It’s back. The Scottish Premiership. They’re back. Rangers*. He’s back. Massimo Donati. It’s still there. Tynecastle’s Main Stand. They’re still there. Hamilton. He’s still there. Willie Collum. They’ve all been joined by Brendan Rodgers, Kolo Toure, a whole new team at Kilmarnock, big, physical strikers at Hearts, plus a host of players who will be written off, laughed out of town and praised as shrewd signings in the coming weeks.
We’ve had our time off. We’ve had to suffer another international tournament. We’ve had the reformatted group stage of the Betfred League Cup. We’ve had our European heartbreak and disappointments. Now it is time for the bread and butter. Our journey starts with a lunchtime kick off at Ibrox, who knows where it will take us, what will happen and where we will end up. That is not technically correct – educated guesses on each of those will likely be correct. But let’s not allow that to get in the way of this season preview. And, hey, there is plenty to look forward to. There will be excellent, entertaining matches, petty squabbles and sheer incompetence. The latter two fill me with giddiness. Witnessing grown-ups take the game so seriously that they lose the plot and players who have trained all their life to be a professional yet are incapable of doing simple things correctly make life that little more bearable.
So here is part one . . .
A word to describe Aberdeen’s 2015/2016 season: underwhelming. After 2014/2015 there was hope they would push on and close the gap to Celtic. Despite being given numerous opportunities to get close to an under-performing Celtic side they finished 15 points off Ronny Deila’s eventual champions – a measly two points closer than the previous season. There was an over-reliance on the attacking triumvirate of Adam Rooney (injured for the majority of the run-in), Niall McGinn (out of form for the second part of the season) and Jonny Hayes (immense).
Ahead of the start to the league season, if their performance at home to Maribor in the Europa League is anything to go by then two aspects of the Dons’ potential title challenge have been reinforced: 1) Hayes, McGinn and Rooney will continue to be key protagonists. 2) The defence is not good enough.
Derek McInnes appears to have added well to his attack. There is more variety with Miles Storey, more physicality with Jayden Stockley and a bit of the unknown in Wes Burns. The focus will continue to surround getting McGinn and Hayes on the ball as much as possible but now Aberdeen have greater depth allowing for changes from the bench when certain players are having an off day.
McInnes has so far failed to solidify the midfield area with greater physical presence – something which he wanted to do. The loss of Willo Flood and retirement of Barry Robson has potentially left them a little light, but it could mean more game time for the promising and robust Craig Storie.
It is the backline which is most concerning (excluding the goalkeeping situation – Joe Lewis looks like astute business). Do Aberdeen want to compete for the league? Yes. Are Mark Reynolds and Ash Taylor a good enough for Aberdeen to realistically compete? No. Not in this lifetime, any lifetime. Not on this Earth or any other that may exist. McInnes’s answer? Callum Morris.
Aberdeen’s attacking arsenal will mean they will comfortably finish in the top four positions. But where exactly will be depend on the level of competence displayed from Taylor and Reynolds.
Speaking of incompetent defenders. Celtic. Brendan Rodgers’s appointment was met with fanfare. Thousands of people actually turned up to the stadium to watch a man hold up a scarf. His tenure at Celtic Park is going to be an intriguing sub-plot to the league throughout his 12-month rolling contract. Is he an excellent coach and manager or simply a charlatan with white teeth and a lot of corporate bluster?
The Lincoln Red Imps debacle was embarrassing, despite what Rodgers said but Celtic rebounded with a good result in Kazakhstan. There hasn’t been the sweeping changes in personnel that many fans would have hoped for. Celtic still possess a squad that needs trimmed of its fat but with the addition of a little seasoning.
Moussa Dembele could be a potential steal from Fulham even if he has looked cumbersome in Europe. Rodgers needs to make sure he compliments the talismanic Leigh Griffiths rather than affects him. Griffiths has shown he is best as a lone striker, yet he has also displayed a knack for fine-tuning and improving different aspects of his game, so a functioning strike duo should not be written off. Meanwhile, Patrick Roberts has the whole season in front of him and it would be real surprise if he didn’t notch a double-double to put himself in serious contention for the player of the year awards in 10 months’ time.
What Rodgers does with his plethora of midfield options is anyone’s guess. However, Tom Rogic appears to have been underused so far, while if Celtic are wanting to leave their mark on the Champions League an upgrade in the centre of the pitch is required.
There should be a more confident, settled and solid look to the Celtic defence. For the first time in years Celtic have a leader in the centre of defence in Kolo Toure and with Erik Sviatchenko and the returning Jozo Simunovic Rodgers shouldn’t have to worry about what Efe Ambrose and/or Dedryck Boyaya could afflict on the team.
As you may, or may not, know Dundee relegated Dundee United at Dens Park. A fabulous achievement from the fans’ point of view but it meant they had finished in the bottom six. Yet, they had arguably the second best goalkeeper in the league plus two nominees for player of the season in the squad. Take that ‘achievement’ of relegating their rivals away and it was a poor, in fact I will go as far as saying very poor, season following on from a top six finish in their first season after promotion.
A lengthy injury list, too many draws and too many drab defensive displays meant Dundee were in among the dross at the season’s end. And the signs so far don’t point to substantial improvement, if any at all. Twenty one goal hit-man Kane Hemmings has swapped the City of Discovery to the city that has a brain cell, while speculation continues to surround Greg Stewart. If Stewart does follow Hemmings through the exit door it will have a similar effect to the Home Alone movies post Macaulay Caulkin and Joe Pesci. Include Gary Harkins and we can add in Daniel Stearn (the guy that played Marv).
The heart would have been ripped out the team. Even if Stewart remains put, which is unlikely, signings elsewhere haven’t really improved matters. Paul Hartley was quick to snap up James Vincent and Danny Williams from ICT, yet the defence still looks as vulnerable as a young, scantily-clad female all alone in the Everglades in the opening scene of CSI: Miami. Except there is no David Caruso to solve the problem.
Dundee’s League Cup performances hinted at trouble ahead with Paul McGowan having to appease fans by agreeing that they were ‘shite’ in their defeat to Peterhead. It is a big season for Hartley; a poor start could see him leaving in similar circumstances to when he departed Alloa Athletic after a heavy defeat.
The signing of Faissal el Bakhtaoui has been welcomed, although how well he makes the step up from League 1 level is a mystery. But looking at the squad as a whole you become unsure as to what Hartley’s strategy is with little creativity and even less width. The worry for Dundee fans now is meeting United in the relegation/promotion play-offs. Between now and then there is likely to be a lot of booing at Dens Park, yet they have at least one safety net . . .
Hamilton Academical can’t surely survive another season . . . can they? They have a double decker bus behind one of the goals! A double decker bus!** They’ve lost one of the best goalkeepers in the league and their two best defenders, one of which is talismanic Ziggy Gordon. Considering they had the (joint) third leakiest defence those departures should be concerning. The overrated Jesus Garcia Tena won’t help matters sitting on the injury table for the next six months and Martin Canning is still registered as a player. CODE RED.
They have pulled off one of the most intriguing signings of the window so far, the aforementioned Massimo Donati and he is expected to slot in at centre back which should mean an upgrade on Garcia Tena. Comfortable on the ball, intelligent reading of the game, little pace, a lot of pleading of innocence and a few suspensions. Gary Woods is a competent signing between the sticks. He displayed his ability as back-up for Scott Fox at Ross County.
Accies rarely do business early. They will look to feed on scraps and pick up left-field signings like Gramoz Kurtaj as the window nears its conclusion. Dougie Imrie will need to continue his Indian summer (while keeping his bowel movements under control). Greg Docherty and Eamonn Brophy will be required to turn potential into consistent performances. Brophy should be given more game time to allow him to celebrate a number of consolation goal elaborately.
Many will be expecting Rangers to deliver Hamilton a hiding on the opening day and Martin Canning to be sacked via email – I’m not telling him in person, are you? – sometime in October. Cue Accies to be sitting top in October with Alexandre D’Acol going on a Marco Negri-esque goal scoring run.
If it wasn’t for the mixture of Hamilton’s gamesmanship and Willie Collum at New Douglas Park back in September 2015 then the Heart of Midlothian juggernaut would have stormed to the title. Since then it has been a gradual decline. Losing Osman Sow, losing to Hibernian, unadventurous football, Hibs winning th . . . getting knocked out of Europe by a team from Malta.
More can be read about the team’s preparation for the season and Robbie Neilson here but in short the goalkeeper situation has been a mess, there is a lack of balance in the squad, the recruitment strategy, previously praised, has become increasingly haphazard and a growing number of fans are losing the will to live at games.
To make matters worse Hearts start the season with games against Celtic and Aberdeen. No one at the club could seriously look at the squad ahead of those two fixtures and declare themselves pleased with their lot. Yet, even now there is more than enough quality for another foray into Europe next season. Igor Rossi and Alim Ozturk are the second best centre back partnership in the league, Arnaud Djoum and Perry Kitchen are a formidable pairing in the middle of the park with braun, brains and no shortage of skill (Djoum). Flair and excitement is provided by the inconsistent Sam Nicholson and the perennially not-match-fit Jamie Walker.
Three strikers have been signed. One – Connor Sammon – has already felt the wrath of the home support, two – Tony Watt – has been carrying an injury and three – Bjorn Johnsen – has contractual issues. Creativity in the middle of the park is still required as is another option in the wide position. The squad most likely won’t look complete until the middle of September.
Looking at the fixtures most Hearts fans will have pinpointed Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Tynecastle on the third weekend of the season as the most likely for the first three points. Yet, after an impressive showing in both the transfer market and the League Cup group stages Inverness look like a team revitalised after days, weeks and months of sterile passing under John Hughes (he’s not a long-term manager – everyone seems to get bored after 12-18 months).
Richie Foran can be viewed as either the obvious natural successor or the cheap option. Either way he is going to cause a fair old ruckus on the touchline at least once this season. Personally, I am hoping for him to go on BT Sport after a particularly woeful display and have Stephen Craigan (once put in a headlock by Foran while they were team mates) and Chris Sutton criticise ICT.
The decision to opt for Owain Fon-Williams ahead of Dean Brill is questionable. Actually, it is downright baffling. Looking on the brightside, however, it is another season of unorthodox goalkeeping. In front of him Foran has added wisely to an already competent defence. David Raven has been retained, which will mean the end to the Josh Meekings as right-back experiment. It may have been an experiment that’d win the heart and soul of Tony Pulis, but for most it was footballing anathema. On the otherside Carl Tremarco blossomed into an attacking left-back, plus goal threat, under Hughes. Kevin McNaughton can play anywhere across the backline and is a substantial upgrade on Danny Devine.
Most impressively ICT have held onto the midfield trio of Ross Draper, Greg Tansey and Liam Polworth. A midfield that can rotate, tackle, pass, win penalties, wallop opponents and score. On the wings Foran has, again, got a bit of everything. Jake Mulraney possesses lightning pace and Billy King is an effective supplier of assists and goals from wide or moving infield to central positions. Not forgetting the returning Aaron Doran and Iain Vigurs who had a fine League Cup group stage.
New striker Scott Boden shouldn’t be short of supply. Newport County were disappointed to lose him and the onus falls on him to score goals. If he can then ICT should be looking a fine shout for a top six position.
Written by Joel Sked
*Bore off with your NEWCO, SEVCO, THE Rangers, ‘no such thing as Rangers’ patter. It’s honking. Move on, go outside, breathe fresh air. If you still feel the need to comment/moan there is no hope for you.
**There is actually a very respectable reason it is stationed there.