RossP

It's way too soon for that. Hayes and Rooney have only just had their first 'full season' of playing regularly... Give them another season or two, with maybe the chance of a B International and then we'll maybe see some callups.

Probably something to do with their European games being midweek...? Wouldn't mind it being on the telly though :)

That'll be us having a 12.30/12.45pm kick off then, as it looks like the most likely to be on Sky/ESPN. I'll be getting back from the Sweden v. Scotland game the day before, so I'll probably watch this on the telly with a few beers.

Tokely to sign one year deal

Further information on Esson and Tokely's contract situation here I wouldn't be surprised if we lost both this summer with this offer of only a 1 year contract. Esson has been tremendous and an integral part of the solid defence we demonstrated in the tail end of last season. Tokely's loyalty over the years deserve better.

It's not likely to be the Rangers match as ESPN/SKY are only allowed to show a certain amount of games from a Scottish stadium each season. They tend to keep the Old Firm home matches pretty clear for the matches v. each other and crunch matches at the end of the season. I'd imagine Hamilton v. Celtic will be one and possibly another one on a saturday lunchtime or monday night. I'd hope we'd be considered for the saturday lunchtime, since we're the 'new team' in the league (and Motherwell have an awful record when playing live on tv!)

Just reading on PieandBovril and noticed this... The full set of new SPL fixtures will be released in 2 weeks time, however the opening day fixtures have been sent off to the ESPN and Sky well in advance. (so they can choose which matches to broadcast live), so here are the opening SPL fixtures of season 2010/11, I got this information from a friend who works at Sky. Dundee United v Kilmarnock Hamilton Academical v Celtic Heart of Midlothian v Aberdeen Inverness CT v Motherwell Rangers v Hibernian St Mirren v St Johnstone Seems quite plausible... :)

P&J Story here...

These are the games I'll make for definites. Might make the trip down to Blackpool if we get a friendly lined up there as well.

Dundee -v- Montrose Elgin City -v- Ayr United Dunfermline Athletic -v- Arbroath Annan Athletic -v- Partick Thistle Stirling Albion -v- Forfar Athletic Albion Rovers -v- Airdrie United Ross County -v- Livingston Stenhousemuir -v- Brechin City Raith Rovers -v- East Fife Clyde -v- Cowdenbeath Peterhead -v- Berwick Rangers Stranraer -v- Morton Queen of the South -v- Dumbarton East Stirlingshire -v- Alloa Athletic Inverness Caledonian Thistle -v- Queen's Park

Draw is taking place RIGHT NOW!! We will find out who we are playing v. shortly. The only place I can find updates is on P&B and the livingston fc website's twitter

Sat 31st July I'm led to believe...

Good stuff. I like the idea of having a competitive game before the SPL season kicks off, so this will be a nice warm up. Since I'm on School Hols I'll definitely make the journey along to the match

I know Esson is unhappy with the terms offered by the club, as I spoke to a player about it a fortnight ago. That's as much as I know though... I don't know if it is wage amount or length of contract that he's unhappy with. I'd be devasted if he left though. He's had a fantastic season.

Did we play in the League Cup first round last year? Against Alloa or Montrose? I seem to remember we did. Which would suggest we go into the 2nd round draw...

Awww boo... looks like I'm maybe wrong. Taken from P&B: FIRST ROUND (Saturday 31st July 2010) Seeded... Falkirk, Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic, Queen of South, Ross County, Partick Thistle, Raith Rovers, Morton, Airdrie Utd, Ayr Utd, Stirling Albion, Alloa Athletic, Cowdenbeath, Brechin City, Peterhead Unseeded... Dumbarton, East Fife, Stenhousemuir, Arbroath, Clyde, Livingston, Forfar Athletic, East Stirlingshire, Queen's Park, Albion Rovers, Berwick Rangers, Stranraer, Annan Athletic, Elgin City, Montrose SECOND ROUND (Tue/Wed 24th/25th August, according to various club websites) Seeded... Heart of Midlothian, Hamilton Academical, St Johnstone, Aberdeen, St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, + 4 R1 clubs Unseeded... 11 R1 clubs [it is impossible for Clyde or below to be seeded] THIRD ROUND (logically... Tue/Wed 21st/22nd September) Seeded... Rangers, Celtic, Dundee Utd, Hibernian, Motherwell, + 3 R2 clubs Unseeded... 8 R2 clubs [it is impossible for East Stirlingshire or below to be seeded] FOURTH ROUND (logically... Tue/Wed 26th/27th Octber) All-In... 8 R3 clubs

We should know the first fixture of our new season when the draw is made for the League Cup first round tomorrow League Cup draw From the article above, I'm guessing we'll be playing in the first round? Who would you like? For me i'd like a wee trip away to a 2nd or 3rd division team. Preferably one that's easy to get to from Aberdeen... Arbroath perhaps?

Oops! It was the Dunfermline game. I was at both and since it was in the space of a week I must've got them mixed up. He played a stormer all the same.

McBain plays best in the middle I feel, breaking up play and playing the simple pass. After so many games out he was still by far the standout player in the 4-3 match v. Raith a couple of months ago. A fantastic performance.

They do want to, but the club have to improve the deals offered. Otherwise it is 'Turkish delight'-esque P&J headlines...

Benji signs for German Club

I'd also like to think that Shinnie, Morrison and Ross are going to push on and become players who are challenging for starting positions. That's almost like 3 new signings in important positions (right mid, centre mid and left back/left mid). Perhaps even Shane Sutherland may push on and get some games from the bench.

Malpas expects remaining 5 to sign up...

Exactly. Back on topic please. Discussion on Duff not Mulgrew...

I know there is quite a bit of work to be done with Tokely and Esson, as they weren't happy with the first contract offer. *Source: speaking to a player the other day.