By Clive Lindsay

Fletcher and McCarthy have both left for England's top flight

Responsibility weighs heavily on the Scottish Premier League as it begins a new season this weekend.

Scottish football lies quivering under a cloud of despair after a summer of early European exits, the mess the Scottish Football League got itself into over Livingston and, as if that was not bad enough, Scotland's World Cup humiliation at the hands of Norway.

The SPL itself has suffered its own trauma, the demise of Setanta forcing its 12 member clubs to accept a cut-price replacement television broadcasting deal with ESPN/Sky.

It has meant the haemorrhaging of some players to the lower leagues in England - and, for some clubs, the inability to even compete in terms of wages and transfers with rivals from the Conference.

Hibernian and Hamilton did well to cash in on the sale of bright young things like £3m-man Steven Fletcher, James McCarthy and Brian Easton.

While that trio pursue their Barclays Premier League dream, having enriched their respective former clubs in the process, it has left the SPL the poorer in terms of quality.

And those they left behind now have a major task on their hands to maintain the entertainment value of a league that belied its off-field difficulties in terms of excitement at both ends of the table last season.

The cold wind of economic depression has bitten particularly hard at Ibrox, where champions Rangers have failed to make a single signing during a summer in which seven first-team squad members have been sold or shown the door.

Celtic have bought Fortune while Rangers have sold Ferguson

While the other 10 clubs have scrambled round the bargain basement of free agents, runners-up Celtic are the only ones to have splashed a bit of significant cash, although the £3.8m paid for Marc-Antoine Fortune would itself be viewed as spare change in most of Europe's major leagues.

That, the signing on loan of his former Nancy team-mate Landry N'Guemo and the purchase of Daniel Fox to fill the troublesome left-back spot, paid off with a victory over Dinamo Moscow that provided one of the few moments of summer joy for Scottish football fans.

With Arsenal lying in wait, Celtic face an uphill task to go a stage further by qualifying for the Champions League group stages but at least are guaranteed a place in its little brother, the new Europa League.

Money from there, together with purchases already made and the feel-good factor of having a new manager in Tony Mowbray, should mean Celtic start the season as favourites to regain the title.

Rangers appear, as Celtic did last term, to be banking on the momentum of being champions carrying them to another table-top finish.

But they must do so without one Barry Ferguson, the new Birmingham signing who, for all his off-field behavioural faults and diminishing on-field influence, was the embodiment of Ibrox determination and defiance against opponents of his beloved club.

They must also hope that new captain David Weir's ageing legs last out the season.

The world financial crisis appears to have starved Csaba Laszlo of the funds necessary to make Hearts the force that owner Vladimir Romanov and his Ukio Bankas hoped could challenge the Old Firm.

Cadamarteri has been recruited by Craig Levein's Dundee United

Their chances of repeating a third-place finish may depend on an against-the-odds victory over Dinamo Zagreb and the cash from qualifying for the Europa League group stage.

Dundee United look the best equipped to make ground this season should Craig Levein's signing of the likes of Danny Cadamarteri and Damian Casalinuovo prove as astute as they appeared during pre-season.

The failure to invest any of the £3m Burnley paid for Fletcher in a new striker could mean John Hughes' Hibs will mirror John Hughes' Falkirk from last season, playing pretty patterns with no end product, although the return of Merouane Zemmama could make that particularly pleasing to the eye.

Falkirk themselves, Aberdeen and Motherwell not only go into this weekend with new managers of their own but on the back of Europa Cup exits.

Dons boss Mark McGhee has looked like he is about to explode with frustration and anger since his side suffered an 8-1 aggregate drubbing by Sigma Oloumac and only being able to bolster his squad with a defender not wanted by his previous League One club.

McGhee's former club, Motherwell, cashed in by selling David Clarkson and Paul Quinn in the summer and new manager Jim Gannon thought he could cover that by raiding some of his former rivals in that same division.

However, it was Motherwell's existing young guns, like the exciting Paul Slane and Ross Forbes, who shone during the thrashing of Albanians Flamurtari and defeat by Steau Bucharest.

There was little evidence of even youthful promise as Falkirk's first European venture ended at the first hurdle, although it has to be remembered that Liechtenstein outfit Vaduz had only just been relegated from the Swiss top flight.

For new manager Eddie May, much will depend on whether striker Danijel Marceta, on loan from Partizan Belgrade, proves to be as exciting a talent as Falkirk's website suggests.

Falkirk could face a repeat of last season's battle against relegation along with another shot-shy side, St Mirren, and cash-strapped Kilmarnock, who will need to keep ace striker Kevin Kyle clear of injury.

Andrews is back in the SPL with Hamilton from Raith Rovers

Hamilton boss Billy Reid will hope that some left-field signings made with the £1.5m gathered via McCarthy and Easton prove their worth in the mainstream.

Accies will hope to continue their steady evolution. But then they have God on their side, at least according to faith-healing new signing Marvin Andrews.

Like Accies, promoted St Johnstone are not weighed down by the financial burden facing most other SPL clubs.

Recent cup exploits showed they could already compete with the top-flight and, strengthened by the likes of doctor Kenny Deuchar this summer, look like heading for a healthy mid-table finish.

With those five new managers, chances being taken on untested talent from sometimes obscure corners of the footballing globe and clubs teetering on the financial abyss, this could be one of the most unpredictable seasons yet.

Just one thing is certain - the title will go to one of the two Glasgow giants.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version