New Scottish Football Thread

[Pangur Bán]

Well, the old one didn't do too badly. I was gonna revive it, but decided it's too out of date.

So, this will be the thread to talk about Scottish football. It's season 2004-05, Scottish teams have done very badly in Europe this season. Our lofty 9th position on the UEFA co-efficient table has meant that Celtic, Rangers and Hearts all avoided the easy coefficient points that can be gained in the earliest rounds. However, this has also meant that our best team, Celtic, have lost every single game so far. Is there hope? Well, at least it be good if Scottish people were actually allowed to watch their Champions League matches, instead of being forced to match Manchester Utd games. Ah the "Union"...gotta love it!

Anyhooz, Celtic are running away with the league again. Rangers are only a point away from the likes of Aberdeen. They've had a little revival of late, but will the keep it up? Do they have any chance of catching Celtic? Aberdeen seem to be coming into their own this season, but poor old Inverness CT are struggling a bit, both on the park and with attendences, the latter due to having to play home games in Aberdeen (no wonder, it's a 200 mile round trip from Inverness to Aberdeen!).

Here are some links for those who want to keep track:

SPL Official Site

BBC's Scottish Premier League

UEFA Scotland

Scottish Football in Europe

 

[Pangur Bán]

Celtic​

2 - 3​

Aberdeen​

J Hartson 45, J Hartson 69​

D Mackie 5, F Pasquinelli 6, J Stewart 90​

Dundee Utd 1 - 1 Hearts
Dunfermiline Athletic 1 - 2 Rangers
Hibernian 2 - 1 Livingston
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2 - 1 Dundee
Motherwell 0 - 1 Kilmarnock


Wow, go Aberdeen. Celtic are really losing now. Or are we back to the good old days of 10 years ago when Aberdeen were competing for the championship? I doubt it, but that was a great result.

 

[Scuffer]

It was good to hear O'Neill being so gracious after losing the game. A bit of a contrast to Wenger and Ferguson. I still can't see Celtic losing the league title though, but it would be good to have a big 3 again.

 

[Gainy]

I still can't see Celtic losing the league title though,

I can Rangers are unbeaten for 6 or 7 games now, only one of them being a draw. The same can't be said for Celtic, although in fairness they've had tougher competition.

Rangers vs Aberdeen at the weekend is an important match. Any result will make me happy, as I would really like someone other than the old firm to challenge for 1st/2nd place, but on the other hand i'm a Rangers supporter
Whatever team wins (assuming it isn't a draw) I can see challenging quite promisingly for the league title

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Aberdeen won a game?

Ring the bells!

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Craig Levein is apparently heading for Leicester, as part of fulfilling some ambition or another.

While I guess I really do understand (after all, I moved south myself, though probably not for an equivalent pay rise...), it is very frustrating to hear of people leaving Hearts for the bigger challenge of a very moderate midlands club - didn't Colin Cameron use virtually the same words when leaving for Wolves ?

Hearts ought to be the 3rd biggest club in Scotland, with appearances in Eurpoe more often than not. And clubs from smaller towns have often gone pretty far in the European competitions (the examples are so numerous I won't dirty my hands with the necessary research). But still we seem to regarded as a best a stopping off point for the Southamptons, Leicesters, Wolves and Evertons of this world. Oh well. At least Everton used to be a big club.

 

[jonatas]

i just have to say that, to me, Hartson epitomizes the league and scottishness... even tho he isn't scottish... what a tough sob!!

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Rangers 5 Aberdeen 0

Gainy Bo may well be right - we might have a 2 horse race this year (an improvement from Celtic's canter last year).

Apparently the Dons' boss reckons he learned a hard lesson about not playing 4 forwards in an away match against Rangers. Seems a weird thought, as it would seem blindingly obvious to me - but does that mean that he played 4 forwards when they beat Celtic a week or so ago ?

 

[Pangur Bán]

Well, poor Calderwood, it was a gamble that backfired.

Dundee Utd 1 - 2 Dunfermline
Hearts 3 - 0 Dundee
Inverness CT 2 - 0 Livingston
Kilmarnock 3 - 1 Hibernian
Motherwell 2 - 3 Celtic

Rangers 5 - 0 Aberdeen

 

[Gainy]

Rangers 2 - 1 Celtic

Exciting game, Rangers deserved the win in my opinion. Ricksen, Nacho Novo, Boumsong and Weignal (or however you spell it ) all had very good games.

Btw,

 

[Lambert Simnel]

...not to forget

Dunfermline 1 -3 Hearts.

It just might be the Jambos year after all!

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Rangers 2 -0 Celtic.

2 of the Bhoys sent off, some head stamping, a 21 player melee, and a one point championship race. Looks like being quite an exciting year this time.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Rangers go top for a week, and then, hit by a sudden bout of vertigo, manage only a draw against Inverness and let Celtic back on top.

Aberdeen are doing rather well, aren't they ?

 

[Abulafia]

I'm really disappointed with Kilmarnock at the moment. They started off the season quite well but have slowly seemed to lack anything resembling football talent. It's all went downhill since Kris Boyd scored 5 against Dundee United.

The really annoying thing is that the young winger Stephen Murray who played excellently last season and seems to be the only player interested in actually playing (and who is also the only player that the fans seem to like these days) has been relegated to the bench and been replaced by that past-it diddy Allan Johnstone.

Rangers this weekend at Rugby Park. Should be a gubbing.

 

[Hitro]

And I thought this was about some sort of new Scottish football. Like in post-Berti. Like in "successful".

 

[Dell19]

This is the league thread...

 

[Lambert Simnel]

And I thought this was about some sort of new Scottish football. Like in post-Berti. Like in "successful".

We can dream....

Unfortunately, as Dell indicates, the "new" applies to the thread, and not to the style or quality of the football. Still, "new Scottish football" is a warming thought for these cold winter nights, and reminds me of the thread we had earlier this year where we appeared to agree that it was the Scots, and not the Dutch, who invented "total football"....

 

[Lambert Simnel]

All hail the Mighty Jambos! Last Scottish team left in Europe!

 

[Abulafia]

And gone.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Yeah, I had to get that post in quickly, didn't I ?