My dear reader (is "readers" me being optimistic?), my sincere apologies for my absence over the last fortnight. Work has been flipping mental, basically. Besides, it's not really as if much has happened to talk about.
For one thing, the SPL title race is absolutely, completely, utterly, totally over. Actually, it was probably done and dusted before the last Old Firm game, which summed up both sides of the Old Firm this season; Celtic unable to get decent performances out of their big name players when it matters, and unable to avoid conceding crucial late goals, whilst Rangers lack the creativity to break down good teams (see their Champions League campaign for example), but their stout defence, though not good enough for the big stage (again, think Champs League) can keep out other Scottish sides until the Huns nick a goal from somewhere. Why do you think Kyle Crapperty - sorry, Lafferty - is in the team so often? Because he offers a physical presence at set plays, both offensively and defensively. And so, with very little ceremony and panache (but easily enough quality), Walter Smith not only has one hand on the title, but four fingers of the other hand too.
What else is new? Well, Craig Brown has managed to make Motherwell harder to crack than bullet-proof glass covered in six inches of concrete. Not surprising, to be honest. Brown is the man who turned a back three of Colin Hendry, Colin Calderwood and Tom Boyd into one of the best international defences in Europe in the 1990s. Brown's Scotland side were never great on the eye, but you just knew that in games against the likes of Finland, we would be pretty mediocre, huff and puff a bit, but we'd still win, usually with a goal from Scott Booth (or so it seems).
Oh, and the SPL Expansion debate has reared it's head again. I think I blogged on this at least a year ago, drawing considerable ire from a Montrose-supporting friend for suggesting that having four senior teams in Angus was about as clever as sticking a hamster in the microwave. Back then, though, the other SPL teams were still selling out for visits of the Gruesome Twosome. Not any more - Pittodrie, for example, seems to see only 14000 for a Celtic game these days. So the extra match against the Old Firm is no longer the money spinner it was.
Besides, I remember an Aberdeen-Livingston game in 2002 when the two sides were battling for third in the league (I'm not kidding...they really were. How things change) and there were 19000 in the ground. Just look at the attendances Hearts and Hibs can manage when they are winning games. You might say an Aberdeen-Ross County league game wouldn't draw much interest, but I think fans are quite up for seeing their side win 3-0 or 4-0 - generally that constitutes a good day out!
As Graham Spiers pointed out in The Times last week, though, 18 teams is too much. 16 seems about right - play each other twice, then have a split with seven more games for each side. Yes, I know a split is bloody annoying, but 18 teams has the potential for, a season or two down the line, Celtic playing Alloa Athletic. And even I think that is daft. But regionalizing the league cup, as I have suggested before, is a great answer - having group stages with local derbies. Mix up the central belt sides paired with the Old Firm each year so the wealth gets spread too. The only downside would be persuading some unlucky beggars to come North to join a group with Inverness, Ross County and Elgin. But it is do-able, especially if it gets done at the start of the season.
And that's about it, really. Some of us are still keeping an eye on the first division table, as Dundee continue to make heavy weather of a league which they should be walking over, but since no-one seems capable of putting a run together to challenge them, they should still be in the SPL next season. Lets hope a reconstruction means ICT aren't far behind them...
L.
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