MacMiddlesbrough

What's up with Gordon Strachan?

Kevin Thomson has now become his seventh signing from the Old Firm since he took over as Middlesbrough manager.

Seven?

He's now resembling an elderly lady scraping together every last penny of an already stretched pension to try and feed her addiction to scratchcards.

Strachan just can't stop buying, convinced the jackpot lies around the corner.

It's a strange addiction for sure. The fear at Middlesbrough must be that it will also be a destructive one.

It's not fair, of course, to say that his recent trolley dash through the aisles of the Old Firm supermarket is anything other than part of his promotion plan.

His rationale is that these are good players with a winning mentality that will prove contagious at The Riverside.

So it's a brave plan. But it is a plan.

Can it succeed?

I've not been keeping up with the ins and outs elsewhere in the Championship. But it seems to me that he's taking a gamble. I can't see this tartan tinged Boro squad getting promoted.

I hope I'm wrong because if they fail then it will be another stick to beat Scottish football with.

I just hope he's finished buying now. Terrible thing to have to avoid the Provy Man because you've spent the last of your money on Kirk Broadfoot.

> Louise Taylor takes a look at Strachan Scottish signing policy on The Guardian blog.

An age old problem

I remember when I was young.

I remember it always being sunny with quick witted street urchins running happily on the car free streets, performing footballing miracles with tennis balls.

Actually, I don't.

I do, however, remember our old sage Craig Brown. How he would puff his chest out with pride when talking about the sudden availability of "young Alistair" or "young Paul." He looked just like the fastest pigeon in the loft.

Ironic as little Craig might have intended to be when referring to the thirtysomething McCoist or McCstay there was always an underlying message. The veterans were preferable to the youngsters.

It's a trait of Scottish sport. Young Scottish golfers are great prospects when Tiger is going for the Grand Slam. Andy Murray has Slam winning potential as Rafael Nadal wins major after major.

Surely, for all that's wrong with our diet, we don't mature later than other countries. Do we lose four years from child prodigal to failing adult? Are we spending the critical years drinking cheap cider behind the bike sheds with the school glamour girls?

Glenn Gibbons summed it up perfectly in Saturday's Scotsman:

EXPANDING on the players included in the Scotland squad to play Wales next week, George Burley touched on a modern tendency that is no less irritating for being so widespread. By describing the Rangers midfielder, Kevin Thomson, as "a young player with potential", the national team manager betrayed a failure to distinguish between potential and lack of fulfilment. Thomson, below, is 25, precisely the average age of the ten outfield players who won the European Cup with Celtic in 1967.

He is three years older than Jimmy Johnstone and Bobby Murdoch, two older than Tommy Gemmell and Bobby Lennox and one older than Jim Craig.

There is a similar perception of Aiden McGeady, who, at 23 and in his sixth year as a first-team squad member, shows few visible signs of improvement, but is viewed as a novice with much to learn.

Ally McCoist, too, seems to be a beneficiary of this inverted ageism, frequently described in the media as a young coach, almost ready to make his way in management. He is 47, an age at which Alex Ferguson had been in management for 15 years, had won ten major trophies with Aberdeen and been appointed manager of Manchester United.

McCoist is also nine years older than Jock Stein was when he won his first Scottish Cup with Dunfermline in 1961 and three years older than the great Celtic manager was when he won the European Cup.

Some of today's "apprentices" are actually closer to greybeards.

It's Only Words...

As I’ve been a blogging chancer of late you’ll excuse me if I go over a couple of stories that I missed. You might call this the 'Scottish Football Guide to Saying What You Mean':

"I was just laying back relaxing in the dressing room and the manager sat beside me and told me he wanted to make me club captain – I had to take a wee breath because I was not quite sure if he was telling the truth or not! It is a very big honour, I’ve been a Hibernian supporter all my life so to lead the team out for the first time on Sunday was a massive thing for me. It is something that every young boy would like to be."

Kevin Thomson, July 2006, on assuming the Hibs captaincy.

"At that moment I would have run across the M8 in my bare feet to get the deal done.This is the best day of my life and I can't put into words how excited I am to call myself a Rangers player. It's a boyhood dream come true."

Kevin Thomson, January 2007, on signing for Rangers.

"While these players have signed the contracts just recently then there has to become a responsibility on a player. I think where they will be disappointed is when they do sign their players on a contract then they are looking to get out of that contract without taking a great deal of responsibility for it."

Walter Smith, December 2006, on Thomson and Scott Brown honouring their contracts with Hibs.

"Walter Smith has returned to Rangers as manager, putting pen to paper to a three-year contract. Smith, who revived the fortunes of the Scotland national side, still had 18 months remaining on his contract with the SFA."

Yahoo News, January 2007, as Smith shows how to handle a contract responsibly by ripping his own up.

"Rangers have beaten Celtic and several English clubs to the signature of Kevin Thomson after paying Hibernian £2m for the midfielder."

BBC Sport, January 2007, as Smith allows Thomson to follow his example.

"Walter's departure is a serious blow to the Scottish FA. We are very disappointed that he has chosen to leave us at this critical time. No agreement has been reached with Mr Smith or Rangers Football Club on any compensation payment to be made for the early termination of his employment, which is in breach of his contract with the Scottish FA."

David Taylor, January 2007, as Smith ditches Scotland and the SFA search for compensation.

"It's a different thing altogether."

David Taylor, Ferbruary 2007, as he follows Smith out of the SFA.

Just a snapshot. But it’s these kind of things that leave the fans so frustrated and add to the impression of football – and everyone connected with the game – as a bloated, money grabbing monster.

But we always come back for more.

The Week in Scottish Football

The runners and riders in Scottish football over the last seven days:

Well Done You!

Until this afternoon Kilmarnock were going to get this for performance of the week. But Falkirk made a late charge and came through on the inside after putting Rangers to the sword.

A special mention to Scott Brown. After building up a reputation as the player other teams love to hate he’s achieved a double whammy by becoming the player the Hibs fans love to hate. A transfer request months after signing a new contract is not endearing. A transfer request minutes after an abject performance is insulting.

Oh Dear!

Stephen Kenny went back over the water to win the FAI Cup with Derry City. Congratulations but after a 6-1 loss yesterday Dunfermline fans will be asking where the manager’s thoughts have been this week.

Paul Le Guen. Turning the corner on Saturday. Hits a dead end on Sunday. Much work still to do.

Villain of the Week

Management at Hearts. Some optimism had returned. Then Steven Pressley was dumped again and the gloom descended once more.

Willie McKay or Rod Petrie. Petrie must wonder how keeping his mouth shut has meant becoming involved in a war of words. McKay says Petrie is in the wrong. Thomson and Brown act like children. Somewhere along the line football becomes the loser.

A Bitter Taste for Hibs Fans

Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown.

It’s getting a bit boring, this saga they’ve engineered.

They’re young men and they feel they should get paid what they’re entitled too. Fair enough.

They’ve drafted in Willie McKay as their agent, no doubt impressed by tales of his life in Monaco and his incredible story of how he made Jean Alain Boumsong a millionaire.

But the players were happy enough with the contract extensions they signed only recently. And that should put Hibs in a position of strength.

Except player power is becoming an unstoppable force and it looks unlikely that this will end happily for Hibs fans.

McKay has already stated that Hibs have proved they are “selling club.” Aside from the fact that all clubs, except maybe Chelsea, are now selling clubs, McKay seems to have been going out of his way to antagonise Hibs.

He may be doing right for his clients but the media campaign that the Glasgow tabloids have allowed him to orchestrate has done the public profile of agents few favours.

Brown and Thomson would have been better shutting up and living up to their potential at Hibs this season. The summer would have been a far better time for these discussions.

Instead they’ve made themselves look like mercenaries dabbling in the ugly side of football.

It seems like being a footballer no longer suffices. Players now want to be painted in the media as spoilt and manipulative as well.

If Thomson and Brown do go they will leave Hibs, like so many others, with nothing but ill will. Many Hibs fans will actually want to see these two favoured sons fail.

They’ll have nobody to blame but themselves.

A Lesson in Lennonism

Has Kevin Thomson realised that the nonsense he helped create around Hibs last week was over the top?

After the ridicule he found heaped on him following his farcical Daily Record ‘column’ last Tuesday, today he was in a more conciliatory mood.

No mention of his mummy and his yearning to free her from the chains of wage slavery.

Rather positive talk about winning silverware and fighting for second place. Even some well placed displays of his Hibee credentials – and his distaste for Hearts.

If this really is a sudden change of heart the reason behind it might well be hidden later in the column. Thomson’s half hearted protest about his disappointment with Neil Lennon for trying to get Scott Brown sent off can’t conceal the nagging admiration he must feel for the Celtic captain.

Lennon is much maligned by fans up and down the country. Often the criticism is fair. And as Hibs battered Celtic for much of the match Lennon must have wondered why he still puts his body through 90 minutes week after week.

More than once Guillame Beuzelin made Lennon look as lumbering and dimwitted as a carthorse approaching the knacker’s yard.

But from somewhere Lennon found the strength to orchestrate the comeback. Referee Mike McCurry will not be proud of the way he allowed the Irishman to dominate him in the second half.

Thomson thought Lennon looked “beaten” when Hibs went two up. Lennon doesn’t know the meaning of word. With Beuzelin and Ivan Sproule tiring Hibs needed the pace and work rate of that other, allegedly, want-away Hibee Scott Brown.

Lennon sucked Brown into a personal dual – which they were both lucky didn’t result in red cards – and the young midfielder was duly posted missing.

Thomson too, trying to play the captain’s role for which he is not yet ready, spent too much energy trying to placate Brown. Lennon and Evander Sno duly took over the midfield.

He didn’t score but it was Lennon that hauled Celtic back into this match. If he wonders why he often doesn’t get credit for contributions like that he need look no further than the way he taunted Brown after Celtic’s equaliser.

Neil Lennon is not a man many people could claim to like as a footballer. Much of his game is psychological. It’s ugly. But he gets away with it and it gets his team results.

Physically and mentally he has a strength that Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown lack. They’re more likely to discover that strength learning in the heat of the SPL with a wonderfully talented Hibs side than toiling with their old mates Derek Riordan and Ian Murray in the reserves at Parkhead or Ibrox.

Maybe Kevin Thomson has realised that in time to pull back from the brink.