Merry Christmas By Donald C Stewart

Date: 10th October 2025

Merry Christmas

By Donald C Stewart

Should Jimmy Thelin manage to retain his job by Christmas 2025, it looked very much like it would come as a surprise to many in Scottish football – not least their fans.

The pressure heaped on the shoulders of Thelin and now departed Russel Martin, given the runs of their respective clubs, coupled them together and clearly suggested that the clamour on the terraces was eventually going to seep into the boardroom where questions were to be answered, as both clubs were and still are sitting close to the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

Given that both Rangers and Aberdeen have never been relegated from the top-flight, it is a moment for both clubs.

Time and again you hear the mantra that at Aberdeen in particular that is a long-term project and therefore Thelin needs to be given time.

But increasingly supporters feel that time has surely run out.

In Ibrox, of course, success is expected more than anything else, and given that Martin was unable to put wins on the board in almost every competition (League Cup aside) he has put out his team, it seems the idea that having one team for Europe and another for domestic competitions has gone out of the window – both were rank rotten. Martin could not buy a break, never mind find one, in amongst the dressing room.

Getting sacked in the morning as was chanted to Ange Postecoglou by Nottingham Forest fans over the last fortnight is not something new to any football manager. It has come to pass at Ibrox, will it follow in Pittodrie? Last weekend, before the break both Thelin and Martin had crunch fixtures. Aberdeen had Dundee, toiling but emerging under Stephen Pressley whist Rangers faced newly promoted Falkirk.

With Martin now consigned to history, Aberdeen fans will wonder whether this is going to be the year that Thelin rescues it once more, or is it the year that they are going to struggle before finally getting rid.

If you look at the current state of Falkirk, for example, we have a manager who deserves the right to get through an entire season and find where it is that his value truly lies. Having taken the club from the doldrums of League One right through the Championship up into the Premiership, John McGlynn is imperious in his position at Falkirk, a legend not just in the making but in the delivery.

It is a little similar to the year Callum Davidson, having won both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup was given a season to show it was not a fluke: similar, not the same. Davidson bagged himself a season of indulgence, according to many, as his league form faltered and he did not manage to retain either cup, leading to eventually leaving the Perth side.

Steven Pressley, as he looks round the Dundee boardroom, might feel that he also is not on a shaky fan-based peg but at least has a chance to go from “being less than the fans’ choice” to hopefully the saviour for Dundee FC, keeping them in the Premiership and making sure that the future is relatively dark blue, if not bright.

Across the street at Tannadice, Jim Goodwin has settled in and signed a new contract. He’s shown that this time round, whatever happened at Aberdeen was a blip. He’s developed an adaptability, which was already shown positively at Alloa Athletic and St Mirren but now is getting a full run out at the Northeast Club. Questions have arisen, however as he has created a team filled of non-Scottish players, but you cannot tarnish success when it is so readily understood by people who have not had it for a considerable period of time.

And so, when you look at Aberdeen and Rangers, given their respective histories, modest though Aberdeen’s is in comparison to Rangers, it is understandable that fans have been restless. The constant chopping and changing of managers at Rangers doesn’t seem to have done it much good, and it seems to be a bit of a pity that the only good feeling that sets off either Rangers or Celtic fans is that at least their rivals are suffering as much as they are.

Just how this affects our coefficient within Europe can be left to one side for a moment as all three Scottish teams went into Europe and are failing.

Losing in one week is hardly unusual for Scottish teams in Europe but given the troubles at Rangers and Aberdeen as well as the continued saga of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic, it hardly seems that the future is bright at the top.

Fortunately, we have more than three clubs in our top league structure, and there are many good news stories to wallow in: add in Hearts, Hibs, Livingston, St. Mirren to those already mentioned.

But for the moment, Steve Clarke has a mission to complete, and will we see him out of a job by Christmas? If so, who is likely to be his successor?

Former Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes is, for my money, making himself undeniably a future Scotland manager, given his pedigree at Hearts, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock.

But what would entice him to leave a club currently sitting atop the Premiership?

Who knows? But he is unlikely to switch from Tynecastle to Ibrox, that’s for sure… or is it?

Don’t you just love the fitba’?

 

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