by Stuart Crowther

Date: 24th June 2002

Pars get their players off to a flyer ....and they reckon they've nicked one from Hibs before a ball is kicked BEST OF THE REST IS THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN for the non-Old Firm clubs in the Scottish Premier League, and while hopes remain high that this will change in a few years it will be more of the same for the forthcoming season.  Livingston currently have the mantle of defending their position as third-best club in Scotland, not an easy task as Hibs, Hearts and Kilmarnock have discovered in recent years!  And it would seem that Jimmy Calderwood is determined Dunfermline will not falter next season through lack of preparation, as he led his side off on their pre-season tour of New Zealand yesterday, while it seems the rest of the SPL still slumbers through their summer break. That could spell bad news enough for 'the rest' in the Scottish game, but the Pars boss reckons that he has stolen Hibs best player, and already made a number of key signings while others wring their hands over the lack of television cash and what they are going to do about it.  So delighted is Calderwood at capturing Brewster on a two-year deal from under the very nose of his Easter Road counterpart Bobby Williamson that the Dunfermline boss reckons Brewster is the key to his side enjoying the very best possible season.  Dunfermline have a tough task from the kick-off on August 3rd, taking on champions Celtic in their opening clash of the 2002/03 season, but that is the last thing on the mind of a confident Calderwood.  "I have made new signings in taking Craig Brewster from Hibs, Scott Walker from St Mirren and Derek Stillie and Gary Dempsey from Wigan and Everton," Calderwood said. No early signs of deliverance from Freddie's prayers so far for Hibees! Impressive given the current transfer market climate in Scotland, where most clubs are seeking to unload players by any means available.  It is though Brewster that Calderwood sees as his main man, as he added: "I really do think that signing Craig Brewster could be the key to us having a successful season.  We have signed one of Hibs' best players, even though he is now 35, and after consolidating our position in the SPL over the last two seasons I'm looking to build on this and make a concerted push for a place in Europe."  Not for Calderwood then the doom and gloom of his many of his counterparts in the SPL, with a clear path being laid out and his side forging together in a New Zealand winter with two games planned against the National side during their ten-day stay as far away from Scotland as it is possible to be. While Dunfermline get their preparations underway, back at Easter Road the loss of Brewster might yet prove to be the least of the problems facing Bobby Williamson.  Further reports yesterday insist that Garry O'Connor is set for a move to Ibrox, and while that in itself would be no great surprise the type of fee on offer will be of considerable annoyance to most Hibs fans.  Just £1m is said to be the sum Rangers are prepared to pay for the 19-year-old O'Connor.  And yet other reports linking both Rangers and Celtic with another 19-year-old, Portsmouth's midfielder Gary O'Neil, quote an asking price of £3.5m - underlining if indeed it is required the difference in attitudes towards a player breaking through in Scotland and one doing so outwith the Premiership in England.  It remains to be seen of course if the talk of O'Connor moving along the M8 is anything other than hot air, but it seems likely that any fee Hibs receive for the player will be well below his true value. Hibs fans could use some decent news from Easter Road and soon, as it seems all the talk around Easter Road at the moment is of further departures.  Hibs boss Williamson is known to have a few new faces in mind, but as yet he is still very much in the dark over what he can and cannot do.  While Calderwood has a clear path laid before him and is already well down the road to laying his challenge for a place in the UEFA Cup, Williamson remains at the departure gate with little signs that he is about to take off.