Another week closer to the reconstruction that will save Scottish football.
Or another week further away from the reconstruction that will save Scottish football.
On Monday St Mirren poked their head out from under Neil Doncaster's blanket of SPL unanimity to confirm that actually they wouldn't be voting "yes" to the 12+12+18 structure after all:
"The concept of playing 22 games prior to breaking into three leagues of eight, including the middle eight losing their points gained in the first series of games, is not a system we see as taking the game forward in the long term.
Scottish football is dull, parochial, stagnating. Often it is.
But tonight offers something more positive.
A game that represents a geographic expansion that those with power in the central belt long resisted, it's about two clubs making steady rather than spectacular progress through the leagues and it shows that opening the league structure to new blood can result in different clubs being successfully integrated into the game.
A Saturday Superstore tomorrow. With Neil Doncaster as Mike Read and a half time interview with Craig Brown filling in for a wacky live link with Cheggers.
A splendid SPL smorgasbord seeing out September. Alarming alliteration aside, we can sit back and enjoy six games in the top flight.
Celtic defeated Inverness to go top of the table and Kilmarnock defeated Dundee United in the
Scottish Premier League on August 25, 2012.
Inverness 2-4 Celtic
Celtic remained unbeaten on the season with a very comfortable victory at the Caledonian
Stadium. Tony Watt led the way with a brace while Charlie Mulgrew and Victor Wanyama scored the
other goals.
Celtic moved top of the SPL table on Saturday with at win at Inverness. Other teams winning in
the Scottish Premier League were Ross County, Hibernian, and Kilmarnock.
Below is the Scottish Premier League table through August 25, 2012.
OVERALL Â HOME Â AWAY Â Â POS Â TEAM P W D L F A Â W D L F A Â W D L F A Â GD Pts 1 Celtic
3 2 1 0 6 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 5 3 3 7 2 Hibernian 4 2 1 1 5 5 1 1 0 3 1 1 0 1 2 4 0 7 3 Dundee United
3 2 0 1 7 3 2 0 0 6 0 0 0 1 1 3 4 6 4 Ross County 4 1 3 0 2 1 0 2 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 6 5 Heart of
Midlothian 3 1 2 0 5 3 1 1 0 4 2 0 1 0 1 1 2 5 6 Kilmarnock 4 1 2 1 5 4 1 1 1 4 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 5 7
Motherwell 3 1 2 0 3 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 2 1 1 5 8 St Mirren 3 1 1 1 5 4 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 0 2 0 1 4 9
Aberdeen 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 2 0 4 10 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 4 0 3 1 7 9 0 1 1 3 5
0 2 0 4 4 -2 3 11 St Johnstone 4 0 1 3 2 7 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 1 5 -5 1 12 Dundee 4 0 1 3 0 6 0 0 2 0 3
0 1 1 0 3 -6 1
Dundee United defeated Dundee FC in a derby match to go top of the SPL table on Sunday. Dundee
United and Celtic are the only teams only to play two matches while everyone else has completed
three.
Below is the Scottish Premier League table through August 19, 2012.
OVERALL Â HOME Â AWAY Â Â POS Â TEAM P W D L F A Â W D L F A Â W D L F A Â GD Pts 1 Dundee
United 2 2 0 0 6 0 2 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 2 Heart of Midlothian 3 1 2 0 5 3 1 1 0 4 2 0 1 0 1 1 2
5 3 Motherwell 3 1 2 0 3 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 2 1 1 5 4 St Mirren 3 1 1 1 5 4 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 0 2 0 1 4
5 Celtic 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 4 6 Aberdeen 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 2 0 4 7
Hibernian 3 1 1 1 3 5 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 4 -2 4 8 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3 0 3 0 5 5 0 1 0 1 1
0 2 0 4 4 0 3 9 Ross County 3 0 3 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 10 Kilmarnock 3 0 2 1 2 3 0 1 1 1 2
0 1 0 1 1 -1 2 11 St Johnstone 3 0 1 2 2 5 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 3 -3 1 12 Dundee 3 0 1 2 0 5 0 0 1 0 2
0 1 1 0 3 -5 1
Hibernian, Aberdeen, and Motherwell all won on the road in the Scottish Premier League on August
18, 2012. The other results include Ross County holding Celtic to a draw and Inverness with a
second half comeback at Hearts.
Ross County 1-1 Celtic
The home side took an early second half lead before Celtic's Kris Commons leveled in stoppage
time.
Hearts and Motherwell remain unbeaten to both have five points at the top of the SPL table.
Celtic, who still have  a match in hand, are one point behind after a draw on Saturday. Every team
now has at least one point through three fixtures.
Below is the Scottish Premier League table through August 18, 2012.
Below are television listings all the Scottish Premier League matches on August 18, 2012.
Ross County v Celtic, 7:15 AM (USA EST)
ESPN (UK), Setanta Sports (Africa), Fox Soccer Plus (USA),
SportKlub+ (SE Europe), Sport 2 (Hungary/Czech Republic/Slovakia), ONE
Sport (Israel), ONE Sport (Israel)
Saturday EPL on ESPN: Arsenal - Sunderland at 10am. On Fox Soccer: WBA - Liverpool at 9:30am,
Newcastle - Spurs at 12pm, West Ham - Aston Villa at 2:30pm, and Reading - Stoke City at 4:30pm.
Fox Soccer Plus has Fulham - Noreich City at 10am and QPR - Swansea at 3:30pm. SPL on FS+: Ross
County - Celtic at 7am.
St Mirren moved top of the Scottish Premier League table with their first win of the 2012-13
season. Other teams moving up are Inverness, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, and Ross County who all earned
draws on Saturday.
Below is the Scottish Premier League table through August 11, 2012.
OVERALL Â HOME Â AWAY Â Â POS Â TEAM P W D L F A Â W D L F A Â W D L F A Â GD Pts 1 St
Mirren 2 1 1 0 4 2 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 0 2 0 2 4 2 Dundee United 1 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3
Hearts 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 4 Celtic 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 5 Inverness
2 0 2 0 3 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 2 6 Kilmarnock 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 2 7 Motherwell 2
0 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 8 Ross County 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 9 Aberdeen 2 0
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 -1 1 10 St Johnstone 2 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 -2 1 11 Dundee 2 0
1 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 -2 1 12 Hibernian 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 -3 0
Motherwell may feel hard done by despite being thrashed 4-0 against Hibs last night and well they should be after this Steve Hammell header was disallowed despite Hibs keeper Ben Williams clearly scooping the ball back from behind the line. And there was a little matter of 3 penalties awarded to Hibs with two of them converted.
After they both enjoyed SPL wins last Saturday the week rather diverged for Celtic and Hibs.
Celtic progressed to the Champions League group stage, that promised land where the streets are
paved with gold and the couches upholstered with £50 notes.
24 hours earlier Hibs were dumped out of the League Cup by Queen of the South in a display that
seems to have flitted between pathetic and miserable.
BBC Scotland's senior football reporter Chris McLaughlin broke the news that Rangers would not be stripped of Scottish Premier League (SPL) titles by an SPL Independent Commission an hour before its findings were formally released on Thursday. The initial reaction from delighted Rangers fans was that their club was exonerated by the Commission of any breach of SPL rules in their registration of players paid partly through Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs).
His second blog as the supremo of communications at Ibrox - jolly decent it was of the Daily Record to give him his first Rangers blog as part of his valedictory message to their paying readers - hit every target.
Rangers are discovering that life in the Scottish Third Division can be a bit tougher than the relative luxury of the SPL. This point was neatly illustrated by last weekend's trip to Stirling Albion. Ian Black got a nice imprint of some Third Division studs on his chest, kung-fu style. Via 101GG
Order returned to the Scottish Communities League Cup last night with six SPL clubs beating lower league opposition.
Not a cakewalk for them all - Inverness needed penalties to get past Stenhousemuir, St Mirren waited until stoppage time to get the winner against Hamilton - and their efforts appear to have been met with a wave of apathy.
This is how Celtic pranksters Kris Commons, Joe Ledley and Scott Brown spent their Wednesday;
covering misfiring striker Mohamed Bangura's Audi in hundreds of Post-It notes after the dud
Senegalese forward was shipped back out on loan to former club AIK until Christmas earlier in the
week.
Newcastle's Billionaire owner Mike Ashley, seems willing to help out Rangers FC as they struggle
back up the Scottish leagues to the SPL over the next few years. Mike Ashley and daughter Anna
shown a few years ago at St. James' Park After the bankruptcy of Rangers (administration) which led
to their liquidation as a [.
Newcastle's Billionaire owner Mike Ashley, seems willing to help out Rangers FC as they struggle
back up the Scottish leagues to the SPL over the next few years. Mike Ashley and daughter Anna
shown a few years ago at St. James' Park After the bankruptcy of Rangers (administration) which led
to their liquidation as a [.
It looks like the former Portland Timbers designated player has rejoined the Scottish Premier League with his former team Kilmarnok. BBC Sport is reporting today that he's set to join the side pending a medical leave of absence. This was the team where Boyd got his start at in the SPL and where he scored over 60 goals.
Hearts have agreed to sign the former Rangers defender Danny Wilson on loan from Liverpool until May, pending international clearance. The Scotland defender, 21, has been on loan at Bristol City recently but played only one match due to injury. He is John McGlynn's first squad addition since the Scottish Premier League relaxed Hearts' signing ban.
Sounding like a character from Porridge and widely regarded as the most exciting player in the SPL, Dundee United's Gary Mackay-Steven showed why with a deft little piece of show-boatery against Killie at the weekend...
(UPDATE: Despite reports that Rangers set a world record for a fourth-tier match, they're still
a ways behind Brazilian club Santa Cruz, who had as many as 59,966 fans for a Serie D match last
season.)
Rangers fans showed their optimism and support for the post-liquidation club at the first
match of the season -- a Scottish Communities League Cup first-round win against East Fife at Ibrox
-- but they turned it into a new record on Saturday.
European football is once again to be buffeted by the winds of change.
UEFA are considering dropping the Europa League and doubling the Champions League to accommodate 64 teams.
Nothing is final yet but a decision is likely to be made by 2014.
Having been treated by like a second rate tournament by its organisers - and some of its participants - the Europa League hasn't been as fiscally rewarding as the Champions League.
Juventus are back in European action this week as they travel to Scotland to face SPL side Celtic in the Champions League last 16. The Italians are top of Serie A and will be betting favourites to prevail through to the quarter-finals, however after the Scots beat Barcelona on home soil earlier in the campaign the Bianconeri should be wary ahead of the first leg.
Finland's football community is frequently in an agitated discussion about about whether its
culture is sufficiently impressive to nurture any kind of football worthy of respect. The presence
or absence of something called 'football culture' might, to the casual observer, seem like a
function of the league system (if there's football matches, bingo!
