Remberbuck

The simple arithmetic is that RFC got a 2-1 victory. However ... if you read the dissenting opinion then you find that it's the most pyrrhic of victories. These are the facts that RFC did not want the world to know, and strangely the majority opinion does not contradict them. There will be a couple of days of RFC crowing, and then the reality of what happened will creep in. From the simple tax point of view HMRC will appeal, and as there are another three steps in the process they will win at one of them. From Scottish football's perspective, this is the worst possible decision.

Happy, happy, happy. Estonia will be trembling in their snow boots. But, let's hope that it's not a heading chance after a 25 yard run ... Superb achievement. I hope he is tremendously pleased with himself.

A very heartfelt thanks to Saints and the Board for having done the right thing, both by the club, and by Scottish football. Neutral will not have to wait for too long before everything comes to light. Mark Daly only hinted at the exent of the abuse, and while the broad outline presented on he programme set the scene, the detail, which was skillfuly withheld in the production, will stun. And when it does, everyone will wonder how they could have decided otherwise. A good day.

The Tribunal is as Blues Brothers says, and as it sat over 28 days and 5 diets, a Tribunal record, it will take some time before it can even order the evidence let alone pronounce on it. The SPL chairman, and its Board in particular, should be mindful of making a decison that may later look foolish. Unfortunately its Chief Executive who should have more than a indication of what is involved has already done so.

There was one thing clear from Mark Daly's excellent programme last night, and that is that it is just the first installment. The full extent of RFC's behaviour is still to come. The BBC were very careful to follow RTC's example, and only broadcast that which will not prejudice the Tribunal decision. Once that comes, which may not be tomorrow, then that part of the iceberg which is still under the water will be out there. And that is what the SPL chairmen have to be mindful of.

Steve Brown has done something better than brave, he has done something that is right. This club should feel very proud in its chairman As SS has indicated, RangersTaxCase has hinted at the immense abuse that RFC has commited since 1998. I don't know where RTC has obtained his information from, but the outline provided on Nerlinger looks right. I suspect the detail will stun. And, I doubt if it will come as a surprise to Neil Doncaster, or his friends in the SFA along the Hampden corridor.

Only, only if all the money is paid up front. Hearts made the mistake of trusting to the terms of the deal for Lee Wallace, have not received a penny, and now cannot find anyone to take the debt off their hands as debt due from RFC is too toxic.

Hair cut, shaved, lucky shirt ironed, and scarf sorted. Getting to the quiet bit now. All the best for tomorrow lads -and with no doubt that you will never let yourselves down. So, an easy 3-0 then.

Both were temporary locations for Joe Andersons. The first shop was on the corner of Mill Street and North Methven Street - it later became a Wool Mill. It was on two floors, and had the worst Santa Claus in town. Was Cairds' the only other place that had one? Was the St John Street shop only open for one Christmas? I struggle to think what was there before, and recall trestle table displays. I am reasonably sure that Joe Anderson was married to Jessie Valentine - Perth's most famous ever golfer? http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/asportingnation/article/0050/ But I don't think it ever sold much golf stuff.

Snow on again in Edinburgh. "The snow is starting to lie in the Angus town now and the match official has been called". Has the feel and tone of the last rites.

It would be remiss not to give mention to the greatest celebrity fan ever, Pontius Pilate being born in Fortingall. Has to have been at Christmas!

I still feel the blood run cold at the realisation that the player who kept Alan Main from his first cap was Jonathon Gould - 3-0 up at half time against Lithuania, and still Craig Brown could not see himself to give the cap: "We know all that we need to know about Alan, and did not have to bring him on" And John Connolly winning his only cap as an Everton player, just days after he had signed, and never playing for them. Just as well there are no conspiracies in Scottsih football.

Blasting from the past: Ian Wallace from Dumbarton Bobby Prentice from Hearts The balding ginger moustached number 7 from Montrose - Bobby Ford (?)

I'm really struggling to think of a decision of this importance where an appeal has met with any success. I imagine there are two routes. The first will be process and if the SFL failed to follow their internal guidelines then that will succeed. I would be surprised though: the SFL appear at the moment to be best run of the three football authorities. I gather that the only SFL 1 member of the commission, Jim Leishman, withdrew because of a potential clash of interest, so that's telling me they've got it right. And, if so, then DFC have no chance on that ground. The second will be disproportionality of result - i.e. it's no fair. Well, that is always open to pleading, but there is precedent to show that this is not ridiculous in the SFL. Crucially the SFL have provided for a March 2011 review, so can demonstate that minds are not closed. More importantly, at least from the external court's point of view, these are the rules of the body that you willingly signed up to and that is that. The point is untested in Scotland in professional football, but I'd wager that the courts will not interfere. So, you've a problem there as well. PS Jim Spence was spouting about this being taken to the level of Europe earlier this evening. Not a prayer. You could sell Leigh Griffiths ten times over and still not meet the fees, particularly after you have met those of the SFL, and probably the SFA as well.

Something like this was tried in the mid 1970s in, I think, the League Cup. The 18 yard line was extended to the sides of the pitch, and you could only be offside between it and the goal lines. I have a vague memory that it only applied to games before the quarter finals. The result was that any team that could just parked their tallest player on the line, in the centre of the pitch, and games became boring punt the ball up the park - maybe a bit like today's game:wink: Anyway, it was deemed to have failed and dropped after one season.

Complete agreement. Shame that the summer signings get in the way.

To intrude. I have no knowledge of these things, but I would have thought that what stayed in the showers, stayed in the showers. I suppose it is a metro world now.

And he was through both Leith teams and Cavalry Park, before Hibs kicked him out. Your point about Jody is completely right. But we got him at the end of that cycle, and all credit to all who saw that. All sinners deserve the chance to become a saint. Leigh has a great talent, but there is the other bit. He could be the player you sign for £100,000 and sell for £1m, or else a complete waste of a wage, and that will not be small. We could buy and con someone in the Championship that this is what they want, and so "Good business". But word gets around - apart from us and Hearts, who he has already turned down which says a load about his world view - there is not a huge queue. Sorry - too much trouble, and I just see another great failed hope. We've had our Keigan Parker moment.

Holdgates was always "OK". But when the chip pokes were only half full in Spring because "they were new potatoes". What was that about?

My reasons for not with a barge pole? Being told that before Livingstone he had been around all 5 major Edinburgh boys teams, and none could put up with him. The 6th, Musselburgh Windsor, and the best run, never countananced him. Being told by my younger son last year that he was amazed that someone helped of an Edinburgh club at 02.00 in the morning could play the next day. As it happened DFC's top striker came on the next day against Ayr at half time, and was substituted after 75 minutes. Yeah, he scored a great drop volley for Livingston on a miserable afternoon, and leopards can change their spots, but there is a long line of Scottish strikers who had their greatest seasons before they were 21.

Not so much financial mismanagment - more like deliberate and sustained fraud. Third's story came to an end - and they were founder memebers of the SFL - when they got one William Hiddlestone as their chairman, and his cronies as directors. Hiddlestone, a property developer seemed to have only one aim in mind, which was to sell the ground and have houses built. He does not appear to have had a care for the club, although some think, without evidence, that he wanted to take it to the as yet unbuilt East Kilbride. When Glasgow Corporation let it be known they would resist planning he was left with something he did not need. The result was a drastic cutting of costs, and Hiddlestone living off the club big style. The Scottish Football Museum have a 1967 Thirds strip that has no club crest, or player's number as Hiddlestone would not pay the extra. There is a well known story of the Thirds player who was taken to hospital with a broken arm, and Hiddlestone insisting that the nurses remove the shirt over his head, rather than cut him out of it. In the end corruption charges were prepared, but Hiddlestone died before they could be laid. Four directors were fined, and disqualified, which might seem light for killing a perfectly good club, but was heady stuff in the 1960s. In 1960/61 Thirds finished 3rd in the First Division, as top goal scorers. They could get 15,000+ crowds, and were the south Glasgow equivalent of Thistle. There is a myth that their supporters went to Poloc Juniors after they collapsed, but they just stopped going to football. I'd doubt if there is a place for them now - take a wild guess who the next generation of supporters now follow, follow - but nice to know they are remembered.

The recent death of Bobby Cox reminded me of something I was told by a Dundee supporter some years ago. Both sides would have been happy with the draw in the past game of the 1962 season. Dundee would win the league, and Saints avoid relegation. Dundee win 0-3 and part of the ideal outcome occurs. Some think this is the source of the eternal bitterness. I was told that both sides set out to get the draw. No one wanted to upset the apple cart. However half way through the first half a Saints player did a flying double footed tackle on Bobby Cox, or something of the like. This so enraged the Dundee players that they decided to stick the metaphorical boot in, with the result that we know. Anyone else come across this, and who was that player?

Mmm ... seems a remarkably short time for the complaint to be lodged, the investigation to take place, papers to go to the fiscal, and charges drawn up. However, not good for anyone.

And can we go back to the beginning? SS's proposal was to effect a line of communication between the board of directors and the wider fans. It was not a take over of the club, either now or in the future, but merely a way of ensuring a mechanism whereby the fans have a say in non playing matters that concern them, and in return the board get an insight into what fans want and can move to supply this. Win win in the current terminology. By proposing this through regular board meetings rather than presuming that the odd board member will look into WAP and think "Oh that's a good idea" it ensures that a responsibility is taken by all, recorded, and made available. It's a terrible word, but governance matters in corporate behaviour and this is what the proposal was about. That is the difference between this idea and quarterly meetings with suppoters associations, which frankly are there to be ignored by both sides. As to supporters trusts, that tends to be almost always about ownership through shares, and has a habit of appearing in clubs on or at the verge of administration. That is not what the original proposal was about. So, SS has proposed to do something different. The club may be receptive: it may not. Nonetheless, let's not get so off the track as to bury this.

I'd just ignore it - just recognise the difference between shareholder and company officers, and leave it at that. Standard company articles will treat both completely differently even though it is the same person. Quick words might be: The Fans’ Representative (FR) shall perform the full range of duties of a board member with regard to matters within his/her area of responsibility, as set out at point 3, below, but without the right to vote on any decision on these issues.