Burley, Strachan cross border to manage in SPL

The Scottish Premier League, starting a week earlier this season (on Saturday), welcomes two new managers with English Premiership experience.

Gordon Strachan, who truly believes the time his new club Celtic and rivals Rangers will compete in England's top flight is not that far away, has been joined by former Derby County boss George Burley.

Before he went to Pride Park to tend the Rams, Burley spent two seasons in the Premiership with Ipswich Town. Strachan, whose last port of call was at Southampton, has taken over from Martin O'Neill. Burley replaced John Robertson at Hearts.

Celtic and Rangers received a pre-season boost when they learned that Carling will extend with their sponsorship for another five years.

Molson Coors, the world's fifth largest brewer and owners of Carling, will continue to support the Glasgow giants in an £18 million deal.

Dunfermline had to bow to a Scottish Premier League order to remove their controversial artificial surface and replace it with grass following complaints from other teams.

In another move, clubs voted in favour to re-introduce end-of-season deciders for promotion and relegation in an attempt to increase interest in the lower divisions.

Teams finishing second and third in Divisions Two and Three will face one another in a play-off semi-final and the fourth-placed team will face the side finishing second bottom in the league above in the other semi-final before the final over two legs.

Top teams in Division One, Two and Three will all go up automatically. Bottom teams in Division One and Two will still be relegated without the chance of a play-off.

The Scottish Premier League is unlikely to follow suit in forthcoming campaigns.

Weekend programme

Champions Rangers start the campaign at home to Livingston on Sunday.

On Saturday, Celtic must travel to Motherwell, where their championship hopes were dashed in the final minutes of the last season.

UEFA Cup contestants Hibernian and Dundee United are both at home with Dunfermline due in Edinburgh and Aberdeen visiting Tannadice.

The first Old Firm clash is for Ibrox on Saturday, August 20.

The first round of the Bell's Cup, the knockout contest for the lower divisions, is also in store this weekend.

Premier League - Saturday
Dundee United-Aberdeen
Falkirk-Inverness CT
Hibernian-Dunfermline
Kilmarnock-Hearts
Motherwell-Celtic
Sunday:
Rangers-Livingston

Bell's Cup - First Round
Arbroath-Stranraer
Ayr United-Stirling Albion
Brechin City-Clyde
Dundee-East Stirlingshire
East Fife-Stenhousemuir
Morton-Gretna
Partick Thistle-Cowdenbeath

Peterhead-Berwick Rangers
Queen of South-Albion Rovers
Queen's Park-Hamilton
Raith Rovers-Elgin City
Ross County-Montrose
St Johnstone-Alloa Athletic
St Mirren-Forfar Athletic

Club call

Aberdeen:
Manager: Jimmy Calderwood.

Ins: Barry Nicholson, mf from Dunfermline - £250,000; Jamie Langfield, gk from Dunfermline - free; Jamie Smith, fwd from Den Haag - free; Steve Lovell, fwd from Dundee - £250,000.

Outs: Scott Morrison, def to Dunfermline - free; Phil McGuire, def to Doncaster - free.

Celtic
Manager: Gordon Strachan.

Ins: Mohammed Camara, def from Burnley - free; Jeremie Aliadiere, fwd from Arsenal - loan; Maciej Zurawski (Poland), fwd from Wisla Krakow - £2m; Artur Boruc, gk from Legia Warsaw - loan; Adam Virgo, def from Brighton - £1.5m; Paul Telfer, mf from Southampton - free.

Outs: Rab Douglas, gk to Leicester - free; Momo Sylla, mf to Leicester - free; Paul Lambert, mf to Livingston - free; Jackie McNamara, def to Wolves - free; Joos Valgaeren, def to Brugge - free.

Released: Stephane Henchoz, Magnus Hedman.

Dundee United
Manager: Gordon Chisholm.

Ins: Lee Miller, fwd from Bristol City - £225,000; Derek Stillie, gk from Dunfermline - £100,000.

Outs: Tony Bullock, gk to Gillingham - free; Aaron Conway, fwd to Forfar - free.

Dunfermline
Manager: Jim Leishman.

Ins: Bryn Halliwell, goalkeeper from Clyde - free; Scott Morrison, defender from Aberdeen - free; Mark Burchill, forward from Hearts - free.

Outs: Jamie Langfield, gk to Aberdeen - free; Barry Nicholson, mf to Aberdeen - £250,000; Craig McKeown, def to Clyde - free; Derek Stillie, gk to Dundee United - £100,000.

Released: Keiren McGuire, Pat Scullion.

Falkirk
Manager: John Hughes.

Ins: Craig Ireland, defender from Peterborough - free; Vitor Manuel Lima Santos (Portugal), mf from Academica De Viseu - free; Tiago Jonas Ferraz Rodrigues (Portugal), mf from FC Infesta - free; Matt Glennon, gk from Carlisle - free.

Released: John Henry, Phil Creaney, Mark Campbell, James Sharp, Brent Rahim, Kevin James.

Hearts
Manager: George Burley.

Ins: Rudolph Skacel (Czech Rep), mf from Marseille - loan.

Outs: Mark Burchill, fwd to Dunfermline - free; Patrick Kisnorbo, gk to Leicester - free; Ramon Pereira, fwd to Livingston - free.

Hibernian
Manager: Tony Mowbray.

Ins: Michael Stewart, mf from Man. United - free; Zbigniew Malkowski (Poland), gk from Feyenoord - free; Yvan Tomatula (France), midfielder from Wall-send - free.

Outs: Ian Murray, mf to Rangers - free; Stephen Dobbie, fwd to St Johnstone - free.

Inverness CT
Manager: Craig Brewster.

Ins: Craig Dargo, fwd from Kilmarnock - free; Tom Parratt, def from Birmingham - free.

Released: Darran Thompson.

Kilmarnock
Manager: Jim Jefferies.

Ins: Frazer Wright, def from Stranraer - free.

Outs: Neil McGregor, def to Clyde - free; Craig Dargo, fwd to Inverness - free.

Livingston
Player-manager: Paul Lambert.

Ins: Paul Lambert, mf from Celtic - free; Harald Pinxten (Belgium), def from Royal Antwerp - free; Ramon Pereira, fwd from Hearts - free; Dubi Tesevic (Bosnia), mf - unattached; Dave Mackay, def from Oxford - free; Paul Tierney, def from Man. United - free.

Outs: Colin McManamin, fwd to Shrewsbury - free; Burton O'Brien, mf to Sheffield Wednesday - free; Craig Easton, mf to Leyton Orient - free; Robbie Arthur, mf to Berwick - free.

Released: Rubio Ramos.

Motherwell
Manager: Terry Butcher.

Ins: Graeme Smith, gk from Rangers - free.

Outs: Chris Higgins, def to Clyde - free.

Released: Barry John Corr.

Rangers
Manager: Alex McLeish.

Ins: Ian Murray, mf from Hibernian - free; Brahim Hemdani (Algeria), def from Marseille - free; Federico Nieto (Argentina), fwd from Almagro - loan; Jose-Karl Pierre-Fanfan (France), def from Paris SG - £600,000; Dany N'Guessan (France), mf from Auxerre - £500,000.

Outs: Shota Arveladze, fwd to AZ Alkmaar - free; Bojan Djordic, fwd to Plymouth - free; Maurice Ross, def to Sheffield W. - £100,000.