Hugh Keevins: Make A Name and Raise Your Game

There was one particular piece of criticism I always used to enjoy when I was multi-tasking as a broadcaster with a job as part of the written press thrown in for good measure.

It was the cry of "You're only trying to sell newspapers" whenever someone disliked the content of a story that happened to be hogging the headlines and had your byline on it.

On the basis that the publications I worked for didn't sell baked beans, three piece suites or gardening furniture then selling the newspapers they were printing on a daily basis always seemed like a pretty logical idea to me.

The thought came back to mind when Alloa Athletic defender Colin Hamilton was quoted as saying that Rangers' on-loan winger Nathan Oduwa was only "Trying to make a name for himself" by exhibiting his so called rainbow flick in the dying seconds of the Ibrox side's five-one win at Recreation Park on Sunday.

On the basis that the kid from Spurs is at Ibrox on loan for the season and doesn't wish to spend that time leaving his imprint on the subs bench then trying very hard to make a name for himself would seem like a good way to go about avoiding a year long period of anonymity.

And shouldn't every player in every division see the job of making a name for himself as a pre-requisite of being a professional footballer ?

It should be a contractual obligation to do everything you can to entertain the crowd who've paid to get into the match.

"Send them home happy" was the phrase Rangers' manager Mark Warburton used to summarise his philosophy with regard to customer satisfaction, and Oduwa seemed to me to be carrying out instructions to the letter.

Now we know he can do card tricks. The next job is to prove he can play poker as well.

In other words, is Nathan a one trick pony or can he actually play football well enough to get a regular place in Warburton's starting line-up ?

Whatever is the case, Nathan also deserves our undying gratitude for giving the Rangers fans something to go on about rather than continuing to see Scott Allan's alleged defection to Celtic as an act of treachery.

He's gone. Get over it by realising that Sunday's comprehensive dismantling of the opposition in Clackmannanshire will be a common occurence as Rangers storm towards a title win of mammoth proportions in the Championship.

Next up is Hibs at Ibrox on Sunday and that'll be the day when the home support think they can exorcise the memory of Allan once and for all by taking his former club apart, bit by bit, in a form of ritual humiliation designed to punish them for feathering Celtic's nest at Rangers' expense.

Hibs couldn't sell Allan to Rangers at any price on a matter of principle, the principle being that you don't sell your own fans short by transferring your number one asset to your direct competitor for the title.

But it was a good story while it lasted and the fledgling season is showing a pleasing inclination towards having a fund of tales to tell.

The conspiracy theory is that Hibs' manager, Alan Stubbs, and Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara sold their best players to Celtic because they used to play for the club and want to see them maintain their supremacy over Rangers.

It's all juvenile nonsense of course, but don't let reason get in the way of a good ding-dong or you'll upset the natural rhythm of the game in these parts.

But I do have to confess to undergoing a transformation in the body language department.

I always used to see my natural sense of pessimism as a source of comfort and not a default setting. If you journeyed through life expecting the worst then it was a bonus when the bad news didn't arrive as it was supposed to.

But now I find I can't shake off this optimistic sense of a season plump with promise.

Hearts are top of the Premiership table with a perfect run of four wins from the same number of games. Aberdeen also have an unblemished record.

Now the impression is beginning to form that Celtic might have a long job on their hands trying to disentangle themselves from these two clubs while getting about their business of winning a fifth successive league title.

Hearts and Aberdeen appear intent on trying to make a name for themselves. It's an epidemic.

And wouldn't the business of seeing how that story unfolds be made all the more interesting if Ronny Deila's side could make a name for themselves by eliminating Malmo and qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League ?

The Celtic fans have historically clung to the belief that they don't have friend in the world outside of their supporter base. And when Celtic coach John Collins said the rest of the teams in Scotland were't clever, or sharp, enough, to test his team the fall-out from that statement was that a growing number of people revelled in his side's inability to win their very next match at Kilmarnock.

But whether the country as a whole celebrates Celtic's entry to the Champions League, or it's a private party for the Hoops fans, the bottom line is that participation in Europe's biggest competition reflects well on Scotland.

We'd be making a name for ourselves. You know it makes sense.