Celtic's reserve side can clinch 8-in-a-row by beating Hearts next week in a game scheduled to be played at Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium.
After Rangers delayed the Rangers-Celtic reserve match due on March 17, Willie McStay's side returned to action with a 1-1 draw against Inverness Caley Thistle on Monday of this week.
Rangers 2-0 defeat from Motherwell yesterday leaves Celtic 10 points clear at the top of the league with four games left to play with Celtic clinching the title with a win over Hearts or a Rangers failing to beat Aberdeen.
Reserve titles on their own mean very little but there's little doubt that over the years the success of the Celtic reserve side has contributed greatly to the success at first team level.
Stephen McManus is the most obvious example, indeed he is going for his own personal 8-in-a-row having helped the reserves to four titles before being promoted to the first team where of course he is heading for another 4-in-a-row.
Others like Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney had brief reserve 'careers' with their promotion almost automatic through from youth team to first team.
Reserve glory has never been the aim, otherwise players like John Kennedy, Scott Cuthbert, Paul McGowan, Paul Caddis and Cillian Sheridan wouldn't be sent out on loan.
Those players would gain little from reserve team football which allows others like Jason Marr, Kevin Cawley and Danny Lafferty to step up into the reserve side to test themselves at a higher level.
The club's recent influx of young Eastern European players have been given valuable exposure and experience to becoming a Celtic player in a competitive environment where winning is expected.
No allowances are given for youth, winning is demanded but there's plenty of flair about the reserve side with Paddy McCourt and Mark Millar probably the most influential players in the current squad.
The future can rarely be predicted but the development of players is assured at Celtic, those good enough to move up from the youths get their chance, those too good for the reserves get loaned out for extra experience.
Hopefully Caddis and Sheridan will be part of next season's first team picture, Millar could be a dark horse as well with possibly McCourt or Koki Mizuno taking the leap from useful substitute/stand-in to a contributor at first team level.
Hail hail to the reserves regardless of what the SPL attempt to do next season, surely club's can carry squads capable of playing 22 games over a ten month season?
SPL Reserve Table
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Sunday, 5 April 2009
BOOZEGATE: All getting very, very nasty and personal
Kenny Miller is a regular in the News of the World, Barry Ferguson is a regular in The Sun, John Collins was incredibly critical of the Daily Record's role in the transfers of Kevin Thompson and Scott Brown from Hibs.
Football journalism at the highest level is all about cultivating contacts, getting close to prominent players, managers and chairmen. The journalist gains a valuable inside contact for off the record information and the player/manager/chairman has a sympathetic public voice to discreetly get their point of view out to the public.
The downside of this is that rival papers tend to go OTT in their comments about people who appear to side with rival newspapers.
More than a can of worms has opened, or exploded, during the recent international break. Lifetime bans and club suspensions have been handed out but today things have taken a very unusual twist with The News of the World upping the ante to escalate the recent Booze'n'vikkygate episode into a rammy between the two biggest clubs in the country as well as between the two biggest newspaper groups.
From Burley v Ferguson & McGregor we now have Celtic v Rangers and News International v Trinity Mirror.
The News of the World have gone to unseen levels to claim that the DR and one journalist in particular have dropped Ferguson and McGregor in trouble to protect Scott Brown.
I really can't remember any football incident where one newspaper group has given publicity to a rival by 'crediting' their part in a blockbuster story.
The News of the World have some very detailed allegations, there's nothing hit or miss or sketchy about it, they name times and places.
Amazingly the thrust of their story is that the DR protected Scott Brown as they exposed the story. The story was also run by The Sun who have a certain fondness for Barry Ferguson.
Whatever The DR could do to protect their man surely The Sun could do for their favoured player.
For the News of the World to give the DR such publicity is incredible as is the claim that the DR has the power to stir things up against two players in order to protect their man, whatever the DR can do The Sun can do at least equally well.
This story still has some running to do, Ferguson and McGregor won't be the only casualties.
A very messy tabloid war is out in the open which could be much nastier, and certainly more public, than anything in the world of football.
Having a pop at a rival paper is fair game, when the DR miss something The Sun gloats with the Day'late Record, when it's the other way around the DR laughs at the English-based tabloid.
Players need to be very discreet with what leaks out from dressing rooms and behind closed doors, Celtic have had their incidents already this season which quickly find print.
The Booze'n'vikkygate story has fingerprints all over it going back to certain camps and factions.
With a financially lucrative title to be won and lost and desperate times in the newspaper business there is still a lot of muck to be thrown around over the most spectacular and newsworthy international break ever.
Football journalism at the highest level is all about cultivating contacts, getting close to prominent players, managers and chairmen. The journalist gains a valuable inside contact for off the record information and the player/manager/chairman has a sympathetic public voice to discreetly get their point of view out to the public.
The downside of this is that rival papers tend to go OTT in their comments about people who appear to side with rival newspapers.
More than a can of worms has opened, or exploded, during the recent international break. Lifetime bans and club suspensions have been handed out but today things have taken a very unusual twist with The News of the World upping the ante to escalate the recent Booze'n'vikkygate episode into a rammy between the two biggest clubs in the country as well as between the two biggest newspaper groups.
From Burley v Ferguson & McGregor we now have Celtic v Rangers and News International v Trinity Mirror.
The News of the World have gone to unseen levels to claim that the DR and one journalist in particular have dropped Ferguson and McGregor in trouble to protect Scott Brown.
I really can't remember any football incident where one newspaper group has given publicity to a rival by 'crediting' their part in a blockbuster story.
The News of the World have some very detailed allegations, there's nothing hit or miss or sketchy about it, they name times and places.
Amazingly the thrust of their story is that the DR protected Scott Brown as they exposed the story. The story was also run by The Sun who have a certain fondness for Barry Ferguson.
Whatever The DR could do to protect their man surely The Sun could do for their favoured player.
For the News of the World to give the DR such publicity is incredible as is the claim that the DR has the power to stir things up against two players in order to protect their man, whatever the DR can do The Sun can do at least equally well.
This story still has some running to do, Ferguson and McGregor won't be the only casualties.
A very messy tabloid war is out in the open which could be much nastier, and certainly more public, than anything in the world of football.
Having a pop at a rival paper is fair game, when the DR miss something The Sun gloats with the Day'late Record, when it's the other way around the DR laughs at the English-based tabloid.
Players need to be very discreet with what leaks out from dressing rooms and behind closed doors, Celtic have had their incidents already this season which quickly find print.
The Booze'n'vikkygate story has fingerprints all over it going back to certain camps and factions.
With a financially lucrative title to be won and lost and desperate times in the newspaper business there is still a lot of muck to be thrown around over the most spectacular and newsworthy international break ever.
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