Kingsmills

Season not over yet. An uphill battle but that point gained in such adverse circumstances might yet prove crucial. We somehow need to find a way to win our three remaining matches starting away at Tynecastle on Saturday. Not an easy task now but we are still capable of achieving it.

We really are going to have to summon up the spirit of Easter Road 2014 now !

Manchester City now made a similar announcement. The edifice is crumbling already. That's what can happen when you build a glittering tower with no foundations.

Chelsea withdrawing from the European Super League. I would be very surprised now if the rest of the English clubs at least didn't follow suit.

Perhaps the biggest and most important game of the season so far. On current form, we can win this but we need to be fully committed from kick off to final whistle.

What a relief. Panic over. I knew that nobody in their right minds would want to replace our 150 year old traditions with a closed shop, US style, franchise system. It turns out it was just a typographical error in the press release. These wealthy individuals simply want to take advantage of lockdown easing by meeting regularly each Wednesday for an evening meal at some of the finest and most exclusive restaurants in the continent. What they intended to announce was the establishment of the European Supper League.

I was listening to some interviews with spokespeople for fans groups. A fascinating schism. Whilst all the traditional European based fans of every club involved, many of whom attend games and have been the lifeblood of the game for decades, utterly condemn the move, the condemnation is not universal amongst all supporters. The interviews with fans groups in the Middle East, Asia, the Far East and North America could not show a starker contrast. These nouveau fans all seem to regard it as a brilliant idea. It's also revealing to note that, of the participating clubs quoted on the stock market, their share prices have all risen since the news broke. Further evidence if needed that the greedy owners are perfectly happy to abandon the fans who have supported these clubs through thick and thin and chase the money at whatever moral cost. We have all got used to the idea of watching games on TV played out in front of empty seats. I suspect that the owners are perfectly happy for that time remain the case as long as fans in Shanghai, Dubai, Los Angeles and Mumbai continue to snap up the merchandise and watch remotely as they appear content to do.

I don't see that being a significant issue. The players are contracted to their clubs who will remain obliged to fulfill these contracts even if the teams are reduced to playing midweek football in one competition only. There is no legal obligation on national associations to select any player for international football. I suspect that this is a negotiating ploy to force the authorities to give the already wealthy and privileged an even larger slice of the cake. I hope that the authorities appreciate that the existing, still largely merit based system has the backing of the very vast majority of fans and is thus, in the long run, is still holding the aces.

A word of warning for fans of ICT who naively believe that this will have no effect on our club. If the likes of Real Madrid, Milan and Manchester United suddenly have their income increased by 40% they will then be in a position to contemplate signing players of the calibre of Dave Carson, Daniel McKay and Mark Riders and then where would we be !

Over the last three decades or so the clubs at the very top of the financial pyramid, almost all now owned or controlled by middle eastern, American, Asian or Russian billionaires with no knowledge of or interest in the history or sporting integrity of the game but entirely driven by a combination of naked greed and egotism, have been increasingly divorced from the rest of the game and the very great majority of fans including those who support their own clubs. However, this latest proposal takes naked greed and self interest to a level only previously demonstrated by David Cameron and the Kardashians. More seriously though, there is probably little that can be done to prevent these selfish b@stards from forming their own clique. However, the rest of the footballing community needs to unite In making sure that these teams can no longer take part in any domestic tournaments in any nation in the World and Fifa and UEFA need to make it abundantly clear that players contracted to any breakaway club will not be eligible to be selected for International football for as long as they are so contracted and ideally for two years thereafter. Further, all decent fans of the 'elite' should consider very carefully whether to give to continue to give their hard earned cash to the oil magnates and oligarchs or whether to support their local lower league club instead. Finally, should the project ultimately fail and any of the participating clubs wish to return to their domestic set ups they should only be permitted to do so at the very foot of the relevant domestic pyramid and on the payment of a substantial financial bond to the domestic association. Let the greedy go if they wish but let's see how they fare without the support of the many layers from grassroots football up who have always, one way or another propped up and supported the top.

But thankfully not Dave Carson

No reason why it should dent our confidence at all.

A second game away against a Premiership side and a second very creditable performance. A game which, with a bit more good fortune, we could easily have won. Many positives to take forward to Tuesday and the remainder of our campaign to secure a play off place.

Given his form of late, I would be astonished if he didn't have offers to move in the Summer for for money. Fantastic to see that there is still some loyalty in the game.

Surprising but hugely welcome news. He has the ability to play in the Premiership and may well now do so with us.

Not just the club but each and every fan stands behind the player and I hope he knows it. It smacks very much as a tactic to divert from the vile racially motivated conduct of at least one employee at Raith Rovers.

Absolutely merited it would have been a travesty if the award had gone to any other player in the division.

Very much appreciated by me too. Thanks to all who continue to make CTO the one stop forum that it has been for ICT fans for almost as long as the club has existed.

Absolutely agree. All tems have now played the same number of games and we have retained our play off position. Not a bad return for an evening when our players were sitting at home.

Better still, forgo the shopping altogether and just settle for the pint......and maybe a wee chaser.

A very middle aged visit to the local garden centre for me which, unlike the Scottish Football Association, seems to feel no reason to suspend normal activities for the afternoon.

That would be a very dangerous assumption to make. The other alternative is that, having got over the line, they will play us with a sense of freedom and no pressure. We are capable of taking something from Tynecastle, including all 3 points, but we will have to be at our very best to do so and assuming that Hearts will be entirely up for the fight.

I respect your view but continue to beg to differ. Many many individuals have done enormous amounts to improve the lot of society and we, quite rightly, honour and mark these contributions when they pass away but without the necessity to disrupt life already unavoidably disrupted by the global health emergency.

I remember it well. Largely because of the huge amount of flack that came my way for opening my office as usual on the day of Diana's funeral.

I could just about see the justification for disrupting the football schedule for the funeral of the monarch herself but for a consort surely today's silence followed by a similar show of respect on the day of the funeral would suffice. The death of a very elderly man is extremely sad for his family and those who knew and loved him but we have not postponed football matches for the sake of the 140 000 or so who have died in the past year or so either directly or indirectly from Covid and I am unconvinced that it is appropriate or necessary to do so next Saturday either.