ANY review of Scottish football in 2015 would have to conclude that it has been a largely disappointing year in many respects. On the international front it had looked for so long that Scotland were going to finally end their drought and make it to a major tournament only to fall short once again. With all the other British countries and Ireland all qualifying for France, it only adds to the agony. The picture wasn’t much brighter on the European club front. Celtic didn’t make it into the Champions League and then struggled in the Europa League, while our other three representatives were all out of Europe before the end of the summer holidays. So it has been a year when our reputation has unfortunately again taken a bit of a battering. I don’t want to be overly negative about things but we can’t hide from where we are at the moment. It’s another reason why we need to have a fresh look at how we can reinvent our game to try to turn things for the better.
Celtic fans would have expected their team to make it into the Champions League so missing out on the group stages would have been a huge frustration. The others – St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Inverness Caley – would have started out with lower expectations although they might have hoped to make it to the Europa League group stage. With so many qualifying rounds, though, it’s getting harder and harder for these other teams to make an impact in Europe. Our co-efficient as a nation is falling like a stone and we really need to address the bigger picture before it gets any worse. I’ve been part of teams as a coach and a player that have lost to clubs from so-called smaller European nations but it is happening too often these days. You just know it would give the whole country a lift if someone other than Celtic could make it into the group stage again one year.
It hasn’t all been doom and gloom this year, however. Inverness winning the Scottish Cup to claim the first major trophy in the club’s history was a terrific story. To beat Celtic in the semi-final and then go on to lift the cup – for a club of their size and stature that was nothing sort of a miracle. It was one of the great fairytale stories of Scottish football and I love when things like that happen. Our big clubs get most of the attention but when one of the smaller ones does something remarkable like that then it’s a real heart-warming moment.
My own club Ross County have had a decent year, too. Back in January we were rock bottom of the table and in real danger of being relegated and managed to turn it around. Our recent form hasn’t been as good as we would have liked but overall we can be happy enough. To be in the top six at Christmas is a good achievement, especially with a League Cup semi-final still to come.
My team of the year, however, would be St Johnstone. They are a really consistent side with players Tommy Wright knows he can hang his hat on. In Michael O’Halloran, in particular, they have one of Scottish football’s best performers. He’s always had pace to burn but he also seems to now be reading the game better as well. He’s already made a case to be considered one of the players of the season and you can imagine there will be clubs looking at him. St Johnstone are used to losing players but they just seem to replace them and keep going as before. You know that if O’Halloran goes they will find someone else to fill the gap. They don’t have any real superstars but they have guys like Dave Mackay and Steven Anderson who put in consistently strong displays. If they keep going like this then Tommy definitely deserves to be considered as a possible manager of the year. I don’t know how they keep doing it week after week but they do.
Another positive for the Scottish game is that halfway through the season we have a genuine championship chase in our top two divisions. That, of course, isn’t what Celtic and Rangers fans would have wanted but it makes it more exciting for everyone else. You just have to hope that Aberdeen can keep winning to make things interesting at the top of the Premiership, and that Hibs can similarly keep the heat on Rangers. In that respect tomorrow’s game between the sides at Ibrox ought to be a cracker. It just shows that, for all the disappointment we endured in 2015, there is still plenty to look forward to in Scottish football heading into the new year.
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