The first and probably biggest story came as Rangers saw their dreams of reaching the Champions League Group Stages dashed in Sweden when they went out of the third round of qualifying to the current Swedish champions, Malmo. As a Celtic fan, it was impossible to suppress a smile and a laugh as I looked up the score to find, not only that Rangers had lost 1-0 at Ibrox to the Swedes, but that the player to strike the only goal of the game none other than Larsson... no, not that Larsson but it was close enough for me and all other Celtic fans to whoop with delight. They went on to draw the second leg 1-1 after taking the lead, following two deserved red cards for Steven Whittaker and Madjid Bougherra, who has since moved to Qatari champions, Lekhwiya, for a fee of around £1.7m.

However, putting my Celtic biases aside, the failure to qualify is not only a terrible blow to Rangers but to all of Scottish football, one that will undoubtedly affect Celtic as much as anyone. As the Scottish Champions are now denied automatic entry to the group stage it will become harder and harder for Scottish teams and, aside from a very strong Europa League run from a Scottish club, there is no foreseeable way of Scotland earning back this right. Thankfully, both Rangers and Celtic have very manageable ties for Europa League qualification and will hope to at the very least qualify from their group. Hearts, unfortunately, have been drawn against Tottenham who, even without Modric or any other players that may leave them between now and next week, should sweep Hearts aside with great ease.

This brings me nicely on to the second big story of previous weeks, the sacking of Jim Jeffries as manager of Hearts. His second spell as manager of the Edinburgh club ended just two weeks into the season when Chairman, Vladimir Romanov (known as the Abramovich of Scottish football) decided his time was up after a very respectable draw away to Ibrox and a tight 1-0 loss to Dundee United. Former Sporting Lisbon manager, Paulo Sergio Bento Brito was to be his replacement, the 10^th manager to be appointed during Romanov’s 7-year spell at the club. He made a flying start, beating Hungarian side, Paks, 4-1 at Tynecastle but his side were found out on Sunday when they lost 1-0 away to Motherwell, leaving them still with only a point from their first three league fixtures.

Celtic resumed play in the league, following a 2 week break in which they played 3 friendlies, with a 1-0 win away to Aberdeen, the victory was marred however by a challenge which resulted in Emilio Izaguirre breaking his ankle which looks set to keep last season’s Player of the Year out of action for 6 months. This could prove a big blow to Celtic as the Honduran left-back provided the spark that took them within a game of clinching last season’s trophy. They will be heartened, however by Rangers’ numerous failed attempts to sign 22 year-old David Goodwillie from Dundee United, who earlier this week completed his £2m move to Blackburn Rovers.

Elsewhere in the league, newly promoted Dunfermline had a thrilling 3-3 draw with Inverness CT, who now sit joint-bottom of the league with St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Hearts, who all have only a point. Motherwell have made a good start sitting a point ahead of Celtic, who have a game in hand, with 7 points from their first three games. Next weekend will see Celtic take on Dundee Utd, Rangers travel to Inverness and Hearts play Aberdeen.