New tests for best of the rest
CELTIC’S remarkable season is now complete. Their myriad achievements have been expounded at length and are chronicled elsewhere by this newspaper, both in print and online. It has been an incredible story of indefatigability, perseverance and dominance.
But what does it mean for the rest of Scottish football? Which clubs will reflect on their 2016/17 season with a satisfied smile? Which managers and players can look forward with optimism and a sense of positivity? And which are heading back to the drawing board once more?
Success is all relative in a one-club state, which means Aberdeen can surely be happy with their year’s work. They are now undoubtedly the country’s second-best side, runners-up to Celtic not only in the Premiership but also in both domestic cup finals. The dull ache that follows another Hampden defeat will not yet have subsided but Derek McInnes and his players will, with time, come to take pride in what they have achieved. There is little shame in finishing second behind a Celtic squad completely rejuvenated under Brendan Rodgers.
The problem for Aberdeen, now, is how they improve. McInnes may be wondering as much too, with Sunderland presumably not the only club to have kept tabs on Aberdeen’s progress on his watch. Players will move on, too. Niall McGinn, Ryan Jack, Peter Pawlett, and Ash Taylor are all likely be with new clubs come the start of next season. Optimism will arrive in the shape of new players coming in, and from the knowledge that Celtic, surely, cannot be infallible forever.
Aberdeen, though, will also know they are likely to face a stiffer challenge in next season’s race to be considered best-of-the-rest. Rangers, after all, surely can’t be as poor as they have been for most of this term. The hubris that greeted their arrival back in the top division – perfectly illustrated by the “Going for 55” card display ahead of the opening league game of the season – did not last for long. They would soon prove ill-equipped for any kind of title challenge. Their two marquee signings did not work out: Joey Barton undone once more by his ill-discipline, Niko Kranjcar by serious injury. Mark Warburton signed 13 players in his final season, before his departure in February, and barely a handful can receive pass marks for their year’s work.
Rangers find themselves once more at a crossroads. Doubts remain over Pedro Caixinha’s suitability for the manager’s post, but a fairer judgment on his capabilities will arrive once he has concluded his summer’s business in which he must overhaul the playing squad completely without the help of a director of football or a scouting network of any note. The return of European football at the end of June adds additional time constraints.
Caixinha has shown himself to be a man confident in his own skin but he will be thoroughly tested by the challenges ahead. Taking Rangers closer to Celtic in the league and into at least one cup final ought to be the minimum return should he be backed by reasonable levels of investment.
Over at Hearts, another divisive head coach will be hoping it is second time lucky in the transfer market. Perhaps it was Ian Cathro’s plan all along for his January signings to be the equivalent a sticking plaster to help the team through until the end of the season, but relying primarily on short-term signings is rarely a recipe for longterm stability or success. Hearts won only twice in the last three months of the season, suggesting major surgery is required from Cathro and sporting director Craig Levein.
The arrival of Christophe Berra is a positive start, but more of that calibre will need to follow if Hearts are to challenge for second place and Cathro is to have his reputation restored. There is no shortage of confidence across the city where Hibernian, fresh from escaping the Championship at the third attempt, are already making noises about pushing for second in their first season back in the Premiership.
It seems a lofty target from manager Neil Lennon, and one that would surely require an upturn in consistency given Hibs struggled at times on their way to winning the Championship, drawing 14 of their 36 games. Lennon’s knowledge of the top league and having an ambitious chief executive in Leeann Dempster, however, both go in Hibs’ favour as they look to make an instant impression upon their return.
St Johnstone will reflect on another exemplary season in which they again finished in the top six and qualified for Europe. Such has been their consistency in recent years that this can no longer be considered overachieving. This is simply their level. Should they hold on to Tommy Wright – and it seems baffling that clubs in England haven’t yet targeted him – then expect more of the same from the Perth side next year.
Aberdeen will surely face a stiffer challenge. Rangers can’t be as poor as they have been for most of this term