SPL opening weekend

The SPL got underway at the weekend with goals, straight-talking managers and decent crowds, although there were more supporters at Celtic Park than the rest of the grounds put together.

The media had built up the season as follows: Celtic can’t score goals and are already in trouble, Hearts will put up a strong challenge, and Paul Le Guen is a genius. Celtic upset the script and settled the nerves of the faithful with a 4-1 win over Kilmarnock.

Gordon Strachan, not surprisingly, delighted in having a pop at his critics after the game. "We are the only club in the history of football who can be the champions by 20 points and be under pressure in the first game of the season," he said. "So we just laughed at that pressure and produced some stunning football." It's probably fair to say that he is pretty pleased with himself. Kilmarnock, meanwhile, could only shrug as another laughable record continued - Top of the Pops (and Jimmy Savill's entire broadcasting career) has come and gone since Kilmarnock last beat Celtic at Parkhead.

For everyone else, it was a bad day to be at home, with four of the six matches played over the weekend ending in a 1-2 scoreline.

Rangers could have won by more, but didn't capitalise on enough of their chances. But a win's a win, and Le Guen seemed happy enough with that. "I'm very happy", he said. Motherwell took heart from a decent performance if nothing else. Meanwhile, Dunfermline could have taken a few positives from their game against Hearts, but their manager sounds world-weary and depressed already. "I thought some decisions were confusing and inconsistent and that is what frustrates me", he said, after his assistant was sent to the stands for contesting a decision. If they're feeling hard done by already, Jim Leishman will be feeling exceedingly bleak in a few months time if Dunfermline are still bumping around the bottom of the table. It could be a long, long season for the Pars.

The Hearts manager (sorry, head coach) Vladas Ivanauskas picked up on the theme of the day: "I am happy". Not very happy, then, but happy nonetheless. Without Skacel (sold to Southampton just prior to this match), Webster (sale expected soon) and Hartley (injured, apparently not for sale), Hearts were missing 3 of their big stars from last season, so this was a good day's work from his team.

St Mirren came from a goal behind to beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle, while Falkirk did exactly the same to Dundee Utd. Both winning managers were not just happy but delighted, but it was Dundee Utd who managed to grab the headlines afterwards. If Celtic had done all they could to rubbish their critics at the weekend, Utd seemed to want to encourage theirs. Things are so bad that the chairman has given the dreaded vote of confidence in his manager already, but then maybe Eddie Thompson felt the need to do something to repair the damage after a bizarre incident in which, during a phone call after the match, he allegedly laid into the team, criticising specific players. Normally the kind of conversation to have in your private office, rather than next door to the press room, so that it can be overhead by the all journalists at the game.

The only draw of the weekend was at Easter Road, where Hibs simply couldn't see off Aberdeen, despite dominating the game. Ah Hibernian, that'll be the pretty team who lost both their top scorers from last season, then. Jimmy Calderwood admitted his side were lucky to come away with a point, but Hibs will have to improve their finishing in games like this if they are going to have a successful year.

Hibernian could well sign another striker before the end of next month, but most teams are still trying to bring in players. The SPL season may have started early, but transfer activity does not happen in a vacuum. Many clubs in Scotland have been kept waiting because players and clubs seem reluctant to do business until the English Premiership money machine has cast its eye across the market. Only once the chose 20 have decided who they do and don't want will other transfers filter through the system. Many of the sides that kicked off this weekend are not yet the finished article.

Celtic 4-1 Kilmarnock

Dundee Utd 1-2 Falkirk

ICT 1-2 St Mirren

Dunfermline 1-2 Hearts

Hibs 1-1 Aberdeen

Motherwell 1-2 Rangers

All quotes from the trusty bbc.