The last review

Another day, another review of the season.

Actually this one is the start of a monthly overview of all things Scottish football across on Albion Road:

This is turning into a really depressing review, isn’t it? It wasn’t all bad. Honestly. 39 year old David Weir played every minute of every league match as he captained Rangers to the title. He was rewarded with a host of Player of the Year awards. Few would grudge him the accolades although his teammate Steven Davis, at the heart of so much that Rangers do well, would have pipped him to the gongs had the voters cast aside sentimentality.

Rangers achievement in winning the title - leaving aside the flimsy nature of Celtic’s opposition - was proof of what a decent manager with a committed, hardworking team playing to their strengths can achieve. Financial uncertainty means Walter Smith’s future remains unclear. If this is to be his last hurrah then he leaves as one of the Ibrox greats.

Dundee United’s Scottish Cup win was a welcome break on the Old Firm’s stranglehold of the silverware. Combined with third place in the SPL it was a real statement of intent about United’s plans for establishing themselves as the best of the rest. The Scottish Cup also gave us Ross County and their incredible run to the final. Their win over Celtic in the semi-finals was one of the biggest results Scottish football has ever seen and sparked life into a season that provided little cause for enthusiasm. We’re all due the Staggies a big thank you.

And that is pretty much that as far as 2009/2010 in Scottish football is concerned.

I didn't do awards this year but very briefly:

• Player - Steven Davis (if he'd already turned 40 he'd have swept the board. And that comeback victory over John Higgins was a joy to behold)
• Young Player - Anthony Stokes (20-plus goals for a non Old Firm team is exceptional. To do it for a team that stopped playing in February is all the more remarkable.)
• Team - Dundee United (best of the rest, a cup win, recovered from both the loss of their manager and a mid season wobble.)
• Manager - Danny Lennon (brilliant promotion against a backdrop of misery.)

So onwards to 2010/2011. With a World Cup to negotiate on the way. Bring it on.

Money, managers and madness

Feeling a bit like an obituary writer at the moment, trying to find nice things to say about the season that has just passed.

It's not been all bad. Just some of it. Maybe most of it. Definitely not all of it though.

I've penned a paragraph or two for Inside Left's ongoing series of 2009/10 reviews:

It’s been intriguing and frustrating but it could hardly be called vintage. Half the clubs in the SPL failed to score an average of a goal game. The teams finishing in first, sixth and eleventh have a combined debt creeping towards £80 million. It’s hard to see how that can be sustainable in a country of our size with ever diminishing interest in the game.

Inside Left supremo Seb has had his say as well:

We said it before in another article on this site so we wont go down the road well travelled, but Rangers deserved their title. Despite all their problems, they won the league at a canter. A League Cup would have been matched by a Scottish Cup had it not been for United, and the less said about the European adventures the better, but worthy champions they are. The won the league against a backdrop of financial woes, but with every day bringing news of tax demands, a will-he-wont-he buyer and a bank-induced “buy one, get one free” players sale, it might not all be such plain sailing next season.

And John Hislop has taken a more indepth look at what was a fairly strange season at Easter Road:

Following the Hibs should prepare you for moments like this, but I was still in a state of shock next day. In fact that was probably the reason that a Tory got elected in Scotland, because even now, I have no idea who I voted for, and I suspect most Hibbys were the same.

All the articles above are available at the always reliable Inside Left. Read them!

Predicting the worst

The season is drawing to a close. The Scottish Cup final (more on that later - looking forward to it though) and play-offs apart our job is almost done.

A summer in our now familiar role of spectators beckons, the wallflowers at the school disco as the World Cup begins in South Africa.

I love the World Cup (more on that later too) but it is getting a bit tiresome not being there. I remember just after we failed to qualify for Euro 2000 a friend saying that he thought we'd probably enjoyed a golden period of Scottish football when we were growing up.

10 years on and it looks as if, as far as qualification is concerned, he was bang on the money.

Which brings me neatly to the thorny issue of predictions.

It was way back on the 15th of August, when I was but a twentysomething innocent, that I started doing my (almost) weekly SPL prediction posts.

I thought it would give the blog a certain continuity and structure. In fact it has made me look like a bloody idiot.

Over the course of the season (there was something of a dip during the bad weather of the winter) I have pontificated on the outcome of 177 matches.

I've predicted only 70 correctly. A strike rate of 40%. A full 11% worse than the win ratio that got Tony Mowbray sacked.

It's been a struggle. I console myself with the knowledge that the paucity of class teams in the SPL makes it difficult to know how games are going to go.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Still I've given a few people (especially the St Johnstone cabal that seem to have colonised Twitter) a laugh. And if you can't share some laughter, what can you do?

So I might pick up again at the start of next season. I might even put my money where my mouth is and do a "Bet of the Week."

They can't make people with no money bankrupt, can they? The experience of Rangers would suggest not.

Anyway, to send you on your way here's one last prediction for the season:

The World Cup will not be won by England, Spain, Argentina or North Korea. Fact.

The not so merry-go-round

A couple of different takes on Gus MacPherson's departure from St Mirren:

Manager's have a shelf life and need to move on, or be moved on, when it becomes clear that the club is no longer moving forward.

Or:

By getting them to the SPL, keeping them there and throwing in a cup final for good measure, MacPherson had done a decent job in tricky circumstances.

I'm not sure. Sometimes maybe we're too keen to blanket management, and the exponents of the managerial art, with a theory about what makes a "good manager."

Different clubs require different things. But maybe we are too quick to chop and change.

Look at the 12 SPL clubs on the final day of last season:

Rangers: Walter Smith
Celtic: Gordon Strachan
Hearts: Csaba Lazlo
Aberdeen: Jimmy Calderwood
Dundee United: Craig Levein
Hibs: Mixu Paatalainen
Motherwell: Mark McGhee
Kilmarnock: Jim Jefferies
Hamilton: Billy Reid
Falkirk: John Hughes
St Mirren: Gus MacPherson
St Johnstone (Promoted): Derek McInnes

And the start of this season:

Rangers: Walter Smith
Celtic: Tony Mowbray
Hearts: Csaba Lazlo
Aberdeen: Mark McGhee
Dundee United: Craig Levein
Hibs: John Hughes
Motherwell: Jim Gannon
Kilmarnock: Jim Jefferies
Hamilton: Billy Reid
Falkirk: Eddie May
St Mirren: Gus MacPherson
St Johnstone: Derek McInnes

And now:

Rangers: Walter Smith
Celtic: Neil Lennon (Caretaker)
Hearts: Jim Jefferies
Aberdeen: Mark McGhee
Dundee United: Peter Houston
Hibs: John Hughes
Motherwell: Craig Brown
Kilmarnock: Jimmy Calderwood
Hamilton: Billy Reid
Falkirk: Steven Pressley
St Mirren: Vacant
St Johnstone: Derek McInnes

Now not all of these are sackings. But by my reckoning that's five changes over the last close season and a further seven changes between the start of the 2009/10 season and today. Since April 2009 19 different men have tried their hand at managing in the SPL.

Motherwell, Celtic and Falkirk can take a special bow for two changes in that time.

At least nine clubs will start next season with a different manager than they started this season with.

In a 12 team league that is a hell of an attrition rate.

Look at this season's success stories. Rangers won the title, both Hamilton and St Johnstone pleasantly surprised. They stuck with their managers.

And Inverness, relegated last season, stuck with Terry Butcher. They bounced right back up.

Dundee United lost their manager but made a seamless transition by giving Peter Houston a chance at the job, not panicking when it went badly and then reaping the benefits of third place and a Scottish Cup final.

Stability won't always bring success. Changing managers is sometimes unavoidable. But I'd argue that when 75% of SPL clubs lose a manager (or two) over the course of not much more than a season, we're doing something wrong.

Finished

Spot the difference.

Whatever the final table, we're now done.

Rangers have their trophy, Falkirk are relegated.

Spare a thought for Motherwell: anybody would think nine goals in the final two games would be enough to wrap up fourth place. Not quite.

Instead Hibs finally won a game to steal past Motherwell at the death.

I'll revisit my start of season predictions - and my laughable attempts to predict the outcomes of games - over the course of next week.

Our next big SPL fixture? Tomorrow. What will the clubs decide at their end of season gathering? Stay tuned.

The end

That's almost that then.

The season has been far from vintage. From European disasters to SFA cock-ups, bad pitches to managerial casualties, a one sided championship race to a third place challenge that never happened.

Aye, we're all doomed, Captain Mainwaring.

The final match day throws up the top six clashes, the creme de la creme. A nation yawns.

What's left to play for? Hibs and Motherwell - fresh from that game - are still locked in the battle for fourth. And Hearts need a result to finish on more points than the team below them in the league.

Can't wait.

Dundee United v Hibs

It had been said that Hibs struggled to hold on if they were a goal ahead. Now they can't limp to full time with a four goal lead.

Dundee United will be looking for a decent send off before heading to Hampden. Home win.

Hearts v Celtic

Neil Lennon's on-the-job job interview continues. I'm still not convinced by his prospects but I think he'll heap more pressure on the board today. Away win.

Rangers v Motherwell

We arra party people. The trophy is delivered back to Ibrox. Time to enjoy an afternoon without talk of managerial resignation, takeovers, tax debts and financial black holes.

Motherwell need only match Hibs at Tannadice to clinch fourth. A defeat should be enough. Home win.

Keep an eye on today's goalscorers. If Anthony Stokes can get a couple at Tannadice and Kris Boyd draws a blank at Ibrox, Hibs' striker could finish the season as top scorer. He'd be the first player outside the Old Firm to claim that honour since Tommy Coyne's 16 goals took Motherwell to second place in 1994/95 (the last season that the big two finished outside the top 3.)

Splitting feathers

A tale of two leagues.

Or the same league that just isn't really a league.

This is what I don't like about the SPL split. It's actually an affront to the very idea of a "league."

Imagine that Wednesday's 12 goal thriller piqued interest in the SPL elsewhere. So today people are looking out for SPL results and table: what do they see?

The team in seventh with more points than the team in sixth.

Are they going to take the time to find out that we have a split for the last five games? Or are they just going to come to the conclusion that we're all mental and run a mile?

All will be put right, of course, if Hearts beat Celtic tomorrow.

(Thanks to @madsainty for the screengrab of the As It Stands table.)

Survival Saturday

The penultimate Scottish Football Blog prediction post of the SPL season. And, as the title suggests, it's Survival Saturday.

With so much to play for at Rugby Park today, Kilmarnock and Falkirk have been promoted to the big, big SPL slot of 12.30 on a Saturday lunchtime.

This, of course, is progress. In my day you only got Saint and Greavsie with your Heinz Spaghetti Hoops. Now you get the two worst teams in the SPL battling out to discover which is less bad over your rocket and organic goat's cheese focaccia.

Kilmarnock v Falkirk

A win for either side will be enough. A loss will probably mean some new kind of financial hell visited on one of our oldest clubs. Unless there's an SPL extension in the summer. How handy would that be?

A draw would be enough for Kilmarnock but given their cavalier attitude to football this season I'm sure they'll go straight for the jugular. Isn't that right, Mr Calderwood?

Seriously though. As a football fan you have to sympathise. One of these teams, and more importantly, their fans are going to have a totally shit day. And that's not nice.

Us neutrals on the other hand. Well, we can sit back and enjoy the drama and tension. Maybe not the fitba' but certainly the drama and the tension. It'll be like election night all over again.

Prediction: I dunno. I'm leaning towards Kilmarnock. But Falkirk pulled it off last year. So I'll back them to do it again this year. Away win.

St Johnstone v Hamilton

Who needs relegation battles. This is the big one. The battle for seventh place. And the chance of finishing on more points than the team in sixth place. But still finishing seventh.

Financially that will mean a lot to both these clubs (and was probably not budgeted for) so it is not without importance.

I'd hope for a decent game. Party time in Perth. A celebration of a decent season. A home win.

St Mirren v Aberdeen

If Aberdeen win this one and Kilmarnock beat Falkirk then St Mirren will finish second bottom. That's the kind of stakes we're playing for here. I'd guess both teams will just want this to be over. Draw.

Hughes and Cry

Was it only yesterday that I wrote that things could be a lot worse for Hibs fans?

Might not feel like it just now.

I suppose being 6-2 up and losing 7-6 might be worse. At the moment that doesn't feel like much of a distinction. As crumbs of comfort go it's like being told that your lost lottery ticket would only have won you £3 million pounds rather than the £4 million you thought.

Nor would you find reassurance in the news that your team might have set a world record:

Motherwell came back from 6-2 down to draw 6-6 against Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League on Wednesday evening to equal the highest scoring draw in any top division in the history of world football.

As far as we can ascertain within a short time period, it appears to be highest scoring score in professional football history regardless of division, although we welcome extra information from around the world to the contrary. The game was the definitely the highest scoring game in SPL history.

The last time a 6-6 draw happened in the professional game was on Saturday 7 August 1999, when Genk - then the Champions of Belgium - opened their title defence in the 1999-2000 season with a 12-goal thriller against Westerlo. (via Sporting Intelligence)

Being told that you made headline news in Germany and Australia, that the result was a top UK trending topic on Twitter (knocking Spurs v Man City and even Brown v Cameron v Clegg into the also-ran category), that you reached the front page of bbc.co.uk. None of that is likely to provide a haven from the anguish.

In your search for some explanation you might think of turning to your manager, surely the most likely conduit for your feelings of grief.

Here's what John Hughes said:

It's mixed emotions. It's very disappointing, there is positives, though to come to this place and score six goals.

Remarkably upbeat that. But then Hughes is a man with a sunny disposition, more happy than sad. Half-wits often are.

And what light can this former centre half shed on Hibs' capitulation?

I felt at 6-2 up my strikers stopped working. That's where you start defending, from the front. We then started sitting too deep and inviting Motherwell onto us.

So there we have it. Three strikers score six goals between them. And that's still not enough.

There's a gulf between Hughes and the fans. Tonight widened it. I'm no longer sure how capable he is of bridging it.

Things could be a lot worse

I've barely been able to sleep these past few nights, my peaceful nights ripped asunder by the gnashing of teeth as Hibs fans digest yet another derby defeat.

John Hughes has claimed 100% backing from the fans. I suppose this is in much the same way that Peter Mandelson might claim 100% backing from the electorate.

But amid the doom people should remember that things could be a lot, lot worse.

So why not try and break the cycle of insomnia with some masochism?

Hibs fans: a mid season collapse is not the end of the world.

Falkirk and Kilmarnock: this is what you're playing to avoid on Saturday.

The Old Firm Preview

Is an Old Firm match ever meaningless. I'd dare say that fans of both teams would say this is a game that always matters. And I'm sure Rupert Murdoch's Sky Sports will be doing their best to press every last drop of drama out of their build up tonight.

The rest of us might being left shrugging our shoulders and asking a weary "so what?"

Walter Smith has already noted that he thinks tonight will be lacking "an edge" while Neil Lennon has been quick to say that this is not a match that should be viewed as the most important component of his job interview.

You can understand their motivation for playing it down.

Smith know that his players are tired, the hard work is done, an away game at your biggest rivals might be a big ask. Lowering expectations makes sense.

Lennon wants the Celtic job. But he knows that to succeed he needs more than a run of league wins. He has to prove he is winner. At Celtic that means winning semi finals and beating Rangers. He's already failed part one of that audition so if he can reshape the way his reign is defined he's got more chance of passing part two.

Where does all this leave the game? It would be nice if it was an end of season classic. I somehow doubt it will be. Maybe it will be an enthralling spectacle but I don't hold out much hope.

My hunch is it will be quite tight, fairly bad tempered but lacking in some of the usual "atmosphere" that often makes these games as watchable as they are distasteful.

Ah, well. If it's a rubbish game we can all look forward to them doing it all again in Boston. Not so much an Old Firm anymore as a combined Harlem Globetrotters with added festering and misguided historical hate. Nice.

The Scottish Football Blog prediction: Rangers to nick it by the odd goal.

Ha! I've got through that without mentioning a certain manager of a certain team that might be waiting in the wings to take over at a certain club team at a certain point in the future that has yet to be announced.

Edinburgh Derby Day

The Big(gish) Preview: Hibs v Hearts

A dull Edinburgh May Day, a dull Edinburgh derby?

The law of averages comes into play here. And these games are often tetchy, grindy affairs devoid of much entertainment.

True Hearts impressed at Tynecastle with their 2-1 going on 6-0 win in the last meeting but the two draws earlier in the season might be more of a clue to the outcome.

Although the law of averages suggest that Hibs are surely going to get a win sometime. Can John Hughes outwit his old mentor Jim Jefferies?

The pain of being taught a derby day lesson at Tynecastle will still rankle with Hughes but he, like his team, has looked devoid of ideas lately.

My money - which is worth about as much Greece's money - would be on a draw.

Elsewhere in the top six

Celtic v Motherwell: Everything points to a home win. I didn't get where I am today by following pointers. Draw

Dundee United v Rangers: With league positions now sorted for these two, Rangers can enjoy their austerity celebrations while United look forward to a cup final. Away win.

The Bottom Six

Aberdeen v Hamilton: Both are now playing for position. Hamilton will look back on this season with rather more fondness than Aberdeen but I think Aberdeen might have a bit more desire to finish strongly. Home win.

Falkirk v St Mirren: The post-split fixtures threw Falkirk a juicy bone with this one. Can they take advantage? They remain very much in the hole, as St Mirren claw their way to safety. Falkirk need to haul them back. I can see another twist here. Home win.

Kilmarnock v St Johnstone: Like Cristiano Ronaldo the Kilmarnock fans will make sure they keep a tranny close at hand for this one. (Note to lawyers: allegedly.) Jimmy Calderwood actually came to mind yesterday when I noted with interest that he has inspired Tony Blair's new skin tone. Jimmy will certainly be hoping he's not left red faced this evening! (Boom, boom.)

I fear he might be though. I can't see Kilmarnock getting more than a draw but suspect this is an away win.

The relegation battle will go on.

Tale of the tape: A morale dwindling one out of six last week suggests you can take my talk of the law of averages with a tablespoon of salt. 65 from 159 and when the rubber duck is this season going to end.

Changes?

More rumours about changes to the SPL set up. Jim Spence on the BBC reports that:

The Scottish Premier League could be set to increase to 14 clubs from season 2011-12, with relegation play-offs also featuring in the new set-up. A senior Scottish football figure has told BBC Scotland that the current 12-club set-up could be replaced.

The new format would see all clubs play each other twice and split after 26 games into a top six and bottom eight. The SPL insists that a 14-team league is being considered but is not the only option open to them at present.

Many of you will have spotted that this retains the split. I'd actually go a bit further and say that this takes the split and makes it worse, a feat that only yesterday might have seemed all but impossible.

Time for me and everyone else to face facts: the SPL split is here to stay. All the discussions are going to be based around the principle that extension means adapting the current league, split and all. This is not a march to revolution but a few baby steps to compromise. 

But at least the discussion seems to be taking place and the idea of relegation play off is to be applauded. Don't hold your breath though.

This is only one of a number of proposals that the SPL clubs are set to discuss at a "strategy review" at the end of the season. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that meeting of minds, it will be nothing less than a modern day Yalta Conference.

They'll also discuss extending the league to 16 or 18 teams and the old issue of the SPL2 is being whispered about again.

The problem of course is that any changes need that 11 to 1 voting majority. If any proposal is going to be strong enough to emerge as a consensus building strategy remains to be seen.

Ah, Yalta right enough. We've not got a Churchill, we search in vain for an FDR. But we've got a version of democracy that would have Uncle Joe beaming with pride.

Just champion

Finally, it’s my "well done" Rangers post.

At the start of the season I didn’t expect things to pan out this way. But they have and you can only admire (however ruefully) the stubbornness and resilience that Walter Smith has instilled in a team that looked like it might be on the verge of staleness.

Obviously they’ve not faced as keen a Celtic challenge as we’ve seen in the past. Even so there has been plenty to applaud about they way they have gone about their business. Most notably we can look back on December and a spurt of form that really ended the title race.

In one calendar month they won 3-1, 3-0, 3-0, 6-1, 4-1 and 7-1. That included big wins over Dundee United (twice), Motherwell and Hibs. If the rest of the top six were supposed to be clawing Rangers back somebody had forgotten to deliver the script to Ibrox.

Walter Smith, despite the frustration he’s clearly experiencing over Rangers’ finances, has proved himself again to be a redoubtable domestic manager.

How long he remains in charge, how long some of his players hang around, remains to be seen. But there can be no arguments that the right team won the title this season.

What the Celtic board would do to have a calm, reassuring figure like Smith waiting in the wings.

Walter At Ibrox: A Trophy Tale

• Scottish Premier League (9): 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 2008-09, 2009-10
• Scottish Cup (5): 1991-92, 1992-93, 1995-96, 2007-08, 2008-09
• Scottish League Cup (5): 1992-93, 1993-94, 1996-97, 2007-08, 2009-10

Right, that's quite enough of being nice to Rangers. We'll get back to questions of tax evasion and slagging off Kyle Lafferty as soon as possible.

A frightened moll wows

Another weekend, another SPL super six. Here's the last minute predictions:

The Bottom Six

St Johnstone v Aberdeen
Great to see the bottom six still getting live TV coverage at this stage in the season. Strange that ESPN are broadcasting the only one game that has absolutely no consequence in the relegation battle though. Home win.

Falkirk v Hamilton
Hamilton will be delighted to have got past the difficult second season syndrome while Falkirk are still scrambling for points and safety. The fixture list has come down in their favour but Falkirk still need to take advantage of that. Draw.

St Mirren v Kilmarnock
Big game this. I'm edging towards St Mirren going down but I'd not bet my house on it. Not even a doll's house. Neither of these sides seem capable of building up any momentum as they struggle to haul themselves clear of the mess. Draw.

The Top Six

Hearts v Motherwell
Both sides are still going for fourth place and a European trip. And both will have targetted this as a game to pick up points. For that reason I'd predict a scoring draw.

Dundee United v Celtic
I think second place is probably out of United's reach now. Given Celtic's season that is a rather depressing thought. They've certainly enjoyed a good season though and will be hopeful of halting Neil Lennon's (still rickety) bandwagon. Home win.

Hibernian v Rangers
The champions will retain their crown in this one. Away win.

The Prediction Totalizer: A confidence boosting four from six last week contributes to a confidence sapping 64 from 153.

twofootedtackle

I made my podcast debut (or day-boo as Hazel Irvine would have it) on the twofootedtackle podcast yesterday.

Thanks to Chris, Gary and their guest Theo for the warm welcome.

I mainly rambled on about the SPL split and some of our other problems.

You can listen in all the usual ways as explained here: twofootedtackle

And please follow twofootedtackle on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook if that's your thing.

Where is everybody?

A report in Rupert Murdoch's S*n today about SPL attendances this season.

And, surprise, it doesn't make for a particular cheery read:

Figures calculated by the SPL up to the top-six split showed Hearts are one of just THREE teams whose average attendance has gone up this season.

Kilmarnock and Falkirk have shown marginal improvements, but for other sides the attendance figures make grim reading.

Celtic's average gates this season are down by more than 11,000 and Parkhead was half-empty for the visit of Hibs last weekend.

Aberdeen, Dundee United, St Mirren and Hamilton have also seen major drops, while Hibs and Motherwell made smaller losses.

Even Rangers, despite going for their second successive title, are being watched by an average of 2,000 people less than last season.

These statistics need more analysis than I've got time to do at the moment. But a quick check reveals that Hearts' growth still leaves them down on where they were a couple of years ago.

And Hibs are now well below the "break-even" figure that the club said they needed to hit a couple of years ago. Although having only three stands for part of this season is partly to blame.

Dundee United's drop would seem to be the most worrying - this is a club enjoying their most successful season for years with the press gushing about the belief at Tannadice. For those who turn up anyway.

Reasons for the slump? Not really got time for that either because there are a hell of a lot.

But I will jump on my favourite hobby horse (one of them) and say that the SPL needs to return to clubs playing one game at home, one game away.

Going to games is a habit (and it's difficult to get people back into the habit once they've gone) and a home game every other week is a far easier pattern to develop than the mess of a fixture list we've got just now.

Prize guys

Back slapping all round as the Clydesdale Bank announced the winners of their Premier League awards for the season:

Manager of the Year: Walter Smith

Player of the Year: Methuselah...not really. David Weir

Young Player of the Year: David Goodwillie

Goal of the Season: Anthony Stokes v Rangers

Save of the Season: Artur Boruc v Hibs

There is a name in there that still makes me snigger every time I hear it. There's just something inherently, if immaturely, funny about the name Walter...

Boruc isn't the only winning Celt this week with Robbie Keane picking up an award as Celtic's Player of the Season, as voted for by the supporters.

Keane's scored a lot of goals since his arrival, although I feel his overall impact has been muted, but it says much about the season that his 13 or so games have been enough to take the award.

In other news the SPL has signed a new sponsorship deal with Clydesdale that takes them through to 2013.

Nice to know that the league will still have a sponsor even if half its teams go bust.

Deja vu

Glenn Gibbons' articles are always worth a read, not for nothing was he dubbed Scottish football's Poet Laureate in Graham Spiers' much missed Scotland on Sunday diary.

Couldn't help but notice that his Observer article this week seemed a bit familiar though:

Although "league reconstruction" had, improbably, become a more common phrase in Scottish football than "are ye fuckin' blind, ref?" in the previous dozen years, the terms under which the rebels were allowed to depart the SFL would ensure one more transformation.

Could it be that it jogged memories of his Scotsman column from a couple of weeks ago?

There was a time when "league reconstruction" was among the most frequently-used phrases in the Scottish vocabulary. It began in the early 1970s and was born of dwindling attendances as the boom years immediately following the Second World War receded into the past and football was challenged for the leisure time of the populace by other diversions.

Not a bad gig this journalism lark.

But it's hard not to agree with his conclusion that change doesn't guarantee success - although I suppose the argument could be made that most of the changes to date have been handled with the clumsy incompetence that passes for football administration in Scotland.

He also notes that most SPL managers have never supported the split, a format that exists for financial not footballing reasons.

Where do we go from here? Glenn's assessment - nowhere:

In the event, no change is likely, because the Old Firm's own insistence on an 11-1 majority vote being required on such matters has backfired, with at least four, but more like six, members favouring the status quo.

I'd disagree. These clubs have survived for a century or more in a country that really shouldn't be able to sustain them. They adapt to survive. If they are suddenly standing perilously close to the abyss, I think we'll see them bring about change quite soon.

Concern split routs

If the latest opinion polls are to believed (they're probably not) then the Tories lead the Lib Dems and Labour are back in third.

"Oh my God!" you say. "But that would mean Labour would go from government to being the smallest party. Astonishing."

And you'd be right in every way, except that you'd be wrong.

Because those figures would actually give Labour the most seats, with the Tories in second and the Lib Dems back on only 100.

So Labour would be the largest party in parliament by virtue of getting trounced.

Why I am highlighting this potential eccentric quirk in our democracy in the rambling introduction to what is ostensibly an SPL prediction article?

Partly it's to have a long hard laugh at David Cameron.*

Mainly though it's because I think that by the end of the weekend St Johnstone will be ahead of Hearts on goal difference.

Except they won't be ahead of the them. They'll be in seventh and Hearts will be in sixth.

The SPL is many things. But as long as we have the split it is not a league. At least not in the way an infant school pupil with a rudimentary understanding of what a league is would understand it.

As for British democracy. Well, let's not go there.

All of this will probably be academic. It depends on my predictions being correct and, as regular readers will be all too aware, that's rarer than genuine wit at a leaders' debate.

I have written a more comprehensive preview of the games but the site that hosts it seems to be down. I'll get a link up as soon as I can.

In the meantime:

• Celtic v Hibernian (12.15): Is the season not over yet? v Is the season not over yet? Home win.
• Aberdeen v Falkirk: Freefalling v Hanging on in there. Draw.
• Hamilton v Kilmarnock: Scrambling to safety v Still stuck in the mess. Home win.
• St Johnstone v St Mirren: Slumming it v Bedsit Buddies. Home win.
• Rangers v Hearts (12.30, Sunday): Champions elect v Hibee hunters. Home win.
• Motherwell v Dundee United (4.15, Sunday): Running out of steam v Full steam ahead. Away win.

Latest polls: 60 out of 147. I am the Labour Party circa 1983.

*Please note that other, less shiny faced, party leaders are also available for ridicule.