Scottish Premier League Update

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

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If it is indeed true that the best things come to those who wait then Paul Hartley and Celtic should feel confident they are about to embark on a mutually rewarding relationship.

The club and player have long admired one another from a distance and the chance for both parties to finally unite seems a natural progression.

At 30, Hartley is a couple of years older than when Martin O'Neill first tried to take him to Parkhead, but still has the potential to play at the top level for at least another three years.

The Scotland international made his debut as Celtic booked their place in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup and looked as though he had been playing in the Hoops midfield all season long. With Neil Lennon approaching the twilight years of his career, it will be Hartley who takes on the current captain's mantle in the middle of the park and will also now, doubtless, inherit the pantomime villain role the Northern Irishman occupies in the eyes of the Ibrox support.

Having lost out on Hibs pair Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown, Celtic will be delighted to have beaten Walter Smith's Rangers to secure Hartley's signature - but there is more to the deal than one-upmanship.

The player will give Gordon Strachan's side a fresh spark in midfield, where Shunsuke Nakamura has been charged with supplying the bulk of the creativity this season and Hartley's arrival might also put Thomas Gravesen under a little pressure to step up his game. Shaun Maloney’s defection to Aston Villa for £1m will not be the loss it would have been 12 months ago given the form of Derek Riordan and Aiden McGeady while Hartley can also play wide if required.

Gravesen hasn't quite lived up to expectations since his arrival from Real Madrid last summer and Hartley's presence will offer genuine competition in midfield.

Quite where Strachan views Hartley as fitting in will be interesting, given Celtic are well equipped in the middle of the park. The ex-Hearts man has been a slow burner and former Parkhead player and assistant manager, Billy Stark, was credited with converting the player from a winger to a scoring midfielder when the duo were at St Johnstone together, believes that Hartley can be a clever signing for Celtic. Stark also joined the Hoops when he was 30 after impressing at Aberdeen and expects the player he worked with at St Johnstone to flourish.

"I think people are as fed up as me by now about converting Paul to central midfield, but there are similarities in the way we ended up at Celtic," he said. "Paul has extensive Premier League experience and it was a no-brainer. "It is obviously a bonus for Celtic after the disappointment of losing Maloney and Thomson and, while he is ineligible for the Champions League, he can play in the Scottish Cup.

"I would not say he was a late developer, which would be unfair because he was always a good footballer.
"He is the kind of player who established a niche position later in his career. Like me, he moved to a big club in his mid-20s.
"Aberdeen had just won the European Cup-Winners' Cup when I joined, so were expected to win things. Hearts were the third force when Paul signed, but the expectations rose, albeit briefly, when Vladimir Romanov took over, and Paul has experienced the positives and negatives of that regime.
"He deserved his opportunity and has shown with the national team he can play at the highest level. At 30, while you can never consider yourself an automatic choice - you are there because you are needed and wanted.
"I'm sure Paul will fit in."

While Strachan has repeatedly pointed out that he has an immediate signing plan as well as a long-term vision for the club, there is no doubt that Hartley will be unleashed into action immediately.

The player cannot feature against AC Milan in the Champions' League tie later this month, but the latter weeks of the campaign will be his opportunity to showcase his talents and stake his claim for a regular place next season.

"Paul's situation is different from Derek Riordan, who was signed during the summer with the future in mind, " said Stark.
"In my time, Celtic lost a lot of experienced players. I wasn't signed for the future and the same can be said about Paul.

"Thomas Gravesen has a great pedigree and Celtic pushed the boat out to get him. His goalscoring record is impressive, but the general perception among fans and the media is that he has not set the heather alight. Paul is a terrific player who will do very well for Gordon Strachan. It's a shrewd move."

Rangers

Rangers piped Celtic to the signature of Hibs midfielder Kevin Thomson before the closure of the January transfer window and his Easter Road ‘twin’, Scott Brown, is set to join up with Thomson at Ibrox this summer.

It was quite a coup for the Ibrox side to beat Celtic to the signature of the wanted duo, with Celtic having had an offer of £4.25m for both players rejected. Thomson cost Rangers £2m and Brown is expected to command a fee of £3m as Walter Smith starts the rebuilding job at the club. Falkirk midfielder Alan Gow has also signed a pre-contract agreement with Rangers.

"I spent six years at Hibs but this is the next step for me," said Thomson, whose contract at Rangers is to 2010. “There has been a lot of speculation surrounding my future in recent weeks but I'm just delighted to be here. As soon as it came to the table that I had the option of playing here then I didn't need any other options. It's a massive club. As a boy you always dream of playing for a big club like Rangers as it is the pinnacle of Scottish football."

Smith was equally delighted to get his hands on the 22-year-old who is tipped to be one of the success stories of Scottish football in the seasons to come.

"Kevin is a player we have been interested in for several weeks and so we're delighted that a deal has now been done," said Smith. "He's a player we believe has a bright future and it's terrific that he's chosen to come to Rangers. He brings with him good grounding from his time at Hibs under first Tony Mowbray and then John Collins. His best years are certainly still ahead of him at 22. He's a young Scottish talent but one who already has good experience for his age. I think he's ready to make an impact here at Rangers."

Thomson was under contract at Hibs until 2010, a deal he signed only last March at the same time Brown committed himself to the club until 2009. But the future of both players has been the subject of intense speculation since they employed a new agent late last year in the shape of Willie McKay who claimed they had been "misled" by the terms of their contracts.

Brown handed in a transfer request in December, which was instantly rejected by Collins. With both players continuing to agitate for either re-negotiated terms or a move, Collins then stripped Thomson of the club captaincy he had been handed by previous manager Tony Mowbray.

Having recovered from a serious knee ligament injury sustained in the 2003-04 season, Thomson established himself as one of the most admired midfield players in Scottish football with Hibs. He made 98 first-team appearances for the Easter Road club.

Rangers will be able to add Thomson to their squad for the resumption of their UEFA Cup campaign next month, the player eligible to turn out for them in Europe despite having played for Hibs in the Intertoto Cup earlier this season. "I want to get straight into the manager's plans," said Thomson. "I want to prove I am worth the transfer fee the club have paid for me. I would say I'm quite similar to Barry Ferguson in terms of style of play and hopefully we can get a good understanding playing together. The manager and chairman want to bring success back to this club and I want to help achieve that."

Thomson is hopeful his close friend Brown will follow him to Rangers later this year. "I would love to see Scott come here," he said. "It's looking like he will be staying at Hibs this time but I would be over the moon if he were to join me at Rangers."

Rangers also remain interested in recruiting another Scotland international, Lee McCulloch, from Wigan Athletic but will have to wait until the summer before getting their man.

Scotland

Just as Craig Gordon's recent problems behind the scenes at Tynecastle have culminated in his relegation to the Hearts subs' bench, his position as Scotland's first-choice goalkeeper seems to have remained in tact, judging by the hints from new manager Alex McLeish.

Walter Smith's defection to Rangers and McLeish's appointment as the national team manager have done nothing to hinder Gordon's status with Scotland. McLeish called a squad training camp at Turnberry to introduce himself to the Scotland players and hinted that even if Gordon does not play another first-team match between now and the Euro 2008 qualifier against Georgia at Hampden Park on 24 March, he will almost certainly start the game.

Since McLeish has already declared his certainty that the meeting with Georgia is the most crucial of the Scots' forthcoming schedule – a conviction he repeated after supervising his first training session - it is clear that Gordon is regarded as the clear first choice keeper.

"Obviously, Craig's present situation at Hearts is not ideal," said McLeish. “You would want all of your likely first picks to be playing regularly at a high level. But I know him well and I've spoken to Jim Stewart, the goalkeeping coach, who is keeping him fit and on his toes.
"Jim, like everybody else who works with the big guy, thinks there will be no problem with him, even if he hasn't played between now and the end of March. He has a terrific attitude, he keeps himself very fit and he has so much natural talent.
"You'd need to ask Valdas [Ivanauskas, the Hearts coach] about the prospects of his playing again soon, but I think I read a quote from him saying that Craig remains his No1 goal-keeper and I would like to see him back in his rightful place."

With Scotland already at the top of their Euro 2008 qualifying group after three wins and a defeat from their opening four matches, the only way is down. McLeish admitted that it was a factor he had considered when he was made the offer by the SFA.

"Yes, I looked at that and a number of other factors," he said. "But, even taking a pessimistic view of what lies ahead, it's a very hard challenge to resist. Somebody said to me the other day that we're in a fantastic position in our group, but we're not, because there are so many others clustered around us.

"If we had a six or seven-point lead it would be different. A decent platform has been built, but Walter himself would acknowledge that there is a lot of difficulty ahead.
"We got some feedback from people we know in Europe last week who had been talking to people from Georgia and they told us the Georgians are convinced they can find a way back into the group, even though they only have three points from four matches.
"They are six behind us, but they've played and lost to the top three seeds, Italy, France and Ukraine and it's obvious that, if they believe they can get back into it, it will be through achieving a result against us at Hampden. That's why it's such a big game for us. We have to make sure they are not allowed back into the mix."

Losing seven of his original squad for the gathering at Turnberry left McLeish unfazed, as he has a knowledge of all except Kevin McNaughton, the former Aberdeen full-back now at Cardiff City. The others are Kenny Miller, Steven Pressley, Gary Caldwell, Allan McGregor, Andy Webster and David Weir, all of whom are undergoing treatment at their clubs.

If there appears to be a shortage of forwards - only four in the 30 summoned - it is something with which McLeish is also familiar.

"A shortage of forwards has always been a problem for us," said McLeish. "That's why having games at ‘B’ international level could be significant.
There will be a few players in that match who will have a genuine opportunity to make a claim for inclusion in the senior squad to face Georgia."

Like Gordon Strachan at Celtic, McLeish is sceptical of reports suggesting that crowd violence in Italy will lead to a year's suspension of football, taking the national team out of the European qualifying and clubs out of the Champions league.

"That would be a good start, wouldn't it?" he laughed. "Two wins over Italy? Now that would do."