Reports in the media suggest that Sunderland manager Roy Keane is set to axe 11 players from his squad in order to start rebuilding for next season. Having spent £40m already and having kept the Black Cats in the Premiership on the strength of a good run since January, Keane has now asked for an additional £50m to ensure regular Premiership football in the North East.

Ian Harte, former Celtic player Stanislav Varga, Stephen Wright and veteran striker Andy Cole have already been told they will not get new contracts. Speculation is rife as to who else will be shown the door, but for Aberdeen fans the most eagerly awaited news will be what happens to former player and Scotland regular Russell Anderson.

Having left Aberdeen in a £1m move in June last year, Anderson has made only one league appearance for Sunderland, coming on as substitute for McShane and bringing down Wigans Antoine Sibierski  to concede a penalty seven minutes after later. He was then injured before being farmed out to Championship side Plymouth on loan spell where he's made 14 appearances (together with former Aberdeen team-mate Chris Clarke).

Meanwhile, Aberdeen have suffered since losing their influential captain in central defence. Diamond, Mair and Considine are good players. Maybury would be a great addition should he stay at Pittodrie. Richie Byrne is on his way out and Dave Bus is returning to the Netherlands. We could clearly use a player with the experience and skill of Russell Anderson to steady the back four as we prepare for next season.

A return to the North East for Anderson is what many fans would like to see, but would he return? Aberdeen would probably struggle to match the wages offered by Sunderland (or even Plymouth - consider that Championship teams and most League 1 teams pay more than Scottish clubs outside the Old Firm) and you would have to wonder whether he'd want to return to his hometown club when he could be earning more - as well as developing his game - by playing in the lower divisions in England. At the end of the day I hope he doesn't turn into a journeyman footballer like Eoin Jess, another player of whom great things where promised but who went from club to club (Bradford, Nottingham Forest, Coventry and Northampton) generally not living up to expectations.

Charlie Adam is a surprise addition to the Rangers squad for Motherwell's visit having previously been ruled out for the season through injury.

Fellow midfielders Lee McCulloch and DaMarcus Beasley are likewise close to fitness but miss out against Well along with injured goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

Ross McCormack, Stephen Hughes and Simon Lappin are likely to return to Motherwell's starting line-up Ibrox.  However, captain Paul Quinn misses the rest of the season with a broken jaw.

Rangers are undefeated against Motherwell this season, winning two and drawing one. Both teams are in need of the points, so a tight game is expected. Rangers must be careful not to incur too many bookings or injuries, as they have 2 tough games coming up in the next seven days.

On Saturday they face Dundee United at home (a team also chasing the Eufa spot), then 4 days later face Zenit St Petersburg in the Uefa Cup final in Manchester.

Motherwell have only won 2 (one of those against Celtic) of their last 7 games and drawn 1. Scoring has been proving a problem with only four goals scored and 11 conceded.

Rangers have not had an easy time of late. Back to back defeats to Celtic, a disappointing performance against Hibernian and long drawn out games against St Johnstone and Fiorentina (both games going to penalties) are surely taking their toll on the Ibrox side. However, they're on a high: two cup finals coming up, and a strong possibility of winning the league.

I predict a Rangers win: 2-0

Aberdeen goalkeeper Derek Soutar is set to sign for American MSL outfit Houston Dynamo.  The 26 year old former Scotland under-21 international is expected to be invited to Texas for a trail once the SPL season concludes.

Soutar has been told by Aberdeen he will not be offered a new contract when his current deal expires in the summer.  Houston are managed by former St Johnstone player Dominic Kinnear and coached by retired Scotland international John Spencer. They actively scout in Scottish football and recently recruited English goalkeeper Tony Caig from Gretna.

The Dynamo management team have been impressed by reports on Soutar and are keen to add him to a Scottish colony which includes Aberdeen-born Stuart Holden.

Derek Soutar formerly played with Dundee, as well as loan spells at Alloa and Brechin before arriving at Pittodrie on a free in July 2006. In total he’s made 17 appearances for the Dons and had been set to claim the No 1 jersey following Jamie Langfield’s much publicized troubles with the Aberdeen management. Langfield however has managed to hold on to his place. Along with Derek Soutar, reserve team goalkeeper Greg Kelly has also been released.

With no adequate backup for Langfield, the search for a goalkeeper continues, with ex-Aberdeen player Derek Stillie widely tipped to make a return to the north-east following his relatively unsuccessful spell at League 1’s Gillingham.

As a fan of football first and foremost, I suppose it's customary to follow at least one other team in another division. For me, in Scotland that has always been Deveronvale ("just who the f*ck are Deveronvale?" you're all wondering? Well, go Google and find out just who the best team north of the river Don is!). 

But when it comes to English sides it's always been a bit trickier. I don't go down to Englandshire that often, and I don't have much affinity with any of the teams down there either. I hate Manchester United not just because they're the Rangers of England but also because my mother in law supports them. I cant be doing with Chelsea, the rotten upstarts that they are, Liverpool are just too uninteresting.  I could support Arsenal because they play nice football but at the end of the day, some home grown talent might be nice, no? The rest of the EPL, or the English Pre-meer League as our American cousins call it just doesn't do it either. 

Instead, I've been getting my English footballing kicks along Route M6, down Potters way. I've been following Stoke City for about 20-odd years now mainly on the basis that I had a nice dinner there once back in 1987 on our way to Alton Towers (we missed the turn off and ended up in Stoke instead), that Stoke is actually quite a nice town (no, really!) and that Stoke is one of the grand old ladies of English football. 

Stoke City FC is, for those who don't know the worlds second oldest football team in the word, having been founded in 1863 a year after Notts County and was one of the 12 founding members of the Football League. Amongst its best known players is Stanley Matthews (pictured right) who made 321 appearances and scored 54 goals at the Victoria Ground (in two different spell, he also played for Blackpool in between).  Stoke won the old Football League just once, back in 1972, and won the League Cup that same season beating Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley. That season, and the next they also qualified for the Uefa cup, but didn't progress too far.  Stoke last played in the top flight in the 84/85 season when they were relegated with a total of 17 point, a record low tally for twenty-one years. But a cracking season this year saw them promoted again following a 0-0 draw with Leicester (who were relegated, which is sweet revenge for not letting me go to University there because I only got a 'B' for my Higher Economics) and avoiding the play-offs when Hull lost 1-0 at Ipswich. 

Teams promoted from the Championship tend not to do too well. Birmingham look like they're on the way down again. Derby, arguably the worst side ever to grace the Premier League are also down.  I think Stoke are better teams than both of those two teams and I feel that together with West Brom (and hopefully Crystal Palace) they'll make a good addition to the top flight. In a way I hope Hull dont make it up, because it's about the only football trivia I know with any great certainty (i.e. "what is the largest town in England never to have a team in the top flight?"). 

So congrats to Stoke City, Premiership football at last - long may it continue!

Useful Links
http://www.stokecity-mad.co.uk/
http://www.stoke.vitalfootball.co.uk/
http://www.teamtalk.com/football/stokecity/0,16370,1805,00.html

With Gretna are still in administration and under threat of going out of business if no investor is found, midfielder Gavin Skelton fears the team’s abysmal display against Caley Thistle may jeopardise the careers of the players at the doomed club.

Skelton knows the importance of performing well between now and the season’s end. He said: “It is disappointing as we are all going to be looking for clubs and it is a worrying time.

“A couple of the players are on loan and have got contracts next year, but the rest of us are out of contract even if there is a club next year. It is a worrying time for us all and you don’t want to be putting in performances like that. Interest is very nice but until you have signed something it is definitely on your mind. It depends what comes up. I am not Ronaldo and in the position of choosing where I want to play. If anything comes up I will have to look at it and it is nice to be linked to clubs in the SPL. It has been a long season and it has started to catch up with us all.”

It has certainly not been an easy season for Gretna. Forced to play their games at Motherwell's Fir Park due to the club not meeting the minimum stadia criteria set by the Scottish Premier League, attendences at games has been alarminly low, but this is to be expected for a town with a population of 2,700. Their first game of the season resulted in a 4-0 loss to Falkirk, after which the team recorded only four points in 12 games. The first win in the SPL came when they defeated Dundee United 3-2 at Fir Park; the jump from the First Division to the top flight in Scotland was just too great.

Owner Brookes Mileson had been bankrolling the club since they started their climb up the leagues, but when he fell ill, reports about the clubs financial and footballing health started appearing in the newspapers. Players and staff where not being paid and a complicated legal tangle between the club and former manager Rowan Alexander the former manager resulted in many distractions both on and off the pitch. The continued low attendences meant that with less money coming in, the financial troubles mounted up: a crowd of 431 turned up for the game, which was 250 fewer than attended a match on the same day between East Stirlingshire and Elgin in the Scottish Third Division.

Gretna officially went into administration, when owner Brooks Mileson withdrawing his financial support. The automatic 10 point deduction that followed effectively sealed the clubs fate and Gretna were formally relegated from the SPL on March 29, 2008 after being defeated 2-0 by St Mirren at Love Street. With debts of over 4 million pounds and assets of only 1 million pounds, the future looks bleak for Gretna. With no new owner in sight survival seems a far off prospect.  Twenty-to players, including 8 senior players along with coaching staff and the former owner's son have already been made redundant.

So where now for Gretna FC? Assuming the club survives in whatever form, a return to the amateur leagues beckons. There have been many commentators who claim that Gretna should never have been allowed into the SPL, but on the pitch anyway, they meritted their position amongs Scotlands top tier.  Should the SPL have widened its criteria away from just looking at stadium criteria and looked at the financial health of the clubs coming in to the league? Possibly, but Gretna are not alone in going into administration whilst playing in the SPL: Motherwell did it in 2002 but were saved from relegation as Falkirk didn't meet the stadium requirements. The difference was that Motherwell had a viable fan-base and had enough credibility to attract new players, two things that Gretna lacks.

Next year, Hamilton will take the place of Gretna FC. I hope the league has done a careful audit of Hamiltons finances to make sure that whilst they may perform on the pitch, we avoid the sorry state that Gretna got into.

Inverness Caley piled more misery on the all-ready relegated Gretna, thumping six goals past the Anvils. In front of just over 3,600 fans, The Highlanders went in front with barely 37 seconds on the clock when Tokely released Cowie on the right and his cross was finished well by Imrie 12 yards out. Despite clawing backa goal in the 27th minute, further goals from Wilson, Cowie, Tokely and Vigurs rounded off the day and completed a clean sweep of victories for Brewster's side over Gretna this season. 

Celtic continued their challenge to win the league by beating third placed Motherwell by 2 goals to 1. Despite taking the lead on 60 minutes through Porter, quick replies from Celtic's McDonald and Samaras made the points safe for Strachans side.

St Mirren took the points in the basement battle against Kilmarnock at Love Street. With little to play for (both sides are assured SPL status next season thanks to Gretna's woeful performance), the game was a tepid affair with little goalmouth action to speak of and  it took a last minute goal from Will Haining to make the difference.

Hibernian and Rangers played out a goalless draw which probably meant more for Hibs than for Rangers, themselves now moving to within seven points of league leaders Celtic. Hibs are now level on points with fourth placed Dundee United, who lost away to Aberdeen.

Falkirk and Hearst play later on this evening (19:45)

Weekend Results

Aberdeen 2-1 Dundee Utd
Inverness CT 6-1 Gretna
Motherwell 1-2 Celtic
St Mirren 1-0 Kilmarnock
Hibernian 0-0 Rangers

Upcoming fixtures

Aberdeen recorded only their second win this season against Dundee United at Pittodrie today, making it three home wins in a row and pushing hard to make a late claim for a Uefa Cup spot.

Aberdeen started with Touzani, Scott Severin and Andrew Considine in the back due to injuries adn suspensions, and they were kept busy as United made the livelier start. But goals from Richard Foster and Karim Touzani secured all three points for the Dons, with a Danny Swanson goal for the visitors rounding off an entertaining match.

With Motherwell losing, and Hibs not playing until tomorrow, Aberdeen are now three points from third spot. Our next game is away to Motherwell on the 10th May.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Duff, Severin, Considine, Foster, De Visscher (Lovell 87), Nicholson (Bus 79), Touzani, Young, Miller, Maguire (Walker 73). Subs Not Used: Soutar, Ross.

Booked: Foster, Miller.

Goals: Foster 30, Touzani 48.

Dundee Utd: Zaluska, Dillon, Wilkie, Dods, Grainger, Flood, Kerr (O'Brien 79), Swanson, Gomis (Daly 84), Hunt (Johnny Russell 46), De Vries. Subs Not Used: McLean, Robertson, Kovacevic, Odhiambo.

Booked: Grainger, Dods.

Goal: Swanson 49.

Att: 10,312 , Ref: B Winter

Dundee United travel to Pittodrie tomorrow for the last 'New Firm' derby of the season, knowing that a win is vital to keep up their challenge for European football next season. With The Terrors one point behind third placed Motherwell every game is vital now for Craig Leveins side. Aberdeen meanwhile are in with an outside chance of European football next season but must rely on other teams to get results for them.

Dundee United have the edge over Aberdeen this season, playing four in all competitions, winning three and losing one, inflicting two particularly heavy defeats along the way:

League Cup Aberdeen      1-4 Dundee United
SPL        Dundee United 3-0 Aberdeen 
SPL        Aberdeen      2-0 Dundee United
SPL        Dundee United 1-0 Aberdeen

With defenders Lee Mair and Zander Diamond missing through injury and suspension along with other absentees Darren Mackie, Richie Byrne and Jamie Smith, on-loan defender Alan Maybury’s injury adds another challenge to Calderwood’s plans for tomorrow.

But while third spot in the SPL is still a possibility, Calderwood’s focus is firmly on next season following the expected departure of six players from the Pittodrie side. Having signed Oldham’s former Kilmarnock midfielder Gary McDonald on a pre-contract, he is hoping to have more new recruits secured before the end of the campaign. Dutch youngster Dyon Camero has impressed in his short trail. The 19-year-old FC Zutphen forward will go back to Holland on Sunday, but could return.  Aberdeen defender Alan Maybury’s suspected fractured rib could rule him out for the rest of the season but it will not affect his chances of securing a permanent move to Pittodrie. The on-loan Leicester City player'sloan deal runs out at the end of the campaign, as does his contract at Leicester, but Dons manager Jimmy Calderwood is hoping to make the Republic of Ireland international an integral part of his squad for next season.

Prediction: Aberdeen are unbeaten in their last seven home games, and have not drawn in their last five, whilst United have not win away in three and drawn their last three games.  A tight home win for Aberdeen.

Aberdeen (from): Langfield, Considine, Bus, Touzani, Foster, Walker, Severin, Duff, De Visscher, Young, Lovell, Miller, Maguire, Aluko, Jonathan Smith, Pawlett, Jack, Soutar.

Dundee United (from): Zaluska, Dillon, Dods, Kenneth, Grainger, Wilkie, Kalvenes, Conway, Swanson, Kerr, Flood, Robb, Gomis, Buaben, Hunt, De Vries, O'Brien, Odhiambo, Daly, Robertson, Kovacevic, McLean.

I cant remember a time in recent history when the finish to the SPL has been this exciting. With Celtic currently leading their Old Firm rivals by five points, hopes of winning three titles in a row for the first time since the last of their nine back-to-back championships in 1974 must be high in the East End of Glasgow. Rangers though have three games in hand, but like Celtic face a few difficult games in the coming three weeks.

Usually at this stage of the season, the Old Firm are far ahead of the pack, and the race for third place is generally sewn up as well. But this year, three teams - Motherwell, Dundee United and Hibernian and, as an outside chance, possibly Aberdeen - are within 2 points of each other and need the points to secure that valuable third place and the UEFA Cup spot that comes with it.

Both Celtic and Rangers will be travelling to play these sides over the coming weeks, with every game and every result worth fighting for. Motherwell and Dundee United wont meet again this season, so both teams will have to rely on results elsewhere to give them the advantage.

United's record against Rangers has not been bad this season: two high scoring draws, a win and a loss. Against Celtic however, the Tannadice club has not fared so well, losing twice and drawing once. In fact, Dundee United have not beaten Celtic since 1999 when goals by Billy Dodds and Craig Easton secured a 2-1 win.

Motherwell have lost two games and drawn one against Rangers this season, and need to look back to the Boxing Day game back in 2002 for their last win. Against Celtic, the Steelmen have recording one victory in this campaign, when a Simon Lapin goal on 33 minutes secured the three points.

Rangers are playing well and have a game in hand, but I cant see Celtic slipping up now. Despite having a trophy-less season so far, the momentum is with the Parkhead side. Rangers will have the added distraction of a tricky away fixture to Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup semi-final this evening and must hope that there are no serious injuries.

With Chelsea reaching the final of the Champions League last night, there is an additional motivator to win the SPL: the possiblity of a 12 million pound payout for the team finishing top in 3 weeks time.

My prediction: Celtic to win the League, Motherwell to finish third as a perfect end to an emotional season for the Fir Park side.

Aberdeen have signed Oldham and former Kilmarnock midfielder Gary McDonald on a pre-contract agreement. In his 87 appearances for the Lancashire club, the Irvine born player has scored 12 goals. He turned down a two year extension to his contract and is said to be delighted to play back in his native Scotland again.

Manager Jimmy Calderwood continues to strengthen his squad for next season, following the clearout of several first team regulars. Barry Nicholson will join Richie Byrne and Dave Bus, striker Lee Miller and keepers Derek Soutar and Greg Kelly on the transfer list of the Pittodrie club. Former Celtic and Wolves player Jackie McNamara has left the club by mutual consent. Forward Sone Aluko will return to Birmingham City at the end of his loan, while the future of midfielder Josh Walker has yet to be decided by Middlesbrough. Both players are hopefully back in the North East next season.

The Aberdeen fans are keenly awaiting the clubs dealings in the transfer market in the upcoming months. With up to six players leaving, a massive rebuilding will need to take place in order to repeat the relative success of the season just passed (a good domestic cup run and a top-half finish). But with transfer money always an issue and the difficulty in competing against the higher wages and glamour of the Old Firm or the Championship, Jimmy Calderwood's job in attracting players to Pittodrie will be a tough one.