Storm clouds gather from across the border

A sight becoming all to common now for Scottish teams in Europe.

Since my last post, I should be ranting and raving about how brilliant Manchester Utd have been, and they have been brilliant. Full stop. But that's for another blog I feel! Something else in the meanwhile has caught my eye...... and its from across the border.

In European footballing terms, who would really want to be Scottish Football supporter right now? Thursday night's Europa League defeats for Rangers, Celtic and Hearts confirmed a grim and unwanted statistic. Its was the first time since 1956 that all participating Scottish teams have been knocked out before the groups stages of any European club cup tournament. However its not the awful statistic which has drawn my attention, its the on going saga of Celtic's fixture against Swiss side FC Sion.  Thursday saw a demoralising 3-1 defeat for the Hoops in Switzerland, that on the back of a shock 1-0 defeat in the league to St Johnstone a couple of days beforehand. Most certainly a week to forget. Looking at a squad like Celtic's, and indeed Rangers as well, both could and should have qualified to the next stage. The epic days of the Old Firm's runs in Europe, both in the original UEFA Cup and Champions League now seem like a distant memory compared to the shameful displays which we now associate with the overall quality that Scottish football now presents. A photographer perfectly caught the facial expressions of the Celtic bench of Lennon, Thompson and Mjalby together on that disastrous night in Switzerland. If one photograph could sum up the frustration felt over a bad week of football, and indeed the overall image that Scottish football represents now to the footballing world, that is surely a worthy visual example.

"You got any ideas mate??" Lennon and co sum up yet another disappointing night for Scottish Football

 But from the relative BBC article I saw on Friday (and where I spotted the photograph of Lennon and his backroom staff) there is hope. Be it, slight hope at that. FC Sion from the outset, are very much like another Scottish club, Hearts. Both having owners which likes their fair share of input,  self opinon and over ridding and unhealthy control upon their club and player involvement, both going through managers in alarming fashion. In particular since 2000, Hearts have been through a staggering 11 managers in as many years. An unacceptable trait at any football club. Both too have been controversial for numerous reasons, this is where Celtic, and ultimately the public face of Scottish football holds onto with FC Sion. UEFA have currently slapped them with a transfer embargo, banning them from signing any players in or out of the transfer window. And low and behold, they've defied it. Signing no less than five players under this ruling, including defender Jose Goncalves- formerly of Hearts. For the origins of this embargo we need to look back three years previously.

In 2008, they made international sporting headlines when they signed Egyptian international goalkeeper Essam El Hadary (pictured) from Cairo based club Al-Ahly, his then employers. However it was believed that El Hadray and FC Sion had broken the rules and had left the club without due diligence. The Egyptian club then took the Swiss club and El Hadary to the Court of Arbitration for Sports and won within the terms with the state of an “illegal breach and incursion of contract by both player and mentioned club” by both prosecuted parties, resulting in Al Ahly winning $796,500 in compensation, El Hadray himself being suspended from playing by FIFA and FC Sion being banned from making any loan/permanent player transfers until deemed eligible to do so

And If you though that was where the Hearts/Sion similarities stop. Think again. Hearts have also had a brush with the CAS. This time regarding the legality surrounding Andy Webster (pictured above) and his move to Wigan from Hearts in 2007, having to finally settle for £150,000 compared to the original £625,000 which they (and then FIFA) had claimed after Webster had cancelled his Hearts contract “without due cause”. Its somehow now ironic after all that, that his current club (after spells at Wigan, Rangers, Bristol City and Dundee Utd) is the very one to which he wanted to leave in the first place, Hearts.


With FC Sion having re-awakened the ghost of the El Hadray saga with FIFA,  the question is really this, does an chain of events like as an expulsion of a team like FC Sion and re inclusion of Celtic into the Europa League in their place going to change or restore the image of Scottish football to the European footballing community? My answer, no. In the reality is very plain to see. Scottish football has been struggling for years. And the answer is the constant monopoly of Celtic/Rangers throughout the years. Other clubs haven't been able to get anywhere near to those two, and the last was, surprise surprise in relation of this blog post, Hearts – under the guidance of George Burley in 2004. With such dominance brings repartition, and that then brings overall a lack of interest. How many investors would care to pour funding and publicity to clubs other than Celtic or Rangers in the name of success? I can feel the pain of fans of Motherwell, Aberdeen and Hibs alike. They must feel like the SPL is dying around them. They aren't far wrong. And if takes an event like foul play and a re-instatement despite Celtic (however hard it is to say this having such a following for the Bhoys) being held at home and then outclassed away from home as a so called “restoring” of Scottish footballing pride is a serious issue. Its not a question of if the problems with the league and the bridging the gap against other opposition abroad will be sorted, its a big broad question of when. And its “When” were the biggest and most painful issue lies and awaits to be resolved. How will it be again before we finally see a SPL league title win with someone like Motherwell?? Who knows.

Dejection: Georgio Samaras and Kelvin Wilson take in their defeat and the terms of no European football this season for Celtic.