Scottish Premier League News September 2012: Celtic Begin Champions League Campaign
Lisa Dillon
Celtic
Neil Lennon has set his sights on the last 16 of the Champions League, despite the fact Celtic have been paired against the might of Barcelona.
The Parkead side will face Barca, Benfica and Spartak Moscow in the lucrative competition and Lennon was thrilled with such a glamorous group. However, he has insisted that Celtic are going in it to win it.
"It's not the worst group," said Lennon, "but it's going to be tough.
"The three teams are familiar to us, we have recent history with all of them and now there's Aiden McGeady who is in good form at Spartak. It will be great to see him again.
"Benfica are a really tough, experienced Champions League team. Russian teams are always very dangerous to play and they have an artificial pitch which just confirms how difficult it will be. But it's doable."
Asked to define 'doable', Lennon replied: ‘Top two. I'm not going to say we are going to do it but it's not beyond expectations.
"You'd imagine there will be three teams going for second place with Barcelona the clear favourites."
Celtic faced Benfica in successive years under Gordon Strachan, winning 1-0 at home twice and losing 3-0 in Lisbon both times. They also overcame Spartak Moscow on penalties in 2007, while Lennon enjoyed the distinction of playing in a winning team against Barcelona in the UEFA Cup in 2004.
"It's just brilliant to be in there. We could have been in Group D with four domestic champions (Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax) so we have to be grateful for that.
"But it's a very attractive group and we're really looking forward to playing them all again."
Celtic will bank around £12m from their involvement in the tournament and as soon as their place in the competition was cemented, Lennon was quick to spend some of the cash to bolster his squad.
The Celtic boss rebuffed a late £6m offer from Premiership side QPR for midfielder Victor Wanyama, while he added defender Efe Ambrose to the ranks, Venezuelan Miku Fedor has been signed on a season-long deal from Spanish side Getafe, as has Slovakian keeper Lubos Kamenar.
And Miku has admitted that it was the lure of the Champions League which encouraged him to go to Celtic.
"I remember when I was young in Venezuela seeing games in the UEFA Champions League and watching Henrik Larsson and ten years ago, a good friend of mine, Fernando de Ornelas played here," he said.
"Celtic are playing in the UEFA Champions League and I am ready to fight for the Scottish championship and I want to achieve that.
"I want to go to the World Cup in Brazil - so to come to Celtic is a great move for me."
Miku, 27, had been attracting interest from Michael Laudrup, the former Getafe boss now at Swansea, but he has committed to Celtic for the rest of the season.
The Celtic manager said: "He's a powerful striker and fits the bill of what we have been looking for. We're thrilled to get him because he is very well thought of and there were a few clubs looking at him."
Rangers
Rangers manager Ally McCoist hopes to secure Lee McCulloch and Neil Alexander on new deals over the next couple of months.
The Ibrox side have just given youngsters Barrie McKay, Lewis Macleod and Robbie Crawford extended, long-term contracts.
And McCoist now wants to see a couple of his senior players commit their futures to the club.
McCulloch and Alexander are out of contract at the end of this season.
McCoist said: "There has been nothing planned yet but it goes without saying that they are players who are very valuable to the team."
Meanwhile, an SPL-appointed commission has set a date of November 13 for a hearing regarding alleged undisclosed payments by Rangers to commence.
The commission will proceed with its inquiry after considering all the preliminary issues over two days of initial meetings.
The three-man panel was appointed following initial assessment of Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) transactions to Rangers players from 2000 to 2011 under the previous Ibrox regime, which could breach SPL rules over declaring payments in contracts.
Rangers have already refused to co-operate and did not attend the initial hearings which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The hearing will continue from day to day as required until November 16, with additional dates of November 20 and 21 also allocated should any further continuation be required.
Solicitors for the SPL have been directed to lodge any additional documents, together with an outline argument and a list of witnesses, by 4pm on October 19.
Oldco and Newco Rangers have been told to lodge their own documents, outline argument and a list of witnesses by 4pm on November 1.
A statement released by the SPL read: "The commission has considered all the preliminary issues raised in the list submitted by Newco and points raised in letters from solicitors acting for Newco and for Oldco.
"It has decided the commission will proceed with its inquiry in the terms of the Notice of Commission and will now set a date for a hearing and give directions.
"Oldco and Rangers FC, who are named in the Issues contained in the Notice of Commission and alleged to have been in breach of SPL rules, will continue to have the right to appear and be represented at all hearings of the commission and to make such submissions as they think fit.
"Newco, as the current owner and operator of Rangers FC, although not alleged by the SPL to have committed any breach of SPL Rules, will also have the right to appear and be represented at all hearings of the commission and to make such submissions as it thinks fit."
Scotland
So far as Scotland are concerned, it seems that it is over before it began.
Just two games into the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, and it looks as though there is no road back for the Scots who drew their opening two games against Serbia and Macedonia at Hampden.
There is a month to go before they are due to play Wales, who have also had a woeful start, but the anger and frustration surrounding the national team and the manager is unlikely to have cooled by then.
Levein has firm support within the Scottish FA but those in positions of power will already be aware of Gordon Strachan's availability, and calls for the former Celtic manager to be handed a first international role have been growing steadily louder.
Levein has not captured the imagination of the public and, contrary to his own idea, does not retain their full backing; his teams were booed off the park against both Serbia and Macedonia.
It would be short-sighted, of course, to lay blame for the failings of Scotland's national game solely at the feet of Levein. Not since 1998 has the country played at a major tournament due to a decline that had set in years earlier, caused by negligence when the going was good. Scotland do not have players operating at the very top level, but the national team is actually performing beneath the sum of its constituent parts.
For any manager, that spells trouble. Levein is consistently enthusing about his players' talent, without their providing on-field proof of his point. Scotland's three competitive wins under his guidance have come against Liechtenstein, twice, and Lithuania. Scotland still have no consistently recognised back four and persist with Kenny Miller as a lone striker, despite the 32-year-old's best days appearing firmly behind him.
He has made a rod for his own back by steadfastedly refusing to come up with a peace pact that would bring Steven Fletcher back into the international fold, while he also refuses to allow Jordan Rhodes to start games.
His system of playing with just one striker has been widely lamented, but it is unlikely to encourage him to change. That in itself might be the thing that eventually forces him out of the job.
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