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Scottish Premier League Update

Ali Hannah on Kenny Miller, Peter Lovenkrands & Dean Shiels

Kenny Miller |Peter Lovenkrands | Dean Shiels

Kenny Miller

One nimble skip across the barricades of the Old Firm divide and Kenny Miller will become only the third post-war player to pull on both the Hoops of Celtic and the blue of their bitter rivals, Rangers.

The last player to do what Miller is about to do was Mo Johnstone and, like Miller, there was only one club - in his case Nantes - separating his high-profile periods at both sides of the Old Firm. He left Parkhead in 1987 and joined Rangers in 1989, days after appearing on television announcing his apparent return to Celtic.

At Ibrox, memories of the afternoon in 2000 when Miller scored five times for Rangers against St Mirren, equaling a Scottish Premier League record may still be fresh, as will the striker's Champions league goal against Monaco for Rangers.

Nevertheless, he ought not to cause the same level of furore as either Johnstone or Alfie Conn given the fact that he was never really a legend at Rangers having spent just 18 months at the club and at a time when he toiled to hold down a regular first-team place under Dick Advocaat.

Yet Miller's imminent move to Celtic comes at a time when his stock has never been higher, having enjoyed a gilded international season with Scotland. The striker has scored four goals, including a double against Norway and a header against Italy.

Miller, out of contract at the end of this season and desperate to end a near five-year association with Wolves that has included only one season in the Premiership, has opted for the path less trodden by signing for the Hoops.

Having split up with his partner when at Wolves, Miller was keen to return to Glasgow to be nearer two-year-old son Cody, who lives in Edinburgh and it is those family reasons that were the catalyst for his pre-contract agreement with the Parkhead side, despite there being interest from the Premiership and Serie A.

“My family is important to me and that is part and parcel of my decision.” said Miller.”

The 26-year-old has already been warned by Conn, who was signed by Jock Stein in 1977 that this move will follow him for the next 30 years as people barrack his decision and label him a “turncoat.” Yet, the reception that awaits him in Glasgow and when he runs onto the turf for his first Old Firm game does not faze Miller.

"I'm well aware of the passion in Glasgow already and I'll be made even more aware when I get there,” he said. “I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait.

"Any city you go to they'll say their derby is the biggest. In Edinburgh, they say the Hibs-Hearts is the biggest.

"It doesn't worry me. I've played for Rangers and next season I'm going to be playing for Celtic, but right now I just want to get my head down and play for Wolves.”

Meanwhile, Chinese defender Du Wei is heading back to Shanghai Shenhua. The Chinese international played just 45 minutes for Celtic in the horror show at Broadwood as the Hoops crashed out of the Scottish Cup to Clyde in one of the most upsetting results in the club's illustrious history. Du Wei had a nightmare, and Celtic had asked his club to renegotiate the terms of his transfer.

Gordon Strachan wanted to keep the player and assess him for a further 6 month period but his club wanted £700,000 for the player. No deal has been reached and the player has returned to China.

Mark Wilson, however, has been signed by Celtic from Dundee United while Gary Caldwell has all but agreed a pre-contract with the Parkhead side.

Peter Lovenkrands

Peter Lovenkrands warned Rangers that even Champions League football might not be enough to keep him at Ibrox. The Danish international striker has been linked with a January move to Birmingham, Manchester City or Everton and has already knocked back a contract offer from Rangers earlier this season. His current deal expires at the end of the season and even the lure of a Champions League knockout clash with Villarreal in February won't definitely keep him in Scotland.

He said: "Yes, I have heard other clubs are interested in me. Right now, though, I have to concentrate on just playing football and keeping my options open.

"I am definitely having one of the best spells of my career right now. If an offer comes along this month I'll have to sit down and take a look at it.

"Of course I am looking forward to the Champions League games but it isn't a decisive factor in whether I stay or go."

Ibrox captain Barry Ferguson has urged the club to secure Lovenkrands on a new deal rather than allowing him to leave the club for nothing at the end of the campaign, or for a nominal fee this month. The Danish forward has netted 10 goals in the Gers' last eight games and Ferguson insists losing him would be a massive blow. The 25-year-old's form has not gone unnoticed by Premiership clubs.

Birmingham were told last week that the forward was not for sale, with manager Alex McLeish reiterating his desire to hold onto the player. Further talks are set to take place between Rangers and his representatives and Ferguson hopes the outcome will be Lovenkrands committing himself to the club for the foreseeable future.

"I hope for our sake that Peter stays," he said.

"You've seen the form that he has been in and obviously he is going to attract attention because he is a good player.

"But hopefully he can sort it out and he will remain at Rangers for the next few years."

McLeish had warned Lovenkrands in the summer that he had plenty to prove this season, after struggling for form in the previous campaign, and that his reputation would plummet if he did not raise his game. Lovenkrands has more than risen to the challenge and Ferguson believes he deserves praise for coming through a difficult time at Rangers.

He remarked: "All credit to him, he was going through a hard time at the start of the season but the gaffer moved him up front and that has been the making of him.

"He has done great and hopefully he can continue."

Ferguson, though, has warned that Rangers need to add further quality to their ranks. McLeish's side are 17 points off the pace of league leaders Celtic and the Scottish Cup appears their only hope of silverware this season. Despite sanctioning the departures of three strikers - Federico Nieto, Francis Jeffers and Steven Thompson - McLeish has been spoiled for choice up front recently.

New signing Kris Boyd grabbed a hat-trick on his debut a couple of weeks ago, while Peter Lovenkrands has netted 10 goals in the last eight games. Ferguson believes the team's resurgence, after suffering the worst run of results in Rangers history earlier in the season, has a lot to do with the increased competition.

He now believes Rangers can only benefit from more new arrivals this month, and said: "The competition is great, especially up front.

"The gaffer could maybe bring in another two or three players and make competition all over the park a lot better.

"Things are looking good for us, we're getting players back and, if we can bring a few more players in during the window, things will look up for us."

Sunday's win over Motherwell allowed Rangers to move to within a point of third-placed Hibernian. And, even though the Scottish champions have a long way to go before closing the gap between themselves and Bank of Scotland Premier League leaders Celtic, Ferguson refuses to give up hope of a successful title defence this season.

"We'll remain positive," he added. "We're on a run of eight games unbeaten.

"The gaffer stated a month or so ago that we need to go on a run until the end of the season."

Dean Shiels to Lose Eye in Surgery--But Continue His Career

Hibs forward Dean Shiels is to undergo an operation to remove his right eye. Despite that, the 20-year-old plans to make a return to first team football at Easter Road as well as earn more caps for Northern Ireland.

Although he's unlikely to play any further part in Hibs' plans this season and is expected to be out of action for up to three months the talented youngster has the backing of all the staff at the Edinburgh club to continue competing at the top level.

Astonishingly, Shiels, who can play in attack or midfield, has been blind in his right eye since a freak accident with a paint scraper as an eight-year-old child.

In spite of his disability, the player was signed by Arsenal before moving to Hibs, where a series of outstanding performances last season, including scoring the winning goal against Edinburgh rivals Hearts, earned the young man a five-year contract.

Hibernian manager Tony Mowbray, said yesterday: "We're very confident and positive that Dean will be back as the player who took part in 35 games for us last season.

"He was very influential in helping us to finish third in the league last season and I've no fears or doubts that he will return after his operation is out of the way.

"We don't want to put a time-scale on when he'll be back but he'll be out for a minimum of two or three months. It's possible that his part on the pitch this season is finished. But I'm very sure he'll be back at some stage next season."

Asked when he first became aware of Shiels' disability Mowbray replied: "The first time you meet Dean you can see he's got an eye defect. We spoke about it.

"At that time we were looking to bring young, hungry players from England to bolster our squad and Dean fitted the bill.

"He was picked on footballing merit and once he's had his operation we'll give him every opportunity to display his talent again."

Shiels has only been troubled by pain and headaches caused by the injured eye in recent months. The decision to undergo an operation to remove the eye was reached after the footballer saw a leading eye specialist. Hibs had kept the matter secret and explained the player's absence as due to a back injury.

Having kept his own counsel on the extent of the problem for years - only Hibs' team-mate and friend from Northern Ireland, Sam Morrow, was fully aware of the damage - Shiels gave a remarkably frank and revealing interview yesterday.

"Only my closest family really knew about it," he said. "None of my teammates at Arsenal knew. It wasn't something that I wanted to keep private but something I didn't really think mattered. Now this has happened, though, I'd like to set people straight."

He added: "My memories of the accident itself are a bit vague now since I was only eight at the time. My mum, Gwen, was stripping wallpaper and, as kids do, I wanted to help. So I picked up a spare scraper and it went straight across my eye. Between then, and the age of 13, I had five operations to improve my sight. But they didn't work.

"Over the past five months I've had a lot of hassle with it [the eye], which I'd never had before. It's been irritating, I've been getting headaches and the eye gets quite red at times. I'm not exactly 100 percent sure of what's happened, but the eye is dead. New blood vessels have been growing and bursting while pressure has been building up behind it."

Coming from a footballing family - his father coaches Northern Ireland's Under-17 side - Shiels never regarded his disability as an obstacle to becoming a professional. "I've lived with this problem throughout my career," he added.

"I was always taught that when the ball is traveling towards me that I have to think about my opponents and be aware of where they are - to have my head on a swivel, as the manager says. It's just become second nature to me and has never been a hindrance." Mowbray added that, paradoxically, Shiels was blessed with more vision than many players with two good eyes.

"He has tight control, is imaginative on the ball, has quick feet and makes clever passes," said the manager, who will keep the player involved during the recuperation process by asking him to review video footage of Hibs' performances.

The club examined all the alternatives which could have alleviated the discomfort the player has suffered before reaching the conclusion the eye needed to be removed. "Dean is going to have to live with this for the rest of his life but, right now, all that matters to him is playing football again," said Mowbray.

"The problem was dragging him down and he's in a pretty low place at the moment. When the discomfort is taken away, we'll get that bright, sharp player back."