We Arra Peepel...

So both half of the old firm have managed to pull of relatively big signing coups in the window.

Certainly Celtic fans will be more than pleased with the arrival of Craig Bellamy, a player whom I would suggest has it in him to match the great Larrson for ability and goals.

Celtic also signed the guy up properly as well, concluding their business quickly and with the minimum of fuss.

Not so the 'Gers, who were in real danger of looking like a bunch of hopeless dafties if they had failed in their bid to bring Barry Ferguson back to the club. Despite the fact that the player was champing at the bit to come, Bain, Murray et al managed to turn a piece of piss into a precipice (I stole that from an old "Only an Excuse"), finally getting their man at around 10pm last night.

So you look at the back pages of the papers and you have Bellamy, standing in front of the Celtic crest, shaking hands with the manager at Parkhead during a properly arranged press conference.

And then you have the "fowtay" of Barry, in the street holding a Rangers shirt with a bunch of mis-shapen neds waving "we arra peepel!" scarves around.

So we managed to look like dafties even after all. But who cares? The Skipper is back and our rivals have managed to persuade a really good player away from the Premiership, even if the circumstances surrounding the move were a little odd.

Whatever folk say about ambition and good players staying in or moving to Scotland, the presence of these players adds value to the average punter's season ticket, which ain't cheap.

Do fans up here not deserve to watch quality players?

Besides "lack of ambition" is a spurious jibe to level at a player who wants to come here.

The mindset that says a Scottish based player has to move to the Premiership to prove himself is bathed in colonial inferiority and is simply not bourne out by the facts.

Take Larrson, Cooper, Willie Millar and Paul McStay as examples. All legends, none of whom felt the need to move to England.

We need to remember who the last British team to reach a European final was up here. Were they not from Scotland? And did they not beat two English clubs to get there?