Trophies, titles, European places all went to teams pretty much as expected at the end of the Scottish Premier League season. So it's a good time to look back at some of the highlights . . . and a few lowlights.

Team of the year: Picking a team of the season highlights some of Scottish football’s problems last term. For example, the nearest  either of the Old Firm teams had to a consistent striker was Kris Boyd of Rangers, but a Henrik Larsson or Brian Laudrup he ain’t. Meanwhile, the shenanigans at Hearts saw Scotland keeper Craig Gordon dropped for a spell, and his form was clearly affected.

Nonetheless, here's a team to tear up the SPL, in a trendy, fluid 4-5-1 formation: Artuc Boruc (Celtic); Stephen Whittaker (Hibs), Russell Anderson (Aberdeen), Stephen McManus (Celtic), Lee Naylor (Celtic); Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Scott Brown (Hibs), Russell Latapy (Falkirk), Barry Robson (Dundee Utd), Steven Naismith (Kilmarnock); Anthony Stokes (Falkirk - on loan from Arsenal).

'Nakamura's goal against Man United was a thing of mesmerising beauty, utterly out of keeping with Celtic’s performance in the rest of the match'


Moments of the season: Nakamura swings his boot -When Manchester United visited Celtic Park for a Champions League game, they were expected to give the Hoops a battering. And for the first hour they did batter them, without actually managing to score a goal. Then Jari Jarosik won a free-kick with a disgraceful dive, and up stepped Nakamura. The resultant goal was a thing of mesmerising beauty, utterly out of keeping with Celtic’s performance in the rest of the match.

Scotland 1 France 0 - Once again, the signs were ominous. The World Cup finalists were in town for a Euro 2008 qualifier, and Scotland were hoping for a draw. Again, they were battered, but somehow managed not to concede a goal. And then we scored! Scotland have taken the lead against France! The hero of the moment was . . . Gary Caldwell?! Cue a weekend of bafflement and celebration.

Player Revolt No.1: After an indifferent start to the season, Vladimir Romanov threatened to sell the Hearts players to "Kilmarnock or whatever club would take them" if they didn’t beat Dunfermline. Cue a hijacked press conference as Stephen Pressley, flanked by Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon, mumbled his way through a public criticism of the regime. Extraordinary television.

Player Revolt No.2: Paul Le Guen and Barry Ferguson, it’s fair to say, did not get on. PLG wanted to impose his way of doing things on Rangers. Bazza responded by rampant indiscipline, both on the pitch (where he played like a man who’d missed the team talk) and off it, where he organised a booze-fest in Newcastle. PLG, in a final test of his authority, dropped Ferguson and effectively put him on the transfer list. Ferguson complained to the chairman, and Le Guen resigned.

Player Revolt No 3: Hibs won their first trophy for 16 years when they lifted the League Cup in March, but behind the scenes, John Collins’s perfectionist management style was ruffling a few feathers. An unexpected defeat to Dunfermline led to a dressing room 'bust-up', and a delegation of players went to complain to the chairman. Unlike at Rangers, they lost, issuing a humbling apology and promising never to do anything like it again.

Flops of the season: Rangers  - Think back to last summer, and the optimistic mood music coming from the Rangers fans (a fair few journalists – the laptop loyalists – amongst them) was deafening. Le Guen was going to revolutionise the club and reassert their dominance over Scottish football. Oops.

Hearts -Think back to last season, and the bullishness of the Romanov Revolution was overwhelming. “Second place is under-achievement,” said Roman, the owner’s son. Oops.

Thomas Gravesen - £40k a week might not raise eyebrows in the Premiership, but for the SPL that kind of salary - Gravesen's reputed earnings - represents a statement of intent. Celtic had bought a player simply unattainable to any of their rivals, a player with Real Madrid pedigree no less. In the League, the only question was how many Man of the Match awards he would win, because surely he would only really be tested in the Champions League. In fact, he struggled to hold down a regular place in the SPL and was frequently bullied out of those matches he did play, and started the pivotal second leg against Milan on the bench. Oops.

Links to these stories, and the best quotes of the season, from Vladimir Romanov, Richard Keys and others, can be found at:

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