Football News And Views

Gretna, who have stormed up the Scottish Leagues could be facing closure after being in a terrible financial crisis. Gretna stormed up the Scottish leagues due to their funding from businessman Brooks Mileson but he has recently became very ill and his funding to Gretna has been cut off and now the club face peril. Only ten players have apparently agreed to play on Saturday which means Gretna could face further fines and penalties and they could easily lose any number of their players as all of them have not been paid recently which is in breach of their contract agreements. Gretna have already faced a ten point deduction because of their administration and they are looking for funds to get them though to the end of the season. Yesterday, Gretna administrator David Elliot revealed that the club owed £350,000 to the inland revenue and they also have a further debt of around £900,00. It was reported that they had to raise £30,000 by midday today or face closure but so far they have not been closed but I feel it will happen very soon as this situation is not getting any easier for the club. This may end up being the second time Gretna have lost their football team after Gretna Green FC became bankrupt in the 1920s.

I really liked Gretna and enjoyed watching them fly up the leagues but that success has proved to be their downfall and as their former manager, Dave Irons, said earlier in the week, it has all happened far too quickly for the club. Things really have gotten out of control.

It’s nice to see that George Burley has taken over as the new manager of Scotland. There is no doubting his ability after being successful with Ipswich and more recently at Hearts, where he briefly challenged Scotland’s top two with them. His international ability however is unknown but that has been said about many successful club managers who have gone into the International scene.

Scotland fans will of course be hoping that George Burley pick up where Alex McLeish left off and personally i think he has the players under him to be able to do so. The first aim for Burley will be to reach the World Cup and he is confident he can do it.

“This job gives the opportunity to try to do something, to try to get to the World Cup finals, and as a manager you couldn’t ask for more than that.”

“It’s something I’m really looking to. I feel I’m ready for it.

“Let’s got for it, two, two-and-a-half years, can we qualify for the World Cup? That’s my aim.”

Scotland were unlucky not to reach the European Championships after their brave displays against France and Italy and if they can get the big results in the world cup qualifiers against the likes of Norway and the Netherlands then I can see them reaching the World Cup Finals and even as an Englishman I believe Scotland have what it takes to do this and under Burley they have a manager who will bring the best out of the players.

Is there some kind of super pill that all Scots are taking at the moment? First their national team beat France home and away in their European qualifying group and are currently sitting at the top of it, despite World champions Italy also being in that group, then Rangers beat German champions Stuttgart and French champions Lyon and now Celtic have joined in by beating European champions AC Milan 2-1 in a game that will mainly be remembered for Dida’s slapstick antics in the dying moments (or maybe his dying moments) after a fan ran on the pitch and… well watch the highlights and enjoy.

Lyon 0 - 3 Rangers

Well I have said a few times that Rangers are in the group of death yet here we are after 2 of the 6 games and Rangers are joint top after winning them both and if I had put a few quid on them beating Lyon 3-0 away from home I would have got a very good return indeed. I am still not 100% convinced that they will get out of this group but 3rd place and a Uefa Cup spot seems almost certain already. Rangers went in at half time 1-0 when Lee McCulloch thundered in a header from DaMarcus Beasley’s corner after 23 minutes. Just before the break Lyon won a free kick which Juninho smashed against the crossbar.

Juninho nearly scored again just after the break but his shot was just wide of the mark. Rangers then doubled their advantage with a breakaway with Hutton who picked out Cousin after a great run. Cousin then turned his marker and fired his shot past the Lyon goalkeeper, Remy Vercoutre. Moments later it was 3-0 when DaMarcus Beasley ran onto a long ball from Cousin and then calmly slotted in his shot.

Lyon kept on pressing but couldn’t find a breakthrough and in the last 20 minutes they hit the woodword twice when Juninho hit the post from his long range effort and Beraldo had a header hit the crossbar. This win leaves Rangers in a good position to qualify and they ideally need about 4 more points from 4 games which I think they can get but half of them games are against Barcelona and even on this form rangers will find them very hard to match.

Craig Gordon has become the most expensive Premiership goal keeper by completing a £9m move to newly promoted Sunderland. Sunderland have been very active in the transfer window and Gordon has been one of Roy Keane’s main targets for over a month and The Black Cat’s manager is delighted with the signing of Gordon:

“I’m delighted that we’ve managed to sign Craig.

He’s a top goalkeeper and he’ll be a massive asset for us over the next few years.

We’ve already got two very good goalkeepers and Craig is a big signing for Sunderland.”

Gordon will undoubtedly be first choice at Sunderland and will be hoping to make an impact. He is certainly a good goal keeper who could be kept very busy this season. It is quite a large step up from being in a top half Scottish Premiership team to a newly promoted Premiership team but there is no doubt Gordon is up to the challenge. I can’t wait to see him in action I just hope he has a couple of off days when Arsenal play Sunderland this season.

Hearts apparently £9m rated goal keeper Craig Gordon is caught in a tug of war between Sunderland and Aston Villa. I have always rated him highly and would have loved to see him play for Arsenal however at £9m I think Hearts will be rubbing their hands with glee when the deal does eventually go through to sell him. Where he goes is likely to be down to the man himself who is spending two days training at each club this week. It will be interesting to see where he goes. Personally I would go to Villa as there is more chance of him staying in the Premiership beyond next season with them however Roy Keane has build up a great squad at Sunderland and he could be better to work with than Martin O Neil at Villa. Sunderland is also closer to home for Gordon and that may play a factor in his decision. Both clubs will be hoping he has his mind made up before the big kick off on Saturday.

Rangers were the first team in action today as the Scottich Premier League kicked off the season. You don’t have to know much about football to guess that Rangers won and Celtic will also win tomorrow. Inverness Caledonian Thistle were the hosts as Rangers cruised to a 3-0 victory with captain Barry Ferguson scoring twice. Gretna were welcomed into the Premier League with a 4-0 thrashing by Falkirk. This season is going to be tough on Gretna who are not playing at home and no longer have Rowen Alexander at the helm. I have always said that losing him has been their biggest mistake as he has took them up the leagues and when he went on his leave at the end of last season Gretna really struggled under caretaker and now full time manager, David Irons. It could be a long season for them. Dundee Utd got their season off with a very good 1-0 win over Aberdeen and Motherwell won away at St Mirren also 1-0.

Today the draws for the 3rd round of qualifiers for the Champions League and the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup took place. Great Britain was represented in each of these draws with Celtic, Rangers, Liverpool and Arsenal in the Champions League draw and Blackburn and Dunfermline in the UEFA Cup draw. The British clubs in the Champions league draw have some tricky games with Arsenal getting Sparta Prague, Celtic drawing Spartak Moscow, Liverpool facing Toulouse and Rangers have either Red Star Belgrade or Levadia Tallinn. The ties will be played 14/15 and 28/29 August. In the Uefa Cup Blackburn will face MyPa while Dunfermline will face Swedish side BK Haken. The ties will be played on 16th and 30th of August. Below are draws in full:

Champions League 3rd Round Qualifiers

FH Hafnarfjordur or BATE Borisov v Zaglebie Lubin or Steaua Bucharest
Tampere United or Levski Sofia v Astana or Rosenborg
Spartak Moscow v CELTIC
Werder Bremen v NK Domzale or Dinamo Zagreb
FK Ventspils or FC Salzburg v Pyunik or Shakhtar Donetsk
Ajax v MSK Zilina or SK Slavia Prague
Valencia v Debreceni or IF Elfsborg
Genk or FK Sarajevo v Dynamo Kiev
Fenerbahce v Anderlecht
RANGERS or FK Zeta v FK Crvena Zvezda or Levadia Tallinn
Toulouse v LIVERPOOL
Benfica v FC Copenhagen or Beitar Jerusalem
Lazio v Dinamo Bucharest
Sparta Prague v ARSENAL
FC Zurich v Sheriff or Besiktas
Sevilla v AEK Athens

UEFA Cup 2nd Round Qualifiers

Otelul Galati (Romania) v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bulgaria)
CFR Cluj (Romania) v Anorthosis (Cyprus)
Rabotnicki (Macedonia) v Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)/Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia) *
Slaven (Croatia) v Galatasaray (Turkey)
Uniao Leiria (Portugal) v Maccabi Netanya (Israel)
Hajduk Split (Croatia) v Sampdoria (Italy)
Besa Kavaje (Albania) v Litex Lovech (Bulgaria)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) v Kayserispor (Turkey)
Atletico Madrid (Spain) v Vojvodina (Serbia)
Siroki Brijeg (Bosnia) v Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) v CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
Basel (Switzerland) v Mattersburg (Austria)
Ried (Austria) v FC Sion (Switzerland)
MIKA (Armenia) v Artmedia (Slovakia)
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) v Belchatow (Poland)
Honved (Hungary) v Hamburg SV (Germany)
Young Boys (Switzerland) v Racing Lens (France)
Tobol Kostanai (Kazakhstan) v Groclin (Poland)
Austria Vienna (Austria) v Jablonc (Czech Republic)
Zlate Moravce (Slovakia) v Zenit St Petersburg (Russia)
Rapid Vienna (Austria) v Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
MyPa Myllykoski (Finland) v Blackburn Rovers
Drogheda United (Ireland) v Helsingborg (Sweden)
Metalurgs (Latvia) v AIK (Sweden)
HJK Helsinki (Finland) v AaB Aalborg (Denmark)
Ekranas (Lithuania) v Valerenga (Norway)
Dunfermline Athletic (Scotland) v Haecken (Sweden)
Brann Bergen (Norway) v Suduva (Lithuania)
Haka Valkeakoski (Finland) v Midtjylland (Denmark)
Dinamo Minsk (Belarus) v Odense (Denmark)
Kaerjeng (Luxembourg) v Standard Liege (Belgium)
Fredrikstad FK (Norway) v Hammarby (Sweden)