Here come the Accies, and other news

By: Ian Rose | April 21st, 2008

This past week or so has featured a lot of blogging distraction for me, between losing my voice screaming for my new local side and spending Sunday on the Offside’s main page, not to mention the podcast. So, I apologize for completely dropping the ball on a couple of major news items having to do with Scotland and the SPL. Here goes.

Hamilton secures promotion
Hamilton Academical will take over the SPL hot seat from Gretna next season, after securing their First Division crown and the single promotion spot. It will be Hamilton’s first time in the top flight since 1999, the year after their last second-tier title, and they’ll be looking to stay up for the first time. Both of their previous two promotions have led to immediate relegation the next season. The promotion will not only allow them the chance at top flight football, but also rekindle their Lanarkshire derby, a local rivalry that might not be globally well known, but is certainly important to both of these clubs.

Celtic staying alive
Celtic were literally seconds away from the end of their SPL title defense, drawn 1-1 at home to Rangers in the 94th minute, when big Jan Vennegor of Hesselink did what he tends to do at the end of matches … he headed one in. I’d love to know someday what percentage of his goals have come in injury time. It’s a significant chunk of them. Anyway, with that win, and their subsequent win over Aberdeen on Saturday, Celtic jumps above Rangers in the league standings. There’s the small matter of 3 games in hand for Rangers, but there’s still hope, which there was precious little of a few weeks ago.

McGeady wins triple
In addition to his Clydesdale Bank SPL Award for Best Young Player, Celtic’s Aiden McGeady took home a double in the PFA Awards, winning both Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year. All this attention will certainly be a mixed bag for Celtic, who may struggle in the summer to hold onto “Aideninho”, but he certainly has deserved it.

Rangers’ Cup double gets closer
Rangers took it to penalties, but did in the end manage their way past St. Johnstone and into the final of the Scottish Cup. This has two consequences - first, as much as I hate this policy, Queen of the South is going to the UEFA Cup as at least the runner up in the Scottish Cup, ensuring that Scotland once again sends a second-tier team to Europe. The Doonhamers have done fantastically to get here, but they can’t realistically pose the sort of challenge in Europe that the fourth-place team in the SPL could, and so this is really a loss for the league. Second, Rangers are now 90 minutes away from a Cup double, and you can believe there’s a spot being dusted off at Ibrox right next to the already-won League Cup.