"The monkeys start to squeal, lie and create conspiracy plots" - Scottish Football 2012/13

Props to Aldo and Vlad for the thread title. Time to squander coefficients points, learn to understand Gaelic commentators, moan about one horse races, and curse Craig Levein as we start to fail to qualify for WC2014.

Ooh, typo in the opening post. Good start :(

Craig "Avril" Levein fuck off.

learn to understand Gaelic commentators

We could all do with learning a Celtic language :)

can't find a gaelic word for 'paranoid' :(

Keith Downie ‏@STVkeith
Dean Shiels has responded to those questioning his ambition by saying "I don't care". #rangers

(Nominated for) player of the year, now he's a dick.

Of course he should have said "I just turn a blind eye to it."

14 minutes of corporate claptrap and avoiding questions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19065643

Stewart Regan defends Scottish FA leadership

Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan talks to BBC Scotland's Chris McLaughlin about plans for reconstruction and a tumultuous summer for the game.

Sky Sports confirming a five year TV deal has been agreed.

Sky Sports News ‏@SkySportsNews
Sky Sports reaches agreement with Scottish Premier League & Scottish Football League guaranteeing coverage for another FIVE seasons #SSN

Deal includes 30 LIVE matches per season, including FIVE SFL games involving Rangers - coverage starts on Saturday August 4th #SSN

From Twitter:

SPLstats @SPLstats:
Last season's deal earned 10 non-OF clubs £884k each on average. This season's deal will earn the 11 non-Celtic clubs £830k each on average.

So, not quite as bad as it could have been/was threatened.

Yes, predictions of financial meltdown are somewhat wide of the mark so far. It'll be interesting to see how attendances hold up - it looks so far like Celtic's season ticket sales are down but some other clubs are doing well. Aberdeen, for example, have already met their season ticket target and if they get the attendance they're aiming for on their first home game they'll pretty much cover the money everyone said they'd lose with no Rangers visits. Motherwell couldn't sell their tickets fast enough for their CL qualifier tonight (they're currently 1-0 down).

Finished 2-0.

Rasmussen out.

It would be nice to see one or two of the offloaded deadwood players being replaced with a wee bit of quality. Maybe an unbroken centre hoff and a backup striker idk?

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/rbo/lowres/rbon255l.jpg

http://saintinasia.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/saints-without-rangers-so-no-armageddon-then/

Some life without Rangers sums from a St Johnstone blog.

Pleased with us signing Rowan Vine, if we can keep him fit. Took both goals well against Bristol City. Nice to see that Fat Sally tried to get in there and sneak him away but he stuck with Saints.

Dundee United desperately unlucky by all accounts.

Hoping Celtic don't regret that daft away goal and the missed chances. And not signing a centre half.

Also, crowd violence at Tannadice :(

Aye, sounds like some of the Russians were up for a scrap, climbing the stands to get at Utd fans. Utd have been unlucky in that sense 2yrs on the trot, was some trouble in the town involving visiting fans last summer. Wasn't present for any of it so can't really comment.

Someone last night was pointing out on twitter how very 80s retro it all was - Dundee Utd getting results in Europe, Rangers nowhere to be seen, fighting on the terraces. Oh aye, and Celtic not signing anyone ;_;

Really disappointed the dedicated live commentary streams aren't going to be available for every match on bbc website any more- just open all mics at 3pm now.

Don't know if I can handle an entire season of having to hear Chick and Billy Dodds yelling "CHAAAAAAANCE!" every two minutes...

BBC claim first time Hearts have been on top since square crisps have been on sale in Scotland, which doesn't seem right at all.

Not a great game today, but worth it to see Jamie Langfield auditioning for role as potential Hibs goalie.

When Daryl Murphy and Kelvin Wilson are improving your team you really need to improve your team.

Welcome assist from Langfield today, we'd never have scored without him.

Relegation form. Great.

United looked very good at times. Another long season beckons for Hibs. I don't think it's possible to finish 16th in a 12 team league so I think restructuring will save you.

i didn't even know the season was starting, i guess that indicates how much the media dahn sarf cares.

white shorts for aberdeen? hm.

Keith Downie ‏@STVkeith
Mo Edu and Alejandro Bedoya are on the way out of Ibrox, they're not in squad for tomorrow night's game v East Fife.

Keith Downie ‏@STVkeith
Frank Sandaza is also all agreed on a 4 deal to join Rangers.

Sandaza has a "Controvesty" section on his wiki page.

That's some squad for the 3rd division they're building there.

Good start from Celtic so far. I hate these shitty fake pitches.

nothing wrong with artificial pitches, i hate managers who complain about them as an excuse for their team losing.

No excuses about losing, I'm complaining about how it changes the game. They slow the ball down too much. Players are hesitant to turn quickly. If Accies didn't have one you'd hate it too. Why do no top teams in top leagues use them?

Shocker of a miss from Scott Brown :(

because the leagues dont allow them. But having seen the pitches they're fine. At least the one we had was.

Why don't the leagues allow them when they're cheaper and easier to maintain than grass?
Why do players not like them?
Why did Moscow have to rip theirs up for a Champion's League final?
Why is the artificial pitch an issue any time a top team has to play on one?

Great result tonight after a shaky period in the second half. Ref was worse than the fucking pitch.

That's the first time we've won both legs of a European tie for nine years! Come oan the coefficient!

well done celtic. Didn't expect them to win tbh after previous years

But having seen the pitches they're fine.

You ever played on one? World of difference from grass.

Great result tonight, terrible refereeing, worried about the loss of Wanyama for the next round and the cumulative effect of a gazillion yellow cards.

Also, fucking love Sami, Ledley and Mulgrew. Love them.

Poor Motherwell, was always a big ask.

Possible opponents for Celtic: Cluj, Helsingborgs, Maribor, AEL Limassol, Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona

Helsingborgs for maximum Henke quotage, obv. Maribor so I can wheel out Maribou Stork Nightmares gags again. Cluj for cludgie gags galore. Others, meh. I've been to Limassol, btw. Is sunny.

you can't go "meh" at a name like Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona

They're one place behind Motherwell at 194 in the UEFA rankings. Limassol 179th. Helsingborgs 175th. Maribor 155th. Cluj 82nd.

Celtic are 72nd.

I'd fancy Celtic's chances of narrowly scraping past most of them on a good night. Remember when we used to beat Man Utd and Barcelona and Milan?

Aye. That was when we had quality players like Lee Naylor shutting Cristiano Ronaldo the fuck up. Happy days :-)

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/football-sport/hapoel-ironi-kiryat-shmona-a-journey-to-the-promised-land/

Amazing rise from nowhere.

Wow, that's some story. I hope we don't get them because I think I'd like to see them succeed.

new dawn of Scottish football having a wee stutter

Dinamo 5-0 Dundee Utd FT

Managerial sacking bounce thingie in effect for Dinamo, innit.

either that or the second best team in Scotland, and the one I think most likely to push Celtic, is kinda mostly shite

That too :)

And Helsingborgs it is. Which hack's on the phone to Henrik first?

That's the same Helsingborgs who Alejandro Bedoya has just gone and signed for.

Fuck me, Hearts v Liverpool. Lolz galore!

No idea who is the least worst option to support in that tie. Will have to go with the coefficient, I think.

Motherwell v Levante not so much with the lolz. I support hilarity in the Jambos v Lolverpool, obv.

Vlad must have an opinion on the amount they spent last season, can't wait to hear it (also for the rest of the UK media to now be called monkeys etc).

Did he say anything daft when they drew Spurs? I genuinely can't remember what prompts half his ramblings.

I think most of his ramblings are unprompted.

Hearts are gonnae get broken.

I've no idea about Levante but I assume 6th in La Liga >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 3rd in SPL.

Celtic should squeeze past Henke'sborg.

Oh aye, I spy a shellacking! I'm away up for a couple of weeks so might even get to go to the game.

I think Vlad was chummy with the old liverpool board... seem to remember some insane story about him trying to sign le tallec at one point?

Twitterverse sez Levante were one game away from qualifying for the Champs League and were top of La Liga for a bit. The only thing I know about them is that that's where Mjallby went when he left Celtic. Motherwell are going to get scudded ;_; (not that I like Motherwell, but our brave new dawn of Scottish football isn't going too well thus far). Still, nice wee holiday to Benidorm for a few Lanarkshirers.

our brave new dawn of Scottish football isn't going too well thus far

it isn't going any worse than usual tbh

Yeah, I know, but I was hoping for diddier teams and Motherwell/Hearts to make a better go of it than Rangers ever did :(

What and actually win the UEFA cup? Bit of an ask, tbh.

ok, not *ever*

St Johnstone have signed Beattie - shrewd move by Lomas..

Was totally unexpected too. Bumped into a mate in the pub (a former football writer for local paper) and he gadn't known and was genuinely excited about it, as was another friend when i told him. Not something i've seen very often.

Had been mentioned on Thursday that the club expected to announce a signing within 24hrs, i was expecting it to be Keammer Daley. Nice to have something genuinely surprising happen.

Last minute equaliser for the plucky 3rd division new boys in their first ever league game.

http://p.twimg.com/A0AdHqNCMAAyoV8.jpg:large

http://p.twimg.com/A0AdHqNCMAAyoV8.jpg

Looks like our fears about Ian Black's career disappearing have proved unfounded, as even Division 3 doesn't stop the theory that you can go unnoticed for years in Scotland, sign for Rangers (or variant thereof) and suddenly find yourself called up into the national squad.

Beattie should be a good addition to the St Johnstone squad IF he can stay unbroken for more than a week.

Just read that Levein is considering calling up Danny Fox *cowers behind sofa*

that really does prove the sign for rangers get a cap. just fuck off levein. Wonder if its his decision or if its the sfa trying to get rangers fans to turn uo. its a disgrace and i hope noone goes to the game. Except the kilted ginger wig wearing piss up artists will still turn up.

No big deal having a look at the guy in a friendly iyam. 21 guys selected who don't play for Rangers and people are getting annoyed about one "division three player" being selected despite knowing that he's better than his club's current league position.

I think it's widely accepted that Black was perfectly capable of clogging his way around the English Championship and that he made a questionable decision signing for Rangers given their current lowly status. That, to me, means he's good enough to be in contention for the Scotland squad on ability, which is what I want people selected on.

I also think that with everyone fit and available for a proper qualifying match he won't get a sniff.

Agreed, my wider point was that I thought he'd foregone a potential Scotland career, and it turns out he hasn't (also gratuitous dig at shortsightedness of all Scotland managers ever). Can't see him maintaining it while slogging in the 3rd, though.

AG, I think you're being massively unfair on Scotland fans.

no, just the kilted ginger wig piss up artists who usually see the football as ruining good days out on the piss

Darren Fletcher off the bench in the Neil Simpson testimonial game tonight. Nice to see him making a bit of a recovery.

Gary Caldwell in midfield :-( This is never a good thing - surely you'd have a look at Black instead since you've got him there, no?

Charles Green: Rangers debts to Scottish clubs settled in full

Dundee United: um,where's our money?

It reminds me of The Office, when Michael Scott declares bankruptcy by just walking into the office and shouting "I declare bankruptcy!". Just saying it doesn't make it so, you actually have to do something like, y'know, actually pay of all your debts to Scottish clubs.

You'd think, having had their credibility burned with the "wealth off the radar" pish, that the assorted monkeys would pick a phone up and check some facts, eh?

Hail the new dawn of Scottish football! 3-1 against the ozzies, thanks to an awkward OG, and some at-times-almost-entertaining play.

did you watch it then? if so how did Jordan Rhodes look?

Only saw it from about a minute before the o.g. but didn't look too bad. Crowd not taking too kindly to Ian Black.

Meant the game didn't look too bad. Only saw five minutes of Rhodes' involvement before he was subbed off.

Yeah, Rhodes looked good. It was obvious anything was going to come from either him or Snodgrass in the first half. Both looked much more lively than I'm used to seeing in a Scotland squad.

Thought McCormack looked good from what I saw too - all looked so much better than the usual "lump it up to Kenny Miller" shite. Now if we can just stop this Caldwell in midfield pish when you have actual real midfielders in your squad, then I'm going to stop slagging Levein off too much (apart from his appearance, seriously, mate, you look like a trampy version of Rab McGlinchey).

Yeah, a lot more coherency, like people actually anticipating through balls, making early runs, keeping it on the ground and passing patiently when there's not much on. There was still plenty of the trademark desperate panic, in case anyone worries the Scotland we know and love is being replaced by competency.

btw, getting really ratty with guys I follow (Celtic fans) on Twitter going "it's OK to boo Ian Black because he's a Rangers player/thug". It is not OK to boo your own player. I get really cross with people who do it at Celtic players, and I get really cross with people who do it at Scotland players. Some dude was all "but England fans boo John Terry", but there's a massive difference between being a racist cnut and being a bloke on the fringes of the Scotland squad consciousness who got a call-up from the 3rd division. FFS, I have gone mental cheering Barry Ferguson and Kenny Miller and Steven Naismith goals when they're playing for Scotland, and I generally hate the sight of the three of them. I even cheered (well, laughed) when Kirk Broadfoot scored!

I am no fan of Ian Black, though I think there's a player in there somewhere. But I just hate hearing boos from the crowd, even during a friendly.

Bah, I was told that me and my dad could have two free tickets in the main stand for any Ross County home game in the SPL this season (my dad's mates with a guy on the board), turns out that my dad's mate forgot to mention the "except against Celtic" proviso :(

Still, heading up for the weekend anyway, hopefully pick up a ticket outside as a 12.15 kick-off means there's bound to be guys who sleep in and miss their bus and if not my pal lives about five minutes away from the ground so we can just go round his house and watch it on the telly. Haven't been to the Global Energy Stadium Victoria Park since County were in the Highland League...

Feel for County, so close.

Absolute pish from Saints today. Already trying to work out who I can rely on to be worse this season. Don't let me down, Dundee.

This is a momentary blip in Hibs' downward trajectory, don't worry about it.

Before the season started I thought one of Hibs or Aberdeen would have a good season, but not both. Hope I'm not wrong there.

Will be at the Dundee derby tomorrow. Anyone else going?

There's an element of temptation to go to a Dundee derby (tomorrow sold out?) as I can walk to either ground, but I couldn't bring myself to pop up amongst either support I'm afraid. Definitely a good thing for Dundee.

Yeah, it's probably best that you didn't. We started okay, but rapidly dissolved into, quite frankly, terrible football. Good atmosphere though, and I got good and sunburnt.

Great result, scary first half, hands off Forster.

Presume someone'll start a euro thread before hearts v liverpool?

I hope to God someone on the board doesn't honestly think we have a squad to get through the Champions League group stages without at least 1x centre half who is (1) actually a centre half (2) not a foetus (3) not Kelvin Wilson. And preferably 2x strikers.

Scared already for the reappearance of the sieve at Celtic Park next Wednesday. Ah, massive foreboding sense of doom from a position of superiority, how I've missed you.

Hope sktsh got a ticket, much more entertaining game than I expected thus far.

No such luck Ailsa, but had a great time watching it all the same! Atmosphere looked and sounded amazing on the telly, and felt we were pretty unlucky not to come away with at least a draw. The young lad Patterson looks like a bit of a gem.

Celtic still in urgent need of a defence, but everything in front seemed pretty useful.

Another plucky point on the road for the SFL new boys. Extremely lucky that Mike Tumilty's eyes don't work.

So cheerio Mo Bangura. Only leaves Kelvin Wilson as "I can't believe he gets paid for this" fodder in the team now.

girfuy:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-chief-martin-bain-warns-1068224

Also, humble pie being scoffed in Coisty-sized portions as I found myself saying 'Kelvin Wilson's my man of the match'.

Away on hols on matchday 2, so expect us at home to Barca/Real/some English team.

Wait a minute, Rangers still think they can sign David Templeton. Why would you go from scoring at Anfield to playing in the 3rd division? Why? What's wrong with people?

Ha, some Rangers fans were saying that in the pub last night. I asked why on earth he would want to go to Rangers and was brushed off with 'it's been talked about before'. I mostly just let them get on with it - at this point it's like visiting your Gran, who keeps calling you your Dad's name and thinks she lives in a tenement that was demolished 30 years ago.

Are we really signing Paddy McCourt? Didn't see that coming.

BBC Scotland saying no truth in the rumour.

So Templeton is stupid enough to go to the third div...

Yeah, I really didn't think he would. oops.

Still, we're playing Hearts tomorrow, so probably works in our favour.

Much improved from Saints today, wasn't the most exciting game but I think the comments I've heard from the press about it were pretty harsh. Seems finishing remains our undoing, both Tade and Vine had chances that they fluffed. Pawlett looked lively, was happy to see that people wanted the ball, though Mannus and Mackay need to start paying more attention to their options. Was especially pleased that, unlike other times recently, Saints didn't allow themselves to be bullied or pushed around. I've long thought a big part of Utd's game, as with Hearts, is the physical gamesmanship. As a general thing I always get frustrated when players hold on to, or pretty much bear hug, their opponent. Disappointed not to have 3pts, 1 is probably fair, losing would have been harsh. Onwards and upwards.

Poor defensive work when it mattered for Celtic today, this Ambrose chap better be good. SPL a lot wider open than predicted (also Aberdeen v St Mirren lost me £20 on my 'both teams to score' coupon, bah shit strikers/decent defences' (delete as appropriate, no idea how it actually panned out).

* add closing bracket

I'd like to think the draws are an indication of a reasonably matched bunch of teams (i know, i know), where it'll be whover gets their head above the parapet that'll profit. Or something.

Hibs sound much improved over end of last season, no? Beginning to wonder if Fenlon isn't the donut he seemed.

Re Templeton: Hearts have put out a (slightly sour) statement saying he was desperate to go anywhere that payed big bucks, which T.A.F.K.A.Rangers are presumably doing. I'm really surprised he'd go to the third div though. Can't totally blame him for wanting to leave - just don't think this is the right move. On the other hand I don't think this is the worst move for us given the circumstances - he was out of contract in eight months, had made it clear he wouldn't renew, we got a bit of cash for him and in the short term we haven't sold him to a rival club (until newco are parachuted into the Bon Accord UltraPremier next season at least). He's been our best player by far this season so it's obviously a loss, but we do at least have some good replacements for his position (Novikovas, Driver if he can get back to form). Based on potential I'd rather have kept McGowan if I'd had to choose.

Just seems strange that no-one has told Templeton "you know that goal you scored away to Liverpool in Europe? You've just guaranteed that will be the high point of your career."

yeah talk about badly advised..

What's he been told? Getting Bocanegra off the wage bill for a year, signing actual decent players...looks like there's a future of some sort.

There's two ways this is going. Reconstruction to get TAFKAR into the SPL asap*, or "woops, sorry lads, you're decent players, you're better than Div 2**, we need to sell you, good luck an' that, why, thank you for your money, opportunistic buyer"

* still no Europe, but
** Div 3 if Sally continues in this vein

Yeah I imagine he's been promised the former, ie after this season you'll be in the nu-prem son.

Obvs keep in mind I'm massively bitter when it comes to a) losing our best player and b) being unable to fend off poaching by a team three leagues below us

good luck an' that, why, thank you for your money, opportunistic buyer

This should be the title of Minty Moonbeam's memoirs.

Ha! Agreed!

Prior to the start if the season I expected to see a resurgent Hibs or Aberdeen but not both. Point was made on Sportsound in their interview with Fenlon that there's only something like 4 players left that were there when he arrived.

That's a huge clearout. I'm not sure I could name many of the calderwood squad, mind..!

Super soaraway redtop has it that sally wanted zaliukas too. The guy's obsessed with hearts.

Good result for Dundee today! Our first win (and 2nd goal?). So what if it was a penalty, still pleased.

Derby Day, September 9th 1963

Other highlights are Archie's glorious coiff, and the camera-shy pigeon fanciers

Well that wasnae great...

Naw. When you're sitting around questioning the existence of Barry Bannan and debating whether a fit Darren Fletcher would win it, the game's up (I figured the missing link was Scott Brown, btw).

I genuinely can't think of anyone who would take this on and improve it. I'm actually coming round to the idea of Gordon Strachan, despite his proven adherence to the concept of Kenny Miller.

Strachan pioneered the concept of Caldwell in midfield. It's also worked tonight and Saturday, but only in absence of proper midfielders. I'm not sure it's an actual thing. Happening via accident rather than design is not really the confidence inspiration desired.

I'm basically stumped for ideas. Is anyone-but-Levein enough yet?

I'm really torn. I like him, think they had the right idea bringing someone in for the long term to overhaul things from top to bottom (which he did brilliantly at Tannadice) and I'm loathe to call for someone's head early into a competition... but he's had an entire tournament already, he's lost the press (to the extent he had them), he's definitely lost the fans (and his chemical ali routine last night makes it look worse) and given how lackluster and disinterested they seemed, it looks like he's lost the squad. So even if he's got the germ of a point in that it's not as bad as the press hysteria would have you think (if we'd been a bit more adventurous we could have beaten serbia on sat, who smashed wales to bits last night... but then who's to blame for our not being adventurous, I guess?), his position has got to be pretty close to untenable. You could read the tea leaves when you saw Wattie was the studio guest - every time a scotland boss is on the ropes he pops up as a statesmanlike pundit to tell everyone he's sticking up for his fellow manager but och well as you're pressing me here's what I'd do if I was still scotland boss, which never say never etc etc

What has happened to Bannan, btw? Is he crocked? And what was that they were saying about Commons - is it public knowledge that there's been a falling out there, or was that just the wee gerbilfaced sky cunt's innuendo?

Do think it's a bit harsh to round on him for not picking Steven Fletcher though - the guy spat the dummy and didn't want to play. Not sure what else Levein could do.

As a person I don't particularly like Strachan - for similar oh-isn't-he-acheeky-chappy reasons as Sally - but fuck it why not? Have the stuart baxter jokes started on twitter yet..?

(wb btw- hope you had a good holiday)

acheeky-chappy

Read this in Gino D'acampo voice for best effect

Haven't been on holiday yet, just having a wee break from moaning about shit in this thread (saving myself for the results of the dual contracts/FTT stuff!).

I was watching in the pub with the sound down, what was he (Tanner?) saying about Commons?

Steven Fletcher was tweeting good luck wishes to the squad yesterday, I was doing my dinger about it in the pub to all and sundry about how ridiculous it was he was giving a shit about Scotland while refusing to play for them (I remember someone else (Kris Boyd? Davie Weir post-retirement?) doing the same and moaning about it then too). I don't think he's exactly the saviour of Scottish football, but I wish they'd kiss and make up and give us a not-Miller option.

I too liked the noises Levein was making at the start of his tenure, but he's really not backed it up with performances. I wouldn't be averse to keeping him in some capacity, but someone with a better ability to manufacture silk purses out of sows' ears as well as being a long-term thinker wouldn't go amiss in the dugout. I've mentioned Terry Butcher before, and I genuinely can't think of anyone else involved in Scottish football I'd give a shot at it (Danny Lennon, maybe? Kenny Shiels?). We're so insular when it comes to recruitment though, so it'll probably be Walter Smith again :/

Another improved performance from Saints today, hopefully putting the Abredeen fiasco behind us and getting into gear.

Went along only expecting a humping, Commons scoring after 4 mins did nothing to dispel my gloom. Looked second best by quite a bit for the first 15 or so, until Tade's equaliser. Can't remember the last time I saw Saints dig in and come back from behind. All the same, I thought Celtic were pretty wasteful in front of goal, a few good chances in the first half. Thought the second half was a great showing from Saints. Pleased that Vine and Tade are starting to click, both weren't quite firing against Utd.

I was saying to people yesterday that we could take anything from 0 to 7 pts by the end of the month. Happy we're on the way.

Sorry, belated reply. Tanner was asking Wattie and McCann pretty leading questions about whether Levein had the team onside, and said something along the lines of we know he's got a problem with fletcher, and there may or may not be a problem with commons. One of the guests (can't remember which) answered by saying we don't know if there are really problems with commons or not, but he hasn't been seen in the team for a year and kinda left it hanging. I haven't even heard any rumours...

You're absolutely right re Fletcher hypocrisy. He's played it all quite well - he's in the news today turning the screw by saying if levein asked him back he'd play. IMHO he's making the right noises for the next boss, and hoping by making those noises he can accelerate the incumbent's departure. But yeah unfortunately he is quite good and we could do with him.

I've always (well, post-playing career) liked terry butcher, right enough. But yeah, for a country famous for it's neverending stream of good managers, nae bugger ever wants to get involved with the national side. (Can't blame them I suppose).

Re 'in some capacity' - would be a nice solution to punt him into more of a wotte type role, if we didn't already have wotte..

Cheers. I think he was entirely justified in not picking Commons last year on his poor form, but leaving him out now seems odd.

and *cough* well done to St Johnstone and all their supporter. Ouch.

Oh hey yeah- congrats to the saints. But defo not the other saints. Ahem.

How come beattie's no playing? (or is he?)

Tangent - always get annoyed when the Midden get referred to as "Saints", can we not all call them the Buddies seeing as they have that too?

As far as I know Beattie's not been playing due to a combination of lack of a pre-season and a couple of weeks out due to picking up Chickenpox off one his kids. Think he started training properly last week, so may be in the squad soon.

Fine by me. I've always known them as St Liedown.

Aaaah. Makes sense.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa

so what does Ally have to do to get sacked?

Dunno, taking a team the division above you to penalties is an achievement, is it not? :)

Best twitter quote of the night "Rangers will be turning in their grave"

hah that's brilliant!

following scottish football from the west coast of north america is a right pain in the cunt. went to where the local csc watch the game the other day for the benfica game, at 11.45am, and they were, despite there being a north american channel showing the game, watching a shitey stream off the internet. ultra-shitey. cycled hame at half time and got a much better stream going within 2 minutes on my girlfriend's shitey laptop. now tomorrow they will be showing the game, and actually off the telly i think, but at 7am after ive had a few ales the night i just can't be fucked.

obviously i'll always keep up with the scores and the news about the team, but i really don't feel like a supporter if i can't go to parkhead or watch the games in the pub with my pals :c

Where are you now? I still remain somewhat staggered by the fact you can find a wee band of folk watching Celtic anywhere in the world. I shall be partaking of the 8 hour time difference on holiday next week, fecking 4.45am kick-off :(

live in vancouver now.there were about 20 for a midweek game in the middle of the day.

Nice! That's a decent turnout. My overseas experiences have been rammed-to-the-gills pub in Orlando for a game against Rangers, about 30 in a pub in Naples, Florida for the last 16 game against Milan, Irish bars in Paris and Gothenburg (where I met a bloke who knew my dad!) and various bars in the Costa del Sol where you'll always find an expat or three. We get everywhere!

i have a friend who is an archaeologist, he was on a month-long dig in the Indonesian jungle and he still managed to find 2 local Celtic fans w/ satellite tv to watch matches with!

Aw look at the poor abandoned fitbaw thread :(

SPL looking v competitive at the moment - Hibs go top with another good win, three points separating 2nd and 8th! Looks like anyone other than maybe Ross Co and Dundee can beat anyone else. Celtic can go top if they beat Hearts tomorrow and make it look a wee bit more like the one horse races it's supposed to be.

Partick Thistle finally lose a game! To Morton! Five wins in a row for the Ton.

Did anything else happen today? :P

we fucked the scum 4-0 away!

i am so pleased that my team, morton, the team that i support, are doing well.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u292/hailfknhail/celtic-champions.gif

Greetings from Las Vegas, where I have just found out the Sevco score :-)

lol @ merdeyeux

Spent most of the second half with my head in my hands, but another 3pts for the real Saints. What a difference a few weeks makes.

merdeyeux - has Peaso got himself injured yet again? not seen him on the teamsheet the couple of times I've looked this season.

Algerian Goalkeeper - how's Stevie May looked so far? Hoping he'll stay with us long term, but worried that he won't.

Nervy at times today and did our best to help Hearts back into the game. Pass marks for Ambrose, Izaguirre, Lustig, Commons and Ledley. Everyone else seemed to be having an off day or a day off. Hearts were wasteful with a couple of decent chances and one total sitter, it might have been a very different game.

Referee Craig Thompson was on some kind of strong hallucinogenic drug and was watching a game that wasn't happening. I can think of no other explanation for his decisions.

Is Jamie MacDonald ok? I couldn't really see what happened from the other end of the stadium but he barely moved after the collision.

Jim been on his travels?

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/sport/football/corinthians-sorry-as-fans-get-shirty-with-celtic-fan-1-2565265

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/comments-suspended-on-football-articles-1374220

The comments on there were the worst but it's really sad its come to this. No doubt one teams supporters will blame the other.

Must have been a nightmare moderating those comments.

Fuck reading a Daily Record comments page, it's bad enough reading their articles.

And now we take our turn in 2nd. Best start to the season since 71/72 (under Ormond), with apparently 14 fit senior outfield players. Armageddon?

Mad that we're quarter of the way through the season and three points separate two thirds of the league.

Celtic's busy midweek calendar might delay the one horse race aspect a bit further, though they're a game in hand from making it a proper gap.

A wee run for Dundee United and it'll be Celtic, ten others, Dundee. I suppose that was always going to happen but it's good that the ten are so closely matched.

This thread is dead :(

Hib got Hearts in the cup!
Levein got sacked gardening leaved!
Celtic still limping in one horse trace!

Meanwhile: Armageddon II: Hector Goes East
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20241385

Hearts have been issued with a winding-up order by the Court of Session in Edinburgh after failing to pay a tax bill on time.
The matter is unrelated to a £1.75m tax bill Hearts are currently contesting.
This latest order is understood to be for unpaid PAYE and VAT and BBC Scotland has learned the sum due is a substantial six-figure amount.

Levein got sacked gardening leaved!

Also, I guess Gogs is going to get the gig? Dunno how a man who sees himself as a track-suited training ground coach fancies a national job but I suppose £400k a year for 6-8 games is tempting for anyone.

I did mention him a while back as a possible in some thread or other - not on this one as this is my first post here??!!?

Was it on the "craig levein fuck off" thread?

Sounds like we're utterly fucked:

This isn't a bluff, this isn't scaremongering, this is reality [...] Without your help now, we could be entering the final days of the club's existence. There are limited options for the Board of Directors to take to avoid the catastrophic consequences that a funding shortfall would mean for the club.

Who'd have thought the Romanov thing would all end in tears eh..

Cannae stand Gogs but I was enthusiastic about Levein and Burley so I'm clearly an awful judge of these things. I, for one, welcome our new smartarsed ginger overlords.

I hear new clubs starting off in division 3 are all the rage these days.

Traynor was getting amazingly indignant at players being loaned to Kaunas to trim wage bill (Lithuanian PAYE being lower than equivalent in UK) on the radio a couple of weeks ago. He still never seemed to grasp it was vastly different to EBTs and undisclosed second contracts, the useless fud that he is.

by the by, this is a nice wee article by Cosgrove. Trumpet-blowing, aye, but still some valid points. http://scottishfootballmonitor.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/why-the-beast-of-armageddon-failed-to-show/

Sounds like we're utterly fucked:

I thought it looked bad enough that they had a cash shortfall in the month they had the Liverpool games. After losing that tie that was clearly going to be their biggest month of the season and they couldn't afford to pay the players.

They Really need an arse on every seat for the upcoming home fixtures.

(avoids making churlish point about Hearts reducing Celtic's away allocation)

Hearts have already taken the money off Celtic for a game they might not be able to fulfil :-(

xp cheers for that Cosgrove thing ailsa - good piece.

Guardian fella Ewan Murray made a similar point on twitter, Onimo - that it was weird/ironic that we'd end up so rooked in this of all years given cup success, liverpool tie, templeton money etc.

Have we had the customary Rudyard Kiplingesque monkey aphorisms from Vlad yet..?

Last I heard from Vlad was a couple of weeks back when he accused Celtic and Rangers of bribing refs.

lol

What an eventful day for Scottish football. Sounds like Edinburgh may soon be a 1-club town.

Celtic get St Mirren, Caley Thistle get Hearts (if they still exist come semi-final time).

Any venues or dates yet? I assume we're at Hampden. Might make sense to hold ICT vs Hertzco at Pittodrie.

ICT vs The Hearts at Easter Road, we're at Hampden.

Sorry, 26th & 27th January

Makes more sense to have it at Easter Road, means The Hearts can walk to it rather than waste money on petrol.

Should have gone to Pittodrie really - it's as close to equidistant as possible and it's a decent size.

26/27th January means enough of the transfer window is gone that Hearts won't have a decent player left, unless Vlad throws some money at the taxman.

"Remind me. How much does Rangers FC (deadco) owe Heart of Midlothian FC?"

Good point from Mr/Mrs Rangerstaxcase on Twitter. Hearts face a winding up order for less than the money Rangers owe them.

That was pretty much the first thing my Hearts-supporting stepdad mentioned.

Nothing surprising from Steve Brown on Sportsound tonight, as much as I've enjoyed our recent relative success I expect some brutal belt tightening at McDiarmid in the near future as a preventative measure if nothing else. Worth remembering we survived 7 years in the First division recently. Unfortunately we don't really have a youth program to speak of, probably as a result of that.

WDILL watching football - I'm halfway between the section 441 and 442 entrances, black jacket, green white and gold scarf. I've managed to find a few people I know scattered around the stadium.

http://tag.huggity.com/fanpic/049-2012-celtic/app/index.php

hmmm, Celtic have hired a GAA coach for youth development :/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/northern-ireland/20254492

"Donegal's All-Ireland winning Gaelic Football manager Jim McGuinness is to take up a role with Celtic as a performance consultant.
A statement from Celtic on Friday confirmed speculation that McGuinness would be joining the club to help with the development of young players."

Spotted you. My old seat still behind a pillar, I see :)

This is a fantastic way to scratch your head and waste your time. I got 33, missed a couple of blindingly obvious ones:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/ThomDubya/first-spl-goalscorers-by-nationality

I started doing earlier today that then chucked it because I couldn't be arsed working out how to spell.

I spent ages trying variations on Johansen/Johannson/Johanssen before realising there was probably someone else Finnish before him. Forgot fecking Brattbakk, which is ridiculous when you realise I remembered the existence of Thomas Flogel and Hicham Zerouali.

Can't really expect to win games with only one player awake - and he doesn't get on till half time. St Johnstone defended really well. Celtic possibly spent so long without the ball on Wednesday they've forgotten how to use it again.

Hasselbaink's a lively wee pain in the arse. Lomas never seems to play him and Tade at the same time against us, which I think would be more effective.

Well done to the supporters today on a respectful 90 minute's silence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/nov/14/scotland-football-success-scott-murray

That's great.

^^^good read

I was going to start a "come anticipate Billy Stark's 90 minutes in charge" thread but I couldn't be arsed.

Quality shite goal for Rhodes puts us 1-0 up vs Luxembourg. Positive line-up with Rhodes, Shinnie, Miller* and Naismith all sharing forward positions.

*I suppose when you fly from Canada for the game when a dozen others called off you guarantee yourself a start. Hopefully another goal before half-time will see Griffiths replacing him at the break.

Not a lot of caps of this bench, maybe an all-time low?
Samson, Webster, Barr, Davidson, Kelly, Griffiths, Bell.

Brave new dawn.

Floodgates open. Rhodes again for 2-0.

On the march wi' Billy's army

FUCK OFF BILLY STARK

Didn't really see that much of it, because my dad insists on watching with the sound off which leads my mum to yap all the way through it, and it's very distracting. Looked a mixture of "zzzzzzzzz" and "yay we have a striker that isn't Kenny Miller and has actual instincts, wooh", tbh, but as I say, wasn't exactly giving it my full attention. Shinnie a keeper? (as in "should we keep him", not "would he be more convincing between the sticks than Matt Gilks", to which I suspect I know the answer...)

Good game so far. Aberdeen looking threatening on the ball - McGinn and Fraser both troubling the Celtic defence. Celtic are mostly in charge but looking a bit out of ideas up front. We seem to have adopted the long throw as a key attacking strategy :/

ESPN commentator* has twice described Gavin Rae as a "midfield general" - I think that's once more than Rae has touched the ball. He must mean one of those generals who sits back and sends everyone else into battle.

*Is it Derek Rae? Maybe they're related.

Midfield General Gavin Rae hooked at half time.

Aberdeen's biggest crowd in three years, good to see.

Aye, most of our chances at one stage were coming from set pieces or our conversion of Adam Matthews into Rory Delap :(

Nice assist from Wanyama for Lassad's goal though.

Maybe he meant he looked like Midfield General, the chubby babyfaced dj who hung about with fatboy slim

What has happened to Hibs?

also lolling at concept of Gavin Rae being babyfaced

Maybe-not-over-the-line goal then a penalty a couple of minutes later seems to have killed a game Hibs were very much in.

Surprised to find us top of the league after today.

Worst league in the world to bet on atm - only five points separating eight teams who all look as likely to lose as win each week.

Only 6 out of 42 Scottish football managers have been in post for longer than three years. Rookie new boy Neil Lennon is the 9th longest serving manager in the country o_O

Blimey, that's a stat. Who are the six - Brown, Butcher, Billy Reid, maybe McCall?

Billy Reid
Harry Cairney
Gardner Speirs
Dick Campbell
Ross Jack
Terry Butcher

Cheers, thought Brown and McCall might've sneaked in there. Have no concept of passage of time.

Barca winning tonight means we are in some kind of Europe after Christmas. Good stuff. A wee draw or better tonight would be nice.

Tony Mowbray's first 14 league games at Celtic: W9 D3 L2 F30 A14 - 30 points (and one of those defeats was to Rangers)
Neil Lennon's last 14 league games at Celtic: W7 D4 L3 - F24 A13 - 25 points (with no Rangers to drop points to)

We had four more points last year when we were 10 behind Rangers and everyone was calling for Lennon's head!

american 20 yo juan agudelo trailing with celtic, might transfer. promising, needs to work harder, played on a terrible mls team last year

Thanks anky, someone mentioned a new signing today and I had no idea what they were talking about.

Feel slightly vindicated for not being entirely Team Lennon despite entire timternet disagreeing (apparently beating Barcelona negates chucking 57 year record against Killie - not for me). Also notice slump in home form coincides with me not attending games any more.

Feeling "vindicated" by defeat seems an odd reaction imo. Like us losing justifies your lack of faith in the guy who managed to turn a shit team around last year, win the league, qualify for the Champs League and do mad unheard of things like scoring and winning repeatedly away from home in Europe. Beating Barca doesn't justify losing to Killie, but neither does losing to Killie negate all our good results.

The league form is poor and he's making mistakes. I think he and the players are being too complacent about the league challenge.

- he needs to bite the bullet and bin Brown out of the team until he's either fit or retired
- he needs to stop switching Samaras to centre forward every time it's going wrong as that rarely makes it go better
- he needs to train Commons out of shooting from ridiculous impossible positions when he's missing easy chances
- he needs to sub players who aren't playing. How Hooper stayed on the pitch longer than Tony Watt is beyond me. Watt was poor too but he at last got on the ball
- he needs to stop arguing with clowns on twitter at 1.30am when he has a match the next day. If he wants professionalism from his players he needs to show it himself

I think they're struggling to adjust from chasing the ball in Europe to being expected to dictate the game domestically. Spending repeated midweeks having better players run you around the pitch can't be good for confidence. Injuries aren't helping either, he's having to cobble teams together every week and can't get any kind of consistency in any of his pairings.

I don't rate Lennon as highly as others seem to, never have, get roundly pilloried for it, feel constantly like I'm challopsing, and people are starting to agree with me and I'm glad that I'm not entirely mad and unique in not having emperors new clothes syndrome. I never said I *enjoyed* any of it.

I read this in the barber's this morning. Not often I say it but Bill Leckie is mostly bang on.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/columnists/billleckiesports/4665776/Blind-as-a-brat.html

Oh come on, does any Celtic fan seriously think that they might not win the SPL? Losing at home to Caley must suck but it's not like it will effect where the title goes

Ah well, it's as well I'm staying well away from Celtic Park these days innit.

(that post was brought to you by the word "well")

0-0 at HT at a chilly McDiarmid Park. Fairly even so far, maybe Saints in more control towards the break. I may have to stop moaning about dirty opposition teams as it seems they're all as bad as each other. Tade getting a hard time fromthe Hibs defence. Thomson is a terrible ref.

Think this is the longest i've ever had a 3G signal at a game.

yup celtic still going to canter league

Och.

BBC headline is "McGlynn baffled by defeat". Wish I was.

Oh dear, typical Saints.

I know we've won games this season that we probably didn't deserve to, but it's always shite to be on the receiving end. Even worse, I'm even feeling a touch of sympathy for Kenny Shiels.

It's what happens when you waste chances and have a penalty (and follow up) saved. Thought Saints played well, otherwise, and it was largely an enjoyable game. Hibs keeper did well, a lot of easy saves to make but thought he had a couple of good ones to make too.

I am aware I seem to find myself moaning after every game about dirty/physical opposition and shite refs. I'm starting to wonder if the latter is just normal supporter paranoia (though I'm convinced Thomson is particularly shite), and the former just my own lack of knowledge/understanding of the game. That said, Hibs were very physical tonight. In general I'm sick of seeing players clinging on to and blatantly obstructing other players. I texted a friend early on saying I expected someone would be sent off, either Hibs for the physicality or Saints for rising to it. In fairness, I think Saints are much more physical under Lomas than under McInnes.

I don't think it would be fair to state my opinion of Leigh Griffiths. Can understand why Hibees may love him, but...

Oh, and David Robertson getting his leg broken after five minutes on the park didn't help either.

And now an eight game ban for Lomas. I haven't seen it - what did he do?!

Kicked a water bottle in frustration after the penalty miss - Hasselbaink is not our penalty taker. Already had a suspended ban.

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/fail/148886/fc-emmens-jeffrey-de-visscher-has-contract-terminated-for-pooping-in-the-woods-claims-to-be-innocent.html

Former Aberdeen played sacked from Dutch club for drunk driving and shitting at the roadside.

Fergie got a knighthood for similar iirc.

Don't let the door hit yer arse etc

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/james-traynor-why-this-is-my-last-ever-newspaper-1470416

lol

That is something, isn't it? Such a complete lack of self-awareness! I do like how he chunters on and on about the woeful inaccuracy of everyone that isn't him, while saying shit like "Rangers and their fans, who deserve enormous credit for having saved their club". Um, does anyone want to break it to him?

Clown. Now just get him off the radio an'all and I'll be happy.

KILMARNOCK v ROSS COUNTY OR INVERNESS CT
DUNDEE v TURIFF UTD or MORTON
DUNDEE UTD v RANGERS
FALKIRK v FORFAR
HIBERNIAN v ABERDEEN OR MOTHERWELL
DUNFERMLINE V DUMBARTON OR HAMILTON
ST MIRREN V COWDENBEATH OR ST JOHNSTONE
RAITH ROVERS v CELTIC OR ARBROATH

Is this is a giant wind-up by the timternet or is Traynor really away to be Rangers' PR chief?

I read last night that his farewell column was a job application. It certainly reads that way. Can't imagine why you'd make someone with no PR experience (other than being spoonfed it and regurgitating it) your PR. Maybe he's onto an editorial job at the Orangers News.

Interesting draw in the cup there.

Ooh, hello! Aye, I'm sure Arbroath will bring a decent support your way :-/

xpost, he's got excellent practice in spinning good PR for Rangers, years at the Record/on BBC Scotland will do that for you. But aye, it did read like one of the Record's favoured "come and get me" pleas that they're aye telling us potential Ibrox targets are so fond of issuing. Surely at the end of a long career of hackery you'd concentrate on the good times, maybe throw in a tinge of regret about bampots making the written press largely redundant, whatevs. But going down in a "poor The Rangers, you just didn't understand and I can't take it any more" blaze of stupidity and false bravado is a really odd way to sign off.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/hearts/204137-comparing-the-wage-bills-in-the-scottish-premier-league-for-season-201011/

Rangers had the most responsible wage to turnover ratio of any SPL club other than Hamilton in 10/11. Where did it all go wrong?

Maybe their wage+dodgy undeclared payments:turnover ratio wasn't quite so impressive.

NewGers refusing tickets for cup tie at Tannadice.

Gies ma baw ahm goan in.

Have you guys covered this already?
http://local.stv.tv/elgin/news/203973-elgin-dancing-queen-mortified-after-96000-watch-rangers-camera-clip/

Meant to put that on the rolling wtf thread, but forgot. tbf, she's from Nairn, probably just transfixed by working electricity etc.

I spent a night in Nairn once, with barely functioning electricity. Scotland were 2-0 up after an hour against the third best team in the world (aye right FIFA) and the picture kept disappearing on my hotel room telly so I had to escape to a nearby pub to see us lose 3-2.

Can't actually remember the end of that game, now that I think about it, maybe the pub didn't have it on or maybe I missed the end or maybe I've blotted it out idk. Classic Scotland all the same.

Nairn is a shithole. My dad used to play for their team though, several gazillion years ago just after his cup-winning* glory days** with Ross County.

* North of Scotland Cup or Highland League Cup or something similarly unimportant. There is a picture of him with it in the trophy room at Victoria Park Global Energy Stadium or whatever it's calling itself these days though.

** not much glory in Dingwall in the 1950s, it would seem.

after Celtic's magnificent achievement in the Champions League, today's Daily Record features an amazing EIGHT PAGE RANGERS PICTURE SPECIAL

and David Leggat thinks Peter Lawell is running the Record o_O

Haha I didn't believe you there, but here's the piece online. How weird.

Elgin fan has an American rival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOHkRk00iI8

Probably very late to this news, but jesus it wasn't a twitter joke after all: http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/2883-club-appointment

So in preparation for his new job in trying to manage the press, he decided to call the press a bunch of cunts? I'm sure all those dishonourable hacks he tore into last week will be desperate to help him wherever they can..

Actually given it's rangers, that sentence probably works better without any sarcastic inflection.

lol @ a guy who hates all forms of new media being in charge of it.

Decent wee display at Rugby Park today - now can we just sort home league form?

Fuckin refs. Denied around 124 penalties today. Best home performance in the league for some time and should have put the game away before half time.

St Mirren showed about as much ambition as Dundee earlier this season i.e. none. They gave the ball away in the their own half non stop - it's ok saying you want to play it out from the back but not much good if your players can't pass a football.

This will be the first season in over 40 years that the Hoops have gone beyond Christmas and still been involved in all four major competitions that they entered at the start of the season.

so Jock Stein > Neil Lennon > everyone else :)

Someone's had too much brandy butter

http://www.rangersfc.co.uk/news/headlines/item/2983-a-christmas-message

Ha, it's nice that the lower leagues have their own Vlad.

Fuck me, Only An Excuse was terrible.

(I'm not talking about football any more. I don't like it).

Jamie Murphy, Keith Lasley, Tom Hateley, Stuart McCall: fuck you all very much!

So long Ibrahim Rabiu. We hardly knew ye. At all. Gone to Killie, probably good for him as Sheils isn't the type of manager to knock the football out of him - though he strikes me as more of a St Mirren type.

Defender Rami Gershon in talks with Celtic. I know nothing about him.

He's quite good looking and he thinks we're called Celtics. That's all I got, based on a minute's viewing of STV news.

oh aye, also said he's a mate of Beram Kayal's but he hasn't actually spoken to him about Celtic. Hmmmm.

Hibs player if ever I saw one

http://nfs.stvfiles.com/imagebase/174/410x230/174094-celtic-signing-target-rami-gershon-arrives-at-glasgow-airport.jpg

Hugh Adam's obituary, casting aspersions over his state of mind, suggesting his accusations of unfair play and predictions of meltdown were the ramblings of a senile old man, and using Adam's obit as a platform to shift some blame off of Murray. Quality journalism at its highest, oh yes:

By the time of the slide into administration in February 2012 Sir David had sold the club – disastrously – to Craig Whyte. Mr Adam later gace [sic] a newspaper interview in which he accused Sir David of operating a dual contracts system in regard to employee benefit trust (EBT) payments to players and other employees.

Mr Adam offered no proof over his accusations – his opening comment to his interviewers of "my memory's not what it used to be" perhaps saying it all

http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/obituaries/hugh-adam.19831988

The blame shifted off Murray and onto the banking crisis (not his fault, poor wee lamb) is next-level delusion, not to mention completely inappropriate in an obituary for someone else.

Elgin's equaliser at Ibrox means that TAFKAR can't beat Gretna's record points total for Division 3. Shame, they're all about the records these days, aren't they?

Christ that obit is outrageous.

And xxxxxxxxp only an excuse was truly awful. Half the characters haven't even been involved in the scottish game for like a decade. Just having them do gangnam style in and of itself isn't very funny.

It used to be better, didn't it? Or was I just young?

Didn't watch it but got the impression from a colleague it was just the usual suspects.

It used to be better when Tony Roper was involved, and I remember they briefly got Alistair McGowan involved so at least the impressions were better, even if the material was a bit pish. It at least stayed about football (that Alex Salmond/square sausage pish, give me strength...), and poked fun at things relevant and current to Scottish football.

Now there's no attempt whatsoever to remain relevant to what's actually happening in football. I mean, jesus, ANYONE with half a brain could have done *something* with Craig Whyte's googly-eyed declarations at the doors of Ibrox, but, naw, why do that when you can make jokes about, eh, the naked rambler and Jimmy fucking Calderwood.

I mean, honestly. Prince Albert of Monaco. Joanna Lumley. Godspeed Rangers. Giving money to Mr Custard the Clown by mistake. Her Maj's Revenue & Customs shutting down the club that sing about how much they love her every week. Surely there's some material in there? Nah, let's have Neil Lennon dancing gangnam style instead.

hahaha, hadn't seen the equaliser at Ibrox until now. Keeper lolz of the season right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9pS8w8H09U

Ouch. That's the kind of goal I give away regularly at fives.

Classic!

Various internet bampots linking Celtic with a loan move for Samir Nasri o_O

Ally Mc Oist lol

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BABk4PdCAAAd3f4.jpg

he seems to be swallowing a rain of small pimples

kind of lol but mostly o_O

Saw that on KDS yesterday - I laughed. It's surely the only reaction. I wonder if he's the guy who made the legned banner as well, or the oversees payments one, or does being stupid help you come to the decision to support Rangers or a successor thereof?

It's weird that tattooists don't routinely check spelling before decorating people for life.

I think they just do as they are told. Not their fault if their client is a moron. I have the same issue with registrars who christen babies with stupid misspelled names, but apparently it's not their job to go "no, ffs, you don't spell it Stayyceeee" or whatever

I've not had a tattoo so I don't know how it works, but there surely must be a contract in which the client writes down exactly want they want. Otherwise tattoo people would be getting sued all over the world.

The sheer volume of photos displayed with pride of these things on the internet (maybe over half of the things on tattoo fail?) might suggest that the client either does get exactly what they want or at least thinks they do.

I'd like to think the name's just on that one to convince the owner he hasn't just got a tattoo of Derek Johnstone awaiting his next pie delivery.

Have we all seen Traynor's astonishing puff piece on the Rangers' website ("don't mess with us, we are the people" seems to be the gist), was doing the rounds on twitter yesterday?

Here's Scotzine's take on it.

http://www.scotzine.com/2013/01/jim-traynor-sporting-integrity-what-about-journalistic-integrity/

I find Scotzine almost unreadable but I suppose he's half a notch above Traynor.

What Traynor said about Green's failure to get a CVA agreed, something that should be flung in his face on a daily basis:

http://www.thecelticnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/JABBA.png

Yeah, the link was mostly just a way to link to Traynor's without having to link to the Rangers site, and save me adding the "grrr arrgh, load of pish" comments myself, I'm sure I could have found it somewhere if I wasn't half-arsedly skiving at work. I'm half a notch below Traynor, probably.

Oh good, Chuckles is off on one again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20963963

Rangers 'should quit Scotland' if league changes go ahead

So there is an upside to this ridiculous rearranging of deck chairs!

"Hand on heart, there isn't an option but that doesn't mean we shouldn't start looking for an option."

http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/s1tAYmMjLdY/hqdefault.jpg

"In what league do you win a division and then end up playing the same teams again the following season? There is no meaning to it, in reality"

Um, in the same league where Falkirk were denied promotion - three times - because their stadium wasn't big enough for a couple of home games against the Old Firm each season. Acting like this would be some new unprecedented turn of events. I know, I know; saying "Green's talking utter pish" is becoming pretty redundant pretty rapidly.

Admittedly that case was a known quantity, where this is more like the goalposts being moved.

pretty sure you play most of the same teams next season if you win the SPL too

I can see his point that in terms of promotion the league is rendered meaningless for them but that's the case for most teams most seasons in most leagues regardless of the structures. Is he saying East Stirlingshire and their fans may as well not have turned up all season (or in most previous seasons for that matter)?

Reconstructing into three leagues rather than four means they'll a step nearer the top league (where I thought they didn't want to be anyway, I can't keep up!) without having to worry about their shonky away form :)

Also, they might have a shiny first trophy in their cabinet and their fans will get to have a "yay, we won something" day. It would be churlish in the extreme to not want to win trophies, surely?

Rangers 'should quit Scotland' if league changes go ahead

And where would they go exactly? Nazi Germany is long gone, as is apartheid-era South Africa. As a friend of mine texted last night on hearing this news: "Bankrupt, violent bigots seek similar for fights"

Interesting to see how Celtic's share price has changed recently. Presumably reacting to a) the The Rangers flotation b) relative CL success c) new sponsorship deal and d) lots of speculation about the value of our saleable assets.

http://i46.tinypic.com/2vmsppy.jpg

Market capitalisation now at >£62m - double what it was a year ago.

Armageddon oh noes etc.

Another day, another chuckle from Chuck. This guy doesn't have an off switch, does he?

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/rangers/209386-charles-green-no-to-cross-border-league-would-be-sex-discrimination/

An odd a man as he is, he's kinda got a point about welsh teams being OK in the english leagues, while scots aren't. I must admit I've always been confused by that one myself. What the the reasons behind this? Historical quirk?

Conspiracy theories ahoy - Leigh Griffith's racist tweet a tactic to keep him? Wolves press statement says he's now "likely to stay at Hibs for the rest of the season", which wasn't what they were saying last month.

(And yes, the more sane answer is that Wolves are waiting for the new manager to decide whether he wants him, but this is the sort of shit that makes Scottish football fun.)

Scottish football's fun?

RIP Sean Fallon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21077765

Bloke at my work just told me about that. RIP.

RIP Sean

Cracking return to action today with a comprehensive demolition of a Hearts team who could barely be bothered kicking us.

:(

Lovely bit of showing off from Gary Mackay-Steven, bringing the foul it deserved :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/21114412

totally fuckin shambolic in every department

Yep. We are fucking disastrous at regrouping when things don't go our way from the start.

Peter Houston's away.

He truly managed to maintain a decent level of mediocrity despite the talent at his disposal.

Probably away before he coaches them into getting dumped out of the cup by a team in the 3rd divison next week :(

Replacement suggestions I've seen bandied about include Steven Pressley, Jackie Macnamara, Derek McInnes and (hilariously) the return of Craig Levein.

Avril was good when he was at United tbf

Jackie McNamara gets the Arabs gig. Hopefully our former captain will sell us Johnny Russell for cheap.

Because Celtic are the one team in Scotland needing cut price deals from other clubs (i expect you were being facetious).

of course

TBH I reckon Russell's just running down his contract and planning a wee trip down the Tay on a free.

lol

Football Funnys ‏@FootballFunnys
RETWEET if you and 10 mates could beat QPR
Retweeted by Scott Brown

(not really Scott Brown)

Unusual to get a cup day with no draws. Well done to Jackie McNamara in securing Dundee United's first home win since August, albeit against fourth tier opposition :)

Happy birthday to The Broony, two years old today.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh93sntwZI1qeklmh.jpg

has there ever been a more "get it right fucking up ye" image in a Celtic vs Rangers (RIP) game?

Nothing even close imo (I imagine Boruc running across Ibrox with a flag might do it for some folk).

Two years, how time flies. There was a Rangers and everything!

Phil Brown to Partick? Interesting slant from the Sun, talking of him making them the third force in Scottish football. (1) He doesn't actually say that and (2) who are the second force?

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/leaguedivision1/4784792/I-can-make-Jags-third-force.html

(2) Celtic reserves

Tru dat.

Mad experimental team out the day, I predict fear.

(2) Celtic reserves

onimo otm

Ha, aye :)

Rumours that Barry Smith and Dundee have parted company.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/21459135

I can't decide if I like self styled maverick Kenny Shiels or not.

https://twitter.com/ArabyzeThis/status/302440991502245888/photo/1

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDJ8eriCIAAocuc.jpg

ArabyzeThis Arabyze This 56m
Amazing picture! Celtic with Friedel and Given when young! #Fools!!! pic.twitter.com/rhsS97OA
Details Reply Retweet Favorite

haha, Pat Bonner's pose!

Who are the other two?

Gordon Marshall and Stewart Kerr.

There was a bloke doing Celtic as his specialist subject on Mastermind tonight, with such tricky questions as "Who did Celtic beat in the European Cup Final in 1967" and "In which city was the 2003 UEFA Cup Final". Specialist!

Got a German stream for St J vs Celtic - love the way the commentator says "Commons" and "Mulgrew". German commentary required for all future SPL games - cool accents plus no Scottish cunts talking pish = win win.

More Huns on the telly talking about Celtic = win win?

OG Huns, none of yer post-war wannabes

The War of the Three Kingdoms was over 450 years ago. Let go.

can't we all just get along?

http://images2.bridgemanart.com/cgi-bin/bridgemanImage.cgi/400wm.XJF.8370010.7055475/97559.jpg

meanwhile, offside flag denies St Johnstone what looked* like a fair equaliser

*from mey crappy pixelated stream

Apparently I missed another disallowed St J goal. Big teams get all the decisions.

finally they get one that counts, cracking goal it was too

Big clumsy battering ram Tade with wee tricky Hasselbaink is a great & classic forward combination - shame they get so little time playing together. St J were well worth their point tonight and should probably have won it. That's a win and two draws vs Celtic in the league this season.

Great goal from Hasselbaink. They looked good together at the start of the season but went off the boil a little. I've been enjoying the McLean and Vine partnership too. Can't think of many times recently we've had two clear forward parterships.

We should have been buried by half time. Only real chance I can remember was Abeid putting it just wide of the goal, though I think Foster had it covered. Thought Mannus and our defence were excellent all night, particularly second half - that's probably the best game he's had for us, at home anyway. Much more of a game in the second half.

As for the two disallowed goals, it was hard for me to see if they were off or not - my seat is opposite the home dugout about halfway up so not the best angle of view on it. Feels weird to have been up celebrating 3 goals at McD, especially when 2 didn't count!

At half time I'd have chewed anyone's arm off for the draw, a wee bit disappointed not to win in the end!

Felt a bit to me like Celtic probably got the benefit of most decisions, and that they got away with the physical stuff a lot more than we did - I was drafting a letter to UEFA at one point....

Oh, I meant to say. That's the third time (at least) this season I've seen us concede a goal like the second one - from a set piece with no-one properly marking that side of the goal. Lost two to Hearts that way as well.

Both offside calls looked iffy to me but as I said I didn't have the best of views on my wee tiny pixelated window. I was at the cup game when Celtic hammered St Johnstone 5-0 and could easily have hit double figures - it seems odd that we're incapable of putting the chances away against you in the league.

I'm happy for it to continue that way.

http://youtu.be/swLFBvFEXjA

This is the second, looks onside to me.

Utd seem to be a bit good now that McNamara's in charge. Apart from getting shellacked by Celtic of course

Standard late season surge? Would love to see both Dundee sides end up bottom 6 post split but that's highly unlikely.

Dundee have just sacked Barry Smith.

Clyde 1 reported in their sports bulletin this morning that nuRangers won the SFL reserve league. I cannot recall the SFL reserve league ever being mentioned on radio before in my life.

Anyway, congratulations to nuRangers on the first trophy in their short history. That's them got something other than a carpet to put in their proposed museum.

So they beat a load of these fabled brickies and shelfstackers and farmers and whatever else patronising guff commentators come out with, but versions of which that can't even get a game for the first team of a lower league club then? Well done them.

You know the Rangers stance about how "the COMPANY went into liquidation but the CLUB lives on"? Their own lawyers disagree:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDiITKSCcAAJX6n.png

Eddiek62 Eddie Keane 5 hrs
It was Rangers lawyers that submitted to the enquiry that Rangers ceased to be a club!! pic.twitter.com/XTm92Dad

Amazing.

Not sure what else Barry Smith could have achieved with Dundee, having done really well in the 1st Division with the financial restrictions placed on him and then catapulted unexpectedly into the SPL with next to no preparation. Is Steven Pressley the expected replacement, he seems the obvious candidate?

because he obviously can't make any progress with Falkirk?

Just mean in the modern-day-Stuart-Baxter linked-to-every-minor-step-up-job-going way.

Would have thought it would be the wrong move for Elvis, though I get what context you meant it in!

Evening Telegraph reporting Calderwood and Jody Morris as front runners - they play in blue so that might be enough for Jody, I really wanted him to take over from McInnes but he didn't want to give up playing and the board didn't want a player/manager.

Ah bloody hell Jody Morris being linked with management jobs makes me feel old because I remember him coming through as a youngster. Saw him score for Chelsea years ago

Also is a Dundee club ready for a manager called Jody?

He's still only 34 - I'm 30 and I always thought he was much older than me.

Everything to do with football and football management makes me feel old these days :-/

i got seriously depressed the day i realised that the ref was younger than me :(

My "Jody Morris is only 34 wtf?" moment came when I realised I was older than Chris Sutton.

re Calderwood linked to Dundee job - Jimmy or Colin?

Jimmy.

I'm very slightly older than Henrik Larsson and he was on telly last week punditing about with GREY HAIR.

Dunno if football management is ready for someone who calls himself "morriskid".

Ah well, if Jimmy C gets back into management, it'll legitimise his continued appearances in Only an Excuse, I guess.

Steven Anderson's has been at Saints since 2004 with hair thinning much faster than mine and he's still only 27.

Kris Boyd back at Kilmarnock? That's what the internet says.

Wow! I've no idea if he's fit or not, but could be a great signing for them..

"Having been inundated by high-calibre candidates, one man stood out as perfect for the position," said a Dundee statement.

what did they do what was worse than normal? Or was it because it was done in England?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21559512

I watched the first five minutes and it was all fenian blood and fenian bastards, I assume it continued in a similar manner after I switched off to go out for lunch in disgust.

Speaking to ESPN, club manager Ally McCoist said: "I didn't know anything about it until I came in after the game."

Speaking to ESPN, club manager Ally McCoist said: "I am completely deaf. WHAT?"

STV Sport ‏@STVSport
Despite rumours to the contrary John Brown has not resigned as interim manager of Dundee.

(Apparently radio scotland saying he has)

Fuck me Dundee are a circus. Bomber Brown an exceptional candidate? Gift that keeps on giving.

In fun news, Steven Anderson nearly scored a goal today and if the linesman had done his job properly on Tue night we'd be second (in pub now).

Chris Harvey ‏@ChristopherHarv

Unconfirmed reports that acrimonius Dundee FC Fans & BoD Q&A session has finished with two board members tendering their resignation. stv.tv

I was at the Berwick game today and once again I'm gutted that we've been over by dodgy refeering decisions, taking the lead then turned over by a soft penalty and then a stonewaller not given for us. Not complaining that Rangers probably deserved to win but 3-1 flatters them big style.

In fairness to fat Sally I was about 50 feet from him and couldn't make out any of the chants. Outside the ground there was definitely some sectarian songs sung, so no surprise if that happened inside the ground too.

Ally McCoist on the news saying "tell us what we can't sing and we won't sing it". Lady, if you have to ask...

Hahahahaha, I'd never seen this before. Ahahahahaha.

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/2819085/Kris-a-big-miss-Rafa.html

amazing

" Liverpool would be the ideal fit because Fernando Torres is in and out of the Reds side with injury and when he’s missing they have no one to fill his boots. "

these people are out there

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BD-tF4xCcAAxLgk.jpg

Wowzers.

Hey, this is good too: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/4810831/Bomber-a-flop-at-Clyde-Jose-wouldve-been-a-loser-there.html

(apologies for repeated linkage to the Sun)

Seriously, nothwithstanding his pishness at Clyde, did you not SEE him rambling away outside Ibrox? And you wonder why everyone sees his appointment as a joke?

It's not just that it clearly isn't true that he was the "stand out" from several "high-calibre candidates" - it's that it's really obvious Gardiner has thought "Fuck it we're relegated anyway, I may as well give my mate a job for a few months."

I do love how he's couching it in terms of John Brown being a Dundee legned, when everyone else just sees rambling mad ex-Deidco nutter who was a bit pish at managing at lower levels. Who the fuck does he think's buying it? Isn't it great for a bit of variety when Vlad's nowhere near the maddest delusionalest spokesbod for a team in Scotland any more?

"To keep Dundee up this season would be the best achievement of my career."

He's right there. Given that every team above them is likely to pick up another two or three wins in the remaining games I reckon Dundee need at least 7 wins from their remaining 11 games. They've managed 3 from 27 so far and have a goal difference of minus millions.

Ross County can go joint second if they beat Aberdeen tonight o_O

2.15 for ridic Leigh Griffiths goal.

Hibees should stop watching before the shite penalty call at 4:13.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f__5zImdcM4

race for 2nd is nuts

 	Team 		P 	GD 	Pts
2 	Inverness CT 	27 	7 	41
3 	Ross County 	28 	2 	41
4 	Motherwell 	27 	5 	40
5 	St Johnstone 	28 	1 	40
6 	Hibernian 	28 	0 	38
7 	Kilmarnock 	28 	6 	37
8 	Aberdeen 	29 	-3 	37
9 	Dundee Utd 	28 	-5 	37

Anybody but Motherwell please.

Anyone but Caley Thistle. I have a grudging respect for what Butcher's done with them, but they're still born of total cuntery.

Smashing point for 3rd division strugglers Stirling Albion tonight :)

James McFadden at Fir Park, hello ten years ago!

Shocking from us tonight.

Absolutely rubbish. I'm all for competitiveness in the league, but I'm more for us not being shite.

The only way it can be competitive is for Celtic to get worse - the gap in investment is too big for other clubs to bridge in the other direction.

John McGlynn mutually consented out of Tynecastle...

Not before time - I know they've fallen on hard times but that squad should be nowhere near the foot of the table. I'm predicting the return of the prodigal Elvis.

Yeah, seems likely. Barry Smith to Falkirk to replace him, maybe?

only if Elvis and Vlad can put aside their differences so idk

Oh aye, forgot about that.

Och, hope Elvis holds off until Lithuanian Central Bank has flogged us/put us out our misery and we become The Hearts 2015 Ltd or whatever. Whoever comes in is inheriting a terrible job.

Latest odds, everyone on Earth including Stuart Baxter getting a mention.

Gary Locke And/Or Darren Murray 4
Peter Houston 4
Paul Hartley 5
Steven Pressley 5
Craig Levein 6
Colin Cameron 8
John Robertson 10
Derek Mcinnes 11
Allan Johnston 12
Jim Jefferies 12
Jimmy Calderwood 12
Sandy Clark 12
Alex Mcleish 14
Gus Mcpherson 14
Terry Butcher 14
Alex Rae 20
Allan Moore 20
Andy Thorn 20
Davie Weir 20
Gary Bollan 20
Gary Mcallister 20
George Burley 20
Glynn Snodin 20
Gordon Chisholm 20
Jim Duffy 20
Jim Mcintyre 20
Mark Venus 20
Owen Coyle 20
Charlie Mcparland 25
Nick Barmby 25
Nigel Worthington 25
Steve Kean 25
Stuart Baxter 25

No random Lithuanians?

Surely you can cut anyone who already has a job out of that list?

On the basis that this one will only pay them sporadically? You'd think so. TBF we may not be able to sign a manager over the age of 21..

David Southern was spouting some pish about how the new candidate would have to be aware of the stature of the club and the fact that we have the second highest wage bill in the spl. Er, hasn't that been part of the problem?!

(Glynn Snodin?!)

Snodin = former Jambo + recently unemployed

Ah, thx - didn't realise he was actively on the job market. Seemed like such a weird name to stick in there (er, amongst all those other glittering names etc and so on...)

New sponsor for Rangers - Blackthorn cider - owned by C&C - who own Magners - who sponsor Celtic.

"Old Firm" brand alive and unwell.

guy cannae pick a team but lol

"We have the quarter-final to prepare for and we are playing Juventus in the last 16 of the Champions League. We're not renting our training ground to them."

Scottish sports journalist of the year, Keith "wealth off the radar" Jackson, today:

What was an alleged sustained catalogue of rule breaking and deceit stretching over an 11-year period, all the way from 2000 to 2011, has been dismissed as a figment of the imagination.

Aye, so what was the fine for, ya tadger?

But Rangers have been found guilty of not much more than being Rangers. And of allowing Craig Whyte to take advantage of them at their weakest moment.

Um, no?

On the basis that this one will only pay them sporadically? You'd think so.

That and the fact they'd maybe have to pay compensation to the current club.

Killie vs Hibs cup tie is a cracker so far, but not as good as James Dayton's magnificent beard.

Oh Killiepaws

hat tricks all over the UK this weekend

Leigh Griffiths' first ever, I think.

Hibs vs Falkirk
Celtic vs Dundee Utd

Johnny Russell ruled out for a while with a leg fracture.

Totally forgot the draw was today. Dundee Utd the worst we could have got, obv, but lack of Russell is a help.

Hibs >>>>>> Dundee United atm imo

What I've gleaned from twitter: BBC says Jon Daly is to sign for the huns on a bosman, and Romanov, his family and Fedotovas have all resigned from the board of UBIG. STV thinks this means he's relinquished control of hearts, but the Herald think otherwise.

Why? Why would Daly do that?

Oh, he's 30, I thought he was younger than that. Money, then. Will they never learn?

Still, can see his choice of celebratory flag going down well at the sportsdirectbargainbin arena

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8333/jdtric.jpg

Wouldn't that make him the first ever Republic of Ireland player at Rangers? If anything proves they're a completely new club it's that!

The first since WWII I think? First was in the earliest days of the league, 1903 or thereabouts.

1903 = pre-Republic, I don't think there have been any since ROI was formed, if so they're uncapped.

Alex Stevenson then, 1930s.

A couple from the o.g. Irish team before it split.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rangers_F.C._international_footballers#Ireland

oh wait
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Stevenson

Stevenson is the only footballer to have played for both the FAI XI and Rangers and is one of only three players born in what is now the Republic of Ireland to play for the club. The other two were Alex Craig and James Lowry McAuley (Reuben Evans was another Rangers player from the Republic of Ireland but he did not play for the first team).

xpost, obv

That's a bit misleading as James McAuley and Alex Craig were both pre-1916.

my god all this talk of Rangers signings dredged this up from the farthest recesses of my memory http://youtu.be/oUXhW3JC9Zw

Ah those innocent times when you could laugh at anti-Catholic employment policies.

Can't find any more than Alex Stevenson so I think that makes Daly's signing somewhat significant. I have no idea of Daly's faith, if he has one, but he may well be the first Irish Catholic to play for Rangers.

They can't actually sign him until January, is that right?

Still, bit of a pishy one when you have a £20m warchest to win the second division. Moonbeams!

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-chief-executive-charles-green-1497340

They can sign him as a free agent and register him on 2nd September - they'll use a bunch of Bosman's to circumvent the spirit of their transfer ban.

Meanwhile, these cunts:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-21656061

The latest SPL accounts show directors pay and benefits increased by 16.5%, despite a 6% fall in revenues.

Oh aye, that makes sense re Bosman fudging.

"Bosman's"

ugh sorry

Right, so what's the craic with Vlad? He definitely away?

No one really seems to know - he's resigned from the board of UBIG (who own hearts) but is still their majority shareholder. (I think?!)

I've never been to Tynecastle. I feel like I may regret not taking the opportunity tomorrow night with the way things are going.

It's actually a decent wee stadium, even if it is filled with Jambos (sorry sktsh!).

lol

I'm sure it'll make a lovely Tesco as well.

Good win for Hearts tonight, that's them the 18 points ahead of Dundee they'll need to avoid relegation once they go into administration.

STUPID BLIND CUNT OF AN ASSISTANT REFEREE

That was worse than the lampard vs Germany. ffs

He should be sacked for that. Embarrassing stuff.

Didn't see the game, but just seen a clip of the "goal". Fucking hell.

Some bookies paying out on Griffiths first goalscorer as a result o_O

Yeah, I was out too. That's a horrendous decision.

"goal" of the season too. Still cant believe it wasn't given.

Same useless prick that chalked off two goals for Saints a couple of weeks ago?

Sir Alex Ferguson has pledged to help out cash-strapped Dunfermline by fielding a full-strength Manchester United team for a proposed friendly at East End Park in the summer.

That's if they last that long.

I suppose it's not like he's a multimillionaire former player who could help dig them out with actual cash.

I was reading earlier that if Hearts can struggle up to the top six before going into administration, then they'll stay top six even with the points deduction and can't be relegated. That seems a bit o_O (though maybe how Hibs never got to beat them with a perfectly good goal </paranoid>)

Nice gesture by Raith to offer the Pars an extra share of the gate money on Saturday. Turnbull Hutton seems to be on a mission to be The Nicest And Most Reasonable Man In Scottish Football.

Anyone got a thought on the SFL Colt Teams proposal?

The more I think about it, the less I understand why we can't just have the amalgamated league body and fairer distribution of money but leave it 12/10/10/10 but with playoffs between 11th in SPL and 2/3/4 in SFL1.

I don't understand why a 3rd division team get to have a colt team in the league set-up.

I mean, I do understand why, but it's a kick in the baws for the youth development plans of every other club in the country, surely?

Yup. I don't agree with the proposal at all. Would the colt teams be restricted to only playing in the bottom tier, or second bottom tier, or whatever? Is that not a kick in the balls for other teams in the ceiling division, who may win promotion but only from 3rd place, being denied a title, however inconsequential it may be to fans of bigger clubs?

I am not in favour of play-offs to avoid relegation, they should be for promotion only.

The idea is that they don't get promoted out of the bottom tier, I believe.

Ok, still a bit of a shitter for teams who may like to have a bit of silverware for getting promoted from 3rd to 2nd.

No, I picked it up wrong, Longmuir explains it all:

"The colt team would be unable to be promoted to a division above if that colt teams 'parent' team were participating in that division, nor could they participate in any cup competition where the 'parent' club were participating."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21763900

So Sevcolts don't get to win the Ramsdens Cup then :)

Load of pish - dunno how this Longmuir cunt still has a job.

If the The Rangers first team can't beat Annan what exactly will their reserves do halt the decline in quality of Scottish league football?

do to halt

No-one thinks this is a good idea except Longmuir, aye? I mean, seriously, it's so fucking stupid on every level. What are the logistics? What happens if The Rangers get relegated to the 3rd, do Sevcolts get papped out, or could they pass each other on the way? They'll just drive more traffic into Celtic Park and the SportsDirectArena and away from the other clubs, aye? And presumably Coltic and Sevcolts could have their pick of the youngsters across Scotland, thus fecking the development (and subsequent market value) of all the other clubs' weans.

They'll just drive more traffic into Celtic Park and the SportsDirectArena and away from the other clubs, aye? And presumably Coltic and Sevcolts could have their pick of the youngsters across Scotland, thus fecking the development (and subsequent market value) of all the other clubs' weans.

and therefore more money for celtic and rangers. So i assume those clubs aren't against colt teams?

On another note its time games from parkhead and ibrox were shown on tv. Why should other clubs take a hit on gates and those 2 be protected.

I dipped into the Rangers site to see if Traynor was advocating colt teams but can't find anything. Did discover this though:

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/opinion/item/3085-remember-sporting-integrity?

blogs clattered out by individuals who are no better than semi-literate.

This club, the biggest one in the country, were not invited...
We are then entitled to conclude that this club are not important

I know there's wiggle room with the "Blur: is/are shite" thing, but not when you're explicitly referring to the club in the singular. This are wrong to my semi-literate eyes.

Traynor's blogs are brilliant though - it's like he's finally been released to say what he wanted to all these years but had to conceal under a (very) thin (ok almost imperceptible) veneer of impartiality.

Newly formed clubs dont usually get invited to things do they?

and therefore more money for celtic and rangers. So i assume those clubs aren't against colt teams?

On another note its time games from parkhead and ibrox were shown on tv. Why should other clubs take a hit on gates and those 2 be protected.

for the past couple of years Celtic's "colts" have been playing in the NextGen series against the likes of Ajax, Barcelona, PSG and Arsenal - I can't see Neil Lennon thinking they'd be better off getting kicked upside down in the third division. however, if it is of financial benefit to any club they'd be stupid not to consider it.

More games broadcast from SportsDirect@Govanewco and Celtic Park would imo eventually mean other clubs taking a hit on TV money - they'd need to weigh the two up. I agree with the idea of showing more games from Celtic Park, even if it did hit attendances - because those tend to have the highest quality of football in the league the TV companies are attempting to showcase.

the tv money is the same whether you have games shown or not according to Sc0tt Struth3rs

Tomorrows headlines? Celtic & Rangers to leave Scotland

Currently yes, but over time the old issue of exactly who was generating all the money would raise its head again. That's why I said "imo" and "eventually" - I wasn't quoting rules, I was speculating on a future you invented.

I see no mention of Celtic in that article. Also it's about a summer invitation league in years between international tournaments and wouldn't involve anyone leaving anywhere.

Would Hibs and Aberdeen or Motherwell or Dundee Utd etc get colt teams?

onimo it was a joke.

No-one is getting colt teams. It's a proposal put forward by one man whose jaiket should already be on a shaky peg and whose organisation will likely vanish under proposed league reformation. It's a last effort to make himself look relevant. It will be rightly kicked into touch.

“The concept has been in place in both the Italian and Spanish leagues for over 20 seasons with Barcelona, Real Madrid and both Milan clubs having colt teams.

Pish, Milan clubs have never had this. This clown doesn't have a clue.

the tv money is the same whether you have games shown or not according to Sc0tt Struth3rs

― Algerian Goalkeeper, Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:13 PM (38 minutes ago)

That's what I thought too, thus thinking it's mad one of our likely biggest gates of the season (vs Dundee Utd) has been moved from Sat 3pm to Mon 8pm.

Scheduling has been a joke this season, they've had three SPL games up against televised Champions League games and they keep televising SPL games at stupid times.

its time games from parkhead and ibrox were shown on tv

They are.

yeah when they play each other

And when they play other people too. Rangers' home game next weekend is on ESPN.

The Rangers, sorry :(

Saturday 4 August, 2012
Celtic v Aberdeen - Sky Sports, 12.45pm
Sunday October 7
Celtic v Hearts, 12.45pm - Sky Sports
Sunday February 24, 2013
Celtic v Dundee - live on Sky Sports, 12.45pm

We'll probably get one post-split too, especially if there's a trophy being handed out.

Dundee have had two home games televised.

Ross County have had one game televised.

Why should Celtic take a hit on gates and those two be protected?

the leagues imploding without rangers obviously. Still, nice to see tv has changed a bit this year.

It's not changed at all. There's always been home games televised at Celtic Park and Ibrox against other teams outwith the two Glasgow teams (pre one of them being dead).

The only change is in the opposition that we're being televised against, and I think I'm right in saying that it's only in the last couple of years that we've had away games that haven't been televised (but this pre-dated Rangers' departure from the SPL so Saturday's game wasn't setting any precedent).

Dunfermline issued winding up order. Really hope they pull through.

Haud on, ARE TO BE issued one. Sorry. Catching up on the day's news and jumped the gun. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12040/8562838/Dunfermline-are-to-be-issued-with-a-winding-up-order-from-HMRC

Ach, Hearts get them every other week. Nae biggie *fingers crossed*

Paw Broon finally decides he's had enough. Just googling to see when he was on the Clyde board, I've just found out that he's an author of a book about primary school teaching, and a past lecturer at Paisley Uni and has a degree in English and Geography.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21785178

nd a past lecturer at Paisley Uni

You mean Paisley College of Technology?

aye :) no' having any of that university of the west of scotland pish at any rate.

http://m.fifetoday.co.uk/sport/football/raith-rovers/rovers-rally-round-rivals-1-2837330

Turnbull Hutton otm again

"This is all about Longmuir getting into bed with Rangers, and we will be rebelling against it."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/celtic--rangers-attendances-up-1767244

CROWDS at Celtic and Rangers games this season have been up to 20,000 lower than the figures released to the public.

It goes some way to explaining the huge gaps in the stands when the clubs have been claiming near full-houses.

The number of supporters the clubs publicise as turning up to home SPL and Division Three matches is far larger than the true figure reported to police, official records show.

Fans used freedom of information laws to force Strathclyde Police to reveal the real number of supporters attending games at Ibrox and Parkhead.

We obtained the figures as they are now on public record.

Celtic publicised a figure of 49,428 on the SPL website for their game against Ross County at Parkhead in December – 20,497 more than the real attendance of 28,931.

And when Rangers played Queen’s Park at Ibrox in October, the attendance figure published on the Scottish Footbal League website was 49,463.

But the real number given to police was just 34,481 – a difference of 14,982.

The difference is understood to be made up mainly of season ticket holders counted as attending when they have not actually gone to the game.

Publishing the total number of tickets sold – including season ticket holders who haven’t made it to the game – rather than the number at the game is common among senior clubs.

Strathclyde Police ask the Old Firm and all the clubs in their force area for attendance figures to plan safe crowd control and to calculate how many police will need to attend games.

The only fans who aren’t counted are the small number in hospitality or others who don’t pass through the turnstiles such as disabled supporters.

In the 13 league games Celtic played between the start of the season and their game against Kilmarnock on January 30, the club reported an official gate of 597,391.

But over the same period the club have only reported a figure of 437,990 to
the police.

It means the publicised figure has been inflated by 159,401 – a 36 per cent increase.

So the average number of people at each game was 33,692 rather than 45,953.

Meanwhile, Rangers played 11 home league games in Division Three between the beginning of the season and January 30.

They publicised a total attendance figure of 515,250, while the figure reported to the police was just 407,909.

That’s a difference of 107,341 – a 26 per cent increase.

On average, the number of people going through the turnstiles was 37,083, rather than the claimed 46,841.

The publicised figures given by St Mirren, Motherwell and Kilmarnock for
matchday attendances at their grounds appeared to match the ones given to police.

A police spokeswoman said: “The figures are provided to the police by the football club and are taken from live data compiled by the electronic turnstiles management system from patrons entering the stadium.

“The figures do not include some corporate hospitality guests and those patrons who enter the stadium outwith the control of turnstile management.

“These figures are vital to ensure that there is effective queue management of spectators entering the stadium, to maintain spectator cross-flow around the stadium and to ensure that there is no critical overloading of any area of the stadium during ingress.

“The figures are also used as a baseline to effectively plan the resourcing of both stewards and police at future matches involving both clubs.”

The SPL confirmed that they take their attendance figures from the Press Association, who in turn receive them from the clubs.

A Celtic spokesman said: “Like many other British clubs, the figures we provide are total paid attendances between season books and matchday tickets.

“In addition the police figures do not include all corporate hospitality figures.”

A Rangers spokesperson said: “Our crowds are calculated on the number of tickets sold for each game, which we understand is common practice for the overwhelming majority of clubs in the country.”

The SPL and SFL both declined to comment.

After matches at Ibrox and Parkhead, the clubs give their official attendance number to Britain’s national news agency, the Press Association.

The SPL and SFL obtain the attendances for all their matches from the Press Association to put on their websites.

But the figures released by the clubs count tens of thousands of season ticket holders who don’t turn up to matches.

The clubs also have to give an attendance figure to Strathclyde Police so the force can plan crowd control and staffing.

The number given to the police is a true reflection of the numbers at the match, as it is taken from the electronic turnstiles.

Only a small number of fans who don’t use turnstiles – such as hospitality guests and disabled supporters – will not be counted in this figure.

green brigade in the news too http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21813699

Combination of shite defending and mad goalmouth stramashes
made for a great game today and you can't beat an injury time overhead kick winner.

Lots of problems at the back, I suppose that happens when your only natural centre hoff has a 'mare.

Am up north just now, picked a good afternoon to introduce my old man to the concept of live streaming. And now I know his full repertoire of insults for pish defenders. Happy bonding ensued.

He still inexplicably hates Samaras. He is wrong.

Well done St Mirren on wining the season's first trophy. Cracking final.

Some game. Well done saints.

Continuing my theme of being away for Celtic title parties, I can't even be home for vicarious coat-tail-riding with my pals for someone else's party. Well done, the buddies, nice to see a proper footballing team do well. I managed to happen upon a pub in Inverness with two Hearts fans getting increasingly more distraught. I may have played up my Paisley credentials somewhat :-p

Danny Lennon to Chick Young

"I'm just happy for you Chick that one of your teams has won a major trophy."

Lol

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21899924

Sandaza issues come and get me plea to fake LA agent aka @TommyinGlasgow and gets himself suspended.

Aye, that's golden. Same dude that promised Craig Whyte a £10m cheque just before administration last year.

Got a bit of sympathy for Sandaza here, even though the guy's clearly as dumb as a brick. Just seems a bit mean spirited.

Aye he's certainly the victim even if he did speak out of turn. Wonder if Chuck & Ally might be using this as an opportunity to get rid of an expensive misfit. He's already upset them with "Am I a Catholic? I’m not talking about that. Is it strange to play for a Protestant club? That is not something football should be concerned about. But on my first day I was advised not to cross myself before matches."

Lee McCulloch: fud

http://i46.tinypic.com/30tkx1w.gif

The Bino does kind of lead with the shoulder, a bit. A peach!

Things I didn't know about Scottish footballers, pt 2030349: Kieran McAnespie used to be a cameraman on Babestation.

I'm just really laughing at the fact that they need to try and cheat to get a penalty at home to Stirling Albion.

Derek McInnes gets the shepherd gig

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21911117

And Mark Burchill (yes, that Mark Burchill) gets the Livi gig.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21924658

Mark Burchill eh? There's a blast from the past.

I'm off on holiday tomorrow, hope Dunfermline are still around when I get back. Every time* I leave the country a club (or is it a holding company) goes bust.

* OK, once.

This is a decent wee blog from a Dunfermline fan, and approx 10000000000 times more accepting and realistic than any of the guff spouted when Rangers were in a similar situation. Acceptance of their fate, acknowledgement of their club's wrongdoings, and a realistic view of what could and should happen next.

http://www.scotzine.com/2013/03/dunfermline-blog-gavbusters/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21969624

14 years!

That was one hell of a display of crap refereeing at St Mirren Park today.

The penalty? I saw it on highlights, initially looked like it was, but the final replay from an angle wasn't so clear. Viewed from one angle it did look a lot like Emilio had taken him down. I'm no expert though.

Read an interview with Victor Wanyama in Kenya Airways in-flight magazine and in it he says Efe Ambrose is the best footballer from Africa who isn't Drogba. "He is so quick it is amazing and his footballing brain is so far ahead of everyone else it's hard to comprehend."

I'd like to see Ambrose play further forward - his centre hoff displays so far don't convince me of a footballing brain lurking anywhere.

Wanyama has him at centre half in his Africa XI so that US obviously where he thinks he excels.

Wanyama is april fooling us all.

He played right back in the African CoN and made the tournament XI in that position. I'd have him in Wanyama's position - maybe that's why Wanyama has him elsewhere.

I really wish Neil Lennon would buy central defenders to play in central defence instead of trying to make them Mjallby-style.

"I hope the fans remember that if you believe, if you go for it, then everything is possible. You can win the Scottish Cup and become a champion."

Inspirational words from Vlad

I'll miss him :(

I'd have him in Wanyama's position

Halfway out the door? Aye, I'd go with that :)

Surely Vlad's just given us next season's thread title as a parting gift?

Reid out

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/attachments/fm-stories-archived/143550d1299971309-pride-thistle-scotland-story-phgu.jpg

congas at NDP

He was the longest serving manager in Scottish league football. The average tenure of a manager is now 1 year and 7 months.

New manager of Sevco for next season, you heard it here first (where I just made it up).

New Sevco for next season (while we're speculating).

nah Accies aren't in any debt really. Skint but no debt (much healthier than most clubs)

I'm talking about Sevco becoming New Sevco, if that wasn't clear.

i see

The SFA have issued Neil Lennon with a notice of complaint for using foul language. Seems odd, given that pretty much everyone in the game does it. Maybe it's only an offence when you're near a microphone and end up on YouTube.

*compliance

lol I'm reading two things at once re rules and getting myself confused

*complaint (maybe from the compliance officer, who fucking knows?)

Aye, rumours doing the rounds that workies have downed tools at the Poundland Arena (what happened to the naming rights thing, btw?) due to not being paid. That's what happens when you have a completely ridiculous wage structure in the 3rd division and it turns out that your fans pretty much do do walking away. Assume they haven't found a way of punting Sandaza either, btw?

Assume they haven't found a way of punting Sandaza either, btw?

Oh, they have. Good luck in the presumably-forthcoming unfair dismissal case :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22021733

So that's Sandaza, chief scout Neil Murray, reserve team coach Tommy Wilson and physio Pip Yeats all parting company with Rangers for various reasons in the last fortnight. Meanwhile Neil Alexander asked for a two year contract extension and was instead offered one year with a 65% pay cut.

I'm sure everything's fine.

Pip? Seriously?

Hearing some rumourmongering that Sandaza was told off about angling for a move while still in contract, and went "aye, so? Neil Murray tried to tap me up while I was still under contract to St Johnstone, got yeez, dafties" and they went "oh shit, we'd better bin Murray an' all". Dunno the truth in that, he was only on a one year deal at St Johnstone. Deidco did try to sign him before they went bust, I remember that.

For his part, Goodwin has shrugged off the affair. He said: "McGeouch had just come on, I flew into a tackle with him and Lenny was just protecting his player. He barked a few words at me and I have no problem with that.

"I'm just happy the Sky microphone wasn't close enough to pick up my unprintable reply or else I'd be in trouble myself.

"Lenny probably wouldn't have spoken to me again if he had heard my reply, but it was all a top bit of football banter and I have no problems at all."

Goodwin not facing the SFA for his admittedly worse language. So it's all about microphone placement rather than the rights or wrongs of it.

Unless you are Sevco fans singing, in which case it's not about microphone placement OR the rights or wrongs of it.

Wait, what? I understand Sandaza suing Rangers for unfair dismissal, but considering suing Tommy the taxi driver for being a conduit for his stupidity?!?!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22021733

The Rangers, sorry.

piss-up/brewery

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22072465

The Scottish Premier League is unlikely to be able to announce the five post-split fixtures on schedule.

Presumably Sky want to televise an end-of-season title party and it clashes with a 3rd division game.

Aye, were supposed to be out yesterday afternoon. Just move the fecking 3rd division game, ffs, or ignore them, they all seem to be doing that walking away thing they don't do anyway.

get the fuck on with it - I promised my dad I'd take him to a match, would be nice to know when that might be...

five lunchtime fixtures, four on a Sunday, three away from home, title possibly wrapped up before we kick another ball - good work fixture and telly guys!

v ICT, Sunday, April 21, KO: 12.45pm (Celtic Park)
v Motherwell, Sunday, April 28, KO: 12.45pm (Fir Park)
v Ross County, Sunday, May 5. KO: 12noon (Victoria Park)
v St Johnstone, Saturday, May 11. KO: 12.15pm (Celtic Park)
v Dundee United, Sunday, May 19. KO: 12.45pm (Tannadice)

football without fans is normal

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHa_SBICQAIQsYX.jpg

Oh jolly good, and fuck all chance of getting my dad down from Inverness for the day for a game. Probably easier for me to get a ticket for Ross County away and take him to a game up there instead :(

Ouch, 15 point deduction for Dunfermline, putting them in the relegation play-off spot.

Ooft.

Good crowd at Firhill - 8,857

Thistle 1-0 Morton after 60 mins - looks like the Ton's promotion push is just about finished :(

Aw, was looking forward to them, St Mirren and The The Rangers 2013 three-way-sharing Greenhill Road next year an' all :(

Big Victor has to work the weekend after having his red card against St Mirren reduced to a yellow.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/dunfermline/221081-dunfermline-excluded-from-the-scottish-cup-until-they-pay-hamilton-debt/

I assume Dunfermline will be either a) rescued and able to pay the money or b) deid by the time they're next due a cup tie but this looks like a hard line on football debt. I hate this notion of football debt coming first - like Accies' £6k is somehow more important than any £6k they owe elsewhere.

Also: £6000! A morning's wages in TBLITW is preventing a club from trying to win football's oldest trophy.

Then pay up

Why should Accies be paid before non football creditors? I agree it should be paid but the club is close to death and it looks like anything other than a CVA means you get approximately nothing.

Why weren't "Rangers" banned from the cup when Rangers still owed Hearts, Dunfermline, Dundee Utd, Rapid Vienna, etc.?

Also worth bearing in mind that Dunfermline's problems are possibly related to the £80k Rangers wouldn't pay them last year.

Falkirk hibs has been fucking brilliant

Sounds it.

Just noticed this on the BBC site:

(Peter) Alliss is known as 'the voice of golf' and is currently heading BBC coverage of The Masters at Augusta.

But he is also a keen football fan and follows the fortunes of various clubs, including Bournemouth, Aldershot, Celtic, Rangers, Manchester City, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Aberdeen and Blackpool.

Don't think he's quite got the hang of this football supporting lark

Really enjoyed Falkirk v Hibs, not particularly one for footballing purists but as entertaining a game as I've seen for years with some corking goals and saves and high drama from start to finish.

Positive vibes now gone as other half now watching Sevco v Clyde via Sevco tv streaming. Pish game, crap ref, annoying commentators.

As opposed to cracking game, pish ref and annoying commentators earlier, obv...

Thistle score 2 in last minute to win, Morton lose to depleted Dunfermline - that's the First Division race over with

Ailsa, is your other half a bluenose?

Clyde fan

The wheels on your house go round and round etc

Ah!

Not often he gets to see them on the telly, so willing to suffer streaming of Rangers TV to allow him his opportunity rather than stepping inside the Poundland Arena.

2 Accies youngsters in the FA Cup Final :)

http://i.imgur.com/xgYRDS8.jpg

Two Celtic players in the FA Cup Final :)

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45166000/jpg/_45166661_celebration_226b.jpg

Is there a separate trophy for "most exciting semi final" or something?

Bet the final's a load of pish now.

Come on the Hibees. Don't think my brother in law would be able to cope if they lost again.

St Mirren and Ross County voted no to reconstruction- think that means the 12-12-18 thing is dead in the water

Celtic angry about it as are the sheep

I'd like to get righteously angry about two wee clubs holding back the whole of Scottish football but regardless of their motives their vote was correct. The 12/12/18 to 8/8/8/18 thing is absolute guff.

Am I correct in thinking that St Mirren used the 11-1 voting rule to prevent the 11-1 voting rule being changed after they objected to the 11-1 voting rule?

they lied like the snivelling cunts they are about all that.
i hated the league set up but everything else was needed more. St Mirren and County voted to preserve more money for themselves. Probably terrified of losing a home game vs celtic (and the rangers once they get up)

scottish football is fucked. Its dying.

And yet... The 12/12/18 to 8/8/8/18 thing is absolute guff.

I don't really understand the deal with the 12-12-18 thing, so I'm against it

8/8/8/18 thing

Any set-up that so closely resembles 1888 would be objectionable to most right-footed-minded football fan.

s

"During the meeting, and in an effort to break the deadlock, an amendment to the league's rules on voting was proposed. This major and progressive change would have allowed future league structure to be determined by a 9-3 vote, rather than the current 11-1 majority..... Unfortunately, this amendment was also defeated in principle on a show of hands, with the same two clubs voting against."

Comedy gold.

the same two clubs who said keeping the 11-1 voting system was the major reason they were going to vote against it.

See yer man is after resurrecting SPL2 again.

Les? He's obsessed with that. Fans aren't so keen on it.

it all feels closed shop. a league has to be bigger with more promotion/relegation spots. None of this 1 up/down or 1 up/down play off pish. 2 up 2 down and if you must then a play off for another like in england with the winner playing 3rd bottom team. Play offs must not be designed to keep current spl clubs that season in spl.

http://m.stv.tv/sport/blog/221942-league-reconstruction-rules-could-have-created-literally-pointless-games/

Bonkers

That is completely batshit.

Still, let's keep on blaming two sides for it not being rushed through.

Campbell Ogilvie's being brought in to help them come to a consensus. That'll help.

Also, Neil Lennon cops a three match ban for calling a fanny a fanny. Disgraceful behaviour, down with this sort of thing, etc.

he had a suspended sentence, he got in trouble again so he serves the suspended sentence.

For calling a fanny a fanny.

a fanny calling a fanny a fanny

If being a fanny is grounds for a touchline ban, the touchlines would be kind of empty imo.

http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory?item=3915

´It is clear that this decision will have huge repercussions for the game in Scotland and we are sure Hampden Stadium will be a very busy place now every Monday morning.

Zing!

(I hadn't read that when I posted earlier)

And... Neil Lennon threatens to empty the dugouts every week:

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/celtic/222088-neil-lennon-warns-storm-coming-as-he-vows-to-report-all-swearing-to-sfa/

so he wasn't banned just for saying "fanny"

"Well done Jim," he said. "Well done Jim, you're a f*****g hard man, eh? You f*****g f***y. F*****g f***y."

He wasn't banned for saying anything.

Worth remembering that no-one ever swears at anyone during a football match ever, and that Neil Lennon is a disgusting savage who needs to be kept away from sensitive players like Jim Goodwin who would never retaliate by calling Neil Lennon something similar or worse. Oh, no, wait...

good point onimo, it was the previous thing he got banned for. Who reported him anyway?

Still considered enough of a transgression to allow his suspended punishment to kick in.

Reported by two St Mirren fans, I believe.

Where I say "I believe", I mean I believe them to be St Mirren fans, it was people in the crowd as opposed to any officials.

Anyway, I've got a title decider not involving Celtic to not watch tonight. Worst fucking post-split fixture decision ever. Thanks, authorities, you're really good at running football for the fans, aren't you?

Glasgow derbies next season. Well done to Partick Thistle.

(& poor The Ton, put up a good fight all the same)

In other news, Auchinleck Talbot and Linlithgow Rose went through to the final of the Scottish Junior Cup today.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61662000/jpg/_61662675_craigimg_3303.jpg

Dodgy looking guy is favourite to become Rangers chief exec

Also Serie A club Catania are after Johnny Russell :)

Well done us.

Yay us. Literally never in doubt. I watched it at home with a horrible hangover for company.

All for goals were scored with the "wrong" foot today - 2 lefties for Hooper, 1 for Samaras and a right footer from Super Joseph Proper Midfielder Ledley.

I didn't notice ICT had scored until five minutes after the game finished.