That Was The Week That Was, Except, Scottish Fitba Is Beyond Satire

TOP-FLIGHT Scottish football might be back, but, this small impediment has not prevented the mainstream Scottish football media from extending their mid-season silly season.

 Ally McCoist as Scotland Manager - naw, Ah'm no buyin' that

I appreciate, it never does much good to under-estimate the stupidity of the suits along Hampden's sixth-floor corridor of power, but, come-on: Ally McCoist or Neil Lennon for Scotland manager!!! OK, Coisty, lovely guy though he is, disqualifies himself via a lack of managerial talent, while Lenny, good club manager though he is, surely disqualifies himself on grounds of temperament.

Mind you, between flaggate and their coverage of OBFA in Holyrood, even by the abysmal standards of 2018 Scottish journalism, this has been a bad week for the dead tree press.

MY esteemed colleague in the Scottish Sports Philosophy department at the School of Hard Knocks, within the University of Life, Professor Aristotle Armstrong, has, of late been getting aerated at the efforts of Mr Mark Dodson, CEO of the Scottish Rugby Union, to railroad through plans to dump the BT Premiership, the top level of Scottish club rugby, in favour of a new competition, to be contested by six franchised clubs – part-owned by the SRU.

I have mentioned this plan before, think of it as: the two Edinburgh clubs, the two Dundee clubs, the Old Firm, Ayr United and Kilmarnock, the Fife clubs, St Mirren and Morton, all being forced to amalgamate, with the SFA taking a share in each club, and appointing the managers. Well, apparently, Mr Dodson and his board, having persuaded the clubs back in 2016 to back a motion handing more powers to the SRU board, can now do as he pleases, and, in the face of massive opposition – he has said: “Super Six will happen.”

The SRU's Mark Dodson, would make a good successor to Stewart Regan, and, I know a lot of Scottish Rugby guys who would happily write him a great reference 

I mention this, because, IF, the SFA decided, following the string of recent disasters which poor old Stewart Regan's fingerprints have been all over – not least the needless sacking of WGS and the failed chase to recruit Michael O'Neill (and let's forget liquidation, Charles of Normandy and Sevco ever happened) – the Yorkshire lad's jaiket is seemingly on a shoogly nail at Hampden.

Well, IF he is sent homeward to think again, why, might not Mr Dodson be the perfect replacement? He has, after all:

• presided over much-better finances at Murrayfield.
• On his watch Scotland has risen to its highest position in the World Rugby rankings
• He has funded Glasgow to the extent it is now one of the leading clubs in Europe
• He presided over what I understand was an impressive presentation on the merits of Murrayfield as a replacement for Hampden when it comes to hosting the biggest football matches in Scotland.
• His buddies from his days in newspapers in Manchester include SAF and the other United big noises.
• He is English

I'd say these qualities earmarked Mr Dodson as a potential replacement for Regan.

And, if he can get Super Six past some of the members of Scottish Rugby's influential Aye Beenism brigade – he would run rings round the SFA High Heid Yins.

Keep your eyes on this one.

THE long-awaited European Nations League draw was made this week, with Scotland being placed in the three-team group in League C, with Albania and Israel.

Once upon a time we'd have looked at that draw as a skoosh-case, but, these days, can we be so-certain? However, Scotland is ranked 32 in the FIFA world rankings, with Albania ranked at 60 and Israel at 99. If we cannot win the group and be promoted to League B, then we ought to simply give-up.

If we win our league, as we should, then we will, in the summer of 2019, be involved in play-offs against the other three League C group winners, which will get us to the 2020 European Championship finals.

Received wisdom has always been, Scotland does better in competitive matches than in friendlies, so, maybe it's time we justified this belief and actually did something.

FINALLY, can somebody please inform Brendan Rodgers – Scottish football is not all about you. You are not the most-important team in Scottish fitba – the Scotland A team is. Remember this.

 Brendan Rodgers - a hissy fit about end of season tours

Wee Brendan got his knickers in a twist this week, because the SFA wants to play games in Latin America at the end of this season, and he feels this will impact on his preparations for next season's Champions League qualifiers.

Maybe if Brendan was a wee bit better at squad rotation and usage, he would not have so-many tired players on his hands. The Celtic website identifies 26 players as belonging to the First Team Squad, with a further six “First Team Squad members out on loan”.

Celtic still has 14 Premiership games, a possible four Scottish Cup ties to get through, plus a possible nine Europa League games to play between now and the end of May – 27 games.

If Rodgers cannot rotate his squad, particularly in the Premiership games, where we are always being told Celtic are so-much-better than their opponents, it is embarrassing, then he should not be managing.

Mind you, Celtic could always ask their friends across the city at Ibrox how you go about having players fit for club games, but unfit for Internationals, after all, Rangers wrote the book on this.

Or, they could, again taking a leaf from the Rangers play book, simply tell the SFA, you are not getting our players for these games. I mean, if Rangers could do this for the 1954 World Cup Finals, surely Celtic could do it for a two-game junket to the Americas.

You never know, we might end up with a squad of guys who actually wanted to play for Scotland.