So will the league be turned... UPSIDE DOWN?

A four-way battle for this year’s Premiership title? That would be exciting...

FAR from signalling an immediate restoration of the Glasgow duopoly, Gary Locke believes the promotion of Rangers to the Premiership could throw the title race wide open to the extent that no fewer than four clubs could be competing for this season’s crown.

Celtic remain Locke’s firm favourites but the former Kilmarnock manager believes that Aberdeen will rise to the challenge and continue to assert themselves as genuine contenders.

‘I think it will be open this year,’ says Locke, now settling into his new job at Championship hopefuls Raith Rovers. ‘With Rangers being back, there will be a lot more interest in the league and also a lot more pressure on Celtic.

‘Look at the quality Rangers have signed, boys that are proven in the English Premier League like Niko Kranjcar and Joey Barton. Mark (Warburton) and Davie (Weir) have recruited brilliantly and they will be challenging.

‘But I do think that it could be a four-horse race. Aberdeen and Hearts are capable of beating the Old Firm. And for the sake of Scottish football, I hope it is open.’

The 41-year-old has managed in the top flight with both Killie and Hearts, departing the former as recently as January. He has aspirations of making it back with Raith next season and, having inherited the bulk of the squad which his predecessor Ray McKinnon took to the play-offs last term, he is confident signings such as Rudi Skacel and Kevin McHattie will give him the experience to mount a challenge to Hibernian and Dundee United.

While his energies will be poured into the promotion push, he will maintain an eye on developments a tier above. While he makes the reigning champions favourites to make it six in a row, he believes it’s not just Rangers who have an eye on knocking Celtic off their perch.

‘Each year, Aberdeen have gradually got closer to Celtic and I don’t see that being any different this season,’ continues Locke.

‘They have quality throughout the squad and if they can keep Niall McGinn, Jonny Hayes and Adam Rooney fit and available, they will be up there challenging.

‘Celtic will be completely different under Brendan Rodgers but I’d fully expect Aberdeen to push for the title. They came close last year before coming up short near the end but having ran Celtic close, Derek (McInnes) has asked himself what he needs to do to get even nearer.

‘He has added in the goalkeeping and striking areas. The forward area of the pitch is where it matters — Del has looked at that and felt he couldn’t make as many game-changing substitutions as he would have liked.

‘They’ve relied too much on Rooney. Don’t forget he was missing towards the end of last season and that came at the worst possible time for them.

‘So Del has given himself a bit of strength in that area by adding Jayden Stockley and Miles Storey — if you can have two or three who will get you at least 10 goals a season then you will be up there.’

Locke also expects another season of improvement from Hearts, the club he left in strained circumstances two years ago. Having helped nurse the Edinburgh institution through administration and its inevitable relegation from the top flight, Locke was jettisoned when director of football Craig Levein joined owner Ann Budge as part of a dynamic new regime.

There was some surprise when Robbie Neilson was appointed as the club’s new head coach but, having presided over first comfortable automatic promotion from a second tier including Rangers and Hibernian then a third-place Premiership finish last term, Locke has been impressed with the momentum built and sustained by his successor. This year will bring a new challenge — no longer in an underdog situation, the Tynecastle side will face demands from a support hungry for the next steps.

‘The target for Hearts will be to finish above Aberdeen,’ adds Locke. ‘Beyond that? Who knows.

‘The fans will certainly want to challenge Celtic and Rangers and, with the size of that club and its resources, they need to look at top three. They’ll also look to win a cup.

‘I’ve played, coached and managed there and that’s the expectation.’

Just as McInnes has looked to the top end of the pitch for improvement, so has Neilson with strikers Conor Sammon, Bjorn Johnsen, Robbie Muirhead and Tony Watt checking in. ‘Hearts have added strikers and they certainly needed to strengthen that department.

‘Robbie has options and, having achieved that, it’s right that they should look to challenge for the title,’ says Locke.

Locke believes there will be clear daylight between the top four and the rest, admitting the eight remaining teams will essentially be in a battle to preserve their status.

Of those clubs he backs St Johnstone, Dundee and, especially, Ross County to be clear of relegation worry and push for the two remaining spots in the league’s top six.

Locke’s Rovers helped put the League Cup holders out of this year’s competition following their penalty shoot-out success in Dingwall last weekend but he saw enough from

‘I WOULD FULLY EXPECT THE DONS TO PUSH FOR THE TITLE THIS YEAR’

m McIntyre’s side to suggest they ll be comfortably placed in the ague. I think Ross County will be up ere again. They have a great anagement team and the facilities ey have up there allows them to tract a good standard of player,’ ds Locke. Dundee have lost Kane Hemmings but if they can keep Greg Stewart they should be aiming for that, too.

‘I know Paul Hartley has taken the view that although they could also have sold Stewart, he is worth far more to the team in the final year of his contract than the transfer money he would have had to identify a replacement. I agree with him on that. I think they will be fine and will fancy themselves for top six.

‘The obvious challenge comes from St Johnstone. It amazes me that Tommy Wright is still there because they consistently finish in the top half and have won the Scottish Cup. I’m really surprised a Championship club in England hasn’t taken a chance on him.

‘They’ve also made two really good TITLE TIPS: Shay Logan (main) and his Aberdeen team-mates are expected to mount a challenge for the championship with Hearts, boosted by the signing of Conor Sammon (inset), also in the frame signings in midfield. Paul Paton, I really like. He did a great job for Dundee United and one of the reasons they struggled was the fact he was missing for a long spell.

‘Blair Alston has been fantastic for Falkirk. It’s now time for him to move up because, for me, he is a Premiership player.’

Locke’s assessment leaves five clubs scrapping it out for survival.

He finds it tricky to assess the credentials of his former employers at Kilmarnock and not just on account of any lingering ill feeling from his resignation last winter.

The decision of his successor Lee Clark to overhaul the squad which escaped relegation through last term’s play-offs is one he feels was fully justified.

However, he has no useful yardstick by which to judge the 11 new recruits brought in to replace the departed.

‘Lee Clark has done the right thing — a clear-out was exactly what Kilmarnock needed,’ he states. ‘It needed a shake-up from top to bottom. A lot of players have been there a long time and their contracts were up so he has cleared the decks.

‘As the previous manager, it’s obviously difficult for me to comment but he has brought in a lot of young players from down south who, I have to admit, to not knowing much about.

‘I know the boy Souleymane Coulibaly, who they’ve brought in from Peterborough to play up front and I’ve seen the two Middlesbrough lads (Jordan Jones and Jonathan Burn) at Under-21 level.

‘They are all coming from good clubs and will be good players but it’s a case of seeing how quickly they gel.’

Unable to pick an outstanding candidate for the drop, the managers could hold the key.

If Mark McGhee’s efforts in transforming Motherwell from downwardly mobile strugglers to fifth-place finishers marked the biggest turnaround of last term, he believes Hamilton’s Martin Canning and Alan Archibald also did sterling work just to keep Hamilton Accies and Partick Thistle afloat and clear of the play-offs.

Minus John Hughes, Inverness have a new boss in Richie Foran and Locke believes much will depend on how the coaches fair over the coming months.

‘Mark McGhee transformed Motherwell last year which was tremendous. They have quality in Lionel Ainsworth and Louis Moult to go with the experience of Stephen McManus and Keith Lasley, so they will aspire to look up the table again.

‘Inverness have a new young manager in Richie Foran and once again their location could be their biggest asset — they pick up a lot of their points at home and it’s never easy to go there.

‘Hamilton have lost some big players. Michael McGovern, Ziggy Gordon and Carlton Morris — that’s a lot to take out of the team. They have brought in Massimo Donati but there will be a couple more. And Alex Neil is the connection at Norwich, so they can use that to their advantage.

‘But they prove everyone wrong each year. I read some nonsense about fans giving Martin Canning some stick during pre-season games.

‘It’s the same with Thistle. They weren’t in any danger last season and that’s what they’re like.

‘They are a young team but they all have that extra season’s experience and keeping Stuart Bannigan is big.

‘Relegation is the toughest thing to call. I don’t think there’s a lot between the finances of the remaining clubs. Each year everybody tips Thistle, Hamilton and Killie for relegation and yet they’re still there, defying everybody.’

‘IT AMAZES ME THAT TOMMY WRIGHT IS STILL THERE AND NOT DOWN SOUTH’