ictchris

Aye, imagine some Welsh ref who was due to cover Total Network SOlutions v New Cefn Druids pitching up to Celtic Park? I don't think McDonald is some sort of blameless martyr but Celtic have really fvcked themselves on this. They apparently want an investigation by UEFA into refereeing in Scotland - there is no way that UEFA would take the side of any individual club over a member association, not in a million years.

Oh I'd rather be a picket than a scab Oh I'd rather be a picket than a scab Oh I'd rather be a picket Rather be a picket Rather be a picket than a scab I hear the SFA are finding it hard to get foreign ref's to cross the 'picket line' - have they tried phoning the Nottinghamshire FA?

Pele resigned after the then-Elgin chairman went back on a promised pay-rise after he won them their final highland League title in 1990. Good move from Elgin, as we all know that Pele subsequently built a great team at Huntly and was the best Highland manager for the next ten years. We also signed a few players who had Elgin connections when Pele was our boss - Mike Teasdale, Ian McArthur, Dave McGinlay all played for Elgin (I think).

Elgin really hate us. I went along to the Elgin-Hearts game and the song that got everyone going was 'If you hate the farking Caley clap your hands' Ian Black got some abuse from their fans as well. I also recall going to a North Cup game at Forres, where their fans were out in force for a game against our Under 19s, flags, banners everything I would have preferred a trip through to Borough Briggs, but this should be good. Elgin looked poor against Hearts but have improved since then and actually look to have a decent side at the moment. Ex-County hitman Craig Gunn is their dangerman and they also have the tallest player I've ever seen, can't recall his name. He must've been nearly seven feet tall.

Unsure about this. Dougie McDonald deliberately lied and covered up what he'd done - his position is untenable and he should resign. The pressure being put on referees from the likes of John Reid and Neil Lennon is unacceptable but the SFA can deal with that.

Craig Brewster, Assistant Manager of Ross COunty, gives instructions from the touchline during a match.

When do tickets for this game go on sale?

We should definately sign GMS - he is what's needed for us to push forward in our hunt for the title.

Advice for women

Imagine your manager leaving to be someone else's assistant.

Who have we all seen off as managers? Tom Hendrie, John Coughlin (both St Mirren), John Barnes, Neale Cooper (crying in a layby ) Mark isn't happy tonight

Brechin's is just round the corner from Govan subway station, yes?

I think going 4-2-3 in our first nine games is pretty good going. It's our best SPL start, I think, and we haven't looked out of our depth. The last time we were promoted we went 1-1-7 over the same time period, St Johnstone went 1-3-5 in their first nine games last season and Hamilton went 3-0-6 in their first nine games the season before, so we are doing pretty well compared to recently promoted teams. In terms of our performances I think we've been solidly good. Up front, Rooney, Hayes and Odhiambo have looked at home in the SPL and have all scored a good few goals. Foran is just getting into his stride since coming back after injury and I think he'll come into his own during the second quarter. Defensively, I feel we've been relatively poor, conceding some bad goals. We looked disorganised against Hearts in that defeat and gave away preventable goals against Hamilton, St Johnstone and Hibernian. However, we have the best defensive record outside the Old Firm so perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on us.

I kept pretty quiet walking back from Ibrox after the last time we beat them.

We aren't playing Celtic. It'd be pretty funny if St Johnstone get three late penalties to win the tie

I am sceptical about the idea that league reconstruction will revitalise Scottish football. I don't think there are hordes of potential supporters waiting for the SPL to be changed to include more First Division teams before coming to games. Scottish football actually holds up pretty well in terms of average attendances to similarly sized countries in Europe, even if you exclude the crowds from Ibrox and Parkhead. If you include these then Scotland has the highest average crowds outside of the Big Five leagues of England, Germany, Spain, France and Italy. We also do OK in terms of average crowds within our league - there are clubs in the Greek top league, for example, who get average crowds of less than 1000. The main issue with Scottish football is that the quality of play. There are two ways to improve this - better young players coming through and generate more revenue to buy better players. I don't think changing the structure of top flight football will influence better young players coming into the side and I am also pretty sceptical about the revenue generation of including more teams in the SPL. Adding Dunfermline and Falkirk, say, to the current SPL roster isn't going generate that much more revenue for the game. There will be two more bottom six sized clubs with a bit more cash to spend on players but in terms of generating more TV money or pushing up average crowds, I don't think it would have an impact. People aren't interested in watching Falkirk v St Mirren on ESPN or Dundee United v Dunfermline on Sky Sports - if they were then you can bet that the TV companies would have forced a change happen by now. I don't really have an answer as to what will improve Scottish football, increase revenue, increase crowds. I think that clubs like Caley have to be realistic about what we can achieve, I think that every fan and member of the BoD would agree with that. We aren't going to storm to the title but we can become a solid member of the SPL, challange for top half finishes and cups. What would revitalise Scottish football would be a club challenging the Old Firm - the last significant increases of average attendance in the SPL came when Hibs had Tony Mowbray as boss and made a run for third place and when Hearts finished second in the table in Romanov's first full season. Of course, Mad Vlad's reign has descended into farce, with unsustainable debts and Hibs have had to break up their side in order to balance the books. Also, the SPL potential for generating revenue took probably a fatal hit from a series of ludicrious decisions in terms of TV money in the last ten years - turning down a Sky deal in favour of setting up 'SPL TV' (thanks Roger Mitchell for that one) and signing up to a Setanta pie-in-the-sky deal when Sky had a good offer on the table. Probably the last chance for the SPL to really improve left the building with those mistakes. Clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee Utd are now too indebted to ever challenge the Old Firm, leaving us in a kind of limbo. Bit of a rambling post, I accidentally deleted what I was going to say earlier, doh.

Let's be honest - Rory was poor for us. He showed potential in the reserves and on a couple of occasions coming off the bench but he never really cut the mustard. His last appearence for us was against Morton in the league cup and he was abysmal that night, one of the worst performances I've seen from a striker. He is doing really well in Division Two and I am pleased for him as he always had a bit of potential and did get a lot of unwarrented stick. For those that want to sign him, how are St Mirren getting on with the players they have signed from the Second Division this season? How did Andy Barrowman do for us after a similar scoring record at the same level of football?

Not content with battering his own players, blaming the wind for being pumped by the champions and racking up a world record standard of touchline bans, Derek Adams reacted to his relegation threatened sides latest defeat by letting rip with a hilarious outburst at Scottish football's conspiracy against him and valient, football-playing heroes Ross County FC. Man having nervous breakdown

He is young and has great potential, that's why clubs would bid six figures for him. Burnley signed Kevin McDonald from First Division Dundee for half a million quid a few years ago. Even though they aren't splashing the cash Blackpool are earning tens of millions of pounds this season from TV money so spending ?100,000+ on a young player who, if he succeeds, will have big resale value makes sense. Having said that they should wait a few weeks and buy him off KPMG for ?150.

Huns winning 3-1. We're going to do them next week.

I haven't watched all of that, but in the paper today he is quoted as saying: That's absolute pish. Holloway is effectively saying that we should go back to the pre-Bosman system where players registrations are held by clubs even after contracts expired. In any other walk of life that simply wouldn't be tolerated. I've been on fixed term contracts and the idea that my employer could forbid me from working after my contract expired is a joke. Holloway also doesn't seem to get the fact that players pay back their transfer fees in the way they play for their club. Since signing in 2004 Rooney has helped Manchester United win three Premiership titles, one Champions League, a league cup and an FA Cup. That's what they paid the money for so even if he left for free after his contract, he's still repaid his wages/fee/bonus etc.

Close enough! According to the RC OS they will be selling autographed copies of the game. I'd be disappointed if they weren't

Xausa isn't a legend!

Oh dear

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse