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Scotland's strengths and weaknesses

Steve Clarke's first couple of games in charge will have given him an idea of what he has to work with. In some areas he is pretty well off, but in others he's either going to have to hope some players really improve or he's going to have to compensate for the deficiencies. Here's how his options look at each position, going from our strongest area to our weakest... LEFT-BACK Greg Taylor did himself proud in Brussels with a tenacious, committed performance. He's got a bright future ahead of hi
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Talking points from the Cyprus game

We won This is the most important thing to take away. Realists would acknowledge that Steve Clarke has had barely any time at all to get the hang of this international management malarkey and has been denied the luxury of training camps and friendlies to get his ideas across before competitive action; therefore a lack of cohesion was inevitable. You don't find many realists in football crowds though, as the half-time jeers indicated. The Tartan Army's patience has long been exhausted and just b

Can McPake take Dundee back up?

At the end of April, as relegation - and the departure of Jim McIntyre - became increasingly certain, Dundee issued a statement on their website to reassure fans about the present and the future. Among the topics touched upon was the process used to appoint McIntyre. Following McIntyre's exit, Managing Director John Nelms confirmed that, essentially, the next manager would be recruited using similar criteria. That is presumably how the club came to the conclusion that John Robertson should be

Appointing Lennon permanently puts Ten In A Row at risk

A treble is a pretty impressive feat. A treble-treble is cause for a massive blowout. One wonders though whether Celtic's decision to announce their intention to keep Neil Lennon as manager, just minutes after the Scottish Cup Final finished, will have enhanced the celebrations or tempered them? Back in mid-February, when Brendan Rodgers suddenly legged it for Leicester, bringing Lennon in as 'a safe pair of hands' made sense. With the club eight points clear in the league with just eleven

All Cove

Click to view slideshow. This article has been penned with a view to appearing in the Football Weekends magazine in August or September, hence the reference to last season when the dust has yet to settle on the present one! History was made at the end of the last Scottish season with a Highland League club stepping into the league for the very first time through league effort, and as the 19/20 campaign gets underway Aberdeen will join the rest of Scotland’s big cities with two clubs. C
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tm4tj

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TFC lose to the Union

For the second home game in a row TFC went down 2-1, this time to the Philadelphia Union, albeit with a little help from rookie referee Ramy Touchan. Despite having the better of the opening 25 minutes, TFC found themselves 1-0 down when Chris Mavinga got the last touch on a Fabrice-Jean Picault effort.  The reds equalised early in the second half with another audacious chipped free-kick from Alejandro Pozuelo which Carlos Coronel got a hand to but couldn’t stop. That’s his 5th of the season. J
Scotty

Scotty

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TFC lose to the Union

For the second home game in a row TFC went down 2-1, this time to the Philadelphia Union, albeit with a little help from rookie referee Ramy Touchan. Despite having the better of the opening 25 minutes, TFC found themselves 1-0 down when Chris Mavinga got the last touch on a Fabrice-Jean Picault effort.  The reds equalised early in the second half with another audacious chipped free-kick from Alejandro Pozuelo which Carlos Coronel got a hand to but couldn’t stop. That’s his 5th of the season.
Scotty

Scotty

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TFC fall to the Timbers

TFC went down 2-1 at home to the Portland Timbers in our first home defeat of the season. Jonathan Osorio had put the reds ahead with a scrambled goal after a corner in the 20th minute, but the Timbers drew level with a sweet strike from Bill Tuiloma just a couple of minutes later.  Jeremy Ebobisse wrapped it up in the 70th minute for the visitors with another good goal. Gallery for this game can be found here :  https://viewfromthesouthstands.com/gallery/2019-gallery/collections/72157708581866
Scotty

Scotty

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TFC fall to the Timbers

TFC went down 2-1 at home to the Portland Timbers in our first home defeat of the season. Jonathan Osorio had put the reds ahead with a scrambled goal after a corner in the 20th minute, but the Timbers drew level with a sweet strike from Bill Tuiloma just a couple of minutes later.  Jeremy Ebobisse wrapped it up in the 70th minute for the visitors with another good goal. Gallery for this game can be found here :  https://viewfromthesouthstands.com/gallery/2019-gallery/collections/7215770858
Scotty

Scotty

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From a cup final to a Banter Year: the fall of Falkirk

Four years ago Falkirk were preparing for a Scottish Cup Final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.   Three years ago they came mightily close to promotion to the Premiership, losing the playoff final to Kilmarnock despite a first leg lead.   Two years ago they came second in the Championship and got another pop at the playoffs.   Today, they are preparing for life in League One.   There have been no financial problems, no administrations, no unusual or unforese

The twelfth annual Narey's Toepoker Team Of The Year (part 2)

I like to think that the lack of outrage I've received over my choice of keeper and back four suggests that I've got it right...but it probably means that nobody gives a s***.  Oh well... Here, to try and wind folk up further, is the midfield and attack. CENTRAL MIDFIELD: CALLUM MCGREGOR (CELTIC), DAVID TURNBULL (MOTHERWELL) Honourable mentions: Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen), Peter Haring (Heart of Midlothian), Stevie Mallan (Hibernian), Alan Power (Kilmarnock) Even at left-back against Rangers

Cesena and San Marino

The six venues chosen for this summer’s U21 European Championships in Italy is a curious mix, strandling two countries too! The North East pairing of the Friulian cities of Udine and Trieste are quite a distance from the other four. Reggio Emilia and Bologna form the “central” pairing, but it is the appointment of fourth tier stadiums at Cesena and San Marino, acting as the “southern” venues that might have been the surprise picks! Part of this article was penned for Football Weekends embellishe
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tm4tj

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The twelfth annual Narey's Toepoker Team Of The Year (part 1)

What do you mean, you weren't around for the first 11 years I did this? Let's look back at the previous ones, not least because many of them make me cringe. PREVIOUS TEAMS OF THE YEAR 2007/08: Allan McGregor (Rangers), Alan Hutton (Rangers), Carlos Cuellar (Rangers), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Lee Naylor (Celtic), Barry Robson (Celtic), Stephen Hughes (Motherwell), Barry Ferguson (Rangers), Aiden McGeady (Celtic), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Steven Fletcher (Hibernian) 2008/09: Lukasz Zalusk
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Under the lights in Verona

Click to view slideshow. It is often said that a game under the lights adds a certain extra special element to the experience. This is a cliche trotted out at a variety of venues, along with the notion European nights are even better. Whether any such thoughts are even vaguely true would require experience of both at any given stadium to know for sure. I consider myself very lucky to have watched as much football in so many corners of the globe as I have, but the volume of different grounds
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tm4tj

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Worst Signings of the 2018/19 Premiership season (part 2)

If you haven't read part 1, you can find it here. Lots of folk who did read it complained...about crap players from their own club who weren't on the list. That was invariably because said players were in the top ten. Any one of the top five could, I think, have been number one. Argue amongst yourselves as to whether they are in the right order. 10. NICOLAI BROCK-MADSEN (ST. MIRREN) Yes, it's another Alan Stubbs signing. Would you believe this player was once signed by Birmingham City f
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hislopsoffsideagain

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DDR Dayz

There are certain badges of honour in my world, the most important remains the absence of the USA on my 51 country travel CV. Another is borne of a longstanding fascination with the old DDR, East Germany, and a desire to watch football only in this part of the unified land! It all started in the mid ‘70’s when Lokomotive Leipzig were involved in my first ever European match at Tynecastle versus Hearts, and what a night that was, with Hearts 4,2 down from the first leg, and conceding first in Edi
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tm4tj

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Worst Signings of the 2018/19 Premiership season (part 1)

Wow, so this is the seventh season we've done this. It does seem to give people a laugh - except for Dapo Kayode, who complained on Twitter when I ranked him 21st in 2016/17. It's also fun to see who has proved me wrong a year down the line - Mickel Miller of Hamilton clearly shouldn't have been on last year's list, though all the St Johnstone fans who thought I was grossly unfair on David McMillan have been quiet. The six previous 'winners' of this prestigious award: 2012/13 - Rory Boulding (
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TFC held by Chicago Fire

TFC are the only unbeaten side in the Eastern Conference but this 2-2 draw felt a bit like a loss. Coming off a high from Pozuelo’s debut last week, this was a more subdued affair and although the reds dominated the first half and had chance after chance, they were not converted into goals.  Ousted had a few good saves but there are some days where you just know its not going to click. This was one of those days. The opening goal came in 31 minutes when Altidore got on the end of a Pozuelo cros
Scotty

Scotty

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TFC held by Chicago Fire

TFC are the only unbeaten side in the Eastern Conference but this 2-2 draw felt a bit like a loss. Coming off a high from Pozuelo’s debut last week, this was a more subdued affair and although the reds dominated the first half and had chance after chance, they were not converted into goals.  Ousted had a few good saves but there are some days where you just know its not going to click. This was one of those days. The opening goal came in 31 minutes when Altidore got on the end of a Pozuelo
Scotty

Scotty

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Red Bull***t !!

The Reds took on the Red Bulls on Sunday night at BMO Field in the second leg of the MLS Eastern Conference Semi-Final and boy was it a s***show ! TFC fielded their strongest football team but it was clear from the start that the other side had not come to play, they had come to kick lumps out of TFC, and try to grab an ill-deserved lifeline. A strong showing from the match officials was needed, and on paper you would have thought we would get that from Chris Penso, a 9 year veteran referee who
Scotty

Scotty

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Should Celtic and Rangers stick or twist?

All in all, it's practically pre-season already for Celtic and Rangers. The former's victory over the latter last weekend all but guaranteed them the title. Rangers, now eleven points behind their rivals but eight ahead of the chasing pack, are almost nailed on for second spot. They have only one match left that really matters - a home clash with Celtic. In addition to that game Celtic have their remaining Scottish Cup tie(s) to focus on. Aside from those matches the two clubs can pretty much ph
hislopsoffsideagain

hislopsoffsideagain

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Dream Debut for Pozuelo

TFC fans have been down in the dumps for the last few months. We missed the playoffs, then we lost Victor Vazquez and Seba Giovinco to nice, fat, tax-free paychecks in the middle east. After that we had to cut ties with Gregory van der Wiel when a training camp bust-up with Vanney saw him sent home from California during pre-season training, and the off-season signings were functional and workmanlike rather than inspiring. Bill Manning and new GM Ali Curtis definitely had to pull a rabbit out of
Scotty

Scotty

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Dream Debut for Pozuelo

TFC fans have been down in the dumps for the last few months. We missed the playoffs, then we lost Victor Vazquez and Seba Giovinco to nice, fat, tax-free paychecks in the middle east. After that we had to cut ties with Gregory van der Wiel when a training camp bust-up with Vanney saw him sent home from California during pre-season training, and the off-season signings were functional and workmanlike rather than inspiring. Bill Manning and new GM Ali Curtis definitely had to pull a rabbit out of
Scotty

Scotty

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