The cup is half empty

Many of us predicted a Rangers win in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final. We got that. The tale ended as we suspected it might but few of us could have dreamt up the narrative.

We didn't expect St Mirren to dominate. We couldn't have predicted that Rangers would have finished the game with nine men. And we wouldn't have expected that Kenny Miller would grab the winner with, in this observer's eyes at least, one of the finest finishes of his career.

A cup final with drama and incident when we expected so little.

So why, now the dust has settled, has it left me feeling so depressed.

It's not the repetitive drone of Rangers winning another trophy. You expect that. It's a cause of lingering irritation, resentment even, but not depression. Rather it was the nature of the game itself.

I think, and I'm probably not alone, that Rangers delivered the first leg of a treble at Hampden. And they did it while being outplayed. This is a team cantering to the league title yet they are capable of playing as badly as this. What does that say about the SPL?

Rangers were so poor that yesterday that I thought it was going to be difficult to single out one player as the sinner-in-chief. But that is to under estimate Kevin Thomson's ability to make a total erse of himself.

Sent off for stupid tackle that he made because he lost his temper. At 25 Thomson should be over these bouts of petulance. It says much for his inflated sense of his own importance that he's always likely to explode when he doesn't get his own way. 25 years old. No longer a kid, but apparently without a single sign of any maturity. And the red card merely provided the final act of an entirely anonymous display. Thomson's career is passing him by and he seems powerless to stop it.

And what of St Mirren. Brave St Mirren. Written off before the game but united in a belief and a desire that almost saw them through. Bollocks to that. Yes they dominated for long spells. But, amazingly, football is still about scoring goals. And they couldn't get close.

Even if their performance in the first hour had something admirable about it we've got to look at the simple facts. They dominated but couldn't score against 11 men and then imploded when they enjoyed a numerical advantage.

It's not even that they took time to adapt to Rangers' handicap. They actually got caught shorthanded in defence for the goal. Against nine men. Hard not to escape the conclusion that St Mirren are exactly where they deserve to be in our threadbare league.

St Mirren withdrew Billy Mehmet, who'd worked tirelessly while all the while looking like he'd still struggle to score if Cynthia Payne took him in as a lodger, and replaced him with Craig Dargo. Who hasn't scored in 19 games.

When the camera cut to the a young St Mirren fan in the crowd, tears streaming down his face, it was hard to escape the conclusion that this is a team undeserving of any such emotional attachment.

And, yes, I am aware that I could stand accused of kicking St Mirren when they are down. Guilty and it's easy to hurl abuse, sitting here with nothing more than a laptop and head full of opinions. But I'd say that losing a cup final that you've dominated to nine men is unprofessional, a whopping insult to those fans and, sorry Gus, an indication of a team that is crying out for better leadership.

Sunday then was a poor game lifted by a few moments of real drama, only one of which had anything to do with quality football. So, after everything, we probably got the final that this season has deserved.

Looking back

A blast from the past, the last time St Mirren were in a Hampden cup final. Archie Macpherson has control of the microphone:

Co-operative Insurance Cup Live

Coming up from around 2.30 toaday, live coverage of the Co-operative Insurance Cup as St Mirren and Rangers meet in the first of this year's major Scottish cup finals.

See ya soon!

Co-operative Insurance Cup Final

Despite the many compelling and intriguing patterns that Scottish football has managed to weave over the years the business end of our game is essentially a two tone intarsia. The Old Firm win things. St Mirren don't.

Only twice in their history have Rangers lost a League Cup final to anyone but Celtic. 25 times the trophy has gone to Ibrox from 32 finals. St Mirren lost the 1956 final to Aberdeen. And that's pretty much their League Cup history. Hell of a record in the Renfrewshire Cup, mind.

Given the pressure on their manager after a poor, poor run in the SPL and a unseemly and ill judged rammy over bonus payments, St Mirren would seem to be doing their best to turn a very difficult job into an absolutely impossible job.

But this is a cup final and shocks can happen. It's just that they tend not to in Scotland.

So what's the point in turning up to watch this Rangers walkover?

Because we're all football fans and myopic optimism is our stock in trade. And once in a while a result will come along that gives us all a warm feeling inside. A result that leaves people dancing on street of Raith.

I'm not a St Mirren fan but I will be hoping that they can upset the odds on Sunday. I suspect I'll not be alone.

Can they do it? I'd not bet on it. Maybe some of the complacency that seems to be gripping the Rangers support will filter down to the pitch and St Mirren will prevail through greater desire and hardwork. Maybe Rangers will have an off day, won't carry any luck, will lose discipline and shape. Or maybe St Mirren will just be better than them on the day.

I'd say St Mirren need to avoid losing an early goal and give themselves time to settle. They proved in the Scottish Cup at Love Street that they can upset Rangers, although they'll need to take their chances this time.

Rangers have had a couple of tricky encounters with the Buddies this season. If St Mirren can work on that nuisance factor from the start then it might begin to play on a few Rangers minds.

To listen to the head or listen to the heart? Alas I've got to go for the Rangers win, the first leg of what I think will become a treble.

But I'd probably have backed Dundee United in the 1987 Scottish Cup final. And St Mirren will find all the inspiration they need in the memories of that game.

When the Saints

A live blog on Sunday to mark the first national final of the season. If only to chart the time it takes for Chick Young to explode as both his teams battle it out at Hampden.

Actually Chico has quite a readable blog on the BBC site about St Mirren's propensity for self destruction. Even if we must question a man with his (alleged?) loyalties writing the following with a straight face:

Unite and realise that days like Sunday - national finals - are collector's items for clubs like ours.

Bonus rows always annoy me before big games like this. A total kick in the face to fans who are paying big money to go and support their team. And, yes, Gus McPherson is struggling in the league at the moment. But this is a cup final. The fans should at least fall in behind the manager - their most successful for years - until the big match is out of the way.

A full preview to follow but a depressing statistic for St Mirren. Rangers haven't lost a league cup final to anyone but Celtic since 1989/90. Aberdeen beat them 2-1 in that game with a Paul Mason double enough to overcome a Mark Walters penalty after extra time.

Before that it was Dundee in 1951/52. So they've got a bit of form going into this one.

I was actually hit by a wave of nostalgia when I saw the teams that Aberdeen and Rangers started with back in 1989:

Aberdeen: Theo Snelders, Stewart McKimmie, Alex McLeish, Willie Miller, David Robertson, Bobby Connor, Eoin Jess, Jim Bett, Brian Grant, Charlie Nicholas, Paul Mason

Rangers: Chris Woods, Gary Stevens, Richard Gough, Terry Butcher, Stuart Munro, Trevor Steven, Ian Ferguson, Ray Wilkins, Mark Walters, Ally McCoist, Mo Johnston

Charlie Nicholas also played a role the last time either of the ugly sisters lost the League Cup final to a non Old Firm side. On that day in 1994/95 he was playing against Raith Rovers.

Hampden bound?

A quick preview of the two League Cup semi finals that take place tonight and tomorrow:

Hearts v St Mirren

Television scheduling and the arrival of an Irishman in Glasgow have probably combined to overshadow tonight’s first semi final of the Co-operative Insurance Cup.

But both Hearts and St Mirren will fancy their chances of progressing to the final and giving their fans a day in the Hampden sun. Which would provide some recompense for spending this evening at a freezing Fir Park.

Csabo Lazlo had apparently already discharged most of his media duties in the build up before he got the boot from Tynecastle, giving some indication of the haste with which Jim Jefferies was brought back into the fold.

Not that the boost of Jim’s return was enough to give his team any momentum on Saturday as they went down to St Johnstone. Much has been written about Hearts’ lack of consistency and thrust this season and it’s probably safe to surmise that a quiet transfer window will do little to alleviate those problems, new old manager or not.

St Mirren come into the semi final on the back of a four match losing run which includes a 1-0 loss at Tynecastle in January. That said they matched third placed Hibs for most of the match on Saturday only to lose out to that cruellest of blows – the injury time own goal.

This one looks too close to call. Neither team have much form to call on and they both struggle to score goals (St Mirren 21 league goals from 22 games, Hearts 20 from 23). In their first meeting of the season St Mirren won 2-1 at home, in the return Hearts won 1-0.

Certainly the closeness of previous encounters suggests that the eight point gap between the teams in the league does not point to a massive gulf in class. The nine booking in those clashes would also suggest that we can expect a certain robustness in the play this evening.

This might not be a vintage night for the neutral. I fancy St Mirren to nick it by a goal in 90 minutes. If they don’t, penalties loom and then I’d have to back Hearts.

Rangers v St Johnstone

Rangers will have been relieved to come through the transfer window relatively unscathed. Not for the first time rumours of an impending Ibrox Armageddon have proved unfounded.

And, unsurprisingly, they are overwhelming favourites to win the second semi and stay on course for what would be one of the most unlikely trebles.

Despite that St Johnstone have proved themselves to be a bit of a cup team the last few seasons and they’ll be keen to build on that reputation as they continue to establish themselves back in the SPL.

Although the season’s two head to heads have seen Rangers take the spoils (2-1 in Perth and 3-0 at Ibrox) the feeling remains that SPL teams are capable of getting a result against the league leaders. If Rangers have an off night, if St Johnstone can stick to their plan and carry a touch of luck then anything is possible.

Remember as well that it was only a couple of years ago that Rangers were taken the distance before sneaking past a First Division St Johnstone at this stage in the Scottish Cup.

So, on paper, this might be a foregone conclusion. But I wouldn’t be massively surprised if the Saints manage to pull off a shock.

The Scottish Football Decade: League Cup

The Mickey Mouse Cup. The Diddy Cup.

Funnily enough it's always the fans of teams who have just been knocked out that are quick to dismiss the League Cup with any number of witty nicknames.

Sour grapes, perhaps, but there is no getting away from the fact that the Cooperative Insurance Cup is the poor relation in Scotland’s triumvirate of top trophies. Not even always the bridesmaid, more always the wedding guest that we only invited at the last minute because a lot of people couldn’t make it.

Given such a downtrodden place in our footballing psyche you might half expect the League Cup to be the spiritual home of the lesser lights of the Scottish game. By which I mean every team that is not called Rangers or Celtic.

Alas, in the “noughties,” this was not to be. Like Japanese Knotweed the Old Firm combined to smother the life out of everyone and everything else, determined to snatch even the lesser of Hampden’s two days in the sun each year.

Of the ten finals played since 2000 only two have not featured one side of the Glasgow divide. Given their individual success it is perhaps a blessing that we’ve only seen two Old Firm finals: Rangers winning 2-1 back in 2002/2003 and Celtic taking the 2008/2009 game 2-0 in extra time.

We should also be thankful that the stranglehold was at least broken twice. And both winners had a tale to tell.

Hibs were clear favourites in the 2003/2004 with Bobby Williamson’s young side overcoming the inhibitions their manager placed on them to beat Celtic and Ranger en route to what most expected to be a walkover against plucky little Livingston.

So it was that a stunned Hibs support sat in silence as manager Davie Hay and Stuart Lovell, Livingston captain and a much maligned former Hibee, marshalled the West Lothian side to a 2-0 win.

Having lost a semi final to Ayr United in 2001/2002 Hibs again proved that there are few like them in Scotland when it comes to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. That made Ayr the only side from outside the top flight to make the League Cup final so far this century.

As a personal footnote to that final I witnessed Williamson in conversation with a revered former Hibs player in the days before the game.

Within earshot of his young charges Williamson said: “I cannae agree. The last thing they’ll be doing at Hampden is enjoying it.”

We'll never know how damaging to the nerves of the team Williamson’s attitude was but it hardened my opinion that, whatever people say, there are sections of the “Largs mafia” who have been a cancerous growth on our game. Uganda is not far enough away for Bobby Williamson.

As for Livingston, a first national trophy seemed evidence that their 3rd place SPL finish the previous season was no fluke. Sadly they flew too close to the sun and have suffered myriad disasters both on and off the field since then. That day, however, brought memories that will sustain those trying their hardest to restore their club to the top flight.

Hibs fans eventually got their own day of joy when John Collins guided them to a 5-1 win over Kilmarnock in 2006/2007. A late spring snow shower did little to halt Hibs as they ran riot in the second half and the massed choirs of Leith cleared their throats in memorable style. Some would be forgiven for thinking that the future was once again bright. First John Collins and then Mixu Paataleinen would soon given them reason to reconsider their optimism.

Livingston and Hibs made but brief cameos in a League Cup decade that was again dominated by the Old Firm. As well as beating each other, between them they chalked up victories over Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline, Ayr United, Motherwell and Dundee United.

Before Dundee United took Rangers to penalties in 2007/2008 only Motherwell had managed a goal against the Old Firm in a League Cup final in the 2000s. And that was in a 5-1 defeat against Rangers.

The result has been a series of anti-climatic finals that have served little more purpose than to be extended celebrations for one half of Glasgow. The sponsors, of course, dream of the final being between the Glasgow giants. Well, last year their dream came true and it was probably as woeful a match as the previous nine combined.

The League Cup still soldiers along and those clubs that make it to Hampden will always enjoy it.

It is possible, however, that the next decade will see further moves towards some form of European league or even tentative moves towards some form of British knockout trophy. If that happens then the League Cup is likely to fall off the schedule.

Would there be mourners? Probably, but even they would be hard pushed to deny that the last decade has hardly been a persuasive argument for the unique selling points of our least cherished trophy.

1999–00 Celtic 2 – 0 Aberdeen
2000–01 Celtic 3 – 0 Kilmarnock
2001–02 Rangers 4 – 0 Ayr United
2002–03 Rangers 2 – 1 Celtic
2003–04 Livingston 2 – 0 Hibernian
2004-05 Rangers 5 – 1 Motherwell
2005–06 Celtic 3 – 0 Dunfermline Athletic 2006–07 Hibernian 5 – 1 Kilmarnock
2007–08 Rangers 2 – 2 Dundee United
2008–09 Celtic 2 – 0 Rangers

What's in store? The Co-op Cup

A midweek prediction special as Scottish football's least revered competition reaches the quarter final stage.

Dundee v Rangers

Rangers rediscovered some vim on Saturday but, crucially, still couldn't overcome Hibs. This is a poor Rangers side further distracted by off the field disasters. Quite a contrast to Dundee who are flying high and luxuriating in new found riches. Walter Smith will be keen to give Jocky Scott's dark blues due respect but he's also got a small squad struggling to cope with injuries and further domestic and European tests looming. So we can expect a weakened Rangers team coming up against a Dundee team full of confidence and momentum. A shock is not guaranteed but it's a distinct possibility. Home win.

St Johnstone v Dundee United

United go into the Tayside derby on the back of a convincing performance in the "New Firm" game at the weekend while St Johnstone were well beaten by a Kevin Kyle inspired Kilmarnock. The Saints have a strong cup record in recent seasons while United and boss Craig Levein are desperate to land some silverware and will fancy getting the job done this season with both Rangers and Celtic faltering. St Johnsone will try and play their usual game but United are, as ever, likely to be organised and physically stronger. Away win.

St Mirren v Motherwell

After sharing six goals and some heady attacking play on Saturday Motherwell make the trip back to Paisley tonight. I had backed Motherwell on Saturday and was perhaps guilty of underestimating St Mirren's apparent rebirth as free scoring, attacking force. I'm still impressed by Motherwell this season though and pulling themselves back into the game on Saturday is proof of a certain resilience. I'm going for the away win but I think it could be an extra time affair.

Celtic v Hearts (BBC on Wednesday)

Celtic are back atop the league following a 2-1 boreathon against Hamilton on Sunday. Hearts were held to a goalless draw at home to Falkirk on Saturday. Current form does not bode well for a scintillating game on Wednesday night. Hearts are in that horrible place where a lack of goals is making the players tetchy and the crowd restless. Celtic are in that horrible place where the manager doesn't like his players, the players don't like the manager and the fans are confused but feel they shouldn't like somebody. You would predict are nervy, tense and low scoring match but Celtic cut loose against Falkirk in the last round and might just do the same here. Close or not this is a home win.