The Scottish transfer window has failed to burst into life. There have been no marquee signings to capture the imagination, no signals of intent from any team - not even the Old Firm - and there hasn’t been anything close to resembling a coup of any degree. Celtic and Rangers have done their business quickly and early. Neil Lennon has brought in Adam Matthews, Kelvin Wilson and Nigerian Victor Wanyama without breaking the bank or setting tongues wagging.
New Rangers boss Ally McCoist has focused his attentions on retaining key members of the Rangers squad, even if the cynics expect the newly-penned long-term deals of Allan McGregor and Steven Whittaker to be utilised more to drive their fees up when they eventually move on in 12 to 18 months’ time than as statements they’ll still be in Glasgow in five or six years.
Of course, the reasons for the quiet summer of transfer activity in Scotland are much talked about and well-documented. West Ham United will be rewarded for their 20th place finish in the Premier League with prize money and parachute payments close to £40m, whereas the twelve teams of the Scottish Premier League will share £13m amongst them for their efforts in the 2010/11 season. No club in the Scottish top flight have retained the financial clout to even compete with sides in the Championship.
Additionally, the Scotland’s UEFA co-efficient is constantly falling due to consistent failings in the continental competitions. As the figure drops, it becomes increasingly harder for European football to be dangled in front of potential signings. The lure and promise of European football used to attract an adequate standard of players to Scotland but since the task of qualifying has become harder, few players are willing to take that risk.
That means Colin Calderwood’s position as Hibernian manager remains the most discussed transfer saga of the summer so far. The former Scottish international left his role as Newcastle United assistant manager in October and lifted Hibs well away from relegation, but now it looks likely he will return to an English club.
Former manager John Hughes failed to kick on from a fine first season in charge and ended up losing the confidence of his playing staff and the boardroom. Calderwood took time to get settled in but once he did, SPL safety was quickly assured. With it, he introduced his own style of football to the Edinburgh club and started a massive squad overhaul in January that has continued in the recent weeks of the post- and pre-season. All the while Calderwood has also been fluttering his eyelashes at the advances of Steve McClaren and his former colleague at Newcastle, Chris Hughton.
McClaren and Hughton have recently been installed as the new managers of Championship sides Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City respectively and both have seemingly earmarked Calderwood as the man they want as number two in their push towards the Premier League.
Calderwood is a former player and manager at Forest. His playing career ended at the City Ground in 2001 following a broken leg that he couldn’t recover from, and he returned in May 2006 as manager. His first full season in charge ended in the League One playoff stages but a late surge of six wins in the last seven games of the 2007/08 season helped Calderwood engineer automatic promotion to the Football League Championship at the second time of asking. However, a poor start to the following season saw him replaced by Billy Davies before Christmas.
In January 2009, Calderwood joined the coaching staff at Newcastle United and was elevated to the role of assistant manager for the 2009/10 season, where he helped Chris Hughton mastermind promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt by running away with the Championship title.
It is therefore understandable that Calderwood would be attracted by the proposition of both a former club and a former colleague. The worrying fact for Hibernian fans remains the manager’s silence over the matter.
He left Newcastle in the Premier League to take on the Hibernian job. He also had an idea on what he wanted to achieve and how he wanted to do it. I don’t suspect for one moment that finishing the season in tenth place with Hibernian is all that he wanted to do, which suggests that life at Hibernian is not as Calderwood had expected. Promises made have turned out to be empty and he doesn’t believe he is capable of having a proper go at a full season.
Calderwood has remained as quiet as possible throughout the whole summer. Rather than ruling himself out of contention for both positions and committing himself to Hibernian, he simply makes mention of the contract with the Easter Road club that he intends to honour.
The Scotsman’s future is likely to be south of the border in the second flight of English football once Rod Petrie has driven a hard bargain out of either Birmingham or Nottingham Forest. Depressingly, that’ll be the biggest story of the Scottish summer.
Tags: Birmingham City, Colin Calderwood, Hibernian, Nottingham Forest