Ibrox loyal? Not to Scotland

It is ironic that our opponents so often criticise Celtic supporters for their lack of loyalty to Scotland. Granted, we know that this is nothing more than a manifestation of bigotry, finding any excuse to attack people who celebrate Irish heritage.

However, it is clear that the Scottish media will never make such claims against Rangers despite all evidence showing that Scotland’s interests have never been high on the Ibrox agenda.

The last Walter Smith era was notable for the number of “injuries” suffered by Rangers players prior to Scotland matches, most of which seemed to clear up in time for the players to perform in domestic or European club duty.

Today, miraculous misfortunes have befallen Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Christian Dailly and Allan McGregor, forcing them to withdraw from the Scotland squad to play Croatia. Only Kris Boyd remains, suggesting that either he is not valued at Ibrox or that a strain or virus is imminent.

Of course, the loyalty of Walter Smith and Ally McCoist was never questioned when they abandoned their national team at a crucial stage of a European Championship qualifying campaign so we can expect the latest withdrawals to pass without comment.

In fairness, this is a game played by many clubs at some stage, though rarely with such brazenness as shown by Rangers. However, there is an intrinsic dishonesty in the manner of these withdrawals and a hypocrisy in the press treatment of the issue, (which effectively wrecks George Burley’s first match).

We are well used to certain Rangers fans asking: “Where in Ireland is Glasgow?” It now seems that Ibrox isn’t even part of Scotland.

Empty vessel begs for favours

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

These wise words are attributed to President Abraham Lincoln. They also stand as rarely heeded good counsel for certain figures in Scottish football.

On Friday Celtic’s Chief Executive Peter Lawwell announced his satisfaction that the SPL has confirmed the dates of upcoming matches and states his opposition to any altering of the fixture calendar that might give an advantage to opponents.

In doing so, he quite properly defends the interests of the club that employs him – simply stating that the league should adhere to its commitments.

“Thankfully it seems the integrity of the League will not be threatened by playing any more games away from home stadia or by extending the season.

“Clearly, an extension is something which we would be strongly opposed to, as it would further inconvenience supporters and could have a significant effect on the integrity of the competition.”

Fixture congestion is not unique to Scotland – it is a perennial issue in the English Premier League and has led to clubs such as Manchester United and Arsenal making radical changes to their squads, prioritising the league and European cup competitions, or employing squad rotation systems with the intention of avoiding burn-out of players.

It is a fact of life that goes along with success. Occasionally one or two replays or postponements further complicate the issue but changing the conditions of a competition after it has started is not countenanced.

We can only speculate therefore as to what prompted these vacuous comments to Radio Clyde from Rangers Chief Executive Martin Bain.

"It's probably more to do with the fact that there is a points difference at the moment.

"Why would we want to play eight games in four days? Our preference is to extend the season if it comes to that.

"I'm not prone to comment on other's comments but what I would say to you is that to ask this football club to play four games in eight days, when we could be possibly competing in European competition, is not something that I think the SPL would do to be quite frank.”

"Rangers' involvement in the UEFA Cup affects everything, from the co-efficient to Scottish football (as a whole), so I think it would be rather foolhardy to ask us to play four games in eight days."

The story as reported in many news outlets comes from the Press Association Scotland’s reporter, Rangers historian and co-author of, among other titles, It’s Rangers for Me, Ronnie Esplin. One can only speculate as to whether or not Esplin’s impartiality has been compromised in the story headlined "Gers chief senses Hoops fear".

If Mr Bain thinks the suggestion that Rangers should be expected to fulfil their fixture obligations is foolhardy, perhaps he will invite UEFA to indulge his club by bending their own rules.

The club does seem prone to expecting rule changes in their favour. There was apparent bewilderment at Ibrox that FIFA chose to adhere to its own rules over the proposed sale of Daniel Cousin. Maybe UEFA will allow Rangers to play their ties with Sporting Lisbon at a time to suit them.

Of course, amid the growing clamour to have the league calendar altered to give Rangers a competitive advantage over their rivals, some obvious questions have been overlooked:

• Why should Rangers, unlike every other team in British competition, not be expected to fully utilise its squad to cope with any upcoming pressure?

• Why do Rangers currently have the fourth-smallest available squad in the SPL and is this fact relevant to their public request to have the league calendar changed?

• Given the demands on their squad, why then did Rangers transfer out three players and attempt to sell Daniel Cousin during the January window?

If Rangers have been unable or unwilling to assemble and maintain a squad capable of fulfilling their fixtures, it would be foolhardy, wrong and probably liable to legal challenge if their negligence should be accommodated to the detriment of other league members.

The next time Bain is thinking of saying something about Celtic, hopefully he will think of Honest Abe.

Strachan must remedy system failure

I always have been – and remain – a supporter of Gordon Strachan as Celtic manager.

However, having been knocked out of the tournament that offered the best chance of success and trailing in the league, the head coach must act quickly to prevent a whitewash at the hands of a vastly inferior Rangers squad.

Let’s look across the city: in my opinion Rangers have only two players of exceptional quality in Carlos Cuellar and Barry Ferguson. On the form Cuellar has shown this season, he would brush aside any of Celtic’s centre-backs, given that the best central defender at the club, Darren O’Dea, is considered too young to be picked ahead of more established players.

Ferguson is a talented footballer playing some of his best football. Celtic, however, have an abundance of talent in the midfield area yet are looking fragile in that zone in which the game is controlled.

Strachan is entitled to pursue his favoured approach – and it has been extremely successful for Celtic up to this point – but sometimes it is better to do something different than to persevere for fear of being accused of being wrong.

Comparing Celtic with Rangers, two things scream out – a Rangers system that based purely on positioning, tackling, smothering the game and looking for breaks against Celtic’s attempt to play more technically pleasing, passing football; and Rangers’ relative selection continuity largely due to a glaring lack of talent among the fringe players.

However, Strachan insists not just on pursuing a 4-4-2 formation or, perhaps more accurately, 4-2-2-2 as the tactical genius John Barnes advocated, but also on continually tinkering with the central midfield area.

In doing so, he has refused to allow the players to find the time to gel together. On one hand it can be very good to show players that they must perform well every time if they want to be picked. On the other, many managers accept that sometimes you have to give certain players time in the knowledge that they will hit top form after six-to-eight games.

The various combinations of Donati-Brown- Hartley-Sno-Robson have functioned erratically throughout the season. For my money, Strachan should pick Hartley (arguably the most complete footballer in Scotland) to partner Brown and keep faith with them.

Regardless of his small vocal band of critics Brown is a gifted player who gives constant movement, strength, aggression, energy and sharp attacking instincts. Hartley offers the control that Donati was signed to deliver but in recent months has grown in stature as a Celtic player and Scotland international with a mature reading of the game complemented by excellent passing and positioning. One little-mentioned statistic showed that Hartley had a pass completion rate of 96% when he was substituted in the Camp Nou.

In my opinion, a manager either settles on a midfield pairing or reverts to one central playmaker – and Hartley, sometimes reminiscent of Paul McStay, is one player with the full range of attributes needed for that role.

Of course, Strachan could always do something radically different. It would be too much to hope that he might go crazy and play a 4-3-3 formation against Gretna. He also certainly has the players to adopt the 3-5-2 system that worked so well for Martin O’Neill for so long, using Hartley and Donati or Sno as holding midfielders. Allowing Brown to focus on attack while McGeady and Nakamura, or preferably Robson, take the offensive wide roles.

One thing is for sure – a squad with a huge amount of talent has been performing well short of its potential in recent weeks with confidence waning on the field and off. It is also clear that despite unfair criticism of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and unrealistic expectations of Georgios Samaras, the understandable shading in Scott McDonald’s form has left Celtic looking goal-shy.

There is room for worry that the approaching match with Rangers will be like watching Alex Higgins play Cliff Thorburn at snooker. Higgins did his best to entertain and was either brilliant or awful. Thorburn played the most soul-destroying form of anti-snooker – but he often won.

Full Time: Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Celtic

Scorers:
Brandao (6) , Lucarelli (8)

Gordon Strachan set his team out in almost exactly the same way as for the trip to Moscow to play Spartak with Hartley replacing McGeady on the left, the only change from that side being Gary Caldwell who retained his place from domestic duty at the expense of John Kennedy.

If the Celtic players thought they would have a chance to settle into the match, they were in for a rude awakening when Stephen McManus was put under pressure by Scott Brown pass and the centre back's awful touch fell to Brandao who shot Shakhtar ahead in six minutes.

It almost got worse one minute later when Lucarelli fired just over but the Italian had only seconds to wait before taking his chance for Shaktar's second. At that stage, Celtic were ragged and the full-backs, Wilson and Naylor, yet to report for duty.

It was shooting practice for the Ukranians with Celtic looking a hapless bunch. Scott Brown in particular, so outstanding recently, was having a Champions League night to put Thomas Gravesen to shame, picking up a yellow card in the 16th minute. At that stage he looked unlikely to finish the game, the only doubt being about whether his exit would be at the behest of Strachan or the referee.

He had little time to think about it - Lucarelli shot at Boruc a minute later and Brandao had the ball in the net only to lose out to a tight offside decision on 19 minutes. Bratislava was beginning to look like a day out at Troon.

Just when Lee Naylor, making Kirk Broadfoot look like Paolo Maldini, was mouthing off to Scott McDonald (presumably fancying a punch from someone smaller than his goalkeeper), Srna was fancying his left-back vacancy and firing in a cross that Artur Boruc did well to smother.

Naylor wasn't the only man at fault - Celtic were passing the ball like a team of blind men on stilts. It wasn't looking good.

In the 29th minute, Celtic had their first meaningful attack, Shunsuke Nakamura finding McDonald whose shot was adjudged to have been deflected for a corner. However, the Japanese international failed to beat the first man from the set piece. Moments later, Nakamura had a free-kick wide on the right which he fired in only to see Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink head over from six yards.

Celtic were gaining some possession but finding Shakhtar closing them down 25 yards out with text book defending.

On 33 minutes, Scott McDonald drew the first save of the match from Pyatov after a splendid one-two with Massiomo Donatti. Nakamura again squandered the resultant corner.

Things were starting to look better for Celtic and a sweeping move which had Vennegoor of Hesselink combine well with McDonald saw the Aussie striker harshly adjudged to have fouled the goalkeeper.

But then, panic again. Crosses from the right had been the order of the night and Jadson almost benefited only to be denied heroically by Boruc who held a second shot from the same player half a minute later.

Celtic went straight up the pitch and the front two put the Shakhtar keeper under all sorts of pressure to offer a glimmer of hope. There were definite signs that the home defence had weaknesses for Celtic to exploit as the half-time whistle approached but there was to be no goal despite another corner on half time which led only to another Shakhtar attack and a further scare.

Much talking required by the Celtic manager.

But 15 minutes is a long time, memories are shoret and people are stupid so those who hadn't out their house on Shakhtar with stupid online live betting were probably imagining all kinds of heroics.

Whose afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf...

As the second half began, Celtic enjoyed more possession and looked more composed although Boruc had to look lively to stop a goal-bound deflection early on.

But Shakhtar, understandably showing less urgency, were still dangerous and Srna hit the side netting before Brandao headed over, having split the defence yet again.

Celtic were looking better with Brown and Hartley imposing themselves on the midfiled but Shakhtar's counters were truly frightening and Lucarelli tested Boruc again on the hour mark.

Celtic replaced Nakamura, who had contributed nothing, with Aiden McGeady but Shakhtar continued to raid down the right firing balls into the Celtic box at will.

Shakhtar rested Jadson, replacing him with Castillo, for a team looking utterly untroubled.

In what looked like a shout for "high ball time", Chris Killen was brought on to replace McDonald, whose buzzing runs had up to that point provided one of Celtic's few threats.

On 70 minutes, Lucarelli was replaced by Gladkiy but Celtic's route one football could have paid off when Vennegoor of Hesselink won the ball in the air only to head wide.

McGeady was causing some problems getting Celtic forward on that left flank that had proved troublesome all night. But Brandao continued to torment Celtic skinning Mark Wilson on the other side while Brown, by now collecting fouls gae away a free kick which was blasted over from 25 yards.

On 75 minutes, a crude tackle by McManus gave Shakhtar another free kick in a central area 23 yards out but Fernandinho's shot was high and wide. Three minutes later brown was penalised again and looked to be living on borrowed time but there was no movement from the bench.

McManus had an excellent chance on 79 minutes but his header from McGeady's free kick was more of a clearance. Seconds later Boruc denied Fernandinho from 30 yards and the defence somehow scrambled the ball wide.

With Shakhtar still looking the more likely team to score, Maciej Zurawski replaced Venneoor of Hesselink in the last throw of the dice, five minutes from time.

For a desperate Celtic, McGeady found Killen whose shot was saved by Pyatov but a second header when the ball was played back in missed the target. Donati then hit the side netting with Celtic's surge coming far too late.

McGeady continued to try hard and made a great late run into the box that resulted in a corner but celtic could make nothing of it.

The whistle almost came as a relief that Celtic hadn't conceded more goals, especially after Castillo almost rubbed salt into the wounds in injury time, firing just over.

All Celtic's pre-match confidence proved to be in vain, easily outclassed by the Ukrainians in an often chaotic performance. A slight improvement in the second half was no consolation for a team that yet again has preserved the worst away record in Champions League history.

Shakhtar Donetsk: Pyatov, Srna, Hubschman, Kucher, Rat, Ilsinho, Lewandowski, Fernandinho, Lucarelli (Gladkiy, 70), Jadson (Castillo, 64), Brandao. Subs (not used): Shust, Duljaj, Gay, Byelik, Yezerskiy

Booked: Srna 30

Celtic: Boruc, Wilson, Caldwell, McManus, Naylor, Donati, Hartley, Scott Brown, Nakamura (McGeady, 64), McDonald (Killen, 67), Vennegoor of Hesselink Zurawski, 85). Subs (not used): Mark Brown, Sno, Kennedy, O'Dea.

Booked: Brown (16)

Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)

Half-time: Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Celtic

Scorers:
Shakhtar Donetsk: Brandao (6) , Lucarelli (8)

Gordon Strachan set his team out in almost exactly the same way as for the trip to Moscow to play Spartak with Hartley replacing McGeady on the left, the only change from that side being Gary Caldwell who retained his place from domestic duty at the expense of John Kennedy.

If the Celtic players thought they would have a chance to settle into the match, they were in for a rude awakening when Stephen McManus was put under pressure by Scott Brown pass and the centre back's awful touch fell to Brandao who shot Shakhtar ahead in six minutes.

It almost got worse one minute later when Lucarelli fired just over but the Italian had only seconds to wait before taking his chance for Shaktar's second. At that stage, Celtic were ragged and the full-backs, Wilson and Naylor, yet to report for duty.

It was shooting practice for the Ukranians with Celtic looking a hapless bunch. Scott Brown in particular, so outstanding recently, was having a Champions League night to put Thomas Gravesen to shame, picking up a yellow card in the 16th minute. At that stage he looked unlikely to finish the game, the only doubt being about whether his exit would be at the behest of Strachan or the referee.

He had little time to think about it - Lucarelli shot at Boruc a minute later and Brandao had the ball in the net only to lose out to a tight offside decision on 19 minutes. Bratislava was beginning to look like a day out at Troon.

Just when Lee Naylor, making Kirk Broadfoot look like Paolo Maldini, was mouthing off to Scott McDonald (presumably fancying a punch from someone smaller than his goalkeeper), Srna was fancying his left-back vacancy and firing in a cross that Artur Boruc did well to smother.

Naylor wasn't the only man at fault - Celtic were passing the ball like a team of blind men on stilts. It wasn't looking good.

In the 29th minute, Celtic had their first meaningful attack, Shunsuke Nakamura finding McDonald whose shot was adjudged to have been deflected for a corner. However, the Japanese international failed to beat the first man from the set piece. Moments later, Nakamura had a free-kick wide on the right which he fired in only to see Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink head over from six yards.

Celtic were gaining some possession but finding Shakhtar closing them down 25 yards out with text book defending.

On 33 minutes, Scott McDonald drew the first save of the match from Pyatov after a splendid one-two with Massiomo Donatti. Nakamura again squandered the resultant corner.

Things were starting to look better for Celtic and a sweeping move which had Vennegoor of Hesselink combine well with McDonald saw the Aussie striker harshly adjudged to have fouled the goalkeeper.

But then, panic again. Crosses from the right had been the order of the night and Jadson almost benefited only to be denied heroically by Boruc who held a second shot from the same player half a minute later.

Celtic went straight up the pitch and the front two put the Shakhtar keeper under all sorts of pressure to offer a glimmer of hope. There were definite signs that the home defence had weaknesses for Celtic to exploit as the half-time whistle approached but there was to be no goal despite another corner on half time which led only to another Shakhtar attack and a further scare.

Much talking required by the Celtic manager.

But 15 minutes is a long time, memories are shoret and people are stupid so those who haen't out their house on Shakhtar with stupid online live betting are probably imagining all kinds of heroics.

Whose afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf...
Shakhtar Donetsk: Pyatov, Srna, Hubschman, Kucher, Rat, Ilsinho, Lewandowski, Fernandinho, Lucarelli, Jadson, Brandao. Subs: Shust, Duljaj, Castillo, Gay, Byelik, Gladkiy, Yezerskiy

Celtic: Boruc, Wilson, Caldwell, McManus, Naylor, Donati, Hartley, Scott Brown, Nakamura, McDonald, Vennegoor of Hesselink. Subs: Mark Brown, Zurawski, Sno, Killen, Kennedy, McGeady, O'Dea.

Booked: Brown (16)

Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)

Dull, boring, beautiful football will do just fine

Celtic will play Shakhtar Donetsk in tonight’s opening Champions League match with one statistic illustrating the vast change the club has gone through since Martin O’Neill’s resignation. Of the 13 players who featured when the teams last met – less than three years ago – only Aiden McGeady remains at the club.

And none of the players from that truly awful night in Donetsk when Celtic were turned over 3-0 will feature tonight.

Those two matches against what was then a clever but unexceptional side showed just how far short Celtic were as Champions League challengers as well as betraying a naivety in Martin O’Neill. At Celtic Park, Shakhtar lost two men within the first 60 minutes, yet O’Neill made one of the greatest miscalculations of his career.

Rather than press on for more goals that would have allowed Celtic to at least match Shakhtar in the head-to-head standings that would become crucial if the sides were level on points, O’Neill was content to protect a one-goal lead. Afterwards, having secured Celtic’s first win of the tournament, O’Neill would fancifully claim that Celtic were in with a “fighting chance”.

Little could have been further from the truth. The reality was that the Ukrainians would only need to match Celtic’s points total to go into the UEFA Cup and so Celtic’s chance of emulating the run of the previous season was virtually dead there and then.

Though it has rarely been said openly, there was room for strong suspicion that he had failed to fully understand the rules. Ultimately, that was all academic as Shakhtar defeated a greatly weakened Barcelona in the final game, having previously failed to score in any match other than Celtic’s visit to Ukraine.

Tonight, the difference in Celtic will not just be in personnel. Having learned and greatly improved since last season’s campaign, Gordon Strachan will be haunted by a statistic of his own – last season Celtic conceded nine goals in three away group fixtures. So it should surprise no-one if the approach will be very similar to that which secured a valuable score draw in Moscow just a few weeks ago.

Strachan’s critics have been muted in recent weeks, the team having delivered goals and excitement as well as points. But hopefully, they aren’t just waiting to wail about an opening Champions League performance that should focus on defending and, Strachan might feel, the duller the better..

With Celtic, Shakhtar, and Benfica unlikely to be separated by more than two points come the end of the group campaign, one point each in Donetsk and Lisbon would give Celtic a tremendous chance of qualifying from an extremely difficult group.

The energy and attacking instincts of Scott Brown, matched with the positional control of Massimo Donati, give Celtic the potential to gain control of the midfield. If they do so, the points will come, even against a club that spent £40m on players in the summer.

But, having come through the group stages for the first time last season and having overcome the most difficult qualifier imaginable against Spartak, Celtic have won a degree of respect that entitles the team to face the biggest challenges with justifiable confidence rather than fear or foolish expectation.

So now is the time for the players to show the world that Celtic are a side to be reckoned with. And the fans can learn to love, dull, boring football.

Rangers stiff signing for £75k

Good old Dave! Who says he’s tight with his money? After it was widely reported that Stephen Naismith had followed the growing trend of players donating a portion of their transfer payment to their old club – a very noble gesture – Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston has set the record straight: “It is not true that Steven gave us £75,000. We have not received a donation from him.

“It is true that he waived the fee, but that was to help Rangers meet the price we had asked.”

After losing out on Derek Riordan and David Murray’s brash claims about excessive spending at Ibrox, it is interesting to note that such relatively small sums seem to make such a difference. Perhaps Rangers really are that cash-strapped or perhaps more plausibly the “£1.9m” Rangers were reported to have paid (remember they were adamant they would not pay Kilmarnock's price) actually became £1.925m with Naismith’s contribution allowing Murray and his friends in the media to claim Rangers were not swayed by lowly Killie who had demanded £2m all along.

What a great start to a professional relationship when a young footballer is expected to use his own money to save face for Dave.

SPL should tackle St Mirren after Celtic abuse

Way back in November 2006, a St Mirren stadium announcer took it upon himself, without prior authorisation, to remark on "disgraceful chanting" by Celtic supporters at Love Street urging fans "to keep the good name of St Mirren intact by not responding to sectarian songs being sung at today's game".

At that time, St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour responded: "The comments were definitely off his own back but I thought it was fair comment. We certainly did not ask for it to be said. I have no problem with what [the announcer] said and I am glad to say this is not a problem we have at St Mirren."

Well, Mr Gilmour, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander and anyone who witnessed the behaviour of St Mirren fans at their ground in the 5-1 thrashing by Celtic should be asking the club and the SPL to take a stance against the conduct of their own supporters.

The recent standards of unacceptable conduct as set out by the football authorities, specifically prohibit fans from abusing players by raising doubts about their sexuality. Yet Paul Hartley was continually abused by St Mirren fans with the chant “Paul Hartley is GAY”.

Therefore, unless the SPL match observer was deaf or only paying attention to Celtic fans, the rules in place now clearly demand an investigation into St Mirren.

It is amazing that the fans of Scotland’s other clubs continually sneer at the conduct of Celtic and Rangers fans when they are often rife with bigots of their own. But St Mirren chose to make themselves part of this story and now is the time to insist that they take their own responsibilities seriously.

A person present at or in the immediate environs of an Official Match engages in Unacceptable Conduct where their conduct is violent and/or disorderly.

Disorderly conduct includes (i) conduct which stirs up or sustains or is likely or designed to stir up or sustain, hatred or ill will against or towards a group of persons based on their membership or presumed membership of a group defined by reference to a category mentioned below or against an individual who is or is presumed to be a member of such group; (ii) using threatening, abusive or insulting words or conduct; or (iii) displaying any writing or other thing which is threatening, abusive or insulting.

“Presumed” means presumed by the person or persons engaged in the conduct.

The categories referred to above are:-

• female or male gender;

• colour, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origin;

• membership of a religious group or of a social or cultural group with a perceived religious affiliation;

• sexual orientation;

• transgender identity; and disability.