Well folks, just a few more weeks and we can finally restore the natural order of the universe, as the Scottish football season kicks off again on 8th August.
For many of us the start of the season can’t come soon enough. Personally I couldnae give a fart in a Tesco's bag that England finally beat Australia at cricket for this first time since 1732 or whatever. I just want the football to start so that my week can return to some degree of regularity - the build-up to the game, listing to the radio bringing reports from around the grounds, the Saturday evening staying up late to watch the highlights, reading the sports back pages on the Monday, then getting ready again for the next game.
As I'm writing this word has filtered through that Hamilton's James McCarthy, another of Scotland's fine young talent is heading south to the bright lights and the big pay cheques of the EPL. He's only gone and joined Wigan for a whole bunch of money (about £1.2m, rising to £3m, including all the Clearasil he'll ever need). The reason he went with Wigan and not Wolves? Because they guaranteed him first team football, that’s why, so there will be none of this being bought by some diddy Old Firm team only to spend the rest of your career warming the bench for the likes of Bobo Balde.
I'm glad for James that he's finally got his move. Wigan are not a big club by EPL standards, but they're pretty established in the league and probably wont go down again any time soon, unlike Wolves, one of the many yo-yo teams we've seen down south of late (a list which includes West Brom, a team formerly managed and relegated by Celtic's Tony Mowbray).
I guess there are still plenty of resources out there for big-money transfers: recession be damned I say. Unless ... you're an employee of Livingston Football Club plc, in which case you're probably quite anxious about the future. At this near-terminal stage, you'd be thinking that most Livi players are taking their kit home with them after a training session, in case the club goes tits-up and they'll be able to sell it off as 'memorabilia' on Ebay for some much needed money. Perhaps it's not a bad idea to do this before the club goes to the wall, because reports came through today that the club asked its players to come to the friendly game against Plymouth in their own car, as the club had canceled the team bus due to 'being short a few quid'. Yes, the embarrassment seems to know no boundaries down at the Almondvale.
It is all very desperate really, but to get an idea of the costs involved, I rang up the Sixt office in Edinburgh for a quote.
I asked them for a minibus large enough to take 17 people - plus some luggage and a crate of Stella - from Livingston to Bathgate. If anyone from Livingston FC is reading this, Sixt in Edinburgh will do you a nice 17-seater bus for only £164.14 (excluding taxes and other assorted extras such as kiddie seats), picking up and dropping off at Edinburgh Airport. Not bad eh?
So why Bathgate you're wondering, and not Livingston? Well, the game had to be played at Junior side Bathgate Thistle's ground after a failed safety inspection at the Almondvale (another nail in the Livi coffin). Yet, somewhat amazingly given all the setbacks of late, Livi managed to record a rather splendid 2-1 win against Plymouth, a team managed by Dundee United legend Paul Sturrock. Anthony McParland got himself on the score sheet after Plymouth conceded an own goal through Krizstian Timar.
And speaking of Dundee United, Livingston where not the only side on friendly duty last night. Dundee United are currently enjoying a pre-season tour of Ireland and last night they took on Irish Premier League side Drogheda United. The Irish season is well under way (20 games played so far). Drogheda are currently 3rd bottom, but they've at least been playing, so should be match-fit. That extra sharpness showed as United found themselves 2-0 down to the part-timers from up the coast from Dublin just after halftime. But a spirited fight-back from Craig Levein's men restored honour: Danny Cadamateri scored his first goal for the Terrors. Mihael Kovacevic then leveled the scores with 11 minutes left on the clock.
United next play two more Irish sides - Dublin based UCD, followed by Kildare County. They return to the UK for friendlies against two relegated sides from last season, Inverness Caley and Newcastle United. A week before the open the season at home against Hearts, they'll welcome Blackburn Rovers to Tannadice.
Later on this week we've got Motherwell and Falkirk trying to get into the next round of the Europa League. It's hard to say which team has the harder task here: Falkirk for having to go away to Liechtenstein to defend a narrow 1-0 lead, or Motherwell for trying to overturn a 1-0 deficit to a pacey Albanian side. Actually, Motherwell might be in with a chance of getting through by default as the British Embassy in Tirana are being a little tardy in issuing visa's to the Albanians.
Lastly: it's got nothing to do with Scottish football, but worthy of note (and perhaps a measure of the quality of the Irish league) is that another team where playing a friendly in the Republic yesterday. The Galacticos of Real Madrid - Spain’s most successful team - took the opportunity of a game against Shamrock Rovers - Ireland's most successful team - to show off their new signings.
Now, on paper you'd be forgiven for wondering if the scoreboard at the Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, could deal with double-digit score lines. I mean, you've got yer Kaka, you've got yer Ronaldo, Benzema, van der Vaart, Sneijder and Raul. And consider the fact that Real made 10 changes at halftime and still where able to field a side with quite a few internationals. It was all the more surprising therefore that it was only a Benzema goal that separated the sides after 90 minutes. Ronaldo had a go at one of his trademark free kicks, but from the left of the 18-yard area the ball bobbled harmlessly towards the corner flag. Ok, so it was pishing down, but still, that's £80m worth of free-kicking talent you’ve got there.
I reckon Charlie Mulgrew would have put it away.
met plezier gelezen Bas. Well done!
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