry Cochrane. The League Cup group was encouraging with lots of goals from newbies Ally Roy (Airdrie) and Ruari Paton (Stranraer) and Portuguese forward Ruben Junior seems to be a nice chap who loves his mum. But their first Stephen Dobbie-less season since 2016 could be a tough one. RAITH ROVERS (2020/21: 3rd; 2019/20: 1st in League One; 2018/19: 3rd in League One) Rovers played some sexy and successful football last season, but can they keep up the forward momentum after losing outstanding midfielder Regan Hendry? Liam Dick should replace Kieran MacDonald at left back and hopefully Christophe Berra still has some legs left. Keeping Lewis Vaughan fit will make a big difference, as will getting the best out of erratic wingers Dario Zanatta and Aidan Connelly. Rovers are another side who do well in the loan market and they've picked up youngsters Kai Fotheringham and Ethan Varion plus Livingston striker Matej Poplatnik this way; they'll all be expected to make a big impact. And here's my predicted league table: 1. KILMARNOCK 2. DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC 3. PARTICK THISTLE 4. RAITH ROVERS 5. HAMILTON ACADEMICAL 6. INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 7. AYR UNITED 8. QUEEN OF THE SOUTH 9. GREENOCK MORTON 10. ARBROATH Arbroath fans won't need to be told twice to take a screenshot of this so they can haunt me with it in May 2022... 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

Given that League One is still mostly the domain of part-time clubs, any full-time teams should always be considered favourites. Partick Thistle lived up to that billing last season, eventually. Falkirk on the other hand collapsed like a house of cards in a hurricane; if missing out on promotion was a catastrophe, slumping to fifth place is, er, something worse than a catastrophe? For 2021/22, the Bairns, Airdrie - who have a bit of a hybrid model in their squad - and Queen's Park, who are in a heck of a hurry after throwing off the shackles of amateurism, are the full-timers. But there's also Cove Rangers who are paying pretty impressive part-time wages. And there's a bunch of battle-hardened squads who would like nothing more to 'welcome' these full-time fancy dans to the seaside leagues. Let's see how it all pans out... AIRDRIEONIANS (2020/21: 2nd; 2019/20: 3rd; 2018/19: 5th) Last season's promotion playoff finalists only retained eight of last year's squad - and highly rated youngster Thomas Robert will probably leave - but they will expect to be near the top again. Rhys McCabe, Adam Frizzell and Dylan Easton will add flair and are among a host of new signings who need to see this as their last chance to prove they can make this their day job. A goalscorer would make a big difference - can Gabby McGill or Salim Kouider-Aissa get into double figures? ALLOA ATHLETIC (2020/21: 10th in Championship; 2019/20: 8th in Championship; 2018/19: 8th in Championship) It's the end of an era for the Wasps following the end of their three year Championship stay and many mainstays have departed along with manager Peter Grant. Barry Ferguson brings a bit of razzmatazz to the dugout but the jury is still out on his managerial credentials. But on paper this is a pretty strong squad with the addition of Mark Durnan and Fernandy Mendy in defence and Steven Boyd up top, and veterans Andy Graham, Scott Taggart and Alan Trouten have hung around. CLYDE (2020/21: 8th; 2019/20: 7th; 2018/19: 2nd in League Two) Danny Lennon hasn't been allowed to take a squad of youngsters to a desert island yet, so he'll have to make do with this motley crew, which includes 14 new signings so far. Conrad Balatoni, Morgaro Gomis and Gregory Tade - the latter coming out of retirement - give them an experienced backbone and David Goodwillie has scored 73 goals in 4 seasons which is some strike rate. This is surely time for them to push on towards the top half of the division. COVE RANGERS (2020/21: 3rd; 2019/20: 1st in League Two; 2018/19: 1st in Highland League) Cove still have aspirations to get to the Championship and Ross County duo Ross Draper and Iain Vigurs are the marquee additions to a group that already contains the illustrious trio of Fraser Fyvie, Mitch Megginson and Rory McAllister. Cove's biggest weakness looked like being squad depth - they struggled to fill their bench in the League Cup games - but Paul Hartley has now brought in Shay Logan and Javan Anderson (son of Russell) to boost the defence DUMBARTON (2020/21: 9th; 2019/20: 6th; 2018/19: 6th) It was a turbulent summer at the Rock, with manager Jim Duffy leaving and only three of last year's squad remaining. New boss Stevie Farrell has a tough job on his hands rejuvenated a club that only avoided relegation via a playoff in May. Joe McKee should fill the Ross Forbes-shaped hole in midfield, and Gregor Buchanan, Paul Paton and Andy Geggan add experience but it's hard to see where the goals are coming from. EAST FIFE (2020/21: 6th; 2019/20: 5th; 2018/19: 7th) The Methil side were unlucky to end up on the wrong side of the split as they were still in promotion contention at the time. They've lost keeper Brett Long and talisman Scott Agnew but there's still plenty of quality with Scott Mercer added to the defence, Danny Swanson in midfield and Kevin Smith and Ryan Wallace up front. They'll fancy they can improve on last season. FALKIRK (2020/21: 5th; 2019/20: 2nd; 2018/19: 10th in Championship) It's promotion or bust for the Bairns under new boss Paul Sheerin, who has a squad filled with players that would not look out of place in the second tier. Brad McKay, Ryan McGuffie and Aidan Nesbitt all look like terrific additions on paper, but we said that about many of the team last season. Callumn Morrison might be the best wide player in this league and Aidan Keena certainly has the quality to score for fun, but will expectations weigh them down again? MONTROSE (2020/21: 4th; 2019/20: 4th; 2018/19: 4th) Nobody (except maybe their Smokie neighbours?) quite seems to punch above their weight like Stewart Petrie's Montrose do, not least because of a squad that has been settled for a number of years. The loss of striker Russell McLean and loanees Harry Cochrane and Chris Mochrie will make it a bit harder, but getting Blair Lyons back on loan from Partick Thistle is a boost and one of the strongest backlines in the division gives them a good base to work from. PETERHEAD (2020/21: 7th; 2019/20: 8th; 2018/19: 1st in League Two) It's hard to know what to make of the Blue Toon, who last season were too good to go down and not nearly good enough to go up. Brett Long and Russell McLean will improve them at either end of the pitch but the days of paying big wages are long gone and it looks like they will play the loan system as best they can. Scott Brown and Simon Ferry give them plenty of quality in midfield but they will miss long-term absentee Gary Fraser. Derek Lyle, now 40, will play his twenty-third league season. QUEEN'S PARK (2020/21: 1st in League Two; 2019/20: 5th in League Two; 2018/19: 7th in League Two) Last year's League Two champs have no interest in just consolidating; the Spiders want to get up the leagues and have supplemented their squad with some decent reinforcements in keeper Calum Ferrie and winger Lewis Moore. Michael Doyle, Lee Kilday, Peter Grant and Tommy Robson form an excellent defence and Bob McHugh and Simon Murray should score plenty at this level. It will be interesting to see how rookie coach Laurie Ellis fares after Ray McKinnon left in the summer. And here's my predicted standings: 1. FALKIRK 2. AIRDRIEONIANS 3. QUEEN'S PARK 4. COVE RANGERS 5. ALLOA ATHLETIC 6. EAST FIFE 7. MONTROSE 8. CLYDE 9. PETERHEAD 10. DUMBARTON I await the usual constructive criticism... 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

In recent seasons Scottish League Two has been dominated by clubs that have been rather flush with cash for this level - Queen's Park last season, and Cove Rangers the year before. At the other end of the table, the addition in 2015 of a relegation playoff has forced smaller sides who have cruised along at this level for aeons to either ship up or ship out; league mainstays East Stirlingshire and Berwick Rangers have languished in the Lowland League after dropping out of the SPFL, while Brechin City - who finished bottom in the shortened 2019-20 season but were reprieved after the playoffs were cancelled - were finally demoted to the Highland League in May after being defeated by Lowland champions Kelty Hearts. And looking at the squads, it's easy to imagine Kelty emulating Queen's Park and Cove; they are odds on favourites with the bookies. But reputations count for little in a division filled with plenty of wily veteran players and seasoned managers who take joy in shooting down any divas they come across... ALBION ROVERS (2020/21 - 7th; 2019/20 - 9th; 2018/19 - 9th) Rovers work to a really tight budget, and Brian Reid was entitled to see seventh place as a successful outcome last season. The next step is to build further on that. Basically signing Stirling Albion's bench (five players!) is probably a sign of the constraints they're working under though and the loss of ten-goal-striker Matty Aitken to Forfar, and young keeper Harry Stone's return to parent club Hearts will not help their cause. This season may be harder, not easier, than last. ANNAN ATHLETIC (2020/21 - 8th; 2019/20 - 7th; 2018/19 - 4th) It now seems like every summer Peter Murphy has to build a completely new squad. It maybe wasn't quite so bad this year (just the ten signings!) but they have got just a little weaker each of the last couple of campaigns and will certainly be worrying more about relegation than dreaming of promotion. Getting Tommy Goss from Queen of the South will help up front, but as ever many of the new players have come from teams in the north of England and are something of an unknown to ignorant bloggers like myself. COWDENBEATH (2020/21 - 9th; 2019/20 - 4th; 2018/19 - 6th) The Blue Brazil dropped off badly last season and would have been in a fix but for Brechin's travails. Gary Bollan likes a lot of experience and Bobby Barr, Liam Buchanan and Kyle Hutton will provide shedloads of that. 36 year old Buchanan returns to the club that gave him his debut nineteen years ago and is looking to score a league goal for the twentieth consecutive season. Cowden will need him to roll back the years, because they are considered amongst the favourites to come bottom. EDINBURGH CITY (2020/21 - 2nd; 2019/20 - 2nd; 2018/19 - 3rd) The Citizens have been the nearly men of the last few seasons, coming up short to opponents who are just slightly better resourced. The appointment of Gary Naysmith towards the end of last season has coincided with a big refresh of the squad that includes the loss of key players such as defenders Liam Henderson (who has joined Arbroath in the Championship) and Conrad Balatoni and striker Blair Henderson. Lewis Toshney will boost the backline if (big if!) he can stay fit. Last season City lacked a consistent goalscorer and they will be reliant on young loan attackers Alex Ferguson and Ryan Shanley to fire them into the top four again. ELGIN CITY (2020/21 - 3rd; 2019/20 - 3rd; 2018/19 - 8th) Given that geography makes recruitment a bit trickier, Gavin Price has done well to steer Elgin to two top-three finishes in succession. Aside from losing defensive linchpin Stephen Bronsky this squad remains relatively settled. Kane Hester's goals will always make them a threat (assuming his off-field problems get sorted) and the Dingwall brothers, Tony and Russell, provide an excellent midfield spark. They probably need reinforcements if they have designs on breaking into the top two though. FORFAR ATHLETIC (2020/21 - 10th in League One; 2019/20 - 9th in League One; 2018/19 - 2nd in League One) Forfar have really slumped since they reached the League One promotion playoffs just over two years ago, and will look at Brechin's decline with trepidation. The hope is that the permanent appointment as manager of Gary Irvine can turn things around and they've certainly rebuilt the squad. There are high hopes for a strike pairing of PJ Crossan and Matty Aitken, while ex-Killie and Dundee United midfielder Craig Slater should stroll it if he can stay fit. Dundee loanees Sam Fisher and Luke Strachan will also be assets and they are entitled to target a quick return to League One. KELTY HEARTS (2020/21 - 1st in Lowland League; 2019/20 - 1st in Lowland League; 2018/19 - 3rd in Lowland League) Kelty do not plan to be in the fourth tier for long - a squad that already contained the quality of midfielders Michael Tidser and Thomas Reilly and forwards Kallum Higginbotham and Nathan Austin has been supplemented with ex-Dundee centre-back Jordon Forster, former Rangers youngster Jamie Barjonas and evergreen winger Joe Cardle. Rookie coach Kevin Thomson will be aiming for back-to-back promotions, which would be some progress for a club that finished fourteenth in the Junior East Super League seven seasons ago. STENHOUSEMUIR (2020/21 - 6th; 2019/20 - 8th; 2018/19 - 9th in League One) Stenny have really underwhelmed the last two seasons and punted boss Davie Irons when it became clear they'd finish in the bottom half again. New manager Stephen Swift comes from the Lowland League and has signed a SPFL-high twenty players already, holding onto only three from last year's squad. Undoubtedly there's some quality there - defender Sean Crichton, midfielder Ross Forbes and striker Robert Thomson give them a very high quality backbone. But how long will it take them to gel? A slow start wouldn't be a surprise but would hamper any playoff aspirations. STIRLING ALBION (2020/21 - 5th; 2019/20 - 6th; 2018/19 - 5th) Making the playoffs only once in six seasons at this level is a gross underachievement for Stirling, who stuck with boss Kevin Rutkiewicz despite missing the top four yet again. Andy Ryan's return to full-time football is a blow, with Dale Carrick his replacement up top. Midfielders Ray Grant and Rabin Omar weren't good enough for the Championship but should impress at this level, but it would be a stretch to claim they are stronger than in 2020/21. STRANRAER (2020/21 - 4th; 2019/20 - 10th in League One; 2018/19 - 8th in League One) It was a turbulent offseason in the South-West with manager Stevie Farrell leaving for Dumbarton and then a massive public fallout amongst the board. Ex-Hearts midfielder and Derek Adams-bodyslammer Jamie Hamill is the new man in the dugout, which means they'll likely miss his influence on the pitch. The loss of exciting young forward Ruari Paton to Queen of the South leaves them still looking for a credible goal threat and this is quite a young squad that may be up against it to repeat last season's playoff finish. So here's my prediction for how they'll rank: 1. KELTY HEARTS 2. FORFAR ATHLETIC 3. EDINBURGH CITY 4. STENHOUSEMUIR 5. ELGIN CITY 6. STIRLING ALBION 7. STRANRAER 8. ALBION ROVERS 9. ANNAN ATHLETIC 10. COWDENBEATH As always, I look forward to being proven spectacularly wrong! 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

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. View the full article

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

Okay, since it's only two days till Steve Clarke announces his Euro 2021 squad, maybe it isn't too early for me to speculate anymore? So here's who I think - not necessarily who the boss thinks - will be the twenty-six players who will wear the Scotland shirt at a major tournament for the first time since France '98. It'll be interesting to see who benefits from the decision to increase the squad size from twenty-three, given that the three fortunate so-and-so's are virtually certain not to play. Do you just pick the next three men up? Reward the loyalty of longstanding squad members? Bring along talented youngsters for experience? Concentrate on players who will help with training and/or squad morale? We'll find out soon enough. Here's who I'd pick though. And I'm the sort of person who definitely wishes Ally McCoist had come along to the 1998 World Cup... GOALKEEPERS: DAVID MARSHALL, CRAIG GORDON, JON MCLAUGHLIN Missing out: Liam Kelly, Scott Bain Kelly has played very well in recent months for Motherwell, but I don't see him displacing McLaughlin who is established as the third choice keeper (a role which at major tournaments often seems to mainly involve cheerleading). The more interesting question is whether Marshall or Gordon will be in goal for the opening game. FULL-BACKS: ANDREW ROBERTSON, KIERAN TIERNEY, STEPHEN O'DONNELL, NATHAN PATTERSON Missing out: Greg Taylor, Liam Palmer Taylor is a Clarke favourite going back to Kilmarnock days but it's hard to see a situation in which he plays - if Robertson gets hurt then Tierney will surely be moved over from left centre-back. Therefore I'd leave the Celtic defender behind. O'Donnell is surely still the first choice on the right but remains the weakest link in the starting XI. Not only is Patterson worthy of consideration as a star of the future who might benefit from the experience but - notwithstanding the fact he's played so few games for Rangers - he is frankly already a better player than O'Donnell and thrusting him straight into the lineup would be a brave decision, not a reckless one. However, no-one would be surprised if the manager plumped for solid squad member Palmer instead. CENTRE-BACKS: GRANT HANLEY, SCOTT MCKENNA, LIAM COOPER, JACK HENDRY, ANDREW CONSIDINE Missing out: Declan Gallagher The formula for the back three very much appears to be *A left-footed player*-*A big bruiser who wins all the headers*-*A technically-gifted player who can bring the ball out from the back*. Tierney is the undisputed first choice for the left sided position, and Hanley now looks like the clear frontrunner for the middle role. If Scott McTominay might have to be shoehorned into the injury-hit midfield which would mean a starting slot for Hendry. Cooper is the obvious left-footed backup, and McKenna will push Hanley hard. Given Gallagher is another 'wins all the headers' player, I'm not sure there's a good reason to take him as well; you could say the same about Considine who would just be another left foot, but the Aberdeen veteran is clearly good for morale and could justify inclusion based only on that. MIDFIELDERS: SCOTT MCTOMINAY, CALLUM MCGREGOR, JOHN MCGINN, JOHN FLECK, DAVID TURNBULL, BILLY GILMOUR Injured: Ryan Jack, Kenny McLean Jack would have started against the Czechs if fit; in his absence, there's a good chance McLean would have started against the Czechs if fit. So FFS. It'll be hard for Clarke to avoid moving McTominay into the anchor role now, with McGregor and McGinn the other likely starters. The loss of Jack and McLean does surely mean a spot opens up for Turnbull who has certainly earned it with his play for Celtic; he would be an interesting option off the bench with his driving forward runs and set-piece quality. Fleck offers plenty of experience as a 'six' or an 'eight'. And I'd love it if space was found for Gilmour who is such an exciting prospect; he'd be another youngster along for the ride rather than a likely contributor. ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS/WINGERS: STUART ARMSTRONG, RYAN CHRISTIE, RYAN FRASER, JAMES FORREST Missing out: Ryan Gauld, Johnny Russell, Lewis Morgan These four should be a shoo-in if fit; you could make arguments for any of them to start and I'd expect all to contribute. Gauld has by all accounts shone this season but he's still stuck on the outside looking in. Russell has been so enthusiastic for years about travelling from the US to join the squad but he's fallen out of the picture because of Covid restrictions and it's hard to see him getting back in at the expense of someone else. Morgan is another one who suffers for not being available for international duty for several months. STRIKERS: CHE ADAMS, LYNDON DYKES, LEIGH GRIFFITHS, KEVIN NISBET Injured: Oli McBurnie Missing out: Oli Burke, Callum Paterson, Lawrence Shankland After Adams and Dykes it's very much down to personal preference. McBurnie's broken foot probably makes the decision easier for Clarke as for all the Sheffield United man's physical gifts he has played like a donkey all season. I'd take Griffiths - who else would you rather came on for the last 15 minutes when we're chasing a goal? - but I'd understand if Clarke disagreed. Nisbet gets the nod for me because he's been in decent scoring form recently compared to Shankland. There's less need for a utility player like Paterson when the squad is so huge. I was surprisingly tempted to include Burke simply because he offers something different, but like McBurnie he's just been so poor for so long. I'm going to say that I'm supremely confident about 21 of these guys - Patterson, Considine, Gilmour, Griffiths and Nisbet are 'on the bubble' for me. I look forward to finding out that I was spectacularly wrong... 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

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

The initial countdown from 25 to 11 can be found here. This is the ninth time we've done this. The eight previous 'winners': 2012/13: Rory Boulding (Kilmarnock) 2013/14: Stephane Bahoken (St. Mirren) 2014/15: Jim Fenlon (Ross County) 2015/16: Rodney Sneijder (Dundee United) 2016/17: Joey Barton (Rangers) 2017/18: Eduardo Herrera (Rangers) 2018/19: Umar Sadiq (Rangers) 2019/20: Madis Vihmann (St. Johnstone) You'll note that we've never previously named a Celtic player at the top of this list. It won't surprise anyone that this is about to change... 10. MICHAEL O'CONNOR (ROSS COUNTY) County took a flier on talented but troubled Irish striker O'Connor, whose gambling problems had scuppered big moves previously. He signed a two year deal in September and lasted less than three months, making a single sub appearance in the League Cup. What was particularly curious was the club's statement regarding his exit, where they stated he had "resigned". I mean, since when has a player resigned? This raises more questions than answers... 9. DREY WRIGHT (HIBERNIAN) When I put out feelers on Twitter for potential candidates for this list, about a million (approximately) Hibs fans named Wright, signed from St. Johnstone last summer where he had impressed on the wing. Perhaps Jack Ross' tendency to use wing-backs rather than wingers has limited Wright's opportunities, but he's played just a single minute of league football in the last three months as he has become increasingly distanced from first team opportunities. 8. JORDAN WHITE (MOTHERWELL) White has markedly improved since joining Ross County in January...which wouldn't be hard. Many (including myself) were dubious as to whether he could make the step up from the Championship, and by the end of August he had gone from ineffective starter to being an impact sub who made no impact. He failed to score or assist in any matches for the Steelmen and discounting the first half of his first start, they went onto score only one goal - a late consolation in a 5-1 defeat - with him on the pitch. In Dingwall he has at least come up with a winning goal against Celtic. 7. REGAN CHARLES-COOK (ROSS COUNTY) Wideman Charles-Cook was seen as an exciting acquisition from Gillingham, and clearly he has something in his locker as both Stuart Kettlewell and John Hughes have given him more opportunities than other wingers in the County squad. But he's managed zero goals and zero assists in the league and the website WhoScored.com rates him as the worst outfield player in the Premiership this season. Many County fans are bemused that Jermaine Hylton in particular has had far fewer chances to impress. 6. JAKE HASTIE (MOTHERWELL) That golden four months at the end of the 2018/19 season seem long ago now. Motherwell got £350,000 in compensation from Rangers for him that summer and got the player back - on loan - a year later. Still only 22, Hastie looks a shadow of the starlet he once was, starting just four games and carving out a role only as an unused sub. He still has two years left on his Ibrox deal, but it's clear he is in danger of not fulfilling his potential. 5. COLLIN QUANER (ST MIRREN) It's only three seasons since Quaner was playing regularly in the Premier League with Huddersfield Town, and his arrival at St. Mirren looked like a potential coup. But the German forward had been without a club for six months before joining the Buddies in January and was subbed off with an injury on his debut only 20 minutes after coming on. He managed two more appearances, winning a very, very, very, very etc. soft penalty against Ross County before a fruitless start at Ibrox, and then got injured again with Jim Goodwin confirming that his season - and probably his career in Paisley - are over. 4. AARON CHAPMAN (MOTHERWELL) Motherwell signed Chapman as "experienced cover and competition for Trevor Carson" - their words. Well had so much confidence in him that when Carson got hurt they went out and signed another keeper, Jordan Archer. When Archer left at the end of December and Carson got injured yet again Chapman had to start a derby at Hamilton where in a 3-0 defeat he frankly looked like an outfielder playing in goal. He had actually started three other league games prior to that where he looked confident, but that Accies match will be all that Motherwell fans remember of him. 3. ANTHONY STOKES (LIVINGSTON) This one can be filed under 'farce'. The veteran forward joined Livi in August, only to leave within a few weeks because he couldn't cope with training on astroturf. You'd think that would be the sort of thing you'd check out before you signed the player? He never played a game for the club. Since then, Stokes has been charged with headbutting a man, put on an anti-domestic abuse course and been accused of stalking his ex-partner, so perhaps Livingston dodged a bullet here. 2. VASILIS BARKAS (CELTIC) Is Barkas salvageable? That'll be one of the big early questions for Celtic's new permanent manager, but recent reports suggest he will probably leave this summer. It's true that it can sometimes take foreign keepers a bit of time to adjust to British football, but for £4.5m Neil Lennon was entitled to expect the Greek to get the hang of it much quickly. Instead by December he was ditched for the Scottish Cup Final in favour of Conor Hazard (!), and every time he was recalled he seemed to quickly blot his copybook. Lennon hardly helped, seemingly scapegoating him when results are bad; after one disappointing performance he told the press of the need to build Barkas' confidence up with a run of more straightforward matches...and promptly dropped him for the next game, at home to Hamilton. It has been a complete and utter disaster for club and player. 1. SHANE DUFFY (CELTIC) Until he came north, Shane Duffy was not a bad footballer - you don't play a hundred Premier League games and win forty caps for Ireland by being crap. But he was an old-fashioned big, strong, no-nonsense centre-back with not much pace, which made him an abysmal fit for a Celtic team that plays a high line and passes the ball out from the back. After he scored in his first two games one journalist quipped that Duffy might end up with a superior goal difference on his own to the teams he played against; as it stands that record is currently minus-30. His confidence is shot and his stock has fallen so far that he has been replaced by Stephen Welsh for the last couple of months as he awaits the end of his nightmare loan spell. He has cost Celtic more than £3m in loan fees and wages. 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