Coyle leaves Celtic out in the cold

So finally Owen Coyle has been officially appointed as Bolton manager. A fairly protracted process, for sure, but one that was inevitable when Coyle chose to avoid his post match media duties after last week's game.

Beware the no show manager who leaves his assistant to explain that he's been called away to see his family.

Many have been perplexed by Coyle's decision. Plaudits galore at Burnley or the glamour of Bolton? In part this confusion stems from the romanticised view that the media takes of "little" Burnley and their brave exploits.

North of the border some were wondering what had changed. Why, when Celtic came calling in the summer, was Coyle happy to pledge his future to Turf Moor only to up sticks the minute Bolton came calling? Is this not the footballing equivalent of knocking back Ingrid Bergman and shacking up with Claude Rains?

Some cited the emotional attachment Coyle, a former player, felt to Bolton. Hmmm. If that was the case then will he also find it hard to turn down Dumbarton, Airdrie or Motherwell when they come calling? Probably not.

It was Paul Wilson in The Guardian who got closest to the reality of the situation:

That explains why they want a purist like Coyle, it does not explain why the manager would fancy a move that at best seems sideways and in terms of current league position is downwards. The simplest explanation is probably that despite appearances, Coyle is not romantic about football at all. A football romantic, brought up in the east end of Glasgow, would have found the call of Celtic irresistible. Coyle did not. He came to the conclusion that managing in the Premier League was a higher station, and the Celtic job duly went to the manager who had just been relegated with West Bromwich Albion. A few months after that, the previous Celtic manager, who had remarked with dismay that he was finding it difficult to compete for players with the likes of Hull City, turned up in the Championship with Middlesbrough.

So Coyle made an unsentimental decision there, and found his stock rising even higher when Burnley began to beat bigger clubs and ensconce themselves around the middle of the table rather than at its foot, which is what everyone had predicted. But just as Martin O'Neill eventually came to realise that it would be impossible to achieve his ambitions at Leicester City, and that basic survival plus the odd League Cup would be all that would ever be on the horizon, so Coyle must have worked out that Burnley, a considerably smaller club in a considerably smaller place than Leicester, could not rise much higher.

Obviously Owen Coyle is just one man. Others might feel differently. But could anyone imagine David Moyes or Alex McLeish coming back to Scotland for any job that we could find for them? Or Celtic or Rangers being able to attract a manager as highly rated as Martin O'Neill was when he became the Messiah of Parkhead?

It's hard to escape the conclusion that even our two biggest jobs are now looked on in much the same way as the vice-presidency of the United States: not worth a bucket of warm piss. Oh, you'll always get someone who wants the job. But you might find it's the footballing equivalent of Sarah Palin.

Coyle's left Burnley for another small club but one that has the attraction of almost a decade in the top flight. What else was he going to do? Wait for the Manchester United job, the Arsenal job. That's not going to happen so he's taken the gamble that he can turn Bolton's season around and then do a Sam Allardyce with added flair.

I wish him well. But the fact that steering a club to the upper half of the English Premier League was more attractive than trying to win a two horse race in Scotland might lead to some soul searching in Glasgow.

Ten for 2010

Well, if you don’t ask you don’t get. So here is my January wish list for the year ahead.

1. The weather to improve: seems obvious but this is getting intolerable. The calls for a winter break will get ever louder. Hard to see how that can work without a massive restructuring of our game to reduce the number of games played. Why? Because the break would need to last for weeks to cover the potential months when bad weather could hit.

2. Craig Levein to impress: We’re not looking for miracles but tangible improvements are necessary by the start of qualifying next September-ish. Speaking to Kris Boyd, Alan McGreggor and Barry Ferguson shows a willingness to explore all options. Telling them thanks but no thanks after that discussion would endear the new boss to me. I suspect I’m not alone.

3. The third placed team to finish within 10 points of the Old Firm. Not a massive achievement but a measure of a narrowing gap. Also it would serve as a reminder to Kevin Thomson that he’s really best advised to keep his mouth shut until he’s grown up enough to open it without offending most of the people listening.

4. Two cups, two different teams. Don’t really care who does it but two teams outside the Old Firm getting their hands on some silverware this season would be a perfect start to the decade.

5. Common sense in the middle. The Jim Gannon led furore over refereeing went over the top. That said, there must be an improvement. Not sending Kyle Lafferty off on Sunday suggests that Steve Conroy was either scared of the occasion or has no feeling for the game. For once our refereeing standards were exposed as shoddy for not showing a red card.

6. One nation, one governing body. Gordon Smith surprised us all when he gave Craig Levein the manager’s job. For his next trick he needs to broker the agreement that sees the game in Scotland governed by only one organisation. Three tin-pot dictatorships is a harmful waste of resources.

7. Stability. With Craig Levein and Jim Gannon both gone we’ve lost a sixth of our top flight managers already this season. Others might be wondering if their jackets are on shoogly pegs, not least Csaba Lazlo after Hearts unveiled a sporting director – a move traditionally seen as ominous. Don’t stick with bad managers. But unless you’re damn sure you’re getting something better in exchange then there’s a lot to be said for stability.

8. Excitement. Rangers scoring 20 goals in four games against the teams in 3rd, 4th and 5th is not exciting. The season promised much. Don’t let it fizzle out.

9. If it’s a two horse race make it competitive. I honestly don’t care which of the gruesome twosome wins the SPL. But the drama of a last day finale with one side of the great divide in tears always amuses.

10. Some European progress. This season we’ve not been good enough on our travels. We need, at the very least, to go out next season an regain some pride. We’re not a top European nation. That’s fine. But surely we can aim for something a little better than Lichtenstein.

Scottish Football Decade: The National Debacle

Earlier this year I wrote a slightly critical blog about the Tartan Army. I stand by that but it doesn't alter my desire to see Scotland do well. And that means any review of the international decade must be tinged with sadness.

For the first time since the seventies we've failed to take our place at an international tournament. Along the way we've suffered some humilating results, we've been battered in the world rankings and we've gone through a handful of managers.

We began the decade as spectators at Euro 2000 and we ended it with the thoroughly miserable qualification campaign for the 2010 World Cup.

Our first qualifying campaign of the noughties was led by Craig Brown. Finishing third in the group behind Croatia and Belgium. At the time many of us felt Brown might have gone on too long. If we'd known what was to follow we'd have been begging him to stay.

That most provincial and inward looking of organisations, the SFA, seemed to be trying to usher in a new era when they appointed Berti Vogts to the job in 2002. It was a marriage made in the inferno's of hell.

In fact Vogts took us to a play off which started brightly before the Dutch hammered us in the away leg. That 6-0 humiliation was one of a series of big losses to France, Wales, Hungary and South Korea. When it came to losing, Scotland under Vogts were happy to get spanked by any country with 11 fit players.

Vogts had to go and duly did in 2004. He blamed the media. Most of us blamed his scattergun approach to selection, apparent lack of tactical nous and complex personality.

Walter Smith inherited the Vogts mess and steadied the ship. He couldn't get us to the 2006 World Cup but he was able to steer us back up the world rankings and take us to the top of our Euro 2008 group with a famous victory over France.

And then Smith went back to Rangers and a nation groaned. Traitor or pragmatist? He returned to his spiritual home and some still find that hard to forgive. Whatever your opinion it was a lesson in the ongoing devaluation of international football and the increasing primacy of the club game.

Alex McLeish, battered by his own experience at Ibrox, took over and continued where Smith had left off completing the double over France along the way. In a group that included France and Italy there could be no room for error. Sadly an away defeat to Georgia was the one failure we couldn't afford. McLeish, reputation restored, left for Birmingham and the revolving door at Hampden spun once more.

George Burley was next up. His appointment was initially welcomed and his brief spell at Hearts had given his profile in Scotland a positive boost.

From the start it seemed like our hope were misplaced. Burley was let down by his players and scheduling. But his inability to bring cohesive tactics to the squad, odd selections, brittle media persona and apperent problems with man management counted against him. In truth sections of the media had it in for him from the start. That's unpleasant but not insurmountable if results are good. They were not.

The 2010 World Cup failure ended Burley's career although he was crazily allowed to stay on for an ill fated trip to Japan and a total catastrophe against Wales.

So now we turn to Craig Levein. A new manager for a new decade. Hopes for optimism? Perhaps, but it won't be easy.

Let's just hope in 2019 we've got some happy memories of the decade that went before.

Boxing Day fixtures

Through the fog of turkey, wine and discarded wrapping paper the Scottish Football Blog brings you our SPL predictions for the Boxing Day fixture card.

Celtic v Hamilton

The Celtic revival took an almighty bump at Tynecastle last Sunday. Once again they were the authors of their own downfall. If they can take their chances they should get back on track with a home win today.

Dundee United v Kilmarnock

We can't beat about the bush. Losing Craig Levein is a massive blow for United. How much it will impact on their season remains to be seen. Kilmarnock have their own troubles down at the wrong end of the table. Draw.

Falkirk v Hearts

Which Hearts team will turn up? The one that draws with teams like Falkirk.

Motherwell v St Johnstone

Motherwell need to do some ship steadying following a bad run and the tanking of the season last week. I fancy St Johnstone to nick this one though. Away win.

St Mirren v Aberdeen

Neither team are in a rich vein of form and that mean's we won't see a classic here. Low scoring draw.

Hibs v Rangers (Sunday)

The game of the weekend. Time for Hibs to show if they're really up for the challenge. Both sides are on form so it would be nice to think this game can be a cracker. Could be close but I've got a feeling Hibs might just do it.

Christmas cheers

As football reaches saturation point there are few days when a game is not within easy reach of the armchair fan. For those of who might, after reasoned argument, still consider ourselves to be young Christmas Day is football free zone.

But that’s not always been the case. League fixtures in Scotland were common on Christmas Day until relatively recently. I don’t know if this phenomenon had its roots in the tradition of celebrating New Year with rather more vigour than Christmas. It wasn’t until the mid fifties that Christmas Day became a national holiday in Scotland.

I’m sure there must be a link between that and the tradition of fulfilling fixtures on Christmas Day long after England had given up on the idea.

Anyway this mildly diverting bit of trivia was brought to my attention by The Guardian’s Knowledge page and it is from their site that I’ve gleaned the following:

As David Ross's website scottishleague points out, in Scotland, the last scheduled round of league fixtures was for Saturday December 25, 1976. However, a combination of reluctance to play and poor weather reduced the card. No Scottish top division matches were played, and these were shifted to Friday 24, Sunday 26 and Monday 27.

Of the two games that were played on Christmas Day itself, Clydebank and St Mirren drew 2-2 in a top-of-the-table first division clash and Alloa beat Cowdenbeath 2-1 at home in the second division. In addition, Dundee's official history lists them as winning 1-0 away to Montrose on Christmas Day - but another source suggests that this match was in fact played on Monday 27th.

The last time a full set of Christmas Day fixtures was played in Scotland was in 1971. Celtic beat Hearts 3-2 at home, Dundee United beat Dunfermline by the same score at Tannadice, and Kilmarnock overcame Morton 4-2 at Rugby Park. Other results that day were: Airdrie 1-1 Clyde, East Fife 1-1 Motherwell, Falkirk 0-3 Aberdeen, Hibs 0-1 Rangers, Partick 0-1 Ayr, and St Johnstone 0-0 Dundee.

Meanwhile, the last games played on Christmas Day in England were in 1959, when Blackburn beat Blackpool 1-0 at home in the old first division and Coventry beat Wrexham 5-3 in the third.

The Scottish Football Decade: SPL Champions

It would be nice to be writing a different article. One where I could wax lyrical about the SPL being one of the most open and competitive leagues in Europe. But I can’t. I can’t because Celtic and Rangers dominated the league in the past decade to a far greater extent than they have ever done in the past.

The truth is the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, as it is currently called, is a league within a league. The rest are playing for third. It’s depressing and it makes all our teams weak. Unfortunately it's not about to change.

The SPL in its current guise was only a year old as the old century turned into the new millennium. In 1999/2000 Rangers overcame the non-challenge that John Barnes presided over at Celtic Park to win the title. It was a harbinger of the seasons of doom to come that Celtic, despite Barnes’ Colonel Blimp impression, finished second.

John Barnes comedy failure did, in it’s own way, transform the landscape of the Scottish game. Surveying the wreckage of the Barnes experiment Celtic were forced to find a saviour. They duly appointed Martin O’Neill.

Just three months after O’Neill arrived in Glasgow Rangers spent £12 million on Tore Andre Flo. The pendulum of power had swung to Parkhead.

O’Neill won the title in 2000/2001 and successfully defended it a year later. By this time his foe in the Rangers dugout had transformed from Dick Advocaat into Alex Mcleish, poached from Hibs in December 2001.

And it was McLeish who was to earn the bragging rights in 2002/2003 when Celtic lost out on the final day – just days after their defeat in the UEFA Cup Final. O’Neill got the upperhand again the following year before McLeish nipped in again in 2004/2005 to deny O’Neill a final championship as he departed to move out of football temporarily to care for his wife.

That was to prove McLeish’s last title. Debates have raged over who was the better manager. In the end both won seven trophies, although O’Neill won one more league title and one more Scottish Cup. O’Neill reached a UEFA Cup Final, McLeish took Rangers into the last 16 of the Champion’s League. These comparisons are essentially pointless but, if I were asked to make the argument for either one, I’d have to go for Martin O’Neill.

In the end McLeish’s departure was messy and he took Rangers to third place in the league. That was their worst position in almost twenty years and, given the dominance the two clubs now enjoy, it's unthinkable for a manager not to guide them to first or second. It shouldn’t mask the good work that McLeish did but it remains a bad, bad addition to his CV.

With O’Neill gone it was the turn of Gordon Strachan to take the Celtic hotseat. It was the start of a relationship that had all the traits of a classic love-hate affair. Without the love. Whatever his battles with the Celtic fans, however hard he found dealing with the Scottish press and however embittered he eventually became Strachan delivered on his remit.

It was Strachan who became the only manager to win three straight SPL championships, the first Celtic manager to do so since Jock Stein. But for a late collapse in 2008/2009 he would have made it four before taking his leave.

Strachan also provided a stability that seemed lacking at Rangers. Alex McLeish was replaced by Paul Le Guen and Rangers had suddenly found their own John Barnes.

The story of Le Guen’s time at Rangers covers nobody in much glory. The players that undermined him, the board powerless to stop it happening and a manager who had failed to grasp the culture of the club. A shoddy mess.

In their desperation Rangers sent for Uncle Walter. The former manager had survived a bruising stay at Everton before rejuvenating his career by reviving the fortunes of the Scottish national team. Rangers had found their man and the Tartan Army were left to cry into their lager.

Walter Smith brought stability back to Rangers. And then he brought the league title back to them. For that he’s been awarded with the loss of his contract, conclusive proof that Rangers mismanagement of their affairs extended beyond Paul Le Guen.

Any survey of a decade of champions must make mention of Rangers winning their 50th league title: even Scotland’s uneven playing field can’t detract too much from that remarkable achievement. They’ve now got 52, Celtic have 42. And all the rest have 19 between them. It’s a gap that is only going to get bigger and bigger.

And what of Alex McLeish’s third place fiasco? It was Hearts who broke the stranglehold. Early in the season they looked like they might even win the whole shebang before Vladimir Romanov threw the first of a great many wobblies.

Some have begun to think that no team will ever repeat Hearts feat of splitting the big two. They might well be right. But as the decade ends and Rangers travel to Edinburgh to face third placed Hibs there might just be a glimmer of hope. A win for Hibs would throw them right into the title race. How heartening it would be if one of the last acts of this decade was to open up the possibility of a different name in the top two as the next decade begins.

Believe?

Warning: Omerta Code broken.

It had to happen eventually. And it fell to Merouane Zemmama to do the talking. Following Hibs win against Aberdeen on Saturday, the jinky Moroccan trickster, faced the question that every one in green has been avoiding. Hibs, he claimed, are setting out to win the title:

All of our players are motivated and I think we will win this game. The gap between us and the Old Firm is closer than it has been. Normally Rangers and Celtic are maybe ten or 15 points ahead but now we are only five back. When you are trying to win the title you have to win every game and that's what we will try to do.

Rangers had a very good result against Motherwell and their confidence is sure to be pretty high, but our confidence is also very good at the moment. We need to keep going now to catch the Old Firm. We need to win our next game against Rangers and then keep on winning. We are looking to go as far as we can, so why not go for the title?

This confidence might come back to haunt him when Rangers come calling on Sunday. It’s also the last thing John Hughes will want to hear. And it has been greeted with disbelief in certain quarters. Andrew Smith turned his report into a lecture about how misguided Zemmama is.

The shock of it. The cheek of the man. A player in a football league actually wanting his team to win something.

There was far less outcry when Kevin Thompson, a man who is to diplomacy what Jeremy Clarkson is to global warming, suggested that the Old Firm would be 25 points clear by the end of the season. Only the Old Firm can win trophies, only Old Firm players can shoot off at the mouth.

All of this is press talk of course. It has no bearing on anything.

But the most remarkable thing I encountered over the weekend was the way a lot of Hibs fans reacted to Hearts beating Celtic. Almost to a man they were long faced about it. They’d rather see Hearts fighting relegation (an unlikely eventuality that would weaken Hibs financially) than keep themselves within touching distance of the top two.

They all think they’re fighting for third place. Nothing more.

As the season pans out there is every likelihood that things will turn out like that. But right now Hibs are point behind Celtic and five behind Rangers. If they can beat Rangers on Sunday there is a chance they could be in second place by the end of the festive fixture list. Why are the fans not savouring that prospect?

Of course Hibs might, probably will, drop away but surely everyone involved with the club should be hoping to stay in the mix for as long as possible. Is it not better to be looking a top of the table clashes in January or February than accepting third or fourth place in December?

So good luck to Zemmama. If the press don’t believe him and the fans don’t believe then maybe his confidence will be infectious enough to get through to his teammates. If that happens then, heaven forfend, we might suddenly find ourselves with a league that at least makes a slight nod in the direction of competiveness.

Will he, won't he?

When George Burley was finally relieved of his duties as Scotland boss I put together a list of the men I considered to be the runners and riders. I had this to say about Craig Levein:

Few would argue with this and we could expect to see Scotland adopting a revolutionary new approach based around organisation and cohesive tactics. But Levein is only 45 and master of all he surveys at Dundee United where the bare trophy cabinet points to what he considers to be unfinished business. Will the call of his nation appeal? I'd predict he'll quietly rule himself out in the weeks ahead.

In the intervening weeks Levein has surprised me by refusing to rule himself out. Indeed some might say he has actively courted the SFA. And now, apparently, the SFA are set to offer him the job.

He has made it clear that he wants an expanded remit. I would have thought that would scare the SFA but by going public with their approach they must have a certain confidence in the package they’ve put together. If there is any lingering animosity between him and head honcho Gordon Smith then Smith should be applauded for casting that aside and pursuing the man he believes to be the best candidate.

But Levein’s battles with the SFA have always been bigger than personalities. At times he seems to view with little more than contempt an archaic organisation that he clearly believes to be out of touch and clueless. So why sign up with them?

Maybe he thinks he can change them from the inside. If he can then all of Scottish football would applaud. But, you know, I’m sure Mrs Tiger Woods was comfortable that she’d be the one to change her man. Life doesn’t always work like that.

So there is an element of surprise in Levein taking things this far. But is he the outstanding candidate?

I was going to say no, if only because an attack on him would let me talk about his comedy whack on Hearts teammate Graham Hogg in a friendly against Raith Rovers. Overall, however, I would be happy with a Levein appointment. And if you can get a 12 match ban for attacking your own player in a friendly then you’ve clearly got a passion for football.

You would think from some of the press he’s received in the past few months that Levein was practicing alchemy at Tannadice. He’s not. He’s created a team that performs better than average in a weak league. It ain’t rocket science.

But he’s organised, can explain a game plan and have confidence that it will be carried out by players who respect him. They’re all traits that have been sadly lacking in the Burley era.

We don’t know what the recruitment process has entailed. Some might see this as slightly too quick, not leaving time for an assessment of all the contenders. On the other hand maybe Smith and his fellow Chuckle Brother, George Peat, are finally showing the decisiveness we’ve been crying out for.

So this has the potential to be a happy week for the national team. Except he’s still got to take the job and I don’t think that’s a forgone conclusion.