Pre-season Update

Aye aye all, fit like theday? Today will be Inside Left's last update for a week or two while we go for a bit of craic agus ceol in Ireland, a wee pre-season tour if you like, before we return for the start of the footballing fun. We just wanted to take this opportunity for a quick catch-up with what's happening around Scotland and give you a heads up with what's coming up while we're gone.

We begin with a rather sore topic for Inside Left, the pre-season friendlies. After Aberdeen's shocking 4-0 defeat away to Peterhead we had considered giving up football and taking up curling or bowls. Much ribbing from Peterhead fans followed but thankfully they're all off to sea again on their smelly boats for a few weeks catching fish for my haddock suppers and giving us a bit of peace. Aberdeen play Brechin tonight in what will be another potential banana skin. At the time of writing this update, the Dons are leading 1-0 at halftime. Surely history won't repeat itself will it? Will it?

Dundee United got back to winning ways, beating Raith Rovers 4-0 at Starks Park. Like some of our other clubs who have been in action over the last few days, United haven't exactly shone in their games so far, so the win came at just the right time for Craig Levein's men. Warren Feeney scored three of United's goal before Noel Hunt rounded off the night, and the Raith keeper, to seal the tie. Next up for Dundee United are Abroath who, in a seamless link to the next paragraph ...

... got tanked 3-1 by a Sunderland XI featuring the highly-rated Martyn Waghorn. Bryan Scott scored for the Lichties. Judging by the club photographs, a gala day was had by all despite the result. Thirteen Sunderland fans travelled up for the occasion.

Just down the coast, Dundee lost to Wolves, their first pre-season defeat. After the 0-0 draw against Aberdeen the other week, the Dee's probably thought their pre-season was going well, but a series of defensive mistakes allowed the Midland club to grab a late winner. Veteran keeper (a euphemism for 'a player whose had more clubs than Tiger Woods') Rab Douglas played for the Dee's, as did new signing Jim Lauchlan who signed a one-year deal right before the kick-off.

Third Division returnees Berwick Rangers entertained Second Division Alloa Athletic, but probably wished they'd hid behind the sofa when the doorbell rang as the visitors ran out 3-0 winners. Steven McKeown, Joe Andrew and Iain Campbell got the goals for the Wasps.

Back in the giddy heights of the SPL, the team which finished third (and therefore officially the best team in Scotland if only the Old Firm would feck off), lost away to Romanian outfit Tescoma Zlin. Terrible name for a football team, so it is, sounds more like a medical condition involving flaky skin and rash that doesn't respond to antibiotics. Anyway, Motherwell (for it was them)  lost 2-1, both Romanian goals coming in a two-minute spell. David Clarkson scored for the Steelmen.

Rangers lost 1-0 to German side Schalke '04. Some slack near-post defending allowed Mladen Krstajic to score with a glancing header. Rangers went for a 4-3-3 formation with Miller, Darcheville and Novo up front, but the game was by all accounts pretty poor and should be regarded as a nice run-out for the Gers. Thankfully there where no more injuries to report, as the search for a replacement for Barry Ferguson goes on. David Weir has been appointed team captain while the midfielder recovers. Ferguson is expected to be out for up to four months.

If you've got your own gloves and top, get yourself down to Almondvale. Keeper Giordano Vanin has been released from his contract  at his own request. The Italian lasted six days at the club. It puts Livingston in a bit of a pickle as they're not exactly over-furnished in the goalkeeping department. An unnamed Frenchman was used in the defeat to a Celtic XI side on Sunday. He was subsituted for an unnamed Brazillian keeper, but so far no news from the club about a permanent signing.

Two interesting games to get down to see  if you can. Barcelona come to Scotland when they play Hibernian at Murrayfield on Thursday and Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday. The Catalan side travel with a strong squad, including Alexander Hleb, Daniel Alves, Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi.

Some of the friendly fixtures coming up in the next few weeks include St Johnstone taking on Burnley on Wednesday,  Celtic against Cardiff on Thursday before they fly out to Portugal for the Algarve Cup. Aberdeen travel to Holland for a series of games against Dutch opposition, as do Falkirk, who play three games there. Hamilton stay in Blighty as they take part in Hartlepool United's pre-season Centenary Tournament where they might play Sunderland, if things go their way. Hearts travel to Germany for a 10-day tour of lower-league opposition. Inverness take a break from playing Highland League sides and travel to Denmark for a series of games against teams you and I have never heard of. Kilmarnock and St Mirren cut costs by staying close to home. QPR and Coventry play Killie, while St Mirren take on Morton in the Renfrewshire Cup. The Buddies complete their pre-season with a game away to Darlington.

Three stories for you to follow while we're gone:

David Healy MBE was caught giving it the auld "I'm a flute player in a Orange band, and here's my flute" in front of the Celtic fans prior to their game against Fulham at Craven Cottage. It's a stupid thing to do, especially for a former Rangers player and Northern Ireland international and really he should know better than to do the one thing guaranteed to get the Celtic fans going. The question now is how much attention will be paid to the incident as (a) it was a friendly and (b) the incident did not take place in Glasgow. It's a similar incident to what Gascoine did a few years ago and similar to Artur Boruc's crossing himself after an Old Firm game. Both players where disciplined (Gascoine was fined £40,000 while Boruc got a police caution) and Healy should receive some kind of punishment, friendly or not. He's since apologised, saying

I am supposed to be a role model and I can only apologise. It was one of those incidents that someone said something and I made a silly gesture, which I regret.

Perhaps it's all a storm in a teacup (afterwards, some of the fans who had been giving him stick sent over programmes for him to sign, according to reports in The Independent), but there's no place in football for simple-minded sectarianism no matter where, or why, it takes place. Keep an eye on the news to see how this one works itself out. As the incident happened in England, we doubt much will come of it. The Irish Football Association are said to be looking into the incident. To add insult to injury, Celtic lost 3-1.

The Scottish Challenge Cup kicks off on the 26th July. For those who don't know
, the Challenge Cup is a knock-out competition open to all members of the Scottish Football League. Complicated copyright laws prevent us from printing the full fixture list, but you can get the schedule here. Ties of the round are the Angus derby between Arbroath and Forfar and the meeting of the 'other' teams in Glasgow, Partick Thistle and Queens Park. Keep an eye out also for Annan Athletic who play First Division Clyde.

The other thing to keep an eye on is the goings on around Highland League whipping-boys Fort William. If you're a regular reader of Inside Left you'll know we've been following this story for a while now. With the season only a few weeks away (2nd August) we're still awaiting any dramatic news on progress. It'll take a while for any improvement to take hold at the Fort, assuming it's all still going ahead of course: Duncan Shearer has not joined up, as the club cannot pay his wages and salary demands for the first six months.  We're also not sure if the new American players have arrived in town yet. The new players will need some time to settle in, so don't expect an end to the rugby scores at Claggan Park any time soon.

Lastly, we were hoping to give you a more in-depth look at how we think the First, Second and Third Divisions will work out next season, but we spent so long ironing underpants and socks for our holidays that we just didn't get around to finishing it. Here are the tables as we see them; the underlying arguments will come later.

Division One	Division Two	Division Three
Dundee St Johnstone Dunfermline  Partick     Livingston Queen Of The South Ross County Morton     Airdrie Utd  Clyde	Raith      Alloa     Arbroath Peterhead      Ayr     Brechin Queens Park     Stranraer Stirling  East Fife	Cowdenbeath Dumbarton       Albion Berwick     Montrose     Elgin     Stenhousemuir       East Stirling     Forfar     Annan Athletic

Phew, and we were hoping to keep this update short! We'll be back in time for the start of the season and will be travelling with the Dons to Deventer as they take on Go Ahead Eagles. We're still hoping to catch a word with Jimmy and the lads before they head back to Aberdeen.

In the meantime, if your team are playing in a friendly, the Challenge Cup or one of the many leagues around the country, go along and watch. Win or lose, enjoy the games and support your team. We will be back on the 2nd August as we continue to bring you all the news and features about the game in Scotland. Until then, mar sin leibh an dràsda!