snorbens_caleyman

And that kickstarted a great run in the league to the end of the season. You can't overestimate how much success - in any competition - boosts confidence.

Aye, Morton back in Sneck next Saturday, in the Caramel Wafer Cup. Does Robbo stick with the team that beat them 5-0 - that would surely be a psychological advantage, and could help the team gel. Or does he mix it up a bit and give some others a run out - which would also be a good thing. Nice problem to have.

Can't complain at 5-0, but Morton were really, really poor. Including one of the worst penalty attempts that I have ever seen.

... and the carrier pigeons take a long time to fly there and back.

As I've said before, I don't believe that any cup is a nonsense cup. Sure, some may be more important than others, but the effects on a team's confidence of doing well (or badly) are very real. Winning this cup in 2018 initiated a great run-in to the end of the season.

Thanks for checking, Scotty. I saw only a couple of reports of it last night, but there are many more reports now, 12 hours later, including the fan forums for AFC Bournemouth and Middlesbrough, and the well-known car forum Pistonheads. CTO seems to be fine now, and my phone's AV reckons that it is OK too. I might start looking at ad-blockers or other browsers - I have seen mention of Brave and Firefox Focus.

Just tried accessing CTO using my Samsung Android phone - not an iPhone - and I get the redirection too. First a message from mk***.com, and then lots of error messages which might be failed redirects or might be my antivirus blocking things. Might be something which only messes with phones (cos they're easier to mess with) and not with PCs. I can access other websites without problem from my phone, which suggests that the problem is associated with CTO, and not with, for example, my phone company's systems. I'd suggest that someone (Scotty?) checks the CTO website itself to see that it it hasn't been tampered with.

Do you want tonight's lottery numbers with that? Give them a chance to play 90 minutes!!

It's the first few minutes after the break that I'm always nervous about. Have lost countless goals in that period. Mogadon in the half-time tea...

!!! ... and change the stadium name to Longman Convalescent Home? ?‍⚕️?‍⚕️ Although he himself says he is fit and ready to go.

We clearly have issues which need to be sorted out quickly. We have had five competitive matches, have lost to both Dundee clubs, have beaten Raith and Cove, and drawn with Peterhead. I don't buy the line that the League Cup is a noddy cup that no one cares about. It has essentially the same pool of teams as the Scottish Cup (I'm ignoring the non-league teams here), and so it's just as difficult to win as the Scottish Cup. Maybe more so since it's not straight knockout. I sincerely hope that no manager or team says "That cup doesn't count" or "These early games are all about finding our feet". The team needs to learn how to win, and it needs to have confidence in itself. Pretending that early results aren't so important is foolish. At the end of the season, the margin between success and failure could be one point or goal difference.

Sorry! I predict that I'll get things wrong, as usual...

...and of course we are always saying how knowledgeable about football the BBC are

Well, he is a director of Brora. Noticed that earlier this year - don't know how long he has been there.

So will they train with ICT, except on the days (more likely evenings) that Fort William train? Will they train with Fort William at all? I remember that when Caley and Thistle (and others) had many Aberdeen players, they all trained together in Aberdeen, and often travelled together on the train to and from matches.

Well, Cove are outnumbered if there is a punch-up on the bench

Hi Danylo. There used to be three whisky distilleries in Inverness, but they all closed down a long time ago - in the 1980s I think. Their names were: Glen Mhor - this distillery was quite literally at the end of the ground of Caledonian FC (Caley), one of the teams which merged to form ICT. Glen Albyn - very close to Glen Mhor - both distilleries were at the side of the canal in Inverness. Millburn - at the east side of Inverness - the distillery is now a hotel, and I was staying in it last week ? Because the distilleries closed down so long ago, the whisky will be very hard to find, and you will have to pay a lot of money (maybe hundreds of UK pounds) for a bottle. I have tried them all, several years ago. I think my favourite was Millburn, although I also had a special single-cask bottling of Glen Albyn which was really good. But none of them was as good as the best whiskies that you can find easily today - Highland Park, Springbank, Macallan, etc - so if you can't find any, then don't worry. You won't be missing anything special.

Please tell me you will be attending all games this season. You have a clear and effective influence on the team.

Freddie Nield with two different coloured boots, so that he knows which foot is which... (cont on "Old Highland League Days")

Exaggerating as usual. It was only 19. Clach didn't do so well - beaten 17-0 by Queen's Park. google for scottish women's cup football - google seems to be more up to date than the official website

You need the SFA licensing requirements and the SPFL rules. The SFA licensing requrements set the requirements for each level - USH is only at gold level - and the SPFL rules which who say what level is required for each league, as below: "D4.4 any ground which a Club or the Candidate Club registers or is deemed to have registered as its Registered Ground, must, by not later than 31st March preceding any Season and for the whole of that Season: D4.4.1 with respect to Clubs entitled to play in the Premiership and the Championship have achieved and maintain with respect to stadia criteria at least the Bronze Standard set out in The Scottish Football Association National Club Licensing Manual in force and as amended or supplemented from time to time; D4.4.2 with respect to Clubs and Candidate Clubs entitled to play in League One and League Two have achieved and maintain with respect to stadia criteria at least the Entry Level Standard set out in The Scottish Football Association National Club Licensing Manual in force and as amended or supplemented from time to time; D4.4.3 with respect to Clubs entitled to play in the Premiership and the Championship have had and have adequate winter pitch protection, as provided in Rule H10; ... H10 Each Club shall provide, maintain and use in such manner as to ensure its efficient and effective operation an adequate winter pitch protection system. Such systems shall be fully utilised by the Home Club before any League Match or Play-Off Match where there is a reasonable possibility of its pitch otherwise being frozen or covered in snow or ice so as to ensure that the League Match is able to take place at the venue and on the date and time scheduled notwithstanding such possibility."

I was checking up on it while you were asking the question! Apparently the requirement for undersoil heating was dropped - along with the requirement for 6000 seats - when the SPL and SPFL merged a few years ago.

Don't forget the Challenge (Irn Bru) Cup!

Excellent news. I don't know if there has been a change behind the scenes, but that struck me as a really well-written statement. Covers all the ground, tells everyone what happened, gets properly behind Robbo and his staff, and looks to the future. All in a flowing, eloquent and non-pompous style. A seriously good piece of writing. Whoever wrote that, please take a bow!