Celtic ready to party as Rangers' worries continue
Celtic players will finally get their hands on the Scottish Premier
League (SPL) trophy when they take on Hearts in the final game of the
season on Sunday.
For Rangers, last term's champions and Celtic's arch-Glasgow rivals,
the lack of the SPL trophy in their cabinet at the end of a season would
once have been their greatest concern.
But after months of financial turmoil at Ibrox, Rangers still don't
know who their new owner will be and cannot yet be certain they will
even be in Scotland's top-flight come the start of next season.
Celtic, who hold a 20-point lead over Rangers, wrapped up the
championship at the start of April but have had a long wait for their
trophy presentation. This weekend's celebrations will cap off what has
been a successful season for Neil Lennon's side, who saw their boss
named SPL manager of the season while Hoops duo Charlie Mulgrew and
James Forrest received the corresponding player and young player awards
respectively.
Mulgrew, also voted the season's best player in Scotland by his
fellow professionals, has enjoyed a memorable campaign having won his
first Scotland cap in a friendly against Slovenia in February.
But the defender admits to a tinge of regret after his side's hopes
of a domestic treble of trophies came to an end with a League Cup defeat
by Kilmarnock while Sunday's opponents Hearts knocked the Glasgow giants
out of the Scottish Cup at the semi-final stage.
"Winning the cups would have been nice after getting to a semi-final
and final but we'd have taken winning the league at the start of the
season," Mulgrew said.
"We'll just need to look at the positives and improve next year
again," Mulgrew said.
"It's a great feeling to be voted for by your fellow professionals
and to win these awards is brilliant but the most important thing is we
won the league." Hearts will try to ruin Celtic's title winning party at
Parkhead by claiming the point that will guarantee fifth spot and
European football.
Despite the likelihood they may rest several key players before next
week's Scottish Cup final against Edinburgh rivals Hibernian, Hearts
first team coach Gary Locke said there'll be no slacking this weekend.
"The boys and the management staff all know what's at stake. If we get a
point then we'll finish in fifth place and qualify for Europe. That's
what we're looking for," Locke said.
"Hopefully if we can get a result at Celtic Park that will get us
into Europe. That was certainly our aim at the start of the season."
Rangers will bring down the curtain on a season to forget with a game
away to St Johnstone.
Their future is far from certain after entering administration in
February, a move that saw them docked 10 SPL points, while preferred
bidder Bill Miller pulled out of the process to buy the 140-year-old
club earlier this week. With Ally McCoist's side having already secured
second place in the SPL there is little at stake for the Gers. But Rhys
McCabe says the match is far from meaningless and wants to win the match
at McDiarmid Park as a thank you to the fans for their support following
a difficult few months."Rangers are a big club and we owe the supporters
a result for the backing they have given us," the midfielder said.
"We'd like to bow out on a high for them and get a positive result
because the fans have been excellent.
AFP |