Positively Brilliant

Licensed premises will be the venue. One of those places which has big television screens to facilitate those who want to see Manchester United play Juventus in the Champions League. And who wouldn’t?

European football at the highest level is great, but it’s got nothing to do with us on a serious basis. There’s the occasional moment of distinction or sometimes the odd embarrassment, but, when it gets down to basics, Europe is hopefully a money making exercise for our clubs and nothing else.

It’s a place where, whenever adversity presents itself, Celtic and Rangers get the chance to excuse themselves by talking about the modest nature of their annual budget when compared to the continent’s aristocratic clubs.

In the same way that Neil Lennon could immediately cite Hibs’ meagre budget on Saturday evening as a reason why the side he manages could never be considered legitimate title challengers while Celtic have the spending capacity to buy a single player for nine million pounds.

That’s his take on the Premiership and he’s entitled to his pragmatic stance, even if his side had just been one half of the reason why the meeting of Celtic and Hibs turned into the domestic game of the season so far.

We are in the midst of the most positive start to the league championship for years and next Sunday the best part of 120,000 people will flock to see two Betfred Cup semi finals in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The games will be a high profile verification of the Scottish football brand being currently intoxicating, as opposed to toxic. What’s not to love when things are positively brilliant?

We can only hope that European football doesn’t inflict any damage on the feel good factor when Celtic and Rangers play on Thursday night.

There is absolutely no justification for thinking Brendan Rodgers’ side will get anything out of their visit to RB Leipzig in the Europa League. Celtic’s away record in Europe was abysmal before Brendan got here and nothing has changed following his arrival.

Rangers are entitled to approach their home game with Spartak Moscow with a higher degree of confidence based on their performances against Villareal and Rapid Vienna.

But Steven Gerrard’s side will need to raise their game substantially after a woeful display against lowly Hamilton Accies because there’ll be no hyperactive defenders intent on self harm on the opposing side to get them out of a jam on this occasion.

Still, the best of luck to the pair of them. Only those who support Aberdeen and Hearts are entitled to hope that self-esteem is seriously impaired by malfunction in Europe before they have to deal with Glasgow’s finest at the weekend.

Those who support Celtic and Rangers, meanwhile, will hope that the Betfred Cup final is contested by their clubs on a day when ticket allocation will not be a topic of conversation beyond how quickly a fifty-fifty split can be taken up by a voracious public.

All this positivity surrounding our domestic game will not be felt by those who support teams at the distressed end of the league table, of course, but what country doesn’t have competitions involving the haves and the have nots?

For example, Dundee are at home to the league leaders, Hearts, tomorrow night.

Given the fact that winning any game, league or cup, at Dens Park has been beyond them this season, you’d be more inclined to back Elvis for the now vacant Albion Rovers job than Jim McIntyre’s side to come up trumps.

McIntyre looks, on the face of it, to have the mother and father of all jobs on his hands when it comes to turning Dundee in a more positive direction.

They’re bottom of the table because they can’t score at one end of the pitch and can’t keep the ball out of their own net at the the other end.

It’s your classic recipe for disaster, but to the manager’s way of thinking there might be one step that could be taken to help the team.

That would be the appointment of Billy Dodds as his assistant, re-uniting the managerial partnership which once won Ross County a major trophy when they were a double act in the Highands.

But there’s a problem.

A vociferous element within the Dundee support aren’t having the idea and the people who run the club don’t want to alienate them and spark a civil war by granting the manager his wish.

That can’t be right, can it?

I fully endorse the statement made immortal by Jock Stein when he said that football without fans was nothing.

But big Jock, for one, would never have had any fan tell him what he could, or could not, do.

There are lines of demarcation which can be drawn without denigrating the paying customer.

When mis-management of the club’s affairs at directorial level put Dundee’s future in jeopardy five years ago Dodds, then assistant manager of the club, voted against the administrator’s Company Voluntary Arrangement in protest against the boardroom bunglers who had cost him the best part of £80,000 in lost earnings.

Now that personal stance makes Billy a pariah in the eyes of the Dundee fans.

Dodds was made unemployed, lost a hefty sum of money that would have helped support his wife and family and is now still feeling the draught years later.

At the same time, the man who believes Dodds could help Dundee avoid immersion in a fight against relegation is told that can’t happen in case the fans get upset.

The same fans who’ll get upset if Dundee continue to be immersed in the fight to avoid relegation.

The same fans who’ll campaign for McIntyre’s removal if they see troubled waters reaching shoulder height at the foot of the league table.

They should stop and have a think about it

• Hugh Keevins