Tiring Rangers risk losing out on rest of prizes

THE events of the past few months have shown that football in this country is anything but predictable.

Who could've imagined that Rangers would reach the UEFA Cup final this season, knocking out the likes of Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina along the way?

Who could've foretold that Queen of the South would reach the Scottish Cup final for the first time in their history?

Who could've guessed that an SPL referee would come out and admit publicly that they made a mistake?

And, perhaps most surprisingly of all, who could've predicted the untimely demise of Rangers' title challenge?

In theory, it's not over yet as, presuming Rangers win at Love Street tonight, Celtic will still have to go to Tannadice on Thursday and take three points to secure a third SPL championship in a row.

On recent form, though, it would take a brave man to bet against them doing just that.

Celtic also have the added advantage of being fresh for what is now their biggest game of the season.

Contrast that with Rangers, who, come Thursday night, will be playing their 17th match in the space of just 55 days – a schedule that would test even the strongest of squads to the absolute limit.

It's two months now since Rangers last had a free week in preparation for a game.

They've been playing midweek and Saturday through March, April and May, and, on the evidence of the weekend, it appears to have finally taken its toll.

Walter Smith's men have won only two of their last seven league games and their recent slump seems to have handed the initiative to their arch-rivals at a critical stage of the season.

Back at the start of April when Motherwell won 1-0 at Celtic Park, the issue of goal difference was a moot point.

Now, though, it looks like being the deciding factor and unless Rangers score a barrow-load of goals against St Mirren in their penultimate game tonight – which seems unlikely – Celtic's destiny will be in their own hands come the final day.

The stats are strongly against Rangers winning by a big margin in Paisley.

Only three times this season have the Gers managed to score over three goals in the SPL and worryingly for them, only once away from home.

Admittedly, they have beaten St Mirren twice already this season, 2-0 in August and 4-0 in January, but both games were at Ibrox and, since then, the Buddies have really tightened up defensively with five clean sheets in their last six matches.

The issue that is continually raised at this stage of the season is how teams with nothing to play for are going to perform.

What always seems to have been overlooked is the prize money at stake based on final standings in the league table.

Each position is worth approximately £75,000 on a sliding scale, which means a win for St Mirren would move them above Inverness in the table into ninth and effectively guarantee them a larger chunk of the money paid out by the SPL at the end of the season.

With that in mind, the likes of Dundee United and Aberdeen, who are currently fighting it out with Hibs for fourth place, have a big incentive to go and win their final match.

However, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that a team chasing the league title must surely have the biggest motivation of all.

Celtic must be pinching themselves now they have the chance to wrap things up when all looked lost only six weeks ago.

I can't imagine how the Rangers players will feel if they do win their final two league games and yet still miss out having been in the box seat for so long.

They would then have to get over the disappointment of losing a European final and the league in the space of nine days and pick themselves up to play one final match – the Scottish Cup final – less than 48 hours later.

Queen of the South may be a First Division side but they'll be no pushovers, especially against a Rangers side who, by that time, will be on their last legs.

True great Tommy wanted the game played with style
IT looks like we'll see the SPL title race go down to the wire, but I'm sure in years to come the 2007/08 season will be remembered more for the tragic loss of two of the most respected figures in the game.

When Phil O'Donnell collapsed and died on the football field last December it sent shockwaves around the country due to the extraordinary circumstances which occurred that day. Many people are still trying to come to terms with the fact Phil has gone.

Less than six months on and we've lost another wonderful man – a gentleman in every sense of the word – Tommy Burns.

I was fortunate enough to have played under Tommy for a short period of time in my last season at Reading back in 1998 and what struck me immediately about him was his strong belief in the way the game should be played. Every training session was geared towards open, attacking football – it was something he preached on a daily basis.

With Tommy having been brought up the "Celtic way", it was clear if the game wasn't played with a bit of style and panache, it wasn't worth playing at all.

Of course, back then he was my manager so I didn't really get to know him well until our paths crossed again several years later when I came to Hibs and he returned to Celtic.

Despite the fact he'd been my boss, he spoke to me in such a way that made me feel like a friend rather than a former colleague.

Tommy had a wicked sense of humour, but at the same time he was as warm and genuine a person as you could ever hope to meet.

Once again, football has lost a true great.