TODAY'S post must kick-off with congratulations to Celtic, for winning the Scottish Premiership title with seven fixtures still to play - the earliest the top league title has been won since 1929.
We accept that on the wilder fringes of that strange planet inhabited by the tribe known as: Ra Peepul, this 45th title will be greeted with something between feigned indifference and outright hatred; we will be assured by the orange and blue tinted cyber warriors, this title is somehow "tainted". One can only pity these poor creatures, crying as they are in the wilderness.
It is no fault of Celtic that the other 11 teams in the Premiership are unable to mount a sustained challenge to them. Yes, Celtic, through historical reasons, the financial clout which their presence in the Champions League and their huge following gives them, have a huge fiscal advantage over their rivals.
It is regretable that, rather than recruiting and nurturing good, young, Scottish players, Celtic have chosen to recruit and nurture mainly "cheap" non-Scottish imports. However, it is even more-regretable that the other 11 clubs have either aped this approach, but, through lack of money etc, have sometimes chosen to recruit even-cheaper non-Scots, or, have failed to heed what I call the Avis option.
To explain, this is a reference to the old Avis Rent-a-Car advert, in which the company insisted that, since they weren't as big a company as main rivals Hertz, they had to try and work harder to compete.
I would like to think that, for season 2014-15, the other 11 will indeed, adopt the Avis approach, work harder and by so doing, make it harder for Celtic to defend their latest title. Such an approach would make for a much brighter future for Scottish football.
JUST a wee thought which was dredged-up this week during a conversation with a Hibs-supporting pal, who reckons it might make sense for Terry Butcher and his team to go flat-out to get into the relegation/promotion play-off between the Premiership and Championship at the end of this season - then lose and get relegated.
Playing in next season's Championship, against Hearts, Rangers (assuming there isn't another administration/liquidation scenario for either or both before then), Dunfermline, Falkirk etc, would, so the theory goes, offer a bit more income - near-full houses at Easter Road against the Sons and Cousins of William, plus improved crowds to watch a team playing at the top rather than bottom end of the league, plus, be a better place in which Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas could carry-out the necessary restorative surgery.
That's the theory anyway.
MENTION of Ra Peepul brings me to today's latest financial news from what some of the Celtic Family, with justifiable humour, are referring to as "Ibrokes".
Over-spending, living way beyond their means was perhaps the main reason for the travails which brought down the Murray incarnation of the Rangers' brand - and opened the door to the almost-criminal mis-management of the Whyte era, then the rampant shenanignans of Charles Green and his successors/associates.
It appears that CEO Wallace is attempting, at long last, to bring a touch of reality and fiscal good governance to the club, but, just as another Wallace, all these centuries ago, was under-mined and eventually undone by jealous nobles, it could be that what Wallace has to say at the end of his 120-day review, will not be listened-to by his audience.
The figures tell us - Rangers have been losing money at the rate of around £1.5 million per month. There are caveats in place, the effect that the rate of losses are slowing - but, there is a difference between slowing the rate of losses and turning a profit.
Without profits, Rangers will not return to the one-time state of Scottish football being a two-horse race and, with no other horse training-on to challenge the current champions, there is nothing but a cold dark future for the game up here.
And, by the way, when is somebody going to call the man who would be King's bluff.
The Bunnet used to say, regularly, that a lot of people in Scottish football needed a reality check. Today, that statement is still good, but, a lot of people around Ra Peepul's club, need this reality check more than most.
The Bunnet didn't like doing it, but, he was forced to pay-off the Four Families, before he could turn Celtic around. The reality is, either a one-Rangers' Man-band, or a consortium of well-heeled members of the former Rangers' corporate insiders club - the Wee Arra People, will need to arise and buy-out the guys who currently run the club.
Then, if rumours are correct, they will need to find more money to buy the deeds to Ibrox and Murray Park back from Charlie Green, Craig Whyte, David Murray or whoever holds these.
And, if there is one thing recent history tells us - there are quite a few people who are more-willing to parade their credentials as: "A True Rangers' Man" than to parade their credentials as someone prepared to put real money into the club to turn it around rather than simply turn a profit.
FINALLY - while I welcome the newly-proposed UEFA League of Nations, which will apparently replace international "friendlies" or "challenge matches" - the devil will probably be in the detail.
I will refrain from posting on this subject, until I have read through the proposals line-by-line. Given UEFA's track record, this may well be a means of making the big European nations such as England, Germany, Italy and Spain bigger and richer rather than helping wee nations like Scotland compete better.
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