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That is an astonishing statement. I was born in the Highlands and have been closely connected to the area for over half a century. Like everywhere else, there is the odd idiot but there is no evidence to back up your slur on an entire region which I greatly resent. Who, by the way, needs to 'grow up' ? Would it, by any chance be those that have the temerity to have a different opinion to yourself ? Perhaps you should try debating without resorting to insult like the vast majority of posters on this site seem capable of.

For the attention of the disciplinary panel .... see 1:31 and 5:08 of the SPFL highlights video. not proven my arse !

Tarmo Kink officially announced by the club.

Let's not.....

I'm puzzled by this. I've looked closely at the video footage and agree that the player should have been 'cited' - with the resultant 2-game-ban. I found it very odd that Dundee United disputed the punishment, but I didn't give it much credence, assuming they were simply 'closing ranks' and it was more-fool-them for not accepting it and effectively losing him for an increased punishment of 3 games for contesting the obvious! These are not 'bread and butter' games either - this is the business end of the season when he's likely to be a key part of their team in the fixtures ahead. Something sits uneasily with me that they knew what they were doing. I actually don't believe Dundee United were naïve at all in challenging the original suspension - they have clearly had legal advice...and were encouraged to proceed with their appeal. It's the only conclusion I can come to. Somebody, somewhere knew that there was a 'loophole' and he would get off. It smacks of insider dirty dealings to me. I'm aware I'm casting aspersions here and am willing to retract my accusations - if the SFA can demonstrate how they came to this conclusion - but there's no transparency, so I'm not holding my breath!

The job of lawyers is to look after the interests of their clients, not to uphold the law. In other words, the only lawyer you should ever trust is your own. Of course, the SFA disciplinary hearing is not a legal process in itself although there may be some loophole here whereby Ciftci might have had some legal claim against the SFA if they had banned him. Perhaps this is all a variant on the blue dress phenomenon. We saw Ciftci assault Warren whilst Scumdee Utd saw Ciftci valiantly but unsuccessfully trying to stop Warren falling to the ground after slipping on the tannadice mud.

To quote Kevin Keegan I would "love it" if Ciftci was to get sent off against Celtic and stuff his team's chances in the cup. His cheating and hooligan behaviour will eventually catch up on him.

Even more shocking it that there are people saying on the "Dundirty" facebook page that its justice that shifty wasnt banned. Have they even seen the replay's? Quite agree with a few of the posters on here that a 2 game ban wouldnt be long enough Bloody hell suarez got best part of a 4 month ban for biting a guy which yes, gives the sport a bad name but only injury is pride and at worst a few cuts. Where as shifty gives the sport a bad name and the 2 challenges highlighted could of left graeme and josh injured and out for rest of season and gaz out for a few weeks with concusion or a even worse injury At least Jackie "play dirty lads, i'll just appeal" McNamara was right when he said he had no faith in the SFA disiplinary board for justice to be served cause IMHO it certainly hasnt

I'm with Sneckboy on this. Having written to the SFA arguing why Ciftci's band should be a lot more than the 2 game "offer" in the citing, I would hope the SFA will actually write to me to inform me of the outcome. If they do, then I doubt they will justify their not proven conclusion to me. I will give them the opportunity to, but if I hear nothing by early next week I will write again and ask them why they concluded it was not proven when there is pretty clear evidence. I doubt they'll tell me then but I can but ask. Of course, he was only cited for the one incident and therefore they will argue that the Shinnie incident was not an issue for consideration at the appeal. With regard to the Warren incident and in the absence of footage from another camera angle, the argument may be that there is no proof that Cifci made contact with Warren. Whilst it seems pretty clear from the footage that he did, they may say that Warren could have slipped when Ciftci approached him and it simply appeared that Ciftci struck him. And without footage to confirm there was contact, then a not proven conclusion is all they can give. Mind you, the footage as it stands plus the fact that Warren reacted they way he did (and presumably a statement from Warren that he was struck?) should all add up to pretty compelling evidence. Anyhow, loophole or not, Dundee Utd management must know what he did, and in challenging the complaint they deserve the contempt of decent football supporters throughout the country.

The SFA are clearly quite content now for cheating and gamesmanship being part of our game if they are not prepared to take the appropriate course in such a blatant case fully supported by video evidence.

Leaving aside the peculiar quasi political issues surrounding a Great Britain football team, in my view, an Olympic gold medal ought to be the pinnacle of achievement for the participant in any Olympic sport. Professional footballers, tennis players and now golfers all have much greater priorities than the Olympics which, for them, is merely a side show. For that reason alone, football, at least at professional level, has no place at the Olympics and that's before we even get started on the manifold perils of entering a Great Britain team.

they are upgrading to a 'mac though ......

One of those sneaky ICT 'dump dwellers' must've pulled the modem out! their desktop lost power ..... and their laptop couldnt get a signal

And you think some of 'us lot' need to grow up

ALL first team players who are due to be out of contract in the summer have offers from the club.

I may be in a minority of one but I actually think that Esson is the better of our two very capable 'keepers. I don't think there is much between them as straight forward keepers but within the teams defensive unit Deano's style of keeping works better and the goals we've lost since he's been out, I think, show this. As a back 5 we are better with Brill.

Good news! Am pleased with our two new players. Not sure he'll be match fit yet but we've certainly got options now. A much healthier looking 23-man squad.

Football is not an olympic sport. The end.

Apparently Deanos gonna be fit for the game on Saturday .........well according to the P and J anyway.

Watkins close to signing a new deal?

Fully expect Mckay to pitch up at Aberdeen in the next 2 years.

Warning, poor attempt at humor and probably works best with a central Scotland, weegie, accent. Here goes, Ive been reliably informed that Billy Mckay is a transvestite as he now has a wigan address. (wig n a dress). I'm waiting for the tumbleweed. I did warn you.

Whats the motivation behind this though? We already have a world cup and Euro champs so a major tournament every 2 years with qualification phases, there are also equivilants for the U21's. So what does fielding a team of U23's with a few older players actually get for the home nations? If you are any other nation, France, Germany, Spain its a few extra years for young players to stay together and transition into the senior squads but for a 'Team GB' its fragmented individuals where 2 or 3 per nation (at best) will play together longer - there is no real incentive I can see for why this is needed or of benefit? While I accept that some players choose not to play as part of Team GB 2012 from Scotland, the stats are there out of the 22 man squad only 5 were Welsh, the rest English. Based on fair representation the squad should have 5 per nation, so why when Scotland and NI chose not to partake did England get the extra 10 slots, surely it should have been equal split. This is where I see a problem in future years - regardless of what makes the best team, if its a team GB then it needs to be equally representative but alas we know its not, this is just an English FA vanity project to try maintain interest in their National team in the face of dwindling quality and the foreign EPL invasion.

surely that applies to 'England' too Charles? or are you being selective in conferring the right to be the main FIFA member within the UK on the English FA with the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish being happy to pick up the scraps from the table? However, you are also fundamentally wrong .... at last count there were 23 non-sovereign 'countries' who were members of FIFA and 7 sovereign ones who are not ! (and before anyone comments on the list below, Gibraltar are not FIFA members, just UEFA) Non-sovereign nations that are current FIFA members American Samoa (USA) Anguilla (UK) Aruba (Netherlands) Bermuda (UK) British Virgin Islands (UK) Cayman Islands (UK) Chinese Taipei (China) Curaçao (Netherlands) England (UK) Faroe Islands (Denmark) Guam (USA) Hong Kong (China) Macau (China) Montserrat (UK) New Caledonia (France) Northern Ireland (UK) Palestine Puerto Rico (USA) Scotland (UK) Tahiti (France) Turks and Caicos Islands (UK) US Virgin Islands (USA) Wales (UK) NON-FIFA members that are associate members of continental Confederations AFC: Northern Mariana Islands CAF: Réunion CONCACAF: French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten OFC: Niue, Kiribati, Tuvalu Sovereign Nations that are not members of FIFA or their continental Confederations Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Monaco Nauru Palau United Kingdom Vatican City

I think there was a pretty good consensus on here in 2012 that Olympic football is a complete joke and really shouldn't be given house room. Tennis is the same and so would golf be if it were to be included because these sports already have their own global structure as major attractions. Consequently, I would prefer the British Olympic Association simply not to bother entering a football team. I suppose you could see a sort of obligation for a home Games in 2012, but for Rio, I just wish they wouldn't bother. But what gets the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish so twitchy is that they alone have preferred, separate status within FIFA and UEFA whilst not being sovereign nations, and this highlights that anomaly. It's a bit like Prussia or Tuscany having their own teams and the three who do so have that privilege because of the "Grandfather Rights" of international football starting among Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. What they therefore fear is that if the notion of a British football team becomes highlighted, pressure will grow for this privileged status of Great Britain getting four bites at the cherry to disappear.

After my earlier rant on here I thought it would be more constructive to rant to the SFA as they are, after, all, the governing body of football in Scotland. So I wrote to the compliance officer saying that I thought the premeditated and dangerous nature of Ciftci's actions, which appeared to have been made with the intent to harm, warranted a much more serious penalty than the standard red card offences which occur in the heat of the game. I also pointed out that if they fail to distinguish between this type of incident and the more usual type of incident then they will be failing in their duty of upholding "the dignity and reputation" of the the game in Scotland. I don't suppose it will make any difference although if enough people from all clubs took the time to write to request more robust action in stamping down on the worst aspects of cheating in the game, we might just get somewhere.