Scotland the modern European nation

First Minister Alec Salmond unveiled his own plan for turning Scotland into a modern European nation this week - the launch of a "national conversation" which he hopes will have people discussing what a good idea it would be to become an independent country again.

He might have found, though, that many minds were instead contemplating the chances of Scotland achieving something of note in European football this season. Crunch time for the Euro 2008 qualifiers is still a little way off, but this week the clubs were back in action.

Dunfermline begin their UEFA Cup campaign on Thursday, but let's be honest - this adventure will be diversion from their campaign to get back into the SPL this season, and little more. The real stories this week concerned the Old Firm in the Champions League qualifiers.

Much has been said about the high stakes Rangers are playing for. Last season they could only look on with envy as Celtic prospered in the Champions League. Rangers participation in the Uefa Cup left them at least £10m worse off, making this summer's crucial squad rebuilding much more difficult. To their credit, Rangers have brought in a lot of players, despite the high profile targets that got away, such as Steven Naismith and Scott Brown. But this has raised the stakes even further... Rangers are spending money they don't have, and if they fail to make it to the group stages this year, the financial consequences will be dire.

The good news is that they have a 1 goal lead following the first leg against Red Star Belgrade, who didn't really look that threatening. The bad news is that Rangers were pretty poor, and the game could easily have finished goalless were it not for Nacho Novo's late, late intervention.

This is, perhaps, to be expected. Rangers are trying to integrate a lot of new players, and an unbalanced squad mean injuries are particularly destabilising - Kris Broadfoot had to fill in at left-back on Tuesday, and not surprisingly looked nervous and unsure of himself. If they can just get through the second leg unscathed, Ibrox will be hugely relieved.

Celtic have had a pretty lacklustre start to the season, but a 1-1 draw against Spartak Moscow on Wednesday was a great result. They will fancy their chances back in Glasgow for the return leg, but need to be wary.

Dunfermline drop through the floor

Imagine being a Pars fan.

Relegation looked nailed on months ago. There simply was no way back. The season would be remembered for a great, improbable run in the Scottish Cup, but there was no chance of staying in the SPL.

And then they went on a run, becoming the SPL's form team as the two clubs above them, St Mirren and Motherwell, went into freefall. Victories over both those teams had dragged the Pars back to within a point of St Mirren, and suddenly survival looked possible. Maybe, even probable. On Saturday, Dunfermline were 1-0 away to Inverness, while St Mirren were 2-0 down to Motherwell. If those scorelines remained the same, Dunfermline would have leapfrogged St Mirren at the bottom of the table, with just one more game left to play.

But then it all went wrong. Dorus De Vries, the goalkeeper who has been in heroic form since January, made a blunder and allowed Caley back into the game. Then he was defeated by a wicked deflection in the 89th minute. Meanwhile, the Buddies found 3 goals to snatch all the points from Motherwell. Dunfermline, finally, are relegated, and their fans are distraught. As John Cleese said in Clockwise:

"It's not the despair...I can TAKE the despair. It's the HOPE....."

Somehow, they are going to have to lift themselves for the Scottish Cup final in a fortnight, but you can't imagine it being much of a party now.

There now remains just one issue to be decided... who is going to finish third and grab the UEFA Cup spot? Aberdeen now lead Hearts by just a point, after their defeat to Celtic and Hearts' victory in the Edinburgh derby. Aberdeen's claim to be the third best team in Scotland is undermined somewhat by their failure to take a single point off the Old Firm this season, but if they are to guarantee that 3rd place, they will need to beat Rangers this coming weekend, because Hearts will surely fancy a win against Kilmarnock, who have nothing left to play for.

Aberdeen's season is about to be defined by one match.

McManus makes himself a hero

Tam McManus might be only 26, but he already has something of the journeyman about him. He was a Hibs kid (he came through around the same time as Kenny Miller) and went out on loan a couple of times before breaking through into the first team. He looked a bright player for the Easter Road side, too, but when Tony Mowbray took over, it was clear he had no future at the club. He went on loan to Boston, but returned to Scotland before gaining a free transfer to Dundee.

Their subsequent relegation to Division One necessitated strigent cost-cutting, and McManus was eventually moved on, this time to Falkirk. That didn't work out, and he was released in January. A trial at Hibs didn't result in an offer of a return to his first club, and so, as a free agent, he pitched up at Dunfermline.

After such a stop-start career over the past few seasons, it's no surprise that McManus was desperate to resume playing regularly. But he was in for a shock. Despite his lack of appearances for Falkirk, the fact that he was an unused substitute in an earlier round of the Scottish Cup meant that he was cup-tied for the rest of the competition. With Dunfermline heading to Hampden to play Hibernian in the semi-finals, McManus would have to watch from the stands. Of course, he's going to miss the final now, too.

Perhaps that was why he played with such vigour last night. Dunfermline travelled to Love St knowing that only a victory would give them any chance of avoiding the drop into Division One. A predictably tense relegation six-pointer, the game was very low on quality in the first half. After the break, though, Dunfermline started to get the upper hand. Perhaps inspired by the perpetual motion of their striker, they realised that if they started to actually pass a bit and play some football, the game was there for the taking. McManus was always going to be the one to profit: he had one effort blocked and another ruled out for offside before finally netting the only goal of the game.

The Pars are now just a point off St. Mirren at the bottom, and in a much better run of form. For all their Scottish Cup heroics, manager Stephen Kenny always stressed that staying in the SPL was his over-riding priority. If they do survive, McManus will feel a great sense of satisfaction at the way his season ended, even if he misses out on a Cup final appearance.