While manager Gordon Strachan continues to win honours like most of his predecessors, he is still not a popular figure among a good number of Celtic fans.

This is indeed hard to understand when Strachan's will to win has rubbed on his players. This season, the former Southampton boss took the side to the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Bhoys lost to eventual European Cup winners Milan in extra time and also produced a good display against Manchester United in the group phase.

Strachan faced the grim prospect of watching today's Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline from the stands but he has been cleared to sit in the dug-out after filing an appeal.

Since Strachan submitted his appeal before the stipulated deadline, his four-match touchline suspension will not start on May 13 and will only come into effect next season.

In the domestic scene, Celtic have won the league championship for an impressive total of 41 times. This afternoon, they will be keen to claim their 14th league and cup double.

Celtic's last double was attained in 2004 and the first in 1907. The remaining 11 double feats came in 1908, 1914, 1954, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1988 and in 2001. In 2004, the Glasgow giants defeated Dunfermline, today's finalists, to seal their double.

Dunfermline have been relegated to the First Division and the length of the classification is what separates them from champions Celtic.

The Pars have challenged their demotion with the Scottish Premier League, claiming that promoted team Gretna had failed to provide assurances that they would increase the capacity of their Raydale Park stadium to 6,000 by 2008-09.

However, the SPL rejected their complaint and gave permission to Gretna to play at Motherwell's Fir Park stadium next season.

SPL secretary Ian Blair stated that Gretna have until March 31, 2008 to satisfy the League that they would be playing in an SPL acquiescent stadium for season 2008-09.

Dunfermline manager Stephen Kenny has the possibility of leading different clubs to cup wins in Scotland and Ireland in the same season.

Kenny, who came in for Jim Leishman (now director of football) in early November, steered Derry City to the FAI Cup and can make it a double this afternoon with Dunfermline.

Celtic defender Steven Pressley signed from Hearts in December of last year. He can become the first player to win the Scottish Cup with three different clubs today.

His first winners' medal was achieved with Rangers (beat Aberdeen 2-1) in 1993 and last year he captained Hearts to glory against Gretna (4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw). Pressley has warned his team-mates that their showdown with Dunfermline would be no walkover.

His former team-mate, Neil McCann, became the first player to win successive Scottish Cups with different clubs after the triumph with Hearts in 1998 (toppled Rangers 2-1) and then Rangers (beat Celtic 1-0) in the season that followed.

Celtic's Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura emulated the feats of Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo by winning the three individual prizes of Scottish PFA Player and Young Player of the Year and the Scottish Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year.

Pars back in Europe

Dunfermline are the underdogs for today's Cup final but Dutch goalkeeper Dorus de Vries, who was one of the heroes in the victory over Hibernian in the semi-finals, remarked that this clash came after all the critics had predicted a mouth-watering final between sides from Glasgow and Edinburgh - Celtic vs Hibernian.

De Vries added that his side deserve to be in the final after seeing off Hearts, Hibernian and Rangers. Dunfermline will also be one of Scotland's representatives in the UEFA Cup since champions Celtic will participate in the Champions League.

Their last appearance in Europe was in the same competition in 2004-05 after they had also finished losing finalists to the same Celtic. The Pars' Cup heroic displays still failed to move Dunfermline off rock bottom.

The Fife side will be without the suspended defender Gary Mason, while on-loan Hibernian midfielder Stephen Glass and forward Tom McManus, who joined the Pars after leaving Falkirk in January, are cup-tied.

While Celtic have won the Scottish Cup a record 33 times, two more than arch-rivals Rangers, Dunfermline have lifted the silverware on just two occasions.

Dunfermline won the silverware in 1960-61, defeating today's rivals Celtic 2-0 (Thomson, Dickson) in a replay at Hampden Park after a 0-0 draw at the same venue.

A staggering crowd of 201,484 watched the two matches. Their other triumph in the competition came seven years later following a 3-1 win against Hearts (Gardner 2, Lister pen) in front of an attendance of 56,366 at Hampden Park.

The Pars lost in the final twice, incidentally both against Celtic: 1965 - 2-3; 2004 - 1-3.

In addition to the four occasions the two sides met in the final, they clashed in the tournament on 15 other instances that include four draws.

In the Premier this season, the Bhoys won all the three League games against the Pars:

September 16: Celtic-Dunfermline 1-0 (McManus).

December 10: Dunfermline-Celtic 1-2 (Simmons - McGeady, Zurawski).

March 3: Celtic-Dunfermline 2-1 (Miller, Vennegoor of Hesselink - Hammill).

Route to Hampden

Third round - Celtic-Dumbarton 4-0 (Zurawski 2, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Riordan); Dunfermline-Rangers 3-2 (Hamilton, Simmons, McGuire - Boyd 2).

Fourth round - Livingston-Celtic 1-4 (MacKay - O'Dea, Riordan 2, Vennegoor of Hesselink); Dunfermline-Hearts 1-0 (Wilson).

Quarter-final - Inverness-Celtic 1-2 (Bayne - Pressley, Miller); Dunfermline-Partick 2-0 (Simmons 2).

Semi-finals (Hampden Park) - St Johnstone-Celtic 1-2 (Hardie - Vennegoor of Hesselink 2 pens); Hibernian Dunfermline 0-0; Dunfermline-Hibernian 1-0 (McIntyre pen.).

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