Squeaky Bum Time

THIS is where it gets interesting - very interesting, as - having got their own head-to-head out of the way, the Old Firm take on the other four "Top Six" clubs in their race to the SPL title.

Championships have been won and lost in this mad dash down the home straight and I don't suppose the 2011 finale will be any different. Pressure does funny things to players and managers, more-so when that pressure means so much, in deciding a title. So which team will crack?

I see this as another year when it goes the full distance, before the helicopter pilot is given his definite final instruction as to which ground to head for with the SPL trophy. Rangers have the weaker squad in terms of numbers, but, those old hands they do have in situ, have been over the course before. They know what it takes to edge ahead in a tight race to the prize.

This is new territory for some in the Celtic ranks, but, like a less-favoured horse heading down the finishing straight at Epsom in the Derby, they've got perhaps the right jockey on board. If Walter Smith is Lester Piggot - with the medals already in his pocket, Neil Lennon is Frankie Dettori, the man on a mission, someone who would literally carry the horse across the line if required.

The fires probably burn fiercer within Lennie, not forgetting also his coaching team, who have been with him in the trenches as players. I feel maybe the desire is greater within the Celtic camp: that desire could prove positive, or it could all prove too much. Likewise the Rangers' players wish to send Walter Smith away with another league title, could lead them to do daft things.

Or, it could provide us with a memorable last four games (five in Celtic's case) - that game-in-hand gives Celtic a marginal advantage, can they make it count?

RANGERS got off lightly from their latest appearance before the UEFA court in Nyon. They should accept their punishment and decide to finally, root out the cancerous element in their support.

But, while there might be some truth in Martin Bain's post-hearing statement about those who have it in for the club, the fact he chose to make that statement worries me.

Rangers are not victims Mr Bain - regardless of others drawing attention to the songs of some of your followers, you cannot deny they sing them. Stop them singing these songs and your problem goes away. You haven't pursued the lunatic fringe with enough vigour to silence them - doing so is now your challenge. But be prepared, these guys will never surrender, they will have to be killed-off.

IF THE SFA "blazers" weren't so-far up their own backsides when it comes to their game's place in the national fabric, they might have time to take a look at this week's events around Murrayfield - where an SRU review panel has come-up with draft plans for league re-construction.

This will see, within two years, fewer "top" clubs in Scottish rugby. Now Scottish rugby doesn't have even one team of the size of either half of the Old Firm. In fact they don't have an Aberdeen, a Hearts or a Hibs, far less a Celtic or Rangers.

But, from being a poor second, Ayr Rugby Club for instance, has become THE premier sporting club in that town, taking over from Ayr United. The proposals which will come in in rugby in autumn 2012 will offer that club a chance to pull further ahead of United.

If the new look works, football will find its number one place increasingly under threat in places other than Ayr. The proposals have a real chance of going through, because the SRU consulted widely and their public at large told them what they wanted - whereupon they acted.

The football public has been telling the SPL for some time, they want a bigger league, but, their words are not being listened to.

Not listening to your customers is the fastest way known for any organisation to go bust - Scottish football should learn that listen - quickly.