Anyone who loves Scottish football, particularly if you’re a fan of one of the smaller sides and so can be a bit neutral on the inevitable Old Firm bickering, give me a ring at scotland@theoffside.com.

As for the Caley, the pride of the Highlands is indeed doing us proud at this moment. At the half, Caley is up 1-0 at Aberdeen, on the strength of new boy Andrew Barrowman’s point-blank left-footed finish in the 27th minute. 45 minutes to go for our first league win over Aberdeen. What a way to start the season …. keep it up lads. MON THE CALEY.

EDIT: That’s FULL TIME, and Caley are top of the league after one day! 2-0 over Aberdeen, and no other team managed more than a one-goal lead! I’d like to take this opportunity to once again shove the result down the throats of every pundit calling for us to go down. Hahahaha!

McGregor is a lifelong Rangers fan (strike two) who wants a full takeover of the team, something that Alan Savage and David Sutherland have already said they would not allow. McGregor describes Caley’s current ownership as “grippy”, saying they should step aside if they don’t want to take the club forward themselves. He has apparently already made a failed attempt at buying Elgin City, and was brushed aside by them for not only his connection to the … ahem .. adult entertainment industry, but also questions about whether he would back up his promises of new training facilities, etc.

Personally, as a die-hard Caley fan, I’d love to see more investment in the club, but it is very much a family club. Inverness is a pretty quiet family town. As much as some additional funds would help, I’m not sure we need an outsider, with no real connection to the club, coming in and taking over. A Rangers fan at that. I am in full support of Sutherland and Savage in keeping majority control, and if this particular investor wants control to go with his money, I would be in favor of sending him on his way.

Though Inverness managers have won the SPL monthly award four times now, Marius Niculae, who I can now confidently call Super Marius, became the first-ever Inverness winner of the SPL Player of the Month. The Romanian striker netted four goals in December, including the only two in the win over Hibs and two more in the 3-1 win over Kilmarnock. He has started his January off in the same form, booting in two and drawing a penalty for the third against Gretna this past weekend. He has reportedly gotten a call from the Romanian assistant coach and been told that if his form continues, he will be called back to the national team for friendlies and possibly for Euro 2008, a personal goal of his.

It was a good month to be a Caley Thistle fan, especially after the way the season started, with six straight losses and the departure of manager Charlie Christie. Brewster’s return to Caley Thistle has sparked hope of a top 6 finish in a season that many of us wrote off as a fight for survival and nothing else, and for that I thank him.

On a side note, Brewster has also announced that he will finally retire from playing after this season. The oldest active player in the SPL, he was still putting in goals early this season at age 41, and if you’ve ever seen the guy in training or a match, he’s in better shape than a lot of the young lads. But, it appears that he is mortal after all, and the shoulder injury he sustained against Caley Thistle back when he was an Aberdeen man seems to be what edged him toward the decision. Regardless of this, he has a long career in coaching ahead, hopefully with Caley Thistle for as long as we can hold onto him. He has the potential to be yet another legendary Scottish manager.