Police in talks to keep Utd fans safe

Click here or here to read my story about Police Scotland's bid to keep Dundee United fans safe as they travel through to play Rangers. It was published in the Dundee Evening Telegraph.

Scottish Football Predictions 2011/12

Below is my Scottish football predictions for the 2011/12 season as published here on The Away End.

SPL winner: Celtic
SPL runner up: Rangers
SPL third place: Hearts
SPL relegated: Inverness
First Division Winner: Ross County
First Division Relegated: Ayr United
Second Division Winner: East Fife
Second Division Relegated: Cowdenbeath
Third Division Winner: Peterhead
Will Scotland make Euro 2012: No

Ronaldo: Il Fenomeno

Click here or read below for my player profile of Brazilian football icon, Ronaldo. It was published on Scotzine.

Ronaldo: Il Fenomeno

“Mentally, I wanted to continue, but I have to acknowledge that I lost [the battle] to my body.”

Those were the words of Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima speaking in February 2011, when announcing his inevitable retirement from football. Ronaldo had problems with his knees for large periods of his career and it appeared, alongside a heavy weight problem, an issue that he was unable to shake off.

There is always a tinge of sadness when a quality player finally admits defeat with their body and some Rangers fans may go through similar motions when their favourite old man, Davie Weir, hangs up the boots. However, while Weir has been a great servant to his club in times of financial turmoil, his achievements severely pale in significance to that of Ronaldo who would unquestionably be in most people’s top fifteen players of all time.

The Brazilian superstar – known by many fans as ‘Il Fenomeno’ – has an endless list of trophies and awards, some individual, some team-orientated. After winning the Copa do Brasil with Cruzeiro in1993, he moved to Europe, with a scoring ratio of almost a goal a game at PSV Eindhoven and continued to make similar impacts for Brazil and his next club, Barcelona. His unbelievable talent and goal tally was rewarded with the title of FIFA World Footballer of the Year in 1996 and 1997, making Ronaldo both the youngest ever to win the award and the only player to do so in consecutive years.

Unable to renegotiate Ronaldo’s contract, Barcelona were waving goodbye to their star man after just one season at the club. Inter Milan forked out, what was then, a world record fee of £19 million for Ronaldo’s services and the then, twenty-one-year-old, made his way across the Mediterranean.

The goals continued to flow and the whole world looked forward to witnessing what Ronaldo could produce on the biggest platform of football at the 1998 World Cup. Bizarrely, Ronaldo already had a World Cup winners medal after being included in the 1994 Brazil squad, but he had failed to make an appearance, so he was desperate to claim another, this time by firing his country to glory.

After a 2-1 victory over Scotland, Ronaldo scored his first goal of the tournament in a 3-0 romp over Morocco. Although Brazil fell to a 2-1 defeat to Norway in the final group stage fixture, they won their group and progressed to the second round. Ronaldo would score a penalty, hit the post and then coolly slot past Chile keeper’ Nelson Tapia to wrap up a 4-1 demolition of their South American neighbours. It seemed that after a typically Brazilian tentative start to the tournament, they had finally shaken off their complacency and looked set for another World Cup success.

In the quarter finals Brazil met Denmark in what ended up being a thrilling end-to-end affair. The Brazilians came up trumps to win 3-2 with Ronaldo assisting two of the goals. Indeed, it seemed that some people were oblivious to his clinical through-balls as well as his finishing, but after this special performance, his all-round game would be appreciated further.

The Netherlands were the next obstacle for the Samba Boys and they soon looked comfortable after a fantastically timed run by Ronaldo, finishing past Edwin van der Sar with ease to open the scoring. However, Holland equalised three minutes before the full-time whistle and after a fruitless extra thirty minutes, penalties would follow. Ronaldo set Brazil on their way, sending van der Sar the wrong way and after Ronald de Boer missed his decisive penalty, a final between host nation France and World Cup holders Brazil was set up.

It would be this infamous World Cup final which tainted the star’s reputation. Ronaldo, quite simply, failed to produce the goods, with Brazil on the receiving end of a Zinedine Zidane master-class, finishing 3-0. Conspiracy theories followed especially when Ronaldo failed to be placed on the team-sheet seventy-two minutes before kick-off, only to be mysteriously added again on a further team-sheet released around thirty minutes later. Ronaldo did take to the pitch, but he looked a shadow of his former self and failed to impose himself on the game.

In the end however, it transpired that the night before the final Ronaldo had suffered convulsions and it was only decided by medical staff at last-minute that he was well enough to play the fixture. Despite the clearance by doctors, Ronaldo’s team-mates were not convinced and it seems worry took hold of them and they failed to perform to their usual high standards. After the match, Ronaldo was quite philosophical about the whole episode claiming that “we lost the World Cup but I won another cup…my life,” underlining how close to death he and his team-mates believed he was.

Ronaldo continued his astounding performances when he returned to Inter Milan, but the first significant signs of injury troubles appeared on 21 November 1999 in a match against Lecce. The striker had ruptured a tendon in his knee and required surgery. He made his comeback in April 2000 and within minutes left the pitch injured once again. Two operations and months of rehabilitation followed and Ronaldo found himself ready just in time for the 2002 World Cup.

Ronaldo scored in all three group stage fixtures, knocking a single goal past Turkey and China respectively, followed by a further two against Costa Rica. The goal tally continued with a late goal against Belgium in a 2-0 win and although he failed to score, Brazil beat England 2-1 in the quarter finals, a match which was won thanks to Ronaldinho’s exhilarating lob over David Seaman. The semi-finals brought Brazil and Turkey together again with a forty-ninth minute Ronaldo goal enough to send the Brazilians through to another final.

This time, Ronaldo was fit and able to play and the man himself opened the scoring after sixty-seven minutes when he pounced on a rare Oliver Kahn mistake. Twelve minutes later Ronaldo popped up again to side-foot past Kahn and seal a fifth World Cup for the boys in yellow. This appeared to be the rebirth of Ronaldo’s career. He finished top goalscorer at the World Cup and later in 2002, won World Player of the Year for the third time after sealing an incredible €39 million move to Real Madrid.

As it transpired, Ronaldo continued to score but injuries still plagued him and would repeatedly do so for the rest of his career, often incurring lengthy spells on the sidelines. Criticism of his now sizeable weight followed him into the 2006 World Cup and indeed the most recognisable striker in the world failed to light up the competition as he had in the two previous.

Brazil won their opening three games of the competition, but Ronaldo would struggle, being substituted in the first two fixtures, before finally breaking his duck against Japan, twice. In the second round, Brazil cruised past Ghana with Ronaldo scoring the first goal of the match which came about from a perfectly timed run onto a through ball followed by a wonderful shimmy past goalkeeper Richard Kingson. This goal took Ronaldo’s overall World Cup goal tally up to fifteen, a record which still stands to this day.

Brazil were knocked out by France in the quarter finals and from this moment forth, Ronaldo’s career would spiral into oblivion. He made the trip back to Italy, this time to play for AC Milan, but ravished by injury, only featured for just over three hundred minutes in the entire 2007-8 season and the world icon headed home for Brazil.


Ronaldo was adamant that once he recovered from injuries he would sign for Flamengo, however, he shocked the country by joining league rivals Corinthians instead. Initially, the move appeared successful, after helping the club win the Campeonato Paulista and the Brazil Cup. Although Ronaldo signed a contract extension to the end of 2011, he announced his retirement in February this year soon after Corinthians were knocked out of the Copa Libertadores.

There is no doubt that the natural talent Ronaldo possessed was nothing short of extraordinary and the endless individual and team awards he has received recognise this. However, due to physical weaknesses his career was often interrupted for long spells. Therefore, Il Fenomeno should be given credit for continuing as long as he did and congratulated for his continued goalscoring record at all times, no matter how fragile he was. Despite his problems, he managed to play ninety-two games for Brazil, scoring sixty-two goals in the process, but perhaps the most significant blip on his record is the lack of a Champions League medal even though he featured at Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter and AC Milan.

Ronaldo was not the fastest player in the world, but he did have incredible bursts of pace which enabled him to play off the shoulders of defenders to devastating effect and he seemed to almost contain a physic ability to draw out goalkeepers to meet him, only to fool them at the last possible moment and stroke the ball into the goal with, what appeared, relative ease.

Is he amongst Pele, Zidane, Best, Maradona, Beckenbauer and Garrincha? For some people, not quite. They argue that his injuries crippled him for too long and was therefore unable to provide the consistency to be an all-time great. Whether you follow this train of thought or not is somewhat irrelevant. He was sensational to watch when he was fit and undoubtedly added an extra dimension to the 1998 and 2002 World Cup which at the time, for a youngster like myself, was spellbinding to watch.

written by Will Lyon

The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast - "Following the Fast Food Rockers…"

Click here to listen to this week's Terrace Podcast.

 After a little week's hiatus, welcome to a brand spanking new episode of The Terrace.

On this week's show we will talk about the weekend's Scottish Cup semi-finals, which saw Motherwell and Celtic both claim comfortable victories which ensured they will meet each other in the May 21st showpiece.

There's also SPL action to look back on, with Rangers ascending (temporarily?) to the top of the SPL and Hibs somehow contriving to lose at home to relegation victims-elect Hamilton Accies. There was also a fairly entertaining draw up in Inverness...so they say...none of us saw the match.

In the lower leagues we congratulate the champions of SFL2 Livingston, and look ahead to the match which may go a long way to deciding the champions of SFL1 - the mouth-watering Fife Derby between Dunfermline and Raith Rovers.

There's even an in-depth look at all of those names who could land a PFA award come May 1st and a full prediction of the SPL action to come in the next week - including Rangers vs Celtic VII.

Email: theterrace@scotzine.com / Twitter: @terracepodcast

Enjoy the Show!

The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast - "Accents"

Click here to listen to this week's Terrace Podcast.

We talk about the SPL action at the weekend including the Edinburgh derby and give our two pennies worth on the ICT v Celtic postponement where a gruff sounding Craig takes on the nonsensical role of the hard-nosed, old timer.

It wasn't just football that was worth discussing in the SPL as the Rangers takeover and Neil Doncaster proposal also took centre stage on this week's topics.

In the lower leagues: Falkirk are all but out of it, Livi have all but secured it and things get interesting if you are a Airdrie United fan... or is that Alloa... or is that Arbroath?

There is a jam-packed predictions section that includes midweek and weekend SPL fixtures, as well as the Challenge Cup Final between Queen of the South and Ross County. Who will want it more?

There is also our usual favourites in Where Are They Now? and Punt of the Week.

As usual, enjoy the show!

Brazil, Mixu & Takeovers

Please click here to listen to the latest installment of The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast.

There was no SPL action at the week, but there is still plenty talk about, starting with all the international goodness of out potassium-filled trip to face Brazil. We'll discuss what we learned, what's next and what the atmosphere was like among the throngs of Scots down there.

In domestic matters we'll have a round-up of what has been happening in club football, including talking Mixu, and potential takeovers of St. Mirren and Rangers.

Last night was a massive night in the SFL, particularly in the ever-changing race for the SPL taking place in SFL1, while Livingston and Arbroath look shoe-ins for SFL2 and SFL3 respectively. We also want to hear from Alloa and Clyde fans; what has happened with your clubs in the past couple of weeks?!

There's action to preview, including the vital Scottish Cup quarter-final tonight (which is only £10 / £5 to get into - get on that!) between Motherwell and Dundee United as well as a full card of SPL fixtures - including the Edinburgh derby.

There's also our usual goodies of Punt of the Week and Where are they Now?

Email: thetterrace@scotzine.com / Twitter: terracepodcast

The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast - "Givin' Out Daps"

Check out the latest Terrace Scottish Football Podcast here where Alan Temple, Craig Fowler and myself talk Scottish Cup, SPL, SFL, Scottish League Cup and Europa League. Enjoy the show!

The Terrace - 28th February 2011

Click here to listen to this week's Terrace Podcast featuring Alan Temple, Craig Fowler and myself.

After a hiatus of a week, we are back with a show packed full of Scottish football incident - starting off with Celtic’s shock capitulation at Fir Park, which handed title race momentum back to the men in blue.

A team in blue continue to set the pace in the SFL, with Raith leading division one - but they are being fervently chased by Dunfermline and Falkirk. There’s also focus on Livingston, Peterhead and an unpredictable division three.

There’s a preview of this coming week’s Scottish Cup replay between Celtic and Rangers as we ask whether differing results for the Old Firm this weekend will have any bearing on the result of the cup tie.

And, as always, there’s a full round-up of all 8 SPL matches which will be taking place in the next 7 days up and down the country.

All that, and Where are they Now? and Punt of the Week too.

Email: theterrace@scotzine.com / Twitter: @terracepodcast

Enjoy the Show.

The Kill-ees

Click here to listen to this week’s episode of The Terrace. You can also download it on iTunes here.

For once, an Old Firm actually lived up to expectations. A thoroughly breathless encounter ended 2-2 at Ibrox, and we will talk Brown, Diouf, Ness, Calum Murray and Steven Naismith to open the show this week.

The draw for the quarter-finals has taken place and we will decipher who can be most pleased with the result, and how the rest of the teams navigated their 5th round ties.

In the lower leagues, Raith keep plodding along, Stirling look doomed and Dundee look set to claim a first-ever moral league championship - at a canter! We also talk Dumbarton, Forfar, Elgin and Jim Duffy’s Clyde.

Scotland are in action, and The Terrace will try and get you hyped for Wednesday’s trip to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin by chatting about the game, the squad inclusions and the potential stand-out stars of our first ever Carling Nations Cup campaign.

There’s even Punt of the Week and Where are they Now? in a packed show. I hope you enjoy.

Email: theterrace@scotzine.com / Twitter: @terracepodcast / Facebook: The Terrace

FREE 24 page preview of the Scottish League Cup semi-finals

Click here to read and/or download The Away End's latest digital magazine focusing on this weekend's Scottish League Cup Semi Finals between Celtic-Aberdeen and Rangers-Motherwell.

You can click on any of the following pictures to read my contributions.


Review of the expected Celtic defence:

Late drama on dramatic night for the 'Well:

Scottish League Cup semi final predictions:

Play-off Madness

Click here or read below for my article on the radical SPL play-offs proposed by Dundee United chairman, Stephen Thompson. It was published on www.theawayend.net.

Play-off Madness

Dundee United chairman, Stephen Thompson, has controversially proposed his own Scottish Premier League plans which would determine the winner through a play-off system at the end of each season.

All twelve current SPL clubs were due to meet on Monday to discuss the possibility of a ten team league,only for the snowy weather to scupper the plans. The discussion was to be based around the system proposed by SPL Chief Executive Neil Doncaster, a system which would see the bottom side in the Scottish top tier automatically relegated, with the winner of a 'SPL2' moving up a division automatically. As the regular season finishes, a play-off scenario containing the ninth placed team in the SPL and second, third and fourth in the SPL2 would then take place.

However, Thompson believes the SPL proposals are not radical enough and says that the top four teams to finish in the SPL should battle for the title in a play-off.

Thompson has stated that "just going back to a top 10 will not change anything. If we are to have just 10 in the top league, we have to look at really radical proposals.

“Fans of teams outwith the Old Firm have become fed up of those two sharing the title between them.

"It is incredible and extremely regrettable that the last non-Old Firm title win was 25 years ago.

"I think we need to go further and make things more interesting at the top of the table as well as having promotion/relegation play-offs."

Fair?

Is Thompson's idea fair though? Is there really any justification for a team to finish top of a league after 36 gruelling fixtures, only for the SPL to turn around and say “sorry guys, but now you have a match against the fourth placed side who finished 'x' points behind you, to see who are the champions”. If that fourth placed side knocked out the table toppers and went on to win the play-offs, would they really be worthy winners? Despite (for arguments sake) finishing twenty points behind the first placed side, why should they be rewarded with the trophy because they managed to collect a decent amount of points during the regular season and then winning four games on the bounce, right at the end?

Surely, the worthy and correct champions of a long league system are the side who collect the highest number of points? Scotland's top flight already has two competitions which have a knock-out system. The Scottish Cup (a competition that Thompson's side won last season) and the Scottish League Cup are already in place and give teams outside the Old Firm a better chance of winning competitions because teams do not have to be consistent over a long period of time to win it.

Crowds

Thompson asks us to consider “a top-four play-off with home and away games and a play-off final at Hampden.

"There would be full houses for all the games and it would create huge interest from the TV companies and the fans and would generate a lot of money, perhaps as much as £2m extra income for the teams in the SPL.”

That is all fine and well, the play-off matches would indeed be absolutely exhilarating. However, what about the money and crowds that Celtic and Rangers will lose during the regular season? The last time an Old Firm side finished outside the top four in Scotland was in the 1989/1990 season, when Celtic finished fifth. In every other season since, both of the Old Firm have finished in the top four. So what exactly is appealing to Celtic and Rangers fans about this play-off ending season? All Old Firm fans will realise that their clubs have an extremely rare chance of not making the play-offs. So why do they need to bother going to any league games until the play-offs? There is no incentive at all. Most Old Firm fans would find something else to do on a Saturday because there would be no reason to turn up to watch their team play a meaningless match.

Thompson may not care if Old Firm home crowds drop sharply, but what he would certainly miss, as a chairman, is the thousands of Old Firm fans that pay to come through to Dundee to watch games containing his football club.

Conclusion

Not only is Thompson's proposal grossly unfair, but it is also selfish and clearly only in the interests of his and similar sized clubs. We may well see Hearts or Dundee United win the top tier of Scottish football once more with this new system, but if they finish ten or twenty points behind the actual winner after 36 games, do they really deserve to be holding the trophy?

Boyd Seeks Gers Return

Click here or read below for my article on Kris Boyd and his proposed move to Rangers in the January transfer window. It was published on The Away End.

Krismas Comes Early For Boro Fans As Mowbray Punts Flop

Just over a week ago it was revealed that Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray had informed striker Kris Boyd, that his services were no longer required, as the Teesside club aimed to reduce their wage bill. Now, it has been sensationally revealed that Boyd may be seeking a return to former side, Rangers.

Boyd: During happier times at Ibrox

Pre-season promotion favourites Middlesbrough, currently sit second bottom of the English Championship after a staggering eleven losses and just five wins after nineteen games. Gordon Strachan, who resigned after just under one year in charge, was replaced by Boro legend, Mowbray in October and he now seeks to dispose of surplus players which disturb the 'balance' of the side.

Boyd arrived at Middlesbrough from Rangers in July this year with the aim of scoring goals, and lots of them. However, Boyd has struggled to find his finest form and has scored a measly five in nineteen appearances. After chatting with Mowbray, the 27-year-old has reportedly informed his agent to speak to Rangers to try and negotiate a way back into Glasgow.

Rangers of course are still in financial turmoil and currently in talks with a potential buyer, so now is probably not the best time for the club to be signing an expensive player.

Another problem is that Rangers have moved on as a club since Boyd's departure. He was replaced in the summer by strikers James Beattie and Nikica Jelavic and it would therefore be reasonable to suggest that the Gers cannot afford £18,000 a week of wages that were offered to Boyd before he left for England.

Moreover, there seems to be a fairly muted response from Rangers fans around Scotland with the news of Boyd seeking a move back 'home'. After all, some fans feel betrayed that he left for a club they regard as smaller than Rangers and believed it was a money-motivated move.

However, this is not the main root of concern from Rangers fans. In Boyd's last thirteen appearances for Rangers, he only scored four goals, of which two came from the penalty spot. Add this to Boyd's recent Middlesbrough record, Rangers do not need an expensive out-of-form striker on their books.

The other problem holding back a Boyd move to Glasgow is that Rangers do not appear to need the SPL top goal-scorer of all time. The Gers sit top of the SPL, two points clear of bitter rivals Celtic, with a game in hand. They are still in Europe and both of the Scottish cups. This is largely thanks to Kenny Miller, who has looked a totally different player since Boyd left and has scored eighteen goals in the SPL so far, which is seven more than any other player. The importance of Miller is obvious, because Rangers have not had the help of Beattie and Jelavic to boost the 'goals for' column as they have been injured for a large part of the season. Beattie is almost back to full fitness and Jelavic is hoping to be back in the next month so it seems that Boyd is not wanted, nor needed at Ibrox any more.

Miller has been on top form since Boyd left Rangers

So, if Rangers are happy with what they have, where next for Boyd? His perceived laziness on the pitch certainly lowers his chances of finding a top club, but to have scored more goals than Henrik Larsson in the SPL by the age of twenty seven is a fine achievement and should appeal to many managers in the Championship, or even at a higher level. People may scorn at the idea of Boyd in the English Premier League, but it has been argued by many that if you give Boyd enough chances at any level, he will stick the majority of them away.

Old Firm Dominance

Click here for the link to my column on the dominance of Celtic and Rangers in Scotland and also an insight into Hibernian's own title challenge this season. The article was published in The Student on the 9th of March 2010.

Motherwell 1 v 1 Rangers [Match Report]

Click Here for the link to my match report of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixture between Motherwell and Rangers which took place this evening. The match report was published on The Away End's website.

To Go Or Not To Go?

Click here for the link to my article on whether the Old Firm should move to a different league and what the consequences would be for Scottish football. The article was published in The Student on the 20th of October 2009.