The Fly

Two or three new players sounds fine to me. We can't afford galacticos, or anywhere near their level, so there's no point in packing out our squad with a host of players all around the same level of ability. They would then get narked because they are always playing in the reserves - or the alternative is squad rotation, and I don't think much of that idea. Stability is what we need, to my mind that's been the greatest strength of our team in the SPL (and before) - players only being changed from match to match if absolutely necessary.

I'm happy enough if we're targetting specific positions that need filling, and seeing how it goes over the summer and pre-season. Caff looks to be capable of replacing Dods, and Zander seems a great prospect, I think our main concern is replacing Dargo if he goes, with cover for the other positions as well.

As the man said, no great overhauls, just simple replacement will see us fine. It worked for Trigger's broom  :004:

Stick me down for a pair  :003:

Number 2 makes most sense - I think those are more or less the rules that Dundee had to work to about the time the SPL was formed.

IHE on the trumpet  :rotflmao:

The blazer is hanging proudly in my wardrobe, a little tighter around the waist than back then  :001: :001: :001: - it still comes out on special occasions! I've still got Shearer's old training jacket as well  :003:

That was a great night, but I think the following year (the day we won the First Division) was even better - pics clicky - remember Robbo rolling in with the trophy, and then Emily having to babysit it for the rest of the evening as it was passed around for everyone to read the names and hold for photos!

Scotty - I remember what you said when I suggested that a certain internet photosite red cross whizz could take over this site for you...  :015:

It's a shame that nothing can be sorted in advance because of the split - because of this we can't get a date for a last home game, even without knowing who we're going to play  :008: 

I don't know what can be done about this, other than perhaps trying to provisionally book the last two weekends of the season and then cancelling when you know which Saturday is going to be the last home - but I can't imagine that many (if any) venues would buy into that idea!

Mantis would be proud of me   :016:

Sounds like you've been on a back-to-school week with Tom Hendrie  :001:

Yep! Basically if we equal or do better than Dunfermline we're officially safe - if both us and Dunfermline win then the gap is still 13 points, with only 12 available.

According to the Italian media RAI clicky clicky he was released. Allegedly he's a friend of a lawyer who used to be involved at a club in Dundee, and is talking about a move to Scottish Division 1 football to resurrect  :010: his career.

I say good luck to him - he's been a key player for the club, and I can't blame him for wanting to play at the highest level possible and secure his financial future.  I'm sure he's thought of the risk of ending up in the reserves and on the bench, and decided it's a risk worth taking. CC would know exactly how Brown felt knowing that Celtic wanted him, as he was in the same position 20 years ago.

Now, bring on Mikey! The future's Fraser  :003:

I was saying the other day the Pars have got problems, they got another sending off today (Hamilton).

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy  :001:

Agree with GrJn, the long ball wasn't pretty to watch on Saturday and didn't produce much.

Here's hoping for a decent enough performance against Rangers, and revenge on St Mirren in a dazzling display of one-touch football - well, hope to beat them at least. I'm not overly worried about 11th position, considering how tight the league is this season, we're not detached at the bottom and a couple of wins. I'd be much more worried if we were in 10th place and there were three clubs at the bottom with a big gap to 9th.

Haha! Hadn't seen that story in the Record, was looking at the BBC story about Ribovas. I'm sure the Hearts players would normally be capable of organising themselves reasonably well, but with Pressley seemingly out you wonder...  guess it comes down to what the tea-lady thinks :001:

Any idea who's in charge of Hearts for this?

Ribovas - no, gone back to Lithuania, back in December

Malofeev - gone, with a touchline ban if he comes back

McGlynn - to Raith Rovers

Ivanauskas - won't answer his phone

Any bets on Romanov snr or jnr being in the dugout?

???

To answer Alex's question:

- ABC is the Audit Bureau of Circulation, an industry body that records how many copies of a paid-for newspaper are bought

- VFD (Verified Free Distribution) is the equivalent certification for free-distribution newspapers

- JICREG is another industry body that monitors the number of people actually reading the newspaper (i.e. you, your wife, the kids, the dog) - for paid-for newspapers you normally have 2-3 people reading each copy; for the worst of the free-distribution newspapers you can sometimes have less people reading a newspaper than the number of copies distributed (i.e. a large number go straight in the bin). JICREG enables a better comparison between paids and frees if we need to compare readership in any given area.

The Highland News (like a number of other newspapers) is misleadingly named - it only covers a small geographical part of the Highlands. Calling it the "Highland News" makes it sound grander!

Incidentally, circulation figures (average copies sold) for the Ross-shire Journal, Inverness Courier, P&J and The Scotsman for comparison:

Inverness (adult pop c.52000): Courier Friday edition 16373, P&J 5933, Ross-shire Journal 1467, Scotsman 555

Dingwall (adult pop c.15000): Ross-shire Journal 4320, P&J 1714, Courier Friday 813, Scotsman 89

To sum up: 10 times as many people in Inverness read the Courier than the Ross-shire Journal, 5 times as many people in Dingwall read the Journal than the Courier, virtually nobody reads The Scotsman! Figures that go some way to explaining why news and sport will be reported with a local bias in the weeklies - the P&J is the only newspaper with a decent circulation all across the Highlands.

It would be interesting to know what exactly the 'Assets' are and how they're valued - for example, a football stadium like Ibrox would cost a lot to build, and theoretically be worth a lot, but does it really have a 'second-hand' value of £xx million?

A bit like some of the players Rangers have brought in - cost £x million to buy, but you wouldn't get two beans for them on e-bay  :001:

And the Livi wages...  :crazy06:

No

I think we broke him twice - at Morton and St Johnstone (unless I'm going senile) :-D

OK, so having the managerial scalp of (inter alia) Billy Stark, Gordon Dalzell, **** Campbell, John Barnes, Billy Stark etc we can start making a list of players we've broken  :001:

No alarm bells ringing in my ears, just a UPS duff battery alarm on the server at work that's giving me a headache  :015:

CC's comments after the match were honest and right - we played well overall, posed Hearts problems, were unlucky to be a goal down twice and just lost concentration/shape for the two late goals. Hearts are still a good side, if not as good as this time last year.

Cant see anymore than 400 Bairns coming up midweek.

If you can bring that number up for the game then I say  :notworthy01:  :clapping04:  !

Maybe it's a urban legend, but are we the only club that Dods hasn't been relegated with?

Get yer (duffel) coat!  :015:

I'm on my way!

Only opening day game that I've missed in nine years, but doesn't sound like I missed much.

Hopefully this is a one-off, and a wake-up call. Look on the bright side, think of Almondvale two years ago - forget today, and say the season starts next week at Pittodrie (hopefully) :003:

It's a team game  :015:

Mind, he's rarely in the starting line-up and I would prefer him to go than Black or Dods.

The important thing is how will C4E feel  :001: :004:

I rather like the new strip, although the 'Barcelona' is my all-time favourite - I say stick with stripes - different, and no chance of getting mistaken for anyone else, apart from when we play in Europe :003: