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Fabulous win and what an open competition this has become! Publicly, most of the managers will give it the old 'want a home game' or 'take who we get as you've got to beat them eventually' line. But privately, and naturally, everybody wants Spartans/Berwick!! The draw on Monday is crucial - we're 'due' a home tie - but it rarely works that way! Just had a look at some other fans forums and a recurring theme is that these clubs don't want Celtic or ICT! We're in such a good position on two front's for securing an historic European spot. Obviously, we can achieve that aim by finishing in the top 3 but the cup permutations will become clearer after Monday's draw. If Celtic do go on to win the Premiership...and progress to the Cup final, their opponents in the final, win or lose, will get a Euro spot. I'm getting carried away and should know better! So, for balance, and as a reminder to myself that there's much work ahead, our most recent Scottish Cup outcomes against the likely (I'll go for Dundee United and Rangers) remaining teams are: Celtic - Lost Hibernian - Lost Queen of the South - Lost Rangers* - Lost *arguably not played Spartans/Berwick - Never met either club Dundee United - Lost Falkirk - Lost

Only joking of course

figured out a way to add the official twitter feed to first post above

Richie Byrne has now signed for Horsham, a level 8, Ryman League club. As mentioned in a previous post by Renegade, Byrne is a fitness instructor but at only 33, he still likes to play football part-time. http://www.wscountytimes.co.uk/sport/horsham-fc/richie-byrne-brings-professional-skills-to-horsham-campaign-1-6564578#.VNTkVyxner8.twitter

Thick freezing fog across Maryhill just now. Hopefully it lifts for the afternoon. For those of you who like omens, at the moment it's very similar to the day in the 1st Division season where we lost at Firhill then went on a 13-month unbeaten away run. Would take the same run again now, obviously, but I do fancy going further in the cup this year.

The twitter is great, much better than the robotic stuff most other club's twitter feed produces.

I'm actually surprised at this topic tbh. Considering all media that is aimed at fans is done on a voluntary basis I think we are well served? The youth and community dept have their own FB page btw so if you follow this I think you'll find some of what you're looking for? I'm sure someone from the media team will post in reply in due course but given the small numbers and time constraints I think we are on a par with or better than the rest of the premiership?

Up until this season, then if the cup winners had qualified for the Chanpions League, then the cup runners up would get a Europa League spot, which IIRC was the lowest available. From this season the rules have changed, and the runners up cannot qualify, and the place would go to the league positions, 2nd gets the cup winner spot (which happens this season the be the one place in the 2nd qualifying round, the other 2 places are both 1st qualifying round), and everything else moves down one place. Likewise if 2nd or 3rd wins the cup, then they have the cup winner spot and the other spot(s) move down one place. Info obtained through Wikipedia, as I cannot find anything specific on the UEFA, SFA or SPFL sites, however I had heard similar elsewhere.

Another goal of the season? That's nearly half a dozen now, by my count. Yogi's quite fair isn't he - he wants a soft draw in the next round, then glory glory. Only 3 SPL teams left, here we go.

Monday 2pm live on Sky Sports News per SFA website

We'll be drawn away - always are. Home to Berwick or Spartans?

It's a pity our Twitter doesn't cover Development League games. Even if we're the home team, any line-ups, scorers and updates are to be found on the opposition's Twitter!

What we need is an online fanzine !!

I know what the OP is talking about....it's the additional "behind the scenes" stuff. Whilst we do want to do more on that front, it's time consuming and outwith available resources at the moment....and every time I free up a bit of time or resource, something more important has a habit of filling the void....but we'll get there. (keep an ear out for the relaunch of the podcast...soon). With that being the situation, then whatever we do has to tick 2 out of 3 boxes. Those boxes being "Fun", "Useful" & "Informative". People also have to keep in mind (and in fairness most people do get it) that whilst players/manager could be considered "public figures", they are entitled to their own space and privacy....even when in/around the stadium. In my experience, when you demonstrate that you respect that fact, then people are more willing to work with you on the stuff of real value or let you "intrude" a bit behind the scenes and capture some of those extras and bend the 2 out of 3 rule by doing something purely for chits & giggles.

I concur...was thinking Magic Roundabout might be a fun one to use.

He regularly catches defenders on the hop.

You told me you got 6 months...3 months for good behaviour...

LOL - Wait fer it

The last part of that interview about the personality of signing targets is interesting, and something we tend to not think about as fans when saying who we should sign. It's often said that the great team spirit is a factor behind us punching above our weight and you can understand the manager being careful not to spoil that by bringing in a bad apple. So you might get a good striker who is available and affordable, but if for example he's had 18 clubs and got kicked out of his most recent one because of personality clashes, he's less likely to be what Hughes is looking for. These character references might make it harder for us to make a signing, but you can see where the manager is coming from.

I can see the drama now with Gollum and his vanishing spray. Hi will be brandishing it as if it were a light sabre and use it for the most dramatic effect possible. Could the spray be used on the ref.

There are dozens of examples of top players starting out in one position and transitioning to a completely different role (Bale, Henry, Ronaldo, Mascherano, Matthaus - just off the top of my head. Even just looking at our own club - Jim Calder started life as a centre forward, but ended up being one of our best ever goalkeepers. Dennis Wyness started as a midfielder, but ended up being our all time top goal scoring centre forward. Roy McBain started as a winger, but ended up being one of our best ever holding midfielders. Ross Tokely started as a striker, but ended up being one of our best ever right backs. Graeme Shinnie started as a left back, but also excels at right back and central midfield. We're too obsessed with categorizing footballers in this country. We have plenty of talented attacking players with pace, skill, vision and an eye for goal - all the attributes required for a centre forward. There's no reason whatsoever why Marley Watkins, Ryan Christie, Aaron Doran, Nick Ross or James Vincent can't play up front. We should focus on footballing ability, not artificial labels. Thankfully we have a manager who looks beyond narrow 'specialist' positions and looks to be trying to develop well-rounded footballers with full-spectrum knowledge of the game. I hope he succeeds. Let's give him a chance.

Sorry to get into this DD, but having spoken to Yogi after almost every game of his tenure thus far, he hasn't changed his philosophy one jot. It's simple - if we keep the ball the opposition can't hurt us. It's also pretty effective, we've scored a lot of second half goals as teams tire after being moved around so much. Under TB, we would increasingly put long diagonal balls into the channels for crosses but there were times when it really didn't work. Now, that ball is played into those channels effectively. In terms of change from TB to JH, the transition was quite painful as the style of game was changed radically - hence that "slump" at the end of last season. The first bit of that was to teach players that they were good enough to play this type of game ( and not hang them out to dry for their mistakes) and then get them to do it. They never had that type of approach under TB. Look at Hughes's interviews and see how often he uses terms like "teach" "educate" "learn" What you are seeing now is a group who have outgrown TB's legacy and surpassed it with some ease. This is due to Hughes & Latapy. Please bear in mind that the players you refer to were identified in England's lower leagues by Steve Marsalla for their low price and potential and it's under Hughes that they are realising it and increasing their value. This is no more Butcher's team than anyone else's - it's Caley Thistle's team but it's Hughes that is taking it forward.