I never thought I’d use the term box office to describe a showdown between my two old clubs Ayr and Dunfermline.
But then I never thought I’d see the day the opposing managers would be Scott Brown and Neil Lennon. Throw those two into the mix and, make no mistake, this Saturday’s game at Somerset Park has just become blockbuster.
Nothing else in Scottish football touches it this weekend and I bet every Hibs fan will have their eye on the scoreline too. The battle of two hugely successful Celtic captains – and two guys who will always go down in Easter Road history too.
I’m lucky to know both guys really well. Broonie as an ex-Hibs team mate and Lenny as a now former punditry colleague.
Everyone knows they share a mutual respect from their time together at Celtic Park. But more than that they both have a real fire in the belly.
They are two of the most driven characters Scottish football has known in the last 25 years and friendship won’t get in the way of that on Saturday afternoon. Broony was only 16 or 17 when I first saw what he was all about as a player.
It was a reserve game with Hibs against Hearts at Easter Road and he had that daft red stripe through his hair. He looked like a shrunk down Andre the Giant!
Our right back Mathias Doumbe got injured in the warm up so Broony got flung in against a French winger called Jean-Louis Valois who had joined Hearts from Luton.
I feared the Jambo was going to run riot. Nobody really knew who this young boy from Fife was but that changed after just five minutes. The ball got payed out to Valois who took one touch and… wallop!
Broony stuck him six foot in their air. And the thousand or so fans absolutely loved it. Welcome to Hibs. Fair to say Broony set out his stall that night. And he never looked back. An absolute class act.
He’s cut from the same cloth as Lenny. Neither of them are to be messed with and I remember Neil having a set-to with Jim Duffy a few years back when Hibs played Morton.
If I was a fly I’d head right down to Ayr on Saturday and perch myself on that hoarding that runs between the home and away dug outs at Somerset.
Because I’d love to see how these two pals get on when the tackles start flying in front of them. They won’t be able to hold back. They’re both winners. If you moulded them together as a player then that would be one hardy footballer… and he’d have about 50 trophies!
But none of that should take away from the more important fact that both were fantastic footballers and have taken that into the dug out.
Dunfermline have pulled off a massive coup getting Lenny in, even just for seven games at first. But you’ve got to give credit to the American owners.
They’ve obviously dug deep financially. They’re in real trouble in second bottom spot but if anyone can get them out of that bother it’s Neil Lennon.
He’s a top manager. He proved it at Celtic and at Hibs. His record at Easter Road was superb. Getting them out of the Championship in his first season then leading them to third in the Premiership the next.
It was exciting football and the fans all bought into it. That’s what Dunfermline’s owners have looked at I’m sure. They are data-led guys, they’re analytic guys.
You just take one look at Neil Lennon’s CV, and you look at his record in that league, at that level, winning the Championship, and there’s no surprise that they were desperate to get him in.
You speak to the Dunfermline fans, you see it online. They’re delighted that they’ve got a guy of his calibre to come to the club.
If Neil can’t get a tune out of these players, then I don’t think anyone can.
I spent a bit of time with him last week. He’s been enjoying watching his boy Gallagher playing for Bonnyrigg.
But I could just sense he was itching to get back in. He’d been close to a couple of jobs in England. He hadn’t quite got them. I think he was getting a bit bored in the house.
This suits all parties. I don’t think there’s much pressure on Neil at Dunfermline.
The players are on their third manager this season so if it goes t**s up, Neil can just turn around and say ‘I’m the third manager to try and get a tune out of these players and they’ve not been able to do it’.
If he goes in and does really well, then he’s a hero. I’d bet it will be the latter because he’s a very good manager.
I’m sure he’s got the old fire in the belly and come Saturday at 3 o’clock when that whistle blows, he’ll be doing everything he can to win.
Back up in the Premiership and its mission accomplished for Hibs in terms of the first target – making the top six. People that are better at maths than me have crunched the remaining pre-split fixtures and the numbers and confirmed that Hibs can’t now be caught.
That’s a huge pat on the back to Gray and his players. Now it’s about going on and finishing third.
St Johnstone this weekend won’t be easy, they are fighting for their lives, but at home to the team bottom of the league has to be three points.
Then it’s Rangers away and Dundee at home. I’d be looking to take seven points out of those three games – maybe even nine.