WE
ARE, as I write, in that period known as: “the calm
before the storm”. In three hours' time, the 2017-18 Scottish
league season will get underway at Celtic Park.
At
the stadium, the unseen army of ancillary workers will already be
setting-up the TV cameras, running the miles of electrical cable and
getting everything into place. The club's ground staff will be making
last-minute preparations, to ensure everything is right for the
pre-game ceremonial, the unfurling of the league flag and so on.
Many
of the furthest-travelled of the Celtic Family will already be en
route to Paradise, while I dare say, those wee scamps who: “watch
yer caur mister”? Will already be looking forward and anticipating
how much their protection racket – sorry, freelance parking company
– will make today.
Look out for more of this in the new season
But,
looking at the bigger picture of this new season, what can we expect?
Pretty-much the same-old, same-old. Anything other than yet another
league title for the defending Champions is well-nigh impossible to
imagine. They are so-far ahead of the rest, the smart betting money
is surely going on how wide is the gulf between Celtic and second
place come the end of hostilities next May.
Can
they complete another Treble, perhaps back-to-back “invincibles”?
I leave the word on that to a Celtic immortal: who might well say:
“Maybes aye, maybes naw”. But, nobody would be surprised if they
did.
Where
is the challenge to come from? I suspect places two to six in the
end-of-season table will go to, and I make no particular forecast as
to final order, so will list them alphabetically – Aberdeen,
Hearts, Hibs, Kilmarnock and Rangers.
At
the other end of the table, I fancy Hamilton's seemingly annual
flirtation with relegation might prove fatal this year, but, as to
who goes into the play-off place – pick any one from the other
five.
As
I said, I don't see many surprises this season. The big media
speculation will centre around Rangers. That club is in a mess, but,
being Rangers, they will still be top six. Mind you, how long will
their manager last? And, can a dressing room, reportedly seriously
split, ever come together to justify their (in Scottish terms) huge
salaries?
Will Pedro see-out the season?
In
the Championship – can Dundee United hold it together for the
entire season and get back to the top-flight, or, will Falkirk
finally sustain their charge throughout the season and get the
automatic promotion place.
I
honestly hope Ayr United sustain their good early-season form
throughout the First Division campaign, while, in the bottom league,
it really is past time Clyde pulled themselves together and got out
of there.
Finally,
I just wonder in which of our remaining World Cup qualifiers we do
the now traditional Scottish trick of pulling disaster from the cusp
of victory and success.
As
I said, Scottish football – same-old, same-old, and I don't see
this new season being any different.
I
SEE Brendan Rodgers was pontificating on matters Heart
of Midlothian this morning. To be fair to the Celtic gaffer, he was
merely, and politely, responding to questions put to him by the
“stenographers” at yesterday's Celtic pre-match press conference.
Brendan Rodgers - polite when perhaps an "F-off was called for"
Oh
how I wish some day, some manager would react to such questions by
saying something like: “It's none of my fucking business, and, in
any case you've mistaken me for someone who gives a fuck about what
is happening outside my own club”.
That
would tell them. I repeat the dismissive aside I got from one
now-retired veteran of our sports-writing trade, who, when I told him
I was off downstairs to hear what the managers had to say about the
game, replied: “In my day, we told them what kind of game it had
been”.
Time
to get back to those days. Football writers are like theatre critics
– they should not be afraid to criticise. For too-long, football
managers and officials in Scotland have been allowed to set any old
shite out before an increasingly-disinterested public.
I
well recall, back in the early days of this century, covering a
Kilmarnock v Dunde United game at Rugby Park which stank so much, you
could have smelled it on the other side of Glasgow. The press corps
were not happy with what they had just endured, as we convened in the
Rugby Park media suite.
It
so happened, then Killie boss Bobby Williamson was having one of his
long-running battles with the media at the time, and, he had decided
to arm himself with a small tape recorder, with which to record the
press conference, intending, on the Monday to check the printed
version of the post-match with what had actually been said.
We
were thus instructed, when addressing Mr Williamson, to begin by
saying our name and out paper. Having laid down the ground rules,
Bobby asked: “First question”?
I
had been primed to be the first Aunt Sally, so, I duly barked out
name and paper, then asked: “How do you justify the 90-minutes of
shite we just watched Bobby”?
Bobby Williamson - didn't like the question, but answered it well
Pausing
only to inform me I was: “A big, useless, biased Ayr
United-supporting C***”, Bobby shrugged his shoulders and agreed,
the match had not been his club's finest hour and a half, before
giving us a reasonable explanation as to why his carefully worked-out
midweek plans had gone awry. We left happy with this.
Next
up was Alex Smith of United. His approach was totally different. He
went all defensive, virtually telling us we didn't know what we were
talking about, before, in the face of a united and hostile press,
agreeing, the game had been fairly dire.
Alex Smith, tried to justify the unjustifiable
So
my pre-season advice to the stenographers is: be more critical, ask
harder questions and do not be afraid to say: “Scottish fitba is
shite”. If you don't and if you don't press for better – nobody
else will.
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