starchief

As did Nakamura, Barry Ferguson and every other player. They always do that 'who's the most over-rated player in the SPL?' thread, which basically consists of naming the best players in the league, with a 'he's p1sh' reply. Inhabited by too many dunderheids, that site.

From 'When Saturday Comes' newsletter (I'd recommend it), what goes around...: In 1998 UEFA president Lennart Johansson was running against Sepp Blatter. One member of UEFA withdrew their support for Johansson at the last minute and backed Blatter instead because he had to promised to support their 2006 World Cup bid. Who were these Machiavellian schemers? Why, it was the English FA.

That's my reading too. Except I don't think he has it at SPL level to do that. But definitely more a poacher than a target man. Not especially good in the air, can't hold the ball up, doesn't work down the channels or bully centre-backs. Not a target man in my book.

Bit of a surprise move but Madjid Bougherra has just bought out his contract, a la the Webster ruling. http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Madjid-Bougherra-invokes-39Webster-Ruling39.6779814.jp I'm a little surprised. He only had one year left and was bound to be an integral part of Rangers. He must be on a decent wage, plus, play well and the move for free will be all the sweeter. As he's had to buy out his contract, that's cost him ?1M. Not too bad a return for Rangers really, given that in 6 months time, he can sign a pre-contract. Clubs were apparently quoted ?3M - I presume none were paying as he hadn't moved but that probably means the price would have tumbled to something more reasonable at the end of summer. I presume some club has contacted him and said they would be willing to make up the ?1M but it all seems a little unnecessary.

It's much like I said before, makes little difference if it's a 10 or 14 league with the current financial arrangements. Can't see QoS versus Dunfermline as being nothing more than a bore to most fans. A 14 team league has a lot of meaningless games but so does the current arrangment or the top 10. If Whyte hadn't bought Rangers, then we may well have seen a better scrap at the top with Hearts and DU challenging. As it is, redistributing the money to enable challenges from the bigger teams (Hearts, Hibs, DU, Aberdeen) is the only thing that will save Scottish football (and that would trickle down to the ICT, Motherwell, Killie, Saints teams). Unfortunately, I don't believe the OF boards and especially the OF fans care enough about anything other than racking up silverware to the detriment of the excitement of competition.

A bit harsh I'd say. The trouble with Barrowman is he simply didn't have it at this level. I was one of those that thought he might have done better alongside a tough striker like Higdon or Brew himself. I changed my mind though when I saw him ducking out of challenges and just not having the wits to get himself in position. I don't think it was over/under-confidence or laziness. It was just (once again) too big a step up.

I've never been a supporter of Hibs but I really thought they had something a little while ago. A team that could go somewhere with free-flowing football. Yogi then started a bit more long-ball (an 'end product' as he put it) but Calderwood has been painful to watch. I see Liam Miller has now gone to Australia. Under Yogi, he looked a real catch, even vying for PotY. Yet, Calderwood had him sky-watching as the ball sailed over his head. Other players with a bit of passing talent, like Riordan, Rankin and de Graaf were the same. Superfluous to a team going nowhere. Calderwood has potentially put Hibs on the road to relegation. I don't much care about that. But I did think they could have made a real dig for third place, cutting a few points of the OF and making the league more exciting. It's been a disastrous reign with decent players sidelined with disastrous tactics. In fact, it reminds me of Brew at DU then back to ICT.

Without evening out the financial rewards somewhat, it's all bluster. Remember the early 80s when Aberdeen and Dundee United were European forces, St Mirren and Motherwell were winning cups, Hibs were holding on to some decent players...ah, if only we could have something like that back again. So much more interesting, that I'd go for that, whether it's 10, 14 or 18 teams. But it all depends on getting money to non-OF clubs.

I don't celebrate a win as I see Marius as part of ICT. He performed whilst he was here, wanted to stay (probably but all rumours of course) and won his first encounter in court. I'm glad neither side is hurt too badly but it was ICT v ICT. Best result would be neither too much out of pocket. Seems to have happened. I'd welcome Marius back (although far from expected) but happy both sides can move on without looking over their shoulder. It's a happy medium for both. No heroes or villains.

On that write-up, he sounds terrific!

Wow, that would be a turnaround! Did no-one tell Marius of the Highland curse? I don't think we can assume anything in this case other than 'I'm glad it's all over' and no-one really suffered too badly.

I never knew Giggsy was colour blind (coz he certainly got screwed)

Sutton, Rooney and Kyle? the words 'ram' and 'battering' spring to mind.

I thought the rule was 'stay out of the black and in the red' and then something about Ryan Giggs?

I agree that it must be a home game. Aside from that, I'm not too bothered. If a club postpones a game to make an extra bit of cash but ends up playing an extra match, so what? Doesn't rile me in any way.

I thought we usually signed their best players?

Nah, he was bloody awful at Dundee United. He showed no chance of turning it around and they would almost certainly have been relegated. Levein came in and showed him how to run a club. Brew should never have come back so soon when he wasn't wanted. He continued his poor managerial form apart from a brief burst. He needs to spend more time in the lower leagues or as an assistant before he tries again. I could actually see him do well as the latter (as some seem to agree) but he isn't yet manager material.

How would you feel if he scored to keep Derby in 8th place? I'm guessing pretty much zero. I'd take the disappointment if Rooney, along with the likes of Nicholson, Cowie etc stayed and made this a better league. I'm not saying I blame then for making more money but I'd prefer to see a better Scottish league than just get the odd flash that someone who spent a couple of seasons here got an assist against Doncaster. Moving to Liverpool, Manchester United etc. would impress me but not the old 2nd Division.

You're not a big enough fan of Scottish football to see the best players in Scotland stay in Scotland? I'd prefer to have a better league even if that meant a former employee was to go to a rival.

They've been offered contracts but not yet signed them. I thought Tokely had invoked the clause in his contract that let him play for another year based on appearances this season? Surprised Sutherland and Morrison were not signed up a long time ago. Really, you're thinking about the long-term with those surely, rather than if they will be a fixture next season?

We'd have to be really lucky to get players available on the free that are able to let us dominate matches. I hope we look at continuing the counter-attacking style that worked so well for us. It worked for Dundee Utd for so many years. But it does depend on who we can manage to get, rather than choosing the style first. There's maybe an argument with the sweeper style to come in. Duff and Gillet / Shinnie would be good at wing-back, Proctor as sweeper and, if it looks as though we'll only have some rookies to partner Tokely, having an extra player in there would help. Also removes the problem of the 'hole' player that we've struggled so badly with. But let's see who we can get first.

Ross Tokely. Written off every year by supporters of other teams and a few of our own, yet has managed to play regularly at the highest tier of Scottish football for a substantial period of time. And that's even taking into account that he rarely plays in his best position (IMHO) of centre-back. I'd also put in a word for Davide Xausa. Ok, perhaps he couldn't have gone any higher than he did (or when he did, it showed that he shouldn't) but, when here, he did really well for us. Even brought us in some desperately needed cash when he left. Doesn't get the credit he deserved due to not being the complete player (and I'm not trying to argue he was) but scored and created for a good return at our club.

Although I've called him a ned on other threads, I actually briefly met him once. Completely different from his football persona. Very quiet, in fact, I'd even say shy. Very softly spoken and basically seemed a nice guy. Apparently Mark Hughes was the same (a very angry young man when he was playing who admitted being chalk'n'cheese outside the ground).

I think the Smith/Souness era is marked by a massive change in sectarianism reduction at Rangers. No longer are Rangers only signing players on the strength of their religion. Smith was wholeheartedly involved in that. It's never even mentioned these days. What religion is Jelavic? No idea. Papac? No idea. A very different scenario to the pre-Smith days. The club has had some very public pleas and campaigns against religious bigotry. So, I can't blame Smith, McLeish or le Guen for the religious hatred, as I can't blame O'Neill, Jansen, Burns for the excesses of Celtic fans. Who do I blame for the fans? Largely, the fans. They're adults (at least, the one who aren't children are). They are responsible for their own actions.

And the reason Morrissey was accused of racism? - he said 'reggae is vile' (just a joke, he loved raggae, plus it's far from racism to not like a style of music) - 'hang the DJ' was aimed at black people as they liked dance music (not only a racist viewpoint by categorising music but also wholly wrong - the news had just reported some bombing, riot or war [i forget which], then Tony Blackburn played Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, hence 'it says nothing to me about my life) - he has a fetish for skinheads, Confederates and the Union Jack, plus decries the loss of Englishness in England - he also heavily promoted Echobelly, with their Asian singer at the time - he wrote some songs taken as supporting racism, such as National Front Disco and Bengali in Platforms (actually about the 1970s - see This Is 1986 movie) and Asian Rut (how anyone can see support of hate in this song is beyond me) More reasons against: - he strenuously denies it and had the NME back down over claims and falsification and even successfully sued the Word over similar claims - he had a black girlfriend - he's taken part in socialist and anti-racism benefits with the Smiths and funded anti-racism campaigns out of his own pocket as a solo artist Where I disagree: - he referred to Chinese as a subspecies due to their treatment of animals. I understand where he's coming from but his language was completely wrong.