Partners: GoodsFromJapan | JapanVisitor | PortugalVisitor

Home|Football News|Scottish Premier League|Previous|Next|Scottish Premier League News

Scottish Premier League Update

Ali Hannah on the latest from the Scottish Premier League, November 2007

Celtic | Rangers | Scotland

Scotland

And so it all comes down to one game for Scotland. Having trudged off the pitch in Georgia this month after losing to a side that fielded two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old, Scotland have it all to do against the World Champions at Hampden on November 17th if they are to qualify for their first major international tournament for ten years.

Realistically, Scotland need a win against Italy - Alex McLeish's side could still qualify with a draw if France are beaten in Ukraine - but in all likelihood a sixth home victory of the campaign will be required. Nothing is impossible, but any detached observer would have to admit the permutations and percentages of Group B have suddenly got a lot harder. It was impossible to salvage too much from the wreckage of the Georgia defeat, especially the hapless manner of it.

In fact, it was the kind of performance which left the Tartan Army scratching their heads about a team who can impose their will so stoically to win home and away against France, yet make life so easy for a Georgian side who had nothing to play for but pride. Kenny Miller admitted that Scotland for once had been "a bit of a soft touch".

"We weren't under any illusions that it was going to be an easy game," Miller said. "They're a good team and we were prepared for that but for some reason we never got started. We didn't begin the game the way we normally do, at a high tempo, getting at teams, working hard and shutting people down. We were a bit of a soft touch - we're usually really tough to beat but it was an off night.

"We were devastated at the end because we had an opportunity to go to Georgia, get a good win, then go into the last game in a real positive mood," he added. "Although I suppose it does make it a bit easier because we now know what we have to do rather than thinking in terms of a point - we know we have to go and beat Italy to qualify and there's no reason why we can't. We've beaten France, we've beaten Ukraine and we've beaten everybody else. If everybody's being honest, if we'd been offered the chance to be going into the last game having to beat Italy at home to qualify, we'd have taken that at the start. Maybe we've been due an off night, but it isn't easy to say that because it's hard to take when you've played so well over a period."

McLeish had had a blemish-free introduction to life at Scotland, but he too suddenly had problems on his hands. The squad was hit hard by call-offs by the likes of Scott Brown and Alan Hutton, the last-minute plan to introduce Shaun Maloney for Christian Dailly to pepper the untested Georgian goalkeeper Makaridze was an attacking gamble which failed to pay off, and it only took half an hour for the manager to reverse his decision to start with Stephen Pearson in the middle and Darren Fletcher wide on the right of the midfield.

The only genuine source of consolation is that - unlike England, for instance - Scotland do still have qualification in their own hands, and assuming there is no catastrophic loss of momentum from the Georgia game, they have proven they are capable of beating the best teams in the world. They have won all their home matches in this campaign and are undeniably a better team now than they were when they beat Holland in the playoff for Euro 2004, or drew 1-1 against Italy at Hampden in 2006. It is doubtful whether Italy can say the same thing.

Miller, who scored a fine headed goal that day to cap a superb personal performance, has more reason that most to recall that match. "The last game against Italy was one of my finest performances ever," he said. "The team had a great day but personally it was a day where everything went right for me. We can take heart from that day because we've progressed since then. Since we played them then we've unearthed a few gems, when you think about Alan Hutton at right back and Scott Brown.

"No matter what happened in this group," he added, "the Italy game was always going to be a fantastic occasion. It was always going to go down to this one, no matter what happened in Georgia. What we've done has been a huge feat for us, when you take Italy, France and Ukraine out of it, even the so-called smaller teams that we got, Georgia and Lithuania, were among the stronger teams you get at that level. We're sitting on 24 points and normally that would be enough. Germany went through last Saturday with 23 points. We're on 24 points and we're miles away because we need to go and beat Italy. But I've got faith we can."

Celtic Roundup

USA | Japan

A topsy-turvy month has finished with Celtic at the top of the SPL, but Gordon Strachan's side have faced criticism after losing the first Old Firm game and failing to address their woeful form on the road in the Champions League.

At home, Bobo Balde has revealed his anger at the way he has been treated by the club while Derek Riordan has also revealed that he will quit the club in January unless there is a radical change of heart by Strachan and he is playing regular first-team football by then.

Balde was more outspoken and eloquent on his situation as the most expensive spare part in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League but declared he will only leave on his on his own terms and if Celtic buy out the remaining two years of his current deal. The 32-year-old is Celtic's highest earner, The Guinean internationalist has been told he is sixth-choice centre-back under Gordon Strachan and has no prospects of playing another first-team game for the club. Balde was given a 4 and a-half-year contract in January 2005 and could have left on a free transfer after six months as part of the deal - he came close to signing for Bayern Munich - but elected to stay after agreeing a Wall Street salary.

Strachan has not been as big a fan of Balde's as Martin O'Neill was. After suffering an abdominal injury, a broken leg and a pelvic problem, the player has fallen from first-choice to last-choice centre-back. Lawwell sought to persuade Balde to join Sunderland on an initial three-month loan deal in the summer but was rebuffed by the self-represented player who declared himself the "chief executive of Bobo Balde".

"I would like to clarify things about my situation because I've heard some things about me," Balde said. "People say I'm just here to pick up my money and not working.

"As you can see, I'm working hard every day trying to be at my best. I had been injured for a long time; I came back from an abdominal injury, a broken leg and a pelvis injury. I'm working hard to earn my money. That has to be clear. I had been in contact with Sunderland manager Roy Keane on the last day of the transfer window he wanted me, but only for three months. I didn't want to go for three months but Peter Lawwell didn't find a way to let me go for permanent.

"I didn't refuse to leave just to be here playing reserve-team football. I refused to leave because I wanted everything to be clear. Not the way Peter Lawwell, or anyone else, wants. Peter Lawwell said I would be dropped from the list with all the young boys coming in. There is nothing wrong with that; there's a new generation coming through at the club. If you're not wanted any more, I have to leave, if I want."

Sunderland and other Barclays Premier League clubs are expected to rekindle their interest in January. Celtic will not request a transfer fee to remove his extravagant wages but Balde stressed the situation is not of his making and he is prepared to see out the remaining two years of his contract.

"The situation is that I've been here for seven years, working hard, doing all I can. I didn't force the club to offer a long-term contract," he said. "I'm here now for another two years. If you've been told that you're not considered any more, then you have to leave. I was told I had dropped down to sixth in the list. The manager and chief executive told me this. It's a clear situation.

"What I ask the people who are talking rubbish about me is to give me more consideration and more respect. The club should have put something in the newspaper to give me more respect. I just want to clarify the situation by telling you about my frustration."

Balde travelled as part of the squad to Lisbon for the 1-0 defeat to Benfica but with no hope of featuring, despite Stephen McManus suffering concussion in the Old Firm derby four days earlier. He last played on Boxing Day of last year, when he broke a leg after 39 minutes against Dundee United. Barring a freakish injury crisis afflicting McManus, Gary Caldwell, John Kennedy, Steven Pressley and Darren O'Dea, it is likely to be his last first-team appearance "I am low on the list; it is hard to think I will play for Celtic again," he said. "I understand that a new manager has come in and new people are at the club.

"They want to drop the salary wage bill and I was one of the big salaries. They want me to go because of my wage and they want to play a young boy because his salary is lower than me. There is nothing I can do."

He will not leave unless he is paid up in full for the remaining two years of his contract. "The plan is for me to keep working hard and I will see what's going to happen in January," he said. "That's not a problem if the club say they want me to leave and I get another club."

Riordan's situation isn't quite as acrimonious, but equally doomed. He has played only seven league games since his arrival from Hibernian in June 2006 and admitted last night he must leave to salvage his career. Like Balde, the 24-year-old is not interested in a loan.

"I've got to get playing but I can't see that happening," he said. "The manager spoke highly of me before I came here and it was good for me; I was involved with Scotland at that time.

"I would rather go away and concentrate on another club. I might come back from loan and not play again. I would rather just get my head down and play again."

Riordan does not regret making the move from Easter Road - he has been well remunerated for his frustration - but he expressed sadness at his situation as the least successful of the group of former Hibernian players who prospered together before earning big-money moves to the Old Firm. "A few of us came out of Hibs and I think I'm the only one that's not been playing," he said. "It's frustrating because of the goal record I had at Hibs: now I've probably turned out the worst of us all.

"I've just got to get on with my career. I honestly couldn't tell you why I'm not getting in. I went to see the gaffer and he was fine with me he just said I've got to wait my chance.

"He sees me behind Aiden McGeady, and I don't mind that when Aiden's playing well, but some players have been changed into my position."

Meanwhile, Artur Boruc has also hinted to sources in Poland that he is examining the prospect of buying out the final year of his contract that would allow him to quit the club next summer for as little as £800,000. The Parkhead keeper's current deal runs until the summer of 2009 and both parties have the option of a one year extension. Boruc and Celtic recently held talks over a contract extension and it's understood the Pole's first choice would be to remain with the Hoops on an improved deal of around £25,000 per week.

Boruc said: "I'm waiting for the Celtic board to make me an offer. I'm happy at Celtic but things can change quickly in football.” If Boruc did decide to buy out his final year it would alert clubs such as AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Arsenal who are all admirers of the Celtic star.

Under article 17 in FIFA's guidelines a player over 23 can buy the remaining year of a four-year deal after he has completed three years of that term. Or he can buy out the final two years if he is contracted for five. Andy Webster quit Hearts in summer last year using this rule to sign for Wigan. Webster thought he could leave for around £250,000 but Hearts wanted a £5million fee based on the player's value in the market. A fee was set at £625,000 and Webster has appealed this to FIFA's Disputes Resolution Chamber. The hearing will be next month.

The finer details and their implications are vague - but players around the world await the outcome with interest and it could result in many quitting their clubs in the summer.

Boruc is valued at around £12m by Celtic who would not want to lose him for anything between £800,000 and £1.6m, depending on the outcome of the Webster case. If Boruc decided to quit next year he would only have to inform Celtic in writing 15 days before the end of the domestic season to allow him to join a new club on July 1.

Meanwhile, one player who has settled quickly into life at Parkhead is Scott McDonald. The little Aussie scored the second hat-trick of his Celtic career against Motherwell and the £750,000 fee paid to the Fir Park club this summer to secure his services looks like being money well spent.

Courted by Rangers in the final manic minutes of the January transfer window, McDonald instead ended up signing for Celtic and it has proved an excellent investment. Injuries to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Maciej Zurawski and the departure of Kenny Miller to Derby County have placed extra pressure on McDonald to sparkle and he has responded emphatically.

To those doubters who questioned his ability to make the step up from provincial club to perennial championship contenders the 24-year-old need merely point to the statistics that reveal he has now bulged the back of the net 11 times in just 15 appearances.

Three of those strikes came in a win over his former side days after Strachan decided to omit the Australian from his starting line-up to face Benfica in the Champions League, instead preserving McDonald for the more significant assignment - in Strachan's eyes at least - of fortifying Celtic's position in their defence of the SPL title.

Yet for all that McDonald has settled in well, the striker was fulsome in his praise of Chris Killen who has scored just once this season, against Gretna.

McDonald said: "I thought Chris was tremendous for us against Motherwell. He didn't get all the plaudits but he was unlucky not to get a goal. It's not a case of him waiting for the first goal to come, he scored against Gretna.

"But it took me a while to start scoring regularly for Celtic and I think it might be the same for him. Their keeper made a couple of excellent saves from him and one of their players had a great tackle to stop him. So his all-round play was brilliant."

Rangers

USA | Japan

Ugo Ehiogu has revealed his long-term future with the Ibrox club is less than certain after he explained he may ask to leave in the next transfer window. Signed on an 18-month contract in January this year when Walter Smith returned to the club, Ehiogu played a significant role in Rangers' immediate revival of fortunes under the manager as he formed a solid central defensive partnership with fellow veteran recruit David Weir which helped the Ibrox side salvage second place in the SPL and a Champions League qualifying berth from the wreckage of the brief Paul Le Guen era.

However, injury and the summer signing of Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar from Osasuna have combined to relegate Ehiogu down the pecking order to the extent he was not even registered as one of Rangers' 25 squad members for the Champions League group stage campaign this season.

Kirk Broadfoot and Andy Webster, the latter now facing further surgery on a knee problem which will sideline him for another month, were listed by Smith as cover for the now first-choice partnership of Weir and Cuellar.

Ehiogu, who celebrates his 35th birthday on Saturday, has been fully fit for several weeks now but his only first-team outing of the season came in the third round of the CIS Insurance Cup in September when Rangers defeated East Fife 4-0 at East End Park.

"It's been a frustrating season for me, but I can't really grumble at not being in the team because the lads at the back are playing so well," said Ehiogu. "I may have to look at things in January. I will sit down with the manager and see if there is an opportunity for me. I will have to look at the bigger picture and make that decision when it comes.

"To play in the Champions League has always been an aim for me and it would have to be in the next phase of the competition now as I wasn't registered for the group games.

"The manager has been quite honest with me about it, we have had a couple of quite frank meetings about the situation, so I don't have any problem with approaching him and letting him know what I think.

"I can understand him not wanting to change the successful formula which the back four is at the moment. As I say, it's a difficult position for me because I'm pleased to see the team doing well but I'm also gagging for a first-team game which might only happen because of injury or loss of form to another player."

While Smith made almost wholesale changes to his team against Third Division leaders East Fife in the previous round, however, he will field what he considers his strongest available starting line-up tonight.

"Ugo comes back into the squad, but he won't be one of the changes," said Smith. "We won't mess about with the back four," said Smith. "He is ready to get a game, the problem is picking a game to get him started in again. We might make one or two changes, but the team won't be far away from the one we have been fielding recently.

"We have had a period of the season where we have had a look at a number of players, we have changed the team and the formation a bit, but it's time for us to settle down a wee bit and try and get a bit more steadiness about us."

Steven Naismith is cup-tied for Rangers in this season's CIS Cup, while Brahim Hemdani and Jean-Claude Darcheville will not return from injury until the weekend. Charlie Adam, who is suffering from a viral complaint, is again unavailable as Smith looks for his team to bounce back from Sunday's SPL defeat at Dundee United.

"People have to look at the overall picture," he said. "We are three points off the top of the SPL and have a really good chance of securing a place in European football beyond Christmas. For a new team, I think the boys have done remarkably well and we should be quite pleased with the progress we have made so far."

Smith has also insisted Amdy Faye is not struggling to adapt to life in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League despite his limited appearances for the Ibrox club this season.

The 30-year-old Charlton midfielder was a surprise capture when he joined on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day. He made his debut a fortnight later against Hearts at Tynecastle but was taken off after just 45 minutes as Rangers slumped to a 2-1 defeat.

Faye was once again the player substituted at half-time against Dundee United yesterday having been a surprise inclusion in the starting line-up for the trip to Tannadice. In fact, the only full game he has played since his arrival at Ibrox was the CIS Insurance Cup victory over Third Division outfit East Fife. But Smith was keen to defend the player, claiming: "He has actually had two really awkward games to play in, away at Tynecastle and away at Tannadice.

"Both are very difficult places to go and play in and you have got to appreciate that factor. If we hadn't been a goal down against United, I wouldn't have taken him off. I had to do something more in an attacking sense at the start of the second half to try to mix the game up a bit and that's why I made the substitution."

Rangers suffered their third SPL defeat of the season when Barry Robson grabbed the winner from the penalty spot after Daniel Cousin had also converted a penalty to cancel out Lee Wilkie's opener.

The result allowed United to move level on points with Rangers - just three behind leaders Celtic - and Smith believes Craig Levein's men deserve credit for the win. He said: "Dundee United hadn't lost a goal at home this season - that was the first one - so they are a difficult team to play against anywhere, but especially at home.

"I know, having been here myself for a long spell, that Tannadice is a difficult ground to come to and that proved to be the case for us.

"We worked very hard, especially in the second half, to break them down but they stood up to that and we have to give them credit for that."

Rangers have conceded the opening goal to Hearts, Motherwell, Hibernian and now United so far this season and failed to come back and take maximum points from any of those matches.

Centre-half David Weir admits Rangers need to tighten up in defence, or risk throwing away any chance of snatching the championship from Celtic's grasp.

"The first goal is always the most important, it sets the tone for the game," he said.

"Whoever gets it is obviously in a strong position. That's a few games now where we have lost the first goal and it makes it very difficult for us.

"It's important that we get the first goal and get ahead in games. Losing goals as a team makes it very difficult to get back into the game, especially away from home where the other team is going to sit in and defend the lead. We have to cut it out."