Scottish Premier League Update

Ali Hannah on the latest from the Scottish Premier League, November 2008

Celtic | Rangers | Scotland

Celtic Roundup

Georgios Samaras reckons the inquest searching for the reason why Celtic are out of Europe after just five games this season is looking too deeply for the answer. The Greek striker believes it is staring everyone in the face. Quite simply, it is better to be lucky than good. By Samara's assessment, the Hoops had the quality players in Aalborg this month, but this was simply no match for the Danes' good fortune. And, without a rub of the green, the 23-year-old hitman - who has found the net 10 times this season, but who passed up two excellent chances to open his Champions League account - believes Celtic were always on a loser.

He said: "If we had had more luck, we would have won. They were not quality goals and I do not think Aalborg were better than us. But sometimes luck is better than quality."

Now Samaras just wants to put the shock Euro exit behind him and focus fully on winning the three domestic trophies up for grabs. He said: "There are no excuses. There's nothing more we can do other than keep our heads up and keep working to improve ourselves as individuals and as a team.

"We must try to win the three trophies we are still in, including the SPL so that we are in the Champions League again next season."

It is a bitter end to Sami's first full European campaign with the club he joined in January. But he can see no value in looking back, unless it is to identify what they could have done better and to establish how to ensure mistakes are not repeated.

He said: "Everybody is disappointed because I don't think we deserved to lose that game. For 70 minutes we played really well. We were really focused on our tactics and pressed high up the pitch.

"We didn't create a lot of chances, but I think we had pole position and scored a really good goal. But in the last 17 minutes there were two unlucky situations for them to score. We had some chances to finish the game, but that is all over now."

A fully-fit Samaras may have been able to convert the chances which came his way in the first half and put Celtic out of sight in the tie to guarantee a parachute jump into the last 32 of the Uefa Cup in February. But he is clearly still struggling to find his top form after his cartilage operation last month, and knows that only more games will help him get back to his best. He said: "I don't want to talk about the opportunities I had. I was not really happy with my performance. I'm still trying to find my fitness."

Meanwhile, Gary Caldwell believes a fourth Clydesdale Bank Premier League title in succession will be the perfect antidote to the disappointment of Celtic's exit from Europe after losing to Aalborg. Caldwell, whose own goal three minutes from time sealed Celtic's fate after Barry Robson's opener had been cancelled out by Caca's deflected strike, is looking for another SPL title win to ensure another tilt at Europe's premier club competition.

"We know this competition is amazing and it has been good to us for the last two years," the Scotland defender said. "We have to be in there again next year. So we have to pick ourselves up and win the league.

"We have to make sure we make it four in a row in the SPL and then come back stronger. But it's difficult. The Champions League is a hard competition.

"We can't just expect to walk in every year and be in the last 16. We have to earn that right. This year we haven't done enough to earn that right. But to not even be in the UEFA Cup is a huge blow."

Celtic have gone 18 group stage games away from Parkhead without a win and Caldwell admits a great chance to end that poor record was lost against the Danish side. He said: "There is no doubt we let slip a great opportunity to win a game away from home.

"You've never done enough at 1-0 but the way the game was going, we all felt that, if any team was going to score, it was us. But we have to kill these games off. It just shows that in football anything can happen."

Celtic have taken a significant step towards acquiring their fourth successive title after moving a massive seven points clear of Rangers at the top of the table. The Ibrox side slipped up twice, losing 2-1 to Hearts and drawing with Motherwell, while Celtic have now gone 12 games unbeaten in the SPL.

"A 27-point cushion would be comfortable, but 7 is not comfortable in this league," said Gordon Strachan. "If there were two games to go I'd be comfortable.

"But it's good going. Some of those wins have been down to good football, some have been down to character and some have been ground out, but it is a good record and they should be proud of themselves. We have had a few injuries and we have also had big Champions League games in there, so there has been a lot to deal with.

Rangers

The framed shirts are signed in bold, black ink. And even if light and time cause those names to slowly fade, the achievements will remain indelible. As Rangers defender Sasa Papac strolls through the corridors of Murray Park, Rangers' training ground, he stops to take a look at the signed jerseys, relics from previous parties.

Accompanying photographs adorn the opposite wall; ecstatic faces, the requisite champagne, the silly hats. The paraphernalia of cup and title celebrations.

There is one in particular that stands out. Barry Ferguson tops a podium with his team-mates spread out beneath him like drones. He holds the SPL crown high above his head, delight and sweat and joy etched on every feature. It is a snapshot that tells a story from the afternoon of May 2005. An afternoon of drama when Rangers pinched the title from the slippery grasp of Celtic on the final day of the campaign.

It is the last time that any Rangers player got to grips with the trophy.

But Papac fancies that this summer a fresh space on the wall will need to be cleared. Room for a new shirt and a new picture and the pen passed around the current dressing room.

"Winning the title here is my dream," said the Bosnian defender quietly. "I have won a championship before with Austria Vienna, but I think it will be even better to do it with Rangers.

"It would mean everything for me to be a part of a side that achieved that here. We came so close last year, but we are capable of going the distance now.

"There is a lot of pressure to win the title because it is a long time since Rangers last won it.

"We know we must give everything because Celtic are a very good team and they are consistent in the league. But we have the belief that we need.

"I can imagine what it would be like to win the title here and come back in front of 50,000 fans. It would be special.

"Everybody knows what it will mean to do that. We know we have to play every game like a final this season and it is important that we play against Inverness and Hamilton and Motherwell the way we play against Celtic.

"Last season showed that every single point is a big one and I think there is a determination in the team this season to win the Championship."

Papac, the only player remaining from the ill-fated Paul le Guen regime, has reinvented himself under Walter Smith.

He initially struggled to retain his place in Smith's side and this summer there were a few eyebrows raised when Papac opted to turn his back on a move to Saint-Etienne to fight for his place at Rangers.

It is a decision he believes was the right one and having signed a new contract that keeps him at the club until 2011, Papac has insisted that Smith currently has him playing at the top of his game.

"Walter has been brilliant for Rangers and for me," he said. "I think I have played the best football of my career since he came to the club. It was a difficult time for everyone at the club when he first came in. But for me, it was the same as every other player when a new manager comes in. You don't know what the future holds for you and I was a little anxious because of that. But I worked hard in training and I gave everything I had. It isn't just the manager who has helped to get results.

"He has a good team here with Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall and I think we have started to show a lot of consistency this season, which is what we need if we are to win the title.

"We have a good squad here and it is so important for us to win the title. But on a personal level, I am enjoying playing so much just now. I am as strong as I ever been physically, I am as fit as I have ever been and I am also relaxed. I feel as though I am just about to hit my peak and this is definitely the best I have played.

"I am at a good age in that I have a lot of experience now but I also have a lot of football left in me still to play. I can still get better and I feel as though the manager can help me get to another level."

Rangers manager Walter Smith, meanwhile, has been told that he is likely to face the wrath of the SFA after his public criticism of assistant referee Tom Murphy.

The Hampden hierarchy have written to the Rangers manager to inform him that his post-match comments are being investigated. And Smith now faces an inquiry from the SFA's General Purposes Committee - the body who fined Dundee United's Craig Levein £5000 in August for his criticism of Mike McCurry at Ibrox last season.

Under SFA rules managers are not allowed to publicly highlight 'bias or incompetence' by match officials and that has led to Smith being asked to clarify his comments.

In the wake of a goalless draw at Motherwell where a Kris Boyd 'goal' had been chopped off, Smith said: "When we did get the ball in the net, it was a poor decision by a linesman.

"I think it has been shown quite clearly that Boyd was onside. Mr Murphy was quick enough to allow a Scott McDonald goal against us at Celtic Park last season and he was quick enough to disallow this one. People say we're a club who never get decisions against us. But that's two goals away from home against Aberdeen and Motherwell that the linesman has got wrong."

Old Firm

The Old Firm have found themselves in the firing line for their European failings this season. Celtic's disastrous defeat to Danish side Aalborg and Rangers' earlier failure to qualify for any European competition stand in stark contrast to the success enjoyed in recent years. Gordon Strachan had hoped to lead his Parkhead side to their third succesive season playing in the last 16 of the Champions League, while Rangers can reflect with pride on their run to the Uefa Cup Final last May.

However, given this season's results, Scotland's standard bearers on the continent are under close scrutiny as fans and pundits pull few punches in their critical appraisal. Former Celts John Hartson and Bertie Auld have spoken out after the 2-1 defeat in Aalborg left the Parkhead club with just one draw from 18 away Champions League group matches.

And former Scotland internationalist and Sky TV pundit Andy Gray says it isn't an acceptable record from the two Scottish teams expected to perform well in Europe.

Hartson said: "Celtic are paying the painful price for the return of the club's biscuit tin mentality. Maybe some directors felt Gordon Strachan didn't need millions to spend in the summer. But there is no room for complacency and I feared as much back then.

"I just don't think the board have given him the funds he deserves - the kind of money they gave to Martin O'Neill - and it's coming back to haunt them."

Lisbon Lion Auld was far from impressed either. He said: "In European terms, Aalborg are a poor, poor team. That's what makes the result over there so disappointing."

And it's the signings that have cost Celtic in Auld's eyes.

"Who recommends them?" he said. "I've been really disappointed with the quality of players coming to the club.

"There are players out there. I go to reserve games and watch foreign games on TV so there is quality available."

And although it's Celtic who are coming in for the vast majority of the stick, Rangers haven't escaped criticism for their part in Scotland's poor performance in European competitions this season.

Gray added: "Rangers losing to Kaunas and Celtic going out of Europe altogether to Aalborg should be regarded by the fans as unacceptable.

"No matter the general state of Scottish football, the Old Firm should still be able to beat teams such as those.

"Rangers were second best in Lithuania and Celtic were the same for the last half hour in Denmark.

"The Old Firm should be capable of doing better than that regardless of the difficulties they have. I'm still a Rangers fan and I'm afraid I'm no different from anyone else. I have to accept there will be the odd nights of success, but we'll have to put up with the rest."

Scotland

Scotland manager George Burley has refused to concede that Scotland's dream is over before it has even begun.

Having taken just three points from their first four games, it would appear than any chance Scotland had of qualifying for the World Cup Finals has all but disintegrated, but Burley remains defiant and has called on the nation to get behind the team.

Scotland head to Holland and the intimidating Amsterdam Arena in March for the next World Cup qualifier and it is a game they really have to take something from.

Burley's side faced Argentina in a drab friendly earlier this month as Diego Maradona's side won 1-0 at Hampden, but Burley is hoping the match gave Scotland some indication of what they will be required to do against Holland.

And he has snapped back at the critics whom he feel are overtly hostile to his every move.

"Because I do not go about shouting my mouth off, because I like to keep things in house, treat people well, go about things in the right manner, people think I am a soft touch," he said firmly. "I'll do it in my style, no matter what people think or say. People are looking for me to say controversial things, I would rather say the right thing.

"There has been a lot of negativity even before the World Cup started . . . negativity over trying to get one of the best nations in the world Argentina to try to come to Hampden. That surprised me. But in this day and age, you are in the public eye and you are there to be shot down. It is something I live with but don't enjoy. You rise above it because you are working for your country.

"There was negativity before the Macedonia game and that was out of order. I am here trying to take the country to the World Cup so, come on, give us support."

This is a message to the media, rather than to the fans. Burley speaks warmly of the support he has received from the Tartan Army but is aware that the media are, correctly, not so unquestioning in their loyalty. However, he has detected "personal criticism" but will not elaborate. And he was voluble on the Argentina fixture and the controversy over Kris Boyd.

"We are criticised for bringing teams like Croatia and Argentina to Hampden which amazes me. Absolutely amazes me," he says. "The players enjoyed the experience. The fans enjoyed seeing the game. For certain individuals to say I should not have played the game because I needed a win, well, that's ridiculous. I am not frightened to play Argentina.

"I was criticised for playing an attacking formation. I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. That's life, though, people form opinions and can say what they like. But I am not going to change my views. I want to play the best and I am not going into games with a negative attitude. I will be positive.

"It is important I don't get distracted, intimidated or lose my concentration. The lack of respect is obvious from people who have never been involved on this side. That is something you can not influence. That is the culture, that is life."

Burley's most controversial moment of his Scotland tenure was bringing on Chris Iwelumo of Wolverhampton Wanderers in the goalless draw against Norway at Hampden in October. Iwelumo missed a sitter. Kris Boyd, who remained on the bench, declared later he would never play for Scotland under Burley.

The manager address the row but never mentions the Rangers striker by name. "A manager makes decisions all the time. Some are clear. Some are not popular. The obvious one was not taking somebody off the bench," he says. "It's what you feel is right at the time and there are reason for it. People have to accept that. If Chris scores the goal against Norway he is a legend but because he didn't, he'll have people on his back and telling me I am wrong.

"I would never change it. Not in a million years. At the time it was the right decision. No regrets at all. Not a regret. I would have regrets if I had been trying to be negative over the way we played or the way I used subs."

And Burley is adamant he has no fear ahead of games against Holland and then Iceland next year.

"We are in a position where we can qualify for the World Cup," he says of second place in the group. "It is all to play for. There are no minnows in the group. Holland were always going to be odds on to qualify and that has proved to be the case. The other games will be very close and we will all take points from each other. We are looking forward to it. We will not go to Holland or Oslo with fear."

Burley and his players will meet up again for a training session in February and he admits his new role has its drawbacks. "You are not actually a coach. You are an ambassador. You only have the players for a short period so the coaching side does not come into it too much. For me, coaching is working with players every day.

"It's practice. It's repetitions to get things right. As an international manager you have no chance to do that. And whatever you tell players to do, they go straight back to their clubs and do it another way. You are not going to change them in two or three days.

"It is something you must accept as an international manager. You can not get frustrated because that is the kind of job it is."

Ali Hannah

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