Caley Stan

Pat Nevin isn't from Inverness.

The first one. 9 group winners + best runner up + 4 play-off winners + hosts = 16

It's a tough draw. Although they failed to get out of a weak World Cup qualifying group, the Czech squad is full of players who ply their trade in the top leagues of Europe. They outclassed us in Prague 18 months ago, when the extent of their technical superiority was embarrassing. At least with Levein in charge, we know we'll be organised and i'm looking forward to the battle for second place. I think our best chance of getting points from Spain is to get them at Hampden as close to the start of the campaign as possible. Big teams often underperform in the months following a World Cup.

Good question. It's been the main stand at least the last three times we've played there as far as I remember - both games last season and the 4-1 the season before that. A few years ago we'd have been guaranteed an end for a fixture like this, but I suspect we'll have a pretty small following again, especially with the clash with the event in Inverness: it'll probably be the stand again. You've done well to erase the penultimate game of last season from your mind. The quantity of Guinness we were consuming on the road to relegation may have helped on that front.

Here are aome 'facts', taken form the official website.

That is ******* magic. Up to 3rd in the table. Happy days.

As above, Dundee and County to draw.

Freedom? What is freedom? According to this piece of right-wing propaganda, these are the 10 components of economic freedom: Business Freedom, Trade Freedom, Fiscal Freedom, Government Spending, Monetary Freedom, Investment Freedom, Financial Freedom, Property rights, Freedom from Corruption, Labor Freedom. What they're talking about is freedom from regulation, freedom from social responsibility, freedom to make as much money as they can and fluck the consequences. The most amusing category is 'government spending'. Yes, freedom from government spending, that is, freedom from welfare, freedom from health care and freedom from education. Freedom form any collective action or responsibility whatsoever.

I've always thought that people tend to start out with ideologies and strong views from either wing, and then gravitate towards the middle as life experience shows them the downsides of their earlier principles. .......or people get their idealism beaten out of them the moment they have to start having to consider getting a job, a process that often involves compromising political principles. As`Mantis pointed out earlier in the thread, the nature of someones employment can often be a good predictor of their politics. Applying this logic, i've concluded that ICTChris is either an investment banker on a seven figure bonus or David Sutherland in disguise. It's also what every state in the world does when it taxes us. Providing these extreme examples of authoritarianism isn't really helpful. While i accept that free market capitalism has brought more prosperity to more people than any previous system, it still has to be regulated to prevent it from doing harm. You've stated that "people should be able to do whatever they want provided they do not demonstrably harm other people in doing it", and i agree with that to some extent, but i think that the same logic has to apply to the system as a whole. If private nursing homes are leaving old people sitting in their own sh!t all day because they can make more money by employing less staff, then don't you think we should to take away the individual freedom that allows them to do so? Of course, deregulated capitalism has the potential to cause much greater damage than the abuse of old people. Surely a few personal freedoms will have to be sacrificed to sort this mess out.

Be careful with the flags, Tom.

And we haven't lost at home since. 6 games - 4 wins and 2 draws. As the mannie says, we're building something here.

What a great result. I had a cracking night watching Sky Sports News in the pub. Feck. Feck. Feck. I'm out as well. Uncle Gordy's retirement do. I'll bring a radio.

If this is a draw, when will the replay be?

If that's what you're into then i'd suggest a visit to TCS.

There were a few Caley fans calling for the manager's head that night - myself included. Hissy also took a lot of a abuse. What a turnaround for those two over the next 14 months!

4 days after they beat Liverpool at Anfield. I remember this match well as Celtic only made 2 changes. They brought in Javier Sanchez Broto for their 1st choice who i think was either Gould or Marshall and they started with David Fernandez insted of John Hartson and Chris Sutton was at the back. I could not believe how s**t Fernandez was that night and actually Larsson was pretty poor aswell. Also remember Hartson coming on after about 14 minutes because Martin O'Neill could see they were struggling. But when Denzil scored, jeez what a noise from the Bridge End(back when it was terracing! :) I don't have time to check, but i think they made a lot more than two changes. From memory 3 players remained from the team that won at Anfield (Larsson, Lennon and Valgaaren???) Granty and Richie Hart also deserve credit for the goal. Lovely ball down the line from Grant for Hart to cut inside and lay it off for the inrushing Denzil. Bliss.

Not quite. Brechin initially received a fine and were ordered to replay their fixture when it was thought that they had played one ineligilible player. Once it transpired that they had played two they were kicked out. The bulletin is on the website for all to see: List of Suspensions Dunfermline's excuse is that they looked at the wrong list: Cup Cautions It's a poor excuse really, beacuse that list clearly states at the top of the page: Providing clubs had been informed that they have to check these lists on a weekly basis, then Dunfermline don't have a leg to stand on. Correct decision.

That's a cracking picture. I've never seen anyone look so much like a psycopathic serial killer. The right eye looks innocent enough, but the left one oozes pure evil and fits perfectly with his cold, stoney, look of indiffernece to the crimes he's committed. His day will come. As it happens, i've always had a decent relationship with Baillie. He had mellowed a bit by the time i reached Millburn and combined his teaching duties with the role Deputy Rector. I played rugby from years 1-3 which definitely helped. For all that, i'm perfectly aware of some the less savoury things he used to get up to, and even towards the end of his teaching days he was basically still a bully.

Dundee v Dunfermline Draw @ 3.75

That's an extremely biased account of the situation, DC. Speaking out publicly against the revolution in Cuba is not allowed. In Havana, there a police stationed on nearly every corner and any criticism of the regime takes place in hushed tones behind closed doors. Chavez has been elected repeatedly by the poor, miserbable, lives you describe. In itself, this is a victory for the masses in a continent that has seen small elites impose governments and ideolgies for so long. The thousands of co-operatives and community councils running health clinics and infrastructure projects is another victory for democracy in Chavez's Venezuela. The guy doesn't convince me to be honest. There is a massive personality cult surrounding him, he's far too into the military and isn't afraid to centralise when he feels threatened, but in spite of all that, it's impossible to deny that attempts to redistribute wealth and power have been made. How do define prosperity? Massive inequality and the exclusion of millions from health and education while the top 10% get stinking rich?

Although i was at great pains to dampen any attempt to link him with Scotland job, i actually think he'd be a very good manager for ICT. Can see him getting a bigger job in Scottish or lower league English football though. Surely this job is made for Angus.

TinCanFan with his tongue in his cheek.

Sometimes the power and influence that comes with owning a club means more to these guys that the actual money they may or may not make from the club directly.

No more of a basket case than the succession of US backed dictatorships and their Chicago School chums who have ravaged Latin America over the last few decades. At least Chavez is accountable to his electorate, most of which lives in dire poverty and sees an opportunity to redistribute some of the wealth and power that has been concentrated in the hands of a relatively small elite since the oil was discovered in the 20's. Personally, i don't have much faith in Chavez' domestic project. His lasting legacy will be the effect that his rhetoric and his race has had on the rest of the region. The idea that the indigenous and the poor can stand up to the power that has kept them down for so long is permeating throughout Latin America. ?El pueblo unido, jam?s ser? vencido!

I think the trade embargo that has been imposed on Cuba for over 50 years means that there is no comparison to be made - even with other Latin American countries. While Cuba's achievments in health and education are admirable, the authoritarian nature of the regime has not been diluted in that time and the people have simply had enough. The moment that the Soviet Union collapsed was the beginning of the end of socialism on that island. Without powerful allies, and with an economy concentrated on something as volatile as sugar, Cuba's system was simply unsustainable. In recent years it has been forced to open its doors to tourism and to dollars sent by the Miamian diaspora. Anyone with access to either of these sources of income can make more money in a day than highly trained public servants do in a year. Socialism in Cuba is dead and i predict that the regime that created it will be gone within the next decade. No doubt the neo-liberals will turn a blind eye to the increasing numbers of Cubans who make their way across to Florida as they toast the freedom of Cuba.