starchief

And between the two, the stories are all about Rangers. Winning everything. In deep dung financially. Possibly no Walter Smith next year. Top scorer's contract running out. A lot to talk about, both good and bad. What can you say about Celtic? Manager's a bit crap. Finances ok. Top scorer definitely leaving. Going to finish second. Might get to the Cup final. Not a lot of stories there really.

Fairly defensive line-up today, so not too bad. Latviaman - you have to remember that Ross County have been above us all season. Players like Brittain and Vigurs have been good signings on a decent base. We can't expect to just go over the bridge and beat them. We're a top end SFL1 title challenging club...but so are they. Although we'd all say we want ICT to be in that 7th place in the SPL we got so many years ago, hasn't the relegation battle and this season's title race been more exciting?

Get in Airdrie!

On Showtime Sports 3 with Scottish commentary I'm on aljazeera sports, so unfortunately I don't get that. It's 6 nations on the normal SPL channel (which did show the Edinburgh match though - pretty good it was too).

Think Butcher would settle for a draw with that line-up. BTW, for those in MENA, Celtic-St J on Dubai Sports 2 (Arabic only)

Bloody amazing, wasn't it? Juve should have been a man and a goal down sooner after a blatant push on Hangeland at a corner early in the match. Glad for Zamora. At 29, this is his only real chance of going to the World Cup (though I doubt he will), so didn't like Cannavaro saying he shouldn't go. As if that wouldn't fire up the striker even more. Well done Fulham!

Can't stand either but this year, I hope Rangers walk it. Celtic trying to blame referees for their poor form and bad signings is scandalous. The fact is, Mowbray can't organise a defence, has sold good players, brought in similar or worse and would actually be far far behind Rangers but for Robbie Keane - not even one his signings, rather a fancy by the Board! I've not heard any Celtic fan mention how referees are so poor Hinkel should have been sent off and a penalty against him for the last Old Firm game, or how Robbie Keane should have had another booking (meaning a red card) for deliberately time-wasting as he poked the ball into the net after being given off-side, or how Boruc should have had at least a penalty against him when taking down an Aberdeen player in the 4-4 game...and that's only two teams, not even mentioning the games against St Mirren or Falkirk for example. Celtic get their share of decisions. Any right minded person can see that. So this year, I'm more anti-Celtic than anti-Rangers (so I've not voted). Overall, I'd still prefer Hibs or Dundee Utd (or anyone else) to somehow win the league. Given the current financial climate, there's the best chance of that since Jefferies was first at Hearts (not a huge chance but a chance nevertheless).

Hmmm, suggests a maritime connection.... :024:

Makes you wonder why Djebi-Zadi is never played on the right-wing as he has, not one, but two left feet

Quite often, last season, I'd go for a back five with Tokely and DZ as wing-backs. I think that's their natural positions. Allows rampaging runs forward and tightens up the defence when they forget to get back. DZ isn't skilled enough for a true midfielder but a wing back overlapping? Sounds fine to me. The back 5 idea was before Mihadjuks, so the Proctor-Munro-Hastings combination looked a bit tighter too plus with a touch of passing and mobility. Thought it could have worked seeing as most of the time, we only really had Munro as a central defender. I don't think we've got a passing midfielder good enough to play a 5-3-2, so now the moves would constantly be breaking down. Need a lynchpin like Black for that system.

Because Stranraer (for instance) is a community club (and, as I said, I'd like a league of the larger teams and more community centred clubs). Stenhousmuir has other clubs right on it's doorstep, e.g. Falkirk, so doesn't serve either isolated places nor could they ever seriously challenge in the upper leagues. Stranraer fans don't have the option of that. They represent a particular area. A smaller amount of teams mean the community clubs would be playing larger clubs, so their money would increase, as would their staff by simply playing against better teams regularly. Not what I meant. Albion Rovers or Stenhousmuir might have a few decent players for their level, plus a number of lesser lights. Stirling Albion and Queen of the South much the same. Take out 2 from 4, then those players would be available to these clubs. I don't mean SPL level players, just a better standard of Division Two player. I disagree. We'll have two leagues of the best players, with less journeymen. There will be less games of unambitious team versus unambitious team, where the crowd is 100 or less, so it'll be more exciting. Teams like Morton won't have to dread falling into a division where to have ambition means virtual bankruptcy, as even going full-time is difficult enough with the small crowds brought by opposition teams. Combine the two league system with summer football, then we have a better league, the national team performing better and more fans at the gate.

And while we're at it..two leagues of 16 to 18 will do comprised of the bigger clubs and community clubs (e.g. QoS, Stirling, Stranraer etc). The likes of Stenhousmuir, Albion Rovers etc aren't needed. They're just keeping the community clubs from progressing by taking players from the more remote areas to unambitious teams in the central belt. The game would improve as there would be a better concentration of players in a smaller number of clubs. The argument, I know, is that these supporters won't go elsewhere but that means we're only losing the odd 100 here and there.

I don't see the need for three tacklers in a 5-man midfield. Drop Thomson and put Dorrans central, with McFadden out left. Then Boyd (or Fletcher) up front can be supported by both these players at every opportunity.

Bizarro World! Scotland win. Egypt lose (although England's third was miles offside - pretty good showing by Egypt - could have gone either way)

...but dominated the game, getting chance after chance when on other days, we could have scored four or five, whilst conceding goals when there was barely an attack against us.

McFadden injured - Dorrans in.

I think Dorrans is out left and a middle three of Thomson, Brown and Fletcher. Seems to me that we're missing someone that can pass a ball in that mid three. Thomson to defend, whilst both Fletcher and Brown can do the fetching and carrying. No-one really with any passing vision though. Probably Robson's the closest but he's stuck out on the right. It'll be interesting to see how Webster performs. Hopefully Caldwell's back to last season's form, instead of the headless chicken from earlier this (despite being a no nonsense central defender, Mowbray's teams always seem defensively disorganised). Quite happy with Hutton and Wallace, with Whittaker also pushing. I would have put Boyd on from the start. Conventional wisdom says he can't play upfront on his own, yet on the rare occasion he has, he's done well. Maybe Levein just wants to keep it tight, then go for 2-up front when he has a handle on the game. Personally, I'd have told Dorrans to support Boyd more, rather than as a winger. I also think Miller could play that role too.

I'll stick with last week's line up. Seems like we hammered them despite the scoreline. I know that's the most important thing but surely we can't be that unlucky again?

I thought Gillespie was just away on loan? I forgot Odhiambo too. I wouldn't say any of them were essential to the team. Even Eric would be no big loss. He probably adds something from the bench, so as long as that's his role and cost, then stick him in the negotiable column. Can't say anything about the rest as I can't remember seeing any of them.

As the article says, Butcher is now to look at contracts of the players. So who should stay and who should go? For me, my players would be (although I know some already have contracts): ESSENTIAL Tokely, Proctor & Munro (the heart), Rooney, Hayes & Cox (the future) IMPORTANT Esson & Foran (but I wonder if their wages will be too much), Sanchez (unless we can get a genuine attacking mid like Vigurs from somewhere) NEGOTIATE Bulvitis, Duff, Gillespie, Ross & Shinnie (none the finished article but all look very promising), Duncan (SFL1 level but if his wage demands are too high, not a huge loss), Eagle (looked good early on - as long as he's on a developing young player's wage, it might be worth a punt, but not on higher wages), Stratford (again, only on fringe players wages - decent utility player for the bench), Allison (any better around for the same price?) OFFSKI Golabek (Probably Elgin level now), Djebi-Zadi (unless we play with wing-backs, his style can't be used), McBain (good servant but time's up) REQUIRED A left-back. Attacking midfielder. I've no problem with Tokely at centre-back, so either a right-back or central defender - even if only as cover. Naturally replacements for those leaving.

My view is pretty much the stability issue too. Things are starting to come together. There are some lads who might stay (Hayes and Cox, in particular) then decide they like it as much as people like Black, Tokely, Duncan etc. I certainly wouldn't mind a few more years of Cox, Bully, Hayes and Rooney developing, whilst Munro, Proctor, Tokely and, who knows, maybe Foran and Esson, hold it all together.

Uninspired stuff. Looks a bit like the French league teams.

Motherwell ... which I believe is the only other time that he and MM have teamed up and as discussed on here previously, together they seem to make a good partnership but apart, they are both a little lost ! I'd also give him Coventry. Thought he did a great job there and his sacking was greeted with disbelief at the time. The following managerial teams showed how well Butcher did too. His reign at teams like Brentford and Sydney were so short, I don't think he can really shoulder too much blame. I'm pretty sure the vote above would have been reversed if it was held after only a few months. Let him get his feet under the table, his own players and his own system. Only then can a manager be judged. Not on someone else's team.

Unfortunately, I rarely get to see him but when I have, he looks like a forward that's playing in a midfield role. Have Vigurs or Black in the advanced mid position, with Sanchez off the main striker, then that's probably his position.

That'll be why Manchester City supporters are always glad United keep winning the trophies if they can't. After all, they're all in the same country, same county and same political authority. They're more than neighbours - they share the same house. Ditto for Rangers/Celtic, Everton/Liverpool, Bristol City/Rovers, Hearts/Hibs etc etc etc. No? Friendly rivalry is what football is about. Sure some take it too seriously. It's not a war, just a sport. England are our biggest rivals. Germany are theirs. We like to see these teams lose. It's what the fun of football's all about. I don't see teams as representing political governments, rather the spirit of their footballing nation. For a start, it's usually the people of that country that suffer most by their governments. So who's being supported? The people of the government? If Italy plays South Africa, I'll be cheering on SA. Ok, the country may have more poverty, murders, corruption etc but I don't like the defensive style Italy has. And that's what it's all about - football.