So the slowest pre-season in history – which was inevitable due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic continuing to sweep the globe – continues to amble on with not much to report.
Hearts and Partick Thistle’s legal action over their relegations lingers in the background and it’s slow all over on the transfer front as leagues throughout Europe play out the season in front of empty stadiums and an increasingly disinterested TV audience.
Craig Gordon’s long and protracted departure from the club finally concluded at the beginning of the week as the veteran keeper made a not unexpected switch to his old club Hearts on a two-year deal.
Gordon was a bit marmite amongst the support though personally, I was a fan.
The 37-year-old made 242 appearances for the club over six seasons and won twelve winners medal which isn’t a bad return at all.
Signed as a free agent under Ronny Deila in the summer of 2014 he quickly became the established number one despite a few howlers in the Europa League Last 32 game with Inter Milan he had an outstanding season and was one of the few players to be regarded as an undoubted success from the Deila era.
He went on to play 55 times in the ‘Invincible Treble’ season of 2016-17 under Brendan Rodgers and his celebrations during the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen will always remain iconic.
Gordon wasn’t a play out from the back type that Rodgers really wanted and his attempts to adapt to the role sometimes didn’t work out but his commitment, professionalism and shot-stopping abilities were never in doubt.
There’s also no doubt that he was a far superior keeper to the inept Dorus de Vries who was brought in to replace him soon after Brendan’s arrival in 2016 but who soon disappeared into obscurity.
He joins Calvin Miller, Jozo Simunovic and Jonny Hayes on the first team departure list so far this summer.
Sticking with the goalkeeper position the chances of Fraser Forster returning to the club seem to be diminishing by the day and instead former Celtic and current Scotland goalie David Marshall has been tipped for a return with said rumours intensifying since his current club Wigan Athletic fell into administration in the past few days.
However, hope springs eternal and there are those who continue to insist a deal for ‘The Great Wall’ can still be done.
Time shall tell.
One player definitely returning from Southampton is winger Mohamed Elyounoussi who has completed a renewed season-long loan.
The Norwegian internationalist took his time to find his fitness but once he did he was an ever-present and an exciting one at that and was particularly electric in November before injury stifled the rest of the term.
He scored seven goals from twenty appearances and I’m delighted he’ll be back.
With a good pre-season behind him, the sky’s the limit.
It also puts to bed the rumour that we were in for soon to be free-agent Ryan Fraser whose wage demands would make such a move utter fantasy.
Outside of that and the clubs new kit launch that features some eye-catching wears from Adidas there really isn’t much to report.
Still no dates on when the new season will start, or when if indeed ever last season’s Scottish Cup will conclude.
The behind closed doors stuff from down south we’ve been exposed to over the past fortnight has been by and large garbage with VAR and even goal-line technology making a mockery of proceedings even further.
Over in Germany what was once a four-way title race between Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Mönchengladbach finished out with a whimper as Bayern romped to an eighth consecutive tile by thirteen points.
There’s’ still much longer to go down in the EPL and over in Spain and Italy but the spectacle so far has been pretty lame.
And the English Championship will also struggle to complete with Wigan the first of possibly many clubs to fall into potential insolvency. More on that in another article.
Up here most teams have so far been able to keep the wolf from the door with some such as Hearts even going on a spending spree which has seen them splash out on a new manager and keeper in Robbie Nielson – who surprisingly quit newly promoted Dundee Utd to a return to a club where he was essentially hounded out four years ago – and Craig Gordon neither of whom would have come cheap.
But there will be a few more twists and turns in Scotland yet before the football returns in earnest.
That’s for sure.
....Always A Tim! 