JohnRobertson

YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE PAST!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT YOU CAN INFLUENCE THE FUTURE

Good answer !! Thanks John....

I hope TB is reading this!!

Just quick one for you all out there here a said earlier is my thoughts on changing Scottish footbal all crticism is welcome but i reckon it would provide much needed stimulus

scottish premier league 14 teams

scottish premier league championship 10 teams

scottish regional league 1 2 and 3

promotion relegation champions from championship up bottom premier down as usual then our own

play offs 4th in championship play 3rd one off game at 3rds ground as 3rd finished higher the winner would travel to play 2nd and the winner of that would travel to second bottom of the premier league in a one off game with the winner taking its place in the spl think about it as the leagues are right now

st johnstone up falkirk down

4th dunfermline travel to3rd dundee sell out crowd say dundee win travel to partick crowd 5k plus winners travel to caley crowd 5k plus excitement would be brilliant and would give real sense of a chance to the ist div teams as even if you finish 4th you still have a slim 3 away wins required chance to get to the spl and gives all teams in the division something to play for at this moment 6 teams could make the play offs

just say premier was

celtic,rangers,hearts,dundee utd,aberdeen,hibs ,well,hamilton,st mirren,killi,caley,falkirk,st john and partick

championship dunde,livi,pars,queens,county,clyde,airdrie,morton,ayr and raith

premier teams play each other twice(26games) then split 7+7 and play home and away again (38) games same as moment and takes away the stupid thing of 20 home/away games or 18 home/away games you are guaranteed 19 home and 19 away games simple

championship would continue to play home and away twice (36 games) as would the 3 regional leagues

regional leagues would be north montrose,forfar,brechin,arbroath,cove,inverurie,elgin peterhead,fraserburgh and huntly

central east,east fife,cowdenbeath,berwick,gala,stenny,spartans,lochee,tayport,linli

thgow preston thletic

central west stirling,queens park,albion,dumbarton,annan,stranraer,pollock, killwinning,alloa,auchinlek

most have tried to apply in past but atleast we would have pyramid system all 3 league winners plus challenge cup winners would play off home and away to meet in final winners playing bottom of championship in one of game at championship teams ground and if they met championship mcriteria so many seats etc this wouls assure that only teams with a wish to improve their stadium etc could come up if a team won the challenge cup and the regional division they would proceed to play off final direct only regional teams compete for challenge cup

advantages 2 extra teams in spl more safety allowing use of more home grown talent plus more excitement to the 1st division plus we retain more full time teams and we retain the new look 3 divisions in the regional leagues allowing young managers/coaches and players opportunity to play in the senior game

what you reckon have thought about writing to spl and sfa have it all typed out

Apart from Capn Munro, which of our players have leadership qualities?

leadership qualities can be found in many ways its not always the guy who is fist pumping and shouting who is the true leader its guys who show through their dedication in training and games thir skills on the park the way they go about their busines in games and training that can show true leadership qualities

sometimes being a captain can give players the extra responsibility they need others it could be an un wanted burden TOKELY and BLACK for example might see being captain as a need to show more resonsibility on the pitch (better discipline lead by example) where as a MCBAIN DUNCAN IMRIE type might see it as a burden and would prefer to concentrate on their game

i beleive Grant is best suited but beleive that Ross russell and brian kerr(in time) could allso be fine captains

Hi John

Good to see you back on here again.... this website has been suffering from depression ever since the Falkirk game...

What did you think of that one?

Can Caley pick themselves up again and steer clear of relegation or has the Butcher bubble now burst?

Lets take a wee reality check here yes it was a bad result yes it would apear a poor performance but while dissapointing it is just 3 points lost against the 3 surprise points gained at ibrox people talk about honeymoon periods and bubbles bursting dont look back look forward the most important thing is the next game ST MIRREN

remember this as i have said to players many times and i urge the fans to take on board

YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE PAST!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT YOU CAN INFLUENCE THE FUTURE

forget the falkirk game that has gone lets concentrate on supporting the team v st mirren

Hi Robbo, as always it's a pleasure to have your insight available to us.

Here's a question for you - who do you think will be relegated from the SPL? Will it be us?

And, in light of my username, was it just my imagination that Hissy kept getting caught offside?

in reverse order i do remember stephen occasionaly get caught offside but prefer to remember his wonderful header v clyde and his clinching challenge cup goal both great days

yes we will stay up i have no doubt last time on i hoped for 3 wins to pull us up ther and make as many teams involved as possible and now falkirk st mirren killi and hamilton are all in the mix we will NOT GO DOWN

heres one for you John, where can you see the club in the next five years?(honestly)

As said i feel this could be the most important season so far in the clubs short history staying up would allow the clubs flourishing yoth system to continue and of course ther is an up turn in the setanta deal for next season as well so that is vital.The club with the continued progress can in my beleif avheive what donald and i along with danny macdonald and graeme bennet set out

1promotion (acheived)

2.become an established premier league side(acheived)

3.set up a conveyer belt of local talent and keep them up north(acheived)

4.reach top 6 (work in progress)

5 win a major cup (work in progress)

6 qualify for europe

its not just fanciable i honestly beleive that with continued progress all of the above can be acheived i have argued long and hard that our location can be used as an advantage to encourage al local businesses to get behind club(lookat finance and budget increas since reaching spl)and encourage nore youngsters to games another 5 yearsin spl would see the next generation of caley fans start to watch games and see more local talent play

beleive it or not i feel the directorsand director of football have done very very well to keep the club going forward and reckon this will continue its a tough tough job to keep fans happy at any club and i still beleive in the next 5 years all of the other objectives can be realisticaly acheived

Interested to know if you agree with what seems to be general opinion that the standard in the SPL is probably as poor as it has ever been, including the OF. If so, why do you think this is - cant be just down to money (or lack of it)?

It has generally been quoted as getting poorer and that things are levelling out below the old firm they seem to be not able to bring in the same quality and have unfortunatly raided Scottish teams for their best talent therefore weakening the opposition in the league you only have to look at recent times with Hibs in particular losing out on their home grown and cheaply found talent its not just money as i know that caleys budget is at least double than the one i had but this is down to two main things tv money increse and no rent to Aberdeen plus more income from advertising and hospitality at tcs.

but imagine if these clubs still had this talent at their disposal how stronger they would be

inverness mark brown don cowie ian black (barry robson)dargo wyness bayne.

hibs whittaker,murphy,caldwell,brown,killen,miller,o connor.beuzilin,sproule thomson

hearts bednar,popisil,skacel,concalves,gordon,webster,berra,hartely

dundee utd zaluskas.wilson,flood,robson

falkirk gow stokes

killie boyd naysmith nish

thats just a small example and i know they have not all gone to old firm but it shows you how quickly squads can be weakened.

i think the game has become stagnant and we need to change the set up as i have said on previous visits to 1. make the full time top flight sides safer and therefore produce more home grown players and 2. to generate more interest and excitement in the 1st div that would create tv opportunity and a way to get promotion i have really good ides on this

Hi John,

Just as aside to the more serious side of football, many years ago in the days when I used to run about in a black uniform ruining games of football I ran the line at a closed door between Hearts and inverness thistle, the funniest thing I ever saw was the hearts side forming up for a team photo even if the front row in the team photo stood on the chairs they sat on they still would have looked tiny against the defenders at the back. Talk about a team of 2 sizes.

hi natasha

yes that has mostly been the case as defenders certainly do tend to be on the tall side and beleive you me its crazy sometimes trying to get something as seemingly simple as getting a team photo done properly eg getting players with similar height together and sloping down from tallest in back row to slightly smaller but hey look at Caley squad today??

height. tokely,munro.zadi,pavel,duff,mcguire,esson,wood,fraser,byrne

med, foran hastings,mcbain,gattusi,proctor,rooney.barrowman

smallish black kerr odiambo imrie morais ,sutherland,duncan

not easy

Hi John - whats your view on the Kris Boyd situation? How can it be sorted, and do we even want it sorted - would he be an asset to the international team?

Its a tough one and like a club side if a player says he does not want to play for a specific manager then there is usually only one winner

boyd is a scorer and yes it has been citied at both cluba nd club level he does not allegedly score against the top sides but he rarely starts against the top sides so ma said tiugh one i would personally like him in the squad all things being equal and use him in a 4 4 2 formation for home games but as a sub in away matches if you needed someone to score you a goal.

as team manager George Burley deserve respect and he has asked Boyd to re consider his options if i was manager and a plyer did not want to play for me i would not pick him i was lucky enough to play 16 times and would walk anywhwere to play for scotland so its sad to see this

Score prediction for Saturday?

While you're at it, how about a team prediction.

honestly i would possibly say HOLLAND 2 nil but as said you have to be optimistic and hopefully 1 all

team wise i would go for 4 5 1 as ditch will play there normal 4-3-3 with the front men being wide centre wide(2 wingers i striker)

1.GORDON (I know decision made)

2.Hutton

3.Naysmith

4.Caldwell

5.Berra(assume mcmanus out Berra very quick)

midfield 5 with wingers told to push on and centre mid to attack

6.Brown(push on and suppourt miller using his energy dynamism)

7.morrisson(push on and suppy crosses from right)

8.Fletcher (sit and pass)

9.Miller (pace to drag dutch back)

10.Ferguson(sit and pass)

11.Hartley(push on and cut in ala goal v slovenia)

after an hour or so look to replace miller(tiring) and depending on score throw on Fletcher for midfielder

I take it John, that with our Scotland make-shift team, you are siding with the bookies and giving us no chance this next two games?

Not at all i as you all know like to be optimistic about my team/countrys chances in any game,while i am the first to admit we are not at our strongest for the match in Holland we must be positive and have a go!!! what have we got to lose?

however i beleive saturday will be more of a backs to the wall gritty determined effort to frustrate our opponents and try and nick something put it in perspective here RANGERS v CALEY and CALEY v KILMARNOCK !!!!!!!!! how many fans honestly expected us to win at ibrox?? and how many saw the match v KILLIE as must win? this is how i view both games

HOLLAND anything is a bonus ICELAND must win similar reults to caley would do nicely

Hi guys/ladies

Slow week so if anyone is up for a bit of Q+A fire away international week as well so be my guest

Hi Robbo

How about mentioning to your colleagues on Radio Scotland how irritating the action replays of commentaries set to a disco beat, with all manner of accompanying sound effects can be. These usually start on Stuart & Tam's show (which is excellent) and continue throughout the afternoon usually with games involving the old firm...

Action replays are absolutely fine on TV but should not be broadcast on radio...That and all the blo0dy jingles very often have me reaching for the "off" button...

not got much sway on that johnboy but can pass it on to producers i think they generally do it to give a flavour to whats coming up and a bit like the open all mic s concept some people like it and some (like yourself) dont but fire an e mail in to radio scotland they do like feedback as they want to provide the best show that they can

After retiring as a player, did it ever cross your mind to get your boots back on and have another go?

no i had a very good career played 801 games and had been in 1st team football for nearly 20 seasons and had been diagnosed with arthiritis in my ip at 29 years old so when i retired i knew it was time and had no regrets at all honestly i spent thelast 6 months 99/2000 playing reserve football with livi skids and it was nice way to ease myself out helping the youngsters learn the game

little slip there folks it was meant to read LIVI'S KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oops

After retiring as a player, did it ever cross your mind to get your boots back on and have another go?

no i had a very good career played 801 games and had been in 1st team football for nearly 20 seasons and had been diagnosed with arthiritis in my ip at 29 years old so when i retired i knew it was time and had no regrets at all honestly i spent thelast 6 months 99/2000 playing reserve football with livi skids and it was nice way to ease myself out helping the youngsters learn the game

Were there any players who could have gone much further if they'd trained harder?

without a doubt there were many with great natural ability and poor training attitude and some who were average players but more that made up for that with a terrific attitude and work ethic it is all about getting the right balance as football is sometimes like a jigsaw puzzle you need all different shapes to fit togrther to get the desired end result

take saturday the biggest difference between the teams was caley s desire determination attitude and willingness to work their socks off for each other and then deny opposition any room to play then took chances when they came along managers players are like the fans they would love to play brilliant attacking football and win 2,3,4 nil but its not always possibe so first up give everything and know you could not work any harder and your not far away

one of the best players ever to wear a caley shirt was big Bobby Mann great reader of the game great passer of the ball aggressive comanding and in my view shoiuld have played at the very top level it was not through lack of effort either sometimes you can be unlucky if Bobby had been directed better in his youth his career could have been diffferent

Nice one Yngwie. :thumb04: :018: ;) :015:

Here's another that will give Robbo's erse one or two splinters:

That Brewster was a right duffer eh? Should we have sacked him in December?

not for me to say to be honest

Here's the tweezers Robbo :D

Give the fence a coat of paint while you're at it

not sitting on fence its just not my place to comment on wether a manager shoild or should not have been sacked at a certain time or not remember i have been in that position and its not nice when everyone is looking for you to be removed and your trying your hardest to win no manager has ever tried to fail they are the same as the fans if not more determined as they have the ultimate decision to pick the team

take Lionel and Proc for example lots of fans wanted them out but right now they are playing very well in RESURGENT caley side would it have been right to get rid of them pre xmas as most wanted?lionel mom on sat and i spoke afterward to him and his confidence is returning proc scores and is doing solid job in team so as said everyone has an opinion but for me to comment on any previous or current manager/coach would be wrong in my opinion i hope you can respect that

another question robbo, who was the hardest training player you ever came across?

lots of good training players hardest working take your pick Kenny Black Neil Berry Craig Levein John Colquhoun Barry Wilson Golly Roy all very hard working Rankin Cowie Tiernan at county Webster Neilson Wallace at Hearts were fit lads too

Dear John,

You are almost never late for your appointments

YES NO

You like to be engaged in an active and fast-paced job

YES NO

You enjoy having a wide circle of acquaintances

YES NO

...................................................>>>

You easily perceive various ways

in which events could develop

YES NO

ok here goes

no yes no no no no yes no no yes no no yes no no no no yes no yes yes yes no no yes yes no no yes not sure no no yes yes yes yes no no yes yes yes yes no yes yes no no yes yes yes yes no yes yes yes no no no yes no yes no no no yes yes no tes yes no yes yes

there x

Nice one Yngwie. :thumb04: :018: ;)

Here's another that will give Robbo's erse one or two splinters:

That Brewster was a right duffer eh? Should we have sacked him in December?

not for me to say to be honest

Robbo, the only time I've ever seriously doubted your judgement as a manager was your persistance in playing Darran Thompson. He was young and did his best for us, but I just didn't think he had the credentials required of a professional footballer.

What particular abilities could you see in him that I couldn't?

darren was brought in on the same deal as proctor in that donald felt both would give us young back up at an affordable(very affordable) price while david kicked on physicaly darren did not and thats the gamble you take most of his appearnces were in scottish cup when you had to include under 21 players and he did score memrable winner at love street en route to the semi v pars some you win proctor black fox some you lose thomson finnigan etc

Hi Robbo

Stirred a few memories with mentions of all these great players there...

Can you mind Neil Berry? I think he ran the players' social club at Tynecastle during the early nineties. He left Hearts for Falkirk then seemed to disappear.

Do you know where he is now and what he's doing?

hi johnboy

yes big'chuck' is alive and well i think he was doing some electrical work for a while but if memory serves me right is working the black cab taxis in edinburgh he was a strong player really fit and an unsung hero amongs the hearts team really appreciated by the players for the unseen work of breaking up play and starting attacks(duncan mcbain) and popped up with the occassional goal to great lad and vary friendly with wayne foster who is a postman in edinburgh

Hi Robbo

On a similar note, do you know where Zico is now? I bumped into him at a petrol station in Bradford when he was there with Jim Jefferies, and he was good enough to stop and chat for a few minutes.

he was last heard of being a kitchen fitter not seen him for a while but hope he will be playing for hearts legends this year

John, I would like to thank you for your frank and honest reply to my message.

Apologies if what I said seemed harsh, and I accept that you are a genuine fan.

I do enjoy listening to you on the radio, you speak very well, both in general and about ICT.

You werent my first choice for the job, no offence, and I suppose I saw your appearance on here as a method of trying to get the job.

But you know what, even if it was (which you have siad it isnt), who cares? Its a tough world/business football!

I have decided that when I have had a bad day at work...rather than take it out on this board...ill just give the dog a beating instead!

.........I am joking, all you animal lovers!

no problem no offence taken

Thanks again for taking the time to answer mine and all the other questions.

I do have more but hopefully you will be back again in the next few months.

Good luck with everything you are doing at the moment and hopefully you will be back managing again soon.

no worries will come back again if invited just let me know

thanks again

robbo

Obviously football is your biggest passion but what else do you love? If you weren't a footballer/manager was there anything else you would have liked to have been?

Obviously football is your biggest passion but what else do you love? If you weren't a footballer/manager was there anything else you would have liked to have been?

hi morgan spice

i was lucky football was all i could think of doing and i stuck at it was always told to small to fat to slow to make it but just made me even more determined to succeed now all i would really like to do is put as much back into the sport as possible help players acheive their best life is short and therefor whatever you do give it everything and enjoy your time on this earth does not matter what you do just try and make a difference try and acheive something that you see as something i try to be as positive as possibel my current job is an industry i knew nothing about but i attack it with the same gusto and willingness i would if preparing a team for a game its just me just the way i am