Football: Burley ushers in new era

Scottish Premier League: World Cup midfielder's goalscoring gifts bring breathing space for hierarchy

Celtic 5

Burley 45, 84, 89, Donnelly 58, MacKay 83

Dunfermline Athletic 0

Attendance: 59,220

IT began with jeers and ended with cheers as Celtic gave the strongest indication that problems behind the scenes will not deflect them from the business of retaining their championship. A first hat-trick for the club from Craig Burley laid the foundation for a 5-0 demolition of Dunfermline that was beyond expectations of the supporters inside the awesome 60,000- seater Celtic Park.

The displeasure over a fellow without signings manifested itself in an unseemly flag unfurling ceremony but the man vilified, Fergus McCann, for the moment, has results on his side. And yesterday's victory will also bring breathing space for the new head coach, Dr Jozef Venglos, with the 5-0 victory as emphatic as any league-winning performance under his predecessor, Wim Jansen.

It was the product of a four-goal second half with Burley firing home twice from the edge of the area in the final five minutes, having opened the scoring just before the interval with a killing effort from 25 yards. In the 58th minute he released Simon Donnelly, who lashed the ball beyond Ian Westwater from 14 yards for a stylish finish.

With the goalkeeper hurting as the result of a knock sustained in the second half, Malky Mackay sneaked a header past him in the 81st minute to make it 3-0 before a Burley brace put the cherry on top.

The magnificent Colosseum-like stadium that is Celtic Park, housing a 60,000 sell-out crowd in the completed ground, the first sight of league action and the chance to hail a title success for the first time in a decade, made for what seemed a perfect backdrop to the club's deliverance from championship wilderness.

But the jeers and catcalls that threatened to drown out the speech from managing director McCann ahead of the symbolic ribbon cutting on the new season and the all new-improved Scottish Premier League was a stark demonstration of the discontent among supporters about events over the summer. McCann's reception was in stark contrast to the welcome given to the former head coach Jansen and his sacked assistant Murdo MacLeod as they were accompanied by their wives and taking their seats.

It was a highly significant action, for the Dutchman who resigned only 48 hours after leading Celtic to the title was expected to be shunned by the club and watch the title-winning ceremony from behind the glass panel of an executive box rented by the former Celtic rebel Brian Dempsey, who has become a back bench dissident in the McCann regime, having helped to form an associate seat to power.

Since McCann took control of a dying club four years ago there has been an astonishing transformation in its fortunes but not in the popularity of the Parkhead powerbrokers.

Despite delivering on every promise of taking Celtic back to the top in Scottish football and rebuilding both team and stadium the spectre of internal division has never left Celtic.

Jansen's decision to resign his post amid claims he could not work with the general manager Jock Brown came close to bringing civil unrest among the Celtic ranks.

The fact that it took 10 weeks to unearth a replacement for the Dutchman in the form of 62-year- old Slovak Dr Venglos did nothing to assuage fears among the club's followers that Celtic are guilty of a lack of ambition, a feeling strengthened by the failure to delve into the transfer market during the closed season where Rangers splashed out a cool pounds 23m on new purchases.

The level of intrigue on the field was always going to struggle to match that off it and both teams toiled to make great inroads in the opening stages.

Dunfermline were dealt the cruellest of blows when Scotland's top league scorer of last season, Andy Smith, fell awkwardly and ended his interest in proceedings after only eight minutes. With the stretcher that carried the beanpole striker down the tunnel went the visitors' only real hopes of causing Celtic problems at the back.

The home side slowly felt their way into the game with Norwegian striker Harold Brattbakk showing vigour if not verve and being the man most likely to in a rather shapeless opening half-hour. But the goalscoring gifts of Burley turned the match on its head only seconds before the interval. In what approximated to a strident second-half display, Simon Donnelly's effort was a poor early return for the attacking waves that swept towards the Dunfermline goal.