Scott McDonald interview: 'Goalscoring is a huge part of football but I believe there's so much more to being a striker than just scoring'

Celtic striker McDonald backs Rangers rival Boyd but stresses need for all-round contribution

ON THE surface, Scott McDonald and Kris Boyd would appear to have much in common. The former finished last season as top scorer as Celtic won the championship while the latter was Rangers' leading marksman and his four goals at Hampden proved crucial as his club collected the CIS Insurance and Scottish Cups.

Yet while the diminutive Australian's success at Parkhead was rewarded with an improved and extended contract, Boyd's future is uncertain.

The recent arrival of a trio of strikers (Andrius Velicka, Kenny Miller and Kyle Lafferty) will have done nothing for the Scotland striker's sense of well-being, in spite of his bullish comments about staying to fight for his place.

Jean-Claude Darcheville, Daniel Cousin and Nacho Novo, all of whom were preferred to Boyd by manager Walter Smith in vital domestic and European matches last season, are also still on the books and Boyd's phenomenal scoring record at Ibrox (71 goals from 76 starts) will be no more of a guarantee of selection in the future than it has been in the past.

Deep down McDonald, whom Smith failed to sign last year, could probably care less. However, he expressed the opinion that Boyd cannot expect to feature regularly unless he adds more to his all-round game.

Asked whether he sympathised with Boyd's frustration, though, he replied: "Obviously, I do. As he said himself, nobody likes it when they're not playing. There will also have been times when he'll have felt that he's done enough to appear in more matches than he did last season. That's for Kris and his manager to speak about rather than me, though.

"Goalscoring is a huge part of football but I believe there's so much more to being a striker than just scoring. You need to be able to bring other people into play, hold the ball up and take pressure off your defence by taking the ball higher up the park. If you're not scoring then it's important that you can make that contribution. It's a tough one but I think that, even if you're scoring a couple of goals, if you're not working on the other stuff then most managers would probably say that you're not doing enough. You need to do other things for the team."

Miller and McDonald began last season competing for a place in Gordon Strachan's line-up but now find themselves on opposite sides of the Old Firm divide. Miller's return to Ibrox has not found favour with a large section of the club's support but his former team-mate has no worries for him on that score.

"It'll be strange seeing Kenny running out in a Rangers strip but I'm sure he's ready for all the stick he's going to get," he said. "Kenny's a good lad and I wish him all the best. I'm sure our paths will cross at some stage during the season.

"He got off to a very good start with us last year and I feel that if he'd stayed that he could have had a very good season. As it was, it didn't help him that Derby struggled so badly.

"Kenny has shown a lot of guts by making that move, which shows the true character of the man. He believes he can deal with all that and I wish him all the best. It's going to be very difficult but if you're prepared for that mentally you can get through that and Kenny's a strong-minded person anyway."

Celtic have been linked with scarcely credible moves for Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and Tottenham's Darren Bent (whose annual salary of £4.55m makes him the 19th highest-paid player in world football) but McDonald won't be fazed no matter who signs.

"I suppose we'll have players coming in but when you've got two strikers who've just scored 50-odd goals between them then I don't think you've got too much to worry about in the striking department," he said. "You have to start all over again every year, though. You can't live off what you did last season."

That, of course, includes Europe and McDonald argues that Celtic are capable of reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time… if only they can rectify the wretched away record in the competition which reads Played 17, Lost 16, Drawn 1. "Celtic have been unlucky in the last couple of seasons but when you look at the quality of the teams in the last 16 then I think to have a really good go at reaching the quarter-finals you need to top your group," he said. "If we could do that then we'd have a really good chance. Of course, for that to happen then not only would we have to keep our good record at Parkhead going but we'll need to start doing better away from home."