After The Split

In the reorganisation of Scottish Football, one thing that stayed with the 12 team top league was the split.  This season with the championship race over and Hearts confirmed as the team dropping into the ridiculously named “Championship”, there seems to be nothing left to play for until the Scottish Cup Final in mid May.  Far from it.

McGowan & Hanlon tussle during Hibs 0-0 draw at Greenhill Road on November 23rd

With Celtic’s lap of honour around the top six sides, the other teams in the top six are essentially playing for places while Aberdeen and Motherwell are fighting for European places.  Aberdeen are in pole position to take the runners up spot ahead on Motherwell.  While both sides meet on the last day of the season – in what television hopes will be a shoot out for second place – the nature of the top six means that every fixture will be hard.

Most attention though will be on the fight to avoid the play-off place in the bottom six.  St Mirren’s unlikely (at half time at least – has any Saints fan seen a worse defensive display since the Coughlan era?) win against Motherwell shot them into the pack.  Partick Thistle now sit in the play-off place, but are only a point behind St Mirren and Ross County.  Even Seventh Place Hibernian are not safe.  They are four points ahead of Partick Thistle but are the anti-form team.  Hibernian’s last win came at home to Ross County on 15 February.  At that point Hib’s were 7th on 31 points, a point behind St Johnstone in sixth and 7 behind fifth Inverness.  Since then they have only picked up three points and fallen 14 points behind St Johnstone.

Looking at form, St Mirren’s game with Hibernian this weekend could well go a long way to determining who goes down.  The less than mighty Bud’s have only picked up 7 points in the last 10 games, Hibs have only picked up 6 out of 30.  A St Mirren win would put them level on points and put even more pressure on Hibernian.  However if Hibernian win, it could just be the turning point for Butcher and Hibs.  After this weekend the pressure on Hibernian does not stop, next for them will be Hearts next Sunday, they will be hoping to take Hibs with them into the “Championship” – with St Mirren away to Partick next Friday night. 

Form also dictates that Kilmarnock are probably best placed to stay out of trouble, and may well be out of the reckoning quickly.  I also think Ross County might have enough to get themselves clear as well, but it would not surprise me to see Partick, St Mirren and Hibernian still in danger come the final day.

My prediction at the start of the season was that Hib’s would occupy the playoff place.  What I didn’t foresee was that Hibs would be seventh going into the post split fixtures, with a chance of occupying that 11th position.  For people who say that the top flight of Scottish Football is missing Rangers.  The green shoots at the New Firm, the race to avoid the playoff place, the League Cup and the upcoming Scottish Cup Final is proof that there is more to Scottish Football than the one-upmanship of the forces of evil and darkness from Glasgow.

Spoiling The Party

65th Scottish League Cup Final, Hampden; Celtic 0, Kilmarnock 1

Celtic’s attempt to win their first League Cup in three years, and take the first leg of a first treble in 11 years foundered as Kilmarnock blunted the Celtic mid-field before scoring 6 minutes from time through a close range header from Belgian substitute Dieter Van Tornhout.  That goal did not prove to be the end of the drama as Celtic claimed for a penalty in the last minute – referee Colum correctly adjudging that Stokes had dived and booked him for that act.

Celtic started the brightest and really should have taken full advantage of the gift handed to them when Sissoko passed straight to Hooper, only to see his shot saved by the keeper Bell.  Bell would go on to have an inspired match, as he made another impressive save later on in the first half from a Stokes header.  His best save though came before half time as a Brown piledriver was tipped over.  Replays showed that Bell’s save kept the ball from sneaking under the bar.

Though Celtic had chances, they were not imposing themselves on the match.  This was partly down to Kilmarnock’s 5 man midfield – which saw Harkins and Shiels venture forward to support Heffernan when Kilmarnock had the ball but both tuck into midfield whenever Celtic had the ball.  As a result Celtic looked sluggish in midfield and did not really inject any impetus into their play until the final quarter of the match.

Kilmarnock’s best chances to score came at the start of the second half.  A Shiels run into the box ended with him shanking his shot way past the target, while moments later a Sissoko header went wide. Celtic then looked at going up a gear, with Stokes and Wanyama having chances, while Mulgrew drove into the box but had his shot smothered by Bell.  With six minutes left Gordon released Johnson down the Celtic right, his cross was just too far for a couple of Killie forwards, but found Van Tornhout (above) at the back post, who headed in from close in.

Celtic now chased urgency as well as an equaliser.  Substitutes Samaras and Commons had chances before Stokes big moment at the end of the game.  Stokes burst through, but kept hold of the ball rather than go for the early shot.  Nelson put in a careless challenge that Stokes looked to have ridden, then fell down.  It was a brave decision by Collum, but a correct decision.  Seconds later Kilmarnock won their first trophy since their famous Scottish Cup win in 1997.

Kilmarnock deserved their win.  They set their team up to stifle Celtic’s midfield and to attack quickly when in possession.  For Celtic, the dream of a first treble in 11 years is gone, they can however still win a first double since 2007 – starting with a potential title clinching win at, of all places, Ibrox next Sunday.

The Irresistable Forces Meet....

While the destiny of the championship will be decided today.  The protagonists will face teams determined to make their own mark on the championship, teams who have been here before.

Rangers have won Championships at Tanadice, at Easter Road and even at Parkhead, but I am not sure that they have won a championship at Rugby Park.  Kilmarnock, who had an fantastic first half of the season before the departure of firstly Connor Sammon and then Mixu Pattelainen, stand in their way today.  Whether this is some sort of omen or not, but Kilmarnock have been involved in two of the closest championship races of all time.  In 1965, they won the championship from Hearts by beating them 2-0, a Kilmarnock win of 3-1 or 4-2 would have seen Hearts win the championship through the now disused count of goal average.  More recently Kilmarnock lost 4-0 to Celtic at Rugby Park, who lost toe championship to Rangers by one goal (Rangers won 6-1 against Dunfermline).

Should Rangers falter, Celtic will be waiting in the wings.  However their opponents Motherwell are scrabbling for form and might not want to give too much away ahead of their next meeting in next weeks Scottish Cup Final.  If Celtic are looking for inspiration, they could always think back to the events of 22 May 2005.  Celtic were leading the championship with 3 minutes left, Motherwell equalised and then scored a winner to leave the championship heading towards Easter Road, where Rangers had beaten Hibernian.  Both Lennon & Thompson played at Fir park that day, and will spend some time reminding his players of that day. Helicopter Sunday, as the day was dubbed, was the most dramatic last day turnaround since Hearts lost 2 goals in the last 10 minutes at Dens Park to spark celebrations among the Celtic fans at Love Street.

As I said previously, I hope that both Kilmarnock and Motherwell play a part today, and don’t get caught up in the hype.

SPL 2010/11: The Season Starts Here!

Rangers get ready to recieve the championship trophy for season 2009/10

Barring Celtic’s abortive European Cup campaign, Hibernian’s abortive UEFA Cup campaign, Motherwell’s run in the same competition and Wednesday’s defeat in Sweden, the 2010/11 football season begins in earnest on Saturday with the start of the Scottish Premier League (with apologies to the Scottish Football League who started last week).  With all of the action which has occurred already, this must be the smallest close season in living memory.

Aiming for a hat trick of championships are Rangers, who like last year have not added to their squad.  However they have lost seven of their squad, with Thompson and Boyd making the move to Middlesbrough, and Danny Wilson making the switch to Liverpool. However the transfer of Kevin Thompson is arguably the only transfer involving a key player.  Weir will be around for another year, and will be supplemented by the returning Andy Webster, and Boyd was firmly second pick for the key games Rangers played.  In Walter Smith’s last season, Rangers have the necessary experience to win the Championship.

At the other side of Glasgow, Celtic have been busy in the transfer market.  After finally confirming the appointment of Neil Lennon as Manager after his caretaker stint.  Celtic have brought in Joe Ledley from Cardiff, and Charlie Mulgrew from Aberdeen.  However they have lost the “Holy Goalie” Artur Boric.  The questions posed for Celtic are the same ones from 12 months ago; can they pull a new side together under a new coach and overhaul Rangers.  The Omens are not good for Celtic, who have sacked their previous “inexperienced” coaches (Liam Brady after 2 years, John Barnes within 6 months).  I take Rangers to win by between 4-7 points.
Elsewhere, Dundee United have pretty much kept their Scottish Cup winning team intact (save for the aforementioned Andy Webster), Hearts have rather shockingly bought in Scottish players in the shape of the former Falkirk captain Darren Barr and Kilmarnock’s Kevin Kyle, while Aberdeen have brought Paul Hartley back from exile in Bristol.  Those three teams, as well as Hibernian, should be in the running for third.

The tightest battle over recent years has been the battle to avoid the drop, with Inverness Caley dropping down on goal difference in 2009 and Falkirk loosing out by a point in May.  Inverness are back in the top flight, the first team to bounce straight back up since Hib’s flew through the First Division in 1998/99.  They might find themselves at the bottom end once again, but should see themselves safe come the end of the season.

Calderwood celebrate's Kilmarnock's survival against Falkirk

The weakest squad on paper is St Mirren’s.  Their dismissal of Gus MacPherson, is one that gathered criticism among the media, but among the supporters, the opinion was that Gus’s teams looked more and more stale as the weeks went on. In his place, St Mirren have brought in the highly rated Danny Lennon from Cowdenbeath.  The problem for many journalists is that Danny has also brought 4 players from Cowdenbeath, as well as bringing back Marc McAusland from Queen Of The South and David Van Zanten from Hamilton.  St Mirren’s survival depends on the ability of the lower league players to step up to Premier League level, which to be honest is not as big a step up as most sports writers seem to think.

Hamilton have lost the talented James McArthur, their survival depends on their much vaunted conveyor belt of talent continuing.  I suspect that this will be a difficult season for Hamilton, and for Kilmarnock, who brought in Mixu Paatelainen to replace Jimmy Calderwood as Manager.  I think that the team to go down will come from those four, and I think that once again it will be too close to call.

More than most, Scottish football needs to come out and provide a season to remember, it needs to show that it was watching the events in South Africa, and that notes were being taken about technique and attacking football.  Above all Scottish football needs to realise that for the third season on the spin, the Old Firm are vulnerable.  The Old Firm will finish in the top two positions, but a winning mentality and a bit of ruthlesness needs to be shown from the other sides before they can be taken seriously.