Can Hibs build on impressive campaign?
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Daily Record
a minute ago
- Daily Record
Rangers diehard throws Brendan Rodgers' Celtic Champions League quip back in his face
Craig Swan takes your calls after a fine week in Europe for Scottish clubs in a rare Hotline full of positivity Scotland enjoyed a terrific week on the European scene with Hibs and Dundee United strongly backing-up Rangers' success. Russell Martin's team set the ball rolling for Premiership sides with their emphatic Champions League first-leg win over Viktoria Plzen. Not to be outdone, David Gray's side headed to Belgrade to sink Partizan and put themselves into a superb position ahead of the Easter Road return. Jim Goodwin's United were also up to it with an excellent fightback draw against Rapid in Vienna to complete a hat-trick of top efforts. So positives first. Scott Gowers, Edinburgh, said: 'What an excellent week for Scottish football. From being on the verge of dropping further down the coefficient, all three Scottish teams have taken great strides in helping avoid this and aided the chances of five Scottish teams being involved in the European group stages. Amazing.' Neil Renton, Leith, said: 'Another Thursday night, another impressive display in Europe for Hibs. There's still a long way to go in this tie, but that was a brilliant way for us to celebrate our 150th anniversary.' Right, that didn't last long. It was quickly onto bickering. George Wilson, West Sussex, said: 'As anticipated, we have the usual nonsense from the Celtic camp about how poor Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen were. "This is from a side that only qualified for Champions League knockout stages last year because with 24 out of 36 teams qualifying it was virtually impossible not to qualify. Yet have the cheek to say Rangers have had it easy. "Neither Rangers nor Celtic are good enough at present to make an impact in the Champions League, but the money would be handy.' Peter Cooperwhite added: 'So the Celtic fans foaming at mouth with laughter about us beating a poor team, I remember them beating a dismal Bratislava 5-1 and Brendan joking he would fancy Bayern in the final. He who laughs last, laughs the longest.' Alan Flett said: 'I wasn't getting carried away with our result on Tuesday night. I know that for far too long, Rangers have been good in Europe, but uninterested in the domestic scene. "I was simply pointing out that, if we show that level of performance on a regular basis, we will be far too good for the rest of Scottish football. 'As far as Europe is concerned, the fact is, regardless of the level of opposition, we win two legged knock out ties but Celtic do not.' But Liam Birney, Paisley, responded: 'Only three days after getting booed off the park and his team lucky to escape with a point at Motherwell, Alan says after a win against a pub team that Rangers will win the league at a canter and have better players all over the park. The cherry on the cake was that Plzen are better than any team in Scotland! Alan, we've heard all this guff so many times from you it's boring. Come back when you actually win something.' Danny Fallon, Luton, added: 'So Alan reckons the Champions League team his team played are better than anything in Scotland, surely forgetting the lucky point they scrambled against Motherwell.' Transfer business, or lack of it, is still annoying Celtic fans as Benjamin Clarke, Balornock, said: 'The Celtic board are just content beating the dross below them in Scotland, they are not interested in competing in Europe. Get to the group stages and get the money. It's the fans that are paying all the time, start spending and compete in Europe.' Meanwhile, William Hutchison, Aberdeen, said: 'So the SFA are threatening to close sections of stadiums at Aberdeen, Celtic and Partick Thistle if they keep letting off pyros and smoke bombs. Why just those three? Should be warnings to every team. If I'm not mistaken, Rangers fans let off smoke bombs in their section against Motherwell on Saturday. Why weren't they mentioned? Warnings should be to all teams. Not just three clubs.'
STV News
a minute ago
- STV News
Stephen Robinson: St Mirren have one of the best midfields in the Premiership
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson believes new signing Keanu Baccus is returning to the club to join arguably the second best midfield in Scotland. Baccus became St Mirren's ninth signing of the season this week when he signed from Mansfield, returning to the club where he thrived under Robinson. He will now compete for a place in the heart of a side that has punched above their weight to be a top six side for the last three seasons, and Robinson believes a lot of that success has come from the quality in that area of the team. The manager believes that he has a midfield that maybe only Premiership champions Celtic can better, and can go toe to toe with anyone in Scotland. 'The strength we've got in there makes it arguably, for me, one of the best midfields in the league now,' Robinson said. 'It's amazing to say that as manager of St Mirren and it gives us a real base to build from. 'I genuinely believe, perhaps outwith Celtic, we've got five really, really good players. 'Killian Phillips, who is on fire at the moment and is a full international footballer. Keanu Baccus now ,a full international. Captain Mark O'Hara, Liam Donnelly and Oisin Smith. 'I believe we've got really, really good midfield players who can match anybody on their day.' Robinson was delighted to have brought Baccus back to the club and said he had no hesitation in acting when he learned a deal might be possible. And he thinks it's the perfect place for the Australia international to recapture his best form and build on that. We stay in touch with all the players that leave the football club, so we knew there may be an opportunity that we could get Keanu back again,' he said. 'When we found out, we moved straight away. 'He's a very, very good addition to the squad. Keanu knows exactly what way we play. He knows the expectations at the football club now. So he'll slot right in there and be a big part of the squad. 'He's found a home here. He's loved here. Fans love him, the staff love him, the players love him and he got a brilliant welcome when he came in the door from the boys. 'Sometimes things just work for you, sometimes you just fit in certain places and we believe Keanu works very well at this football club and we aim to get him back into that international squad. 'Obviously Keanu aims to do that but we aim to give him the platform to do that and we believe when he's happy on and off the pitch, then we'll get a very, very good player. 'People think there's big games in League One and then you come and you play Celtic and Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts away from home, Dundee United. It's a big stage to play on. 'It certainly put him in the international stage before and he went to a World Cup.' While Baccus arrives in Paisley, two players are heading through the exit door. Defender Alex Iacovitti has joined Ross County on a permanent deal, while attacker James Scott is to leave the Buddies for a season-long loan. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
BBC News
2 minutes ago
- BBC News
Gray delighted to reward 'incredible' Hibs supporters
Head coach David Gray was delighted to reward the 350 travelling supporters with one of Hibernian's biggest European results of the modern Boyle's doubled downed 10-man Partizan Belgrade 2-0 in Serbia to put Gray's side firmly on course for the Conference League oversaw a number of impressive victories for his side last term as they finished third in the Premiership and the boss was pleased his side could provide another memorable night for fans. "There's been a right few special moments for the supporters in the last wee while," he said."Full credit to them, the 350 that were here, I bet they were all in Denmark [for the Europa League qualifier against Midtjylland a fortnight earlier], I bet they were all at Dundee on Sunday and I expect them all to be at Easter Road this Sunday."I think the support's been incredible. I'm constantly repeating myself about the support that we get. They were heavily, heavily outnumbered, but from start to finish, they were there supporting the team again."At the very end, they were enjoying it as well with us, which is really important. The players are really grateful for that, as am I. It's what we look forward to in the second leg now as well."Gray believes the performance in a difficult atmosphere will serve Hibs well."It was everything we thought it would be, a real hostile environment," the manager said."It was a fantastic atmosphere to play in and a lot of players maybe haven't experienced that on the European stage, so a lot of positives to take from that."
