It's Bull Week

I KNOW, you've read the heading and are asking: What the fuck is Bull Week? Well, Bull Week is an expression I first heard while doing missionary work in England. It is apparently the week before the week at the end of which, English factories shut for the annual two-week summer holidays. Traditionally, during Bull Week, the workers, for the only time in the year, worked flat-out, to ensure they had a healthy wage packet, bolstered by bonuses, to take into their holidays.

Ergo, with the big prizes to be settled, this is the week when the Old Firm players have to find overdrive to clinch the title, and in Celtic's case a potential League and Cup double; Hearts and Dundee United have to sort out third and fourth in their clashes with the Big Two and, at the foot of the SPL table, it's survive or bust for St Mirren and Hamilton.

'Twould be nice if the whole circus was settled with a flairfest of high-tempo attacking football from everyone, but hey, this is Scotland. The betting is, it will be grim oop North.

So, just what do I see happening this week? I have a feeling Rangers will cling-on to their one point advantage and clinch title 54, while Hamilton will carry through their great Houdini act at the expense of St Mirren.

My leaning towards a Rangers title was strengthened over the weekend when I bumped into a former Scottish player and manager, of the Celtic persuasion, who fears the worst for the Hoops.

"It's Lennon," he explained. "His teams don't win the crunch games - Ross County last season, the League Cup Final, Inverness. When they HAVE to win the pressure gets to him and through him to his players: Rangers will grim it out".

IT IS certainly not grim in one part of the North of England, with a shaft of heavenly light piercing the perma-gloom around Trafford Park. Title number 19 is heading for the Theatre of Dreams and once again the Govan Godzilla has seen-off the efforts of the rest to drag him down.

SAF might not be the most gallus and gregarious guy to sally forth from the People's Republic of Govan to change the world, but he's a winner. This is certainly not the most-entertaining Manchester United team ever to be sent out, but they are winners. How does he do it - and keep doing it?

If I was a Barcelona member (I think we're nearly all fans), I'd be worried about the up-coming Wembley trip. If the Special One could de-rail them last year, what might the Extra-Special Scottish One do this year?

JUST a thought on the Scottish election and the aftermath. If the London parties do decide to organise a snap referendum on independence, I think you'd find so-many Scots would be pissed-off with them, we'd vote Yes and we would have FREEDOM!!!

This might mean, if it happened quickly enough, we could have a Scottish football team at the London Olympics - Scotland v Britain (ok England) for the gold medal, at Wembley: bring it on.

I DON'T watch a lot of TV; in fact, I tend to pick up programmes later on the BBC iplayer and it's equivalent on the other channels. Last week, browsing the iplayer, I happened across Special 1 TV - a short, Spitting Image-type programme based round the notion of Jose the Special One having his own TV station, with Wayne Rooney as his reporter in the field, and Sven Goran Eriksson as a radio dj - it's hilarious, well-worth watching.