4 points clear in the SPL, after two seasons in which their bitter, bitter rivals have taken the title with ease, domestic treble still on, and the latter stages of the UEFA Cup to look forward to... Rangers have a lot still to play for this season. So what do they do? Why, try and sell some players of course.
Daniel Cousin may still move to Fulham before the transfer window shuts, although it will take dispensation from UEFA as he has already played for 2 clubs this season. If he does, the reputed £3m fee will be a healthy profit on the £1m or so paid for him in August - good business you might say.
But that deal is dwarfed by the one that got Alan Hutton to Tottenham yesterday. Rangers are getting £9m for a player from their youth system, who little over a year ago might have been going out on loan elsewhere in Scotland rather than down to the bright lights of the English Premiership.
Why are they selling now? It's simple - Rangers need the money. The debt is hard to measure, but generally estimated at around £50m. Hence the panic when Hutton initially turned the Spurs move down... he was called into the chairman's offices in Edinburgh for a friendly chat, the end result of which was a £1m sweetener from Rangers to add to the fairly compelling £30k + weekly wages he'll be picking up in England.
Of course, it's also an astonishing lump of cash. Hibs sold a full back to the Premiership this month, too, when David Murphy went to Birmingham for £2m. He was widely recognised as the best full back in Scotland (although left rather than right), so why the massive discrepancy in price. Well, Hutton has (some) European experience - so double the fee. And he's a full international - so double the fee again? It seems crazy, but Spurs were happy to pay even more than that.
So there you have it - Scotland's record transfer is a full back. Crazy stuff.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Now it's Burley's turn to fulfil the promise
According to the BBC and everyone else, the Scottish Football Association will announce tomorrow morning that George Burley is the new manager. They've taken their time over the appointment, and they've made a good decision.
Burley electrified Scottish football in 2005 when he put took charge at Hearts, put together a new team very quickly, and took the club on an unbeaten run to the top of the SPL, before being sacked by Vladimir Romanov for his impudence.
But he's got more than that to his bow... he's been doing a decent job with limited resources at Southampton, and previously took Ipswich into Europe. Of course, he also got Ipswich relegated too, but he's hardly the first coach to suffer from 2nd Season Syndrome at a club that's been recently promoted.
He's a tracksuit manager, keen to get involved in training sessions, and is used to working with relatively unheralded players and getting them to perform. His man-management and motivational skills will be needed if Scotland are going to build on their progress over the past few years. The squad is improving all the time, but still needs careful attention.
The timing's as good as it gets for an international coach, though... he'll have the home nation championship to practise in before the World Cup qualifying starts in the autumn.
The only other serious option was Mark McGhee, but given what's happened at Motherwell this season it's no shame for him to stay where he is and put his energies into that job.
Good luck to Burley and Scotland. He's the right choice.
Burley electrified Scottish football in 2005 when he put took charge at Hearts, put together a new team very quickly, and took the club on an unbeaten run to the top of the SPL, before being sacked by Vladimir Romanov for his impudence.
But he's got more than that to his bow... he's been doing a decent job with limited resources at Southampton, and previously took Ipswich into Europe. Of course, he also got Ipswich relegated too, but he's hardly the first coach to suffer from 2nd Season Syndrome at a club that's been recently promoted.
He's a tracksuit manager, keen to get involved in training sessions, and is used to working with relatively unheralded players and getting them to perform. His man-management and motivational skills will be needed if Scotland are going to build on their progress over the past few years. The squad is improving all the time, but still needs careful attention.
The timing's as good as it gets for an international coach, though... he'll have the home nation championship to practise in before the World Cup qualifying starts in the autumn.
The only other serious option was Mark McGhee, but given what's happened at Motherwell this season it's no shame for him to stay where he is and put his energies into that job.
Good luck to Burley and Scotland. He's the right choice.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Hibs look to the future as Mixu Paatelainen signs on for the 3rd time
Hibernian filled their managerial vacancy today after 3 long weeks, with Mixu Paatelainen the chosen man. After two spells as a player, and interviewed for the post last year before losing out to John Collins, Paatelainen now has the chance to succeed in the job he has openly coveted for some time.
He is an enormously popular figure at Easter Road, and just the appointment to lift the despondency of the past 2 months, following Hibs' horrendous slump in form and Collins' resignation.
Mixu Paatelainen played at a number of clubs during a long career, including Aberdeen and St Johnstone, but he really made a lasting impression at two. He is still a cult hero at Bolton, and secured a place in the affections of Hibs fans when he scored a hat trick in their rampaging win an Edinburgh derby in 2000. He was never the most technically able striker, but he played with his heart on his sleeve, and his trademark cartwheel celebration was quite something from such a chunky, well-built man.
He then left for Strasbourg, but returned to Edinburgh after just a season. Famously, he then resigned for Hibs after bumping into then manager Bobby Williamson during a training run around Arthur's Seat.
He has now served a manager's apprentice at Cowdenbeath and TPS Turku, which is more experience than Tony Mowbray and John Collins had.
It's now time to see if that experience can be put to good use.
He is an enormously popular figure at Easter Road, and just the appointment to lift the despondency of the past 2 months, following Hibs' horrendous slump in form and Collins' resignation.
Mixu Paatelainen played at a number of clubs during a long career, including Aberdeen and St Johnstone, but he really made a lasting impression at two. He is still a cult hero at Bolton, and secured a place in the affections of Hibs fans when he scored a hat trick in their rampaging win an Edinburgh derby in 2000. He was never the most technically able striker, but he played with his heart on his sleeve, and his trademark cartwheel celebration was quite something from such a chunky, well-built man.
He then left for Strasbourg, but returned to Edinburgh after just a season. Famously, he then resigned for Hibs after bumping into then manager Bobby Williamson during a training run around Arthur's Seat.
He has now served a manager's apprentice at Cowdenbeath and TPS Turku, which is more experience than Tony Mowbray and John Collins had.
It's now time to see if that experience can be put to good use.
Monday, January 07, 2008
How is Alec McLeish getting on down in England?
As one of the highest profile Scottish managers, and one who was desperate to test himself in the Premiership, it's worth checking in to see just how Big Eck is getting on at Birmingham.
Well, losing to Huddersfield in the FA Cup last weekend wasn't clever, but he knows he will be judged at the end of the season on whether Birmingham manage to avoid relegation or not, and nothing else really matters. In that regard, he seems to have improved performances and shown himself to be a more shrewd operator than Steve Bruce, although that isn't hard.
Having taken time to assess the squad, though, he has decided that he needs new signings in January in order to keep the club away from the Premiership trap door. The players aren't good enough and, in his own words, "the Birmingham fans deserve better".
Here he's been very consistent - when he joined the club he praised the wonderful fans, took time out to do the same in his first post-match press conference, and again doffed his gap to the magnificent support he and his coaching team received during their first home game.
Say what you like about him, but he knows how important it is to ingratiate himself with the people who pay his wages.
Well, losing to Huddersfield in the FA Cup last weekend wasn't clever, but he knows he will be judged at the end of the season on whether Birmingham manage to avoid relegation or not, and nothing else really matters. In that regard, he seems to have improved performances and shown himself to be a more shrewd operator than Steve Bruce, although that isn't hard.
Having taken time to assess the squad, though, he has decided that he needs new signings in January in order to keep the club away from the Premiership trap door. The players aren't good enough and, in his own words, "the Birmingham fans deserve better".
Here he's been very consistent - when he joined the club he praised the wonderful fans, took time out to do the same in his first post-match press conference, and again doffed his gap to the magnificent support he and his coaching team received during their first home game.
Say what you like about him, but he knows how important it is to ingratiate himself with the people who pay his wages.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Sober start to the year as Scottish football mourns
The past week has, of course, been overshadowed by the death of Phil O'Donnell last Saturday. Suddenly, football has not seemed so important.
This funeral today was a mark of the respect held for the man in the game, with hundreds of mourners paying their respects. Now life will go on, but the repercussions from his death will continue for some time.
Firstly, Phil O'Donnell is not the first footballer to die from sudden heart failure, and while the player's union has advocated mandatory screening for players, others, such as Gary Caldwell, have asked for research into the food supplements and additives that are now widespread in the professional game.
Yet the truth is that, if a athletic young man dies suddenly, and the cause isn't suicide, violence or and accident, heart failure is often considered as the next alternative. It's rare, but not unheard of. It would seem it will take significantly more research to find out why.
Secondly, the authorities need to look at themselves, and ask why they accepted Celtic's request to postpone their game this week, but refused Dundee Utd's. While there were valid arguments for carrying on with the fixtures, or postponing them all, the compromise reached was disgraceful. It seemed to say that Celtic's grief for an ex-player was more important than that of the Dundee Utd team, who had watched a fellow player drop down dead in front of them 4 days earlier.
Motherwell won't play this weekend, either, but for the rest of the SPL, it's back to business.
This funeral today was a mark of the respect held for the man in the game, with hundreds of mourners paying their respects. Now life will go on, but the repercussions from his death will continue for some time.
Firstly, Phil O'Donnell is not the first footballer to die from sudden heart failure, and while the player's union has advocated mandatory screening for players, others, such as Gary Caldwell, have asked for research into the food supplements and additives that are now widespread in the professional game.
Yet the truth is that, if a athletic young man dies suddenly, and the cause isn't suicide, violence or and accident, heart failure is often considered as the next alternative. It's rare, but not unheard of. It would seem it will take significantly more research to find out why.
Secondly, the authorities need to look at themselves, and ask why they accepted Celtic's request to postpone their game this week, but refused Dundee Utd's. While there were valid arguments for carrying on with the fixtures, or postponing them all, the compromise reached was disgraceful. It seemed to say that Celtic's grief for an ex-player was more important than that of the Dundee Utd team, who had watched a fellow player drop down dead in front of them 4 days earlier.
Motherwell won't play this weekend, either, but for the rest of the SPL, it's back to business.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Collins walks as Hibs look for yet another manager
So, this blog was right... Collins wasn't sacked by Hibs. His resignation on Thursday settled the issue.
Why has he gone? He claims it is due to the restrictive budget he was forced to operate under, but it's still an extraordinary decision, handing in his notice after just 14 months at the club with a crucial run of fixtures coming up. It comes across as the rash decision of a man backed into a corner - and perhaps in the next few days more details will emerge. Some fans contend that he wanted out before the current slump in form got any worse. If this is true, it points to a man who is shockingly unsure of himself in such a brutal profession. Other rumours allege that an argument with the chairman, Rod Petrie, came to a head, leading Collins to conclude that he could no longer have a workable relationship with the club's board.
So, Hibs have a managerial vacancy once again. For a club lauded for being well-run and taking the long-term view, they do work through managers at a fast pace.
Collins' replacement will be the 5th new face in the dugout since 2001.
Why has he gone? He claims it is due to the restrictive budget he was forced to operate under, but it's still an extraordinary decision, handing in his notice after just 14 months at the club with a crucial run of fixtures coming up. It comes across as the rash decision of a man backed into a corner - and perhaps in the next few days more details will emerge. Some fans contend that he wanted out before the current slump in form got any worse. If this is true, it points to a man who is shockingly unsure of himself in such a brutal profession. Other rumours allege that an argument with the chairman, Rod Petrie, came to a head, leading Collins to conclude that he could no longer have a workable relationship with the club's board.
So, Hibs have a managerial vacancy once again. For a club lauded for being well-run and taking the long-term view, they do work through managers at a fast pace.
Collins' replacement will be the 5th new face in the dugout since 2001.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Edinburgh in uproar
It's not easy being overshadowed by bigger, more successful football teams.
Edinburgh's two clubs have been kept out of the light for so long by the Glasgow Old Firm that you'd think the fans would have resigned themselves to their fate by now. Thankfully, this hasn't happened, and Scottish football is all the richer for it.
While supporters at Aberdeen and Dundee Utd have responded to repeated disappointment by drifting away from match days, leaving dwindling crowds to rattle around stadiums still haunted by memories of glorious achievements in the 1980s, Hearts and Hibs supporters are turning up in numbers, despite the fact that most fans of either club weren't alive the last time their club won a league title.
Yet this gloriously irrational behaviour has a flipside... it tends to cause despondency and anger rather than resignation when things aren't going well. And neither club has had a good month.
Hibs have won just once in their past 8 games, and the fans are starting to vent their fury. Rationally speaking, this shouldn't be happening - the club has sold so many players in recent seasons that expectations for this term should be muted, and their excellent unbeaten run at the start of the season means the club is still in 5th, which is hardly a disaster. Furthermore, what with the debts, new training centre and potential new East Stand at Easter Road, the club has got a fairly large list of bills besides going shopping for new players.
But the team's form is awful, and a minority have begun calling for John Collins to be sacked. Both manager and squad seem short of confidence at the moment, not helped by an increasingly edgy mood at Easter Road. It wasn't last Saturday's 1-1 draw against Falkirk, but the abject defeat against Aberdeen that proved the catalyst for the latest discontent. Few of the new signings have really made their mark yet, while the tactics and line up seem to chop and change from one match to the next.
Unless this current slump becomes a prolonged losing streak, there is no prospect of Collins getting the sack. Hibs simply don't respond to short term pressure in that way, much to their credit. But the manager certainly faces an important Festive period, and Hibs need to stay in touch with Motherwell and Dundee Utd in the battle for third spot at least. Otherwise the famously radge support could get even more vocal.
All this could seem no more important than the typical family row at the Christmas dinner table, though, compared to what's going on at Hearts just now. They are also on a poor run of results, but this time the catalyst was goalkeeper Eduardas Kurskis' mistake at the weekend that allowed Rangers to grab all three points from a game that had "draw" written all over it. The player's inclusion in the team is symptomatic of the chaotic way player selection works at Hearts, with the teamsheet faxed in from Lithuania covered in Vladimir Romanov's scribbles, some names crossed out and others put in their place.
Predictably, the Jambos are furious. Yes, Hearts have also lost plenty of decent players over the past year or so as well, but given the still large 1st team squad and huge wage bill they should not be down in 8th position in the league. And while Hearts, too, claim to be planning a new stand at their stadium, the latest promised date for submitting the planning permission has come and gone this week without any progress. Whatever Vladimir Romanov is up to, living up to his promises is not featuring high on his list of priorities at the moment.
The big question is: are the Hearts fans going to turn their anger into action? If Hibs were currently in their position, the fans would probably have rampaged through the streets of Leith by now, before orchestrating a forced occupation of the stadium and holding a mass rally to demand action.
Instead, the Jambos are trying to organise a meeting to plan a meeting to discuss a possible boycott of a home match, perhaps in February. For all their bluster, they tend to sit on their hands during crises and moan, rather than stand up and be counted. The occasional open letter to the owner is about as forceful as they get.
So far, Romanov has been able to do as he likes at Hearts, almost completely un-opposed (and there are still many Hearts fans that caution against doing anything that might upset Dear Leader, despite the chronic misrule). Indeed, it's arguable that Hearts only ended up in his hands because the fans failed to organise themselves against the proposed sale of Tynecastle to a property developer until the very last minute, forcing them to go cap in hand to a mysterious Russian businessman whose ultimate motive remains unclear.
Could this be the moment that the maroon half of Edinburgh finally reaches breaking point?
Edinburgh's two clubs have been kept out of the light for so long by the Glasgow Old Firm that you'd think the fans would have resigned themselves to their fate by now. Thankfully, this hasn't happened, and Scottish football is all the richer for it.
While supporters at Aberdeen and Dundee Utd have responded to repeated disappointment by drifting away from match days, leaving dwindling crowds to rattle around stadiums still haunted by memories of glorious achievements in the 1980s, Hearts and Hibs supporters are turning up in numbers, despite the fact that most fans of either club weren't alive the last time their club won a league title.
Yet this gloriously irrational behaviour has a flipside... it tends to cause despondency and anger rather than resignation when things aren't going well. And neither club has had a good month.
Hibs have won just once in their past 8 games, and the fans are starting to vent their fury. Rationally speaking, this shouldn't be happening - the club has sold so many players in recent seasons that expectations for this term should be muted, and their excellent unbeaten run at the start of the season means the club is still in 5th, which is hardly a disaster. Furthermore, what with the debts, new training centre and potential new East Stand at Easter Road, the club has got a fairly large list of bills besides going shopping for new players.
But the team's form is awful, and a minority have begun calling for John Collins to be sacked. Both manager and squad seem short of confidence at the moment, not helped by an increasingly edgy mood at Easter Road. It wasn't last Saturday's 1-1 draw against Falkirk, but the abject defeat against Aberdeen that proved the catalyst for the latest discontent. Few of the new signings have really made their mark yet, while the tactics and line up seem to chop and change from one match to the next.
Unless this current slump becomes a prolonged losing streak, there is no prospect of Collins getting the sack. Hibs simply don't respond to short term pressure in that way, much to their credit. But the manager certainly faces an important Festive period, and Hibs need to stay in touch with Motherwell and Dundee Utd in the battle for third spot at least. Otherwise the famously radge support could get even more vocal.
All this could seem no more important than the typical family row at the Christmas dinner table, though, compared to what's going on at Hearts just now. They are also on a poor run of results, but this time the catalyst was goalkeeper Eduardas Kurskis' mistake at the weekend that allowed Rangers to grab all three points from a game that had "draw" written all over it. The player's inclusion in the team is symptomatic of the chaotic way player selection works at Hearts, with the teamsheet faxed in from Lithuania covered in Vladimir Romanov's scribbles, some names crossed out and others put in their place.
Predictably, the Jambos are furious. Yes, Hearts have also lost plenty of decent players over the past year or so as well, but given the still large 1st team squad and huge wage bill they should not be down in 8th position in the league. And while Hearts, too, claim to be planning a new stand at their stadium, the latest promised date for submitting the planning permission has come and gone this week without any progress. Whatever Vladimir Romanov is up to, living up to his promises is not featuring high on his list of priorities at the moment.
The big question is: are the Hearts fans going to turn their anger into action? If Hibs were currently in their position, the fans would probably have rampaged through the streets of Leith by now, before orchestrating a forced occupation of the stadium and holding a mass rally to demand action.
Instead, the Jambos are trying to organise a meeting to plan a meeting to discuss a possible boycott of a home match, perhaps in February. For all their bluster, they tend to sit on their hands during crises and moan, rather than stand up and be counted. The occasional open letter to the owner is about as forceful as they get.
So far, Romanov has been able to do as he likes at Hearts, almost completely un-opposed (and there are still many Hearts fans that caution against doing anything that might upset Dear Leader, despite the chronic misrule). Indeed, it's arguable that Hearts only ended up in his hands because the fans failed to organise themselves against the proposed sale of Tynecastle to a property developer until the very last minute, forcing them to go cap in hand to a mysterious Russian businessman whose ultimate motive remains unclear.
Could this be the moment that the maroon half of Edinburgh finally reaches breaking point?
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