The Scottish season gets underway this coming weekend. Yes, our season begins in July. Only 3 weeks after the World Cup Final and a week before the Edinburgh Festival starts we?re dusting down the scarfs and picking up the new season tickets.

Celtic actually play away to both Yokohama F Marinos and Chelsea in ?pre-season? friendlies after the league has kicked off.

The early start to the season seems akin to drinking in the morning to me. You might want to get down to it, but there?s no big rush and other folk will look at you funny.

But it?s here now so might as well embrace it.

With money tight the Old Firm have been looking around for the footballing equivalents of Lidl and Aldi?s to snap up some bargains. There are no big name arrivals, but Jiri Jarosik at Celtic and Jeremy Clement at Rangers could both make an impact.

In the close season Celtic lost Roy Keane, John Hartson and Dion Dublin. Stilian Petrov seems sure to follow suit. With the Bulgarian ready to join Portsmouth it becomes increasingly obvious that even playing for a club at the lower end of the Premiership is a better option than playing in Scotland for the league?s better players.

John Hartson will be a big loss for Celtic. He was a guy who loved pulling on the hoops and bagged plenty of vital goals in his time. He could also have played another season or two here with no problems.

In the south of Glasgow Rangers experienced something of a coup in landing Frenchman Paul Le Guen to replace Alex McLeish as manager. Le Guen has the arrogant swagger of a winner having led Lyon to three French titles. He?s already rocked the players by telling them to stop going to their favourite curry house for a feed.

On the continent this directive would probably be needless as the idea of curry on the menu is quite alien for most of Europe?s top players. But the Scottish media seemed stunned that a man in charge of a group of highly paid athletes could make such a demand.

Forward Kris Boyd is quoted as 2/1 favourite to finish top scorer in the SPL this season. Some of the Rangers faithful seem unconvinced by the 22 year old, despite his 20 goals for them last season. Add to this the 17 he bagged for Kilmarnock before his January transfer and he looks exactly the kind of player the Teddy Bears need.

Some fans though see him as ?just a guy who can score goals?. In the same way perhaps that Red Adair was just a guy who could put fires out. He?s not the big name that some supporters are looking for but he?s proven himself as a goalscorer up to now and what?s more he?s Scottish. Good Scottish strikers have been hard to come by as of late and perhaps the best two are now playing on both sides of the Old Firm.

Kenny Miller becomes only the third Post-War player to have turned out for both halves of the Old Firm, after Alfie Conn and Mo Johnston. Conn and Mojo were both firmly established names and fans? favourites during their first spells in Glasgow.

By contrast Miller was little more than a fringe player in his years with Rangers. He did score 5 goals in one game against St Mirren in November 2000 and is still the last Scotsman to score in the Champions League when he netted against Monaco just three days later.

He?s been outstanding for Scotland in the past year or so and if he can recapture that form in the league the Celtic support shouldn?t have many problems accepting him as one of their own.

Away from the Old Firm last season?s most interesting story was that of Hearts and their ever controversial owner Vladimir Romanov. The odds of current first team coach Valdas Ivanauskas still being in place at the season?s end aren?t good. Three managers last season didn?t do them any favours in their bid for the title. However, finishing second and landing that spot in the Champions? League qualifiers was more than most Jambos could have hoped for a year ago. As such the Tynecastle faithful are now seriously looking toward a title winning season.

They seem to have a good team spirit as it was tested plenty in the last campaign. If they can just get a bit of stability this term they might be able to sustain their challenge further into the New Year than they managed in the last campaign.

Edinburgh rivals Hibs have developed a nasty habit of having to sell on their best players. Garry O?Connor, Derek Riordan and Gary Caldwell have all left Easter Road this calendar year. More young players are sure to come through the ranks this season but it won?t be enough to mount any kind of charge on the title.

It?s hard to get excited about the middle of the SPL. Teams like Motherwell, Aberdeen and Dundee United shouldn?t be fighting relegation, but there?s no real chance of them topping the table either.

The top six breakaway is one of the silliest things to happen to the Scottish game. After everyone has played each other three times the league then breaks in two for the last five matches. It provides the mediocre some kind of target to gibber about in post match interviews. We?re forced to listen all season to managers of mid table sides saying they?re aiming for a ?top six place?. Ultimately all finishing in ?the top six? means is that you get an extra game against both Rangers and Celtic. But perhaps I?ll rant more about that some other time.

St Mirren are the new boys this season and there?s no reason to think they won?t go straight back down to the First Division. Falkirk and Dunfermline will probably be the teams to overhaul if they?re going to stay up.

The likely candidates to replace them next year are Gretna. Having romped the Second Division in record time last year, adding to the Third Division title the season before that, a hat trick of league titles is not unthinkable. As Scottish Cup runners up to the Champion?s League bound Hearts, they are also in the UEFA Cup.

Predicting who will win the SPL title is a bit like tossing a coin and shouting heads or tails. Tip Rangers or Celtic it makes little difference. This season however, we can opt for predicting that the coin will land on its side. Just like Hearts lifting the trophy it?ll never happen, but would be lovely if it did.

As for the national team we?ve become a lot more optimistic under Walter Smith than we ever dared dream under Berti Vogts. Smith?s side look confident and capable of playing good attacking football. Like Craig Brown before him Vogts was a master of sending the team out to defend badly then hailing the resultant heavy defeat as ?a good lesson learned?.

The fans? enthusiasm has been dampened slightly due to a European Championship qualifying group that includes World Cup winners Italy, runners up France and quarter finalists Ukraine. I can?t remember a qualifying section when I realised from the outset that we?ll never get through. No bad thing as optimism is the Scottish national supporter?s worst enemy.

The group guarantees to serve up some exciting games with France visiting Hampden in October. The campaign kicks off against the Faroe Islands at Celtic Park on September 2nd.

Down here in the dank basement from which I?ve been viewing the ongoing pre-season nothingness whilst trying to avoid the sweltering heat, a few things have caught my (red)eyes since my last address to you, the dear reader.

We?ve Got Another One!

In my rant about Liverpool?s signing of Craig Bellamy a few weeks ago, I alluded to the imminent arrival of another well-known footballing rapscallion, a certain Master Jermaine Pennant. And so, as Sun article condemning a footballer to hell follows Sun article hailing self same footballer to the heavens, Liverpool follow up one controversial signing with another.

As a footballer, Pennant is of high quality. High enough quality to make a sustained impact on a top team, I await to be convinced of. Certainly the wonderful Actim stats hail Pennant as having made more crosses (227) last season than any other player, the fact Birmingham only scored 28 goals (with Pennant claiming two himself and four assists) is perhaps more telling. Certainly, Liverpool?s forward line of Crouch, Bellamy and Fowler should be more potent with such deliveries than Birmingham?s Emile Heskey and a crocked Chris Sutton and Mikael Forssell were, and this is where the excitement lies.

I?ve had an interest in Pennant since his ?2 million move from Notts County to Arsenal when he was just shy of his sixteenth birthday. Indeed his early appearances for Arsenal, though sporadic, brought some highlights, notably a hat-trick against Southampton. However, this is where it started to go wrong. Jermaine Pennant became synonymous with the front page rather than the back, his litany of brushes with authority are well known, and this is why I would rather Liverpool didn?t sign players of this ilk.

Perhaps I?m old-fashioned, but footballers should be known only to football fans, and preferably happily married teetotalers who do lots of work for charity!

A Dangerous European Draw

Dangerous not in the traditional footballing sense of ?potential banana skin?, but dangerous as in bombs and missiles flying about.

Liverpool have been drawn with Maccabi Haifa in the Champions [sic] League Third Qualifying Round. Rafa Benitez and the chairman of the Liverpool International Supporters? club, Les Lawson, have already gone on record as decrying UEFA?s inaction over potentially placing our club in what is currently a war zone? and I agree with them wholeheartedly. The very thought of the Liverpool team, fans, hotel, or venue (be that Haifa or the more likely Tel Aviv) being targeted by suicide bombers, kidnappers or a stray missile fills me with nothing but dread. The match should surely be played at a ?neutral? venue, as Rafa?s Valencia side did in Cyprus against Maccabi Haifa a few years ago.

At the back of mind also is much sympathy with the Israeli footballing support. In the 1970s football was nearly destroyed in Northern Ireland as we were unable to play any internationals in Belfast due to ?civil unrest? over a three year period, putting severe financial pressures on the Irish FA. If it had not been for a brave Yugoslavian side agreeing to come to Belfast for an international match in 1975, goodness only knows what the long-term future of the local game could have been.

Still, it is only right that Liverpool?s players and official should not have to risk their lives for football, and highly unfortunate that politics, once again, gets in the way of sport. I can only wish a speedy resolution to the current situation in the Middle-East, and that the minimum possible damage is done, not only to football, but to the lives of those in both Israel and Lebanon.

Pre-Season Friendlies

I haven?t actually seen either of Liverpool?s friendlies to date (2-0 win at Wrexham and 1-0 at Crewe), and you can go find the match reports elsewhere if you are so inclined. I have however been pleased to see the goalscorers, Bellamy getting off the mark early, plus goals from two of lasts seasons FA Youth Cup winning side, Paul Anderson and Craig Lindfield. This can only bode well for the season ahead, and indeed the years to come.

Pre-season begins in earnest tomorrow with the first game of Liverpool?s pre-season European tour, against Kaiserslautern in Liechtenstein, and the return to the team of our Spanish contingent after World Cup duty. The England players will not be match ready for a few days yet, but some if not all should feature in the games with Grasshopper Zurich and FSV Mainz.

I?m assuming there?s good money to be made from this European tour, as I would have thought we?d end up in the Far-East or possibly North America in an attempt to establish the Liverpool ?brand? (ahem). It is pleasing that the effects from traveling to central-Europe should be less than if the team had trekked half-way round the world.

Captain Fantastic

On a much lighter note, allegations have appeared on some message boards that our vice-captain?s brother had a fling with the mother of the captain of one of our biggest Premiership rivals (and the biggest rival to Gerrard for the England armband) during the World Cup. Obviously I can?t name names until the SotG legal department looks at this in more details.

All I will say is I can?t wait for the tasteless terrace chants next time the Rentboys come to Anfield!

Kits Out

Just to say I think it looks class. Retro-Chic!

In Rafa we trust!

Pre-season is one of those funny times in the football calendar when you have one eye on your teams results but in reality, win, lose or draw, it does not really matter that much. Don?t get me wrong, it is really nice to start to get a winning feeling before the start of the season but it is the way you start the first proper fixture of the season that counts.

Last season, we participated in the Peace Cup and eventually lifted the trophy, Ledley King?s first trophy has club captain, although I will not be shouting that too loud! Our pre-season record was excellent and we did not lose a game. Wins over Real Sociedad, Lyon and Porto were well deserved and the testing nature of the climate we played and the quality of opposition evidently helped in what was to become our best ever Premiership season. If you use pre-season as a bench mark, Tottenham once again look on course for a very good season. At present, we have a 100% record and have defeated Bordeaux, Nice, Celta Vigo and Birmingham as well as Stevenage. The real test however, will be Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund in our next two fixtures.

If pre-season does not represent meaningful fixtures for the fans, I am sure it is very different for the players and staff. For Martin Jol and Chris Hughton, it will give them a chance to assess the fitness of the players and also, try out new formations. Thus far, Spurs have tried playing Berbatov, Keane and Defoe up front in a seemingly 4-3-3 formation. Hossam Ghaly and Wayne Routledge have been given significant playing time while Ledley King is returning to fitness with every game he plays.

However, it is Jermain Defoe that is impressing the most. After the disappointment of missing out to a teenager that has yet to play a single Premiership game for a place in England?s World Cup squad (I am not bitter, honest), Defoe has shown himself to be a true professional. Undoubtedly he would have been match fit up until the start of the World Cup campaign so he may be a little bit ahead of his team mates in terms of fitness but he has been on fire. This can only bode well for Tottenham has we challenge on four different fronts over the coming season. Invariably, this season will be about the strength of the squad as opposed to our starting XI and this is why pre-season is so crucial and the games against Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund.

While the opposition has been of a decent standard thus far, it will be a testing time for all the players as we face Italian Champions Inter Milan and Dortmund in Germany. I am not confident that we will beat both teams but it will perhaps be a sign as to how strong the team actually is. Nothing can match competitive football but I know Jol will want to see the desire from his players to beat quality opposition. Dortmund will also be an excellent test as we will be playing away from home in European games this season.

I will be looking on with interest as to how Berbatov does on his return to country he has played in for the last few years. His experience and knowledge may be crucial to our European campaign. I would also expect it to be a chance for Jol to test himself against European opposition. Playing to a high standard week in, week out in the Premiership does not necessarily guarantee the same standard in Europe, just ask Jose, and Jol will be conscious of this.

As August 19th closes in, the one thing Jol will hope for over all else is a fully fit squad. A few niggling injuries persist at WHL but nothing serious and if the squad come of the next three games unscathed, win, lose or draw, we should be happy. If you believe Defoe, a few new faces are expected in the squad and it will be interesting to see how these players fit into the system. With stories of Carrick?s imminent departure rife in the tabloids, it might be just as interesting to see how we replace players as well.

As I said in a previous column, optimism is engulfing White Hart Lane. Lets hope this does not evaporate on a hot summers afternoon on Sunday!

After the cloak and dagger of the fake Sheikh scandal several months ago, is it completely ridiculous to believe that Aston Villa?s potential new owner Michael Neville could have lined Sven Goran Eriksson up as their new manager after all?

Neville has intimated that he has a manager all lined up should his takeover go through and with Sven?s agent having been spotted in the vicinity of Villa Park, tyongues are wagging throughout the Midlands that the formner England boss is set to replace David O?Leary in the Aston Villa hotseat.

Neville?s preferred option has been claimed to be Martin O?Neill who has Midlands links following his time as Leicester manager but with the season still a few weeks away the main activity at Villa Park looks to be in the boardroom before the thorny issue of a new manager is decided.

After Michael Carrick rejected Spurs final offer of a new contract it now looks like the player is making as much of a concerted effort as he can to force the club to sell him. Ungrateful little bastard that he is. Where does the line be drawn between a club (let?s call them Manchester United) making a very public and derogatroy bid for a current England international and first team regular at a Premiership rival and Ashley Cole sneaking out for a coffee with Peter kenyon to tell him that he wouldn?t be adverse to a payrise and a move across London?

When the subject of the low bid then gets his head turned with the thought of that move the player?s current club are left in an impossible position. Spurs CANNOT afford to have another high profile Bosman exit on their hands, we can?t have it financially and for the sake of the club?s morale and the morale of the fans the board can?t allow it. Carrick and Manchester United know this and the snidey buggers have planned it out between themselves to force Spurs into taking a lower than market value price or risk losing ther player for nothing when his contract ends.

I know we can?t afford to take a 15 million pound stand against this practice and force Carrick to see out his time training with the youth team but I would love to see Mr Levy?s old pal Joe Lewis reach into his vast backpocket and tell Levy to make the primadonna sit out the contract that has made his reputation. Spurs have been prepared to make him the highest paid player at the club but that isn?t enough for Carrick and his loyalty to the cause and the club has been put on show for all to see.

Clear out your locker Michael, you are all that is wrong with modern football. Loyalty is dead and after listening to your painful interviews I doubt it?s a high degree of cunning that?s telling you to move. Take the Yankee dollar at Old Trafford, tread water with a club that has seen it?s glory days in recent years and I hope you regret what you?ve done when Spurs are sitting above United in the league next season.

You?ve made your bed with Spurs and you?ve underestimated the club and what they are trying to achieve. Ask Paul Stewart if he thinks he did the right thing over a decade ago when he did the same thing.

You could have been a star Michael.

Arsenal?s defensive troubles look to be growing after Chelsea finally made their move for Ashley Cole, a whole year after the tapping up affair they were found guilty of beginning to unsettle the player.

While Arsenal have turned down the initial 16 million pound from the west Londoners, they are expected to agree a fee somewhere in the middle of the 16 million offered and the 25 million they will demand and finally bring an end to the most drawn out transfer process in recent English football history.

It has been no secret amongst footballing circles that Ashley Cole had a clause injected into his contract last summer after the initial clandestine meetings with Chelsea and that after another year playing for Arsenal that clause could help spring the left back and free him to make the move he desires.

Seeing as Cole missed the greater part of last season with injury and just made it back in time to join up with England?s doomed World Cup party (coincidence?) the extra season for Arsenal hasn?t made much difference and the club now look to finally rid themselves of the wantaway England star.

Following hot on the heels of Sol Campbell?s departure and Phillipe Senderos?s injury problems it leaves Arsene Wenger desperately short of defensive cover and the Cole transfer fee will only go someway to filling the gaps in the defence of last season?s Champion?s League finallists.

An ultimate abuse of power or the appointment that will end Sunderland?s recent spell as the Premiership?s yo-yo club? I?m talking about new Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn?s decision to appoint himself manager at the Stadium of Light aster his recent takeover.

Completely inexperienced at a management level at any football league club, Quinn is taking a massive gamble in the hope that his knowledge and experience of playing in the English top flight as well as a successful international career with the Republic of Ireland can help him reignite the fires under Sunderland and get them back into the Premiership at the first time of asking.

After reportedly being turned down by Martin O?Neill and Sam Allardyce in theur pursuit of a permanent replacement for the ousted Mick McCarthy, Sunderland will now entered uncharted waters as they face a monumental task in turning around their fortunes both on and off the pitch under the new Quinn regime.

I can?t deny that the news in the early part of the week regarding Spurs being in final negotiations with Damien Duff filled me with a little bit of hope of some entertaining wingplay for our side next season. To then see Duff?s agent pimp him around other clubs to lift a few more quid out of the deal didn?t exactly fill me with much joie de vivre and when the enivatable happened (this is football in 2006 remember, money talks for most and Duff?s previous move to the Chelsea bench hadn?t exactly been for football reasons only) I decided to take stock rather than launch into a tirade against Daniel Levy and the Spurs wage structure.

A fit and lively Duff would have been a welcome addition, I can?r deny it, we need someone with the pace and skill of Aaron Lennon to complement him on the other side and Duff would have offered us a chance of that. Whether he would have been able to last (and perform) in a full Premiership season and UEFA Cup campaign is another thing.

His injury problems are well documented and in this regard he is a pefect Newcastle signing. Much like Michael Owen, his reputation is built on his young days as a Premiership newcomer and his career siunce has been hampered by injury. Again like Owen, Newcastle have had to really push the boat out finance wise, in both transfer fee and wages, and it comes to a figure i wouldn?t have been happy to see Spurs paying.

Given the right injury terms I think Duff could do quite well at Newcastle as a player. As a club they are half a dozen players away from a competitive squad and with Owen himself out, they are even poorer. No point Duff creating chances if there is no-one there to convert them.

As for Spurs, we have enough money and time to continue looking. Buying a left winger is very much like making love to a beautiful woman (as Swiss Tony might say), I can?t think of a suitable next bit to the analogy but suffice to say you don?t want to jump in on the wrong one, spend your life savings and realise too late that you?ve picked up a Duffer.

Until next time….

Fraser Campbell is a Rangers and Scotland supporter and is State of the Game’s new Rangers guest columnist

It would be great to start my first column for State of the Game talking about our new signings, our pre-season or our hopes for the future.

But since the Daily Record and The Scottish Daily Mirror chose yesterday to besmirch the reputation of Rangers and their supporters it befalls me to make a few remarks of my own, for those readers not familiar with the way newspapers work up here in Scotland.

Everyone familiar with British papers will know it is now common practice to make sports ?news? out of rumour and speculation but we don?t mind that really do we?

It?s always good to hear a bit of gossip about transfers, bust-ups or the private lives of our heroes. Gives us plebs something to talk about on the factory floor, doesn?t it?

But here in Scotland there are, generally speaking, four kinds of football story.

The Total Non-Story: This consists of a headline like ?Rangers/Celtic (delete where applicable) Swoop for World Cup Stars.?

The story then goes on to repeat rumours already published and often even fails to name the very ?stars? they are talking about. This tactic is often deployed by The Glasgow Evening Times, who have two editions a day to sell, mainly to Old Firm supporters.

The Advertising Feature: This where a player?s agent has obviously used his contacts in a particular paper to get an article written up touting a particular client to Rangers, Celtic or nowadays, Hearts.

The headlines in these articles should read ?Unwanted Has-Been Duffer Still Fancies Earning 20 Grand A Week?, but instead generally tend to resemble ?Come And Get Me ?Gers/Tic/ Jambos says Thailand/Senegal/Timbuktu Ace.?

Whoever this article is about, he knows that Rangers/Celtic/Hearts are ? ?a huge name in Europe? and is available because of a ?management dispute? or something similar. It?s never because he?s rubbish, oh no. There is generally no fee involved with these guys or if there is we tend to be told that his current club ?won?t be difficult to deal with?. Yeah, we wonder why.

This is a tactic The Record and the Scottish Sun use a lot, but at least the Sun tend to publish the right picture of the player they are talking about.

These stories also serve the Evening Times, as they can print an article in the afternoon edition of their paper quoting bewildered officials from the club in question who haven?t a clue who the player they have been linked with is.

Thirdly, there?s the Trot Out A Club Legend Story, which generally runs along the lines of ?O?Neils Heroes Can Equal Lions Says Billy McNeil? or ?Burke Can Go All The Way Says Wing Wizard Laudrup.?

Then there is the Old Firm Smear.

This is a story which attempts to embarrass or shame one half of the Old Firm, the idea being to get both sets of Old Firm fans either fuming or gloating but above all, buying the paper.

A lot of Rangers fans are currently up in arms about articles The Daily Record have printed over the past couple of days.

Two articles by Keith Jackson have attempted to suggest that Greater Manchester Police cancelled our friendly with Bolton because they expected trouble from Rangers supporters.

This of course runs contrary to what has actually been said by the Police, who stated they didn?t feel able to deal with the amount of supporters expected to turn up.

While Bolton seemed to be expecting a mere 5,000 fans, it became clear that something approaching 12,000 intended to travel, either from Glasgow, or from where they were already on holiday in England.

Having been firmly rebuked by the Rangers Supporters Trust, Jackson and The Record?s rather bizarre response was to publish an article today in which they justified their stance with quotes from GMP Chief Superintendent Dave Lea which in themselves appear to undermine the ?facts? as presented in their piece.

Jackson surmises the Chief Superintendent?s position thus:

?The police chief who blocked Rangers’ trip to Bolton last night insisted he did it for the safety of the 261,000 people who live and work in the town.?

He then goes on to suggest this is a ?damning remark?, clearly implying that Spt Lea is worried about Rangers fans causing trouble throughout Bolton.

Here?s what the guy actually said:

?It’s down to public safety issues. We’ve had detailed discussions with the club and, as a result, it was quite clear to us we were not in a position to under take an operation which could guarantee public safety across the town.

“It’s specifically in relation to the information we have. We have made a clear assessment of the issues that it will present.

“It’s my job to ensure the safety, not just of the people in the ground, but of the 261,000 people who live and work in Bolton.

There has been some speculation as to the reasons behind the public safety concerns that led to the decision of Greater Manchester Police not to provide policing services at the match.

The agreed ticket allocation for Rangers was 5000. However, the club then provided information Bolton should expect 12,000.

Information provided by Rangers indicated that in excess of 120 coaches would be attending, which were not capable of being received. A Premiership fixture would attract no more than 17.”

In the above statement, Spt Lea makes it clear that it is the number of fans expected that has caused the problem, not the so-called ?reputation? of the fans.

Jackson then goes on to write:

?GMP also confirmed our revelation that the decision had been made following discussions with other English forces who have handled Rangers games as far back as 10 years ago.
Discussions were held with Merseyside police chiefs about a pre-season match between Everton and Rangers eight years ago when fans clashed in the streets outside Goodison.?

No quotes to support that though eh Jacko? Funny that.

This portion of the article is a clear attempt to justify his unsubstantiated smear of Rangers supporters, and in typical Record style is in itself utterly unsubstantiated.

With a great many Rangers supports eager to shake off the more unsavory aspects of the club?s history following the UEFA censure about bigoted chanting last year, this kind of article does nobody any favours.
They give ammunition to rival supports who hate the idea of Rangers cleaning up their act as much as our hardcore of dafties do and they encourage the attacked to close ranks, stifling debate on change and progress.

But many Rangers fans who are calling for an apology or a boycott are missing the bigger picture. It will be Celtic or Hearts or whoever getting it in the neck tomorrow.

The simple fact is that The Record and lickspittles like Keith Jackson are simply and entirely interested in selling newspapers, and are prepared to write anything about anybody in order to do it.

David O’Leary has had his contract terminated at Aston Villa despite the inquiry board set up by chairman Doug Ellis failing to prove his complicity in the damning players statement of criticism against the chairman released last week.

The inquiry did however highlight the lack of belief in O’Leary’s leadership amongst the Aston Villa senior players and in light of this the Villa board felt it was unable to keep the former Leeds United manager in the position he had held for three turbulent years.

Arguing publically with your chairman is one thing but to back a player revolt against him and then have the same players turn on you while saving their own hides in the aftermath is quite another and it looks highly unlikely that David O’Leary will be able to take up any high ranking football management post any time in the near future. With the financial fallout of his reign at Elland Road still hurting the Yorkshire club, he now can add the Villa Park debacle to his CV as he ponders his next move.

Fighting the chairman is a dangerous activity at any club but after so many years of Doug Ellis’ tyranny at Villa Park, O’Leary has belatedly found that he had nowhere left to turn after his own disloyalty to his employers was mirrored back at him by the very players that he thought he could count on as allies in the war against Ellis.

The celebrations of the Aston Villa supporters at the news of O’Leary’s dismissal further highlights just how far from reality the Irishman was in his last few days at the club. Another episode closes in the Villa Park soap opera although the aftermath may still have some legs as the search for a new manager (possibly Alan Curbishley) begins.