Everyone’s in action now - Celtic in CL qualifiers, Rangers, Hibs and Aberdeen in EL qualifiers, everyone else in the league cup.
It’s shaping up to be an interesting season - feel free to give an in-depth account of your club’s situation below, but a brief overview of the top clubs:
Celtic are trying to maintain dominance and take forward steps in Europe, with a squad currently largely unchanged from last season (with the exception of Armstrong’s departure down south)
Aberdeen kick off with a big game against Burnley this week, and having established themselves as the second force in Scotland in recent years, will be hoping to fend off any challenge from the likes of Rangers and Hibs, both of whom came close last year.
Rangers will be led by Stevie G into this season, and nobody’s quite sure what to expect. Unproven, big-name manager, with a raft of new signings (10 according to the BBC, including loans) - anything could happen. By early September the EL qualifying will be completed and Rangers will have played 4 league games, including Aberdeen and Celtic away. Depending on their early results they could either be in a very strong position at that stage, or could equally be looking at another long season of turmoil. Expect the now-standard level of off-field shenanigans to keep everyone entertained.
Hibs got their record points total last season, but Lennon still wasn’t happy at their final league position. He’ll desperately want to push them into the EL group stages (a tall order), but they’ll have to cope with a bit of squad turmoil - McGeouch has left, and McGinn looks like he might follow. Signing Kamberi permanently will give them a goal threat though.
Kilmarnock will hope to continue on in the Steve Clarke dreamland, after being one of the most impressive sides in the league after he joined last season. Publicly they’ll be looking for a top 6 finish, but a push for the European spots has to be the aim given last season’s form. Physically, Kris Boyd looks less like a pro footballer than ever, but a hat trick after coming off the bench in the league cup on Saturday shows that he’s still the man they can rely on.
Hearts have already started with the general bants behaviour, after fielding an ineligible player in the league cup and being docked points. It’s a crowded top 6 at the moment, but their pride will be wounded if the likes of Hibs and Kilmarnock finish above them again. Craig Levein can be relied on to try and wind up basically anyone he can.
That covers last season’s top 6 anyway, but obviously we have to mention Kingsley’s lads - Partick Thistle will hope to rebound straight back up from the championship after being relegated last season. If only they could convert indie points to actual points.
Genuinely very excited about this season, should be very entertaining.
Really quite looking forward to Aberdeen v Burnley. Feels relatively rare that you see a fixture for the first time on telly nowadays. Very tricky tie for the winner over two legs.
Obviously there’s a lot of naysaying about Gerrard south of the border, but some of the signings seem quite exciting and it feels a bit vintagey in a way. I’ve no real liking of Rangers as a club, but some of my very earliest football memories are of them in the very early nineties when they signed a few players from England. Rangers v Leeds was the first televised club game i can remember.
Thistle won their first two league cup games, face Albion Rovers tonight which we should also be doing.
Very hard to say how we’re gonna do this year, surely Dundee United can’t keep fucking it up? But then we’ve also got Ross County, Inverness and Falkirk down there, with Queen of the South and Dunfermaline not exactly being pushovers either. It was good while it lasted
Last night was squeaky bum time. I didn’t get to watch it but apparently Edouard (I refuse to call him French eddie) was sublime and his second goal Larsson-esque. Despite some significant injuries, it sounds like last night’s side were a delight.
Agree with MrDingdong that this season could be very very exciting.
It’ll be interesting to see if the rangers rise to the challenge tonight. (for the sake of a harmonious household and our coefficiency scoring, I hope they do.)
I posted upthread about falling back in love with Scottish football. One of the reasons for this is I feel I can still relate to the players and the clubs. The salaries for most of the players aren’t eye-watering compared to down south, the transfer fees that are paid for players are fairly reasonable and most of the teams live within their means.
And today I read that Derby are going to pay £8 million for ex 'Ger Martyn Waghorn (yes, £8,000,000). This just reinforces my feelings for English football and how out of touch it is for the regular fan.
