starchief

Besides DZ, the same team I chose. It'll be very interesting to see how Cox and Proctor perform. I think they could do well.

We'd have a better chance if we started with 11 players mind you.

What a player the boy Proctor is. He was all over the park so much, you'd think there was two of him (copyright Only An Excuse - Denis Law on de Boer)

Esson Tokely Munro Bulvitis Shinnie Cox Proctor Imrie Sanchez Foran Rooney ---------------------------------- Allison; Golabek; Ross; Hayes/Eagle; Odhiambo Imrie stays in for taking his chance. Shinnie gets to show what he can do. Cox and Proctor can be a long-term midfield partnership, so it builds from now.

Why would Hibs sit back? They might not have been good enough to win but I doubt they'd play for a 1-0 loss.

Yeah, flak from the COUNTY fans, not from his current club. Abuse from the Rangers fans whilst at Celtic and vice versa. I despair :(

The mighty Egypt go marching on

Bradford were already in the relegation zone of the Premiership when JJ arrived. He got them battling but couldn't halt the slide. He sold players for millions (through necessity - the club was near bust) and was only allowed to sign one player for money (and not that much either). When JJ left he said that he didn't think it was possible for Bradford to do much better in those circumstances. Not so long after relegation followed relegation.

What?! One of the biggest problems with Christie is that he felt every defeat too much precisely because his heart was in the job. I don't think we should be discounting our most successful manager too readily, especially when it seemed to be there were more than the normal pressures persuading him to pick a certain someone or stand-aside for a certain someone else. I also don't think we should discount the man who basically built the club in Pele. Yep, he had problems that he's now trying (successfully it would appear) to conquer. He was in the midst of those troubles right through our rebuilding mind you and it never stopped him then. I do think this is quite typical of ICT in that something will happen in a few months time but there appears to be nothing happening in advance of it, whether that's Rankin, Black, Dods or Butcher. START TALKING NOW! Give the club a chance. What is there to lose?

Yallah, Misr, Yallah!!! (= go, Egypt, go!)

I felt a bit sorry for Killen. Seemed to do well whenever he got the chance but those were few and far between.

Not by nature, no. Depends on the players he's got available. Remember that great Hearts team he had with Paul Ritchie and Davie Weir at the back, Colin Cameron and Neil McCann on the wings, plus Stephen Adam up front? Falkirk as well were pretty good to watch. In fact, Killie were too for a good while. I suspect it might be Motherwell. Billy Brown wants to stay in the area (that's why JJ turned down Aberdeen).

Made lowly Falkirk a respectable SPL club. Almost won the SPL with Hearts. Won their first silverware in decades. Got Bradford fighting, even if it was no use in the end (and no-one managed any better after it), then got virtually bankrupt Killie into the top 6 a few times, despite wage cuts (for both him and their players), staff cuts and players being sold for millions but without money being re-invested. He also turned down a move to Aberdeen to stay with Killie. So much for loyalty. For me, he's been the best Scottish manager in recent years (by that, I mean after the MacLeans and Fergusons had become established).

COME ON THE PHARAOHS!!!

No point having the likes of Barrowman and McBain (possibly even either LDZ or Golly too) sitting out matches. They're nowhere near getting a regular run, so it would benefit everyone if they left.

Huh? ;)

Actually, I wasn't seriously suggesting DC was a Celtic fan. I had hoped he was Inverness. Given that the merger was well over a decade ago, I thought all that previous allegiances rubbish was far behind. I mean, given the amount of OF boards out there, why bother posting on this one if you don't support ICT? I thought it was a bit off that, because someone rated Boyd (as well as McDonald) that meant he must be a Rangers fan. It's just insulting. I rate Boyd. I think he's the best Scottish finisher since McCoist. And yet...I also rate Ross McCormack and James McFadden* but have zero allegiances with Motherwell, Cardiff or Brum (apart from wanting Scots to do well down south). I even rate James McArthur but that doesn't mean I secretly wanted the Accies to avoid relegation least season. *in a 3-pronged attacking midfield with Riordan, plus Boyd up front

Quelle surprise, an embittered Celtic fan that can't appreciate someone rating the top scorer in Scotland, a NI striker with an amazing international record and choosing to ignore the comments made appreciating your top scorer in Scott McDonald. For what it's worth, I probably think iamthecaptain1 is an Inverness fan but then, I don't think everyone really supports one of the Old Firm secretly (I've been accused of both, and as a Hearts fan too, when in fact I'm none of those). I suspect DALNEIGHCALEY has most down as either as blue or a green at heart. Sad really but quite typical.

Without looking... 1. Craig Brown 2. I'll try Mancini 3. Ian Black 4. Probably someone that made very few appearances, so...Morais? 5. No idea.

Unbelievable! They both play for the same team. One scoring way more than the other one. Top scorer for every team he's played in, despite being dropped numerous times for the 'goal machines' of Cousin, Darcheville, Lafferty and Miller. Kenny Miller works a hell of a lot more than Gary Lineker too but I know who I'd want in my side. It's fair enough to want Boyd dropped for what he did with Burley but to say Miller will score more than Boyd flies in the face of reason.

The guy's still coming back from injury, so can't blame him too much for being so rusty.

Rubbish. What about Gary Lineker, Ian Rush, Andy Cole, John Aldridge, Dimitir Berbatov, Ian Wright. None of them were any use outside the box. And your point is caller? Would you turn down Wayne Rooney on that point? Leave the personal insults to the playground. McFadden? A work horse? I actually support Everton and most Toffee fans were delighted to get rid of him as he added so little due to his poor work-rate. Boyd and McFadden are completely different types of players. Peter Beardsley was a far more skillful player than Gary Lineker that would drop deep and pick up. Beardsley was far more hard-working too, whilst Lineker could barely pass the ball, couldn't tackle and rarely took players on. But he did something else. He scored regularly. Looks easy but it's the toughest job on the pitch. Besides which, McFadden hasn't played striker regularly at club level in years. There is no-one that comes anywhere remotely near Boyd's goal-scoring record. To not put him in in favour of strikers that do their best work outside the box but rarely score is crazy.

Seems likely Coyle will be joining Bolton from Burnley http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/football/...ers/8439458.stm I can't see this as anything other than a bad move. It's going to be a real struggle to keep Bolton up. Sure, it'll also be a struggle to keep Burnley up too but if he does, or even if he makes it competitive, then a better job will undoubtedly come along. If Bolton are relegated though, that's just a failure. Also, how does he tell his players to keep battling away, when Coyle's quite happy with ditching his players midway through a season when the going gets a bit tougher?

That's not really based on anything though. Boyd scored more goals in the SPL at both Killie and Rangers than Fletcher did, when he was at Hibs. That suggests to me Boyd is a better goal-scorer. I do wish he would go to Brum and prove the doubters wrong. I think he's the best finisher Scotland's had since McCoist. Put him in a team that doesn't play backs to the wall whenever there's a remote chance of a draw and he would score. But Walter Smith is very defensive minded against the better teams (and I'm not saying that's wrong of him), hence the lack of goals.

I'm also in favour of summer football. It would be more pleasant to watch, better for players to play and train, plus boost our chances of getting further in Europe and the World Cup/Euro Championships (if we ever qualify!). The argument about fitting in the World Cup etc is nonsense. Plenty of other countries do it. Follow a programme similar to Alex's suggestion, then no problem.