I'm Glad I Came Back

What's not to love?

A Scottish Cup dress rehearsal between Partick Thistle and Celtic tomorrow. A league game to establish credentials involving Rangers and Aberdeen the day after.

It almost seems as if it was worthwhile to end a Winter break in the Canary Islands and return to the cuckoo world of Scottish football.

Almost.

Brendan Rodgers says his Celtic side, re-invigorated by a training camp in Dubai, will "Attack" the second phase of the season.

They duffed up Brechin City in the cup at the weekend but didn't need to be too menacing against part-time opposition.

They didn't even need to trouble Moussa Dembele by asking him to earn his wages and play any part against players who would have been too tired and too in awe of him to offer any serious form of resistance even if he had been up to any mild form of exercise.

But Moussa was apparently too troubled by speculation linking him with a move elsewhere during this transfer window to contemplate the idea of playing a game of football in any case.

So he can't be mentally attuned for the game at Firhill tomorrow in that case. You can't go from being un-nerved on a Saturday afternoon to being in a steadier frame of mind the following Tuesday, can you?

But how do you encourage clubs to spend the kind of money a player like Dembele is said to be worth if they can't see the current state of the merchandise they're being asked to purchase?

I'll leave that one with you, Brendan.

But I'll just mention in the passing that Kenny Dalglish, a far superior talent and far and away Celtic's most prized asset at the time, had played in a game at Dunfermline hours before going away to sign for Liverpool and creating a transfer record in the 1970's.

Just saying, as they say.

Players of today appear to be of a more delicate type of character or molly coddled. Have it your own way.

Mental fragility will, without argument, be a decided disadvantage at Ibrox on Wednesday night.

The atmosphere there will be, to employ a polite word, febrile.

That's loud, intimidating and not for the faint hearted to you and me.

Derek McInnes will also need to show managerial fortitude when he first pops his head out from underneath the tunnel and receives dog's abuse for not having taken the job as Rangers manager when it was on offer to him.

Aberdeen need to finish second in the league table to show Derek was thinking clearly when he took that decision.

The Rangers fans, meanwhile, need to bear in mind that hostility towards McInnes is disrespectful to Graeme Murty, who has filled a void in a managerial context.

Strong signings have been made on his watch and the remainder of the season promises to be highly interesting while he makes a characteristically under-stated pitch for the manager's job on a permanent basis.

A win over Aberdeen as a down payment on finishing above them in the table will strengthen his case for consideration.

Anything other than that will go down like a lead balloon.

Such is life.

Rangers have brought in players of good quality and in reasonable number for a club not thought to be in robust financial health.

Celtic, considered to be awash with cash, have signed Marvin Compper, a German defender in his thirties who is ineligible to play in the European tie against Zenit St. Petersburg that will say a lot about their ability to compete at that level.

And they've spent the equivalent of petty cash on Lewis Morgan before sending him back on loan to St. Mirren for the rest of the season

There must surely be more activity to come before the transfer window closes, wouldn't you think?

That's why it's good to be back. You don't get this level of anticipation sitting by a sun-kissed pool with a glass of something fortifying in your hand.

Even though you have returned to rumours that your absence was caused by something life threatening.

And I'll get over the social media comment from one ungrateful listener who said he felt happier when he thought I had passed on.

Eventually.

• superscoreboard
• Hugh Keevins