SWP . . .

. . . as in Shaun Wright-Phillips scored in last night's friendly against Celtic in a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. (For the record Gary Caldwell scored the first goal in the game for Celtic.) Strachan has played the financial card in interviews, explaining that Celtic have to play these friendly games during the season to generate revenue, and as the crowd last night was about twenty thousand and the result is not a repetition of this, this and this, I guess they can take the money and run with not too much flak coming the team's way this time.

Noted that Stephen Pearson got a run out last night, so I wonder if that has any bearing on the reports that Billy Davies at Derby County is putting in a bid for him. (I can't be arsed to google, but didn't Davies manage Pearson at Motherwell?) Also, depending on what reports you read, Mo Camara is going to either Derby or Leeds Utd on a season loan. I'm sure that the official line from Celtic Park is that by releasing a few players on loan and/or off-loading some of the fringe players, Strachan will have a bit more money to spend on new players but I can't help feeling it is more a case of reducing the wages bill full stop, rather than freeing funds to invest elsewhere. For me, that's confirmed by the news that Petkov failed to impress Strachan when he was at Celtic Park recently.

On the matter of disappointing Bulgars, the latest back page tattle is that newly appointed Aston Villa manager, Martin O'Neill, is considering making a bid for Petrov. No idea if this is true but Petrov, at 27 and a tried and tested player of international class for O'Neill in the past, wouldn't be that much of a gamble if the latter looks to meet Celtic's transfer requirements. It's also the case that O'Neill is one of those managers who has a tendency to pick up players from former clubs when he moves on. He done the same with Steve 'Talisman' Guppy at two or three clubs, and there is even speculation that he is also looking at Lennon as a possible Aston Villa acquisition. O'Neill is known for his managerial pragmatism so I wouldn't put it past him to look at former players, and with two old favourites, Hartson and Sutton, already bedded down in the West Midlands I bet there are more than a couple of Chairmen in that part of the country who are putting up 'Get Your Tanks Off Our Pitch' signs as I write.

On the subject of Martin O'Neill becoming the new manager of Aston Villa, I have to admit that I find it a bit of a weird 'yin. He could have had his pick of jobs if he had bided his time, and I'm sure that there were more than a few Newcastle and Man Utd fans out there who were dissapointed when they heard the news of O'Neill's appointment at Villa Park. Granted, Villa are yet another one of those cliches of English football, the 'Sleeping Giant', of which there are about 27 at the last count, but it's not inconceivable that O'Neill couldn't turn things around for them.

He has a habit of sticking around at a club, whatever the room temperature, and in John Robertson and Steve Walford alongside him, he has the continuity of a ready made backroom staff. It's also the case that he has the overwhelming support of the Villa fans, who know that they've lucked out with his appointment ( . . . and Birmingham's relegation last season). He is also in a win-win situation with regards to the shenanigans at the top at Aston Villa. Either Deadly Doug Ellis will decide to stay on in the hope that O'Neill will deliver him the success that he has always craved, throwing a bountiful transfer fund at O'Neill in the process, or the new money will come in - that many egos in the mix, I refuse to list them - and they will do the same as Deadly, but more so.

However, for all that, I do wonder if O'Neill has made the right decision? As has been pointed out in the press, the timing of taking this job now means that the chances of him becoming the next manager of Man Utd have all but disappeared. And my amateur psychology, from all of four thousand miles away, tells me that want O'Neill wants now at this point in his career more than anything else is not just a fresh challenge and the success that could conceivably come with the Villa, but to manage a successful club that would be truly great. Akin to the Forest side of his old manager Brian Clough or the great Liverpool teams of Shankly and Paisley - teams that will be remembered for more than their silverware and I wonder if he can ever achieve that at Villa Park.

UPDATE

There's a more detailed report of last night's game in today's Glasgow Herald. My favourite newspaper. ;-)