BRENDAN Rodgers admitted last night that he and his Celtic players are feeling the heat after succumbing to the 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock which make it the club’s worst league start for 20 years.
STEVE Clarke was assistant manager and Brendan Rodgers a lowly youth coach when they first made each other’s acquaintance at Chelsea and every now and then the Kilmarnock manager appears to enjoy reminding his Celtic counterpart of his seniority in their relationship.
STEVEN Gerrard said last night that it was time for his Rangers players to carry the “ruthless and relentless” streak they showed in the second half against Villarreal into their domestic matches. The Englishman reckons that his side haven’t always shown self-belief this season – the defeat at Celtic Park would be one example – but the 2-2 Europa League draw against Villarreal in Spain should bolster confidence that they are capable of hurting even the continent’s better teams. Gerrard is desperate to foster the kind of consistency that was badly missing under the reigns of some of his recent predecessors, a message which he rammed home ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with St Johnstone.
GLENN Middleton went home and cried his eyes out after being informed of his release by Norwich City after five years in their academy. So it is nice to think that, somewhere down in East Anglia this morning, amongst the number of his old pals who have passed on their congratulations, someone is quietly sobbing away about their failure to see the clear potential which the 18-year-old underlined with a remarkable European debut in Villarreal on Thursday night.
TO paraphrase Shania Twain, the Canadian country/pop artist who he spent last night dutifully watching at the SSE Hydro with his family, even Rangers’ best European result for years against Villarreal on Thursday night didn’t impress Steven Gerrard much.
WHERE is the next Stephen Hendry coming from? Well, China, probably, if the man himself is to be believed. “I haven’t seen any in the whole of the UK, never mind Scotland,” the seven-time world champion tells Herald Sport in an interview to promote his diverting autobiography, Me and the Table. “Working as a pundit I don’t really know too much about the amateur game but the only youngsters I see coming through are from China.”
STEVEN Naismith’s re-emergence circa September 2018 as Scotland’s most pre-eminent striker has surprised many but his old manager David Moyes is not one of them. “I’m just surprised that people are surprised,” the former Everton and Manchester United manager muses over a cup of tea at Ayr racecourse yesterday.
COMING from behind twice to snatch an unlikely 2-2 draw against Villarreal; it is as if Rangers have never been away. Well, not exactly - that famous night when Alex McLeish’s side drew with a Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan-inspired outfit at Ibrox en route to an away goals elimination was in the last 16 of the Champions League back in 2006, rather than an opener in the continent’s secondary competition, the Europa League. But there was still plenty to admire about how Steven Gerrard’s side acquitted themselves in the club’s first match in the group stages or beyond of either European competition since a draw with PSV in 2011. Here Herald Sport does its best to make sense of a harum scarum night in the Estadio de la Ceramica.
Allan McGregor. Left pawing at thin air from Carlos Bacca’s bolt from the blue inside 45 seconds but once again Rangers were so grateful to have this guy in form. Beat away a Cazorla shot, out quickly to stop Ekambi and wonder save from Funes Mori. 7
FITTINGLY, considering one of his claims to fame is developing the GB relay programme which harvested one gold, two silvers and a bronze at last year’s World Championships in London, Stephen Maguire has picked up the baton as head of performance at scottishathletics and is running with it. The Northern Irishman is a week or so into his second stint at the organisation he served with distinction between 2012 and Glasgow 2014, seven days of travelling the country to re-introduce himself to elite or aspiring athletes and the coaches they work with to find out how best he can support them. But his focus isn’t just the very top end; Maguire is as interested in improving the totality of a young athlete’s existence from the first day they set foot in an athletics club.
