retired_destiny1124

During that International break after the win over Celtic was when I finally landed Andrew Rollo. Craig McEwen had done ok at rightback for us, but Maurice Ross had been disappointing so far. McEwen hadn't played that well in Europe and against Celtic/Rangers- so I had been trying to find another rightback for awhile. Sunderland initially wouldn't talk to me at all about Rollo, but when my scouts told me they were talking to Fulham about him- I put our bid in on him. It cost us 3.5 Million- spaced out over 12 months- but we landed him when he decided he liked the opportunity to play in Scotland and Europe.

We went back into league play with a trip to Dens Park. Ross O'Donoghue got us off to a flying start when he scored in the first minute of play and we held a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead after Steven Milne had scored. It got a lot less comfortable when Tony Adams headed past Brownie in the 53rd minute and they were really surging to the attack. Dundee was finished though when Craig Pead lost control and headbutted Stephen Pearson directly in front of the referee at 69 minutes. The redcard killed their momentum and we ended up with an insurance goal in 2nd half extra time when Stephen Whalen scored to finish off a 3-1 win.

Right after the match we received word that we would be facing Boca for the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo in early December. It meant our match against Rangers was pushed to a midweek slot- something I wasn't too happy about in terms of preparing for them.

Dunfermline and Arboath staged a wonderful battle for the Challenge Cup- Dunfermline won the match 1-0 on a goal from Steven Hampshire.

Aberdeen were certainly proving they are were contenders this season. On Saturday they defeated the Rangers 2-0 and they turned around and fought Celtic to a 1-1 draw in a Monday match.

Our match at Stamford Road was quite a duel, but one that we ultimately came up short in. Without Christian Dailly patrolling the backline- we couldn't handle the tandem of Trezeguet and Stilian Petrov who both scored two goals apiece in their 4-3 win over us. We answered them goal for goal until Trezeguet's 88th minute marker. Ross O'Donoghue had one goal and Steven Milne two goals for us as we made do without injured Mark Kerr as well. It was a gritty performance, but with Valencia defeating Sturm Graz 1-0- it leaves us in a bad position- we almost certainly have to beat Valencia at Valencia to qualify. Rangers lost at last place Deportivo to put themselves in the same kind of dire straits as us.

Aberdeen certainly proved to us they are contenders for SPL honors at Pittodrie. They pushed us the entire match and held sway over much more of the play than we did. We managed to escape with a scoreless draw thanks to good work by Brownie- who made some sensational stops during the match. To be fair, they deserved to win the match, but we missed a couple great chances as well when Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto (who earned MOM honors) came up big with Steven Milne on his doorstep. Now I have to hope we are ready enough for Valencia in Spain.

Yes, the Valencia match was rough. There are matches when your squad just doesn't seem to have it- and we certainly played that way the first half there. The only reason we were even in the match at halftime was that Brownie was sharp in net. He did yield a goal to Miguel Angel Angulo, who lobbed it over him with perfect touch, but otherwise had stopped Javi Moreno three times and Vicente twice. My subs felt like desperation moves on my part to breathe some life into the squad. One move paid off as Kenny Miller scored the equalizer for us in the 64th minute after a nice pass from Stephen Pearson. Valencia dearly wanted this match as a win would likely clinch a spot in the next round- but we steadfastly defended and wound up with a 1-1 draw. Sturm Graz upset Chelsea 2-1 which leaves us in 4th place, trailing Sturm Graz by a point and Valencia by 2 points- and needing help to have a chance of advancing.

It was surprising how many of our own players were showing frustration about our current 4th place in the standings. This despite the fact that we had 2 matches in hand on 3rd place Aberdeen and 1 on Celtic and Rangers. We weren't even a third of the way through the season at the time- it was too soon to worry, since we hadn't even been playing bad. Still, it gave a bit more urgency to our match at Fir Park against Hearts. Antti Niemi was once again performing well in goal for them, but we finally managed to take the lead due to our constant pressure in the 26th minute when Stephen Pearson scorched a grass cutter past Niemi. We then helped them get back to even when Billy McKinlay headed past Roddy McKenzie (who was making his debut in net) for an own goal. We stormed right back into the lead thanks to Ross O'Donoghue's brilliant run. We tried hard to increase our lead in the 2nd half, but we couldn't solve Niemi again and had to be satisfied with the 2-1 win.

Our next match before the key Fir Park showdown with Sturm Graz was a trip to Rugby Park to face Kilmarnock. Mark Kerr started us when he rapped home a rebound after Colin Stewart stopped Stephen Pearson's header. Less than a minute later we were down to 10 men as Martin Wood earned a redcard for headbutting Gary McDonald. It mattered little though as Kerr was controlling the match. He started the 2nd half by scoring after a good pass in the area from Kiegan Parker. He then finished off the hat-trick when he sailed a curling shot past Stewart in the 50th minute for his 5th goal of the season. With the match firmly in hand, I took out our midfield and Martin Fotheringham took advantage of the playing time to score a goal in extra time to finish off our 4-0 win.

We had two things going for us as we hosted Sturm Graz for the last match in our Group play. One was our fans-- they were absolutely supportive and we needed that boost because we had to win this match or we were done in Europe for this season. The other thing was that Valencia had to travel to Stamford Bridge for their last match and had made some antagonistic statements during the week to stir up both the Chelsea fans and their club. I was happy about that since Chelsea already had clinched the top spot in the Group. We started out blazing against Sturm Graz. Our problem was their keeper Hans-Peter Berger was even hotter than our shooters. In the first 20 minutes alone we had 6 great scoring chances- but he stopped all of them. Even worse for us was their star striker Charles Amoah scored in the 23rd minute on their first real chance. I needn't have worried about our club quitting as instead Mark Kerr stepped up 2 minutes later and boomed a 25 yard free kick past Berger to get us back even. At 30 minutes Berger made another brilliant stop against Stephen Pearson, but Kenny Miller pounced on the rebound and sliced it past Berger into the net. We came close to a 3rd goal twice in the waning moments and twice more in the opening moments of the 2nd half- but Berger had regained his magic touch and we couldn't get one by him. In the 51st minute we were stunned when venerable Alexandr Mostovoi beat Pearson on the dribble and blistered a shot past Brownie to make it 2-2. It was all-or-nothing time for us, since only a win would help us. We changed to a more attacking formation and Billy McKinlay came on for Neil Scally. Berger frustrated us again with a couple more parries, but in the 69th minute it was Steven Hammell with a brilliant left side run and he crossed to Miller. Miller dove and drove the header past Berger and we were ahead again 3-2. A quick glance at the scoreboard told me the tale- Chelsea was beating Valencia 2-0, if we could hold on- we would advance. We went to a more defensive look and it really threw them off balance. They only managed one more good chance- and Gerald Strafner was high and wide with it. We missed the clinching goal, but it didn't matter as we ran out the time on the 3-2 win. The win and Valencia's loss meant that we had finished 2nd and would move on to the 2nd round of Group play.

In retrospect, the loss of Steven Nicholas and Kevin Twaddle was part of the cause of our struggles. They were both 'money' players- and though our youngsters were growing into those roles- this was still a new experience for Kenny Miller and Ross O'Donoghue. We had only won 1 match in our Group, but it was the match we 'had' to win- and we were moving on. Speaking of moving on- the Rangers weren't. Despite a last match win, they finished in 3rd in their Group.

The second Group pairings were announced the next day- a repeat of last season was my thought when I saw we were with Barca, Bayern and Liverpool.

shannon2007

Belated well done on the CL

retired_destiny1124

Belated thanks PM7

***

They announced the UEFA pairings for the next round and Rangers and Celtic will be facing off in it- everyone knew those two matches would be a war.

We faced Falkirk at Fir Park and I hoped we were readier for them this time. We had a lot of terrific chances, but Myles Hogarth was frustrating our best efforts and we headed into the last five minutes staring squarely at a scoreless draw. We managed to finally get the goal we needed though, when Lee Wilkie headed a cross from Paul Ritchie past Hogarth. John Connolly made a couple good stops in Falkirk's last minute attempt to get back to even and I was relieved when the final whistle sounded on our 1-0 win.

Scotland's friendly with Austria seemed to be a coming out party for Kiegan Parker. Parker, who hadn't scored an International goal going in, scored a hat-trick against the visiting Austrians and it was a 3-1 win for Scotland. Despite the win, there were rumors swirling that the failure to qualify for Europe will cost Kenny Dalglish his job.

Back in league play, I tried to get by with resting our first line, except for Brownie, in our match at Easter Road against Hibs. When Brownie didn't play well early, the choice backfired. We were down 2-0 at the 13 minute mark as Martin McIntosh and Sean Widera scored for them. We got a goal back early in the 2nd half when Kiegan Parker scored his first goal of the season for us (the International hat-trick must have reawakened his dormant scoring touch), but we couldn't find a way to even the match and lost by that 2-1 margin. With Barca coming up on Tuesday, I still felt it was the right choice to have the regulars ready.

Our match at Fir Park against Barca was a disappointment. We started great and had a 2-0 lead on goals by Mark Kerr and Kenny Miller. Unfortunately, we found out how many horses Barca has in the stable. Patrik Kluivert and Javier Saviola both scored and we went to halftime even at 2-2. Paul Scholes and Edgar Davids were causing us lots of problems as they had taken control of the play in the midfield. The second half was taut, with both clubs working hard and searching for the go-ahead goal. It was Kluivert again for Barca as he caused Christian Dailly problems all match and he scored the match winner in an 83rd minute rocket. We had played well, but well wasn't good enough against a club the caliber of Barca. On the other side of the Group, Liverpool easily handled Bayern in a 3-0 win at Anfield.

The Dundee United match was definately one of the low points of the season. We couldn't handle Eddie Annand and he scored a hat-trick. David Hannah added a single marker. Brownie was terrible- one of his worst matches to be sure. We did get goals from Neil Scally and Ross O'Donoghue, but it wasn't enough and both the Board and our fans were unhappy with the loss- and I couldn't blame them a bit. Celtic beat Rangers 2-1 at Ibrox and Aberdeen won at St.Johnstone as we dropped back into 4th place in the SPL.

We badly needed a win at Celtic Park. They were flying high atop the SPL and if we didn't slow them down, not only wouldn't we be in the race, they would be well out of sight. When David Fernandez scored at 11 minutes, I was wincing- since it wasn't a particularly good goal and if Brownie was off today- they were going to beat us easily. We responded strongly though and Kenny Miller's 17th minute header got us back to even. We took the lead just before halftime when Ross O'Donoghue set up Steven Hammell. They certainly came after us in the 2nd half and Bobby Petta sent a superb cross that Thomas Gaardsoe was able to deflect past Brownie to even the match at 2-2. They were like sharks around blood after that and only the fact that Brownie was marvelous in the last 10 minutes earned us the 2-2 final result. It wasn't the win we needed, but it was a better showing than the previous two matches.

There was no repeat of our troubles with St.Johnstone in hosting them at Fir Park. Scott McLean scored twice in the first 7 minutes to speed us on our way. Stephen Whalen, finally shedding some of his injury problems that season, added another and though we allowed a John Convery header in extra time, it was a 3-1 halftime lead. We put the match out of reach early in the 2nd half when McLean finished off his hat-trick and we cruised to the 4-1 win.

Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen had reached the midpoint of the season (we still had 2 matches in hand) and the thing that struck me about being 4th was that Celtic and Rangers were once again tearing up the rest of the league. Celtic had 14 wins in 19 matches and Rangers 13 wins. That is a pretty torrid pace and honestly I doubted that we could catch up to them if they stayed on anything like it the rest of the season. We were still suffering some of the ups and downs of a developing young club- and though we were playing well in my view, it was still not anywhere near that pace.

Christian Dailly let his anger get the better of him and earned a redcard at 10 minutes to leave us in the unenviable situation of down a man to one of the better clubs in Europe at their place. We managed a scoreless draw last time we were at Bayern, but they took care of that right away when Owen Hargreaves drilled a low shot past Brownie at 12 minutes. We kept plugging, but the few chances we had were snuffed out by Oliver Kahn. They finally clinched the match in the 83rd minute when Markus Babbel headed an Elber cross past Brownie. The 2-0 loss makes our chances of getting out of our Group look pretty slim. Barca defeated Liverpool in Barcelona in a close 1-0 match.

You are certainly right, we didn't really need Robert Malcolm. Why did I buy him then? Well, two reasons really. One was that Eddie Forrest was starting to get unhappy and I thought I might have to transfer list him. Two, taking him now kept another young talent from developing for Rangers. With Malcolm's flexibility to play anyplace on the backline- and his skills- he was a good fit as at least a gameday sub for us. His wages were on the low side and 1.8 Million wasn't that much to pay for a player of his caliber.

Before we travelled to Tokyo for our Intercontinental Cup match with Boca, we had the small business of a home match against the Rangers. This time around Brownie was a shade sharper than Stefan Klos and we made Stephen Pearson's 8th minute goal stand up for a satisfying 1-0 win. Celtic crushed Aberdeen 4-0, which leaves them head and shoulders above all three of us, while we moved into 3rd place and are only 3 points behind 'Gers with a match in hand.

We put up a good showing in the Intercontinental Cup, but Mariano Messera and Luizao scored late 2nd half goals and we fell to Boca 2-0. I caught flak for not starting our regular midfield, but this match- though showy- really meant very little to me personally and I wasn't going to risk injuries to our overworked midfielders at this point in the season.
35
As we started what I considered the second half of our season after the Intercontinental Cup loss, I emphasized to the club that we had a long way to go- and that we had to take it one match at a time. We couldn't get caught up in Celtic-Rangers, we just had to go win our matches and let the rest take care of itself.

We faced a key match as we returned from Tokyo- hosting 4th place Aberdeen at Fir Park. After a scoreless first half that saw both Brownie and Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto make brilliant saves, we finally took the lead when Kenny Miller scored on a half-volley at 49 minutes. Cato Guntveit continued to be a thorn in our side as he scored his 1st goal of the season to equalize at 53 minutes. It was tooth and nail down the stretch, but Steven Milne (subbing on for Kiegan Parker) scored the match winner on a header in the 83rd minute. The 2-1 win was a good one to start this portion of the season with. We did lose Mark Kerr to a bad gash on his leg that took numerous stitches to close- a couple weeks healing was what they thought.

Hearts, who were 11th in the SPL at the time, canned Craig Levein after their latest loss at home to Hibs. The rumor mill was wrong on Kenny Dalglish who managed to retain his job as National Coach- despite not qualifying for the Euro Championships. Kilmarnock sacked Jim Jefferies a day later as their 9th place standings was not par for what the Board expected.

In the incomprehensible world of tranfer movement- one stuck out- as Celtic sold Bobby Petta to Valencia for just over 10 Million. Why they would sell their best player, when they really didn't need the money, is beyond me- but it certainly pleased me as he was a huge problem for us to defense when playing them. It certainly will make them a worse club overall, so there were no complaints about the movement on my part.

It was a good time to face Hearts in the League Cup Quarterfinal. They were still in disarray and Assistant Manager Peter Houston was trying to hold things together. The best way to dispose of a rudderless club is get the lead early and keep pounding- and that is what we did. Keith Lasley, filling in admriably for the injured Kerr, scored to give us the lead. We added goals by Scott McLean and Ross O'Donoghue to lead 3-0 at halftime. We added one more late marker by Steven Milne in our easy 4-0 win. We will travel to face Dundee United in the Semifinal and St.Mirren will host Aberdeen in the other half.

When Jermaine McSporran missed practice for the third time that season- it was time to let him go. I paid him off on the rest of his contract and released him.

Our trip to St.Mirren was disappointing. Tony Williams and John Connolly staged a wonderful duel in net and the 1-1 score was certainly a fair one, but we really needed to beat them. Our only goal came from Scott McLean, who scored first, but they quickly answered when Christopher Wreh beat Connolly. Both clubs had splendid chances and it was a credit to the keepers that the scoreline was so low.

Kilmarnock surprised a lot of people and named George Graham as their new manager.

I can remember wondering "What do we have to do to get a goal?" after the match with Hibs. We absolutely pounded Edwin Zoetebier with shots- good shots- but we couldn't score. Kiegan Parker and Martin Wood both rang the pipes, but nothing was going in. Fortunately, Brownie was also equal to the test as he kept our side clean too and we wound up with a scoreless draw. There was some disappointment with the draw with our fans- and to be honest I was thinking what to do up front- and refiguring.

The Dundee match at Fir Park was somewhat of a revelation for me. I had heard from Gary Shearer and several coaches that Philip Creaney was really playing well on reserves. He got a chance to start against Dundee and played extremely well. In fact the whole club played very well as we got goals from Scott McLean and Stephen Whalen and a pair from Kenny Miller as we easily rolled past them 4-0.

We closed out 2005 with a match at Brockville Park against stubborn Falkirk. Early in the match it certainly seemed like Myles Hogarth had our number...again. He stopped both Mark Kerr and Stephen Pearson on excellent runs. At 28 minutes Scott McLean found the chink in Hogarth's armor and slipped a ball under him to give us the lead. We got an insurance goal when Kenny Miller headed past Hogarth in the opening moments of the 2nd half, but that was all we could get as he closed the gate again after that. Falkirk couldn't get much going offensively against us as we maintained control of the midfield throughout the match. The 2-0 win, combined with a Rangers 2-2 draw at Kilmarnock, left us ahead of them on goal differential and in 2nd place. We were both 7 points adrift of SPL leading Celtic.

retired_destiny1124

It was amazing how the beginning of a New Year lightened everyone's spirits. There was no more grumbling about us not topping the table and such- it probably did help that we were listed in 2nd place.

Well we were in 2nd until we travelled to Ibrox to face the Rangers. In a matchup of the two top keepers in SPL- Stefan Klos was just a bit better than Brownie in this match. It didn't help that overall the Rangers were much sharper than we were. Tore Andre Flo gave them the lead midway through the first half, but Ross O'Donoghue wasted little time answering the goal. Klos kept us from gaining the lead with some stellar work. Late in the 2nd half it was Denny Landzaat who banged in a rebound to give the lead. Klos again stopped some good chances as we attempted to rally and we lost by that
2-1 margin.

I was still tinkering with the midfield when we faced Kilmarnock at Fir Park and it looked it as we struggled through a scoreless first half. After Scott McLean injured his knee, Kiegan Parker came on and sparked us. He scored on
a header to give us the lead and then setup Kenny Miller to score. Kilmarnock was fighting til the end and drew a goal back when Sean Hessey deflected a Jerome Vareille free kick past John Connolly. We stuck with our grinding play and held on for the close 2-1 win.

Yes, it was a stunning development. It seemed like I was holding my breath for the whole week until we completed the deal. I can't explain why they made the deal either, but I was happy they did. How did it all happen? Hmm, I think it was one of my scouts that told me the word on the street in Middlesbrough was that they were in serious discussions to purchase him. I
couldn't believe that Rangers would part with Charlie Miller, but they were enamored with their Dutch boys and they had just purchase Steve McManaman, so I guess they just didn't see him as a good enough player- their mistake.
Charlie was a player I had wanted for awhile, but before this he hadn't been willing to abandon Rangers to play for us. Now he was. I had a good size transfer fund available and 3 Million for him was on the low side of his
value. You know what was really nice? He was truly excited to come play for us. Now, his arrival did overload our midfield, but that is the kind of problem you welcome when you can get a player of his caliber. Something else
he told me after arriving was that he was hoping regular play for us would help his chances on the National side. He had only capped 3 times, and he saw our players earning notice and caps- so it helped encourage him to
choose us over Middlesbrough. He added veteran leadership as well, something that we needed at this point.

Tynecastle Park against Hearts marked Charlie Miller's debut and it looked like a memorable one when he scored at 14 minutes, but the goal was waved off on Mark Kerr's offside. We were slightly distracted by the call and Juanjo took advantage, outracing our defense and snapping a shot past Brownie to give them the lead. Antti Niemi was at his frustrating best for them and stopping everything. We finally broke through to even the match late in the half when Charlie floated a pass in and Steven Milne directed it
past Niemi. We kept pounding away in the 2nd half and though Niemi was very good (he earned his MOM honors), we won the match when Alan Archibald's through ball found Kenny Miller and Miller sent a cannon shot past Niemi. We closed out the 2-1 on a strong note as Hearts didn't have a shot on goal in the 2nd half.

We had an easy time when we hosted Division 1 Ayr in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup. We were playing mostly 2nd line players, but it didn't matter as we throttled them in their own zone- only allowing one shot on Connolly
all match. Kiegan Parker scored a pair of goals in a 3 minute stretch in the first half, and that was all we would need to move on to the next round.

Yes, that match against Celtic was very frustrating. We outplayed them by a wide margin, but we couldn't handle their crossing as Sutton and Xavier both scored on headers. Still, we did manage a draw thanks to goals from Steven Milne and Mark Kerr- but it was a match that we truly deserved to win. The draw allowed Rangers to move within 2 points of Celtic, but we were still a ways back from both of them- solidly in 3rd place.

On the edge of reentering Champions Cup competition, we had to travel to St.Johnstone. Playing mostly 2nd liners in the match, we got productive performances from Stephen Whalen- who scored in the opening moments- and Martin Wood. Wood was named MOM as he scored his first 2 goals of the season. We held control throughout the match and it was a comfortable 3-0 win.

It was pretty evident that our European run was looking doomed after Liverpool handily beat us 2-0 at Anfield. Steven Gerrard scored on an early header and Djibril Cisse also headed past Brownie early in the 2nd half. We managed as many shots as they did, but we couldn't solve Sander Westerveld. The 2-0 loss left us with no wins and prospects dim going into our return
matches. Barca beat Bayern in Munich by a 1-0 score.

Our rematch with Liverpool at Fir Park ended our European hopes for this season. Michael Owen converted a penalty kick in first half extra time on a highly disputed call from the Assistant and Vladimir Spicer scored to finally clinch the match for them in the 88th minute. Just as was the case in the last match- we had as much pressure as them- but Sander Westerveld, who earned MOM honors, had our number and we couldn't score. It was frustrating, but all we are left with in our Group is a spoiler role now.

retired_destiny1124

We got to host Hearts at Fir Park in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup. They were featuring the debut of new Manager David Moyes, but we didn't give him any joy. Scott McLean and Kiegan Parker scored first half goals as we
dominated the midfield on them. Stephen Whalen added his 5th goal of the season in the 2nd half. We did yield a consolation goal by Mark Wilson, but ran out the time from there on a 3-1 win.

The papers the next day called it a 'shock' defeat- and I guess it was in some ways. When the other club gets three shots on goal, and they all go in- well, it was a long day for Brownie. Eddie Annand continued to be a royal
pain in the a** as he escaped marking to score two goals. David Hannah also added a goal and Dundee United crushed our chances of repeating as League Cup holders as they beat us 3-0 at Dunfermline in the Semifinal. After the match I resolved to try and get Brownie a bit more rest- he was worn out from our heavy schedule at this point in the season. We also lost Mark Kerr
in the match for 3 weeks due to a twisted knee- all in all it was a rotten day.

We followed that with a very strong effort at Fir Park against Hibs, but we wound up in a disappointing 1-1 draw. Ross O'Donoghue scored his 10th goal of the season to boost us into the early lead, but brand-new acquisition Jamie Smith scored the equalizer midway through the first half. We pounded away at Edwin Zoetebier, but just couldn't get another goal past him. Adding injury to insult, we lost Scott McLean for a month to a calf injury.

There was good news from UEFA as Rangers defeated Juventus 2-1 and Aberdeen edged Monaco 1-0 in the first leg of the 4th round. Oh? I forgot to tell you about the Rangers-Celtic war in the 3rd round. Celtic went into Ibrox in the
first leg and handed them a tough 3-2 loss. Rangers rebounded and beat Celtic 2-0 at Celtic Park in a match that went down to the final moments with Celtic trying to score the goal they needed to advance- and not getting it.

Our match at Tannadice Park looked like more of the same in the begining of the match. Dundee United took advantage of poor positioning by Brownie to scored the first goal when Steven Thompson looped a shot over him. Shortly after that Paul Ritchie was yellow carded for pushing Eddie Annand in the area and Annand converted the penalty kick and we were down and struggling 2-0. A funny thing happened on the way to rout though, and the boys just collectively bumped up their level of play. We got a goal back when Stephen Pearson tried to cross into the middle and it sailed past everyone into the far corner of the net for a bizarre goal. Three minutes later we were back
to even when Andrew Rollo made a sizzling cross that Steven Milne deflected past Alan Combe. I think the home fans could sense there was a little anger leftover from the humiliating loss in the League Cup Semifinal. We stormed into the lead midway through the second half when Ross O'Donoghue drove a rising shot past Combe. We clinched the match as Kenny Miller volleyed a pass from Pearson past Combe. DundeeU never had a chance to mount a comeback as David McCracken earned a redcard for being the last man and taking down O'Donoghue. With only 10 men, they struggled to get the ball out of their
end. The win left us a point behind Rangers for 2nd place (they had 2 matches in hand) and 4 points back of Celtic (they had 1 match in hand). We were all but assured 3rd place at least going into the last portion of the season. The next day Rangers went into Celtic Park and edged them 1-0 to take over 1st place on goal differential. Both Rangers and Celtic were 4 points clear of us, with Rangers still with a match in hand.

St.Johnstone sacked Alex Totten after their 2-1 loss at Aberdeen.

After our trip to Barca, we were still without a point in Champs Cup 2nd Group play. They had too much class for us as Javier Saviola and Paul
Scholes scored in the first half on John Connolly. Edgar Davids added a late freekick for the last goal in their 3-0 win. I had decided this was a chance to rest some of our first line players for the SPL stretch drive, so many 2nd line players were getting shots to play in this one and they just weren't up to the quality of play we saw from Barca.

Disaster in the 2nd leg of the 4th round for Rangers and Aberdeen. Rangers lost 3-1 to Juventus at Torino (out on 4-3 aggregate) and Aberdeen went down to Monaco 2-0 (out on 2-1 aggregate).

Our next match was our Scottish Cup 5th round tilt against Kilmarnock. I liked that we were hosting them at Fir Park, since they had proven a troublesome squad at times. The first half was frustrating to watch. We continually generated good scoring chances, only to see our shooters missing the net. At halftime it was still scoreless- we had had 9 shots, but only 1 on goal. Kilmarnock had managed only 1 shot period and hadn't seen our area since the opening moments of the match. The second half started out with more of the same as we couldn't hit the net. Finally, Charlie Miller took things into his own hands and knifed through their coverage to score his 1st goal at Motherwell. We didn't let off the pressure, though they did rally for a couple of chances that Brownie saved. The 1-0 result put us in the
Semifinals against St.Johnstone- hosting them at Fir Park. On the other side, a likely final opponent might be Celtic- who were hosting Dundee at Celtic Park.

It was another game effort as we hosted Bayern at Fir Park, but also another one we wound up a goal short in. Nonato gave them the lead in the opening moments as he whisked a shot past John Connolly. We wasted little time evening the match up as Ross O'Donoghue continued to demonstrate his improved level of play by scoring on a nice run. Bayern responded as Carsten Jancker got up to deflect a looping cross from Owen Hargreaves past Connolly at 14 minutes. We tried to rally, but were continually blunted by better technical play and Oliver Kahn's steady work in the Bayern net. The 2-1 loss drops us to 6 straight losses in our Group.

St. Johnstone named Englishman Peter Taylor as their new manager.

Rangers midweek match hosting Dundee United brought all SPL clubs up to 30 matches. Their 3-1 win put them three points clear of Celtic for the top spot and 7 points clear of us.

Rangers knocked off St.Johnstone 2-0 at Ibrox and Celtic fell 3-2 to Kilmarnock to increase the Rangers lead at the top of the SPL.

In the League Cup Final, Dundee United used a late Eddie Annand goal to edge St.Mirren and capture the Cup. Hasney Aljofree earned MOM honors for stifling the St.Mirren forwards.

We hosted St.Mirren at Fir Park in a match I dearly wanted to win. We needed to start getting some momentum for stretch run in SPL. We got neither from this match. It was another match that we outplayed them by a large margin, but Brownie just didn't have a good match. They got goals from Ryan Robinson and Christopher Wreh and the only thing we could manage against Steve Banks was a late consolation goal by Mark Kerr. It was time for a back to the basics training approach in the following week.

It didn't turn out to help much. In a match where we could have cemented third place, we fell short again for our 2nd straight league loss as Aberdeen beat us 2-1 at Pittodrie. Derek Young's header past Brownie was the lone goal in the first half, but they went up 2-0 when Quino scored a fluke goal early in the 2nd half. We fought back with a Mark Kerr goal, but fell short again. We played well enough to win the match and outshot them by a 17-8 margin, but we were in one of those stretches where playing well wasn't enough because we weren't overcoming the one or two bad breaks against us.

retired_destiny1124

We hosted St.Johnstone in the Scottish Cup Semifinal and before the match I spent some time with the club talking about the effort that we needed in both this match- and for the remainder of the season. They certainly showed that kind of effort as we handily beat St.Johnstone 3-1. It really helped us to have Scott McLean back up front- we hadn't been getting any scoring from our forwards lately and he scored twice in the first half- actually came close to having 4 in the half. Kiegan Parker added a goal midway through the 2nd half and though we allowed them a consolation goal, we controlled the match pretty much from start to finish. The win means that we will face off against Celtic for the Scottish cup- as they defeated Dundee 2-0.

In our last match before the Playoff Group play started, we travelled to
Ibrox to face the Rangers. The match was just like the story of the season, we played well- but couldn't score a key goal. Brownie only gave up a rebound goal to Dick Landzaat, but that was the lone goal in the match as Stefan Klos completely shut us down. The 1-0 loss paired with Aberdeen's crushing 4-2 win over Celtic at Pittodrie meant that 'Gers had all but wrapped up the title with a 9 point lead over Celtic. Aberdeen's win meant that we would be fighting them for 3rd place as they were back within 3 points of us heading into the Playoff Group. Celtic certainly seemed assured of 2nd place.

Our first match in the Playoff Group was hosting Dundee. Things were
slightly grim at halftime as we trailed 1-0 on a goal by Georgy Nemsadze.
Still, we came out and played much better in the 2nd half and were rewarded when Ross O'Donoghue scored to even the match. We needed the win badly and were pulling out all stops on the attack. It was Kenny Miller who finally gave us the lead with a goal at 85 minutes and that was enough to give us the hard fought 2-1 win. The surprise player for us was Steven Thomson. Thomson had not played senior football until the Semifinal against St.Johnstone, but played well there and has earned the chance to start down the stretch- since I wasn't really happy with Scally or McKinlay's play this season. Celtic won at Dundee United by a 3-1 margin and Rangers helped us out with a 2-0 win over visiting Aberdeen.

Turkish side Besiktas (which knocked out Juventus) will face Manchester
United for the UEFA Crown. Besiktas disposed of Celta and Manchester United edged Monaco in the Semifinals.

Our match at Celtic Park was a preview of the intensity both clubs would
have when we met again in the Scottish Cup Final. Unfortunately, Christian Dailly showed too much intensity and earned a redcard in the 13th minute of play. Robert Malcolm came on to fill the spot and surprisingly we survived the first half unscathed and it was scoreless at halftime. We hadn't managed much in the way of offense- being a man down- but Steven Hammell stunned the huge Celtic Park crowd when he fired a long shot past Robert Douglas off the bottom of the cross bar at 60 minutes. It was quickly 1-1 though as Emile Heskey overpowered Malcolm and headed past Brownie at 62 minutes. It appeared we might actually steal the win when Didier Agathe was called for pushing Charlie Miller in the area at 83 minutes. Miscommunication caused young Andrew Rollo to take the penalty kick- and Douglas batted his shot over the net to save Celtic. The 1-1 draw was a decent result for us having played most of the match with only 10 men. Aberdeen fell again, this time
2-1 to Dundee United at home, and we were 8 points clear of them with 3 to play. Rangers dumped Dundee 2-0 to clinch the SPL Championship.

Dundee United was next at Fir Park. As evidenced by the thrashing they
handed us in League Cup Semi- we had problems with them all season. It was a much stronger start for us as we controlled the first half of play. All we had to show for it was a Scott McLean volley past Alan Combe, but still we had the lead at halftime. McLean struck again at 60 minutes and suddenly we got too comfortable, we should have known they would rally. They stormed back and Eddie Annand scored at 73 minutes. They were really pushing us, but Brownie made the key save he needed to- stopping David Hannah on a close-in blast. We held on and with the 2-1 win clinched at least a 3rd place finish. Rangers knocked off Celtic 1-0, which meant we were 4 points back of them with 2 matches to play. Aberdeen beat Dundee on the road and clinched 4th place with the win.

In the first leg of Champs Cup Semifinal, Chelsea thumped Roma 3-1 at
Stamford Bridge and Dortmund edged Milan 1-0.

Something I had seen coming for awhile came to a head before out trip to
Pittodrie. Ross O'Donoghue, accompanied by agent (bah), came and demanded to be placed on the transfer list at his request- he wanted to be on a 'bigger' club. As with Nicholas, I refused to let him be on the list at his request, but did place him on the transfer list at a price of 10 Million. He was upset about that- but I told him to take it or leave it- and they accepted the approach.

You could almost sense us working our frustration out over some of the
disappointments of this season as we played at Pittodrie. It was like we
wanted to make a statement to Aberdeen- and we did. Kenny Miller gave us the halftime lead when he directed a corner past Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto for the lone goal in the half. Brownie had to be sharp though and stopped Derek Young and Quino on good attempts. We moved ahead 2-0 when Charlie Miller made a brilliant run and rocketed a shot past Broto at 54 minutes. The match turned at the midway mark when it appeared that Quino had drawn a goal back for the home side, only to see it waved off on his offside. We took advantage of their distraction and Philip Maguire was whistled for knocking down Scott McLean in the area. Kenny Miller converted the penalty kick for his 20th goal of the season and we were up 3-0. Even after allowing a late Callum McHattie goal, we were strong and played out the 3-1 win. Combined with Celtic's 2-2 draw at home against Dundee- we were within 2 points of 2nd place. Celtic closed out at Aberdeen, while we faced the daunting challenge of ending 'Gers record setting 14 match winning skein at Ibrox after they had beaten Dundee United 2-1. I hadn't realized it, but Kenny Miller had broken the scoring record for us with that 20th goal.

Dortmund and Chelsea would be the opponents for the Champions Cup title
match, as they moved past the two Italian sides in the 2nd leg of their
semis.

It was a packed house as the 'Gers fans came to see their club finish off a successful campaign. The fans may have assumed that they would win, but I think the players knew that we were coming to play. We had to win and get help from Aberdeen to beat out Celtic for 2nd place, so the first order of business was for us to end the 14 match winning streak. Kenny Miller made a statement against his former club for us at 23 minutes when he overpowered Lorenzo Amoruso to deflect a Mark Kerr cross past Stefan Klos. We took that lead to halftime as Brownie was very sharp in stopping Barry Ferguson and Tore Andre Flo on good chances. They poured the pressure on us to start the 2nd half, but Christian Dailly and Alan Archibald were doing an excellent job of keeping the pressure out from directly in front of Brownie. A roar went up from the crowd early in the 2nd half when big-screen highlights showed Callum McHattie scoring to put Aberdeen ahead of Celtic 1-0, the fans were against Celtic more than they were against us. There was more cheering
shortly as Quino put Aberdeen up 2-0 at the 75 minute mark of their match. Against the flow of play, Ross O'Donoghue broke clean and chipped over Klos at 80 minutes to rock the 'Gers and though they struggled to rally, we stood up and wouldn't let them through our midfield. As our match wound down, there were many sighs and groans as surging Celtic struck back with a goal by Emile Heskey. With our match done and the winning streak ended- we rushed back to catch the final moments of the Aberdeen-Celtic match in the clubhouse. Though Celtic was storming, Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto was keeping them at bay as he stopped a Chris Sutton header. Celtic's last gasp was Heskey breaking through, but then missing wide of the net just before the whistle sounded. The 2-1 win by Aberdeen was enough to move us into 2nd place, a point above Celtic and really provide an excellent feeling on the end of a tough SPL season for us.

Manchester United beat upstart Besiktas 2-0 to win the UEFA Cup on a very
strong performance.

Emile Heskey earned SPL Player of the Year honors, beating out Tore Andre
Flo. Surprisingly, Scott McLean finished in 3rd in the balloting. Kiegan
Parker was selected SPL Young Player of the Year, beating out his teammate Ross O'Donoghue. Labinot Harbuzi finished in 3rd. After having 7 players on the SPL Players Team of the Year two seasons ago- we had only one this season- as Brownie was selected as the top keeper.

Dortmund soared to beat Chelsea 2-0 to grab the Champions Cup. Dede and
Pavel Nedved both scored on 2nd half headers for the goals in the match. It was a disappointing end to what had been a great run by Chelsea.

Oh yes. Celtic was ready for the Scottish Cup Final. They were very unhappy about missing out on 2nd place and were jumping on us in the opening moments. They hit the uprights 3 times in the first 10 minutes, but all of them bounced out- much to Brownie's relief. For the first 20 minutes, we couldn't get the ball out of our zone at all. Scott McLean finally had our first chance at 23 minutes, but he also rang the post. He got up to head one at Douglas on a cross from O'Donoghue, but Douglas blocked it away. Mark Kerr then sent another cross into McLean and Douglas stopped that one as well, but Charlie Miller drove the rebound past him and we had the lead at 26 minutes. We were doing an excellent job blunting runs by their midfield and that was making Sutton and Heskey ineffectual. But, you can't let either of them loose for a minute- and at 73 minutes Heskey did get loose from Alan Archibald and drilled a shot that Brownie couldn't snag and we were back to 1-1. It was edge-of-the-seat time for all the fans at Hampden Park and many thought we were headed to extra time. Kenny Miller had other ideas as he made an excellent header at 89 minutes- only to see Douglas get a hand on it. The ball bounced right back to Kenny again though and he didn't miss the
2nd time- scoring the match winner as we knocked them off for the Scottish Cup by that 2-1 margin.

retired_destiny1124

We hosted St.Johnstone in the Scottish Cup Semifinal and before the match I spent some time with the club talking about the effort that we needed in both this match- and for the remainder of the season. They certainly showed that kind of effort as we handily beat St.Johnstone 3-1. It really helped us to have Scott McLean back up front- we hadn't been getting any scoring from our forwards lately and he scored twice in the first half- actually came close to having 4 in the half. Kiegan Parker added a goal midway through the 2nd half and though we allowed them a consolation goal, we controlled the match pretty much from start to finish. The win means that we will face off against Celtic for the Scottish cup- as they defeated Dundee 2-0.

In our last match before the Playoff Group play started, we travelled to
Ibrox to face the Rangers. The match was just like the story of the season, we played well- but couldn't score a key goal. Brownie only gave up a rebound goal to Dick Landzaat, but that was the lone goal in the match as Stefan Klos completely shut us down. The 1-0 loss paired with Aberdeen's crushing 4-2 win over Celtic at Pittodrie meant that 'Gers had all but wrapped up the title with a 9 point lead over Celtic. Aberdeen's win meant that we would be fighting them for 3rd place as they were back within 3 points of us heading into the Playoff Group. Celtic certainly seemed assured of 2nd place.

Our first match in the Playoff Group was hosting Dundee. Things were
slightly grim at halftime as we trailed 1-0 on a goal by Georgy Nemsadze.
Still, we came out and played much better in the 2nd half and were rewarded when Ross O'Donoghue scored to even the match. We needed the win badly and were pulling out all stops on the attack. It was Kenny Miller who finally gave us the lead with a goal at 85 minutes and that was enough to give us the hard fought 2-1 win. The surprise player for us was Steven Thomson. Thomson had not played senior football until the Semifinal against St.Johnstone, but played well there and has earned the chance to start down the stretch- since I wasn't really happy with Scally or McKinlay's play this season. Celtic won at Dundee United by a 3-1 margin and Rangers helped us out with a 2-0 win over visiting Aberdeen.

Turkish side Besiktas (which knocked out Juventus) will face Manchester
United for the UEFA Crown. Besiktas disposed of Celta and Manchester United edged Monaco in the Semifinals.

Our match at Celtic Park was a preview of the intensity both clubs would
have when we met again in the Scottish Cup Final. Unfortunately, Christian Dailly showed too much intensity and earned a redcard in the 13th minute of play. Robert Malcolm came on to fill the spot and surprisingly we survived the first half unscathed and it was scoreless at halftime. We hadn't managed much in the way of offense- being a man down- but Steven Hammell stunned the huge Celtic Park crowd when he fired a long shot past Robert Douglas off the bottom of the cross bar at 60 minutes. It was quickly 1-1 though as Emile Heskey overpowered Malcolm and headed past Brownie at 62 minutes. It appeared we might actually steal the win when Didier Agathe was called for pushing Charlie Miller in the area at 83 minutes. Miscommunication caused young Andrew Rollo to take the penalty kick- and Douglas batted his shot over the net to save Celtic. The 1-1 draw was a decent result for us having played most of the match with only 10 men. Aberdeen fell again, this time
2-1 to Dundee United at home, and we were 8 points clear of them with 3 to play. Rangers dumped Dundee 2-0 to clinch the SPL Championship.

Dundee United was next at Fir Park. As evidenced by the thrashing they
handed us in League Cup Semi- we had problems with them all season. It was a much stronger start for us as we controlled the first half of play. All we had to show for it was a Scott McLean volley past Alan Combe, but still we had the lead at halftime. McLean struck again at 60 minutes and suddenly we got too comfortable, we should have known they would rally. They stormed back and Eddie Annand scored at 73 minutes. They were really pushing us, but Brownie made the key save he needed to- stopping David Hannah on a close-in blast. We held on and with the 2-1 win clinched at least a 3rd place finish. Rangers knocked off Celtic 1-0, which meant we were 4 points back of them with 2 matches to play. Aberdeen beat Dundee on the road and clinched 4th place with the win.

In the first leg of Champs Cup Semifinal, Chelsea thumped Roma 3-1 at
Stamford Bridge and Dortmund edged Milan 1-0.

Something I had seen coming for awhile came to a head before out trip to
Pittodrie. Ross O'Donoghue, accompanied by agent (bah), came and demanded to be placed on the transfer list at his request- he wanted to be on a 'bigger' club. As with Nicholas, I refused to let him be on the list at his request, but did place him on the transfer list at a price of 10 Million. He was upset about that- but I told him to take it or leave it- and they accepted the approach.

You could almost sense us working our frustration out over some of the
disappointments of this season as we played at Pittodrie. It was like we
wanted to make a statement to Aberdeen- and we did. Kenny Miller gave us the halftime lead when he directed a corner past Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto for the lone goal in the half. Brownie had to be sharp though and stopped Derek Young and Quino on good attempts. We moved ahead 2-0 when Charlie Miller made a brilliant run and rocketed a shot past Broto at 54 minutes. The match turned at the midway mark when it appeared that Quino had drawn a goal back for the home side, only to see it waved off on his offside. We took advantage of their distraction and Philip Maguire was whistled for knocking down Scott McLean in the area. Kenny Miller converted the penalty kick for his 20th goal of the season and we were up 3-0. Even after allowing a late Callum McHattie goal, we were strong and played out the 3-1 win. Combined with Celtic's 2-2 draw at home against Dundee- we were within 2 points of 2nd place. Celtic closed out at Aberdeen, while we faced the daunting challenge of ending 'Gers record setting 14 match winning skein at Ibrox after they had beaten Dundee United 2-1. I hadn't realized it, but Kenny Miller had broken the scoring record for us with that 20th goal.

Dortmund and Chelsea would be the opponents for the Champions Cup title
match, as they moved past the two Italian sides in the 2nd leg of their
semis.

It was a packed house as the 'Gers fans came to see their club finish off a successful campaign. The fans may have assumed that they would win, but I think the players knew that we were coming to play. We had to win and get help from Aberdeen to beat out Celtic for 2nd place, so the first order of business was for us to end the 14 match winning streak. Kenny Miller made a statement against his former club for us at 23 minutes when he overpowered Lorenzo Amoruso to deflect a Mark Kerr cross past Stefan Klos. We took that lead to halftime as Brownie was very sharp in stopping Barry Ferguson and Tore Andre Flo on good chances. They poured the pressure on us to start the 2nd half, but Christian Dailly and Alan Archibald were doing an excellent job of keeping the pressure out from directly in front of Brownie. A roar went up from the crowd early in the 2nd half when big-screen highlights showed Callum McHattie scoring to put Aberdeen ahead of Celtic 1-0, the fans were against Celtic more than they were against us. There was more cheering
shortly as Quino put Aberdeen up 2-0 at the 75 minute mark of their match. Against the flow of play, Ross O'Donoghue broke clean and chipped over Klos at 80 minutes to rock the 'Gers and though they struggled to rally, we stood up and wouldn't let them through our midfield. As our match wound down, there were many sighs and groans as surging Celtic struck back with a goal by Emile Heskey. With our match done and the winning streak ended- we rushed back to catch the final moments of the Aberdeen-Celtic match in the clubhouse. Though Celtic was storming, Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto was keeping them at bay as he stopped a Chris Sutton header. Celtic's last gasp was Heskey breaking through, but then missing wide of the net just before the whistle sounded. The 2-1 win by Aberdeen was enough to move us into 2nd place, a point above Celtic and really provide an excellent feeling on the end of a tough SPL season for us.

Manchester United beat upstart Besiktas 2-0 to win the UEFA Cup on a very
strong

retired_destiny1124

It was a quiet summer- except for the European Championships going on- there wasn't a lot of player movement of note in the SPL. We were the exceptions as I landed young forward Shaun Maloney from Celtic for 3.8 Million. He hadn't been featured much for them and it was time to grab him before he did- since he is one of the top young Scottish players. I wasn't sure where he would fit in the lineup yet, but the cost seemed fine for a player of his overall skill set. We also added a player that I had been chasing for almost two seasons- defensive midfielder Michael Stewart. He cost 1.5 Million, but adding him to our lineup will certainly make us better. I released Brian McAllister and Billy McKinlay on free. McKinley had vented to the press about how he had lost confidence in me down the stretch last season, it was time for him to find a management job elsewhere.

The announcement on the European pairings brought a big surprise. Not only did Rangers and us qualify for Champs Cup- Celtic did also. Four teams qualified for UEFA- Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United and St.Johnstone and Kilmarnock is in Inter-toto.

It was a huge upset when Russia won the European Championship. They outlasted France in penalty kicks in the final after a 1-1 score. To get there, Russia knocked out England in the Semifinals, while France had put Italy out of the tourney.

We also landed Jamie Fullarton on Bosman. With Fullarton, Stewart, Thomson and Scally- I felt we were much better than last season at our defensive midfield position. In significant leavings- Beto and Paul Gallacher were both headed to England- and I wasn't sorry to see them leave.

In the Playoff Round of UEFA Dundee knocked off St.Johnstone on a 3-1 aggregate to move to the Qualifying round.

About a week before the season began, we received a surprise bid for Keith Lasley from Millwall. They offered us 3.1 Million for him- certainly more than I valued him at. With that much offered, and the fact I was still trying to find playing time for developing Philip Creaney and Ryan McCann- it was a no-brainer to allow him to move to Millwall. We also sold young James McFadden to Sheffield United for 1.8 Million. My coaches were split on whether he would amount to anything and since we had other midfield options, it made more sense to let him move on.

We opened the season at Tannadice Park with Dundee United. It was a good test to start the season, since they had proven very difficult for us last season. Mark Kerr scored in the 2nd minute and Shaun Maloney almost had a goal in his debut of pairing with Kenny Miller- but Alan Combe made a fantastic save. Eddie Annand again proved hard to handle when he equalized for them at 12 minutes- escaping Christian Dailly's marking. I told Christian and Alan Archibald to quit trying to mark him and just cover the zones- he was less of a factor after that. We managed to edge them 2-1 when Stephen Pearson subbed on for Ross O'Donoghue and made a superb run before crossing to Kenny Miller- who half-volleyed the match winner past Combe. The one overriding feeling I had from the club as we headed into this season was that we were much more settled than in the past.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover that we wouldn't have to qualify for Group Play in Champs Cup. Celtic was in the 3rd phase of qualifying, but both Rangers and us were placed directly into Group play- I guess past holders get a little deferrance now and then.

Our first home match was also a test- Aberdeen came to visit. Our offense just seemed so much more explosive with the pairing of Kenny Miller and Shaun Maloney up front- this match was evidence of that. Maloney nailed a header for his first goal for us and then Miller scored a quick pair of goals to put us up 3-0 at halftime. Though Aberdeen played a strong 2nd half, they could not dent the scoreline and Brownie kept the clean sheet in our 3-0 win.

Midweek we finally were able to find a new home for Stuart Davidson. Dunfermline was happy to land him for 1.1 Million and it was certainly good for us to allow him to find some place to earn some playing time.

Next up was another club that had given us occasional problems last season as we went to Falkirk. Brockville Park wasn't much help to them as we sliced and diced them in the first half. We led at halftime 3-0 on goals from Mark Kerr, Scott McLean and Steven Milne. We played strong in the second half also, but were content to keep that lead and that was the final margin of our win. What was really encouraging is the fact that we featured a mix-n-match lineup for this- and we still were able to play at high level. I think the club realized there weren't going to be many changes (other than trying to move extra players) and that the players on the senior squad were going to be working together all season. I was wondering about cracks in armor of both Rangers and Celtic after their matches. Rangers could only manage a 1-1 draw against St.Mirren, while Celtic was thoroughly outplayed and beaten 2-1 by Dundee United.

The Rangers were coming to Fir Park for our first look at them this season. We were ready from the opening whistle and dominated them in the first half- taking a 2-0 lead to halftime on goals from Kenny and Charlie Miller. We started out the same way in the 2nd half, but Stefan Klos kept them in the match with some exceptional saves. 'Gers were right back into the match when Tore Andre Flo beat Brownie with a rising shot after our opening flurry in the 2nd half. It was tense, but our players played with composure and we had the better of the play through most of the half. Klos wasn't giving us another one though and we had to survive a late rally by Rangers to come away with a satisfying 2-1 win.

Celtic managed to make it through the 3rd Qualifying phase and into Champs Cup Group Play with an away goals edge on Flora. The Group draw this time was a mixed bag for us. In our first Group were UEFA Runners-up Besiktas, old friends Bayern and Spartak Moscow.

Dortmund beat Manchester United 2-1 in extra time on a goal from skipper Dede to take the Super Cup.

We tuned up for our first Champs Cup Group match by hosting Dundee at Fir Park. Our lineup featured few regulars as our tilt in Moscow was coming up on Tuesday following the match. Our fans saw a wild first half of play. We jumped in front right away when Steven Milne scored on a header past Mark Goodlad. Just as quickly, Dundee caused a lot of consternation as they struck twice on goals from Juan Sara and Daniele Dichio. We came right back and equalized when Kiegan Parker scored his 1st of the season. It was a breathless pace and being 2-2 by 15 minutes into the match meant that both managers were trying to find a better way to control the flow of the play. Milne scored his 2nd of the match to give us the lead and we should have been up 4-2, except Parker lost his 2nd of the match to an offside ruling. It didn't matter though because we hit our stride in the 2nd half and Stephen Whalen scored early and late to make sure that we would head to the dressing room with a 5-2 win. Celtic defeated Rangers 1-0 at Celtic Park in a key early showdown match.

Moscow wasn't particularly hospitable to us. Spartak was much sharper than we were and took the first half lead on a goal by venerable Vladimir Bestchasnykh. We were fortunate not be down more, because Brownie wasn't all that sharp and his posts had been kind to us. Mark Kerr scored at 62 minutes as we seemed to be gaining control of the midfield. That was illusory as they turned right around and scored again when Roman Vasilyuk headed past Brownie at 72 minutes. We tried to even the match, but missed our best chance when Charlie Miller was wide on a wide open net. Bayern defeated Besiktas at their place 3-2.

We went back to the friendly confines of Fir Park to face Kilmarnock. The first half was just a plain toughly played scrum up and down the pitch. We lost a goal when Kiegan Parker scored, but was ruled offside on the play. Neither side was very sharp with their passing or shooting on the half. We steadied in the 2nd half and applied more pressure. It paid off when Stephen Whalen burst through unmarked to give us the lead on a rising shot past Colin Stewart. With Whalen tiring, Willie Howie came on and sparked us to close out the win. Howie scored on a smart run and shot past Stewart and we fended off their rally attempts for the 2-0 win.

Besiktas looked to be a very strong squad- anyone that makes the UEFA Finals certainly weren't slouches- but we finally put together a strong Group match and ended our losing string at 7 matches (remember we lost our 6 of our 2nd Round Group matches the previous season) to the delight of a packed Fir Park. Shaun Maloney struck to give us a 1-0 lead at halftime. They were getting good chances too, but Brownie was sharp in this one. At 64 minutes Kenny Miller was knocked down in the area. After the yellow card was issued, he converted the penalty to put us up comfortably 2-0. It didn't stay comfortable as Christian Dailly lost his temper and pushed Marcel Delgado to earn himself a redcard. Despite being down a man, we managed to capitalize on a counter attack and Ross O'Donoghue scored his 1st goal of the season as we ran out the clock on a strong 3-0 win. Spartak Moscow surprised Bayern in Munich and beat them 1-0 in a very close match.

My scout didn't think Livingston was all that good- pathetic was the word he used I think- but I was wary of them. It was a good club to be wary of and they really shut us down offensively in the first half. They didn't get any chances themselves, but their committment to defense only allowed us two or three chances. We finally broke on top when Kiegan Parker scored at 72 minutes. I breathed a sigh of relief when Martin Wood added his 1st goal of the season at 85 minutes and it turned out we needed that goal as Alan Mahon beat John Connolly cleanly in extra time, but we finished out the 2-1 win.

I don't believe we had ever beaten Bayern when we hosted them at Fir Park. If we were going to beat them this time, it was without captain Christian Dailly who was serving his one-match suspension. Paul Ritchie, filling in for Dailly, picked an excellent time to score his 1st ever goal for us when he put in a rebound past Oliver Kahn at 29 minutes. We outplayed them for long stretches after that, but couldn't dent Kahn. Fabio Cannavaro earned a redcard at 62 minutes for hacking down Charlie Miller, but even with that we couldn't score on Kahn. They had one last gasp, but Alexander Zickler's booming shot in the waning moments sailed high and wide and we had a 1-0 win. Besiktas managed a late rally to draw 2-2 against Spartak Moscow in Moscow.

We went back to league play with a trip to St. Mirren. This one was over early as Mark Kerr, Kenny Miller and Charlie Miller all scored in the first 12 minutes. With that lead, we were content to frustrate the home side's attempts to rally and we controlled the midfield for most of the match. We only really let them have a couple of chances in the late going and it was an easy clean sheet for Brownie.

retired_destiny1124

We missed a golden chance to really put the hurt on Celtic in our first league meeting with them. We held a 1-0 lead through much of the match and were outplaying them by a large measure. Old pro Robert Douglas kept them in the match with some superb work. We couldn't close it out though and Chris Sutton got up to head a Mark Fotheringham cross past Brownie in the 86th minute to help them climb back into a 1-1 draw. Still, we kept our unbeaten string alive and Celtic gained no ground on us- so it wasn't really a terrible result, but it was one where we had the chance and let them wriggle off the hook.

Bayern took their fair share of revenge on us when we travelled to Munich. They scored twice in the first half and really outplayed us by a large margin. We wound up losing by a 3-1 margin as Steven Milne nailed a consolation goal, but we also lost Kenny Miller for 10 days. Besiktas dumped Spartak Moscow 4-2, which meant Spartak Moscow had 7 points, Bayern and us had 6 (but they had the advantage on us) and Besiktas had 4.

Dundee United was the next visitor to Fir Park and once again I was resting many of the regulars because of the key midweek battle against Spartak Moscow. As had been the case all season, there was no drop off in our play. We were still having problems with Alan Combe in Dundee's net though- and it was midway through the 2nd half and it was still 0-0 because of his fine work. It was Richard Montgomery's first goal of the season, as he pounded a rebound after Combe stopped a header from Stephen Whalen that finally put us into the lead. Combe was injured trying to stop the header and we scored the clinching goal when Shaun Maloney knocked a header past replacement Quitongo (they had already used all 3 subs when Combe went out) on a Ross Forsyth free kick. The 2-0 win was another solid performance by our 2nd line.

We pretty much needed a win against Spartak Moscow to have a chance to advance to the 2nd round of Champs Cup Group play. It started nicely when Steven Milne (starting in place of injured Kenny Miller) scored at the 6 minute mark on a loose ball. Vladimir Bestchastnykh continued to be a thorn in our sides and he outleaped Christian Dailly to even the match with a header past Brownie at 13 minutes. We managed to move ahead again at halftime when Michael Stewart made a good pass that allowed Steven Milne to wheel and score his 2nd of the match. Milne completed his hat-trick at 51 minutes on an excellent cross from Mark Kerr. Bestchastnykh brought them back into the match with another header past Brownie at 62 minutes, but we managed to put a cap on the match as Charlie Miller made a great pass in and Kiegan Parker deflected it into the net for his 5th goal of the season. We stood our ground from there and made that 4-2 margin stand up for the win. Bayern thumped Besiktas in Munich 3-0 to leave them in 1st, us in 2nd and Spartak in 3rd. Bayern travels to Spartak in the last group match and we travel to Istanbul to face Besiktas.

Aberdeen brought our unbeaten string to a screaching halt at Pittodrie. Brownie had a horrid match- it was the first time I ever felt forced to pull him out of a match- and we were down 3-0 by the 15 minute mark. To add insult to injury, Alan Archibald was called for pushing Derek Young in the area and they converted the penalty to make it a 4-0 halftime lead. We didn't quit though and we got goals from Kiegan Parker and Martin Wood in the 2nd half, but we had left them too much of a lead and that 4-2 was the final margin of our loss.

Also weighing on my mind heavily at that time was Mark Kerr. Kerr had come to me (without his agent, like Nicholas) and told me he thought he needed to move to a bigger club to further his career. We talked about- it was a good discussion- but I knew he was very disappointed when I told him no at this time- that I couldn't spare him at this juncture and would not transfer list him. He was under contract until 2006, so I decided at that time to mentally table the matter until after the season.

The match against Hibs at Edinburgh was disappointing. We thoroughly dominated the match, but only managed a first half goal by Kenny Miller (who was just back from injury). William Bald played extremely well for them and despite numerous good chances we couldn't get the 2nd goal. It was a failure we paid dearly for when Sean Widera scored on only their 2nd shot late in the 2nd half and it was a 1-1 draw, when we had certainly played well enough to earn the win.

We finally got back to winning ways when we beat Falkirk 3-1 at Fir Park. Ross O'Donoghue was the dominant force in the match. He forced a penalty call and converted the ensuing kick to give us a 1-0 lead. His rising shot eluded Myles Hogarth and put us up 2-0 at halftime. We also benefitted from on own goal to move ahead 3-0 before the referee decided to even up the calls and awarded them a penalty kick in the 2nd half. The converted kick cost Brownie a clean sheet but we finished out strong in the win.

Yes, I think you are right. It was one of our signature matches, certainly one that will be remembered for a long time in the annals of Motherwell. You know the funny thing is, people don't remember that we would still have advanced with a loss because Bayern beat Spartak Moscow 2-1. All they remember is our desperate plight and the way we rallied. Going down 3-0 by the 26 minute mark was shocking- it was another terrible performance on Brownie's part. Still, we didn't panic and I didn't feel it was time to remove him. When Kenny Miller caught Tokgoz Gohkan in no-man's land and we drew one back, you could feel the spirit of the club pick up. Then Steven Hammell scored his 1st of the season off a pass from Steven Milne at 43 minutes and we really did have a good feeling only trailing 3-2 at halftime. The start of the 2nd half was quiet- much too quiet for me- since we needed to generate some offense and get the equalizer. We switched to a very offensive formation and challenged them in their own zone. They were surprised by that- nothing in our scouting report would have indicated we had that capability- and it paid off when Kenny Miller was able to drill a weak clearing kick past Gokhan to put us back to 3-3 at 66 minutes. We kept the offensive set for about 10 more minutes before I decided it was time to settle back down and not lose the match after we had fought so hard to even it. It was a decision helped by the knowledge that Bayern held a 2-1 lead late in their match. We were hailed in the Scottish Press for our comeback which meant we advanced to the 2nd round of Group Play- I think that was mostly because the Old Firm clubs had failed miserably in their groups- Celtic finished in last and Rangers managed to barely finish 3rd.

Our reward in the 2nd Group was Dortmund, Lazio and Real Madrid. All the Groups seemed very tough and balanced, so it wasn't like we had the hardest- but these were some very good clubs and I was hoping we wouldn't completely bomb out like we did the season before.

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We also made big news with the sale of Neil Scally to Celtic. Scally was really unhappy when Michael Stewart and Jamie Fullarton arrived and cut into his playing time. He had done Ok for us, but he hadn't played well against the top level competition and Steve Thomson certainly filled the bill as our 3rd DMC, so I wasn't unhappy about letting him go for 2.8 Million- even if it was to Celtic.

You know what my impression of the Rangers were in that next match? That they had just suddenly aged- almost overnite. We didn't play that much better than them in the match, but we really seemed to have control of the match from the opening moments onward. It didn't help them that Stefan Klos played his worst match against us. Kiegan Parker scored on a left-footed volley to give us the only goal of the first half, but they really hadn't generated any ball movement against us in the half. We held them even more firmly in the 2nd half and went up 2-0 when Ross O'Donoghue headed past Klos on a pass from Charlie Miller. Charlie, who had a superb match, then set up Kenny Miller's half-volley and a 3-0 lead. We kept the clean sheet for the match and the 3-0 win at Ibrox certainly seemed much too easy.

It was painful watching Ireland demolish our National side 3-0 in a freindly in Dublin. Dalglish was not on the hot seat yet, but our side was ill-organized and really didn't show a lot of spirit in the loss.
We also landed Simon Rusk in that stretch. Derby wasn't really interested in keeping him and it only cost 800K to purchase him. He was willing to come aboard for a small contract and really filled Scally's place on our roster.
Hosting Hibs at Fir Park for a televised match, we weren't quite as sharp as we needed to be. We held a 2-0 lead midway through the 2nd half on goals by Shaun Maloney and Philip Creaney's first. Then Craign McEwen was called for pushing John O'Neill in the area and Martin McIntosh converted the penalty kick past John Connolly to put them back into the match. They showed a lot of life after that, but it still looked like we would hold on for the win. That changed when Jean-Paul van Gastel boomed a 20 yard free kick past Connolly for the equalizer and we were left with an unsatisfying 2-2 draw.

It didn't surprise me that we had a difficult time with Lazio in Rome. With Hernan Crespo, Rivaldo, Juan Sebastien Veron and Alessandro Nesta- they had a big edge in overall talent on us. Not that we weren't up for the battle. When Brownie played well, we could stick with anyone and that was the case in that match. They had a 19th minute goal from Hernan Crespo, but that was all Brownie allowed them. We couldn't get the goal we needed against Angelo Peruzzi though and we ended up falling 1-0 in a solid performance.

The day after the match, Mark Kerr came to see me again. He wanted out and I could tell this was soon going to work itself into the kind of disruption the club didn't need. I wouldn't transfer list him at his request, but did place him on the transfer list. It was a bit sad in many ways to see him so unhappy with what we were accomplishing.

I had to give both Kerr and O'Donoghue credit- they wanted out, but were playing hard every time out. No moping about for either of them. They both showed it when we travelled to Almondvale Stadium to face Livingston. Kerr scored on a volley from a pass by O'Donoghue to give us the 1-0 lead at half. Stephen Pearson finally scored his 1st goal of the season early in the 2nd half and we finished it off when Scott McLean converted a penalty kick after being knocked down in the area on a corner for a solid 3-0 road win.

Boca won the Intercontinetal Cup for the 4th time in the last 5 seasons as they edged Dortmund on penalty kicks after a hard fought 1-1 regulation score.

We took advantage of our good draw in the League Cup Quarterfinals as we easily dumped Division 3 Queen of the South by a 3-0 margin at Fir Park. Queen, who had been the giant-killers so far- brooming out Kilmarnock and Dunfermline, had no way of handling Charlie Miller and he scored a pair of first half goals. Kiegan Parker added another and it was 3-0 at half. We were content to stick with the lead in the 2nd half and that wound up the final margin as the plucky Queen squad could only manage 2 shots at John Connolly. We will travel to Brockville Park to face Hibs in the League Cup Semifinal.

Dens Park turned out to be a bad trip for us and Dundee proved very poor hosts. They got an early goal when newly acquired Stephen McManus scored in his debut to give them an immediate lead. We put plenty of pressure on Mark Goodlad throughout the first half- but had no luck denting the twine. We started the 2nd half in the same manner, but against the flow of play David Merdy scored. Goodlad was intent on keeping his clean sheet and did just that as they beat us 2-0. The impending sale of Mark Kerr to Valencia was likely weighing on everyone's minds- I knew it still was on mine- on what to do next to replace him.

We hosted Dortmund at Fir Park and that was the match that I started losing my affection for Brownie. I watched Ebbe Sand beat him to the ball in the air three times in a ten minute span-- and despite a great rally with goals from Kiegan Parker and Kenny Miller- we fell short on a 3-2 score. That was also the point I started thinking long and hard about how to retool the club. Sure, we were doing well in the SPL- locked in our three-way race with Celtic and Rangers, but we just weren't getting it done against the better European clubs. I just felt it was time to take stock of where we were falling short- and I did- the changes started subtly then.

I know a lot of fans- and the press too- was surprised by our lineup at Kilmarnock. Mark Kerr wasn't evened dressed for the match- his sale was going through shortly and I felt the club needed to see how things were going to be without him. Ross O'Donoghue was on the bench, since his morale had been down due to nobody willing to pay my requested price for him. The big move was the decision to sit Christian Dailly down. Christian was a wonderful club leader, but I had seen him get exploited by top European competition the last two seasons. He had lost some speed and though he played well in the SPL- it wasn't cutting it against the top forwards. I decided to go with my original tandem of Archibald and a now older and more physically developed Richard Montgomery. In the midfield it was now Stephen Pearson- Charlie Miller- Michael Stewart and Shaun Maloney. I hadn't been able to get the explosive Maloney as much time as I wanted up front, so it seemed a good idea to try and let him work from the midfield. It seemed to work a charm as we blanketed Kilmarnock in the first half and Montgomery scored to give us the early lead. Stewart scored late in the half and those two goals were the only ones of the match as we came away with a strong 2-0 road win.

Tuesday night before the Hearts match, the club held a going away party for Mark Kerr. His transfer to Valencia for 11 Million was set to occur the next day. I thanked him for his play for us and left the door open if he might be interested in returning in the future. The sale was a record sale for the club and the 21 Million we had received so far this season was also a record total.

We hosted Hearts next and it was the usual struggle for us to find a way to score on Antti Niemi. They shocked us with a quick goal when Javier Artero drilled a rising shot past Brownie in the 5th minute. We evened the match when Charlie Miller scored midway through on a brilliant run. After Stephen Pearson lost a goal when Steven Milne was ruled offside, he kept coming and finally notched what turned out to be the match winner in the 63rd minute as he chipped another rebound past Niemi. We kept them bottled up after that, but weren't able to score any more and had to be content with our 2-1 win.

It was nice to see I wasn't alone in dealing with player problems. Longtime Celtic nemesis Joos Valgaeren had also asked out- wanting to be on a larger club. They were forced to transfer list him and the interest was considerable.

Tannadice Park has never been a particularly good spot for us and I was wary of this match against Dundee United. They were not playing well that season, but they always matched up tough against us and this wasn't the exception. We did manage to break on top right away when Stephen Pearson scored in the 2nd minute of play when he headed home a cross from Ross O'Donoghue. We maintained that lead thanks to Brownie's work as they had plenty of pressure and good chances in our end. It appeared they were going to even the match up at 58 minutes when Richard Montgomery barged David Winters in the back in front of Brownie. Fortunately, Brownie made a sensational stop of David Hannah's penalty kick and kept us with a clean sheet. Mattias Nylund was the downfall of the home side when he earned a redcard for hauling down Scott McLean in the 77th minute. The close 1-0 win was a well deserved one. We reached the 20 match mark 3 points in front of Celtic for top spot (with a match in hand on them) and 6 points in front of Rangers. It is a three way race, since 4th place Aberdeen trails Rangers by 13 points.

Our trip to Tynecastle Park turned out to be a good one when we not only kept the clean sheet in goals- we didn't allow the home side a shot in the entire match. It was a brilliant display of smothering defense and the addition to our overall speed with Maloney and Montgomery in the lineup regularly is causing an overall improvement in the defense. Stephen Pearson was really stepping up and playing well and this match was no exception as he made a nice through ball that Steven Milne volleyed past Antti Niemi at 19 minutes. We finally clinched the match when Maloney knocked in a rebound midway through the 2nd half for his 5th of the season.

It was strange to look back on our match history with Celtic since I had arrived. Though we have always had tooth-n-nail matches, they hadn't actually beaten us since November of 2002- we had won or wound up drawing every match since that til that December 2004 match. We started on fire and Kiegan Parker made a dazzling move and shot past Douglas to earn us the early lead. They responded when Fernando Correa looped a shot over an out-of-position Brownie. We answered them quickly when Douglas made a stop on Parker's low shot, but Shaun Maloney was lurking to score the eventual match winner against his former club. The 2nd half was closely played, but this time around we neutralized Valgaeren and Chris Sutton in keeping them from gaining the equalizer as we edged them 2-1. The loss hurt them badly in the standings as they were now 6 points down with us having a match in hand.

St.Mirren was next to visit Fir Park. They were in last place, and we couldn't afford a loss to them, fortunately we didn't have to worry much about it. Martin Wood struck for 2 goals in the first 15 minutes and Christian Dailly added his 1st of the season just before halftime. We also got the only goal of the 2nd half when Stephen Whalen scored off a good run. The 4-0 win kept us 6 points ahead of Rangers atop the SPL. Rangers also win and moved 3 points ahead of Celtic for 2nd place.

4th place Aberdeen was the next club to visit Fir Park. Ross O'Donoghue showed why he is so highly rated as he completely dominated the match. He scored once in each half and helped throttle the Aberdeen attack. Steven Milne had our other goal in a very convincing 3-0 win that dropped Aberdeen 17 points adrift of 3rd place Celtic.