Old Firm cannot be split, concedes Calderwood

SCOTT DAVIE

THE Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood believes that it is not possible for Hearts or any other club, including his own, to finish above or between the Old Firm at the end of the season.

The bookmakers may have dramatically slashed the odds against the Tynecastle team lifting the title from 250-1 to 14-1 in recent days but the bronze medal is the best Calderwood can see anyone other than Rangers or Celtic achieving.

That's despite the money ploughed in by Lithuanian banker Vladimir Romanov which has allowed George Burley to invest in sufficient quality to carry Hearts clear of the field for the time being.

Romanov's stated intention is to maintain a serious long-term challenge to the Glasgow pair but, despite some early success, Calderwood is convinced that will remain nothing more than a pipe dream. He takes his team to Tynecastle on Saturday determined to build on the success of defeating the defending champions last Sunday but at a time when funds are exhausted as far as strengthening his own injury-hit squad is concerned.

Calderwood said: "I don't believe that the Old Firm can be split in any year as Rangers and Celtic simply have too much money. If Hearts or Aberdeen look like getting between them the Old Firm will just go out and buy five or six new players in January to stop that happening.

"They cannot afford to miss out on the chance to be involved in the Champions League. That's frustrating because I'd love to see ourselves or Hearts do it."

Calderwood may be wishing Hearts well in their fight to end the Old Firm duopoly but his more immediate task is to overcome another Aberdeen hoodoo at Tynecastle this weekend, having taken a paltry two points from the last 30 available there.


Taken from the Scotsman