300k gamble that handed Hoops glory

May 25 2008 By Gavin Berry

IT was a gamble that had Motherwell celebrating an extra £300,000 - but for the Old Firm that paltry figure made the difference in the title race.

Rangers boss Walter Smith had a deadline-day bid of £450,000 rejected for striker Scott McDonald in January last year.

Well believed they'd get a bigger offer in the summer and Gordon Strachan's £750,000 swoop vindicated the decision.

Never mind the tug of war over Scott Brown - getting McDonald ahead of Gers was the big one. And at a fraction of the cost.

Arguably there has been no greater contributor to the Hoops' third title on the trot.

The Australian hit his first goal at St Mirren on September 2 and 24 more followed in the SPL. Among them were two hat-tricks, a crucial lastminute winner away to Gretna and a couple in the last Old Firm victory.

Skippy is Celtic's most natural finisher since Henrik Larsson but they could have got him for free as a kid only to sign Shaun Maloney instead.

Scott went to Southampton where then-gaffer Strachan froze him out before offloading him. The Hoops boss believes that was the making of the man who joinedMKDons then Well.

Strachan said: "Scott will admit the best thing that happened to him was moving to the real world at Fir Park."

However, hooking him against his former club last month almost soured the player-boss relationship. With Celts 1-0 down at home to Well and the title looking doomed McDonald stared out his gaffer in disgust then threw his tracksuit top away in anger as he reached the dugout.

But the 24-year-old bounced back to net vital goals in the run-in, helping make up for THAT day in 2005 when his Fir Park double against Celtic handedGers glory and even his friends couldn't stand him.

Skippy said: "My girlfriend Clare's dad is Celtic-daft. That nightwewere on a flight to London but he sat at the opposite end of the plane from me."

At least McDonald will now be welcomed home with open arms.