Old Firm’s exercise in SPL futility has to end

AFTER another less than emphatic week of British performances in Europe, the first question to ask is: will the Manchester United faithful be singing “Gonzalez from the half-way line” at Old Trafford tomorrow?

They should be. Remember Nayim catching out David Seaman back in 1995? Well, it was like Groundhog Night in Athens on Wednesday, when Gonzalez of Panathinaikos flummoxed the hapless Jens Lehmann with a brilliant, long-distance lob. True, “Gonzalez from the half-way line,” doesn’t quite scan but, hey, if Bob Dylan can get away with this sort of thing so, surely, can the Stretford End.

By contrast, they don’t have much to sing about at Celtic Park this week - apart from the very real prospect, of course, that they’re en route to racking up yet another SPL title. Ho hum. Celtic’s 0-3 defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in midweek leaves them bottom of Group F and - double- meaning intended - pointless. In fairness to Celtic, the loss of Chris Sutton and Jackie McNamara through injury was a mortal blow on the night, but their problems run deeper than missing personnel.