"If you believe, if you go for it, then everything is possible. You can win the Scottish Cup and become a champion" - rolling Scottish football 2013/14

So. Armageddon failed to break out last season, so on we struggle with a shiny new league structure with pyramids and everything, broken Hearts, potential madness in Methil, and no Charles Green, Vladimir Romanov* or Kenny Shiels to brighten our days. Let's do this.

* except in the thread title, obviously.

the new kit thing turned out to be for real

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BNNCW4SCUAASI2P.png

Scott Brown appears to have gone all in with the new sponsor and had the logo tattooed on his arm.

The new home shorts are white, with a green stripe down each side, and the white home socks feature the new hoop design, with seven fully-engineered thinner hoops as featured in the shirt.

Vorsprung Durch 'Tic-nik

The outside of my work was 'swarmed' with paparazzi last night (well, there was a couple of journos with cameras). The administrator's office is in our building. I'll try and photobomb where I can, but for all the photographs they've been taking every news agency seems to just be going with a picture of Tynecastle. The only gossip I'm getting is that folk from the board have been in and out today. I'll see if the building receptionist has been privvy to owt...

^ inside info. Love it.

I never bothered saying in here that last year I was doing a wee bit of temping due to a downturn in my hours in my real job, and ended up doing a couple of days at an auctioneers who were swamped with work, reason being is that they were all really busy valuing everything at Murray Park and Ibrox. Was hilarious to hear a guy trying to get valuations on undersoil heating equipment and physiotherapy tables and having to go "no, I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to disclose where they're located, no I couldn't possibly comment on whether it's exactly the same as the ones you delivered to Murray Park last year", etc.

This was just after Rangers went into administration, so it wasn't of any particular interest, and valuation of assets in administration/prior to preparing a CVA isn't terribly exciting, and I didn't learn anything of note. Also, didn't want to be disclosing stuff I was privy to when I was still temping for the agency.

Were the paps "swarming" at Castle Terrace or 191 W George Street?

Loving this guy's commitment to Scottish football lolz

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/hearts-fan-vows-vladimir-romanovs-1968719

http://i2.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article1968713.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Hearts-fan-Stan-Thomson-shows-off-his-massive-Romanov-tattoo-1968713.jpg

Haymarket Terrace. I guess BDO have a few offices? They just recently moved into our building (pre-spending all the money they'll rake in from underselling the value of Heart's property?)

Celtic are closing in on a second summer signing, with Netherlands Under-21 defender Virgil van Dijk in Glasgow for talks and a medical on Thursday.
...
"I am a defender who likes to play football, not a defender who plays the long ball all the time."

He'll learn.

I guess BDO have a few offices?
Oh no, just me being a massive fud and getting BDO and KPMG mixed up.

I love that Scott Brown picture. With all the shite the Green Brigade are taking over setting off flares, it seems an odd move to have the club's official kit launch picture featuring the club's prime wind-up merchant in his trademark wind-up move standing in the middle of green smoke.

Celtic got Cliftonville for the first CL qualifier. I can't believe Europe starts in three weeks.

UEFA Europa League second qualifying round

Hibernian vs Drogheda United or Malmo FF
St Johnstone vs Crusaders or Rosenborg

Could have been worse but i could have done without the either/or so I can price an away trip.

Just book for the Rosenborg one, most likely a winner* and Trondheim probably 100 x nicer than Belfast (have been to neither).

* don't look at my bet365 account if you want to believe this, I probably couldn't predict a place in a two-horse race on current showing.

I have at least one pal who is going straight to booking for Trondheim, though he now lives in Helsinki so has more of an interest in not having to go to Belfast.

Thankfully that's the Brittain saga over and done with.

Reading this thread title in the voice of Georgio moroder atm

The four divisions in the SPFL are likely to be rebranded as the Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two in the coming days when a title sponsor will also be sought.

Where do they get their ideas??

Not an altogether bad idea; harmonising the names of the leagues with their English equivalents could make it an easier sell to sponsors.

I think I'm just annoyed that I won't be able to mock curtsy and say "oh the premiership" in a lah-dee-dah voice any more

The premiership is now the premier league so if they were attempting to mirror England they fucked up. Not like them tbh.

I am on holiday and am resisting buying a Daily Record. Have Celtic sold Wanyama or Hooper yet?

Not yet, no. Want me to text you if anything exciting happens?

Aye go for it. I'll let you decide what counts as exciting :)

I am currently watching a bunch of mostly Scottish clowns making tits of themselves attempting to win a bottle of free booze in an "adult game show" - they are all wearing all inclusive wristbands and can therefore drink themselves dead without the humiliation.

Wha's like us, indeed.

Surprised by this tbh http://www.heartsfc.co.uk/articles/20130630/danny-stays-a-jambo_2241384_3223983

Our squad seems to be coming together fairly well - was pleased with the signing of Wotherspoon today. We're probably nearly there, an extra striker and defender, maybe another midfielder and I expect we'll be done.

Also, I really like this season's home kit. The photo, however, is fairly standard Saints PR.

http://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk/uploads/newkit28jun.jpg

Neil Doncaster announced as boss of SPFL

Hooray! oh, no, wait...

Hah, yup.

f.a.o. onimo, I decided that Rogne to Wigan wasn't worth a text, though it's nice to see their physio taking on a new challenge now he's done supergluing Shaun's hamstrings back together again.

Sad to lose Rogne tbh. Dunno why Lennon didn't rate him.

Lol @ Longmuir challenging Doncaster for a job he opposed the existence of.

St Mirren are SPL?

Yes.

tbh you shouldn't take that from me. expecting roundhouse kicks of abuse stat

Champions League starts for us tonight. Fuckin ridiculous. Fitba should start in mid August.

I was all lol Cliftonwho about the draw but having seen one of Celtic's pre-season matches and read reports of the others I'd take score draw right now.

I have not renewed my season ticket this year. I am feeling surprisingly guilty about this, like it's my fault they can't keep Sami in razors.

I'm out again for this year due to not having any money, and genuinely a bit worried about Cliftonville tonight, I've watched two of our pre-season matches and am proper worried. Usually pre-season matches are a bit "who cares?" but when we're starting the season this early, we need to look like we've at least got something right.

Anyone else trying to watch the bbc stream? It seems to be stuck on a map of orkney with no sound, for some reason..

I'm watching it on actual telly. It's a bit scary, tbh, I'd rather be looking at a nice picture of Orkney.

Naturally, I have made them score by the power of negative thinking.

twice! (refreshing the page did the trick)

No negative thinking about Samaras though - I fucking love the big hairy lummox. Rest of them, not so much.

Pass marks for everyone who isn't at centre hoff so far imo.

Poor Hibs are 2-0 down to Malmo already.

And St Johnstone go up up away to Rosenborg.

Delighted we're 1-0 up but it's really not making me feel any better about the fact I'm not there.

up up away is a very pleasing typo, btw.

Incredible! Can't wait for the home leg, really hope it doesn't all go horribly wrong.

Well done St J! Come oan the coefficient!

Apparently Hibs had a wee run late on but I think they really needed a goal to keep the tie alive.

fecking burst ma coupon, stupid st johnstone :-(

nah, excellently done. mon the coefficient!

oh, you already said that. still, coefficient-busting is always good.

Went for a few pints, cheered up (not going to Trondheim was prudent given my car went on to fail its MOT and still isn't fixed, long story). What a result.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-23395462

Hmmm, high profile spending, and then it all goes up in smoke. It's had more publicity than the new Airbus A350, for a fucking BUS, and now it's gone. Still, glad Detective McCoist is on the case, assuming pre-meditated attacks directed at Rangers and their fancy new bus and just generally partaking in paranoid rabble-rousing again, when all the police have said could point to petty arson unrelated to the contents of the garage.

In my experience buses and taxis have habit of catching fire when certain people become involved in your business. Just sayin'

As flammable as a disused Glasgow pub, eh?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BP2E9U6CMAEKZ91.jpg

discussion on BBC Sportsound between pundits Peter Houston and Stephen McManus:

"Did you ever score Stephen?"

"I scored one at Hampden that kept you in a job."

nice one

Thought McManus came across really well on the radio, reasonably thoughtful and articulate.

The latest turd polishing is official!

New SPFL brand launched
Graeme Souness and John Collins this morning launched the new Scottish Professional Football League brand at Hampden Park.

The four divisions have been named Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, Scottish League One and Scottish League Two.

logo;

http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/docs/009_034__spfl_1374659689_thumb.jpg

It's a lion delicately eating a quaver.

lol it really is

lol onimo, hope you don't mind but I passed this comment on to someone whose partner works at the SPFL, will see if it gets a response

Would have made a perfect title for this thread!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SFLLogo.svg

not that i've ever really thought about it but this didnt immediately strike me as being a lion

i'd probably be narrowing my eyes right now somewhat if i were an epl branding apparatchik

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SFLLogo.svg

Hibs taking a bit of a doing off Malmo, but St Johnstone still hanging in there.

Congratulations to St Johnstone and all their supporter on a mighty fine achievement. We'll just pretend Hibs don't exist (I expect their defence actually doesn't).

Just home, had an absolute time. Get to do it again in a fortnight! (Doubt I can afford Belarus or get the visa in time).

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1008951_10151781042801240_1437471643_o.jpg

Andy Murray bringing the lolz:

Andy Murray ‏@andy_murray 24m
Good solid result for hibs tonight #fortress

Poor the Hibs :(

Cracking result for St Johnstone. Good luck in Minsk, which I know very well from destroying it in Rambo for the ZX Spectrum.

Poor the Hibs :(

Shite the Hibs more like, worst ever defeat by a Scottish club in Europe, what an embarrassment

Artmedia 5-0 Celtic was a worse defeat to a lesser team imo, albeit with a lower score. Kaunus and Viktoria Zizkov vs Rangers as well. Maybe Neuchâtel Xamax vs Celtic.

What I meant is literally the worst ever defeat by a Scottish team in Europe, unless someone was once beaten 8-0 at home

I know, but I disagree. It's not literally the worst, it's literally the highest scoring.

Celtic's best win in Europe was literally a 2-1 vs Inter rather than an 8-0 vs Jeunesse Esch with Vidar Riseth at centre forward.

Sorry for the tangent, but I feel I must congratulate the BBC picture editor who has illustrated the story about Murray Davidson returning with this:

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/68971000/jpg/_68971721_8540281.jpg

Derk Boerrigter form Ajax to Celtic. He's not too bad a winger, but kind of a tool tbh.

Hearing a reported €3m fee while he just has one year left on his contract though. Bonkers high amount.

€=£

end times

"If no feasible offer with terms and conditions acceptable to Ukio bankas creditors is achieved, Ukio bankas will remain with the only solution – liquidation of Hearts of Midlothian Plc. and enforcement of the standard security over Tynecastle stadium.

I saw a bit of NuGers on BBC Teuchter on Sunday. That Trailist Nicky Law looks a prospect.

lolz (at Rangers' ridiculous loophole-exploiting, not at Deid Jambos)

(+ The)

Dunfermline not to disappear or come back as The Dunfermline as sensible CVA proposal agreed and Pars United group will take over the running of the club. Or is it the holding company? Good news anyway.

It looks like Derk Boerrigter is just about a done deal and we're allegedly after Abdisalam Ibrahim on a free.

Still no sign of a goal scorer anywhere.

Perhaps Mo Bangura will come back :-)

He is in Glasgow already! If he scores this week I'll start seriously moaning about centre hoffs instead of goal scorers.

Angelo Massone ‏@MassoneAngelo 15h
Hmfc MUST be saved!!!! Working 23 hours a day for this...

Good luck Hearts! Maybe they can sort something out in the hour he isn't working.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQb6rI2CMAEDPKR.jpg

Will swap for a McGonagall shiny

Just saw that! Awesome! Anyone not following @ScotsFootyCards on Twitter is missing some glorious bad haircuts and lovely nostalgia moments (if you get nostalgic for pish journeyman footballers of your youth or your dad's stories. Which I do).

CELTIC are delighted to announce the signing of Derk Boerrigter from Ajax on a four-year deal.

Does he play left wing? I hope this doesn't mean Sami back at centre forward :-(

An extremely dodgy person in a white suit spotted in the directors box

http://willievass.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif

http://willievass.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif

he's very small

http://ptfc.co.uk/news/2013-2014/july_2013/two_new_signings

Partick Thistle have signed the (former) Barcelona (U19) captain!

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19830803&id=s8FAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=66UMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4375,438734

From the Herald, 1983 - a bus load of Celtic fans travel to a Celtic pre-season game, go to the wrong country and end up paying to watch "the deaf-and-dumb Olympics"

hmmm what happened?
http://willievass.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/280713-Albion-Rovers-v-Rangers/G0000A_j60y0KuhE/I0000YESUBeVeLUI/C0000RuSYb5vZE60

i am confused

can you see the photo now?

Another cracking result! Hope Motherwell can get something too.

Aye, well done!

Well done St Johnstone!

Visa delays and expensive air fares meant the Perth side travelled behind the former Iron Curtain with just one solitary supporter for backing - an exiled Scot living locally.

has the Belarusian Embassy been enjoying this thread's running jokes?

lolz!

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/back-at-ibrox-rangers-appoint-ex-chef-exec-charles-green-as-consultant

In other "old newspaper clipping" news, this is amazing:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQvtZ9DCMAAwxCB.jpg

Dundee United have fallen to third :(

Still ahead of Partick on alphabetical order though

Celtic guilty of a bit too much faffing and not enough striker (wtf is the point of Amido Balde again?) Still, we were abject against County last season so three points are three points.

Congratulations to Forfar and all their supporters, etc.

Ally remaining dignified in the face of defeat:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/new-storm-ibrox-rangers-manager-2121709

Quoted so you don't have to give the Record the hits:

RANGERS manager Ally McCoist has launched a sensational attack on Charles Green, branding the former chief executive "an embarrassment".

The Light Blues boss hit out after Green - who is set to return to Ibrox in a consultancy role - warned the manager in a newspaper article today that he must win a cup this year and that simply delivering another league title would not be enough.

Hours later, Rangers crashed out of the first round of the Scottish League Cup 2-1 after extra-time to Forfar.

Speaking afterwards at Station Park, when asked for his thoughts on Green's remarks, McCoist said: "I was appalled by them to be quite honest with you.

"The self-acclaimed straight-talking Yorkshireman has again let himself down.

"His contempt and total lack of respect for my players, for our football club, for our support and Scottish football in general is appalling - and he is an embarrassment."

On Green's cup claims, McCoist added: "If it was a threat then the self-acclaimed straight-talking Yorkshireman should know that boys from the West of Scotland don't scare easily.

"If he does come back, I'll certainly go and pick him at the airport. I won't have a problem doing that.

"It's just more hot air that we've come to expect from Charles."

Green quit as chief executive in April but, in a statement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday, the club confirmed his return as a consultant.

And McCoist, who was unhappy with Green branding his players "the worst Rangers team ever" last season, made it clear he did not welcome the Yorkshireman's return.

He said: "After I've given him that endorsement it would be crazy of me to say 'welcome back Charles'.

"I've got to be careful because Forfar deserved their win and well done to Dick Campbell and his players.

"But our players picked up the newspaper at breakfast to be reminded they're the worst team in Rangers' history.

"I'll tell you, that would be bad luck - to have the worst Rangers team in history and the worst chief executive in history at the same time. That's downright bad luck.

"Instead of concentrating on the match, their minds are elsewhere and they're worrying about their jobs. Because, let's face it, if he's said we don't win a cup and we go, then some of the players would be under threat too.

"As team-talks go, I don't think it was one of Charles' best."

The match was played against a backdrop of fresh off-field turmoil, with a group of shareholders aiming to see the removal of key board members, including new chief executive Craig Mather.

McCoist said: "That's something I can't legislate for and don't have any control over.

"What I can say is that the current chief executive has backed us with players coming in, absolutely.

"Craig Mather has been shoulder-to-shoulder with us, which is something Charles seems to have taken umbrage to.

"Let's be honest about it, I don't think it's surprising that we're probably at our most vulnerable and weakest because we can't play our new signings [due to a transfer embargo].

"That's when Charles has surfaced and the biggest thing of the lot is that he's turned up after 34,000 fans have bought season tickets.

"Coincidence? Perhaps not."

from the bbc

1831:
Rangers manager Ally McCoist on their defeat by Forfar Athletic

Here's more from reporter Charlie Mann from that explosive Rangers media conference, where Ally McCoist has responded to pre-match criticism from Charles Green. The former chief executive has returned to the club as a consultant and demanded that McCoist's side win a cup trophy this season in addition to the League One title.

"Ally McCoist does not want Charles Green back in Scotland. Ally McCoist was asked if he would go to the airport and pick Charles Green up and he said: 'No chance.'

"He was hugely disappointed. He said the players were sitting in the breakfast room this morning when they were hit with this story. He says, as team talks go, Charles, this was not your best.

"He said it was a terrible situation for Rangers players to be in this afternoon and he says it did contribute to this defeat.

"He said it was no surprise to him that Charles Green has come back today when they were at their most vulnerable and weakest and that it was no surprise that he has surfaced once again after 34,000 Rangers fans have bought season tickets."

1819:
BBC Scotland's Charlie Mann from Station park

"Ally McCoist said he was disappointed to lose the cup tie. He wanted to win the game but has eight players sitting in the stand and there were a lot of younger players out on that field.

"Then we moved on to Charles Green's comments and Ally McCoist said he was absolutely appalled by what Charles Green has said in the newspapers this morning. He said: 'The self-confident, self-talking, straight-talking Yorkshireman has let himself down again.

"'His total contempt and total lack of respect for the Rangers players and for Scottish football is an embarrassment.'"

It's almost as if the news outlets report exactly what Ally McCoist said or something. Uncanny.

you just cant stop being snarky can you

Sorry, is there a good reason why you felt the need to quote someone else reporting exactly the same thing from exactly the same press conference?

Anyway, apparently it was also up on the Rangers official site before it was pulled and replaced with the shorter version just talking about the game. Glad their Head of PR and Communications is earning his dosh :)

Screengrab if you want to read it all *again*

What I haven't seen in any of this pish about Green is how it happened. Who at Rangers employed Green as a consultant, why, and how much are they paying him?

Celtic struggled for the win but it's not east to break down a well organised team so lacking in ambition.

James Forest should only feature in games where we can counter attack. Waste of space vs packed defences.

Wattie seems conspicuous by his absence in all of this. Sally seems to be engineering a way to be walked away without having to do it himself. It's all v curious. I just sort of assumed Chuckles was brought back on board by the Easdales (I do not care to speculate further about Easdale business machinations), but I've thrown it out there on KDS now to see if anyone actually knows anything concrete.

I genuinely forgot Forrest was playing for large parts of yesterday.

btw, did I hallucinate the thing where East Fife got wads of money and went pretendy-tonto for a bit and tried to sign some formerly-useful players?

Why haven't Rangers sacked Green? If you ran an internationally renowned football club with 500 million supporters would you allow a "consultant" to turn up on day one and give a press conference slating the manager, the players and the CEO?

Am I cynical in thinking Green only appeared to walk away for long enough to get 34000 season tickets paid for? Am I cynical in thinking it's strange that international man of principle Walter Smith didn't walk away until 34000 season tickets were paid for?

I like that sheer volume of controversial stories surrounding Ibrox this week prompted the Daily Record to run a front page about supporters at Celtic Park being relocated because some of them moved sideways.

SSN reporting that Charles Green has told Jim McColl to put £14m in the bank and he can have 28% of RIFC. That's the RIFC with a market capitalisation of £27m. Green seems to think that the shares are still at the flotation price, or that McColl is rich/stupid enough to go for it.

BBC reporting McColl's response as "aye right", or words to that effect.

Douglas Fraser ‏@BBCDouglasF 3m
"This is a demand for change by very concerned investors & fans": Jim McColl. #Rangers should not be run in "interests of a small clique"

Douglas Fraser ‏@BBCDouglasF 6m
Jim McColl says #Rangers needs a "strong, reconstructed, effective, competent board to restore financial transparency and stability" #rfc

Douglas Fraser ‏@BBCDouglasF 7m
Jim McColl statement on #Rangers: I'm not wanting to join board or increase 'small' stake. Duty bound to other businesses to focus on them

SFA issues STFU statement to Rangers CEO

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsID=12282&newsCategoryID=1

brilliant at the end - pointing out that Rangers' lawyer *asked* for a fine and that Rangers did not appeal it

Aye, quality response from the SFA. Going to have to replenish my popcorn/jelly&icecream supplies, methinks.

Classy website for a classy product: http://www.shfltv.tv/about-us/

Sami up front on his own. Five in the middle. Stokes dropped. Lennon shiting it (and probably making the right call).

Playing more like a 4-3-3 leaving us outnumbered in the middle. Too many short passes on the shite fake non fitba pitch. Should be 2-0 up despite poor play.

Mo Fucking Bangura looking useful against a centre hoff isn't a centre hoff and another who's leaving Celtic tomorrow morning.

Ambrose off, Mulgrew to centre hoff, Sami to the left, Stokes on up front. Any time now please.

Not ever going to happen :-(

This is giving me the heebie-jeebies.

Got one of my four wishes

wt actual f?

I mean, really, Commons and Forrest aren't going to get any more invisible now.

Oh look, Charlie Mulgrew's broken, so there goes any chance of shoring up the defence with him.

Sami's only half fit - missed Saturday with an injury. Looked fine though...

Then two injuries as soon as he leaves the pitch.

any *less* invisible.

actually, after that "shot" a few minutes ago, I think I preferred Kris Commons when I forgot he was on the pitch.

Well, that was fucking woeful. 2 x CH, 2 x strikers, 1 x left back and 1 x clue plz kthanxbye

nae bother :)

My dad genuinely thinks we're going to spend all the Wanyama + Hooper + Wilson money on the above. I'm researching care homes for him as we speak.

Possible opponents:
Austria Vienna (Austria), Maribor (Slovenia), Shakhter Karagandy (Kazakhstan), Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) or Legia Warsaw (Poland)

Karagandy is an 8000 mile round trip but I'll take them as they're ranked below Falkirk.

Some decent scrabble scores there :-)

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-fans-present-50-key-2139847

"Rangers fans present their 50 key questions for Rangers chief executive, Craig Mather"

a long-winded "whit the fuck is goin oan?"

I just sort of assumed Chuckles was brought back on board by the Easdales

looks like it

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/08/article-0-1B2DB57F000005DC-909_634x410.jpg

There was a photo on twitter the other day showing Charlie arriving at the McGills bus depot just along the road from my work, I think someone had thought he was being interviewed there by the press for his comedy press conference.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQ_pVM2CEAAa1kC.jpg

(owned by the Easdales, for those not keeping up)

:-(

Sorry, michaellambert, I really thought after going past Rosenborg you were in with a shout there. And, to be fair, you very much were.

Just home. Gutted. Minsk were awful but we didn't take our chances.

Karagandy is an 8000 mile round trip but I'll take them as they're ranked below Falkirk.

Your wish is UEFA's command.

4086 miles by road via Moscow if you fancy a road trip :)

Five hour time difference! How do you get to border China and play in Europe?

xpost as long as you're driving

72 hours plus channel crossing and sleeping time, numerous border crossings, about £800 each way on petrol and food and stuff. Can't see the downside tbh.

I mind a few years ago we were facing the possibility of a trip to Kairat Almaty, who are a bit further down Kazakhstan and thinking what a hell of a trip that was. Thankfully we were spared it, instead getting a much closer trip to, er, Bratislava. Bring on the Kazakhs!

xpost you have to watch Celtic when you get there :-(

This is fucking awesome, btw. I'll split the driving:

http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=8471

That looks nice. Think I'll pass though :)

meanwhile: popcorn.gif

A spokesman for Mr Green, who returned to his home in France following Tuesday's match against Newcastle United, said: "Charles Green pleads guilty to the following crimes - saving the club from Craig Whyte and now trying to prevent it from falling into the hands of men who haven't invested a penny.

"Talk is cheap as Paul Murray and Frank Blin have repeatedly proved. Action costs more, more than the £2.80 invested by billionaire Jim McColl.

"As regards Mr Mather it is clear he is confused and intimidated by the fans' robust actions. Perhaps he should return to a much gentler business atmosphere. As for calling a board meeting to discuss Charles, perhaps he should ask his fellow board members before pushing the panic button. Glasgow is a place for big boys not frightened wee laddies."

Actual genuinely lolz @ "Glasgow is a place for big boys".

So who's this Para Handy Celtic are playing then?

this tie could be the vital spark that kicks off our season

*applauds*

Stokesy's da hates the Queen

Stokesy hates the King

Two million RIFC shares punted today for £838k - be interesting to see who sold/bought them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLFAQCR4Qm8

gotta love that jacket of Arthur's.

Imran Ahmad suing Sevco for £3.4m (http://i.imgur.com/brHCy1M.png), as hinted at yesterday by Charlotte Fakes (http://i.imgur.com/1GTe9T2.jpg).

This is getting good again.

according to Bill McMurdo (ikr), Imran Ahmad is suing RIFC so he can invest more money in RIFC

Good point on twitter (even a stopped clock...) from Phil 3Names that should RIFC suffer an insolvency event a claim for £3.4M could make Ahmad a major creditor when it comes to CVA voting time.

So, David Longmuir's reward for allowing Sevco into the 3rd (and trying everything to get them into the 1st) is (possibly) a directorship over at Snake Mountain, eh? So sez the rumour mill and Charlotte Fakeover.

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

gonna go hang around the offices at Ibrox and see how long it takes for someone to accidentally start paying me.

Media House out: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/08/14/media-house-confirms-end-rangers-fc-pr-contract-after-seven-years

CQN claiming Chuckles Green and (new)Co are about to sell Ibrox, Murray Park and the Albion Car Park.

http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/?p=13517

Without wishing to be all Bomber Brown about this - if someone's buying Ibrox, who is selling it? Show us eh deeds!

Surely the CEO who met with fans last week would have known if such plans were afoot, just like he'd surely know if his company was offering David Longmuir a job... and maybe known a hedge fund was accumulating shares...

Sir Walter of Smith seems to have walked away at an opportune time. You wouldn't history to record you as the chairman who sold the stadium.

Amido Balde is enjoying his time in Scotland.

"The supporters have given me good vibrations."

Perhaps people will now stop being radiators and start being vibrators. No, wait...

International striker training with Celtic!

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/celtic/236295-benni-mccarthy-links-up-with-celtic-as-he-takes-his-first-step-in-coaching/

full house at Pittodrie, not quite sure how this lot will line up but I fear Mulgrew will be in midfield

Forster; Matthews, Mouyokolo, Ambrose, Izaguirre; Kayal, Brown, Ledley, Mulgrew; Commons, Samaras

looks like Moulokolo & Mulgrew in defence and Ambrose in front of them...

This Zola chap looks a handful.

Ambrose is less scary when he's not got centre-hoffing to do. I don't think this game is going to be a classic, too many people trying no' to get hurt and thinking about a plane journey halfway round the fecking WORLD to play in Europe midweek.

I forgot Airdrie changed their name back to Airdrieonians. Airdrieonians vs Rangers sounds too retro, I prefer to think of it as Airdrie Utd v Sevco. And I can't think of two less appealing teams to turn my stream telly on for on Friday...

"Europe" xp

Mostly piss so far. Celtic playing too slowly and again without an actual striker. Aberdeen getting a couple of wee sniffs. Aberdeen will get at least a point if it continues like this unless Jamie Clangfield does us a turn.

That sclaffed clearance he attempted early suggests he isn't exactly on top form (as he saves from Ledley as I type this). Here's hoping. Do we have any strikers on the bench because we don't have any on the pitch.

Teenagers Atajic and Watt are on the bench. Watt drifts wide same as Sami and Stokes and Commons. Dunno about Atajic.

Shocking offside decision there against Brown. There's not even a question of offside.

We're all over the place every time Aberdeen break out.

Aye, went and looked it up after I asked. This turning-Tony-Watt-into-something-that-isn't-a-centre-forward thing isn't convincing me. This team looks like something Craig Levein dreamt up. Ledley and Brown are probably our best goal threat here.

Kris Commons is pissing me off something chronic here, btw. Do just one thing right before you start fecking moaning at everyone else, eh?

xpost

unless Jamie Clangfield does us a turn.

:)

Prophetic!

Magic, they're taking Zola off for their reserve keeper an' all. One less problem there too.

Aye thought the same, our centre hoffs were struggling with Zola.

Kris Commons is pissing me off something chronic here, btw. Do just one thing right before you start fecking moaning at everyone else, eh?

Coming next, why Samaras is pish.

Samaras who won the penalty that turned the game?

Aye, that one :-) kiu, big man. btw, that's some impressive facial hair he's sporting considering he was clean-shaven a couple of days ago.

Pawlett off now, that's three cheap free kicks in dangerous areas off the park. McInnes really helping us out with the subs.

RB off, RB on. This is a bafflingly regular substitution.

RB#1 coming back from injury.

Aye, but in general it seems to be quite a regular substitution like "don't know which one to choose so you can both have a go". I'll look it up and find out it doesn't happen as often as I think it does, I bet.

Doesn't help having a succession of managers who think everyone's a potential full back.

Noooooooo, flashbacks of McGeady/Brown/Loovens/Caldwell at FB. Make it stop!

lol what a shit goal

Haha brilliant screen-in-screen of the sheep going home. Liking BT Sport so far.

That wee red card icon on the in-screen scoreline is a cracking idea, btw. I'm watching on a stream just now, but have just been alerted to Sky's price-promise guarantee to add BT Sport for mucho cheapness, so will check it out. Not until after the zombie-on-zombie action on Friday night, mind you :-)

Another clean sheet then, maybe we're not as bad at the back as I keep thinking we are. A journey around the world for a result on Tuesday and it'll shape up to be another good'n.

Maybe time to sign a striker now though eh?

Aye, a striker is an absolutely must. Big Virgil looked OK for his wee cameo, and Mouyokolo looked not bad either.

4-0 for Saints with a missed penalty and a host of wasted chances. Played very well but unlikely to face a worse opposition or have as easy a game for the rest of the season. County poor.

Looks like St Johnstone and ICT are carrying through last season's good form. Motherwell and Ross Co not so much. Hibs look like they'll need all of that 15 point start on Hearts.

I'm hoping Hearts can make a good go at making back some of the 15pts. Hibs look awful, but hoping they carry on with Fenlon even though all the signs say he should be gone.

Something has Traynor's knickers in a knot (btw, this is appalling writing for a supposed communications and PR guru). Also massive lolz @ The Daily Record's anti-Rangers agenda. Perhaps not as pro-Rangers since Traynor stopped writing them love letters and went to work (badly) for them, but come on...:

RANGERS Football Club is aware of wildly inaccurate stories circulating on various websites and would like fans to know that these flights of fantasy will be monitored by our lawyers.

In particular, they are examining a malicious piece which seems to suggest that the Club does not own its facilities.

We urge Rangers fans to treat these idiotic and lumbering articles with the contempt they deserve. Better still, ignore them completely.

But we must also stress we cannot waste time responding publicly to every blog or ridiculous claim against this Club. Also, there is a dangerous proliferation of anonymous obsessives on various social media sites and we will not give them any credence.

Nor can we react to every journalist and publication who appear to pursue an anti-Rangers agenda, publications such as the Daily Record which today boasts yet another headline which does not accurately reflect what manager Ally McCoist said in his press conference yesterday.

This paper's intent is clear and we urge our fans to see it for what it is. If Rangers fans want the truth they will find it only on the Club's official platforms.

Finally, Jack Irvine of Media House does not speak for this Club.

Oops, just saw this at the bottom of it (OK, Paul McConville mentioned it on his blog), so here you go. Sorry for nicking your copy, Mr Traynor sir:

Copyright 2013. Permission to use quotations from this article is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to www.rangers.co.uk

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/aug/19/daily-record-rangers

Keith Jackson gets his arse handed to him on a plate.

Oh, and Ian Black's been a naughty boy, betting against his own team.

So, the Ian Black thing. Surely there are squeeky bums in dressing rooms all around Scotland tonight?

I dunno, depends how many of them are costing their clubs too much money and need shifted out ASAP *cough* Sandaza *cough*

Reporting Scotland have just told me that footballers aren't allowed to bet on football at all, involvement or not, so aye, squeaky bums all round, I would have thought.

Got the same impression from the radio. Will be interesting to see who's left in the game - Derek Adams, Rory Fallon and Marvin Andrews?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/20/article-2397646-1B5E7B06000005DC-330_634x458.jpg

Kind of getting 'Competitive Dad' vibes from that photo.

Got a sneaking suspicion Celtic might be on the end of a 2-0ish defeat today. Basing this on not very much, apart from final qualifying round pressure and, yknow, Kazakhstan's always a tough place to go, Jonathan.

Two new boys in the heart of defence, presumably Mulgrew in midfield.

Got a sneaking suspicion Celtic might be on the end of a 2-0ish defeat today.

I fancy us for an away goal, despite obvious shortcomings in the goal scorer department.

I'm going Samaras or Ledley for a goal today (maybe even both). Not entirely convinced at trying an entirely new central defence 8 zillion miles away from home for the most important game of the season, but when your alternative is Efe Ambrose*, what can you do?**

* actually thought he looked OK on Saturday when he didn't have centre hoffing to do

** the answer would seem to be Charlie Mulgrew, so dunno. My preferred option would have been "don't sell Kelvin Wilson", but hey.

Looks like we're playing against 2011's Dundee United.

Clarke Carlisle, expert on Celtic, Kazakhstan or European football?

pish

Oh ffs.

Shot from Commons looked over the line to me.

getting Delaped here

"You were Delaped?"
"Well at first, yes..."

This is pish. Get Forrest off and Balde on and see if having an actual centre forward on the park makes a difference.

Or Stokes. Or maybe even Tony Watt if you stop trying to turn him into another non-striker.

Mulgrew in midfield doesn't work. Samaras at centre forward doesn't work. Forrest vs defensive teams doesn't work. Throwing in endless crosses vs GIANTS doesn't work. I feel like I've maybe said these things before.

Aye. I'm assuming Mulgrew is there to protect Izzy, so I'll throw in the need for a reliable left back for the sixth season running.

(actually, not 6 running, I'll let Izzy off for the one season he wasn't pish)

Hopefully Shakter are this jetlagged when they come to us.

If we play the second half with the same team*, I might resurrect my old "Lennon out" mantra. This is some shite Leveinesque nonsense out there.

* swapping RBs doesn't count as a sub

"* swapping RBs doesn't count as a sub"

lol

ikr?

Izzy chucked it there

Aye. Fucking pish. Now PUT A FUCKING STRIKER ON.

Got a sneaking suspicion Celtic might be on the end of a 2-0ish defeat today.

Errrrrrrrrrrrr

IT'S A STRIKER!

About 80 minutes too late, like.

Gediminas Vicius - nickname has to be Sid surely

'venius vidius'

Load of fecking pish. I'm away to the pub. Lennon out.

Glad I missed it

Got a sneaking suspicion Celtic might be on the end of a 2-0ish defeat today.

Errrrrrrrrrrrr

Lucky guess :) Havent seen Celtic play a minute of football yet this season. Still only half-time etc...but Celtic being papped out and dispirited will help to keep the SPFL more interesting for longer, I reckon. They'll still win it by several million light-years, obv.

*Insert obvious "haven't seen them play football either" gag here*

Celtic being papped out and dispirited will help to keep the SPFL more interesting for longer, I reckon.

Celtic shuffling the pack to attempt to keep players fresh for the CL kept the SPL more interesting for the first half of last year, I reckon.

Neil Lennon updated his cover photo.
· 3 hours ago ·

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/q71/s720x720/1185866_524935977578045_314863106_n.jpg

fuckin waxtep

We Are eX The Ex-People?

When asked why he was so sure the 2-0 deficit can be overturned, the midfielder said: "We should have scored six goals in Kazakhstan easily, that’s why."

Joe Ledley, crackhead, 2013.

"Both of their goals came from set-pieces and that was so disappointing."

Celtic defender Mikael Lustig showing how much attention he was paying. Anyone care to explain how the second goal was a set-piece?

Coisty getting zinged by the SFA:

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/rangers/236978-scottish-fa-reject-ally-mccoists-call-for-gambling-rules-clarification/

McCoist said: "What I am asking for is everyone to get around the table, whether it is the Scottish FA, PFA Scotland, Ladbrokes or William Hill, who of course sponsor the Scottish Cup, to sit down and clarify what is allowed and what is not.

"If it's in the rules, it is in the rules. Not enough players know the rules and I include myself in that. I wasn't [aware of the rules] as I hadn't studied them.

In response, a spokesperson for the governing body told STV: "The rule contained within the Judicial Panel Protocol, provided to all clubs, states no player or official under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA can bet in any way on a football match.

"If he [McCoist] wants any explanation on the rules, he can just pick up the phone."

Also, he has a list of 100 people involved in betting. Who are these people, we demand to know, etc.

Sally's whataboutery is as pathetic as his managerial record.

I didn't realise it was possible not to know that you couldn't bet on football if you played. And I know nothing about football: I'm a Dundee fan.

Not enough players know the rules and I include myself in that.

I do believe Mr McCoist may have just implied that he's been betting on the fitba and has given his club the opportunity to sack him without compensation, should they be so inclined.

Good point. I assume the massed ranks of the media are also studying his list of folk, including match officials, who like a wee bet on the game, and are doing some investigating as we speak. No?

Though not Mark Guidi, as apparently he got papped out the press conference.

More allegations of betting and match-fixing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23808606

Surely the SFA should investigate, rather than asking for proof to be handed to them on a plate?

Should they spend money investigating without any evidence beyond one man's say-so? If he has evidence of fixing he should give it to the SFA. If McCoist has a list of gamblers he should give it to the SFA. I do think the SFA should be approaching these guys and asking for the evidence but beyond that I don't see what they can do.

This whole thing seems to be a campaign to brush Black's indiscretions under the carpet by saying everyone's at it.

"We all drove home pished from the party, it's not fair you only charged the guy you breathalysed!"

That's two guys' say-so so far, plus evidence of Black at least. I would have thought at least a preliminary "right guys, what can you tell us" start of an investigation would at least show they're taking it seriously. Though iirc they tried that with the EBT amnesty and I don't remember anything coming of that, so dunno. Also don't exactly trust them, but their responses to Sevco and Sally's bluster shows they aren't being rolled over completely. Confront their whataboutery and turn it back on them.

Oh FFS. (also wtf happened to St Johnstone?)

Also sheeps want to be ashamed of themselves, losing to 10-man Hearts and fecking my coupon up.

Fucked if i know, ailsa. Thought we still looked the better side at 2-0 down. Poor defending, unconvincing goal keeping and a bit of faffing in possession. Had to happen sometime.

I know nothing of our expected new signing but I like his wiki photo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Nir_Biton_Euro_U-21_2013.jpg/220px-Nir_Biton_Euro_U-21_2013.jpg

isnt that the new patrick vieira

Saw someone post elsewhere earlier that him and James Forrest have one whole neck between them.

He's the new Cesc Fabregas, apparently. Unfortunately he is neither a centre half nor a striker nor a left back.

um

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

Top Comments
CLORVIOLTmusic 1 year ago
WE HAVE PUKKI, WHO THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE?

FinnishGamersFx 4 months ago
messi

Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

Scottish League Cup third round

Hibernian v Stranraer
Dundee v Inverness
Celtic v Morton
Livingston v Motherwell
Hearts v Queen of the South
Falkirk v Aberdeen
Dundee Utd v Partick
Hamilton v St Johnstone
Ties to be played on 24 and 25 September.

Ha, good luck with that.

Jackie Mac v ex-team grudge match an' all, I see.

I might have hoped for a longer cup run, but a win at home to Stranraer is probably too much to ask this late in the season.

Celtic sort the centre forward problem by, er, punting Tony Watt out on loan. Pukki seems to be one of those drifting-out-wide types an' all, I'm not sure I agree with this no-out-and-out-strikers approach to football.

The spectre of Levein looms hard.

Apparently the early closure of the transfer window has done us out of a Liverpool youngster on loan.

The SFA refused to move the transfer window in line with everyone else as it would have fucked up their transfer "ban" on Rangers, who were banned until today (despite signing 8 players over the summer).

Ah Scotish football, the more things change the more they stay the same

I think we spotted the issue with the end of the transfer ban/deadline day back as soon as the transfer ban details were issued, didn't we? They should just shut down the SFA and put us in charge.

Aye, here you go:

Rangers Have gone into Administration

Ian Black decision:

(1) By betting on three football matches on then-registered club not to win.

(2) By betting on a further 10 football matches that involved then-registered club.

(3) By betting on a further 147 football matches.

Outcome: Admitted

Punishment: three match ban.

Same as Neil Lennon got for calling Jim Goodwin a fanny.

See STV News are going with Ally's list of players (and officials o_O) also known to be gamblers, without anyone looking into it further.

Lomas got 6 for kicking a water bottle and/or swearing at a ref.

Dunno what Chic Young was on on Sportsound last night saying it should be ok to bet on your own team to win while playing.

I would like to know what games he bet on that he was involved in and what the scores were and if they happened to coincide with classic Ian Black late challenges like idk:

Motherwell 1 - 0 Hearts
Ian Black (s/o 50)
Jamie Murphy (60)

or maybe

Hearts 0 -1 Kilmarnock
Ian Black (s/o 16)
Dean Shiels (pen 55)

People on phone-ins are saying one midfielder can't fix a match but I think removing himself from the field might influence the outcome.

According to, er, the Record, he bet on Rangers to draw with East Stirling (a game in which he scored to put them 3-2 up, presumably knew his bet was fucked when East Stirling went down to 10 men early doors), and also for Hearts to lose to Spurs and Motherwell (neither of which he played in).

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-stand-ian-black-despite-2270453

"In fairness the general nature of these bets was relatively small sums on fixed odds coupons and accumulators."

Lawyer letting "general" and "relatively" do a lot of work there.

Never a penalty!

Jamie Hamill seems to be the king of unfortunate penalties. Also, Willie Collum is utterly pish as a referee.

He's awful isn't he.

Ah fuck stokes :(

Great finish

wtf was he booked for, other than Collum being an over-officious wee bawsack?

The disgraceful crime of celebrating the goal he'd just scored i guess? Fucking awful ref

And they're letting him loose on the Champions League next week :-(

Could defo do with european football having a poorer view of us right enough

Yous deserved this but until the last 20 thought it was fairly even. We have some good players coming through.

Big Virgil looked decent today, and Stokes is really on form just now. Hearts not as rank as I thought they were.

Indeed!

mickey mouse cup, innit?

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah get it up yeez

sorry.

Nah, you're fine (Forfar, btw).

Seriously. I'm back on a Lennon out tip here. We'll fucking go and do something plucky against Barcelona next week and it'll re-paper back over the fucking cracks again. Also, if someone could please explain the point of signing Amido Balde, I'd be really grateful. It's like having Morten Rasmussen but with even less point to it. How many benches must a man sit on before you call him a dud? The answer, my friend, is...nah, fuck, I have no idea.

FFS, that was fucking Morton. It's like last year's Arbroath debacle. And Ross County/St Mirren/Hearts/Kilmarnock etc any number of games no-one could be arsed getting motivated for. I'm not regretting for a second to stop going to games, and I swear I'll stick to that next week when we beat Barcelona :-)

Losing to that leaky useless Morton team is terrible. Losing occasionally to top division clubs isn't.

Was referring specifically to inexplicable dull gut-free cup losses, something we're making a bit of a habit off.

Along with winning the odd one or fifty. Much as I hate losing I'm all for better competition in the country and while no-one else is able to spent £2.5m on a stiff (seriously though what the fuck is the score with Amido Balde?) the only way that happens is for Celtic to go backwards.

It's not that I don't want us to get worse and I do want us to compete in the Champs League but it's not possible for us to stay at that level without spending wages that are unsustainable domestically. Something has to give. We're a few years into a strategy of selling our best players to support the commercial business and that all seems a bit backwards as I'd like our commercial activities to support the playing squad but the reality is that without selling Wanyamas and Hoopers year on year we'd lose money even with CL income, which is never guaranteed.

In the middle of all of that, I'd quite like to see people giving a shit about domestic cups which recently have been appalling for us, no matter how many times we used to win them. Sure, we can lose games, it happens. But we seem, I dunno, a bit blase about domestic cups.

by people I mean players and also the people who put them on the park or leave them sitting inexplicably on a bench. Easy to motivate yourself on the world stage against Barca or Milan but, y'know, wet Tuesday night against Morton...

lolz

5) Brown signed defender Marvin Andrews for Raith Rovers in a pub car park
This is only implied, but it is implied strongly. Brown apparently had a habit of getting too involved with his local football club when he had spare time in Scotland. A journalist rang McBride saying that Brown had been seen discussing contract terms with Andrews in a Kirkcaldy pub car park in the middle of the night. Brown's reaction was: "Have they got photos?"

Brilliant!

I'd fully expected Saints to slip up against Accies last night, glad to be proven wrong.

lol I read that earlier, learned everything he knew from Siralex.

xp
We've won 6 Scottish Cups (2 of the last 3) and 4 League Cups since 2000. Not bad, could be better. I agree with your frustration with the manner of some of the exits.

Jesus listening to penalties on the radio is a nightmare

I had to watch us getting beat off Raith in 1994 via teletext :-(

ha was reminiscing the other day with a friend about the time in the early 90s we got the beers in to watch the final day of the season on teletext.

God yeah. P310 iirc

zaliukas is training with qpr apparently, is he any good besides the gentle temperament

Cracking draw in the league cup:

ICT v Dundee Utd
Morton v St Johnstone
Hibs v Hearts
Motherwell v Aberdeen

Bah, Celtic and St Mirren out, get it together, Lennons

Yeah that's a fucking brilliant draw. Hope both the derby and the well-aberdeen games are on tv.

xp he can defo be a bit of a liability in big games- you could set your watch by a red card or an og against hibs/celtic/rangers. That aside he's very solid. Had to overcome years of "jist another bluddy liffyouanyan" dislike from the fans but ended up saving a fair few goals in the last couple of seasons.

He was on something ludicrous like 16k/wk at tynecastle otherwise I think the administrators would have tried to keep him a la Danny Wilson. I'd certainly take him as a squad player for the english championship (chaneling 'arry there).

be still, my aching sides:

http://rangers.co.uk/news/club-news/item/5165-flamingo-land-sponsors-dj

“Flamingo Land Resort Yorkshire is proud to be associated with Rangers Football Club, bringing two top flight organisations together.”

DISCOVER THE UK'S ONLY COMBINED THEME PARK, ZOO AND HOLIDAY RESORT

...now also sponsored by one!

(Genuinely thought from headline they had sponsored derek johnstone for a sec)

They have! Well, his commentary anyway. Also, when the fuck did "Barca Bear" become a thing?

oh ffs now i can't go to Flamingoland?

I can't go on a fucking BUS any more because the Easdales own all the buses that go through my town.

tbh the chimp enclosure at Flamingoland made me fucking cry last time i went so i shd probably give it a miss in future

I was on a bus yesterday and I crossed my mind I was funding them.

Then I noticed that *no-one* uses money on our local buses - everyone from pensioners to junkies wi devil dugs seems to have access to free transport - so I'm funding them anyway as one of Britain's Hard Working Tax Paying Squeezed Middles.

flamingoland I believe is the park the late robert gibb , ex chairmen of accies, who died in a car crash on his way back to scotland to vote against j1m wats0n and ge0rge fulst0n, once owned. He was a true Accies man and had he not died we wouldnt have had those wilderness years in the 90s.

Samaras and Commons playing well today. Killie are a fucking shambles on this evidence.

Why are refs so fucking shit? Gardyne handles the ball and falls over, free kick to Killie, Killie goal.

Killie are a fucking shambles on this evidence.

um

I can't help but notice that (1) Izzy is shite and (2) we had to sub a right back for a right back again. Some things are so predictable.

btw, for some reason Bet365 are streaming the game live. Thought they couldn't do that when the game was on Sky?

Tam Cowan dropped by the BBC for being a complete fucking tool. Good.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/tam-cowan-dropped-by-bbc-scotland-after-sexist-newspaper-column.1380404388

Whole horrendous 70s throwbackism here:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tam-cowan-fir-park-should-2314034

No way Cowan's only 44. I'm 30 and he seemed middle aged 15 years ago.

Discussion of the Cowan article is a useful tool for unearthing the Godfrey Blooms of messageboards.

Cowan apology -
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tam-cowan-man-say-row-2322534

"I am married and I clean the kitchen and am a rubbish driver so I can't be sexist."

Meanwhile, at Ibrox:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BVVAYw8CYAElPLp.jpg

Cowan is a grade A fud. I don't think he actually understands what he's meant to be apologising for.

That Ibrox army bash was a complete PR disaster. http://news.sky.com/story/1148450/rangers-soldiers-accused-of-sectarian-singing

Sevco post a loss of £14m. Astute financial management there. Ally McCoist on £825k a year. In the 3rd tier of Scottish football. My aching sides.

o_O

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/celtic-fan-gets-ban-order-for-old-firm-gun-gesture-1-3122389

A CELTIC fan has been handed a 12 month football banning order after making a gun gesture with a flag at an old firm game.

P4u1 C14rk, 30, was captured on CCTV at the game between Celtic and Rangers on April 29, 2012 pointing the object and making a motion towards the opposing fans.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court C14rk denied gesturing a piece of wood in a manner “suggestive of a firearm” at Celtic Park, but was found guilty by sheriff Bill Totten after a trial.

Offensive and dickish maybe, but criminal? Really? Is this really the shit we want to be policed?

Also criminal:
http://butebites.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/sammy.jpg
http://www.mlssoccer.com/sites/league/files/imagecache/620x350/image_nodes/2011/08/keane_celeb_0.jpg

(actually that Keane celebration is fucking criminal)

The match on April 29, 2012 was the last Old Firm game before Rangers moved to the third division.

Aye, well done, newspapers, you just keep saying that. Doesn't make it any more correct.

That banning order decision is a joke. I assume that picture that's doing the rounds of a guy holding a knife to the throat of a TV image of Neil Lennon will result in similar.

An ignominious end for the former rangers administrator, there.

^ good spot, I completely forgot their names!

Amazing piece of "journalism" here by the Record:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/horrified-celtic-fans-brand-football-2336545#.Uk5XyHnuTKA.twitter

Not ONCE does it mention that the guy's a Sevco fan, even though he's wearing a Sevco away shirt in the photo, no, it's all Celtic this and Celtic fan page under investigation that.

Do we have an U21's international thread?

Can I just throw in a "nana nana nana nana na na, stevie may stevie may, stevie stevie may!"?

The lad's definitely on the up.

He looks like someone else and it's bugging me as I can't work it out.

In other news, Nacho Novo has signed for Morton. I wonder what kind of reception he'll get, given that every Morton fan I know hates his guts after some unsavoury business involving a former player's girlfriend.

He looks like a younger version of a friend of mine. Some player, would love to get a couple of seasons of him at Saints but I know that's a bit hopeful. Pleased to see things going well for him, have had high hopes for him for a long time.

After misreading your post I now can't get Enya's Sail Away - but with the lyrics changed to 'Stevie May' - out my head.

I just misread Michael's post as eulogising Nacho Novo and had to do a double take (my phone predictive textivises Novo as Nobody btw, lol)

Rangers chief executive Craig Mather has resigned from his post with immediate effect.
In a statement to the stock exchange, the club also announced the resignation of non-executive director Bryan Smart.

I make that only two board members left.

I feel Celtic Park and the club is my home. Both of the sides want me to stay and, in the end, there will be a solution.

"My opinion is if you play in the (English) Premier League at a club finishing 11th or 12th the only thing you will remember when you retire is the money. I don't care about money, that's for sure."

Georgios Samaras, highest paid footballer in Scotland

how much does he get paid?

I don't know the exact number but I remember it being reported that his last deal was better than Scott Brown's and Brown was supposed to be on twenty-something thousand a week. Various reporters have put Samaras around £28kpw but there's no official figure.

You can see why finishing 11th in TBLITW might be a more attractive option for some, but anything over a million a year for strolling the SPL and the occasional gallant effort in Europe isn't bad.

Cracker from Forrest, lovely technique. It would be nice to get a full season out of him to see how good he could be with a run of form and fitness. I'd like to see him used more centrally in big games - he seems wasted out wide vs teams who keep the ball better than we do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiD0ctVmEHY

i love outswinging trivela goals

http://i.imgur.com/5JG6WpM.png

one by one they came before the quaver lion, offering up their mightiest efforts for its appeasement. fools!- for he will never relinquish the prize.

Three floodlight failures lead to match abandonment at the Global Energy Stadium.

lol dingwall is a fucking backwards shitehole etc

Hearts look fucked now eh? That's their fifteen point deficit restored and St Mirren have a game in hand on them.

How did Clyde manage to get up to second in League 2 when I wasn't looking?

One win will do that, the whole league is so inconsistent that first place is only four points above ninth. Do not bet on League Two!

Also four teams have games in hand to Clyde with which to overtake them.

Scottish football is a money pit for betting, it's true.

Hearts defo fucked. And given rangers will be in div1 next year I'm worried we prob won't come straight back up either..

I hate to be invading this fine thread, but feel it's my duty as a Dutch ILF'er to report this to youse Scottish football fans.

Tomorrow Fernando Ricksen's autobiography will appear. He was on a Dutch talk show to speak about this. His speech was very heavily slurred, and the presenter asked him what was wrong with his speech. Turns out only weeks ago he found out he has ALS. Which is a death sentence, really. He broke down on the show. Bloody hell.

He composed himself after sobbing and went on to talk about how he had a wild night of sex with Katie Price etc :) But still, god damn.

Oh, I see ALS is referred to as MND in the UK.

als is a type of mnd

Just read that on twitter. Utter bastard of a disease.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/former-rangers-star-fernando-ricksen-2658197

No dea why the Record has decided to link this in with Ricksen talking about drinking, like. Other than complete fucking scaremongering.

how the fuck does anyone respond to a diagnosis like that? even abstemious types would hit the liquor

One of the guys at the Sun has deleted a tweet which said "watch the moment he breaks down in tears on Sun+ now". Just in case anyone was in any doubt that the tabloid press are the lowest of the low.

In other news, Stevie May wins twitter for today

Steven May ☮ ‏@Stevie__may 12m
“@Watty1989: @Stevie__may fucking cheating wee prick I hope you fucking break your leg you actual cretin” Cheers Chris, Super game !

Record article now re-written.

Original end to the article

"ALS, a debilitating illness, characterized by progressive muscle atrophy, difficulty speaking, and difficulty breathing. It is possible for someone diagnosed with the disease to die within a few years.

In previous reports, Ricksen admitted to living a relatively hard life, with lots of drinking and partying.

“After a match I’d stay up drinking until four or five in the morning and I’d spend the rest of my week quietly. Train, play, drink, train, play, drink,” he told the Daily Record in August . “If you trained well and looked after yourself, you could last out a long time. I took good care not to take to the field when I was drunk.”

But he added that “90 percent of footballers do what I used to do. I can assure you that out of the 20 players under contract at the club, 16 of them would stay up drinking deep into the night – and they’d sometimes play matches with a hangover.”"

Sounds like some sore losers in Greenock tonight, including Derek Ferguson - apparently cut off Tommy Wright's interview on the radio? Didn't hear it.

Free kick given in last minute, missed, then given again despite the wall not moving seems to be the gist of the grumbles.

They forget they're only there via a shitty penalty decision (and Celtic missing a million shots and wasting 29 corners or thereabouts).

Ventured onto We Are Perth, apparently the line went down but Ferguson did accuse the ref of cheating?

Novo was booked for breaking from the wall too soon.

Good. Gone right off Ton since they signed that wee prick.

I saw people jumping on that Sun tweet earlier. I rated Ricksen as a first class cunt of a player but I wouldn't wish MND on anyone and fuck the press for attempting to exploit his illness.

In other news, Sevco fans no' happy with the BBC for this clever and subtle way of getting around the Sevco/Deidco distinction:

It is the first time a team in Rangers colours will be in a national final since 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24737531

Anyone fancy a job? Can't guarantee any long-term security, but.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BX3AptzIEAAfWI5.jpg

Thought Longmuir was lined up for it?

"With 140 years of history"

if you keep saying it it will become true

"and millions of fans...one of Europe's oldest and biggest clubs...substantial and loyal fanbase".

I bet Longmuir gets it. Hugh Dallas would be a hoot an' all, did he not apply for Chief Exec of the SFA when Gordon Smith got the gig?

He once applied for the Celtic CEO job, no idea about the SFA.

Ah, the internet tells me it was the general manager job that Jock Brown got which Dallas applied for at Celtic. I was sure he'd gone for something at the SFA as well, but I might well have just invented that. As a former director of a liquidated company, he'd fit right in at Ibrox.

amazing

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ukV69vAqXAk/UmusB0PKEKI/AAAAAAAAojE/yDRqgLLOzy4/s1600/David+MOYES.png

nsfw

My twitter account refused to show me that picture the other day, warning me that the link contained sensitive or distressing material or whatever the phrasing they use is. Twitter OTM.

The version of that Moyes pic I saw on twitter was much more smackhead looking.

Can live with Aberdeen in the League Cup. Hopefully at Tannadump.

Here's a completely fucking ludicrous argument for reconstruction:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/michael-gannon-scottish-football-never-2659293

Next season we are likely to have a First Division – or Championship in new money – that includes Rangers and Hearts.

Dunfermline could be in there too as well as St Mirren or Kilmarnock.

Chuck in Falkirk, Hamilton, Dundee and others and it’s going to look like a mirror image of the division above.

There will be weekends when attendances in the second tier outnumber the first, which would be bonkers.

The comedy of that version of the Championship would be the possibility that Sevco might not get back up at the first time of asking. Surely a TV deal could be brokered for such a title race. WTF is wrong with increasing attendances, wherever that happens?

Rangers have had two years on the naughty step. It’s time to let them back in.

Oh fuck off.

If we need to wallop Hearts further to appease the rest then we can take more points off them next year too if need be

Again, fuck off.

Fenlon out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24776959

Traynor out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24779284

Scotland's most unemployable man

xp!!!!!!!!

Terry Butcher in at Hibs? Didn't see that coming at all, thought he was well suited to Inverness.

Turns out whoever broke the Butcher story has jumped the gun, Hibs & Butcher both denying it at the moment.

Chic Young was adamant yesterday that it was Terry's job, so probably pish.

Reporting Scotland refusing to climb down, going "he's not got the Hibs job. YET" sort of thing in their headline, despite Caley Thistle releasing the following statement:

http://ictfc.com/news/club-news/1089-statement-from-ictfc

"Speculation on managerial vacancies is, to an extent, inevitable. But to state as a fact something that is totally untrue is unworthy of BBC Scotland."

Zing!

http://ictfc.com/news/club-news/1090-hibs-approach-statement

approach now confirmed

No mention of
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24850753 ?

Dutch Police have arrested 44 people - 28 of them Scots - after violence flared in Amsterdam before Celtic's Champions League game against Ajax.

It is understood that 18 Scots are still in custody in the Dutch capital.

Dutch Police said eight officers were hurt after being attacked with bottles and sticks by Celtic fans.

Police Scotland said they were aware of disorder in Amsterdam and would work with Dutch Police to identify anyone involved in the trouble.

On Wednesday night, Dutch police said a number of people had been arrested following incidents of disorder in Amsterdam, particularly in Dam Square, where Celtic fans had gathered.
'Knocked unconscious'

A Dutch police spokesman said: "At the end of the afternoon a large group of Celtic supporters attacked police officers in plain clothes.

"Eight were injured and one was knocked unconscious. A few of them had broken noses and needed stitches above their eyebrows and on their lips.

"Bottles and sticks were used in the attack which came out of nowhere."

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: "As is normal practice during international tournaments, Police Scotland has deployed officers to Amsterdam for the Ajax v Celtic match, and we have been working closely with Dutch police and authorities in relation to security at this fixture.

"We have been made aware of some disorder in Amsterdam... with a number of Celtic fans having been arrested.

"We will continue to work with our Dutch colleagues to identify anyone responsible for carrying out acts of disorder."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/photo_galleries/3152490.stm

Predictable thread bump from the man who never talks about football.

The behaviour is disgraceful all round. I understand groups of fans were being attacked all over the city for two days and it kicked off big time last night. Good to see Dutch police actually arrest people for committing crimes - unlike our finest who ignored the missiles flying from the Ajax fans for the entirety of the Glasgow leg and allowed hundreds of them to march through Glasgow chanting "fuck the Pope".

Great shot of Sutton's jump in photo 7 there, like he's standing on an invisible table.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39398000/jpg/_39398776_sutton_sns300x245.jpg

I had expected someone here might have mentioned it.
nakh otm

allowed hundreds of them to march through Glasgow chanting "fuck the Pope".

It's a fine old Scottish tradition

(xp) Uh, that was 10 years ago, what's your point, caller?

I had expected someone here might have mentioned it.

No. You wanted to point out that no-one had.

I wonder why no one had? Worlds greatest fans my arse

My reason for not posting anything (I can't speak for anyone else): I switched off the football in a bad mood when the game finished. I heard about the trouble on the radio this morning. I worked till lunchtime, then thought I'd have a quick look at Internets and ILX and you got here first.

Well done for highlighting this blight on football. I'm sure you feel great for pointing out this terrible cover up.

Please update all other appropriate football threads with any reports of violence you find.

World's greatest Accies fan my arse

i dont need to. Any violence by non celtic fans usually gets reported here

xp

Does it? Where? What violence have we all been discussing all season?

lbi was talking about it on the champions league thread so it's not like pfunk is making this shit up or hyping what seems to have been at least /fairly/ widespread, if not on a rangers v zenit scale

the uefa award thing will never not be hilarious (at uefa's expense) because giving an award to any set of football supporters is hostage to fortune

what is happening to nir biton? israeli friend of mine was hyping this kid and still would be if i didn't just say BEN SAHAR every time

As was ailsa, who posted a video showing ssome people attacking a pub and then running away. AG acting acting like we're brushing something under the carpet is wtf imo. Also see he's yet to point to all the violence we've been discussing itt.

Nir Biton has been about visible as Amido Balde. Lennon keeps buying people then then pretending they don't exist. Didn't help himself with red card when Brown's place was up for grabs.

Also see he's yet to point to all the violence we've been discussing itt.

maybe it got deleted...

http://celticjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/20131107-155305.jpg

l-r undercover policemen, Celtic fan being restrained and kicked in head, undercover policeman

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

Yes, sorry, I thought it was more appropriate to be mentioned on the Champions League thread since it was in the context of a Champions League match. Sorry for not crossposting everywhere else in order that pfunkboy might see it.

sweep sweep

I had expected someone here might have mentioned this

Eight Accies ‘Fans’ Arrested Following Street Battle In Paisley.
Mar 4 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser
TEN men from South Lanarkshire have appeared from custody at Paisley Sheriff Court, charged with taking part in a clash between alleged football casuals in the Renfrewshire town.
The incident – said to have involved 40 people – is believed to be unrelated to Saturday’s St Mirren v Hamilton SPL match at New St Mirren Park.
A total of 15 people were arrested following the clash, which took place in Causeyside Street at 4pm on Saturday.
Two were 15-year-old juveniles who are likely to be reported to the Reporter to the Children’s Hearing.
Seven of the accused – Joseph McDivitt (50), Colin Mitchell (42), Jeffrey Shipley (30), Ryan Sommerville (20), Iain Holt (19), Darren Douglas (18) and Ross Clements (18) are from Hamilton.
Gary McNab (20) is from Larkhall.
Peter Burns (40) and Alexander Holland (26) are from East Kilbride, Alan Radcliffe (40) and Stewart Anderson (23) are from Glasgow, and Bradford Pullar (17) is from Paisley.
It is alleged that while acting with others they formed part of a disorderly group which fought, brandished and threw bottles and glasses, and committed a breach of the peace.
During their brief appearances before Sheriff Ruth Anderson on Monday, none of those involved made any plea or declaration and the case against them was continued for further examination.
At around 4pm on Saturday, as the second half of the match was kicking off, onlookers say that frightened shoppers took cover in shop doorways and cars were forced to swerve to avoid those involved in the disturbance.
A number of young men, said top be from Hamilton, had been spotted with mobile phones walking up and down Causeyside Street between George Street and the bottom of New Street.
When St Mirren fans turned up, the groups started shouting and taunting each other, and bottles were allegedly thrown across the road.
One passer-by said: “It was mayhem. Suddenly the bottles went flying and these fans clashed in the middle of the street.
“There were several fights going on; one or two of them got punched hard on the face.
“Shoppers were running into doorways to escape the trouble. It seemed to go on for quite a few minutes.
“It’s a miracle no-one was badly injured or killed. Cars had to brake to avoid hitting anyone – it was wild.”
Following a number of emergency phone calls to Paisley Police Office, three van loads of officers arrived on the scene.
As cops stormed out of the vehicles, people in the vicinity scattered.
Within 10 minutes, 15 people had been arrested. One was taken to Paisley’s Royal Alexandria Hospital for treatment to minor injuries.
An elderly passer-by said: “Casuals have no interest in St Mirren or Hamilton, they are here just to cause trouble.”
A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: “At about 4pm on Saturday police attended reports of a large-scale disturbance on Causeyside Street.
“A total of 15 males, ranging in age from 15 to 50 years, were arrested. Two 15-year-olds were reported to the Children’s Reporter and later released. The remaining 13 were detained.”

kept that one quiet eh

Accies Casual Force #1
Political Ideology
8 people like this

The incident happened in Hamilton town centre before the Hamilton v Falkirk match on 5 January.

Ryan Holburn, from Falkirk, was fined £400, and handed a one year Football Banning Order.

Last month, Darryn Baird of Bonnybridge was given a two year ban, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

The incident involved up to 20 fans from each club shouting threats, swearing and challenging each other to a fight.

Elderly members of the public were caught up in the disturbance, which also forced traffic to a standstill.

shameful

Football fan admits throwing coin at Rangers player

A football fan has admitted hitting Rangers player David Weir with a coin during a match between Hamilton Accies and the Ibrox side.

let's not hide this incessant violence that is destroying our game any longer

the paisley thing was accies fans attacked in a pub in paisley. Someone there texted the st mirren casuals and they turned up and attacked them. All the accies fans arrested were either found not guilty or admonished as the sheriff or whoever believed them.

Not heard of the falkirk fans causing bother in Hamilton til now.
Dundee fans attacked the academical vaults a few years back and now they have security on match days. They wrecked the place. Theyve always been nutters.

Trouble is definitely on the rise. However its nearly always away from the ground. I know celtic casuals arranged a barney against hamilton ones (ie from hamilton mainly not accies fans) at a swingpark near the ground. I also know they both teamed up against rangers/motherwell ones but again i dunno if it involved anyone that goes to the games. I assume the "away" ones go to games but Im pretty sure the "home" ones are just local neds with a few daft accies fan kids. Itsquite low level tho. No more than 50 involved. All dicks.
And as for that acf thing its either 8 50 year olds who were casuals in the 80s or 8 daft wee armchair neds who would shit themself at the first sign of trouble.

I know hardmen from hamilton turn up for airdrie/motherwell games but the police are pretty good at keeping everyone separated. The ACF were pretty fearsome back in the day apparentlybut before my time thankfully.

The person who threw the coin is still banned afaik.

Also im pretty sure i spoke to you both by email about it because I couldnt speak about it here (the paisley thing) as my mate was one of them and I was unsure of what i could say legally.

Thank you for a comprehensive response to my nonsense. The people of Hamilton salute you.
I thought I'd help you out with finding all that non-Celtic violence we're always on about.

I was not involved in any email discussion about it, btw.

I was involved in an email discussion about a Nazi saluting Accies fan. Chalk another one up. Thugz!

Err he called a steward up at dundee a nazi and they arrested him. Sheriff dude or whatever through it out saying it should never have come to court and reprimanded the nazi steward and the policeman.
Dunno if youve ever been to dens but the stewards are nazis up there. Hate that place. Tannadice is great tho!

The incident – said to have involved 40 people

The entirety of Hamilton Academicals' travelling support then

Rowan Vine up before the beaks for suggesting Neil Lennon should get his head kicked in:

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1961&newsID=12808&newsCategoryID=1

Inverness Courier reporting Butcher to Hibs for definite, official announcement on way. I think it's absolutely the wrong move for him, he's well-liked in Inverness and the Hibs job is pretty much as poisoned as poisoned chalices get.

Maybe the absolute right move for him, say if there's a high-profile Glasgow-based position likely to come up in a year or so.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71070000/jpg/_71070914_8980765.jpg

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71039000/jpg/_71039151_8970415.jpg

That first pic of Butcher is just hilarious. I hope it's the visualisation of his internal rage when he looks back and thinks what he's done.

It's amazing eh.

I'm obv not desperate to see him succeed, and I lost a bet with a (fellow jambo) mate because I thought he'd turn the job down to stay up north, but I do reckon he might do well. Seems like the first decent best appointment Petrie's made since Mowbray.

I think he has enough of a reputation in Scottish football to make him a harder man to sack than many of the umpteen who've gone before him so he may well get more than 18 months to actually build something.

Not as many as I thought, looking at the list - it's only from Collins through to Fenlon where the board looks short-sighted. I still think I have something of a point on his rep, maybe.

Yeah I think so.

Really interested to see whether he has a clear out in Jan. Fenlon ended up spending quite a bit, didn't he?

Barry Anderson ‏@BarryAnderson_8 1h
Inverness have reportedly approached former #Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo about replacing Terry Butcher as manager. #HMFC #ICTFC

The list of potential replacements is depressingly full of the usual suspects - Shiels, Calderwood, Levein. Bookies offering odds on Craig Brown, ffs.

I'd reckoned Paul Hartley or Davie Weir myself

Jimmy LOLderwood morelike

It's a good week for photos of SPL managers - here's Tommy Wright receiving the manager of the month accolade at what appears to be a go-kart track:

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71112000/jpg/_71112172_tommy_wright.jpg

They decide manager of the month with a go-kart race.

hahaha

You can't really see the glass bit so it looks like he's holding a tiny trophy

(xp) Anything is possible in Scottish football these days

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

I just wasted five minutes at work thinking about how best to Photoshop a bullworker onto that photo and decided I couldn't be arsed so you can just imagine it.

Tommy must've been up at Noah's Ark for a wee go on the karts when they presented it. Maybe it was Stevie Brown's treat?

I think karting is a popular (i.e. easy and requires no imagination) team building activity.

Godspeed, Jambos:

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11781/9031415/hearts-legend-gary-mackay-awaits-a-vital-day-in-the-clubs-139-year-history

Should a CVA not be agreed then Hearts will enter liquidation, bringing an end to 139 years of history

Unless of course someone then "buys" that history then spends all of fucking eternity banging on about it while pretending liquidation was just an alternative clever way out of administration.

Looks like the story has been updated since 1501, removing the "bringing an end to 139 years of history". HoM (in administration) was formed in 1905, so presumably the "139 years of history point" was a misprint and they meant instead 108 years of history - no history relating to that period could be owned by HoM (in administration) because it is not possible to transfer intangible assets from one company to another.

Looks like the story has been updated since 1501, removing the "bringing an end to 139 years of history".

I'm guessing a mob of angry Sevconians were involved in the redrafting of that story.

lol, they really know how to pick their battles, don't they?

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-make-official-complaint-sfa-2811248

I am quite happy to go on record and state my utter disgust at the treatment of the Celtic fans arrested in Amsterdam. Read @strafzaken on twitter for reports from the trial.

The standout tweets for me are "The judge will deny the the witness request. The former lawyers accepted a quick trial. This includes accepting not to question witnesses." and "Police arrest Celtic fans and use violence. In general this is allowed.". WTactualF? Also, the polis got compensation!

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/11/06/article-2488912-193C7C0F00000578-119_634x470.jpg

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/400xY/2013/11/22641820.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UULIKyX.png

I see Allan Moore's finally been sacked. That win over Celtic probably got him an extra couple of wage packets as otherwise he'd have been out on his arse ages ago. Morton look like missing next season's big Championship dividend - a league possibly including Hearts, nuGers, Dundee and Dunfermline - as they head into League One. That said, if Hopkin can get a New Boss Bounce and win a couple then half the league is back in the relegation mix - though I really can't see where those wins are coming from.

meanwhile o_O

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25102654

Celtic player James Forrest has been arrested over two alleged public indecency offences in South Ayrshire.

The 22-year-old is accused of indecent exposure at 23:00 on 16 November in Prestwick, and again at 02:00 on the following Sunday morning.

It is believed the footballer was in the town's Elliots Bar at the time of the alleged offences.

Police Scotland said a 22-year-old man was the subject of a report to the procurator fiscal.

A spokesman for Celtic said the player had been included in the squad for Tuesday night's Champion League home match against AC Milan.

Hang on wtf? Is that the story from the other day that was supposed to just be nothing more than him forgetting to do his flies up after he'd been to the loo?

Twice.

Aye, I meant the original story was just framed as "oops, careless", I think it'd have been a bit less of an "oops, careless" attitude had they mentioned it happened twice.

Also, that article mentions the incident being on the 16th, the original story was reported on the 14th.

http://i43.tinypic.com/2cgmoh4.png

Weird that it took the polis from then until the day of a Champions League game to arrest him...

Date changed to 10th November (so ties in with the earlier reporting now), but charge of sexual assault now included: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25102654

Hearts' CVA proposal conditionally accepted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25154126

I'm not going to enjoy this am i

...no i amnae.

Magic

5-0 up @ half time and I'm missing it, wtf?!??!

Biggest defeat: 1–8 vs Vale of Leven, Scottish Cup, 1888

just the one more would be nice...

God almighty i had to go out at half time. Is it 7 now?

aye, 13 minutes to go

Poor sktsh. Sorry :-(

I am very much enjoying this. Removing Sami and Forrest seems to have done the trick.

Regretting setting up those sky sports app notifications tbh. Phone is buzzing like a fridge.

xp ah cheers ailsa. C'est la vie and well done your lot and aw that. Was fully deserved from what i saw up to half time.

John Hughes in at ICT? Dust off the little lady bit of luck gags...

Ciftci was initially cited for "seizing hold" of official Gavin Harris "by the throat" but that was later amended to "placing an open hand into the lower area of the assistant referee's throat".

Refs not happy apparently. Does seem quite lenient compared to, say, Mikolianus's ban for barging Andy Davis.

(nb not defending mikolianus or being all lolspiracy, just think it's an odd disparity)

Shall we mention Diouf or Bougherra at this stage?

lol good point

Yogi confirmed btw. If I was a caley fan I don't think he would have been my first choice but good luck to the man.

Yogi arguably sacked too early at Hibs and did a good job at Falkirk. I think he'll be ok if he installs his siege mentality strategy and gets that lady bit of luck.

John Hughes in at ICT? Dust off the little lady bit of luck gags...

― ailsa, Tuesday, December 3, 2013 1:32 PM

I knew I could count on you :-)

Possession
66% 34%

Shots
3 21

On target
0 14

^stats don't even begin to show how utterly shite Motherwell were last night. Celtic weren't particularly good - they bossed possession but looked ineffectual up front (playing as they did with two strikers who keep running away from the goal).

Good to see Ledley looking back his old self in the middle.

I see the wee fannies with the flares are bossing the headlines. Apparently Celtic think the smoke is a huge safety risk for fans with breathing difficulties.
http://www.celticfc.net/gallery/2012-08-04_Aberdeen/7625227.jpg

that possession stat should be the other way
34 - 66

looked more like 20-80 to me

Ripping out seats was cuntier than the flares imo

Yep. Some of them ripped up their own seats at Celtic park earlier this season.

They need a teacher to ask them if they'd do that in their mum's house. Bet they wouldn't.

The Green Brigade are a shower of dicks.

I mean, they do some good stuff - the four horsemen of the apocalypse banner, the food bank initiative - but they are also a shower of self-important fannies who seem to thrive on controversy and apparently not give a shit if they're damaging the club's reputation. Also, they don't half have some shite songs.

Celtic have always had fans who vandalise,start shite,sing inappropriate songs etc.,especially in the away crowd,,strange that gb gets used as a boogeyman for any of that behaviour now (when it occurs outside of 111 in cp.weird revisionism going on like Celtic crowd never had a sizeable bam quotient in the past.huns,well,hearts fans also all break seats throw flares,sing offensive songs,doesn't make the tabloids so much,but personally I really cgaf.the club,who won't pay a decent wage to their workers,will pay well for the seats,I don't think anyone choked to death on the flare fumes either.

No doubt hearts, rangers and most others to varying degrees have bunches of horrible pricks in the support (eg well were on the receiving end this week but they did the same thing in Hamilton the week before) but it's still shit, no?And I would have thought it's those same ground staff who don't get paid a decent wage who'll have to clean this shit up..

The broken seats were in the area where the Green Brigade were sitting, and the seats had Green Brigade stickers on them. Would post a pic but I'm on my phone.

Of course we've always had bams in our support, now they have a wee official gang to align themselves with. And of course our award-winning self-proclaiming Best Fans In The World are going to be held up to a higher scrutiny. Have you completely forgotten how the press works in Scotland?

What pisses me off the most is actions painting Celtic fans as irresponsible vandals when five guys are appealing the decisions made in Amsterdam. It is selfish and foolish in the extreme.

Oh, talking of selfish and foolish, the Celtic Disabled Supporters Association have issued a statement in the past asking people not to set off flares. But hey, no-one died, eh?

so how good are this dundee united crop then

Also, living wage debate aside, I'd rather Celtic used their money on a striker that knows where the six yard box and the goal are rather than fixing Motherwell's seats.

Haven't seen much of Dundee Utd this year, but I have witnessed grown men drooling at the very mention of Ryan Gauld's name so I guess I should rectify that at some point.

im not really arguing that wrecking seats and that is brilliant or whatever, i am just very sick of scottish football being used primarily as a vehicle for indignation and moral panic. finding it especially tiresome within the celtic support, which seems to have an extremely selective memory - in my opinion the celtic support is no worse behaved now than any time i can remember. i used to sit beside the green brigade section at parkhead and by the second half their section was always swollen with half the jaked up teens and twenty-somethings in the stadium, they've become a bit of a totem poll for the less genteel sections of the support to dance around and it seems as a result of this and all the banner hoo-ha (which i also don't find very interesting but whatev) their tea is definitively out. though of course all bad behaviour from fans afterwards will be charactarised as "hun-esque, green brigade-inspired" by supporters.

feel like petty vandalism is what it is, and given that football grounds are extremely well-policed and under a lot of cctv cameras, it seems like the authorities will be able to act against the culprits if they see fit.

on to actual footballing matters: spfl have a youtube site with extended highlights of all games and specific ryan gauld focused highlight reels for yous to peruse. obv highlights don't tell the whole story but he looks exceptional. first scottish football wunderkind since mcgeady maybe? and more exciting looking imo. probably be warming the bench in the prem by january.

lol totem pole even, duuurh.

There's a Ryan Gauld piece in the Observer today. No epl ambitions, he wants to play in Spain apparently.

aye i read that, he seems pretty mature for a 17 year old. id be suprised and delighted if he doesnt get his head turned by the epl in the immediate future.

Plenty Green Brigade stickers and graffiti on the damaged seats here, though they seem to be saying it wasn't them: http://ultras-celtic.com/blog/ Doesn't matter to me if it's jaked-up teenagers or grown men or whatever, it's embarrassing. Sorry for being so tiresome. I just think when people are making a big hoo-haa about the football behaviour bill, and five men are appealing a jail sentence for what looks to be little more than being on the receiving end of police brutality in Amsterdam, it's not a good time for anyone in the Celtic support to be acting like wee neds and bringing media attention on themselves. All the handwringing and indignation could easily be avoided if they didn't act like wee fannies by ripping up seats and chucking flares onto the pitch during a live televised match. It's not hard to do, surely? Did the Green Brigade all have their eyes shut while the seat-ripping was going on?

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71595000/jpg/_71595525_seats.jpg

I didn't twig that Gauld, Souttar etc were the Ian Cathro kids. Vindicates a lot of his "we could be doing so much better" stuff at the time.

The Scottish champions said it had issued "precautionary suspensions against 128 individuals preventing them attending matches involving Celtic, pending further investigation.

These suspensions will cover matches away from home as well as at Celtic Park.

Celtic say they will also be "relocating around 250 season book holders in Section 111 to other areas within the stadium, or offering refunds covering the remainder of the season to those who do not wish to be relocated".

Celtic Park looks empty. Amazing what a midweek humping and banning/moving hundreds of your fans does for you.

Horrible day an' all, I wouldn't have gone out had I not opted for the path of the fair weather fan this year.

going to enjoy my dad moaning about the game later.dull game plus bad weather combo will illicit a strong response from him.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11863/9077318/serie-a-gennaro-gattuso-under-investigation-for-match-fixing

A season as a teenager in Scottish football lives long in the memory.

In other former Old firm player who looked better when he left news: Paul McGowan's been putting his considerable frame about.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25403705

You'd imagine a second and third conviction for police assault would lead to a custodial sentence, for your average Lanarkshire ned - not sure the same rules apply to pro-footballers.

Aye, sorry if it was off topic. I'm still smarting from his being a right dirty bastard in the 96 coca cola cup final.

So, Celtic move one of their weekend fixtures in January so we can feck off over to Turkey and have fun with our friendly chums from Ajax in the sun. http://antalyawintercup.com/

Turns out that there's a new rule meaning that any club can postpone one of their fixtures of the weekends of 11th or 18th January if they want a winter break. Which is a bit shit for travelling fans who've already booked travel etc, and I imagine when our actual winter arrives and causes games to be called off, it'll be a scheduling nightmare.

Aye, sorry if it was off topic.

nah Gattuso's very much part of the Scottish football fabric. Mostly because he left, I think.

I think I've told the story before of when my other half used to work in Tandy in Glasgow. Gazza and Gattuso came in for a look at stereos, and asked to see one of them, and asked if they could put a tape in it so he could hear it. Some wag in the shop put in a tape which had Gazza singing Fog on the Tyne on it, and Gattuso was just standing pointing and doing a stupid dance until he couldn't stand up straight for laughing. Gazza wasn't impressed.

Now thinking about World Cup finalists who have played in Scotland - Gattuso, Guivarch, Juninho, Braafheid (!), van Bronckhorst. Anyone else?

Had thought Cannigia, but he was suspended for the final.

If Wim Jansen kicked a ball when he was managing... but they're all I've got too.

A surprising number of the 1966 England team played in Ireland, but afaict none headed north

LIVERPOOL - Lawrence, Smith, Lindsay, Thompson, Yeats, Cormack, Hall, Hunt, St John, Heighway, Callaghan.

CELTIC - Connaghan, McNamara, Brogan, Murray, McNeill, McCluskey, Hood, Davidson, Charlton, Callaghan, Lennox.

Who's that? What and when?

So is Braafheid the only one who played while *at* a Scottish club? Feel like an idiot for being remotely surprised by that tbh.

Charlton was at a testimonial game.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/dundee-united/173251-dundee-united-is-nigerian-slang-for-idiot/

The second explanation would be a tad harsh - didn't it emerge recently that (besides the intimidation and so forth) the ref for that game had been nobbled?

aye

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/jim-mclean-admits-feels-sick-1097937

Dundee #1

Two youth footballers from Hearts and Hibs have died :(

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-25486184

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25487375

Recent viewing has helped me come to terms with Samaras leaving. Ledley will be missed more.

I am currently in denial about the big stupid galloping hairy headless chicken leaving. I am clinging on to the hope that no-one else wants him and that one day he'll be as good as that one good game he had that once rather than doing his usual "one decent thing per 100-odd minutes of football" act that seems to be his thing now.

Stevie May's going all the way, he moans and greets and falls down like a top top top top player.

He also has the worst hair in in the whole of Scottish football, which is no mean feat when you consider, well, Hibs.

Commons has great technique. It's good to have at least one in your first eleven with that.

I had toyed with my pal's idea of doing the St Mirren v Dundee Utd game instead of our traditional Boxing Day boozeathon, but since it clashed with Celtic being on the telly I decided not to bother. Everyone else cried off, so none of them ended up going, not even the guy who suggested it, and he's now kicking himself he managed to miss his team give Dundee Utd a bit of a doing.

Samaras as good as a man short again. Forest anonymous. Kris Commons is once again our Footballer.

Fitba is awful. BT Sport reduced to showing punters wearing daft hats.

I have nearly dozed off twice watching this pish. Do we have a midfield at all?

I forgot to mention Stokes. Stokes is fucking pish.

I genuinely forgot Forrest was playing!

Biton hiding the alcohol ad on his shirt.

I noticed that, don't remember him doing it before?

Neil Lennon's been on the cooking sherry again, I see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25543170

Jackie McNamara made eight changes after losing 4-1 on Boxing Day and lost 3-0 today. Let's hope he's got a third team.

Eight changes and comprehensively beaten. Great game today, we were well on top of Utd before the sending off. Only disappointment for me is that I'd intended to put money on a May hat-trick but didn't get around to it.

As for the May comments upthread, he may be a moaner but he's got nothing on Brown or Samaras. Was due a penalty after Van Dijk clotheslined him.

Also, was great to see Tam Scobbie rip the piss out of GMS at one point today too. A statement I never thought I'd make.

I usually put a e/w trixie on three first goalscorers, Kris Commons and Stevie May are always two of my picks, and I'd probably have gone for Oliver Giroud an' all if I hadn't just crawled out of my bed five minutes before the Celtic game kicked off and forgot to put the damn thing on (I usually do Billy McKay as my third one). Fucking typical :-(

Edinburgh derby bringing the Hibs goalie lolz. I'm just pretending that the Glasgow derby didn't happen.

Good stuff today, could have been 7 or 8 with better luck/finishing. St Mirren were rub. Well done to their pa guy for trotting out Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves again, never gets old...

Alex Tomo today has described Celtic fans as "the most consistently violent fans in the UK". Serious and valid point re sexual abuse and threats on message boards completely lost in the hyperbolic pish.

Love that Tomo still has the bit between his teeth about scottish football

(or rather, the horrible side of the culture around it)

Did anyone bother to watch only an excuse this year btw? I'm guessing it was shite and there's no point in watching..?

I did. Relevant as ever with Jimmy Calderwood and Frank McAvennie.

hah thx for taking one for the team!

He still hasn't worked out how to do an Ally McCoist impression (it's like he doesn't exist despite providing lots of material you'd think would be ripe for ripping the pish). It was mildly funnier than last year (as in, I think I laughed twice, once at the hun on mastermind who refused to acknowledge that deidco were deid and once at, er, something else).

RIP Kenny Shiels' post-match interviews :-(

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25666800

Swygart's thread loses a valuable contributor and the world grows a little colder

sad news im afraid
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25690983

This is solid gold bullshit from Journalist Of The Year Keith "wealth off the radar" Jackson:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-harsh-treatment-hearts-3015628

Poor the Hearts, having to play football matches and not sign any players with money they don't have! Much like Deadco, we should just absolve them of their sins and chuck this silly notion of sporting integrity out the window. With added bonus "poor the Rangers" tagged on for good measure.

Gary Locke has been forced into a position where he has no choice but to flog the life out of his youngsters who are now dropping to their knees in the utter exhaustion

won't someone think of the children playing football once a week

The humanity!

I half-wrote a post on this last week then deleted it because I sounded mental. Very fucked off with all this pish though. Was really pleased in the early part of the season that we seeemed to be taking our punishment with some tiny measure of dignity, but of course that's all gone out the window now. I don't blame BDO for trying an appeal (they wouldn't be doing their job if there was an avenue open that they didn't pursue) and for the most part Locke himself has just got on with it, but jesus christ would somebody shove a gag in Billy Brown's mouth?!

nb in classic msgboard bampot style, I haven't actually bothered to read the Jackson article in question. I'm nipping out the door from lolshittywork and life's too short.

There was a Ewan Murray bit in the graun at the weekend that said much the same as your summary of the record piece

I hadn't read Murray's piece, but I have now. Like Jackson's piece is the deranged howl of a Rangers fan denied the continued benefits of their ill-gotten gains, so Murray's is for Hearts.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jan/11/hearts-scottish-prefessional-football-league

I half-wrote a post on this last week then deleted it because I sounded mental.

Oh come on! I've never seen a sane post in this thread.

Police have arrested 14 teenagers in connection with crowd trouble at last month's SPFL game between Motherwell and Celtic at Fir Park.

Six 16 year olds, five 15 year olds and three 14 year olds - all from the Motherwell area - were held, bringing the total number of arrests to 25.

All from Motherwell area. None are Green Brigade members.

Were they Celtic fans, or was that arrests from the Motherwell end?

They were people from Motherwell with tickets for the Celtic end who sat next to the GB and wrecked shit.

Ah, OK, I read somewhere there were some guys kicking off in the Motherwell end and wondered if this was them, separate to the other arrests, which were presumably wee fannies sitting in the Celtic end wrecking shit.

RIP Bobby Collins

http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory?item=5242

:-(

RIP

RIP Bobby.

I only just noticed this from the piece about Ian Redford (also RIP) and it struck me as a bit of an ill-advised comment:

John MacDonald, who played with Redford at Rangers in the 1980s, said: "It's unbelievable. I met him not long ago at Colin McAdam's funeral and he was in good spirits and talking away to all the boys."

I read an interview with Ian Redford a wee while ago and he was talking about how his brother had died when he was a baby and he'd never really had closure on it. It's terribly sad.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2523554/IAN-REDFORD-The-death-younger-brother-left-angry-feeling-confused-Football-gave-escape.html

Celtic have signed Stefan Johansen. I know nothing about him but from his name he sounds like a proper old skool Scandi import.

He appears to be a rare exponent of the backwards baseball cap.

(xp) Indeed, sounds like he could have played for Morton in the 1968/1969 season

The SPFL are posting their most-viewed video clips from their youtube channel on their facebook page today, this miss from Nigel Hasslebaink is cracking me up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYTu2WUujFs

Before clicking the link I thought it would be the one he missed on Saturday just past - was halfway out my seat when I realised.

To be fair on that clip when you see it from behind the goal it doesn't look like he took a shot, just failed to control it.

Stephen McManus own goal. Takes me back.

Morton won a football match! Only their second win since they beat Celtic four months ago.

Hartley's resignation a bit of a surprise. Bad result today but he'd been doing a great job. Wonder if he has something else lined up?

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

Memo to Antony Stokes: if you're going to take a red for kicking Keith Lasley, do it properly.

Hearts have points!

Well done the Jambos!

Hamilton gubbed ma coupon :(

In surprising news, Sevco were doing a bit shite, then they got a penalty.

Fuckin hell, and now 5 points to the good. Such riches!!

Well done!

Celtic were actually quite watchable last night. Pukki tackled someone! Balde scored a goal! James Forrest wasn't completely ineffective!

Trabzonspor in for Samaras. Fingers crossed.

Cheerio Mo Bangura. You were shite.

Celtic have accepted an offer from Crystal Palace for their Welsh international midfielder Joe Ledley and are hopeful of completing the signing of Leigh Griffiths from Wolves.

News from north of the border now, with Wolves accepting a third offer from Celtic for striker Leigh Griffiths. Things are beginning to move...

Was hoping Joe Ledley could have been persuaded to stay with a chunk of Sami's wages :(

Not 100% on Griffiths but he's a better goalscorer than all our other forwards put together (unless you count Commons as a forward).

Samaras is still a Celtic player employed by Celtic.

Rangers boss Ally McCoist is hoping to fend off any further bids for defender Lee Wallace before tonight's deadline.

I'm guessing the board aren't quite with him on this one. They rejected a bid from Forest who, instead of offering more, went and got Danny Fox instead! Now there's no offer on the table for a player whose sale could cover a full month's worth of money pishing out the door.

Sevco won't learn, will they?

Ah well, cheers for the few quid I won when you were good at scoring goals, Joe, for a corker against Rangers RIP, and for not being a dick when I was sitting gawking at you in the pub once going "that's Joe Ledley!" like a sad wee lassie.

Hello Leigh Griffiths! Don't be a dick! Score some goals!

Hello Leigh Griffiths! Don't be a dick!

I love him, but you could be out of luck there.

So, Samaras stays to exasperate the hell out of everyone, and Sevco haven't cut their wage bill at all. LOLZ ALL ROUND.

Tarnation. That was a rollicking old second half there. Well done ICT.

Aye, quite amazing they held on with two men short for 30 minutes.

Celtic were poor in the final third today. The sooner Griffiths kicks Stokes onto the bench the better. Johansen looked tidy and energetic. Well done to our defence for making history with 11 straight clean sheets in the league. Last goal against us was Niall McGinn on 23rd November.

Miserable afternoon for me yesterday. Still, I've seen the inside of Tynecastle now so there's that. Well done to ICT, thought that'd be it when they went down to 9.

Jeezo, sorry to hear you were there for that.

I think Griffiths will be a fucking brilliant signing btw

I'm no' talking about football, mostly because I didn't see any of it on Saturday, just a bunch of overpaid shitebags being played off the park by Willo fucking Flood.

But anyhow, nice to see that rather than tackle the thorny issue of how to deal with complicated issues that may arise from relegating insolvent clubs, our SPFL overlords have decided to just not bother with it at all, giving more licence to dodge out of not paying your debts and throwing money into a black hole in order to win the Ramsdens Cup and the 2nd division.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-football/10631856/Scottish-football-abandons-plans-to-automatically-relegate-clubs-in-administration.html

“Also, if a club wins promotion and then suffers an insolvency event, do we simply refuse to promote them or do we relegate them from the division which they have just been playing in?

Just put them down. It's the humane thing to do.

I had Celtic on the laptop and Liverpool >>>> Arsenal on the big telly. I barely looked at our game after 10 minutes.

I'm attempting to give up getting angry at the arseholes running/ruining what's left of our game. Decisions frequently based on being as lenient as possible with the cunts who're most at it re fiscal responsibility. If running a third tier club on the second biggest budget in the country means running out of money and once again shafting creditors then who gives a fuck if they've just "won" promotion? If they couldn't afford it but did it anyway then they didn't win it fairly, that's the whole fucking point of punishing clubs in administration.

EXACTLY.

I was really optimistic about the brave new dawn of Scottish football, but it's just the same old shite, and Celtic are completely crap as well so I don't even have that. Season's actually done for me now - we're going to win the league, we're going to be pish and not give different players a chance while doing it, and we don't even have the Scottish Cup to look forward to. Meanwhile Lee McCulloch is in the papers chuntering on about trebles (2nd division, Ramsdens Cup, and he also seems to believe that anything is possible, he can win the Scottish Cup and become a champion) while his club to secure extra money upfront to try to make it to the end of their season ("McCulloch, who was promoting the club's quarter season tickets".)

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/mcculloch-rangers-on-verge-of-special-season-as-chase-treble.1392132029

We are in another cup final, that a lot of people have forgotten about

I think you'll find that's "a lot of people don't care about", Lee.

Er, except treefell (I genuinely didn't know it was Raith they were playing). Good luck to your team!

What I don't understand is why the Challenge Cup final isn't until April.
Oh and hello.
I'm still around but don't comment much because I have been beaten into total apathy by the current state of Scottish football.

Yeah, this is the slowest Scottish football thread since records began, I believe. Thanks a fucking bunch, dickwads at Hampden (and Neil Lennon) :-(

Today's Evening News:

Budge, who made her fortune in IT, has consulted the former Hearts manager Craig Levein about her plans and sought advice on football matters to ensure she is ready to take control once a transfer of shares is completed

This was all sounding very positive for Hearts until you mentioned Levein :-)

Nah, hope it works out. It certainly seems a more workable model than the throw-money-down-the-drain method employed in Govan.

Haha! I'd bloody love him back tbh - would hope he'd be given carte blanche to remodel riccarton the way he did at Utd.

Yeah, am being slightly facetious - I genuinely had high hopes for him as Scotland manager based on his ground-up theories, then I saw his teams in practice and went right off him. I think he does understand modern football management in theory and has some good ideas about how to achieve things, and would probably be a good place to go for rebuilding within constraints given a decent timeframe, especially given his availability and willingness to help out thus far.

Oh yeah no definitely - thought he was going to be a great scotland manager but had no time for him by the end. Rebuilding with constraints is key isn't it. Quietly encouraged that the foundation seem to be making noises about doing things that way rather than spending their way out of the championship.

In other news apparently eremenko's goal today was an absolute stunner.

That fecking ICT v Hearts draw just done me out of £120 at the bookies, damn you lot and your resolute defence :-(

That lady bit of luck deserted you :)

:-(

They really just don't get it, do they?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-football/10640276/Ally-McCoist-says-Rangers-need-30m-to-revive-the-glory-days.html

You do NOT need players of the calibre of Nikica Jelavic in order to win the fucking 3rd division. Honest to God, if this chancer walks away and Sevco instal someone who can manage a team of ex-SPL players through the lower leagues rather than having to buy better ones to cover up their manager's failings, I'll cry. As it is, his complete ineptitude and entitlement and the money bring thrown about to compensate are going to head them straight down the plughole after their deid predecessors.