Old Firm: In Suffolk nobody can hear you scream

"An afternoon when the Old Firm fixture reclaimed some credibility as a footballing occasion to savour."

That's The Scotsman's verdict on yesterday's humdinger of an Old Firm game.

Rangers outdid Celtic. Football outdid the myriad levels of crap that pockmarked this fixture last season.

Both these sides are now shorn of world class talent. But there was entertainment enough on show at Ibrox yesterday. Excitement, errors, skills, decent goals.

It was a football match not a reason for political slanging matches or a day for earnest hand wringing about the state of modern Scotland.

(If there were the dismal songs of hate I didn't hear them so I'm unable to pass comment.)

It was a game of honest endeavour. A match between two sides that have both limitations and ability, watched over by two managers who are still relatively inexperienced in such positions of power.

Basically, then, it was a football game. Such was the position we found ourselves in last year that our two dominant league sides producing a game that allows to talk about football now seems like something of an achievement.

It was a game that deserved an audience.

Didn't have one though. At least not where I am.

An English pub. The game on the TV. Three of us in the bar. Me. And one of those middle aged couples that have either slipped into a companionable silence or have decided to leave their mutual loathing unspoken.

I was watching the game. They were not.

This is an expensive little patch of Suffolk. It might not be a traditional footballing heartland. But there was standing room only in the same pub just hours later as Chelsea and what appeared to be the local club, Manchester United, threw up an equally engrossing match.

It would be foolhardy to claim this experience of fitba' solitude as representative.

But increasingly on trips to England I find shrugged shoulders are the response when Scottish football is discussed.

With financial hardship blighting our clubs and TV deals up for renewal that worries me.

In the summer the SPL were crowing about increased viewing figures. Without checking back I think those figures equated to something like 170,000 average viewers across 60 live games.

Figures like that will allow English based TV companies - who view Scotland as very much a secondary constituency - to hold us to ransom. They also make the idea of SPL TV look very shaky.

In which light my experience yesterday, the loneliness of my long distance pub crawl, looks more like the reality. Even for Celtic and Rangers, pretty much the crown jewels of any attempts to "sell" Scottish football, the audience is shrinking in a crowded market.

If the local brew wasn't so morish that would be quite a sobering thought.

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Rangers v Celtic: Destiny Calls

Old Firm matchday number seven. Rangers v Celtic. Old friends never get tired of meeting up.

By any footballing standards today’s Easter clash provides drama enough. To the winner, it looks, goes the league title and a tilt at the Champions League.

Sadly Scotland in 2011 relies not on footballing drama alone.

We had already seen the cranking up of the rancour surrounding Old Firm games this season. We had seen the police raise their concerns.

We had seen protagonists fail to acknowledge that increased pressure, that heightened scrutiny, and lose their heads in the heat of the moment.

We had seen the furrowed brows of politicians, of Rangers and Celtic along with the great and the good of Scottish football being summoned to an Edinburgh summit.

But none of that prepared us for the news that Neil Lennon was among those being targeted in a letter bomb campaign.

So today the SPL hosts the one fixture in its calendar that garners some attention outside our borders. But the world, unaware of subtleties and fed only headlines, will now associate this game, this showpiece match, with an attempt to kill the Celtic manager.

There better be lot of people, in a lot of roles, in a lot of organisations asking themselves how it has ever come to this.

In the immediate aftermath of the story breaking I saw a few muted comments about cancelling today’s game or playing it behind closed doors.

The glib answer is that not playing today would be to allow this madman and his twisted hatred to win.

The truth is football is a remarkably resilient beast, unerringly able to march on in the face of outside interference, adept at turning a blind eye to situations it would rather ignore.

There was never any doubt that this game would go ahead today.

But it will go ahead under quite unparalled scrutiny. I suspect that the rational reaction to the week’s events – to adopt a position of reconciliatory calm – will pass certain elements by. Instead I fear some will see today as an even better excuse to display their defiance, indulge their more hysterical tendencies.

We’ll do well to get through this game with people commenting only on the football.

That’s a shame because this is one of the climatic events of the season, a season where both Celtic and Rangers have wobbled, recovered, impressed at times and simply got the job done at times.

Different seasons, different distractions, different styles. But they’ve stayed knotted together in the race for the title. Today one of them will take a massive step towards glory.

A point behind and a game in hand, Celtic have a slight advantage. The widely held view is that Celtic have the harder run in, with more away games.

That argument doesn’t always hold in Scottish football though, as evidenced in a week when both Rangers and Celtic converted potentially tricky away ties into 4-0 routs.

Even being visitors today is not a hammer blow. Both sides have felt the pain of Old Firm defeats at home this season. But Celtic are yet to lose a match at Ibrox.

Yet it was Rangers, so chastened in being tactically trumped at New Year, so off the pace in the league at Parkhead and so snarlingly impotent in being knocked out of the Scottish Cup, who took the first silverware of the season.

That day at Hampden Rangers got a lot right and Celtic barely even got started. It proved again, if proof was ever needed, that Rangers have a dogged resistance to being reduced to the role of also rans.

Proof also that this exciting Celtic side, very impressive when playing and attacking with pace and stuffed full of performers who can make the opposition squirm, are not without weaknesses and still lack the gritty experience of some of this Rangers squad.

And how Rangers would relish it if their own attacking force was to perform today. Nikika Jelavic seems to be hitting form and his presence should at least partially soothe feelings of attacking inadequacy when Rangers eye up Celtic’s abundance of options.

Celtic can afford to draw and win their remaining games to take the title.

A draw for Rangers will leave them reliant on Celtic slipping up.

That, along with their strength in depth and their greater ability to relentlessly turn the screw when they get ahead or begin to dominate, makes me consider Celtic favourites.

But the league table shows how little there is between them over the course of a long season.

Will Rangers greater need to win tempt then into a gameplan that suits Celtic by giving them space to exploit?

Will the league cup final performance haunt Celtic or inspire them to guard against complacency?

There’s an interesting ninety minutes ahead. Whoever wins, whatever the result it would be nice if it was the football that people are talking about this evening.

Prediction: Always hard to call these games. Celtic to win 2-1. Might happen. Might not.

Scottish Cup Fifth Round: Rangers v Celtic

Time is, once again, my enemy this Sunday morning. A quick look, then, at today's games. Including the big one at Pittodrie.

Odd to see Rangers and Celtic meet so early in the cup, giving us our second of three Old Firm games before 2011 is two months old.

A look at the league table shows Rangers playing catch-up but their games in hand suggest the situation is far from desperate.

But there is a clear feeling that the momentum has swung in favour of Celtic, the team that cruised to a 2-0 win at Ibrox on 2nd January and demolished the challenge of Hearts just days after Rangers had capitulated at Tynecastle.

That makes Celtic favourites going into this one. But, and please duck if you're standing outside my flat, derbies are a time for flinging the form book out of the window.

El Hadji Diouf starts for Rangers to add an extra dimension to the usual peripheral issues that attach themselves to this game.

Leaving aside Diouf's past indiscretions - a list as long Hen Broon's arm - his signing is a signal of Walter Smith's discomfort at how this season is unfolding and what he clearly sees as limitations in the quality and depth of his squad.

There is, undoubtedly, a level of pressure on Diouf and Nikica Jelavic to make an impact and provide Rangers with a cutting edge that Kenny Miller's departure has robbed them of. It's a big ask.

Neil Lennon got his tactics completely right in the face of an underwhelming Rangers performance in the last Old Firm game.

Can he do it again?

I'm slightly surprised that he's switched back to a 4-5-1 for this afternoon with Stokes dropping to the bench and Hooper alone up front. A lot of goals to take out of the team.

It means there is likely to be a battle between two five man midfields. Might a midfield battle suit Rangers more?

Certainly their is more fluidity to this selection and it means Celtic have strength to call on from the bench. It also suggests that Neil Lennon is not yet ready to write off Rangers' challenge.

The stakes are high. A single Scottish Cup could shape this Scottish season. Rangers will be out to show they are not the mugs some have taken them for. Celtic will be hoping to press home the advantage that a strong January has given them.

A tough game to call. Form suggests Celtic. But is this Rangers squad really ready to roll over at this stage of the season?

I'm not making this prediction confidently, we might even require a replay. But I can see Rangers sneaking this one today with stubborn, obdurate performance.

Rangers:
01 McGregor
03 Weir
05 Papac
16 Whittaker
24 Bougherra
07 Edu
08 Davis
40 Ness
14 Naismith
17 Diouf
18 Jelavic

Celtic:
26 Forster
03 Izaguirre
05 Majstorovic
12 Wilson
21 Mulgrew
08 Brown
16 Ledley
18 Ki Sung-Yeung
33 Baram Kayal
15 Commons
88 Hooper

Aberdeen v Dunfermline

A visit from a club riding high in the first division would normally be enough to send shivers down the spines of an Aberdeen squad.

Especially a group of players who seemed to rediscover many of their old frailties in shipping seven goals in a double header against their traditional tormentors Celtic.

But Craig Brown is certainly building something different, something new at Pittodrie and beating lower league opposition is something he will expect from his players.

For their part Dunfermline are second in the first division. I worry though about their results against league leaders Raith Rovers this season.

Can we see a Dunfermline squad who struggle to cope in big games? Or might a televised clash with an SPL team free them from the worries of local rivalries and play without fear?

I suspect this might be too much for Dunfermline with Aberdeen winning by a couple of goals.

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Neil Lennon's Celtic Roar On

Time to ask for forgiveness? Apologise for being a doubter? Time to all hail, hail Neil Lennon?

Back in December I predicted that Lennon’s reign as Celtic manager was facing a January of intense scrutiny, a month that could shape the destiny of his managerial career:

“I wrote after the Old Firm game that Lennon was displaying a worrying habit of losing big games as manager. He was failing the critical tests.”

Now that we’re heading into February we must acknowledge that Neil Lennon and his Celtic players have roared into the New Year.

An unexpectedly straight forward win at Ibrox on the 2nd of January set the tone. The only blip on the pitch came in a tempestuous draw at Hamilton.

Off the pitch, the SFA hit Lennon with a six game ban. His appeal is ongoing. Inevitably we will hear more of a storm that has lulled but not yet blown itself out.

But January has been Lennon’s month. Six out of seven games won. A relatively simple win over Rangers, a demolition of an in form Hearts and a place in the final Co-operative Insurance Cup booked.

Seventeen goals scored and just two conceded. That miserly defensive record has been achieved despite a number of injuries to key players.

The already impressive goals tally looks set to improve. Kris Commons has arrived to provide more ammunition and Lennon looks to have struck on an effective pairing up front.

Georgios Samaras claimed both the goals at Ibrox. It was one of the occasional cameos that make the long periods the Greek spends aimlessly meandering on the pitch even more frustrating.

But it is the combined talents of Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper who Lennon will look to power his team to the end of the season.

Stokes was not without his critics, attracting a fair deal of stick as late as the 1-1 draw at New Douglas Park in the second week of January.

But Hooper’s return from injury has allowed Stokes to blossom and prove what a fine goalscorer he can be.

Hooper offers an incisiveness and intelligence up front that Lennon sorely missed when the Englishman was injured. His return in 3-0 win at Easter Road set the tone for a partnership that not even Lennon could have imagined would blend so effectively.

If their double act was not part of his original plan then maybe we can also say that Lennon is carrying a little bit of luck, a crucial requirement for any successful manager.

There is still a lot of football to be played this season. With two games in hand Rangers are only five points behind.

But Lennon’s Celtic are in the driving seat, have forced their rivals into a tiring game of catch-up and established a hugely superior goal difference. It is Celtic who have left January with the momentum.

Faced with a series of challenges that many people, myself included, thought he would struggle to negotiate, Neil Lennon made January a month to remember.

February began with yet another simple win over Aberdeen. It will continue on Sunday with another big game, another huge test as Celtic face Rangers at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup. Walter Smith's side make the return trip in the league before the month is out.

Nobody ever said managing an Old Firm side was easy. But January suggests that Neil Lennon might just be getting the hang of it.

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Rangers v Celtic Preview

Given the brickbats being flung his way it is easy to forget that Neil Lennon has taken his Celtic side to the top of the table.

If the number of call offs this wintery winter have given the SPL a slightly artificial look this New Year, Celtic can still move themselves into the driving seat with an away win today.

Another big game test for Lennon. And, at some stage, he's going to need to pass one of these tests.

To do so Celtic will need to overcome their defensive brittleness and show more ruthlessness in front of goal than they have of late. A trip to Ibrox is unlikely to throw up as many chances as Celtic have enjoyed and squandered in their recent run of home games. Wastefulness will not be tolerated.

Rangers might have concerns about player contracts and an increasing fixture backlog but games like these are enough to invigorate Walter Smith and his squad.

If we expect Rangers to be thrawn and stubborn in defence and incisive in attack then we need to search the Celtic team for the bit of creative magic they need.

Will new signing Freddie Ljungberg be the man to surprise Rangers? It's a big game to make your debut and the jury remains locked in debate about what benefits the ageing Swede is actually going to bring to Celtic. Any role he plays today will be watched with interest.

I expect Rangers to score today. And that means Celtic have to produce something. I look back to the first Old Firm game of the season and the lessons to take from that when, with a one goal lead, Celtic froze in the second half.

Do I see signs of an increasing maturity in the Celtic team, an improved ability to cope with the unique atmosphere of an Old Firm game? I'm afraid I don't.

And for that reason although I expect a tense and close affair at Ibrox today I've got to back the home side. Home win.

Elsewhere in the SPL

St Johnstone v Inverness
Two home defeats in a row for the blog's team of the year but they'll be looking to extend their admirable away record today. St Johnstone will be looking to kick start their New Year with an assault on the top six. Draw.

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The Ibrox Disaster: 40 Years On

Rangers v Celtic 2nd January 1971. 66 lives lost.

From the National Library of Scotland Digital Archive (the Herald's original coverage):

FIRST WARNING OF THE TRAGEDY . . .
DISTANT SOUNDS OF SCREAMS IN MIST
In the press box we had all been commenting on how well behaved the crowd had been and thinking that Rangers' equaliser in the closing seconds had restored the good nature of their fans, ensuring that there would be no subsequent trouble.


Then, across the field at the north-east corner - Section 13 - there were four or five policemen standing on the track looking up into the terracing. Someone said: - 'Fighting must have started there.' But this seemed inexplicable because one had been able to sense the entire good humour of the crowd after the thrilling end to the game.


Then, across the floodlight mist, the distant sounds of shouts and screams could be heard. Two of us rushed down the spiral staircase from the top of the stand. We pushed our way through the cheerful fans on the pavement, through another entrance and ran across the bone-hard frosted pitch on which only minutes before, Colin Stein had brought so much happiness by scoring that equalizing goal.


GHOSTLY
In the deserted ghostly atmosphere of the playing pitch we had thoughts of fantasy, such as 'So this is what it is like to play at Ibrox.' Thoughts of disaster had still not penetrated.
Even when we reached the track at the far corner there was still no indication of the enormity of what had happened. Two or three people were being carried or helped down the terracing. Then, as dozens of police and ambulancemen converged and ran up the terracing, we felt the first real chill of the situation.


There was a numb silence now, broken only by shouts for stretcher bearers. We started to make our way to the top of the terracing, but several times went back with injured spectators who asked, 'Can you give us a hand?' Willing hands abounded to assist injured boys and men down to the track.


Eventually, at the top of the terracing, the true horror of the situation became apparent. Half a dozen lifeless forms were lying on the ground. Rescuers were tripping over the dead and injured as they struggled back with more victims.


A wedge of emptiness had been created part of the way down the long steep flight of steps leading to the Cairnlea Drive exit. In it were the twisted remains of the heavy steel division barriers. They had been mangled out of shape and pressed to the ground by the weight of bodies.


SHOES RIPPED OFF
Lying all over the steps were scores of shoes that had been ripped off in the crush. Beyond, the steps were still dense with groaning people.


We helped another of the injured back down the terracing.


Then Sir Donald Liddle, the Lord Provost, who had watched the game from the directors' box, walked across the pitch. He climbed over the wall into the terracing and moved around, trying to comfort the injured. He knelt beside one man who had had a pillow of beer cans made for his head and had coats and jackets placed over him. But he was dead. The Lord Provost was in tears when he left.


On the exit steps, Sir James Robertson, the chief constable, was directing the activity. Bodies were now lying everywhere. One man was still lying halfway down the steps, a jacket over his face.
There was almost complete shocked silence at this stage. Occasionally one could hear the noise of coins falling from the victims' pockets as they were lifted away.


Back on the field a row of bodies on stretchers was reaching from the corner flag position to the goalposts. Ambulances and police cars, their emergency lights flashing, were speeding round the track. Mr William Waddell, Rangers' manager, and Mr William Thornton, his assistant, together with Mr Jock Stein, Celtic's manager, were directing stretcher bearers to the team dressing rooms which had been set up as casualty stations.


Dozens of policemen, nurses, and ambulancemen were working desperately and mostly in vain to bring life back to the crushed victims.


When two hours later, there were only officials left on the terracing and steps of Section 13, one young nurse was being helped away, crying. She kept repeating: - 'I felt so helpless.'

Five big ones and a small one, please Carol

Back again. Another week of European misery. Rangers humbled – penalty or no penalty they got a "doing" – and Celtic drawing at home in a game that they would have expected to do better in. Still, at least they’ve both got a quiet weekend to look forward to.

Onwards:

Hamilton v St Johnstone

It would be churlish not to start with the weekend fixture that most catches the eye.

St Johnstone seem to bring goals wherever they go but don’t half concede them as well. Will these two be locked in a relegation battle come the end of the season? I certainly don’t think there’s much between them right now so I will go for a draw, a scoring draw.

Hibernian v Dundee United

The long, often bitter, history between these clubs will ensure the whole of Europe is glued to the radio as the old foes meet up in Scotland's game of the season so far.

Hibs are riding high after winning at Motherwell and winning the manager and player of the month awards in the past week. That is the perfect recipe for a disappointing result and Craig Levein will be out to expose the Hibs defence. Could go either way but I’ve got to back United to get the points.

Kilmarnock v Aberdeen

In a weekend crowded with big matches this one looks like being the pick of the bunch.

Aberdeen haven’t conceded a goal since Jimmy Calderwood was white or something and, despite Jim Jefferies increasingly lonely "Kevin Kyle for Fifa Player of the Year" campaign, Kilmarnock are not free scoring. Thrills there will be few. Another draw. Possibly with no goals.

Motherwell v Falkirk

Few could deny that when the Bairns roll into town the Steelmen know that they’re going to be involved in the game of the weekend. Tomorrow looks no different.

Falkirk are in the middle of a resurgence or at least a run of draws (don’t knock it - they’ve had the same results as Ranger in the last three games) and Motherwell will be looking to bounce back from defeat to Hibs last week. Motherwell will win.

St Mirren v Hearts

In such a crowded fixture list it is a testimony to the enduring allure of this game that it remains the standout fixture whenever it is played.

Hearts won last week but still didn’t convince while St Mirren’s thrawness against Celtic contributed to everyone who watched losing 90 precious minutes of their lives. There will be huff and puff on display here but I’d fancy another bore draw.

Rangers v Celtic

Two small clubs, with small club mentalities, meet up on Sunday. Like pub teams.

The smashing sound you can here is the form book being thrown out of the window. Does that cliché apply when neither side has any form? Could be a draw or one of them could win. I don’t know. I’ll have a stab at Celtic to win it by a goal.

The story so far: 11 from 30 (p*sh)