Friday 31 July 2015 17:53, UK
The return of the Scottish football campaign is upon us and Sky Sports Scottish Football Presenter David Tanner is looking ahead to an action-packed opening weekend and beyond...
The first weekend of the league season is always a special high for all football fans and for me as Scottish football supporter, albeit one who sits in front of the camera, it is exactly the same.
I have been counting down the days and weeks since the fixtures were announced when I was on holiday.
This is going to be a really exciting season for Scottish football and the best of the action is live on Sky Sports. We have got 30 live games from the SPFL and, just as is the case south of the border, we have more of the best matches on Sky Sports.
Starting in the new year we also have two live games in every round of the William Hill Scottish Cup and, as last season proved when Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Celtic in the semi-finals before going on to win the trophy in May, anything can happen in the premier knockout tournament.
We have also got live coverage from the Ladbrokes Championship and we start that on August 23 with the first meeting of Rangers and Hibernian, with Scott Allan bound to be centre stage for both sets of fans.
Scotland aim to qualify
In a few weeks I will be jumping on a long haul flight to Tbilisi as Scotland resume their European Championship campaign. I was last in Tbilisi in 2007 when a memorable campaign was unexpectedly stifled by a surprise defeat, not long after Scotland had beaten France in Paris.
That game is followed a few days later by the visit of world champions Germany to Hampden Park. That crucial double-header, like all of Scotland’s qualifiers, is exclusively live on Sky Sports and I am so excited about the prospects of qualification for Gordon Strachan’s side and I know everyone else in the country is too.
Celtic kick off the season
The Premiership season gets us under way and we have a double header of top matches.
First up on Saturday at noon on Sky Sports 1 I’ll be pitchside with Neil McCann and Andy Walker sampling the atmosphere at Celtic Park as the title flag is unfurled again.
Celtic had a positive result in the Champions League qualifier on Wednesday and they will need to raise their game again to make sure of a strong start against a Ross County side which finished so strongly last season.
A year ago Celtic endured their worst start to a campaign since Dr Jo Venglos was in charge back in 1998. This year the Celtic squad is in much better shape and, if you get a chance, go to the Sky+ box and download my extended interview with Celtic manager Ronny Deila. It is a good watch and I have been impressed with how much he has now adapted to the challenge of managing a massive club like Celtic.
As he said to me with a smile, “you can’t learn this in school” and probably only those who have managed Celtic will know what he means by that.
The club’s season and Deila’s own future will be defined by whether or not he qualifies for the Champions League but I like that he set the target publicly of the treble again for this season.
The margins are tight for that – it took a bad mistake by the officials and a poor performance by his players in the second half of the Scottish Cup semi-final to foil him last season.
I agree with Deila when he says that he expects Aberdeen to be better this season but I also expect Celtic to be better in the first half of the season than last year. Before Christmas Celtic scored an average of 1.6 goals per game and after the turn of the year it was 2.7 goals.
The signings of Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong made a difference, but also critical was Deila’s decision to include both Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons in the starting line-up. Both of those players, wrongly in my view, were bit-part players for the Norwegian’s first five months in charge.
Dundee United to challenge Aberdeen
Aberdeen feature in our second live game on Sunday afternoon at 3pm and Neil McCann and I will be joined in the studio at Tannadice by the club’s newest “office junior”. Russell Anderson retired as captain at the end of an injury-hit campaign last year.
A rare highlight of last year for Russell was making his debut as a pundit with us in which he performed admirably and was as brave in the tackle in the studio as he was on the pitch. A warm welcome back to him.
Like last season, Derek McInnes has bought wisely but, perhaps more importantly, he has not lost any key players. They have already played five Europa League ties so will not lack sharpness.
However, a 7,000-mile round trip to Kazakhstan – the longest trip taken by any club side in the history of UEFA competition - could affect the players, but sports psychologists would claim only if they let it.
In contrast to Aberdeen, Dundee United lost their top goal scorer in Nadir Ciftci during the summer. Ciftci scored 16 goals last season but Jackie McNamara still has plenty of experience in a group which has reached cup finals in the last two seasons.
United finished fifth last year having been in the top four until the final days of April, with just three wins in the final 15 games. The loss of two players sold to Celtic on deadline day clearly had a massive effect on the team’s ability to score goals but the addition of Darko Bodul and the continued development of Robbie Muirhead will be exciting to watch this Sunday and in the Dundee derby which is also live on Sky Sports on August 11.
Despite United’s form slump in the second half of the season, they ended the campaign as the second top goal scorers in the Premiership with 58 goals.
The new centre back pair of Mark Durnan and Coll Donaldson, a product of the Livingston conveyor belt, who joined from QPR should give United a better chance at the back. They only had three clean sheets in the last 26 games of last season.
The return of Hearts
I look forward to welcoming Hearts back to the top division. There will be so much energy around Tynecastle following last season’s extraordinary dash back to the Premiership.
They have bought players from a number of countries but one thing is for sure, the players will be well drilled by Robbie Neilson, whose love of double training sessions means there is never any uncertainty amongst his players.
Hearts have sold 13,000 season tickets, which is a reminder of how big the club is and how important it is to the top flight. Rangers and Hibernian will both hope to follow Hearts’ lead this season.
Make sure you tune in early on Saturday at noon to catch our new theme music and Neil McCann’s interview with former Scotland team-mate Jackie McNamara, which is a fantastic watch.
Championship
The first two meetings of the big two in the Championship are already on the roster of Sky Sports’ live football.
Neil McCann, Andy Walker and I went to see the two teams play in the Petrofac Training Cup last Saturday when Alan Stubbs’ side, with Rangers target Scott Allan on the bench, cut through Rangers’ defence at will in the first half and, in an extraordinary second half, it was the men from Ibrox who ran out 6-2 winners.
Only a fool would make judgements in the first weeks of the season, let alone the first competitive game, so do not expect me to say that gives Rangers any form of advantage in the Championship.
What it is, is a good start for new manager Mark Warburton and one bad day at the office for Hibernian. It is up to them if they allow it to undo all the good work and confidence built last season when, let us remember, they finished second and so above Rangers.
The signing of John McGinn by Hibs is a useful piece of business. It may also have a seriously detrimental effect to the chances of Ian Murray having a successful season with his new club St Mirren.
So it is time for me to look out my new suit and new tie and, with a little help from the make-up department, we will all hopefully look the part this weekend as we all enjoy what is always one of the most exciting and eagerly anticipated weekends of any year.
And we have a special guest joining us for the opening afternoon. Scotland international Charlie Mulgrew is injured and so Celtic's loss is our gain.
You can keep up to date on all our Scottish output by following @ScotlandSky on Twitter.
