Scottish Football / John Girvan / 17 October 2008 / Leave a comment

"Can super Caley go ballistic yet again", asks John Girvan as Celtic visit Inverness Caledonian Thistle and the Kris Boyd debate looms on....

It's been a sad week for Scottish Football. The national side could only manage a 0-0 draw with Norway in Saturday's World Cup qualifier at Hampden and the disappointment was compounded by Kris Boyd's self omission from future squads while George Burley remains in charge. The importance of both was put into perspective on Wednesday morning however when news broke of the tragic passing of Dundee United chairman Eddie Thomson who died following a long battle with prostate cancer.

Mr Thomson was no ordinary chairman and took over at Tannadice in 2002 with the club around £3M in debt. In six years he turned this into an operating profit and also proved himself to be very much a man of the people in setting up a fans trust that has gone on to become The Arabs second largest stakeholder. United fans were keen to acknowledge these efforts and Eddie is now an integral part of the club's history since a stand was named in his honour earlier this year.

The subject of Kris Boyd remains one of the great debates in Scottish Football at the moment. How can a striker who has scored 72 goals in 98 games for Rangers be spending so much time on the Ibrox bench? There are many who believe the stats speak for themselves and that the side, whether it is club or country, should be built around such a naturally gifted goal getter. Others however feel Boyd lacks something in terms of his all round game and unfortunately for the player two of these people appear to be George Burley and Walter Smith.

Dundee United's visit to Ibrox on Saturday has subsequently been postponed as a mark of respect but all other SPL clashes go ahead and each of these will mark the loss with a minute's applause. Two games are of particular interest this weekend and both of these are live on Setanta Sports. Celtic travel over 250 miles to face their bogey side whilst things heat up on the East coast for the season's first Edinburgh derby.

Celtic look short, at [1.59] in the match odds, for their visit to Inverness this Saturday. The lunch-time kick-off is sure to be a worry for manager Gordon Strachan who would have much preferred a home tie this weekend. He had no fewer than five of his regular starters away overseas on mid-week international duty and more travelling to the SPL ground furthest away from Celtic Park will not be welcome. Dutch striker Jan Venegoor of Hesselink also misses out through a groin injury and also looks set to miss the trip to Old Trafford in the Champions League next week.

With Inverness usually finishing in the bottom half of the table there has only been four league meetings at the Caley stadium in the last three seasons. It is interesting to note that the visitors have only been victorious once and been held to a draw twice in these ties. Thistle sit seventh in the table at present and their form doesn't suggest they will be able to pull off the win at [7.4] but they always make life tough for the Old Firm, particularly Celtic, and many opposing the away side will probably see value in the draw at [4.1].

Setanta Sports are also covering the first Edinburgh derby of the season on Sunday, live from Easter Road, and it's a brave punter who picks a winner. Eight games into the season and at a first glance you cannot reasonably separate these two with hosts Hibernian one place and one point above fifth placed visitors Heart of Midlothian. A closer look however will tell you that the all important momentum could be swinging in favour of the Hibees.

Three goals in three starts suggest Derek Riordan is making up for the time he lost on the Celtic bench and the 25 year old will have a big say in where the points end up on Sunday. His side have three wins from their last four outings, losing only to Rangers and with home advantage backing Hibernian at [2.52] in the match odds looks good value. Hearts head for Leith on the back of two disappointing defeats, confidence will be low and Hibs form makes the [3.05] on offer a decent lay.

Hearts, it might be argued, have been fairly dominant in this fixture over the last three seasons with six wins and two draws from 11 meetings. They also boast two draws and a win from their last three visits to Easter Road. Much of this can be ignored however as times have changed drastically and a home win on Sunday will be just rewards for a side that have consistently given Scottish youth a chance instead of throwing money they don't have at quick-fix foreign imports.