McGeady exposes Celtic rift

Hmm... it's been a bad fornight for wee Gordy Strachan, eh? 1 point from 2 matches with the Edinburgh duo, a pointless victory over Villareal, and now a "bust-up" with Aiden McGeady has re-opened the perrenial debate about his future with the club.

This is Strachan's future we're talking about, by the way, not McGeady's. The winger's agent may be desperately trying to repair his client's relationship with the club (Aiden is 110% Celtic, apparently, if less than 50% Scottish), but the chatter seems to be that either he goes or Strachan goes in January. Of course, there are plenty of Celtic fans hoping it will be the latter, and that the manager will walk, Paul Le Guen-style, soon after the New Year.

However, the Celtic board seemingly remain committed to Strachan, and why not? He's brought the club consistent success and profits, which to the owners counts for more than the team's often turgid and uninspiring play.

There are seemingly a number of English Premiership sides tracking McGeady, so if Celtic can agree a fee (it seems impossible anyone will pay more than £5m in these financially troubled times) then he will be on his way.

Of course, with Sunderland rumoured to be interested in Strachan, this row could have come at very convenient time for the Celtic gaffer. Rather than leave in the manner of Paul Le Guen, Strachan could instead emulate John Collins, and announce his resignation with the words that he has taken the club "as far as it can go". After all, Celtic are out of Europe, and with 3 titles in a row in the bag, history will record Strachan's tenure at Parkhead as a massive success, no matter what happens now.

The fans who've never taken to Strachan want him out - especially if the alternative is watching McGeady, one of their favourites, head for the exit instead. But they should be careful what they wish for... the wee ginger man who has brought them so much silverware over the past few seasons may just throw in the towel.

ADDED: Celtic-watchers are seeing the announcement today of the signing of winger Niall McGinn from Derry City as anything but coincidental. He apparently can play on either flank and likes to "get at" defenders... which reads like Aiden McGeady's job description. McGinn is highly rated in Northern Ireland and reputedly cost Celtic £200k.

Celtic's less than champion week

Celtic host Villareal in the Champions League tonight... but this is not destined to be one of those "legendary European nights" that the club are so fond of - as they are already out of the competition, it's more likely to be a damp squib. While the visitors hope to finish top of the group above Manchester Utd, Gordon Strachan was left talking about keeping Celtic's good home record going. In other words, they are playing for nothing more than pride.

After Sunday's 2-0 loss to Hibs, this has not been a great week for the champions. Most of the fall-out from that game has focused on the terrible blunder by Artur Boric which allowed Hibs to take the lead. While Strachan has backed his keeper in public, he'd have to be an exceptionally stubborn man in private not to accept that Boruc's stock has fallen like HBOS over the past year.

It would be churlish, though, not to give Hibs some credit for an excellent result. In the same way that Argentinians express bemusement that English people still go on about Maradona's "Hand of God", because his 2nd goal was the one that really decided the game, Hibs' 2nd was the result of a quality counter-attack that deserved to win the match. Celtic did have more possession, as Strachan somewhat desperately pointed out after the match, but they lacked the killer touch.

There's no need for them to panic, though. Still 4 points above a Rangers team who look desperately out of sorts themselves, Celtic are still in a strong position to claim their 4th title in a row. As they proved last season, Celtic have more than enough resourcefulness to come back from a trailing position, if required.

Still, their exit from Europe does add to the feeling that, after a couple of seasons where Scottish football's stock has risen, its reputation may well be on the slide again. We may now be reliant on the national team to do something special to rescue us - after all, they will be providing the only European action we'll see for the rest of this season.

Hearts get a reminder of what might have been

Result of the weekend, without a doubt, was Hearts' 2-1 win over Rangers. It wasn't a pretty game of football, with Hearts scoring 2 from goal mouth scrambles and then conceding an own goal all before holding on for over an hour, but the home team will hardly care about that - this was their fifth win in a row, cementing Heart's grip on 3rd place. Given they spent most of last season bumping around nearer the bottom of the table, this is some turnaround.

Can they push on from here? More optimistic Jambos will be remembering the first season under Vladimir Romanov, when Hearts elbowed Rangers into 3rd place and earnt a chance at qualifying for the Champions League.

But things are very different now, compared to those heady days. Hearts are up to their eye-balls in debt, with MD Campbell Ogilvie admitting that the priority is to cut the wage bill, rather than invest further in the squad. Further problems with paying the wages hint at cash flow difficulties at Hearts, making it more likely that players will be going rather than arriving in January.

All this means that, rather than a spring board to greater success, the weekend's win over Rangers may well be the highlight of the season for Hearts. If players are sold in January, it seems inconceivable that they can continue as they have done. Impressive though recent results have been, Hearts have not been steam-rollering opponents into submission, but winning by one goal margins. Take any key players out of the equation, and - regardless of the fine job that manager Csaba Laszlo is doing - it may be difficult to keep things going.

As for Rangers, they are now 7 points behind Celtic, and if they slip any further the title race could be over by New Year. It's not looking good for them at all.

We love fitba: sorry for the long break

Apologies there hasn't been much blogging recently - work, personal commitments and technical issues have all got in the way. We're back again now, though, and the most recent post is published tonight.



Thanks for your patience and understanding.

20 years and still got something to prove

In case you missed it, Sir David Murray celebrated twenty years at the helm of Rangers Football Club last weekend. Being unaware of this anniversary would almost certainly require you to be living outside Scotland, because various arms of the media at home have ensured that this is recognised as a BIG STORY.

On the face of it, this is strange, because Rangers are palpably a club in decline, and simply not the best anymore, on any level. Murray's legacy is hardly unambiguous, either... the transformation of Rangers into a big spending, "modern" club started before he bought in, and while the stamping out of any unofficial "no Catholics" signing policy can only be positive, this remains an institution with sectarian demons left to slay.

Why, then, is some coverage of Sir David Murray, Sir, so fawning? Well, there's old journalistic traditions - a defiantly Establishment profession, which naturally gravitated towards the Establishment's club. There was also the success in the 1980s and 1990s, which attracted followers like moths to a flame. No doubt, Rangers benefit from partisan media coverage, and this anniversary has given all the usual suspects a chance to celebrate their favoured club.

Sir David Murray, Sir, Dear Sir, never wanted to reach this milestone. He's been keen to sell the club for some time, if only someone would buy it. But it hasn't happened, and it won't happen in the forseeable future... this is a club with significant debts, and a toxic brand damaged by, amongst other things, the yobbishness of the fans in Manchester at the UEFA Cup Final. An event that should have been a great showcase for the club, win or lose (just look how Celtic exploited their defeat at the same stage a few years ago), instead became a reminder why no new investor should get involved.

So, for the meantime, Rangers and Murray are stuck with each other, the big spending days of the past now long gone. They really, really need to win something significant to turn their fortunes around, but that looks more difficult than ever this season.

Ultimately, his chairmanship is looking less succcessful the longer it goes on.

More trouble for Burley

As if Saturday's 0-0 draw against Norway hadn't done enough to make it a miserable weekend for George Burley, Kris Boyd's graceless announcement that he won't put himself forward for another squad while the current manager is in charge has added to his woes.

Boyd has never been a critical member of the Scotland team. Previous managers have shared Burley's concerns about his work rate and general contribution to the team. But sport is often about moments, and you know - just know - that he would have buried the chance that Chris Iwelumo scaffed horribly wide with the goal begging. Instead, Boyd was left on the bench while the Wolves striker came on to make a debut that nightmares are made of.

Burley's a strong character and will shrug this latest bit of bad news off. But he's now under even more pressure than before.

Aberdeen hit the floor

So far this season, Aberdeen have performed as well as banking stocks. The most recent shock - a 2-1 home defeat to Hibs - sent them tumbling to the foot of the SPL. It's still early days, of course, and everyone expects them to recover sooner or later. But, as with Spurs in England, it's never too early in football for the word "crisis" to be dusted off again. We just love it.

How bad things get depends on how Aberdeen respond, of course, and the reaction from the weekend suggests that the current set up at Pittodrie still has it within themselves to pull away from the foot of the table. They were certainly unlucky to lose, with Hibs needing a hugely debatable goal to take the points.

But plenty of the fans aren't happy. There's no love lost between Jimmy Calderwood and a sizeable section of the support, sick with the "tactical tombola" and what's perceived as his moaning ways. Not to mention his tango tan, of course. We love fitba's got a lot of time for Calderwood to be honest - he did fine things at Dunfermline and has broadly done a good job at Aberdeen - but his undisguised ambition can, at times, come across as arrogance.

Mostly though, Calderwood seems to get the blame for the "sleeping giant" status of Aberdeen football club. They fans may claim they've stopped going on about the 1980s, but the club's achievements will be measured against the Alex Ferguson era for a while yet. Nowadays, Aberdeen are heavily in debt, and wondering whether or not to move out of their half-full stadium. Given the current state of the economy, this stasis will probably remain for a while yet.

It's a great shame, because if this one-city club re-established itself as a credible force, Scottish football would be much richer for it.