There won't be many arguing with Celtic's position as title favourites in this season's SPL, but there are plenty of ways in which the club can build on last season's successes.

Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist in Mogwai, gives us his opinion on the season ahead for Neil Lennon's team.

How successful was the season just passed? Rate it from one to ten?

I think on reflection i'd give it an eight out of ten. The league campaign was wonderful, particularly coming back from 15 points behind, though losing the league cup final and the Scottish cup semi final was disappointing even though there was a strong element of bad luck on both occasions.

Are there any areas of the squad that you'd like to see strengthened?

I think that given the amount of departures it's paramount that the squad is replenished. I think that a solid experienced centre back, another quality striker and an imaginative player to unlock defences would suffice.

Who do you think will be Celtic's closest challengers this season?

It's quite hard to say really. I thought Hearts had a good squad, though they have let a lot of good players go, as have Dundee Utd. It depends which of those two teams responds best to their new squad.

What would be a mark of a good season for Celtic this year?

I think that a good European campaign is what the Celtic supporters are looking towards this season. Last year we were lucky to get into the Europa League group stages but acquitted ourselves well. This year i'd love to qualify for the Champions League group stages or, failing that, get to the knock-out stage of the Europa League. Domestically we are clearly strong favourites for the league, though adding some cups to the trophy cabinet would clearly be fantastic.

How does it feel to start the season knowing there won't be any SPL matches with Rangers this season?

It feels strange, and of course they are games that both sets of fans looked forward to, but i think that once the football starts no one will miss them too much. You never know, we might get Sevco in one of the cups!

If you could make one fantasy signing from any era of football, who would it be and why?

Maradona was my favourite player growing up so I'd love to get him in his prime playing in The Hoops. Easy done I'm sure!

Mogwai famously paid, eh, tribute to Hugh Dallas, are there any current characters in Scottish football who deserve their own such tribute?

To be honest I don't think the song was any kind of tribute, just a randomly chosen song title. I reckon though, after last seasons heroics, Charlie Mulgrew should probably be honoured in song.

You can follow Stuart on Twitter, or visit the Rock Action website and buy some Mogwai records.