Sneckboy

I heard Stevie was away? Bummer for St Cuthberts. I'm sure they got drawn away to Talbot last year. Didn't realise, I was going to take in a Bo'ness game this year if they ended up playing in the West as well just to get a final look. http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/local-football/steven-hislop-quits-bo-ness-after-manager-row-1-3441551 Seemingly fell out with the manager - but he's looking for another club!

He's only training with us - I doubt he's a signing target. Well, I hope not! Another one in the mould of Garry O' Connor or Derek Riordan - lauded as wonder kids due to a stellar youth career. Dow's been a journeyman for years now. He probably knows Hughes through a Falkirk connection and he's made training 'facilities' available. He's been a bit-part player in League Two in England - a league that Sam Winnall found 'easy' to score in! I'd rather him back - who knows, I was stunned when Tansey returned! A Sam Winnall-Billy McKay partnership could be lethal. As much as I thought Butcher's reign here was utterly outstanding, I feel he didn't give that player enough opportunity to show his worth.

meat

I'm not sure I'd be that keen on a 'sugar daddy'. They can elevate clubs to an artificial level and when the plug is pulled...the club usually comes crashing down. I can see Brora actually getting into the Scottish League - they have a useful side, but the Tokelys and Munros are getting older - their benefactor is going to have to keep funding replacements. It's risky to presume the finance will be continuous - Brora would drop like a stone if their financier stopped his cash input. I'd rather we lived within our means. However, if I were to win the lottery, I'd certainly give the club a one-off payment. Likely 5%. Incidentally, whatever became of the £250,000 cash injection from Kingsmills Mains?...were they called?

Nor Peter Griffin!

By the looks of things, there'll be plenty Gruffalo's on display in Dingwall!

If there is occasion for Partick to wear it, don't be surprised if SKY intervene and arrange coverage to coincide with a charity moon-light 'MoonWalk' - obviously with a midnight kick-off!

CaleyD pouring himself a whisky as we speak - (or in this case, whiskey)!

Talking of 'half-and-half', it was often 50-50 whether I'd go back for the 2nd half! Don't have that option these days.

I'm in the 'just a striker' camp as well. The rest of the squad looks fine. Might be a little stretched this weekend with a double-header against Rothes and Raith Rovers but big Duncan Shearer can pull his boots on in Rothes if we're stuck!

Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale v Burntisland Shipyard Amateur Auchinleck Talbot v St. Cuthbert Wanderers Glasgow University v Cove Rangers Vale of Leithen v Gala Fairydean Rovers Hurlford United v Edinburgh University Edinburgh City v Fort William Newton Stewart v Hawick Royal Albert Wigtown & Bladnoch v Civil Service Strollers Byes: Coldstream, Culter, Dalbeattie Star, Golspie Sutherland, Girvan, Bo’ness United

The new season must be getting closer! The draw for the preliminary round of the Scottish Cup will be made this morning. Obviously our entry is still 4 rounds away, but it's always interesting to see how clubs from different leagues fare against each other. There are an amazing 90 clubs entered this season - surely a record!? Strathspey Thistle are in for the first time. Also, Linlithgow Rose, Banks O'Dee and Gretna 2008 are involved due to having achieved the required SFA licensing. Cove Rangers and Fort William, however, have not got the licence - their grounds aren't 'up to scratch' - but are still allowed to compete (for this season, certainly) but both find themselves in the preliminary round as a result! Format and dates for the whole competition:http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/resources/documents/ScottishCup/2014-15/Scottish%20Cup%20Format%20&%20Composition%202014-15.pdf

It was Thistle's Jock MacDonald.

Thanks for all that info, Mantis. I hope Whitehill can challenge Spartans and Stirling Uni for the title in the coming season.

Not sure why these guys want to be chased down the street by beasts who are clearly bigger and heavier than them. Mind you, it happens to guys nearly every weekend outside Lauders!!!

God, I miss that vehicle for drinking and a scrap! I wonder if I can still order it? I'll try 272727. Engaged!! All the refusniks, obviously! Joking aside, it's an interesting post from Renegade. As for the lack of opposition to the merger at the time - likely apathy. Evident in all votes including the UK parliament, these days. A party gets 30% of the vote and is the biggest party at Westminster, yet only 60% turned out to vote. So the 'winning' party, in reality only got 18% of the available votes. Surely not a mandate to govern?! But that's democracy! Yes, some folk can't do enough for the club in terms of innovation, with speculative attempts at increasing the support through school visits and various community projects etc., and all are very commendable, But blood runs thicker than water - one does tend to be influenced by parents. We all see the kids being ferried about in pushchairs wearing bloody Rangers tops! Believe me, that kid didn't request that on his Birthday-present list! Okay, the number of refusniks is obviously unknown. But, with the club now 20 years old, there could, theoretically, soon be grandchildren of refusniks! Even if there were only a few hundred dissenters at the outset; extrapolating that number, over a few generations (assuming 2.4 children per refusnik), reveals a mind-bobbling loss of potential fans! It's not the initial loss of, even say, a conservative estimate of 300-400 fans, but the knock-on effect which is so over-looked by many!

If you look anything like your avatar, there'll no be a shirt to fit you! Eat Fresh? Eat something!!!

Stumbled (no pun intended) upon this photo of this week's 'running of the bulls'. Obviously, with Celtic, it's always a case of running with their bullshit - however, it's nice to see their moronic fans upholding their reputation as the dimwit thick-fest they are. It beggars belief. Check out the hooped guy at the forefront of this inhumane, daft event. I hope the ***** got pricked!!

Ah! I didn't realise that. Makes more sense now!

What were the circumstances that saw Benni McCarthy turning-out for a cameo with Whitehill Welfare? I hadn't heard about this! Great photo capture, if that was you, Mantis! Although it was a pre-season game, it's still quite a coup - he was internationally, very well respected, in his prime. Just checked, he's still 'only' 36. It's likely one of those bizarre scenarios that sees players of repute turn-out for an unlikely club. Didn't Latapy have a game or two for one of Whitehill's rivals, Edinburgh City? Then there's Brazilian legend, Socrates, playing for an obscure English non-league team. Peter Bonetti, who has a World Cup winning medal, turned out once, allegedly, for Caley - mentioned on another thread. There are a few instances of this type of thing (Caniggio and Ravanelli at Dundee, for example) and George Best at Hibs. Fair play to Whitehill for getting Benni McCarthy to play - even if it was a commercially driven, publicity stunt.

DoofersDad's post is interesting and well-informed and is surely deserving of a more considered response than a cheap 'one-line put-down'!

syrup

Overall, I thought it was a good tournament. I'm as guilty as anyone for 'fawning' over Messi when he's putting in his weekly superhuman efforts for Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League - but i really don't think he should have won the Golden Ball for the best player in the competition! The Germans will likely be a force for some time given the ages of the current crop. It's back to the bread-and-butter for them now with the Euro '16 qualifying campaign and a visit from Scotland! We often draw the current World Cup winners in our group. We had 2010 winners Spain last time, with 2006 champions, Italy, the time before that!

I apologise. I simply didn't realise that his 'contract' would be honoured after termination. Football really works in different spheres! Blimey, I'd love to screw-up at my 'permanent contract' job next week and be told I'm sacked. Then, sit back and enjoy my salary every year until I'm 68! It is an odd situation. Terry (or any other manager in this situation) is no worse off by sunning himself in his East Anglian back-garden as he is to taking the pelters from the Leith faithful? I just don't understand it. Surely, under 'football contracts', the incentive to succeed is immediately negated - you receive you payment rtegardless of results?! Yes, I'm being naive or not up to employment law - but that seems astonishing! Effectively Hibernian are paying for two sets of managers! Astonishingly bad, top-level managerialship/directorship - Petrie should consider his position as he's presided over a shambles.

It would not surprise me, if in the future, FIFA relinquished the memberships of the '4 home unions' to create one national team - after all, we are officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That's our political status and we're very fortunate to have 4 'national' teams' playing out of one country. The independence 'debate' aside, we're luckyto have a Scotland team. Many member nations of UEFA are agitating for the UK to have just one team - which technically would be correct. We would play under a UK banner - or, as it would likely be termed, Team GB or Great Britain. - just like at the London Olympics!!! How passionate would you be following your new team? Anybody who dared suggest that it's not quite the same as before should be strongly told that it still includes Scotland...and we're all from the UK - so we should naturally, fervently, support them as before!? It's just an analogy, but worthwhile, as I'm annoyed at how easily some dismiss the merger as an historical event. Yes, it was 20 years ago, but only that. What about the 210+ years that went before?!