Scottish football has been in the doldrums for many years now.

The national team has not qualified for a World Cup or European Championships since France 98.

The Scottish Premier League, a perennial two-horse race between two increasingly nobbled nags, can no longer attract players from the top or even middle shelf, and struggles to keep anyone half decent; indeed, the better ones are being lured south to England's second-tier Championship by significantly better wages.

The not-too-distant days of Dalglish, Souness and Hansen steering Liverpool to English and European domination, Archie Gemmill outmastering the Dutch with one of the great World Cup goals, and the likes of Butcher, Wilkins, Gascoigne and Larsson spending their prime years playing for the Old Firm are long gone.

But Scottish fooball, like the country itself, is a hardy, combatant soul, unwilling to slip quietly into the shadows.

Even in the new football economy of the haves and have-nots, one that has consigned the Scots to the fringes as the Sassenachs and Continentals dine sumptuously on the TV billions, there is still much to like and admire about the game in Scotland.

On Tuesday, 60,000 packed out Parkhead to watch Celtic regain some pride from an awful season by defeating Rangers 2-1.

This supposedly meaningless final Old Firm match of the season - the Light Blues had clinched the title the previous week - inspired nine yellow cards, one red, and a spat after the game between rival managers Walter Smith and Neil Lennon. As usual the newspapers, television and radio gave blanket coverage pre- and post-match.

Kenny Miller showed just how much the dead rubber meant to him with a Diego Maradona-US'94 moment, rushing to the corner after heading Gers level and staring directly into the camera as his eyes rolled back into his head in demonic celebration.

The following night at Fir Park, fans were treated to a 12-goal thriller as Motherwell retrieved a 6-2 deficit at home to share the points with Hibs in the highest-scoring SPL game on record and stay in the hunt for a place in the Europa Cup next season.

"That is the most amazing game I have ever been involved in as a manager," Motherwell and former Scotland boss Craig Brown said.

The standard of play and personnel might have slipped a notch, but for passion, drama and commitment, Scottish fitba still has a lot to offer.