Sneckboy

One of our fans (Culduthel rings-a-bell) in New Zealand created a thread for this - but unfortunately I can't find it! Maybe it's not yet 'indexed' in the search facility due to the site upgrade, or more likely, I'm being stupid! The FIFA U20 World Cup in NZ has reached the quarter-final stage, with an interesting line-up. Serbia v USA Portugal v Brazil Uzbekistan v Senegal Mali v Germany

They'll (West Ham) almost certainly win their Q1 tie, barring a huge upset, and be potentially awaiting us in the 2nd round! It'll be a 1-in-33 chance of drawing them though! Although obviously, whoever we're paired against will also have been those odds!

The SPFL fixtures are being released on the 19th and not the 17th, as I'd originally posted. SPFL Premiership fixtures published Friday 19th June Draw for Europa League Qualifying rounds 1 and 2 Monday 22nd June First Scottish pre-season games start with Brechin v Aberdeen Wednesday 24th June Europa League Qualifying 1st round - 1st leg Thursday 2nd July (Potential opponents to watch) Europa League Qualifying 1st round - 2nd leg Thursday 9th July (Potential opponents to watch) Europa League Qualifying 2nd round - 1st leg Thursday 16th July Draw for Europa League Qualifying round 3 Friday 17th July Europa League Qualifying 2nd round - 2nd leg Thursday 23rd July (Europa League Qualifying 3rd round - 1st leg) Thursday 30th July SPFL Premiership opening weekend Saturday 1st August (Europa League Qualifying 3rd round - 2nd leg) Thursday 6th August

Darren Dods has been unveiled as the new manager of Brechin City. And in the Highland League, Andrew Skinner has joined Nairn County from Clach.

We cannot be drawn to play Aberdeen. Teams from the same country are kept apart until the quarter-finals.

You are right. I have made a total arse of this and am deeply ashamed. I suppose it shoes I'm not a total anorak - perhaps just a fleece!

There is a team from Liechtenstein and one from Israel in round 1, so technically can face us . But, as far as I can see, you're quite right, it seems impossible for us to draw an Austrian team! I admit, I was lazy and didn't look at all potential first-round permutations that could subsequently affect us! But having now done so, I'd say I we cannot visit the following: Austria, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, France. (where's the paste button gone!?)

Of the 54 UEFA countries, there are only 8 we definitely can't be drawn against clubs from, at our (Q2) stage. Obviously, Scotland are one, but the others are: Portugal Ukraine Germany Russia Spain France Italy

The points are awarded as follows: Q1 loser = 0.25 Q2 loser = 0.50 Q3 loser = 1.00 Play-off loser = 1.50 Reaching Group stage = 2.00 plus the opportunity to add to this with wins/draws in the group. Knock-out stages = similarly tiered system with more points gained for further progress. Anyway, from the coefficient table, Scotland are 17.90 points. Inverness, with no Euro games in the past 5 years were awarded 20% of this = 3.58 All clubs get 1/5 of their country-coefficient. Aberdeen are rated 4.58 which is exactly 1.00 more than us. they got that extra point for being eliminated by Real Sociedad last year in Q3. And St Johnstone are on 6.08. Exactly 2.50 ahead of us. They gained 0.50 for a Q2 defeat to a Turkish club from 2012/13, 1.00 for a Q3 defeat by Dinamo Minsk in 2013/14 and 1.00 for a Q3 loss last year to Spartak Trnava.

In reply to DoofersDad. Yeah, the coefficient points are awarded for performances in European competition, only! Individual results in the Qualifying stages don't count per se, but rather the stage in which a club is eliminated. For example, if Aberdeen win both legs of their 1st round tie, they will join us in round 2. If ICT and Aberdeen then lost in round 2, both clubs would be awarded the same amount of points - the relevant points for 'Q2 losing teams'. The dons wouldn't gain any points on us for their earlier Q1 wins. So effectively, Inverness by entering in Q2, are assumed to have won in Q1. My Screenshots have temporarily 'disappeared' from earlier due to Scotty tampering with something! I love the new layout, by the way. Said nobody, ever! Just kidding - I'm sure there are reasons an upgrade had to be done and it's probably a headache to do. I will get used to it - when Google Maps changed from Classic version to what they have now, I hated it, but have just grown to accept the new format.

England's Premier League will drop below the German Bundisliga when the new season kicks-off and the results from 5 years ago are 'dropped'. And, provisionally, in two-seasons-time, they will drop to 4th behind Italy's Serie 'A' thus losing one of their Champions League places! They can avoid this, of course, by performing well in the Euro competitions. But, yeah, I agree - it seems that it's a vicious-circle. The more frequently a country competes in Europe, the more points they accrue, enabling them to have more teams, starting at later stages...and so on! When you slip down the rankings like Scotland, it's very difficult to get back up!

The Orkney Amateur League is a 'summer' competition, whereas the North Caledonian League is termed as 'winter', so players can play for their clubs throughout the summer and the select boys will play NCL for the rest of the year. Last season, Orkney's squad was predominately: 4 Kirkwall Rovers 5 Rendall (although Brora have since signed John Pickles) 2 Kirkwall Thorfinn 1 Dounby 1 Isles Athletic 2 Kirkwall Hotspurs They looked like they were going to win the North Caledonian on their debut last season but faltered near the end, allowing Golspie Sutherland to nick it. However, they did win one of the (four) cups available. Shetland and a Lewis & Harris select also won cups as guest clubs last season. Commendable as it is for Orkney to finish runners-up, one has to wonder how viable a league is, consisting of just 10 fixtures. Invergordon return for the coming season to make 7 clubs and 12 fixtures.

The country a club comes from has only a 20% bearing on that club's coefficient. (it used to be 50%, then 33% but now 20%). The other 80% is from that club's results over the preceding 5 seasons. As we haven't attained any points from the last 5 seasons, our coefficient (as can be seen from the chart above in post #144) is 3.58 As this is 20% of the Scottish coefficient, it follows that Scotland should have a coefficient of 5 x 3.58 = 17.90 From UEFA's country coefficients chart, Scotland are currently ranked 23rd, with a 5-year coefficient of, indeed, 17.90

Yeah, it is a bit clumsy, but as UEFA do the 2nd round draw immediately after the 1st round draw, and it does cause some confusion. Looking at the list below, we are on the right-hand-side (unseeded) and will remain there regardless of what happens in the 1st round games. The teams on the left will definitely be seeded. The asterisk effectively means 'winner of the tie involving that club'. If an asterisked club loseses their 1st round game, the victors would assume those coefficient points for the purposes of the 2nd round draw. eg if West Ham lost to say Cork City in the 1st round, Cork City would 'take over' West Ham's 16pts coefficient. The 10 clubs I've listed above, you'll notice are not asterisked, as they are definitely seeded for the 2nd round draw! Complicated? You bet!!

Thun, PAOK and Legia Warsaw confirmed as the final qualifiers this evening. That's as much as we'll know until UEFA start allocating clubs into mini groups ahead of the draw! I understand that the winners of the games involving Aberdeen and St Johnstone, regardless of who they are, will join us in the unseeded pot for Qualifying round 2. Therefore, we can face 33 clubs, 23 of whom will be the winners from a Q1 game. The other 10 potential opponents are: NK Rijeka (Croatia) FC Copenhagen (Denmark) Astra (Romania) Trabzonspor (Turkey) Dinamo Minsk (Belarus) Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic) Charleroi (Belgium) PAOK (Greece) FC Thun (Switzerland) Legia Warsaw (Poland)

That's a staggering signing for Brora! And a huge shot-in-the-arm for Highland football. He could easily have gone to the likes of Dundee, Killie, Motherwell etc... but clearly wants to remain up here. Another indication, that the world doesn't revolve around the Central Belt.

Apologies! It must have been RiG, then!

I'm not going to pursue the 'turnover-to-points' stat as I agree you've addressed the findings there, CB. ICT's return from spending (or lack of) is extraordinary.

Actually. one of our posters, reckons Billy indeed will end up at Pittodrie...definitely a live possibility! (RossP or RiG perhaps?)

The 'still shot' from the middle video is a belter - so much raw emotion - a good wallpaper for my screen!

I think they've taken 'Eat Fresh' a little too literally!!

Observations: If we do manage to win our European tie, obviously we'll be playing in the 3rd Qualifying round on July 30th. I'd imagine our opening league fixture (1st August) would then be 'put back' to the Sunday, or a later date. We'll 'technically' be in the 3rd Qualifying round draw - as it takes place between the two-legs of our first Euro adventure. Potentially, Borussia Dortmund et al. could be waiting! Aberdeen are back underway in little over 2 weeks time! Struggling to see where our 'bounce' game against them can be played! But, if ICT are re-assembling towards the end of this month, there should be scope to fit in a couple of friendlies before our Euro game.

SPFL Premiership fixtures published Wednesday 17th June Draw for Europa League Qualifying rounds 1 and 2 Monday 22nd June First Scottish pre-season games start with Brechin v Aberdeen Wednesday 24th June Europa League Qualifying 1st round - 1st leg Thursday 2nd July (Potential opponents to watch) Europa League Qualifying 1st round - 2nd leg Thursday 9th July (Potential opponents to watch) Europa League Qualifying 2nd round - 1st leg Thursday 16th July Draw for Europa League Qualifying round 3 Friday 17th July Europa League Qualifying 2nd round - 2nd leg Thursday 23rd July (Europa League Qualifying 3rd round - 1st leg) Thursday 30th July SPFL Premiership opening weekend Saturday 1st August (Europa League Qualifying 3rd round - 2nd leg) Thursday 6th August

BBC's reporting of it included a classic blunder, along the lines of "Ryan Christie & Jim McIntyre in award scoop double for Ross County" I'll cut-and-paste before they change it, but apparently Billy plays for ABERDEEN! Northern Ireland's squad for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania has been reduced from 28 to 25 players with Liam Boyce among the trio left out. The Ross County striker will miss the Windsor Park clash along with MK Dons midfielder Ben Reeves and Aberdeen forward Billy McKay.

Signed until the end of next season (2016-17): • Gary Warren • Richie Foran • Greg Tansey • Josh Meekings Signed until the end of this season (2015-16): • John Hughes - Manager • Russell Latapy - Assistant Manager • Dean Brill • Aaron Doran • Danny Williams • Ryan Esson • Ryan Christie • Carl Tremarco • Ross Draper • James Vincent • David Raven • Daniel Devine • Ali Sutherland • Liam Polworth • Lewis Horner • Calum Ferguson • Cammy Mackay • Calum Howarth (Development Squad) • Jason Brown (Development Squad) • Jaime Wilson (Development Squad) • Kane Hull (Development Squad) • Struan McArthur (Development Squad) • Blair MacLennan (Development Squad) • Chris Brown (Development Squad) • Stephen Rennie (Development Squad) • Chris Blackett (Development Squad) • Daniel Hoban (goalkeeper) (Development Squad) • Alasdair Stark (Development Squad) • Andrew Macrae (Development Squad) Out of contract: • Nick Ross • Edward Ofere • Tarmo Kink