The Herald

Good Draw for Rangers but Novo Cautions Against Over-Optimism Exclusive

NACHO NOVO, Rangers' Spanish striker, last night quickly dispelled any notions that the SPL title holders have been put on a less than troublesome path to the knock-out stages of this season's Champions League. The balls tumbled kindly for Walter Smith and his players in Monaco yesterday, when they were drawn against Sevilla, VfB Stuttgart and Unirea Urziceni, avoiding some of the real European giants.

Supporters' Optimism Could Prove Misplaced Analysis Analysis Not the Toughest Draw Rangers Could Have Got, but the Manager Knows His Side's Limitations

THE BI-POLARITY of the football bear is a wonder to behold. There was an outbreak of optimism among the breed last night as Rangers were handed what many believed was a kind draw in the group stages of the Champions League. This response was mystifying to those who have watched the first weeks of the Scottish football season. To recap, the national team was cuffed by Norway, and Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hearts have not so much been beaten by foreign teams but forced to follow on after a decla...

Balancing Act Now the Only Show in Town Analysis Analysis Memories of the Past As Old Firm Endeavour to Secure Their Future

FERGUS McCann made a rare public appearance as Celtic's guest of honour at the Emirates on Wednesday. The presence of the curious little Canadian, who rescued the club from the brink of extinction in the mid-1990s, put the current fluctuations into a sobering context. There was, admittedly, a depressing element to Arsenal's sauntering win over two legs in the Champions League play-off. A team that had more than held its own in the latter stages of the competition as recently as two seasons ag...

Celtic Defender has Some Unfinished Business to Resolve

THESE are uncertain and unpalatable times for a Celtic team that had come to cherish its place among Europe's elite. The newly reformatted Europa League will be the extent of their ambitions this season after elimination from a Champions League qualifier featuring a match that would not have been out of place in the group stage. Arsenal either brutally exposed the full, horrific chasm between the best of British or simply affirmed their credentials as one of the early favourites to win the en...

No Miracle, but Hearts Win Back Their Pride

HEARTS 2 DINAMO ZAGREB 0 Aggregate: 2-4

Stark Contrast in Attitude of Two Teams in Transition Analysis Analysis While Australia Face Their Problems, Scots Continue Their Ostrich-Like Approach, Says Kevin Ferrie

IN a strange way the Scotland players should be able to identify with today's opponents better than most as they go into the One Day International at The Grange in Edinburgh. Winners of the World Cup qualifying competition four years ago, Scotland slumped to sixth place this year, missing out on involvement in the big event and only just clinging to their ODI status. Whether a couple of humbing defeats by Afghanistan is, for a Scottish cricketer, more embarrassing than being one of those who ...

Major Overhaul Ahead, Warns Hamilton News

AS he contemplated what may be the most thankless task in world cricket today, Gavin Hamilton, Scotland's captain, admitted that changes of personnel and approach are required if there is to be any chance of progress. Weather willing, his largely part-time team faces a fired up Australia at The Grange today having had relatively little preparation time, making things doubly difficult for the man who took over the captaincy in the early part of this season after Ryan Watson quit soon after th...

Macaulay Calls Up Old Pal to Keep University Promise

ROOKIE Callum Macaulay has given his father Harry a break from caddie duties this week and instead has called on an old friend, Lucas Boyd, to honour an agreement they made in their days at the University of Mississippi. "We played together in the same team and we agreed that if either of us played in a PGA Tour or European Tour event then the other one would caddie, " he said after an opening one-under-par 71 in the Johnnie Walker Championship.

Tips From Torrance Lift Lawrie Former Open Champion Makes Impressive Start Despite Difficult Conditions Former Open Champion Makes Impressive Start Despite Difficult Conditions Johnnie Walker Ch'ship

USING a swing that was strictly work in progress, Scotland's fallen hero Paul Lawrie took the lead after the first round of the GBP1.4m Johnnie Walker Championship with a bogey-free five-under- par 67 compiled in the worst conditions of the day. With Steven O'Hara, who is in need of a good result to rescue his playing rights for next season, also on the leader board on 68 in a fiveway tie for second place and four others under par, it was a welcome day of tartan cheer for Scotland's beleague...

Men's Lacrosse a Million Miles From St Trinians, Discovers Richard Winton Friday's Local Hero

IT is difficult to imagine a more poignant birth, yet what began as a memorial has become a cause for celebration. It was 1989 and the unmitigated grief wreaked in the skies above Lockerbie was still raw when the men's lacrosse team of Syracuse University visited Scotland to commemorate the loss of 35 of their fellow students on Pan AM Flight 103. It was a year after the disaster and the visitors from New York State were eager to pay tribute by playing a match. But they left disappointed, hav...

Fans with Laptops

Sir David Murray - a Celtic fan writes WHEN such a superficial change as that announced by David Murray occurs, the ozone-destroying weight of analysis suggests that either there are consequences yet to be revealed, or that in fact the media in Scotland do simply drool at his table.