normal service to resume shortly as transfer window of doom shuts behind us

So that's it then. It's all over.

Four games into the season and we may as well chuck in the towel. Paul le Guen's Rangers have danced up the moonbeam to claim their rightful place at the top of the SPL and the last one out can turn off the lights. God is in his heaven and it's business as usual for the laptop Loyal.

Worse still, Celtic are heading for a Champions League skelping with a squad that wouldn't be able to lace the boots of the last SPL team to do anything meaningful in Europe's most illustriuos competition - the mighty Alex McLeish team of 2006 who, in case anybody out there has forgotten, qualified from their section.

Doomed, we're doomed I tells ya!

Ah, that's better. Big Ed has just delivered a slap to my chops with an old issue of NTV. There was stuff in there that I'd nearly wiped off the memory bank: Michael Kelly was judging a contest to find a new mascot and a guy in a parrot costume won it; there were benches being bolted on to the Jungle and Michael's cousin Kevin was wandering around a toxic field in Cambuslang telling whoever would listen that some racketeers calling themselves Gefinor were going to build us a stadium for nothing; there was even an angry mob in the car park brandishing fiery torches and pitchforks calling for the head of Desmond White on a silver platter.

Now those were worrying times.

Big Ed told me to get a hold of myself. And you know, I believe he might have a point.

Let's try and think it through rationally. As it stands, nobody has stripped Celtic of the title and we're still in all of the cups. Thank goodness for that. I thought for a nasty moment there I saw a tin of Mr. Sheen being delivered up the hallowed Marble Staircase.

Who knows, it might be needed yet, but it'll be a while before the wee cleaner gets her Marigolds on much more than that bottle of Lucozade that was planked in the safe by a couple of cheeky Tims.

Chick Young and company are drooling about Rangers at the moment, as opposed to simply drooling, and they have more or less written the Hoops off. Nothing new there, as we pointed out in issue 146. Yet the foundations for this sudden upsurge in triumphalist onfidence seems to be based on an opening to the league season featuring three games against SPL relegation fodder and a win against Hearts.

Such has been the success of their signing policy and long-term strategy that they are relying on Manchester United reserve players on six month loan deals.

The promised £10 million mythical war chest has apparently evaporated, although nobody in the media seems to be making too many noises along the lines of, 'Where has all the money gone Dave?' The truth is they are skint, but there's still nobody working in the mainstream willing to point out to the emperor that he is buck naked.

By way of a contrast, the latest set of financial figures published by Celtic would suggest that there is money there to be spent on improving the squad. We would all prefer not to be subjected to the barmy season which accompanies each and every transfer window, but there is evidence for anyone who wants to see it that the club is willing to be net spenders every season.

As we go to print with this issue there have been no additions since the summer signings, but I am confident that there will be players in by September 1st. It is the kind of financial clout that Rangers cannot command at this point in time, although, once again, there seems to be very little speculation about how that might affect the Ibrox manager's perception of his longer term future.

The big question, of course, is whether the squad that WGS has at his disposal this season can make any kind of impression in the Champions League. Once again there are some out there who would have us wincing as each team is drawn to play us as if they were approaching mortar shells. Call me a transcendental optimist if you like, but I'm actually looking forward to Europe this year.

It would be nice to be able to make a pact with Satan in order to hand-pick the other teams in the group - the way Rangers did last season - but we'll take what we get and give it a lash. With a few players to come back from injury and one or two new arrivals, who knows, we might be prepared to take up the challenge.

It will certainly demand a higher level of performance than we've seen both in pre-season and during the month of August. MON might have been responsible for some calamities in the Champions League - Shakhtar, Porto and Anderlecht are just three that spring to mind - but he was able to inspire the crowd, as well as the players, to approach each game with conviction in a way that WGS just hasn't been able to do. A pity, because his achievement in putting a championship winning side together after a worse start than this year means he deserves to be cut more than a little slack.

Now he has a chance to prove himself again. Third in the group, a shock result or two and a wee run after Christmas might turn the tide in his favour.

MANFRED LURKER