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Not wanting to 'bump' years old threads, so I'll stick this here... Steve Paterson is back in the game! Last night, he was appointed manager at Dufftown, who are in their first season in the North Junior Superleague. Brilliant news. Assuming he still lives in the Moray area, it's a handy gig for him. Wish him well with this endeavour.

Looks like we're eventually going to end up with shirts plastered in sponsors logo's akin to F1. I dread the day

It didn't seem meaningless when nick Ross scored against hearts or when we marched out at the final v Aberdeen we should grab any chance to get a major trophy as the league is extremely unlikely to ever come our way

To me, just as important as revamping the format, is to compress the tournament so the final is in October as it used to be. Maybe County etc are excited about having a semi in January to look forward to but I would imagine fans outside of the last four have just lost interest. Often teams have bought/sold/loaned players so the teams that got their club to that stage are no longer recognisable and also the impetus is lost. That's much of the appeal of short snappy tournaments like the Euros or the World Cup.

Not bad Sneckboy. Can you now engineer for our home games to be against Arbroath and Brechin. We're more likely to take a bigger support to Hellgin and Balmoor.

Article from The Northern Scot newspaper website: 'Pele' Paterson is new Dufftown manager MORAY junior football club Dufftown have pulled off a sensational coup by appointing Steve ‘Pele’ Paterson as their new manager. Steve Paterson is the new Dufftown manager. Former Aberdeen boss Paterson, who steered Caley Thistle up the Scottish divisions and won countless Highland League honours, has agreed an 18-month contract with the Speyside outfit. ‘Pele’ told the Northern Scot how Dufftown’s approach to him came like a bolt out of the blue, but chairman Alan Murray won him over with his ambitious plans. "When I first spoke to Alan and then met him, he really sold the club fantastically well," Paterson said. "For some strange reason it just seemed to capture imagination. "It was more out of respect to Dufftown that I first listened to what they had to say, but the more I thought about it, it started to get me interested. "I just love being involved in football and the lure of getting back to a grassroots level was quite healthy for me." Murray said Paterson wants to work with club coaches and recent caretaker managers Garry McGingle and Davie Ness, and not bring in his own people. The pair had taken on the role in an interim basis since previous boss Fraser Bremner, the man who steered Dufftown to the North Junior Superleague, quit to join Highland League Rothes in October. Paterson left his last management job at Formartine United in March and planned to take a long spell away from football, despite approaches from other clubs. Dufftown chairman Murray said: "I think it’s the biggest appointment that I can remember at this club." Paterson will miss Dufftown’s game at Inverness City on Saturday but will take in their visit to Banks o’ Dee in Aberdeen the following Wednesday. The junior football league then goes into a winter break, with Paterson officially taking charge of the team on January 1. In Friday’s Northern Scot, don’t miss an exclusive interview with ‘Pele’ Paterson where he talks about a new and unexpected chapter in his incredible football career.

Bearing in mind that those in Europe are not in the group stage and the Prem teams not in Europe will all be in different groups how do you envisage the region? Lets say for arguements sake that the Euro places are taken up by Celtic, Aberdeen, St Johnstone and AN.Other from central belt. We now have Inverness and Ross County in two groups of five. We now need to find eight teams within the region. HL winner, Elgin, Peterhead, Montrose, Arbroath, Brechin, Forfar, Raith, East Fife and Dunfermline. Not exactly a region that'll reduce travel costs for teams and fans so will the fan numbers increase as is hoped?

and once you've watered your hat a decent tea or coffee wouldn't go amiss

I'd settle for anyone that was able to provide hat water for all of half-time...

Seeding and the exclusion of the European qualifiers means that it is unlikely two premiership clubs will be drawn together in the same group. In fact this season neither Aberdeen or St Johnstone (or us for that matter) would have been involved in the group stages.

When the bridge was designed the maximum weight for lorries was 24 tons, the year the bridge was opened it was increased to 32 tons and is now at 44 tons. With the huge increase in traffic as volumes as well is the main reason that the SNP pushed ahead with the building of the new crossing which all the other parties were against at the time, lucky they have a majority!

He brings balance to the force Don Vader, balance to the force.

Unattended bags have been a big no no for as long as I can remember and not just a result of recent events in Paris. Whether you agree with the reaction or not, it's incredibly naive to think you can just leave a bag laying there and wander off....regardless of where you are in public.

Charles you really are becoming very boring in your Nat bashing attempts. My brother is a bridge inspector for north of Scotland which includes Kessock and Skye bridges and he assures me that this crack could not have possibly been detected other than by constant radiography and non destructive testing on daily basis. I've witnessed a similar thing happen to structure of a north sea platform. Metal fatigue resulting from overloading is the real cause here. The bridge was not designed for 10,000 forty tonne trucks a day + however many cars, vans and buses. Thats one helluva strain on the steelwork. To try and blame the SNP for this problem is, in my mind, cheap and childish.

I'd like to see the club use the window to offload some of the under achievers if it will free up money for other players to come in, my opinion is we shouldnt waste money trying to extend Sho Silva as he's never been fit to play and if there was a way to remove other crocks or under achievers such as Wedderburn, Mutumbo, Vigurs, Lopez we should consider it and bring in players fit and ready to play, but not be looking to offer them new deals yet. Storey needs to stay but also disappointed we havent secured a few established players on deals yet before they can be approached - Vincent, Draper, Williams, Brill, Doran, Raven, Fon Williams - I'd like their new deals tied up before the window and a priority ahead of any of the above listed players.

I do hope that we can hold onto Miles Storey but given his current form with us, think we may struggle. On that basis, we do need a couple strikers and I genuinely hope Storey is one of them. With regards to Darren Murray, if he was worth it, Yogi would have signed him. Hopefully we can get our top scout Kenny Cameron to bring in another decent striker.

OK. Must have been some combination of Westminster and the English then. Hope the Transport Minister's stiffening truss end gets better soon.

Of course not but it's a tournament that if you go out in the early stages most fans will simply shrug their shoulders and get on with things. Until you get to the latter stages most fans don't give a damn about it.

And remember that in your scenario, the 2 Dundee clubs will be fishing in the Angus/Fife pool as well. Although if the Cup was won by a non-Premiership side, there would 1 unseeded top-flight club. I think that what will be classed as regional will strain credulity. Or they will play the 'where possible' card and put ICT, HL Winner, Stranraer, Berwick and Annan in the same group.