Scottish Premier League Update

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

Celtic | Rangers

CRAIG Gordon became the most expensive British goalkeeper of all time when he signed for Roy Keane’s Sunderland in a £9m move from Tynecastle in time for the start of the Premiership season. The 24-year-old grew up supporting Hearts but the fee Keane was willing to pay ensured that he wouldn’t remain another season in the SPL – although he insists that he wants to return to Edinburgh to finish his career.

"I could not turn down a chance to play in the English Premier League," Gordon said. "It is a massive opportunity to me. I have always said I wanted to try the Premier League at some point and this is a great opportunity to do that.

"Sunderland is an ambitious club with a fanatical support and I think that is something similar to what we have at Hearts. The fans are fanatical about their club."

The Scotland keeper gave up the Hearts captaincy to move to Sunderland, but said: "Hearts will always be in my heart and they will always be my team so it is important to go to a city where football is a way of life. I will come back to support the boys, whenever I can. Hopefully one day I might come back. It was a joy to play for Hearts because I am a supporter.

"Everybody who sits in the stands has the dream to play for Hearts and so for me it was a great honour to achieve that dream and play for them. Hopefully someday I will get the chance to do that again."

Keane didn’t baulk at the fee Hearts wanted for Gordon and is convinced the goalkeeper can only improve in the years ahead. The Sunderland manager also revealed that Hearts drove a hard bargain during negotiations which finally came to an end on Tuesday night. The player agreed personal terms on a five-year contract which will see his weekly wage to rise to £40,000. His contract at Tynecastle, signed last season, earned him a weekly basic wage of £12,000. Before that he was on a reported deal of £800 a week.

Gordon chose not to travel to Birmingham to hold talks with Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill having been convinced by Keane that Sunderland was the place for him. As well as having the former Manchester United midfielder for guidance, Gordon will work with another former Old Trafford star in Raimond van der Gouw, who was last month named goalkeeper coach at Sunderland. Keane believes Gordon has been presented with conditions in which he will continue to thrive, and improve.

"I rate him very highly," he said. "I think he's a top goalkeeper. I believe he has a lot to go. I think he can only get better, and this is the right club for him because we've good goalkeeping staff here."

Keane acknowledged it had been a long and determined pursuit. At one stage the deal looked to have died, with Keane apparently having grown weary of the chase. But Gordon was impressed by Keane's efforts to capture him. He had been due for talks with Aston Villa a day earlier, but opted to send an agent to represent him after already telling Keane he would come to Wearside.

Gordon became the fourth most expensive goalkeeper in the world and the most expensive in British transfer history. The fee is a new record for Sunderland, eclipsing the £6.75million they paid Rangers for striker Tore Andre Flo four years ago. Eyebrows have been raised at the size of the fee, but Peter Shilton - who became the world's most costly goalkeeper when he joined Nottingham Forest for £270,000 in 1977 - believes having a top quality last line of defence is worth heavy investment.

"They have been undervalued considering the position they play in the team," he said. "Goalscoring is the hardest job, but goalkeeping is second to that. You don't really have a good team without a good goalkeeper - that's how important the position is.

"So £9million doesn't seem a lot when you think of what's been paid for some of the outfield players."

Celtic Roundup

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Ever since Gordon Strachan assumed the role of Celtic manager there have been fears about just how he would handle the pressure that is as much a part of the job as tactics boards and team talks.

As Celtic came from a goal behind to take all three points from Pittodrie this month Strachan found himself ordered to the stand and is now looking at a whopping ban from the dug-out after the latest altercation with officialdom. The Hoops boss has claimed that referee Charlie Richmond will back up his version of events, but it looks increasingly likely that Strachan will be penalised to some extent.

Richmond sent Strachan to the stand following a spat between the away dug-out and an Aberdeen steward during Celtic's 3-1 victory. The Scottish Football Association have written to Strachan and Celtic for their side of the story over the dismissal after receiving Richmond and fourth official John Underhill's reports.

But Strachan claimed the officials have sympathy for the situation he found himself in at Pittodrie, with the former Aberdeen player insisting he was just defending his assistant after the steward claimed Garry Pendrey had made a two-fingered gesture to the home supporters.

"After the game I just couldn't get my head round it," Strachan said. "You have got to remember that there wasn't any banter towards me. It wasn't me, I can assure you, it wasn't me.

"It's an incredible situation where the referee has got sympathy with me after the game and every official has got sympathy and they said they would put that in their report.

"Gordon never said a dickie bird - that will be backed up by anyone that was there. If anyone looks at it they would find it confusing. I really have to wait for the report and then reply to that."

While Strachan was reluctant to go into the details of the dispute with the SFA hearing pending, after Sunday's match, Tommy Burns, his first-team coach, had accused the Pittodrie steward of telling "blatant lies" about the alleged gesture from Pendrey. Burns insisted Strachan was merely stating to a policeman that his assistant's action was to mark the scoreline and was not offensive.

The severity of the automatic suspension depends on Strachan's success in appealing a four-match ban from last season. The Celtic manager is still awaiting a hearing into his dismissal by Stuart Dougal for dissent during a 3-1 defeat by Hearts in April. Strachan was banned from the touchline for two games after being dismissed by Dougal at Hearts a year ago following a spat with then Tynecastle coach John McGlynn.

The suspensions automatically increase by two matches for each offence over a rolling three-year period. But Strachan is certain to contest his dismissal at Pittodrie, although the SFA would not reveal what offence Strachan had been dismissed for.

Drew Herbertson, SFA head of discipline, said: "We will write to Gordon Strachan and Celtic in regard to the incident. The disciplinary committee met yesterday and agreed a schedule of dates for the season ahead. We need to establish whether Gordon Strachan and Stuart Dougal are able to attend the date set out and we will not announce the details before such time."

Strachan, meanwhile, also claimed that his relationship with the Aberdeen fans would not be damaged by the incident.
"I don't think that's ever going to happen, that the Aberdeen fans don't like me," he said. "You have got to remember that Gordon had no banter with anybody. Gordon was looking at the game."

But he hit out at people who abuse coaches and players and cannot accept any response. "I think it will be a problem for anybody now," he added. "I think the police find it hard to arrest people because everybody would start jumping up and shouting. It's easier to say to a coach you keep quiet. I think people who sit round dug-outs like getting season tickets there for that banter - they only like it one way though. The fans have a responsibility if there are kids about. I find it very sad if there's a man using horrible abuse and then complaining to a policeman that I was smiling at them.

That happened at a game recently. It's a mad, mad world."

Strachan made headlines recently for his critique of those who hit out at managers on radio phone-ins, but he insisted yesterday that he has no problem with listening to fans' opinions. He said: "The problem I have with phone-ins, people use it as ammunition at the Friday get-togethers for 40 people.”I felt that was unfair to use two people on a phone-in to start a press conference. The fans could be drunk or supporters of another team; I felt it was unfair to answer questions second hand to anonymous people."

Strachan also insisted he has only had positive feedback from the Celtic supporters, despite lingering suggestions he has still not been fully accepted.

The former Scotland player said: "I like to be liked; I don't want to be disliked. I actually find when I meet people they are very encouraging and pleasant so it was different from the people I was told about on Friday mornings."

Rangers

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Rangers chairman David Murray gave the biggest hint yet that he is preparing to sell the Ibrox club at the annual AGM in August. Murray has made no secret of the fact that he would welcome offers for the club and told shareholders at Ibrox yesterday that he had come close to selling to one unnamed buyer but felt the deal was not in the club's best interests.

To that end, he set out his conditions for any future sale saying that he would only sell to a buyer who was prepared to match or better the kind of investment that he has shown since becoming chairman in 1988. The 54-year-old bought Rangers for £6m and, while stating that he had not formulated an exit strategy, Murray reiterated previous statements indicating his tenure is coming to the end.

He said: "I do not wish to do this for the rest of my life. It has been an honour to be chairman, but this is my 19th AGM, I've never missed a board meeting, rarely miss home games and I have a huge business to run.

"Over the last year, two or three people have spoken to me about buying the club and we did have one particular group which came very near, and I have to watch what I say because we are a plc, but I wasn't happy it was at the right moment for the club.

"I would only consider selling the club to someone who could maintain or increase the level of support that I have given the club over my period of 20 years. I have no wish for a quick exit and I don't think you can honestly say that my behaviour over the last couple of months is of a man who is looking for an exit strategy.

"Walter has given me and the rest of the board great enthusiasm for the team and I have no wish to go next week. Running a football team is not for widows and orphans, it is a heavy investment and I reiterate that I would only sell to someone I believe genuinely has the best intentions."

Murray was also quick to point out to shareholders that the club had overspent on the budget for players in the summer after bringing in ten new players to Ibrox. One player who won’t feature in the in the new-look side is Ian Murray who has set his sights on joining the elite in the Barclays Premier League after completing a move to Norwich City.

Peter Grant's Coca-Cola Championship side have effectively taken over Murray's Ibrox contract, which ran until the end of the season, ending a two-year stint in Glasgow for the former Hibernian player.

The 26-year-old had attracted interest from several other clubs after dropping out of Walter Smith's plans at Rangers, but was impressed by the ambition shown at Norwich.

"Norwich are in the Championship just now, but they have their sights set on a much bigger picture," said Murray. "They feel they can kick on and mount a real challenge for promotion this season. I have signed until the end of the season with them and, hopefully, we will talk again then.

"Obviously Norwich have some familiar faces here because they have a quite a few Scots in their line-up. It's an exciting challenge for me and I am looking forward to it."

Murray becomes the second fringe player to leave Rangers after Filip Sebo joined Valenciennes, the French club, on a season-long loan. Smith now has additional leeway within his wage bill to make additions before the transfer window closes at the end of the month. The Ibrox manager admitted this week that Dejan Stefanovic was one option being considered, although Portsmouth last night insisted there had yet to be an approach for the 32-year-old Serbian defender.

"We were quite surprised to hear stories about Rangers' interest because there has been no contact from them, or any other club," said Peter Storrie, chief executive at Fratton Park.

"We've had some discussions with Dejan in the past about another year's contract, which is why the link with Rangers came out of the blue. He hasn't featured for us this season but then he has been injured so that's not something people should read anything into.

"I know that in this game you can never say never but, at the moment, I'd certainly expect him to still be a Portsmouth player at the end of the transfer window."

Smith has made it clear that further strengthening is not dependent on Rangers reaching the Champions League group phase after the second leg of their final qualifier against Red Star Belgrade, with the Ibrox side carrying a 1-0 lead to Belgrade.