Plastered

I have no evidence, and no insider knowledge, so the following may be complete and utter botox, but I get the impression TW was gunning for a Europa league place, just like he was for the Scottish Cup, hence signing a pretty good squad in advance. If Saints hadn't made such a hash of it, there would have been more money coming in, and if a league place was secured, a bigger squad of players would be required to fill all domestic a European commitments. But being dissapointedly binned at the first hurdle has chucked the finances back to the usual state of affairs, so the cheque book has been put back in the safe. Good try, but blown it.

There is a trend these days at sporting events to have a minutes clapping instead of silence. As soon as some started clapping in the family stand, everybody else starting clapping for a minute.

Just wait until Saints lose 3 or 4 in a row, or aren't in the top six before Christmas, and count how many call for his head. Short termism is the way forward, well at least for this week.

Never mind a tenner, get SJFC to put £10,000 on it and throw the game! FIFA are in too much doo-doos to investigate.

If I have the facts correct, a win today puts Scotland into Pot 2 for the world cup qualifiers. This is arguably the most important reason for going for a win.

It would be a breath of fresh air if people like Stewart Milne, SB, Ann Budge etc came out and said something along the lines of 'We can survive and do well without Sevco in the top league'

I don't think Celtic really need much competition in the SPFPLA, they can get all that in the Champions league. All they need to do is get a decent enough squad of players to put up a fight in Europe, and ensure they win the domestic league to continue with the Champions league the following season. Yes it would be good if Aberdeen or others could keep it close for as long as possible, but this situation is better than having a strong Sevco in the league, effectively relegating all other 10 clubs to also-rans, just making up numbers to give the ugly sisters somebody to play with.

Something better than he got with the last one.

Here's one person who says Celtic don't need Sevco in the top league. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tom-boyd-celtic-dont-care-5861692 Just need more people to come out with such statements.

The BBC site has the scores fixtures and tables for this tournament, all under it's own category, but puts the word 'Women' after every team! The league tables look particularly stupid. Are we all incapable of working this out for ourselves?

A review of the season:

Still not sure about Goodwillie. Don't think he has really done much recently, but there is something to be said for someone really wanting to play for the club (if that is really the case). The thought of him signing doesn't get my pulse racing, but have confidence in TW's judgement.

Squeaky bum time for Blatter. Will be having nightmares about seeing out his days in a 5 star American prison camp.

With regard to sponsorship (or lack of), I can see only 2 reasons why Doncaster failed to get any sponsorship: 1) He was far too incompetent. 2) He deliberately put off sponsors saying the league was devalued and worthless without The Rangers, in the hope that the whole setup would come close to collapse, whereupon the mighty Rangers would come galloping to the rescue by being sent straight to the top division to save us all.

If they had been refused entry (as the rule book states) I suspect another club in the league would have been bought out, and converted to The Rangers, much in the way that Airdrie converted Clydebank. They would have had more difficulty claiming the trophies of the past, but it wouldn't have stopped them carrying on as if nothing had changed.

Excellent post BH. Others have also posted evidence showing that The Ibrox mod do not automatically benefit non OF clubs. I fail to understand why Steve Brown would be gagging to have them back in the top league. Just look at the success of Saints in the H-un free era. Who wouldn't sacrifice the ugly ones for that? And most importantly - the supporters benefit, it is like having a weight lifted from the shoulders knowing that we have another season to relish. The competition throught the league has been much better. Sure Celtic will win the league, but what is the difference to Ranger or Celtic guaranteed to win the league. The difference is we are not drowned in OF media b0ll0cks, and some notice is paid to the rest of the teams, which are otherwise just there to make up the numbers . It still annoys me that it took unprecedented support action to force clubs to vote them into the bottom league. Perhaps there was fear of financial disaster as the time, but not any more. Look at the national team, now better placed then they have been for years, but you can bet if they were still cr@p, it would have been because The Rangers were dumped into the bottom league. Another myth crushed for those that care to look. All chairmen/women should look at what has been achieved over the last few years, clubs sorting out their finances, the perceived notion that all clubs need The Rangers has been well and truly banished in reality, yet still believed by those who wish to remain blind. These are more stable, more entertaining times than those 10 years ago before the smelly stuff started hitting the fan. And isn't it just brilliant not having 4 authorised, legal and hyped up sectarian festivals every season, where supporters are virtually encouraged to display bigotry and hatred, which the Scottish media then claim is the greatest football rivalry in the world. It is nothing of the sort. It is sickening and unbelievable in the 21st century. Scottish football is better without The Rangers in the top division.

I would agree with this if you changed 'run' to 'ruin'

The current crop of pundits are institutionalised, with a few exceptions. The main problem is the built-in pro-Sevco domination that pervades Scottish footballing society, and some non-footballing society. This domination is so great, that should some pundit express alternative opinions, he or she is immediately hit with a hate campaign. Just look at the problems Jim Spence had to endure some months ago. It almost came down to him being suspended by BBC Scotland. It needs someone with guts to stand up to this, and come out with something radical such as 'The Rangers in the lower leagues has benefited Scottish football'. Yet some balance of argument is required, least of all to represent the opposite views of many non OF supporters across the land. Our own SF along with TC can get away with a certain amount because they are not seen as mainstream serious pundits, and are therefore forgiven of sinning. We live in a footballing dictatorship as far as the media is concerned, where subversive views must be suppressed. Would Stuart Consgrove please supply this forum with suggestions as to the best way to complain about the lack of balanced opinion, and to demand fair representation from the BBC. By this I mean fair representation by full time pundits who will express alternative views, not just phone numbers for Saturday evening phone-ins. The dictatorship needs to be broken up.

The problem with a league large enough to only get 2 games against each other, is that there tends to be a month or so of meaningless games at the end of the season for those in the middle of the league. The big bonus of such a league is that once the great unwashed crawl back into the top league, there will only be 2 sectarian fests per season (plus cups with the hot and cold balls).

Scottish football needs Jim Spence.

ARMAGEDDON ! Armageddon excited about next season

Could we ask the FBI to investigate Donkeycaster and his merry men?

Blatter is a slimy clever individual who will quite happily stab any of his (former) colleagues in the back, and look all innocent at the same time. The corrupt African football authorities and Russia will make sure their fellow corrupt president will be re-elected, even if all European countries vote against him.

Got a very bad feeling about this. Suspect the 'Well are going to get truly humped tonight, making the return leg just a formality. Just can't get my head around having the evil ones back in the top league, with all the media dribbiling all over them. Saints will be lucky to get a mention on any radio or tv programme from now on.

Probably a good idea to give up betting.