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Scottish Premier League Update

Ali Hannah on the latest from the Scottish Premier League, March 2009

Celtic | Rangers | Scotland

Celtic Roundup

Aiden McGeady has recovered from his fall from grace this month.

The Celtic and Republic of Ireland winger, who has just turned 23, played a star role as Celtic took the first silverware of the season with an extra-time win over Rangers at Hampden in the Co-operative Insurance Cup.

McGeady was outstanding in the game and both won and converted a penalty in the 120th minute of the game, when he tricked Kirk Broadfoot into a clumsy swipe at him.

And Scott McDonald, team-mate and friend of McGeady's, believes that the spat which placed a question-mark over his future at Celtic earlier this season when he fell out with manager Gordon Strachan, is healing. McDonald believes McGeady has shown real maturity to recover from a situation that looked certain to end with him being run out of the club.

The Aussie said: "He is a strong character who believes in his own ability and, given the opportunity, always gives you 100 per cent. "People get misunderstood at times but he has put what happened to bed. He is now a man and has grown up a lot, probably more this season than last.

"You probably learn more from your lows than your highs. I know from my own experience when you are without a club and going month to month, it's tough. I'm sure he appreciated yesterday and scoring that goal more than anyone. It was putting things behind him."

PFA Scotland chief Fraser Wishart was the union man in McGeady's corner when the player was battling with Strachan in the wake of the dressing-room bust-up that cost him two weeks' wages and a ban. Wishart also believes the player has grown up and admires the way in which he has taken the battering he received on websites, in print and on radio shows.

He said: "That was a difficult time and he handled it well. It shows great strength of character to go through that public debate, which often focused on his personality rather than football skills, and from that he has come out stronger. "It was great to see Gordon and him celebrating together. It often happens in these situations that the relationship becomes stronger.

"Football players are thrust into the public limelight very quickly and the rewards are fantastic for those who reach the top level.

"But often they are unprepared for the extras that come with that stardom - the media spotlight that helps build reputations but puts a lot of pressure on them. People recognise them in the street. Some want to say hello and some want to say other things. I think we forget that comes with fame and Aiden and others are very young players who sometimes find themselves unwittingly in difficult situations. But it's a learning process and players become stronger through it.

"For any player who is having his individual character spoken about by people who don't know him, it's not something they like. People think they know something about you but they don't and it's a difficult thing to deal with.

"Footballers have to learn quickly and must have a thick hide.

"I think players develop that very quickly and Aiden, for me, has been a better player in the latter part of the season. He is playing really well at a key point for Celtic."

McGeady was pipped to the man of the match award in the Final by Scott Brown and the Celtic midfielder looks a sure bet to win the Player of the Year award this season. Certainly, McDonald is a huge admirer of the midfielder who has been in fine form for his club of late.

"Maurice Malpas, the assistant manager in my time at Motherwell, had Scott when he took Scotland Under-21s and told us he wasn't allowed Coca-Cola or Mars bars as they made him hyper-active. I can understand that now," joked McDonald. "Even he admits to that. He's daft as a brush but having him in the teams is massive. You can always rely on him. He's there every week giving an honest performance. He has bundles of energy and just annoys the life out of people.

"He is everywhere, tackling and harassing people, and when he gets the ball his quality stands out. He is great to watch when he just drives by people and leaves them for dead. It's quite special actually."

Rangers

It has been some month for Rangers and Walter Smith.

The Ibrox boss sent his players away on international duty only for them to return having disgraced and embarrassed both club and country. The punishment exacted on them has been swift and severe.

In between Scotland's World Cup double header against Holland and Iceland, Barry Ferguson, then captain of both Rangers and Scotland and goalkeeper Allan McGregor went on a all-night booze session that lasted until noon the following day.

The news came to light the day of Scotland's game against Iceland and both players were named on the bench for the game, that Scotland subsequently won 2-1. But it was the disgraced pair's antics on the bench that incensed their club and has led to them being fined two weeks wages and suspended for a fortnight and told they will never play for Scotland again.

The suggestion is that they will also never play for Rangers again.

It was the utter crassness of it that was so infuriating for Smith. He had warned the duo to ride out the storm and do nothing more to bring attention to themselves after speaking to them in the wake of the news that they had been caught drinking. If they had taken their manager's advice they would still have futures at Ibrox.

But when they rubbed two fingers against their faces in a primary school V-sign gesture on the Hampden substitutes' bench, it wasn't meant as an "up yours"to supporters or the SFA or the country in general, but it was a moment of excruciating stupidity. It was a contemptuous gesture to the photographers and cameramen a few yards away who were pointing lenses in their faces. But the ignorance and naivety were extraordinary: the images soon flashed around the country and the very people Ferguson and McGregor tried to insult were suddenly gifted some of the biggest pictures of their careers.

Smith was once willing to gloss over the gormlessness of Paul Gascoigne at Rangers but he is older now and, besides, Ferguson is no Gascoigne. Age and tired form have made him dispensable. A player whose reputation veers from Mr Rangers to that of a cancerous influence in the Ibrox dressing room had finally exhausted the patience of another manger: first Paul Le Guen, then George Burley, now Smith.

Right or wrong, fair or unfair, that has been the perception of a dressing room in which Ferguson has held court for years, collecting younger, impressionables such as McGregor, Kris Boyd and Alan Hutton among others. In the current Rangers News, John Fleck is quoted about what an influence Ferguson is on him. There have been growing concerns about how he wields that influence. It seems that when he goes to the bar two or three others routinely trot along behind.

Ferguson has been part of a generation of footballers who have been cosseted from the stresses of ordinary life. "Footballers have gone away from supporters in a financial sense,"said Smith. "When I was first at Rangers, they got £17,000 a year. Now they're getting paid that a week. Footballers have taken on more of a responsibility in society. It used to be common 30 or 40 years ago for footballers to mix with supporters who had been at the game. You don't get that now. But I don't think what happened on Sunday is a regular occurrence."

Smith is permanently saddled by Richard Gough's memorable line about players from the nine-in-a-row era proving that "a team that drinks together wins together". It seems a crass remark these days, outdated and full of machismo. Some Rangers supporters maintain that if the 1992/93 team had done a bit less carrying on it might have added the European Cup to the domestic treble it landed that season. Not so, said Smith: "The boys in the nine-in-a-row team often exaggerate things themselves. They wouldn't have won nine-in-a-row if they'd done all the things they said they did. If they were doing that, what were the rest of them the other clubs doing at that period of time?

"I don't think that was a proper reflection of them. The boys that we've got at the club now? I've never had a problem since I came back.

"I'm not missing anything: we do regular fitness checks. I don't think we have a problem with that in Scotland. I hope that the other night doesn't make people think it's a regular thing although nobody can be blamed for thinking that.

"Players are more aware of their responsibilities. The work they do on their fitness and diet is terrific, including the lads in our place that were involved at Cameron House. They've all got more responsibility for that side of it which makes it disappointing that they portrayed that image when they were there. The drinking part wasn't a major factor for me. It was obviously a factor I was disappointed in as we had players involved in that, but it was the reaction on the bench and the images portrayed which are not ones you would feel were right for players to do."Did they express remorse for the V-signs? "They didn't get an opportunity."

Smith and Rangers chief executive Martin Bain are about the only people in this entire sorry episode who came out of it well. The players' behaviour in the bar and then the substitutes' bench was pitiful (and in the course of the week, all their Scotland squad mates circled the wagons - there was not a single line of criticism for them from any of the others), while at the SFA George Burley dithered, chief executive Gordon Smith was vague and then George Peat undermined the pair of them by re-opening a "closed" matter and imposing life bans on the two who had been the last men standing in the pub.

Only Smith and Bain were firm and single-minded about how to react. "I'm not trying to make a moral stance," said Smith. "I just felt it was something we had to act on. We would have been weak ourselves if we hadn't have acted. It leaves us disappointed that it's had to come to this. Nobody will have wanted this to happen and I'm disappointed both for the club and the players involved, but I just felt it was something as a club we had to act on."

Scott Brown, Gary Teale, Hutton and Rangers defender Steven Whittaker were also said to have been in the booze crew at Cameron House, albeit they bailed out before Ferguson and McGregor.

Smith's reputation has been enhanced by his handling of the past few days but Rangers have lost two highly-talented footballers in a crucial period of the title run-in. This is the time when Rangers will find out if Le Guen and now Smith are right - that Rangers are better without Ferguson.

Scotland

George Burley will enjoy the time out this month.

On the park, Scotland's dream of World Cup qualification for the 2010 tournament remains a flickering possibility. Off it, he does not have his troubles to seek.

He did not emerge from the ‘Booze-gate' scandal at all well. He looked weak and indecisive as he bowed to pressure from senior members of the Scotland squad to allow Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor to sit on the bench for the game against Iceland, after originally deciding to send them home.

He then told the assembled media after the game that they had futures at international level, only to backtrack when Rangers hammered the players.

Burley said he ended the international careers of Ferguson and McGregor to retain the respect of his squad, but his dithering in the matter did not paint him in a positive light.

"It's not a decision that was taken lightly, but the SFA have to set an example to other players," he said. "I have to have the respect of the players and make tough decisions."

"I met (SFA chief executive) Gordon Smith on Thursday and we talked through the arrangements at Cameron House and the events leading up to the game," Burley said. "The gestures had clearly made a lot of people very angry.

"We knew we had to make sure what happened would never happen again and also we really wanted to draw a line under it. At that stage, I hadn't really seen any papers or watched the match again. When I did, I realised we needed to speak again.

"The gestures had clearly made a lot of people very angry and this was obviously something completely different to the incidents at Cameron House.

"We talked again first thing on Friday morning and Gordon, George Peat and myself were in agreement about what needed to be done."

Darren Fletcher, though, has denied there's been a lack of respect shown towards George Burley by the Scotland squad. Burley has had several incidents to deal with during his 15 months in charge, including Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd quitting the national team.

Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor's boozy antics in the midst of World Cup qualifiers also reeked of disregard for the manager and his backroom staff. But Fletcher doesn't believe that's the case. The Manchester United star insisted: "I think there is a lot of respect there from the squad.

"It is difficult when you're losing games but beating Iceland makes things feel better.

"We all know he is a top manager. For me personally, and anyone I've spoken to, they have always given their full backing to him and his staff.

"The most important thing this week was beating Iceland.

"Had we not won then it would have been an uphill battle for us to qualify. We would like to have won more games since the manager took over - but to be fair he hasn't taken on any easy friendlies.

"We've played Croatia and Argentina because he wanted to put us up against the best."

Fletcher is hopeful for the future and was encouraged by the performances of Ross McCormack, James Morrison, Steven Fletcher and Alan Hutton against Iceland.

He said: "Alan's pace and energy is a real bonus. The way he bombs on for us is great because we don't really have that pace elsewhere in the team.

"For Ross, James and Steven to perform so well is a bonus.

"Ross was brilliant and the way he dribbled past players was a joy to watch. James made some great jinking runs.

"It's great to have these young players coming in. We have to be optimistic."

Ali Hannah

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