Farewell Christian Nade: our man of the season

We've seen the last of Christian Nade in a Hearts shirt, and while the Jambos are by and large glad to get rid, boy are we gonna miss him.

Nade spent three years in Scottish football, and was laughed at by fans and derided in the press for much of that time. But in so many ways, the big man sums up the current state of Scottish football in 2010.

His arrival from Sheffield United in summer 2007 was yet another example of the insanity of the Hearts regime. Vladimir Romanov sanctioned a transfee fee of £500,000 and a weekly wage of around £10k a week - and it quickly transpired that, yet again, another big-money signing had gone badly wrong.

(If you think only Hearts are prone to this kind of folly, just remember the £2m Celtic blew on Robbie Keane this season to achieve absolutely sweet fuck all.)

Frequently injured, when Nade did play he looked desperately unfit - he may be French, but he's the very embodiment of Scotland's attitude towards exercise.

According to Sky, his manager at the Blades, Neil Warnock, expressed an interest in taking him back to Crystal Palace in 2008 - but for whatever reason, that transfer didn't happen, and Nade stayed at Tynecastle for the duration of his contract.

Unsettled and unhappy (and rumoured to be seeking solace in online, er, chat), Nade entered this season a mess, but at a press conference in October claimed to be putting his problems behind him.

Note that even the BBC can't resist a pun about the man's weight. And note also that Nade comes across as a genuinely open and likeable guy.

There was even, despite his miserable lack of goals (he scored 10 in total for Hearts in three years), talk of a new contract.

Because here's the other thing about Christian Nade - out-of-shape and unfashionable he may be, but, like Scottish football itself, he's nowhere near as bad as his biggest critics make out. He's got genuine technical ability, and a game awareness that enables him to hold the ball up and bring team mates into play. There were some signs that, after Csaba Laszlo's deathly dull rigidity, more positive tactics might bring the best out of him.

Sadly, though, those personality frailities caught up with him once again. Getting sent off against Rangers on 23 January didn't help his cause, but then after playing Celtic, he got into an argument with Ian Black and did what many right-thinking people would do - he punched the little tosser.

The Hearts hierachy then suspended him, and then told him he had no future at the club.

He provided more copy for the papers a few days later, after arranging to play a five-a-side match with some random punters through Facebook. It seemed he was just lonely and wanted some company.

Nade claims that he did in fact sign a new contract before the argument with Ian Black, but the fact that he does not have a signed copy is unlikely to help his case. However, he has certainly helped to shine a little more light on the bizarre way Hearts is run. Although initially reluctant to sign, he claims he didn't want to say so because the club would just drop him, as they did Jose Goncalves.

So what next for our hero? He's still only in his mid-20s, so should have many more years ahead of him as a professional player. But he would need to sort his head out, and become a dedicated athlete - and Scotland probably isn't the place to do that. He also seems to be someone who needs an arm put around him, so he can feel secure and confident. At Hearts the players simply don't get that.

Whatever happens, we wish him all the best. Scottish football is going to be a slightly duller place without him

The Arabs have some difficult decisions to make this summer

Dundee Utd have enjoyed a great season. Craig Levein might have left mid-season to take the Scotland job, but after a brief wobble they overcame that and ended the season 3rd in the SPL, and winning the Scottish Cup.

No wonder the crowds were out in Dundee last weekend to celebrate, and with Peter Houston looking likely to accept the manager's job on a permanent basis, the club can look back on 2009/10 with immense satisfaction.

Gary Kenneth thinks they can improve on this, and even split the Old Firm next season. Well, sorry to burst the party atmosphere, Gary, but here's a good reason why you can't - chairman Steven Thompson has admitted that his family's support for the club is unsustainable, and players might have to be sold to balance the books.

Thompson claims that the £450,000 loaned to the club this season takes his family's total "investment" to £5m, which was generally reckoned to be the figure his dad Eddie had put in before he died.

But whatever the true figure, it seems clear that this arrangement will not continue. Dundee Utd simply have to balance the books, and that might mean selling players this summer.

Kenneth himself is seen as a likely target for English clubs (Blackpool had a bid rejected in January), while Craig Conway and Morgaro Gomis are also subjects of transfer speculation. Captain Andy Webster will return to Rangers after his loan expired.

And while the fans will have chuckled long and hard at Dundee's late season implosion which ended their promotion hopes, the Arabs could have done with those city derbies next season to help boost match day revenue. No wonder Stephen Thompson used those Cup parade celebrations to ask fans to come to Tannadice more often next season.

So much is speculation at the moment. If a bidding war develops for one or more of their players, Dundee Utd could bring in more than they could hope for this summer... but this might mean negotiating right up until the end of the transfer window. And they may well gamble on reaching the Europa League group stage and the added revenue that will bring.

How much is Stephen Thompson prepared to risk?

Just managing to survive

So we've come to the end of another season, and it's not been a vintage one.

Another World Cup qualifying campaign ended in failure, and lame performances by our clubs in Europe did nothing to rehabilitate the reputation of Scottish football.

At least there was no Gretna-like disaster story this year, but be in no doubt that Scottish football is facing a huge crisis just now. With finances under attack from all sides, and supporters' demands as high as ever, managing an SPL club now is probably more difficult now than it's ever been.

Consider the evidence. Half the SPL changed their manager during the season, while St Mirren waited until their last game before dumping Gus McPherson. That's seven out of 12 clubs!

McPherson, in particular, might wonder what on earth he did wrong, having led the Buddies to the League Cup Final (which they really could have won) and kept them up once more.

"The team had got staid", said one unsympathetic supporter. Well, maybe so, but if your team's budget is so tight that Billy Mehmet becomes the talisman you can't afford to keep, you might reasonably ask just how any manager is supposed to build an exciting Buddies team.

Elsewhere, Kilmarnock fell out with Jim Jefferies, who took Csaba Laszlo's still-warm seat at Hearts, and replaced him with the two Jimmies. Motherwell dumped high-maintenance Jim Gannon and sought comfort with Pa Broon. Falkirk, having fallen for Eddie May's patter, then got rather taken by Stephen Pressley's smooth chat. Dundee Utd reluctantly allowed Craig Levein to do his duty, but found love on the rebound with his mate Peter Houston.

And Celtic, after the briefest honeymoon, ended their unhappy relationship with Tony Mowbray, and allowed smitten Neil Lennon a chance to try and win their hand.

Other couplings didn't end in divorce, but it wasn't all plain sailing. John Hughes at Hibs and Mark McGhee at Aberdeen - both popular appointments last summer - were under pressure, with plenty of supporters at both clubs asking for them to go.

And Walter Smith and Rangers, while undoubtedly in love, may still part ways this summer. Smith has been working without a contract since January, and with players certain to leave this summer with no guarantee they'll be replaced, he may well feel he's done all he can at Ibrox.

Rangers will crow about their title success, but in truth Celtic's awfulness played as much a part as their own resilience. In a strange way, their League Cup triumph was almost more impressive, because they strength of character in the final to beat a spirited St Mirren with 10 men.

The top level of Scottish football is in a perilious position. No one's got any money, and gates have been sharply lower this season, either through boredom, frustration, or trouble justifying the cost in these straightened times.

Clubs have struggled to persuade even their season ticket holders to turn up, let alone anyone else, and that means that crowds for next season will probably fall again, further squeezing managers' playing budgets. With La Liga and the Premiership on TV, how many punters are willing to pay £50 or more to drag their kid out to an SPL tussle?

Clubs are increasingly realising that bringing through young players from within is the only solution yet, as Henry McLeish's report confirmed, facilities in Scotland are inadequate. Simply put, not enough children are playing football, certainly not in any kind of structured way, and this is being felt all the way through the game. If SPL clubs are struggling, then what hope in the SFL?

The irony is that the SPL was a tighter, more competitive division this season, with many compelling fixtures. The Old Firm did pull away from the pack in the end, but it took them longer than usual, and teams took points off each other all season long. There are plenty of well-drilled, hard-working teams, but they are struggling to captivate their supporters.

Who'd be a manager eh?

Hibs break record and stretch credulity

When John Hughes was appointed as the latest manager of Hibernian last summer, plenty of fans believed he might be the man to take the club to the next level.

Instead, his team has careered through this season in erratic fashion, much like Hibs have since anyone can remember. If Hughes has had an influence, it's that the swing between high and low points is even more pronounced than it was.

Last night's 6-6 draw at Fir Park (a record scoreline in the 12-year history of this SPL format) summed their season up - great first half, terrible second.

Back in January, Hibs were on Celtic's coat-tails, with pundits wondering if they could in fact finish above the Glasgow club this season. Hughes, mindful of the gulf in resources between even a spluttering Celtic and Hibs, dismissed that possibility, but stated in public that "he wanted third".

Since then, Hibs have crashed into an appalling run of form that's seen two wins from 17 and dumped the club down in 5th place in the League. Last night offered an opportunity to climb above Motherwell into 4th, which would at least guarantee a crack at the Europa League. But they blew it.

The scoreline is even more incredible when you watch highlights of the game. Hibs won an entertaining and open first half 4-2, with a hattrick from striker Colin Nish (who was rumoured to have been dropped following his criticism of the Hibs support).

Hibs then went 6-2 ahead with 25 minutes to go... and then collapsed, with keeper Graeme Smith at fault for at least two of Well's goals. He couldn't do anything about the equaliser, though - a beautiful shot across the goal from Lukas Jutkiewicz which could have been a contender for goal of the season.

Before the game, Hughes claimed that only "one or two" Hibs fans weren't supporting him. If that's the case, they've got very loud voices, because dissent is booming from the fan message boards.

Which is the real Hibs team? The one that chased the Old Firm so hard up until January, or the side that currently seems incapable of hanging on to a lead. Yet again, Hibs find consistency eludes them.