The Mantis

Hope this link works. Thanks to Seoras for pointing it out: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152480115868688&set=a.10150137255263688.328968.669063687&type=1&theater

Mind you one of the reasons he got relegated with us was not seeing off Hamilton at home post split.....

What Johndo said plus best pie award

Dont think we need to threaten Mantis. Doubt many will be there next time. Havent been kept back in for yonks now. Stewarding probably not quite as draconian as in the past but theres not doubt its the worst away day in the premiership. You will be missed at Celtic park -the whole 4 of you lol You bet we'll be missed Georgie Boy. Think how much the average IQ is gonna plummet.....

Crowds may be on the low side but no it couldn't. An average gate of around 3,500? Usually around 200 in the south stand and when we get our higher attendances like 3.5k there tends to be 500 or so away fans, aberdeen celtic county etc Main stand only takes 2200, 1700 covered.

A flash of the immortal Davie Cooper in the build-up here

Giving your age away there (unless there's a Ted McMinn video out there somewhere )

I think that was Wilson Robertson. ;-)

Followed by 'he's fat, he's round, he's worth a million pound'

The wee guy with the shorts up to his chest

I think you should offer some of that in-play betting to keep the fallers interested. How many corners ICT will win. How many bookings. How many minutes till Billy scores again. Which club will be our glamour friendly. How many post-split games Naelifts will make it to.. Errr, hold on..... Which joke is the elusive 'Mantis third joke'? Does it involve a bus or is that the mythical 4th joke?

For the record, can I just say that Kiss is garbage.

http://youtu.be/net4Xw-Y-fc Hi Dougal, I'm sure it's hilarious but just to warn you I can't view it as I'm on holiday in the west of Lewis and the internet is hopeless. Home in 2 days:-( any burglars out there, my house is full of consumer goodies including a 42" Panasonic and a 27" iMac, and my home address is Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall, Midlothian.

Dont think we need to threaten Mantis. Doubt many will be there next time. Havent been kept back in for yonks now. Stewarding probably not quite as draconian as in the past but theres not doubt its the worst away day in the premiership. Maybe I made it sound more like a threat than I intended...... I just meant that CFC might have been willing to make a goodwill gesture. Sadly, brushing us aside 6-0 wasn't enough for some people. It's a symptom of the mindset of OF fans that we're seen as supporting one side or the other. That's the only explanation for it, drums are associated with 'orangeness' and also we play in blue.

One argument for having Deek's XI in the top six

As regards the drum, there's probably a case for writing to Celtic FC with a hint that a future boycott may be in the offing. Don't know if they kept you behind at the end but I've not been there for a couple of years after we were kept in for 15 mins after a routine, boring 3-0 defeat, and also the time before that. Also I think Johndo or somebody else got ejected for very little, while the fans to our right were allowed to do as they pleased. That and the restricted views and the difficulties parking without getting annoyed by wee neds just about did it for me. Before Dougal comes along and brands me an 'Orc' I tend to avoid the other place too, though I was tempted back last year for the league cup game, and also the win in our relegation season which got us off the bottom. Not been spat on (yet?) by the Rangers lot, as against twice after beating Celtic.

That's 13 points...... Yeah, getting 4 home games is a real bonus

Atletico Madrid in the 60s had a player called Ufarte. How we laughed, with something called puberty still on the distant horizon. How the commentators got in a twist inventing new ways to pronounce it.

TWO sendings off? Is he meaning Shinnie? The man's a fool. Even their fans admit they were second best on the night.

Lets all laugh at Cownty

Mantis, have you any inkling who the 7 'mystery' teams are that have reportedly indicated they're wanting to (or have indeed applied to) join the Lowland League? Curious as to whether any of them are from the Juniors?! (Wonders if there's any way of splitting the thread in two so we can get on with laughing at Cownty) P&B thread here covers it Gets interesting around page 10

I think the cost will have to come down Alex. I think these pitches are about to reach saturation (!) level so not sure about renting out in future. Great for the local youth etc and future development of players' skills though. Looking at the Lowland League which I watch quite a lot, 3 of the 12 clubs have plastic pitches (Spartans, Gala, E.Kilbride) and in the EOS Leith Athletic only, I think. It won't happen in the near future at Whitehill, my local club, because they simply can't afford it, but they train locally twice a week at 2 different 3G facilities. Last season they had to go to an Edinburgh school during the winter, but the demand for pitches in Midlothian has now been largely met with new schools etc. If Whitehill ever got funding for a 3G pitch I doubt it would make them much money, due to being situated in a village of 2000 with a decent choice of pitches in nearby towns. For people who hanker for the old days when ICT toured the lower leagues, Stenhousemuir and Alloa are both synthetic surfaces nowadays. Have to say I prefer grass myself but.....

I actually thought it was a better game than the 3-3 cup game last season, which I thought was very poor up till Vigurs made it 2-2 in 85 mins and everybody was raving about it because of the ending.

There were two Adams interviews, one with a woman on BBC Sport right after the game and one with Jim Spence. The Spence one is the most cringeworthy if you're a Cownty fan. It's true Tremarco could have gone, if you compare it to Tansey's red against Utd. Watkins should never have been booked in the first minute, he clearly just collided with Broony. Also clear that Shinnie never kicked Kiss, he kicked the ball, and it wasn't high, Kiss put his head down. Unlike the equaliser when Arquin was in orbit and should have been penalised and the flukey goal from Kiss disallowed. If Tremarco hadn't deflected it, Brill would probably have stopped it, identical to the first one at the New Year when Scotty Boyd scored. Also looked a penno for me when Watkins had his ankles tapped.

What did Charlie say? Basically that Adams was havering and ICT were the better team 'by a mile'.