SPFL: Weekly Round Up

As another eventful weekend draws to a close in the Scottish Premiership. We are left with big talking points as league leaders Rangers dropped points to a rejuvenated Hearts side.

Speculation surrounding managerial positions is rife even after only nine games played as some are starting to feel the pressure and others are attracting suitors from south of the border.

Gerrard to Newcastle Rumours

Despite Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Hearts on Saturday, denting the champions hopes of pulling away from the pack, Steven Gerrard has been continuously linked with the Newcastle United job.

Newcastle were subject to a £300 million takeover by Saudi owners, which now has them looking towards building up the club to compete with the top six.

St James Park and Newcastle United are already being linked with some of Europe’s top players and managers

This has now landed Gerrard on a supposed three-man shortlist for the job alongside big names Roberto Martinez and Unai Emery. Although Steve Bruce still holds the position it is now deemed an open secret that the new owners will want to completely revamp the set up at the club and move away from the old regime left by Mike Ashley.

Gerrard has refused to rule himself out of the job which may concern the blue side of Glasgow as Gerrard’s stock is high after dethroning Celtic last season to prevent a historic 10 titles in a row.

Dons Struggle at Den’s

Aberdeen continue to struggle under new manager Stephen Glass after succumbing to a 2-1 defeat at Dens Park in Saturday’s late kick off. The Dons currently sit 9th place in the table after a string of poor results that hasn’t seen them register a win since Match Day two.

The renewed hope felt by fans by the appointment seems to be vanishing fast as results have been hard to come by this season and pressure has begun to mount on the shoulders of Glass. A successful transfer window which was met with excitement from fans saw Scott Brown arrive in a player coach role and Christian Ramirez from the MLS, now seems a distant memory to a support who are losing patience and faith in the management team. Should results not start to come soon we could be seeing the first managerial departure of the Premiership season coming sooner rather than later.

Livingston Win Offers Lifeline

This weekend also saw a huge result come in the form of a win for David Martindale and his Livingston side against St.Johnstone. Their only win before this game was against a Celtic side that has also struggled to find form. Last season’s high flyers St.Johnstone have had a shaky start in trying to replicate the fine form that saw them achieve a historic cup double. They sit only a point above Aberdeen and their defensive performance at the weekend is one they will want to forget in a hurry after two calamitous errors from Callum Davidson’s men gifted goals to a Livingston team that have struggled in front of goal. A much-needed win has given Martindale more stability in his job after a nightmare start to the season, that has had many questioning if the honeymoon period for him was well and truly over. St.Johnstone will look to bounce back and will have one eye on next month’s League cup semi-final against Celtic.