The Mantis

I work in a school. Kids are nasty little buggers! Anybody who's different gets bullied. A lot of work has gone into educating kids about this and there are signs that it is paying off. It's terrible that anybody's kids get bullied on account of their accent but to imply that we, the Scots, are worse than others is just wrong. How about the BBC relocates to Edinburgh (OK, maybe not, but how about Carlisle or Newcastle). Then maybe some of us will start to believe in this 'Britishness' thing, instead of being excluded and feeling like foreigners in our own country. Just for a start, instead of forever saying 'the North-East' in the weather forecast they could say 'the bit just over half-way up the east coast' :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015:

Mott the Hoople rocks :clapping04: The young at heart take over the board :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015:

Aye but you still have to arrange the Russian linesman and get the games played at Wembley Yompa :015: :015: :015: :015: Anyway Hurst's getting on a bit nowadays :001:

Not as good as Bazza v Motherwell though :001:

'County' and 'Top' in the same sentence :015: :015: :015: :015:

Right as always Charles. I'm supposed to have a link to a movie of that Smart goal but I need to update a few links after moving servers.

Remember that bit in M.A.S.H. with hoolahan in the shower.

Hang on now Mee, you're showing evidence of having read the 'drivel' on the thread. That means you have an unfair advantage on some folk :015: :015: :015: :015:

Pink Floyd. Ya feckin auld hippy.

I remember Caley beating Golspie 15-0 in the QC around then.

Well obviously Richard, I'm far younger than you. I used to pass Caley Park at 6am on my way to Lewis in the good old days before the Kessock bridge, but sadly the good old Caley had only a few years to go when I finally got around to it.

The 4-0 against Lewis/Harris 'B' was at Fivepenny (Ness FC), Lewis. The 7-1 against Lewis/Harris 'A' was at Goathill Park, Stornoway, Lewis. Following the 7-1 game the squad attended a reception at the Hebrides Bar in Stornoway. They then took on the Saw Doctors at Back Sports centre at 10pm. Despite Wayne Addicoat being pished, they held them to a draw.

August 1966, I got taken to Ibrox to see The Forces of Darkness. That's right, Partick Thistle. And the other Forces of slightly darker Darkness beat them 6-1. My first senior ground was April that year. At Tynecastle, Bonnyrigg Rose 1 Penicuik Athletic 0. First Scotland match, October 73, Scotland 2 Czech 1. First (I)CT match, East Stirling 0 CT 2 in the League Cup, Aug 94.

Well, Motty's surely a total professional, in the 'anorak' meaning of the word, but anybody who thinks he's got any semblance of wit, humour or charisma needs to get out more.

Although we won these 5 games, I saw 3 of them and we were hardworking but pretty gash creatively. I think we would have missed Blackie badly if we had to face the top 6 teams instead of the bottom 6.

Well I can certainly remember 74 and 78. We certainly went on about qualifying without England being there. The problem is nobody was able to hear us as we don't control the 'British' media. IIRC the English covered our games with their own commentators, so they didn't have to listen to us 'gloating'. Also the so called 'national' programmes hardly mentioned Scotland unless they had a game the following day. So it was just as it is now, like living in a foreign country. I still don't know what Willie Ormond had for his tea, but never mind, at least I know how many times Rooney has farted this week.

The difference is, the only people who hear about our win in 1967 are ourselves (plus a few unfortunate souls (but otherwise very fortunate) who have chosen to live here. Because of the way the 'British' media are controlled, we have no choice but to hear about 1966, even in matches involving two other nations, or even in another sport. Even in the Champions' League Final the other week, we had to listen to that muppet Tyldesley comparing Ronaldinho to Johnny Wilkinson FFS! BTW that game in 1967 was a right good game of football.

If you want to try a 'predictor' just among us board users go to http://hmssneck.com/ict/forum/viewtopic.php?p=11903#11903

This is a good laugh. It was set up by my mate's son and was a success at the 2002 WC. You have to earn points by predicting the scores. Go to http://www.worldcupsweepstake.com/index.php Browse for the team 'InvernessCT' and use 'ballistic' as a password. One word of warning- your username is not what gets displayed, but your Forename and Surname.

It's not the whole feckin game is it? I bought that a while back for about £7 on eBay. Mind you The Herald have been selling it at £19.99 recently.....

I've paid you twice Kay- the other is for Naelifts.

Yes, very interesting. Never been to Bulgaria, rest of my family go regularly for beach holidays, but maybe I can persuade Mrs Mantis to have a city break some time. I have 2 or 3 of Simon Inglis' books and it appears that in Europe, the 4-sided stadium is known as the 'English Design'. There's still a great number of these stadia with running track, and it seems even more the further east you go. Of course, oldies like me can remember when Ibrox and Parkheid were this shape too.

I think Gordy made the hammer/nail interface there. That'll be another £5, Martin :015: :015: :015:

What? Tons of manure?

Well I got a few interesting ones too but my favourite was for my wife: garden gnome :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: