IEXPECTED Rangers to win the first Old Firm meeting of the season on Sunday but I did not expect them to score four goals in the process.

IT WAS a frenzied final day of transfer activity across Europe yesterday but perhaps the most important bit of business was the sale of Manchester City.

IT WAS a tough game but we did not expect anything else.

THE campaign for a British football team in the 2012 Olympics rumbled into life as soon as all eyes turned towards London from Beijing.

IHAVEN’T seen too much of SPL champions Celtic so far this season but there is no doubt Rangers are much stronger this season after their recent acquisitions.

IT MAY be a case of too little, too late for Irishman Darren Clarke but all credit to him for making a late challenge to be included in the European Ryder Cup team.

WEEK three of the SPL and week three of referees making the headlines rather than the players.

GORDON Chisholm’s Queen of the South have a massive job on their hands if they are to overcome Nordsjaelland, of Denmark, in the Uefa Cup tonight.

I DON’T profess to be an expert on all things sport but I know the importance of success and professional pride.

IT WAS a fantastic weekend in Beijing, not just for Team GB but for the Olympics as a whole.

I FIND it strange Northern Ireland have been selected as the opposition for Scotland in George Burley’s final warm-up before he makes his competitive debut.

SANDY Clark and Zander Diamond will represent Aberdeen at a meeting with referees at Hampden tomorrow in what has become an annual event.

SHAUN Maloney is expected to make his return to Celtic before the transfer window closes at the end of the month which is great news for the SPL champions and bad news for the rest of us.

IN the offices of insurance companies up and down the country there will be furrowed brows and some heated debate this morning.

THIS afternoon we face Inverness at Brechin’s Glebe Park in the opening fixture of the SPL Reserve League. I only wish the game had come sooner.

ICOULD push the boat out and make bold predictions about a changing of the guard in the English top flight as the countdown to the new season south of the border continues. But I won’t.

IWOULD love to provide you with an in-depth appraisal of the SPL so far, but I’m afraid the opening weekend has passed me by.

NO SOONER had Andy Murray tumbled out of the Olympis singles against Lu Yen-Hsun than I heard the first claims that he would have tried harder had there been a big cheque waiting for him at the end of the tournament, rather than a gold medal.