Frugality, Whyte knights and January gambles

A week away from the blog.

I'd like to explain my absence with exciting tales of derring do. But I can't. The most excitement I got was watching Hibs beat Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup, nailbiting to the end.

No, I've been away largely because I couldn't be arsed for the last week. One of the many dividing lines between the humdrum blogger and the paid chronicler of our beautiful game is that my can't-be-arsedness means very little to anyone, can't-be-arsedness on their part means children go unfed.

What great events did I miss?

Well, speaking of paid chroniclers, last week was the week that the Daily Record - oft referred to as the Daily Ranger in the more unforgiving corners of our footballing society, a newspaper once literally printed on blue paper - suggested that, whatever else he may be, Rangers owner Craig Whyte is not, after all, a white knight.

Rangers, said the Record, are screwed. One way or t'other, to differing degrees dependent on a variable here or there, but screwed nonetheless.

"Not so," responded Craig Whyte.

This, largely, is all Craig Whyte does. Deny things. Sometimes he also issues legal threats. But largely he denies and denies and denies. He's either incredibly wronged or he's the boy who cried wolf until he was hoarse.

One thing he's not, right now, is the owner of a football club with any momentum. Behind in the league, out of the cup - all the cups - and shorn of their star striker.

Rangers lost the the transfer window just as surely as they lost to Dundee United in that meek Scottish Cup capitulation on Sunday.

Gone is Nikica Jelavić, in is the initially phonetically amusing and initially underwhelming Mervan Celik.

A January devoted to frugality? Perhaps. But it's hard to see how this window's business has done anything but further deflate the Ibrox championship challenge.

And still, perhaps, even bigger battles lie ahead.

Rangers January's travails allowed Celtic to complete a quiet month looking like the biggest winners. Ahead in the SPL and getting past opponents of all shapes and sizes in the three domestic competitions, Celtic brought in Pawel Brozek, Rabiu Ibrahim and Michael Lustig.

What impact the three recruits will have remains to be seen. In a strange January, however, Celtic kept hold of their best players. That may well be enough in what has become a treble chasing season.

Holding on to your best players; Hearts managed that as well, despite talk of a financially motivated fire sale.

That looked to have set them up for a real tilt at third place. Best-of-the-rest might still be a realistic possibility but less than a week into February and Hearts have apparently all but dispensed with the services of 'keeper Marián Kello after a move to Austria Wien fell through.

And then the taxman - who has become as ubiquitous as the SFA compliance officer this SPL season - came calling once again with a bill to be settled and a court date to hammer home the point.

It looks like whatever Hearts achieve this season - and they could still achieve a lot - it will be done against an economically unsettled backdrop. Paulo Sergio must surely be getting used to having to do things the hard way.

Doing things the hard way seems to be a capital trend right now. A beleaguered Hibs team has once again been subjected to a January revolution.

Colin Calderwood's miracle cure lasted for about six games last season. That was enough to win him a manager of the month award and save Easter Road from hosting First Division football.

Then things settled down and the incredulous faithful realised that Calderwood had built something even worse than what had gone before.

The hope is that Pat Fenlon's reshaping will have more sticking power, although the short term goal remains the same - to finish the season in 11th place or better.

There was relief but also a certain belief as Hibs got past Kilmarnock on Saturday. But they face Aberdeen next weekend joint bottom of the table. The proof of whether Hibs have gathered another bunch of puddings lies in the weeks and games ahead.

Elsewhere prudence prevailed. Aberdeen brought in five players with Russell Anderson, Stephen Hughes and Gavin Rae addressing any problems Craig Brown felt he had with experience in the squad. And I'm intrigued to see how Danny Uchechi - a 22 year who stupendously reverses any Pittodrie strategy of making signings with senior experience in mind - fares. Scouting reports from elsewhere suggest his pedigree falls somewhere below middling.

St Mirren bought - the very act of "buying" seems something of a throwback these days, especially when the fee is £35,000 - Dougie Imrie and were boosted by Jim Goodwin deciding to stay put, a decision which would suggest that belief remains in the Danny Lennon Project.

The benefit of holding on should also be felt at St Johnstone where Francisco Sandaza remains until the end of the season, a rumoured victim of the general cack-handedness of Rangers' current recruitment policy.

Early reports suggest Motherwell have unearthed something a wee bit special in Henrik Ojamaa and Dean Shiels has made a video montage with a Cat Stevens soundtrack pretty much compulsory in the build up to the league cup final by staying on at Kilmarnock.

Dundee United brought in only Richie Ryan and Miloš Lačný but the crucial business at Tannadice was keeping a tight rein on Johnny Russell as vultures swooped.

Inverness were restricted to a couple of loan deals and the free transfer of Claude Gnakpa - an "exciting asset" according to Terry Butcher, whose word I'll need to trust for now.

Dunfermline, the church mice of the SPL whose fiscal travails would have inspired Charles Dickens, brought in Kyle Hutton on loan from Rangers and raided the same discount store to get Jordan McMillan on a free.

A 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock last night - their first home point since November - brought Dunfermline level with Hibs having played a game more.

Where Pat Fenlon has chosen scalpel wielding and reconstructive surgery, Jim McIntyre has been left to largely make do and mend.

If off-field events could still impact on the top of the league, at the bottom it looks like being a battle of wits between those two managers.

One was given resource enough to take a January gamble. How that works out will decide this relegation battle.

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Andy Ritchie and the Scottish Mavericks

I'm slaving away trying to come up with a greatest Scottish league XI for the The Away End's current search for the best of the best.

I've actually already had my vote but now I've been asked to put something down in writing and I find myself with too many names, too many options.

Should I only vote for players I've seen? That restriction would still allow for a hell of a team.

A team that would remind us of the gems we've cherished amid the gloom of the last 25 years.

Then there are the players who, through an accident of birth, I didn't see play. But I thrill to their stories and I'm convinced at least some of them should be included.

And, this being a Scottish league XI, there are those players whose legends are confined only to this country. Or even to their own clubs.

Willie Hamilton would fit in here. Not many more than a 100 league appearances for Hearts, Hibs and Hamilton. An abbreviated career and one often spent at hungover odds with his bosses. But Jock Stein and Pat Stanton reckoned him to be one of the most talented players they'd ever seen. Not bad judges those two.

Perhaps they provide a persuasive argument for the inclusion of a maverick.

A maverick like Hamilton. Or like Chic Charnley, arriving at Old Trafford with his boots in a plastic bag, leaving Billy McNeill to shake his head and ask "if only?"

Chic, scoring from the halfway line, thrilling fans enough for a fanzine cover to tag Pelé the "black Chic Charnley.

Chic, getting chased on the training pitch by a man wielding a Samurai sword.

Or a maverick like Andy Ritchie?

When David Beckham was in his free-kick scoring pomp for Manchester United it was Morton's Ritchie that Alex Ferguson chose to compare him to.

Overweight, moody, lazy. When I hear Ritchie described in such terms I warm to him more and more.

I'm increasingly thinking that my team must include such a richly talented loose cannon.

But which one?

Hamilton? Charnley? Ritchie? Or is there another maverick I can't afford to ignore?

Enjoy Andy Ritchie doing what he did his best. And then let me know your thoughts: which of the Scottish league irregulars should I be prepared to try and tame as I manage the greatest Scottish league XI of all time?

Have your greatest Scottish XI say at The Away End

Falkirk v Celtic

Saturday 15th October 2011.

Celtic, fresh from a defeat at Tynecastle, are 3-0 down at half time to Kilmarnock.

Winning the title looks a long way off, Neil Lennon's managerial coat seems to hang on an ever shooglier peg.

They came back to draw 3-3, three goals in a 10 minute burst from Anthony Stokes and Charlie Mulgrew salvaging a point. And, with hindsight, transforming a season.

That draw was the start of a run that has seen Celtic lose just one game in 21. That defeat came against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League. The last point they dropped in the SPL was at home to Hibs on 29th October.

Along the way they've scored 41 goals across four competitions and conceded - including those three at Rugby Park - just 13.

An emphatic turnaround powered by form that looks - from this distance at least - to carry treble winning potential.

That, for Falkirk, is the depressing reality that punctures dreams of semi final glory at Hampden today.

Lose a two goal lead and then beat Rangers in injury time. Come from behind in extra time to beat Dundee United on penalties.

And then face another mountain to climb at Hampden. If Falkirk are to get to the league cup final they'll have done it the hard way.

Neil Lennon has been a model of admiration on the topic of Falkirk and their manager Steven Pressley this week.

Even allowing for hackneyed managerial chat - and, perhaps, attempts to defuse any lingering ill-feeling from a past personality clash - it's easy to see why.

Written off and the butt of a thousand internet jokes, Pressley has persevered. Instructed to cut his cloth in line with Falkirk's poverty, he's built a young team with determination and imagination. Today's semi final is a just reward.

A just reward but a mission just about impossible. It's true that Celtic's recent run has been hugely impressive without being scintillating in every game.

But they win and they win and they win. Celtic could have an off day, Falkirk could play as well they've ever played. And Celtic might still find a way past them. It's a habit they've got at the moment and it's proving a hard one to break.

Maybe if Falkirk can get an early goal, maybe...

Another semi final, another win for an SPL club. I'd not bet against it.

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Falkirk: Bairns Learn History?

Falkirk face Celtic in a semi-final knowing that Kilmarnock lie in wait in the final.

It's the 1997 Scottish Cup all over again. History doesn't repeat itself, does it?

Mind you, Falkirk don't have the best of records in the league cup. They qualified for the second final back in 1947/48 and promptly lost 4-1 in a replay against Second Division East Fife.

Celtic, meanwhile, have won the trophy 14 times and played in 28 finals.

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Ayr v Kilmarnock

"No, we're the underdogs."

Ayr v Kilmarnock. An Ayrshire derby in a league cup semi final and nobody wants to be favourites.

No surprise there. Derby games are different. Derby games in cups carry an extra weight. Make it a semi final and you've got a hell of a game on your hands.

Best then to try and reduce expectations, relieve some of the pressure on your players.

Even if it is bollocks. Yes, Ayr have seen off SPL opposition on their march to Glasgow giving Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels the inspiration to mimic the underdog. But it's an unconvincing act.

Top flight football and full time players make this Kilmarnock's to lose.

The problem for them, and the reason behind Shiels' cack-handed mind games, is that these games are actually quite easy to lose.

There's evidence of that in both Ayr's cup run and recent meetings between the two sides.

Add to that the odd inconsistency that often hampers Kilmarnock's progress - illustrated once again in a 3-0 skelping at home to Dunfermline last week - and you've got the potential for unease in the dressing room.

That must be pleasing for an Ayr side who will surely need to play with a battle hardened stubbornness and sniff out any Kilmarnock weaknesses to prosper today.

Does this derby, as some suggest, mean more to lower division Ayr than their opponents?

Not for the fans. That's something the Kilmarnock players would do to well to remember.

Local rivalry does, of course, add interest today. Hampden might not be full but the passion - some of it perhaps a touch politically incorrect - should serve as a timely reminder that Scottish football's heart still beats with old feuds, past grievances and dreams of getting one over on timeless enemies.

Kilmarnock should win. They should. But Ayr shouldn't be at Hampden. Dunfermline shouldn't have beaten Kilmarnock 3-0.

Prediction? At least one red card and Kilmarnock to win 2-1 after being somewhat rocked by a strong Ayr start. A cup tie worthy of the occasion if not chock full of exceptional football.

All of which makes it a bit of shame that the game will be played in Hampden's 1pm graveyard shift, without the exposure of live television.

Not that the winners will care. Losing a semi final derby? Been there, done that. Suffered it.

You wouldn't wish it on anyone. Except, perhaps, your worst enemy.

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Ayr United: Devine Right

A few drinks this evening and the chat got round to the Ayrshire derby being played out at Hampden tomorrow.

Ayr United v Kilmarnock.

An outing of Ayrshire's dirty linen at the national stadium. The Jerry Springer "I Married A Horse" episode writ large. An incestuous family feud settled in a national competition.

I find myself asking what Ayr means to me.

Ayr?

It means Sydney Devine and not a spare seat in the Gaiety Theatre. Can still get them flocking, can Sydney. And, I'm told, he's significantly superior to Daniel O'Donnell.

Ayr?

It means an overrated national bard and ridiculous politicians of all stripes trying to grab a womanising chancer as their own. Surely, if there really was anything about Burns, he'd have written them all off as rogues.

Ayr?

It means a dark night of football. I've watched Scotland fail at many a sport. I've watched Hibs fail in many a game.

But few come close to the misery of watching Ayr United win a Scottish league cup semi final. Franck Sauzee, a hero of heroes, becoming a dead man walking.

Ayr know misery, they know how to heap misery on.

Kilmarnock be warned.

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Leigh Griffiths: A Sorry Saga

"Sheer stupidity."

Maybe Leigh Griffiths had been fed that line in the bizarre public apology issued by Hibs today.

But it's pretty much bang on the money as a description of his behaviour in the past few weeks.

Gesturing Griffiths, the daftest laddie in the whole of Leith.

That might be unfair. But he got away with a gesture to the St Johnstone fans in Hibs' 3-2 win earlier in the season. He got a one game ban for a gesture in the defeat to Rangers. He got a one game ban for a gesture - to his own fans - in the win at Cowdenbeath.

Few are the occasions when it's a good idea to flick your own fans the "middles" but it seems even more foolhardy to do it when you're developing a reputation for a lack of gesticular subtlety.

So it's another two game ban. And the donning of his best hoodie for the kind of bizarre public apology championed by Tiger Woods, a move that hardly dispels the idea of Hibs as a footballing soap opera of late.

Bizarre might be a good thing though. Stupidity is the last thing Pat Fenlon needs as he plots Hibs' survival. Whatever the coaching staff said to Griffiths failed. Using YouTube like modern-day stocks, delivering public humiliation, might work.

Hibs will hope so.

Griffiths is only a loan player. His disciplinary record might not make him worth the hassle in other circumstances.

But Hibs are in a dark place. They need players with talent and they need players with confidence.

Griffiths has both. The former might be sporadic and the latter buttressed by bouts of petulance but he delivers something that Hibs lack.

One point ahead of bottom placed Dunfermline, and with transfer window business neither quick nor revolutionary, Hibs need all the help they can get.

The rub is that Leigh Griffiths is of no use sat in the stand.

Nor is being seen to indulge his player the sort of message Fenlon - who is surely aware of the murmurs of disciplinary disapproval that have swirled round Easter Road for a few seasons - will want to send out, particularly when public warnings have previously been issued for exactly the same transgressions.

As Griffiths correctly points out he's become a player that opposing fans make much merriment out of disliking. But every reaction will only make the abuse louder, every tabloid splash on domestic disharmony will only encourage supporters to goad him into a reaction before screaming blue murder at what an offensive, rude little man he is.

That's the footballer's life. Maybe more so for a player with a reliance on a certain cockiness.

Griffiths needs to learn. He's quick to say how happy he is at Hibs, his childhood club. But he's a Wolves player, he's already won his lucrative move to the land of opportunity.

There's talent and potential there that deserves a bigger stage than the 11th best club in the SPL can offer.

If his career progresses - which might depend on him sorting his head out as much as anything else - he'll face bigger matches, bigger crowds, bigger volleys of vitriol from the stands.

He's made an idiot of himself in recent weeks, he's taken the piss out of his manager and he's damaged the club he professes to love.

That's very far from being ideal.

Now it's up to Griffiths to prove that it's also very far from being a period of career defining foolhardiness.

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SPL Today: The £35000 Man

Today's SPL. All of our dirty dozen are in action. Here's a very quick look ahead.

St Mirren v Celtic

Ah, St Mirren. 2-1 up last week with their opponents down to ten men. They lost 5-2.

A season in 90 minutes. The promise, the impressive moments, the entertainment and the frequent disappointments.

If Danny Lennon finds that frustrating, Danny Lennon will tell us. And Danny Lennon will keep working to find the right formula for St Mirren and Danny Lennon.

They did sign Dougie Imrie this week which could prove a wise buy. And, in this barren transfer window, the excitement of Lennon pipping Peter Houston with a cheeky bid of £35,000 must pass for entertainment.

Celtic roll on and on. And this week they signed Rabiu Ibrahim, the "African Lionel Messi."

One thing Neil Lennon will never be short of is short of options. Big squad, big title challenge.

The problem with a winning run like the one Celtic are on is that it has to end sometime.

It will probably survive today though.

Dundee Utd v Motherwell

Plaudits aplenty for Dundee United after their performance at Celtic last week. Just a shame they gave their hosts a two goal lead.

The barely scintillating Dougie Imrie transfer saga would seem to illustrate two things: Peter Houston is keen to evolve his squad and he'll need to do that under the strictest of housekeeping budgets.

That's a big ask and a conundrum that suggests that United's current SPL position - 26 points, seventh place, a degree of inconsistency - might be where the find themselves for a couple of consolidating seasons.

Motherwell cut a dash through the SPL autumn but have now gone a month and four games without a league win.

Last week they relinquished third place, albeit they've got games in hand, to a resurgent Hearts. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

The early success was built on a tight unit and that always ran the risk of injuries, loss of form or a few lapses in concentration causing problems. So it's proved.

I'm backing the draw today.

Hibernian v St Johnstone

A big, big, big win for Hibs at Dunfermline last week. That game - loss of an early goal, recovery, loss of a late goal - showed the weaknesses that have haunted them.

But the late winner also gave a glimpse of the resilience and belief that Pat Fenlon has been trying to bring to a squad that had lost all confidence.

An important three points but not a genuine moment of rebirth. That will take more time.

St Johnstone might very well still be incandescent about the correct procedure for the positioning of free kicks after last week's narrow loss to Rangers.

I didn't see much wrong with it myself but others will disagree.

St Johnstone are still very much in the mix for third place. Narrow defeats to Rangers might be expected but it's trips like today's that will have a greater impact on their season.

I'm expecting goals today. But I fancy the away team might just nick the three points.

Inverness v Hearts

A good win at Motherwell followed by a cup win at Dunfermline made this a good week for Inverness.

A good win against St Mirren followed by an almighty SPL rumpus made this an utterly bizarre week for Hearts.

The players have carried on regardless despite the fracas over their pay. That's very much to their credit.

Tricky trip this though. Don't know why but I've got a feeling this could very well be a home win.

Kilmarnock v Dunfermline

Dunfermline could really have done with ending their dismal run last week.

They didn't. An appalling record lies behind them, a hell of a struggle stretches ahead of them.

They lose too many goals and don't score enough. The result is 14 points from 21 games.

Kilmarnock are capable of great things, poor things and, like last weekend's goalless draw at Aberdeen, best forgotten things.

The top six was the aim this season. They currently lie sixth. If they're going to stay there they need to win games like this.

They probably will today.

Rangers v Aberdeen

Rangers continue to fail to convince. They also, largely, keep winning and tacking close behind Celtic.

Aberdeen have done enough to persuade us they aren't as bad as they looked earlier in the season. But nor are they as competent as Craig Brown would have hoped.

That doesn't give me much confidence in a game of games at Ibrox today. They might prove me wrong.

Or Rangers might overcome a thrawn Aberdeen by the odd goal.

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