The question of whether the tanned one has taken us as far as he can has led to fans, needing more fuel for their ire, allowing rumours, assumptions and their personal prejudices to cloud the issue. The AFC Supporters Society sent an open letter to t
he club via the local press, and, astonishingly, the club replied using the same means. Open letters seem so quaint in this digital age, and while it is laudable that the club has entered a dialogue with the fans in this way, it would have been more entertaining if it had logged on to a messageboard and let rip with the kind of language that online fans use against it.
Craig Stewart www.aberdeen-mad.co.ukCELTICA MIXED week for the Celts on international duty; Brown and Caldwell came out of the Holland defeat with their pride intact, McGeady had another solid performance for Ireland and Naka scored with a (calculated) deflection. However, Artur carried his fluctuating club form into the international arena and provided much schadenfreude for certain members of the media. Let's hope it focuses him for the run-in.
While I have no wish to dance on a grave, I was interested to read about the financial problems some lower league clubs are having. With the abolition of the SPL reserve league, might the collapse of some clubs see the accelerated entry of Celtic's second string into the Third Division? Hopefully, it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement; increasing crowds for small clubs and providing competitive football for Celtic's kids.
Dave DevineDUNDEE UNITEDCRAIG Levein's keen eye for an emerging talent was borne out in the past weekend's international matches, with Warren Feeney notching for Northern Ireland, Morgaro Gomis appearing for Senegal and also Lukasz Zaluska being back-up for Artur 'ooopsy' Boruc. It would now be nice to see all three carry the high of representing their countries into the bluster of Saturday's vital visit to Tannadice of Hibs.
Without second-guessing Sir Craig's team selection, it would be nice to see Feeney and Francisco Sandaza spearhead an attack-minded United come Saturday. Recent games have shown that when we sit back too much during the course of a game we tend to get sucker-punched. Hibs are certainly no slouches but let's get up and at them from the first whistle.
Hamish Mackintosh
www.dundeeutd-mad.co.ukFALKIRKSATURDAY night brought no surprises as the Dutch comprehensively outplayed our bravehearts for the bulk of the game, though doubt will always remain over the French referee's decision to disallow Gary Caldwell's headed goal. Tonight's game at Hampden is now in the absolute-must-win category – it's going to be tough but I take the Scots to just edge it by the odd goal.
Meanwhile, I will be taking in the Under-21 game at our own Falkirk Stadium. With young Bairns like Tam Scobbie and Scott Arfield set to start again, local interest is guaranteed.
As for the mighty Bairns it's back to SPL survival duty this Sunday with the visit of Rangers followed by a trip to Celtic Park next Wednesday – it does not get any tougher.
Brian Guthrie www.bairnstrust.comHAMILTON ACCIESTHERE'S no question that the week off for the SPL came at a great time for Accies. Not only did it give Billy and the players a chance to nip over to Spain for some "team bonding", it will also have given key men like Trent McClenahan, Brian Easton and Richard Offiong another week to recover from their injuries.
We also have the bonus of having former Senegalese captain Lamine Diatta in the squad and he'll now have had a chance to meet up with his new team-mates and settle in before the vital matches that are coming up.
No-one at Accies would agree but the trip to Celtic Park on Saturday can probably be written off. We've yet to take a point from either side of the Old Firm this season and although they will certainly do their best this week it won't be this game that determines our season.
Gilbert MowatHEARTSTHE lack of quality available to George Burley meant that we were always likely to struggle in Amsterdam.
As George Peat noted, it's not just at international level that Scottish football is going through a bit of a bad patch. Inevitably, rent-a-quotes McGhee and Calderwood rose to the bait, although their reactions were understandable.
Looking on with maroon-tinted spectacles, this just makes the Romanov era all the more frustrating. With Burley at the helm, and the likes of Skacel, Hartley and Jankauskas in their pomp, we really could have left the current Old Firm sides trailing in our wake.
Never mind, back to reality. Kilmarnock at home represents a great chance to cement third place, which is probably as good as we are going to get for the foreseeable future.
Sandy LeonardHIBERNIANHIBS head to Tannadice for the televised game this Saturday and have a great opportunity to close the gap on their hosts to a single point. Recent history would suggest a draw is on the cards, with four of the last six matches between the clubs ending all-square up in Dundee. But a draw is not what Hibs need and if we can convert some of the good opportunities we have been creating recently, then we will have a good chance of winning. Hopefully we will have a clean bill of health after tonight's Scotland game unless Steven Fletcher injures himself getting off the bench too quickly! I must mention the Hibs U19s for not only topping their league at present but also for reaching the Youth Cup final. Hibs fans should make an effort to get to Hampden on 29 April to support them.
Eddie Henderson
www.hibs.netINVERNESS CTWITH no SPL fixture last Saturday a few of us took the opportunity to go along to Ibrox to support the ICT Under-19s in the semi-final of the Scottish Youth Cup. Although the lads went down 6-2 there were some very promising youngsters wearing the ICT shirt.
Whether these youngsters make it into an SPL side or not will depend entirely how the senior squad react to the awful performance at Falkirk last week.
Our record against the lower-placed sides is very poor and we face both St Mirren and Hamilton before the split: both have taken all six points off us so far. Hopefully Terry Butcher has drummed into the players all the errors that were made. The team's confidence must have taken a beating last week and will take time to restore, time we haven't got.
Dave 'Gringo' Wilson
www.caleythistleonline.comKILMARNOCKIT LOOKS like some Killie fans have had enough of the way the club is being run by the chairman and his two-man board. Ex-Killie striker and die-hard supporter Blair Millar released a statement on behalf of the newly formed Killie Fans For Change pressure group.
It read: "A number of concerned fans met up on Wednesday 25 March. The aim was to set up a fans action group that will look at how the fans can help the club through its current plight. All supporters groups are supporting this initiative which will allow the fans to be represented by one voice. Further discussions will take place shortly to agree the way forward and to arrange an open meeting."
It should be noted that the KFFC group are also unanimous in their support of the team.
Barry Richmond
www.killiefc.comMOTHERWELLTHE weekend's internationals brought success for a trio of Motherwell players but David Clarkson did not feature in the Amsterdam Arena. There were two successes at U-21 level, with Jamie Murphy featuring with the Scots in Albania while Cillian Sheridan helped the Irish to an impressive win over Spain.
Our captain Stephen Craigan was a defensive stalwart for Northern Ireland in the 3-2 win against Poland in Belfast. He was rewarded for receiving his 40th cap by seeing his team sitting on top of Group 3 after six matches.
When league business resumes on Saturday, we have Aberdeen at Fir Park. Three games remain until the split and it looks like the race to finish in the upper half will not be resolved until game 33. Exciting times lie ahead.
John Wilson
www.firparkcorner.comRANGERSWE'RE hitting the 'nightclub at closing time' part of the season now: it doesn't have to be pretty so long as you get a result. Which, to be fair, is how Rangers have achieved most of their wins since September, the irony of our last game being we actually played really well and didn't win.
Falkirk are scrapping for their lives, and no Rangers fan needs to be told what happened the last time we played a team at the bottom of the table.
Nacho Novo is banging at the door for a start and his pace and energy have troubled the Bairns before.
Certainly three points is a must if we want to go on and take the title. It's time the team started displaying the mental toughness you need to win things.
David Edgar
www.theRST.co.ukST MIRRENSATURDAY is probably our biggest game of the season. We have to beat Inverness Caley Thistle to put a bit more breathing space between ourselves and bottom spot. We've still to win in the SPL this year and if we can't do it on Saturday I can't realistically see us pulling it off before the split.
The current run of form is extremely worrying. We were in a good position at the turn of the year but since then everyone else has caught us up. If it hadn't been for losing silly late goals we'd be as good as safe and be able to start thinking about the trip to Hampden and even next season.
The international break will hopefully have allowed a few players to recover fitness. Earlier in the season we came off the back of a break to win in Inverness, so let's hope that's an omen.
Stuart Gillespie
www.stmirren-mad.co.ukThe full article contains 1749 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
