An Encouraging Result, But Third Still Looks LIke Being The Best Celtic Can Manage

IT IS an old Scottish habit – to have the wind permanently in our faces. There is a wee bit of Private Fraser in us all, perhaps. There certainly was when it came to forecasting the outcome of the Celtic v Manchester City game.

OK, Celtic's defence wasn't great in Barcelona, but, on the night, the Catalans did just about everything properly. Losing 4-0 say might have looked better for Celtic, but, it would still have been a heavy loss, and maybe, after the seven-goal thrashing, there was a wee bit of: “We're awe doomed”, in the way we Scots look forward, though we couldnae see, to guess and fear.

Anyway, a 3-3 draw with City has Celtic and the rest of us up here in Scotland, feeling better about ourselves – except, good result though it was, we should remember a couple of things – Celtic were at home, and, on the night, City were still the better team.

Celtic's hopes of reaching the last 16 were always going to depend on how they got on head-to-head with Monchengladbach, rather than how they got on against City and Barca – their next two Champions League games will define Celtic's season far more than Wednesday night's game will.

They have a chance of finishing above the Germans, but, right now, of the four teams in Group C, Celtic remain the most-likely to finish bottom. So, enjoy the comparative boost which not losing at home has given the Hoops, but, never forget the reality – finishing third and extending their European campaign into the Europa League is still, realistically, Celtic's best hope for this season.

I STILL say, until the clubs accept “strict liability” for their fans' behaviour, OBFA, the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act has to remain on the statute books. The decision not to hit either Hibs or Rangers over the post-match scenes at Hampden back in May was correct in law – and, while it is sometimes an ass, the Law is a non-emotional being.

Sure, emotionally, these scenes did nothing for Scottish football. As the law stands, there was nothing Hibs and Rangers could do about the events.

I can understand why the Hibs fans invaded the pitch at the end. After over a century without a Scottish Cup win, it was too-easy for emotions to run riot.

I can understand why that wee knot of Hibs loonies took it upon themselves to go and goad the Rangers' fans – the Bigot Brothers have never had a monopoly on Neds.

I can accept some of Ra Peepul would react as they did, coming on to the park themselves – they have past form on this.

BUT, until the clubs grasp the nettle and self-police their fans, through implementing “strict liability”, they (the clubs), are safe from having to take responsibility, and, that's fact.

FAREWELL then Big Sam, it was fun while it lasted. Sadly, by falling for that Daily Telegraph “sting” operation, Sam merely gave those in England who knew his appointment as England boss was an accident waiting to happen, ammunition to say: “Told you it would all end in tears”.

Being England boss truly is a poisoned chalice. I wonder who will be the next numpty to take-up the challenge. Of course, when we face the Saxons in November, poor old Gareth Southgate will be the man in charge. I wish him good luck – he will need it in the face of the combined lack of trust of the English media and football public.

In the 70-years since the late Sir Walter Winterbottom was their first managerial appointment, the FA has, to my mind, only ever made four good appointments – Winterbottom, who set the template, and was driven out of office by the club appointees to the FA; Sir Alf Ramsey, who won them the World Cup, and was sacked seven years later – without a succession plan being in place; Sir Bobby Robson, who was driven from office by press criticism and dear old Joe Mercer, who probably didn't want the job in the first place. The rest have been good, bad or indifferent, but have suffered from the archaic way the FA is set-up.

And, in case it has slipped your memory, we up here have not exactly treated our national managers well, and, our system is, if anything, less-organised and less fit for purpose than the FA's.

SPEAKING of Scotland bosses. WGS has just announced his latest Scotland squad, for our next two World Cup qualifiers.

I have been doing some research into Scotland teams through the years and, right now, WGS is doing a lot of things correctly. For instance, we now have a fairly-settled Scotland squad, with a bit of continuity of selection, which has to be good.

Now, it may well be that our current squad lacks the sprinkling of stardust we enjoyed in the past, but, we should remember, even when we had players who are now in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame and who were, at the time, playing regularly at the top of the English game, and going a long way in Europe with their Scottish clubs – we had some horrendous failed qualifying campaigns.

It might be argued that, at times in the past we had such a glut of choices, it was easy to make the wrong ones.

For example, our failed qualifying campaign for the 1966 World Cup finals in England. In the qualifying games, we used the following players:

Goalkeepers: Campbell Forsyth, Bill Brown, Adam Blacklaw.

Full-backs: Alex Hamilton, Jim Kennedy, Eddie McCreadie, John Greig and David Provan.

Central-defenders: John Greig, Jackie McGrory, Billy McNeill, Ron McKinnon, Ron Yeats.

Wingers: Jimmy Johnstone, Alex Scott, Willie Henderson, John Hughes, David Wilson, Willie Johnston, Jim Forrest.

Central midfielders: Jim Baxter, Davie Gibson, Paddy Crerand, Willie Hamilton, Billy Bremner, Bobby Murdoch, Charlie Cooke.

Strikers: Stevie Chalmers, Denis Law, Neil Martin, Alan Gilzean.

That's 30 players – pick a first XI from that lot.

Our worst European Championships qualifying campaign was for the 1980 tournament, when under manager Jock Stein, the following players were used:

Goalkeepers: Alan Rough

Full-backs: Sandy Jardine, Danny McGrain, Stewart Kennedy, Willie Donnachie, Frankie Gray, Ian Munro, George Burley.

Central-defenders: Gordon McQueen, Martin Buchan, Kenny Burns, Alan Hansen, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, David Narey.

Wingers: Archie Gemmill, John Robertson, Arthur Graham, Eamonn Bannon, Davie Provan, Davie Cooper.

Central-midfielders: Graeme Souness, Asa Hartford, David Narey, John Wark.

Strikers: Kenny Dalglish, Andy Gray,Joe Jordan, Derek Johnstone, Steve Archibald, Ian Wallace.

Another group of 30 players, including several legends of the game – they won one game out of six, the last one, when the group was already settled.

The truth is, when it comes to Scotland qualifying for big tournament finals – it has never been easy; perhaps it is meant, always to be difficult for us.