Scottish Premier League Update

Ali Hannah on the latest from the Scottish Premier League, December 2006

Celtic | Hearts | Rangers

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As Gordon Strachan heads into 2007 on the back of a year in which he delivered the SPL title and is well on his way to defending it and has taken Celtic into the last 16 of the Champions League, there is good reason for him to feel smug.

The result of this month's Old Firm encounter - a 1-1 draw - suited Celtic far more than Rangers and there is as much chance of anyone catching the Parkhead side as there is of black slip-ons and white socks making a comeback in the Milan fashion houses.

Yet, for all that a second successive title is all but in the bag, the Celtic manager is reluctant to get too carried away. Despite the fact that the Hoops have lost just one league game this season, Strachan believes his side can improve and wants them to play better football.

"We need to be winning games, but also performing, because we have won games this year and not performed the way we would have liked," he said.
"Circumstances are saying that teams are doing something different against us. We have to get over that.
"We handled the system that most teams played last year. They have changed it a bit this year, so we will have to look at it again."

Shunsuke Nakamura and Aiden McGeady are the players Celtic rely on to open up defences and do something that little bit different in games. They also give service to the strikers, but this season, despite scoring more league goals than any other team, the Hoops don't have a name among the country's top scorers.
That explains why so many games are being won by the minimum margins, something which does not curry favour with supporters who still believe their team should be steamrolling opponents. Yet for all that those same fans are complacent about the current lead, Strachan isn't one of them.

"I can't think that way, or allow anyone else to do that," he said firmly. "Unless you have been 14 points clear, and few have, it is a strange pressure in its own right. But, at the moment, we are dealing with it.

"This is our job. Between me, the crowd and everyone else, we have to make it our job. But I think the boys are getting to understand now that we have to win every game. And, you must admit, 19 games and just one defeat - that's good going. At times our football has not been terrific, I know that. But, as I said, I think teams have used different styles against us. Through all of this, what our players have retained is this fear of getting beat, and that is fantastic."

Meanwhile, Artur Boruc, the hero when Celtic beat Manchester United in the Champions League, could be enticed south of the border to the Premiership at the end of the season. The keeper will definitely stay at Celtic beyond the January transfer window but rumours continue to circulate that he is on the wanted list of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Radoslaw Osuch, the player's agent, has admitted that Boruc could be set for new pastures this summer. Celtic would want around £5m for a player who cost them £1.1m from Legia Warsaw 18 months ago, and Osuch said:"I cannot see him going anywhere until the summer.

"Why would he want to leave and miss the second round of the Champions League? That is why he came to Celtic, and I know how happy he is his ambitions in Europe are being realised. If he moved to Arsenal (in January) they would not be able to play him (in Europe) either, so it makes no sense for it to happen now."

Osuch, though, does not believe Boruc will see out the three and a half year contract signed in October 2005. Celtic would be reluctant to lose Boruc but have protected themselves against inevitable interest from elsewhere with the length of his contract. Osuch believes Boruc would leave only for Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool.

"He loves Celtic and it will be very difficult for him to leave. It would have to be for a real top club in England, and Arsenal are certainly one of them," he said.

"I think there will be interest in the summer. Artur has ambitions to play in the Premiership but it would have to be at a bigger club than Celtic and they have shown this season that they are a very big club. It would have to be a very big move."

Rangers

If the real Rangers aren't quite standing up, they are certainly starting to struggle to their feet.

All of a sudden Paul Le Guen's side have started to show the kind of form that was demanded of them when the season first began. It looks like being a case of too little, too late given that the race for the title is all but over, but for a frustrated Ibrox support the signs of a renaissance are welcome nonetheless.

A place in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup has been assured after Rangers topped their group and the recent win over Hibs and the battling draw with Celtic have enhanced morale within the Ibrox squad and Le Guen's side have started to show the kind of fight that has been previously lacking.

The Frenchman and his captain, Barry Ferguson, may have had an embarrassing spat about the role the captain plays in Scottish football, but both have been pulling in the same direction in the past few weeks. Ferguson has been Rangers best performer and while the Scottish midfielder isn't slow to bollock team-mates in the dressing-room afterwards if he feels they have not pulled their weight, Le Guen prefers a far calmer approach.

"I am delighted with the team spirit and the character," said the Frenchman."We have definitely improved since the last time we played Celtic and in the last two months there have been a lot of better performances.
"We were unlucky to miss some chances against Celtic but we never gave up, that was the most important thing because it shows we have good character in the team."

Nacho Novo has come in out of the cold to feature for Rangers in recent weeks and the little Spaniard believes the Ibrox side have to emulate Celtic's team spirit before they are ready to snatch the SPL crown.

The Spanish striker believes the Ibrox side are capable of mounting a challenge for the SPL title despite failing to eat into the champions' 16-point lead on Sunday. But he concedes Rangers cannot even contemplate coming back from the dead unless the players unite fully behind boss Le Guen and Ferguson. There have been stories of disharmony among the Rangers squad with the foreign players and the Scots falling out, but neither Le Guen nor the club will comment on such speculation and Novo has called on the team to show some unity.

Novo said: "The team have done well over the last two games but it's time we realised we have to be more together. I hate to say it but when I look at Celtic I think they look more like a team than we do.

"I don't think they are playing all that well but they are getting results. We have the talent to do something if we are all together, behind the manager and the captain."

Hearts

Business as usual it is at Hearts. More headlines, more controversy and the saga show no sign of abating. Vladimir Romanov clearly likes to see his name in lights. This month goalkeeper Craig Gordon became the latest player summoned to a disciplinary hearing and then departed, unable to tell waiting reporters what had been said, to whom, or indeed why.

On and on it goes.

The Hearts and Scotland goalkeeper – arguably the Tynecastle side's most sellable asset – was one of three players who appeared at an October 27th press conference in Hearts' Riccarton training base.

Steven Pressley, the captain at that stage but who has since been released by the club and is pondering his future elsewhere, made his now infamous statement declaring there was significant unrest in the dressing room and called on Romanov to offer new direction to the club. He paid the price and those who flanked him that day – Gordon and Paul Hartley – have both been held to account for their appearances.

Hartley's appointment with the powers that be at Tynecastle came and went with the club's management have been resolutely silent on what action, if any, is to be taken against the player.

Fraser Wishart, of the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association, attended all three hearings and recited the same mantra, designed to demonstrate that the players have been fit in mind and body and have presented no obstruction to their continued selection for the first team.

"Craig is captain of Hearts Football Club and will be playing, I'm sure, at the weekend," Wishart said. "Craig was happy to come along and answer a few questions and the detail of that must remain confidential. Nothing has come out of the meeting that is specific. Procedures may go forward or not. It's uncertain."

This sensible legalistic position did not save Pressley, who was clearly marked down as Judas-in-chief, but it is believed that procedural irregularities on the part of the Hearts' management placed the long-serving defender in a stronger position than might otherwise have been the case.

A rationale for pursuing Hartley and Gordon is to demonstrate a form of even handedness, though the consequences for all three players have varied.

The appointment of Gordon as captain, prior to his hearing, could be assumed to indicate that his tenure was not under threat. There was, as is customary, no statement from Hearts on the matter.

Romanov, meanwhile, yesterday gave notice of an appeal against the £10,000 fine imposed on him by the Scottish Football Association on Dec 11 — though the appeals deadline had passed. He had been found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute by stating on the Hearts website: "You [the media] didn't manage to protect the Scottish Cup and gave it to Hearts despite all the referees' efforts and intrigues."

His lawyers faxed notice of the appeal, but the SFA had last night not received the papers or the appeal fee, which should have been sent by recorded delivery by Monday at the latest. If the papers are found to have been sent correctly, the matter will be considered by an independent appeals board. His name will remain in the headlines for the weeks to come.