This and That - Season Preview for Scotland

Scottish Championship

At a first glance it looks like The Championship will be far more interesting than The Premiership this upcoming season. Hearts, Hibernian and Rangers are all realistically in with a chance of winning the league, with one of the others getting promoted through the play offs. Out of the three, I’m surprisingly leaning towards Hibs strangely enough, which is a big jump from where I was at the end of last season.

Hibs relegation last season was as painful and infuriating as I could have imagined. Terry Butcher’s insipid run as manager produced few thrills as he somehow contrived to take a side who were in relative comfort in lower mid table and drop them a division lower. What’s telling is that Hibs would have actually been bottom of the league if it hadn’t been for Hearts 15 point deduction. This was a Hearts side completely depleted due to financial instability essentially playing hungry youngsters and journeymen. Do one Terry Butcher, just do one!

However, I’m starting to think that Hibs might have a decent chance this upcoming season. I’m not overly excited to see Alan Stubbs as the manager, but anything would be a step up from Bleedy Butcher at this point. What’s more, Hibs have had a clean out and are looking to start a fresh. Extending Jason Cumming’s stay at the club is an excellent piece of business and also signing Scott Allan out from under Ranger’s nose seems like a real statement of intent. There’s also the chance that with Stubbs now the manager that some of the younger lads in Everton’s squad might get a chance to come over for a loan period.

This will benefit Hibs to have some extra legs but it will also help Everton as it will give the youngsters a chance to play in a title chase with actual stakes while also getting a chance to play in big games as Tynecastle and Ibrox. I’m certainly feeling slightly more confident for Hibs now than I was before Butcher was removed. As a plastic Hibee, I’d be very pleased to see them come straight back up, either directly or via the play offs. Here’s hoping Stubbs knocks it out of the park on his first attempt.

What about those Jambo’s over in Midlothian? Hearts, with the future of their club seemingly now financially secure, Hearts can now focus on what’s happening on the pitch as opposed to worrying as much about what is happening off it. It says a lot about the player’s hard work and the diligent management of Gary Locke that they amassed such a point’s haul last season. Doomed to relegation from the beginning of the season thanks to a hefty point’s penalty and no money to invest in players, Heart did an admirable job by never giving up and avoiding the ignominy of being relegated by Hibs at their own stadium.

It sticks in the craw somewhat that Locke was turfed following the season, especially when he had done so well and seemed like a decent bloke. It should never be forgotten that Hearts would not have finished bottom of the table if it hadn’t been for the point deduction. For such an inexperienced and small squad, that is a genuinely impressive achievement and it seems spectacularly unfair that Locke wasn’t given another season to try and get them out of The Championship. The fact that his replacement is Craig “If it’s me and a wet dish rag in a Charisma Competition, the ref would decide it to be a no-contest” Levin doesn’t exactly give cause for optimism, but you’d have to think even he’d struggle to mess this up. Let’s wait and see

Now, what of THE Rangers? What can we expect from them this season? I’m very interested to see whether they top the league or not. You’d have to think that they would be the official favourites to win, especially have walking League One and Two, but I’m of the belief that they’ll find The Championship a completely different animal than the two previous divisions. For one, the calibre of side will be a jump. Ally McCoist has gone for experienced hands in Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd rather than relying on the younger players. This may in fact gain Rangers promotion, but it seems like quite a short sighted stance to take.

You’d have to question how long Ranger’s can keep putting off developing youngsters and buying themselves out of bother, especially when the next financial nightmare could be waiting round the corner. You’d think that it would be in their interests more to give the youngsters games, let them improve and then sell them on. Dundee United have had decent success with that model, so you’d think that it would benefit Rangers. It would also strike me personally that it would be more advantageous to Ranger’s to play the younger players now, when sides like Hearts and Hibs will be doing the same, rather than chucking them in the deep end should they make The Premiership.

Even if Ranger’s do get promoted this year, which is highly possible, is McCoist really going to be able to make the signings he needs to keep the club competitive? Daly, Miller, Black, Boyd and Co will all be a year older by then. It just seems to me that McCoist is focusing too much on the present and not 3-5 years in the future. With Celtic likely now missing Champions League, they’ll probably have little to invest themselves, but there’s no way that McCoist could have known that at the time. Ranger’s business model just seems to remind me of TNA Wrestling’s, and we all know how that’s turning out at the moment.

I have a feeling that The Championship is going to provide an engrossing climax this season if nothing else. There could be three or even more sides in the chase as the season comes to an end. I think The Championship might actually do better TV ratings than the Premiership this season. I look forward to seeing how it plays out

Scottish Premiership

I think we all know that Celtic are going to win it this year, but at least a couple of factors have come along that might make it a little bit closer than usual.
Firstly, Celtic’s seeming early elimination from The Champions League will give them little to spend and will likely lead to players like Frasier Forster and Virgil Van Dijk leaving the fold. It’s not impossible that The Hoops can claw their way back into the tie, but it’s certainly unlikely. This will have a two-pronged effect of giving Celtic less money to spend on transfers but also one less front to fight on. You’d have to think that even with the distraction of European Football, Celtic could have used the 20 Million windfall to strengthen sufficiently enough to maintain their league dominance. Without that money, you would still have Celtic as favourites but it will be a real blow to them to lose the income and will almost certainly lead to player sales. It will also be a shame lose the spectacle of Champions League nights at Celtic Park. Regardless of your opinion of Celtic or The Old Firm in general, whenever they play a big team at home in Europe it’s always worth watching for the atmosphere alone.

As it currently stands, it looks like St Johnston and Aberdeen will also by crashing out of Europe as both lost their opening leg matches. Aberdeen are the side probably most likely to mount a challenge to Celtic this season, and even then it probably won’t be for the duration of the season. Having the distraction of European games would have almost certainly affected The Don’s domestic form but the added increase of revenue could have led to them picking up an extra player or two who could make a real difference in a season or two.

Aberdeen’s only real hope though is to push Celtic perhaps as far as April in the title picture and win a domestic cup. They are currently 2-0 down against Real Soceidad and I sadly can’t see them over turning that. I’d be delighted if they did though. It’d be nice to see a Scottish side do well but it would be equally nice to draw The Don’s in the Europa Group Stages as it’s a relatively easy journey to make and the atmosphere at both games would be cracking. Even without further investment, Celtic are a stronger side than Aberdeen and I expect them to win the league with a month or so to go, which is a slight improvement than it’s been the past couple of seasons.

Motherwell and Dundee United could potentially be in the chasing pack as well but I’m still hedging my bets on both of them, United especially. Ryan Gauld may only be the start of a possible exodus from United as the sharks circle their side. United have done spectacularly well to develop a host of very promising young players who will likely all grow into very good mature ones, and I hope they stay and develop at United as long as possible. Having one more side in the mix is imperative to The Premiership at the moment and these young lads will have a much better chance of regular games if they stay within the fold for now. I’ll be keeping a close look out for Gary McKay-Steven, who I see as a future Everton target one day. He’d be a great addition and I’m sure Roberto Martinez would love him.

Motherwell is a side where I sadly must plead ignorance, much as it annoys me to do so. I really don’t know what entirely they are capable of as I just haven’t watched enough of them, which is a real shame as the few times I have watched they have impressed. I’m sure a lot of supports of The Well will be thinking that they should be considered favourites to be Celtic’s top challengers this year. I just feel that Aberdeen have the momentum from last season. Winning that League Cup and also stopping Celtic’s invincible run seems to have made the whole area start believing again. The delighted street parades after the Cup win creates a feeling of a team and a local area that have had a taste of success and who aren’t ready to let it go just yet.

It’s a shame that watching a side force Celtic to take a little longer to win the league than usual is something to look forward to, but that’s the Scottish Premiership right now. However, what it does show is how the sides below Celtic, bit by agonising bit, are starting to gradually catch up. It could be that not only are they improving but that Celtic are getting actively worse as well.

Celtic should win the league this year, they just should. However, it won’t be quite as easy as it’s been recently and I’ll take what I can get at this point. I believe that this league and the Scottish Team can dig itself out of the rut it’s found itself in but it’s going to take time and the people who run the Scottish game are going to have to commit to trying to keep the league as competitive as possible. If in a couple of years we’re back to the same duopoly as before, all the good work will have been for naught.

Here’s hoping that this isn't the case.

Peace Out