Thursday 7 November 2019 13:18, UK
Sky Sports' coverage of the Scottish football season reaches a climax on Scottish Cup final day. It's live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 2pm on Saturday. Presenter David Tanner looks forward to the final, and also the arrival of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic...
The city of Glasgow never tires of talking football. On the evidence of my strolls along Sauchiehall and Buchanan Streets this week, the volume of the chatter has reached levels not heard for years. Celtic fans told me of their excitement about Brendan Rodgers coming to town. I could only agree! Others were sad that Neil Lennon wasn't being welcomed back; I agreed with them, too. Discussions tended to move onto thoughts about whether the new boss should worry about the return of the other half of the Old Firm to the Premiership. Meanwhile, the blue half of town is all over the Scottish Cup final. As is the green end of Edinburgh!
It struck me that this week might prove to be a watershed for Scottish football and for the fans in the country's biggest city. This is the time when football people appear to me to have started looking forward with anticipation and excitement, rather than looking back in anger.
The events that have unfolded at Rangers since 2012 - and the fiscal arrangements which preceded them - have dominated and soured many discussions about Scottish football for way too long. Without the Old Firm going head-to-head to provide the entertainment, fans of the great rivals have been left to argue the toss about tax schemes and other legal complexities. And you'd be amazed how many tax experts there are out there now! Everybody has their own 'truth' on this subject. The discourse of discontent can hopefully be drowned out now.
Celtic have shown huge appetite and ambition in their pursuit and capture of Rodgers (there were so many fantastic options available to the champions this time!) and there is clearly about to be substantial investment in human resources at Parkhead. The personal intervention of Dermot Desmond in the recruitment process excites me; it sends out a strong message that wasn't there when he took a back seat when the unfathomable appointment of Ronny Deila was made two years ago.
I'd argue that these great Glasgow clubs exist primarily to beat the other one! Trophies and European runs are an added bonus! As a Celtic supporter, Brendan will understand this but only to a degree... as he becomes immersed in Celtic and the Old Firm, he'll soon discover more about the unique culture of bedlam! He'll find Glasgow to be more intense than Liverpool. I believe that prospect will excite him!
Before Brendan experiences the Old Firm clash next season - remember, all of the meetings in the Ladbrokes Premiership will be live on Sky Sports - there's a William Hill Scottish Cup final involving Rangers and another big city club, Hibernian, to look forward to.
The word from inside Hampden Park is that demand for cup final tickets outstrips even that for the colossal Old Firm semi-final! Hibs and Rangers fans are noticeably looking forward to this game more than they have any other in recent years.
Why is there such a final frenzy? First and foremost, both sets of fans know that their favourites can win it. For much of this season, it was difficult to separate the clubs in the league - it was two home wins apiece. The years of mayhem at Rangers and, similarly, Hibernian's slide into the Championship - and their extended stay there - means the cup final has additional... well... everything!
Despite their Championship status, Hibs managed to reach the final of the League Cup. But that good work seemed to be unravelled by the nature of the late defeat to Ross County at Hampden, coupled with a complete collapse in the league. The form slump led to a new phrase entering the Scottish football dictionary...
Hibsed it (phrasal verb) - to lose a football game, usually near the end, when victory would seem like the easier option. "Hibs have Hibsed it again."
Don't dare say those words within earshot of Alan Stubbs. The Hibernian manager knows only too well that if his team don't 'Hibs it' against Rangers and actually win the cup for the first time since 1902, then the phrase can be removed from the footy lexicon as quickly as it appeared there - and sport's most enduring hoodoo will also have been ended.
Cup finals are usually decided by courage. The team that shows the most of it has a habit of winning. In recent years, though, there's been an additional influencing factor in finals.
Since the introduction of the divisional play-offs by the old Scottish Football League, the three divisions below the Premiership have all completed their 36-game season some weeks before the top league's 38-game campaign has ended. This has presented a problem for the lower-league sides: how to rest the players without letting them switch off.
This year's is the fifth final since 2006 that teams from outside the Premiership have featured. A decade ago, the then Division 2 winners Gretna lost on penalties to Hearts; since then Division One/Championship Queen of the South, Ross County and Falkirk have all tried to take the final step. All have failed, despite some having engineered some big cup shocks along the way.
And that could be where Hibs have the edge in this unprecedented all-Championship final. Their season was extended beyond the end of Rangers' campaign by their participation in the play-offs. The last competitive game for Stubbsy and co - one that ended in late defeat in the play-off semis against Falkirk - was just eight days before Hampden.
Rangers, on the other hand, haven't played a game with anything riding on it since the Old Firm semi-final FIVE weeks ago! Mark Warburton will have had sleepless nights worrying about the after-effects of winning the title so early and the cold storage which followed it.
Will Rangers be rested or ready? Will Hibs be sore or stimulated? Is momentum more powerful than inertia? Answering those questions with me in the studio will be a panel of multiple cup winners: Scotland manager (and Hibs fan!) Gordon Strachan, former Hibs and Rangers manager Alex McLeish and Sky's Neil McCann, a five-time cup winner.
Make sure you tune in from 2pm to enjoy the full live build-up from Hampden - we'll have exclusive interviews with the Rangers squad and management, Hibs and Scotland midfielder John McGinn tells us about his Hampden hopes and there's my sit-down with Alan Stubbs, a thought-provoking chat about how a cup final drugs test saved his life.
So, years of adversity have given the Hibees and the Bluenoses a renewed hunger for success. Saturday May 21 will be the day the good times return - for one set of fans.
Next season, Brendan Rodgers' Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts will all invest to meet the changes in the landscape brought about by Rangers winning promotion. The fixtures for 2016/17 will be announced by the SPFL on Sky Sports News HQ on June 17, so the excitement starts early! Mark the date in your diary... Brendan certainly will!
I was asked this week what my personal ambitions are and, without hesitating, I instinctively said: "to be in the studio the night Scotland finally qualify for a major tournament!" Scotland's World Cup qualifiers are live on Sky Sports next season. That's something else to look forward to in what will be a outstanding season for the game here.
The campaign which ends this weekend has been one in which more of the matches that mattered in Scotland have been live on Sky Sports and it's been a pleasure and a privilege to cover them for you. See you next season for even more big games and, as Celtic have now shown us, big names!
Enjoy the cup final!
