DoofersDad

Interesting. Presumably there are 2 clubs who would only want to join if you needed a 41 - 1 majority to change things. At least it gives us a glimmer of hope for change and it gives Neil Lennon something else to rant about.

Interesting little article here. http://news.bbc.co.u...ent/4524354.stm Basically the laws of the game only refer to deliberate handball but there is a general understanding that if the player deliberately holds his arms so that the arms may block the ball whether it be "hand to ball" or "ball to hand", then that can be construed as deliberate handball. It really shouldn't be that difficult in most situations but we see penalties given time after time when there is no way the contact could have been deliberate. FIFA should be giving a clearer steer on this, but even without that I really do think that the referees should use a bit more common sense and stop ruining games just because the ball happens to strike a defender's hand from time to time. If they paid a bit more attention to the defenders' hands that are constantly pulling shirts, gripping arms and generally getting far too intimate with the bodies of the opposition attackers then we would have penalties when the laws of the game have actually been infringed and a generally more open game would result.

Seriously????? I did not know that!!!!! Like you said, i actually physically shudder at the thought! If he thinks he has it tough at Celtic with the referees not giving his team decisions then imagine what he would be like given our year of refereeing circus acts! His reactions would no doubt be completely over the top but at least he would be justified in having a rant

A reserve team can be what you want it to be. If you wan't to stuff it with older guys who are not good enough for the first team then that is the manager's choice. If you want to stuff it full of 16 year olds that's the manager's choice as well. In practice most will use it to bring youngsters on, provide match practice for those returning from injury and provide opportunities to keep the fringe players match fit. The balance will depend on the circumstances throughout the season.

Someone said on Radio 5 live that Lennon had retweeted a comment from a fan that it was time for Celtic to get out of the SPL and away from its corrupt officials. That presumably would be to England and to officials who give Man Utd yet another penalty for Young diving against his former club and Chelsea a goal that none of the Chelsea players even claimed had crossed the line. You're welcome to head South, Neil - but please take your cheating pals in blue with you when you go.

Maybe Imrie's returning here :aghast:

It is because a reserve league has those advantages for clubs with small resources that it has been done away with. The old firm have (up till now) been able to buy good new players to strengthen their team and given that the rest of us can't, they want to prevent us from developing our own talent. What the OF want the SPL want.

If Rangers newco (Whiter than Whyte FC) apply to join the SPL to take Glasgow Rangers place, there is absolutely no reason why the SPL should have any obligation to accept their application and every reason why they should not. They have an agreement with the SFL that admittance to the SPL is via promotion from Division 1 of the SFL and that is the only route that any club has ever been admitted to the SPL and the only route any club will ever be admitted. If Whiter than Whyte FC apply to join the SPL the SPL should be telling them that they will only accept applications from the Champions of the SFL first division. If there is a vacancy in the SPL as a result of a club failing and not reforming then I understand the arrangement would be that the club which finished bottom would not be relegated rather than the club finishing 2nd in the SFL going up. Whilst I don't agree with that, it does mean that the teams in the SFL 1st division have a better chance of promotion the next season because they are not competing against the club which would otherwise have been relegated. However, that is denied to them if a newly formed club is allowed into the SPL without going through the usual route and as a result, a club is relegated. It is even harder, of course, on the club that is relegated. I hope Dunfermline have got some good lawyers on board. It seems to me therefore that the SFL and the clubs that make up its membership should be strongly objecting to any suggestion of Whiter than Whyte FC being admitted to the SPL. I don't know what all the rules and agreements are but I would be interested to know if there is any clause which allows for admittance to the SPL other than by promotion from the SFL. All a bit hypothetical I know because when do Rangers and the SPL play by the rules in any case? At least I feel better for venting my spleen.

It was said tongue in cheek!

I note you didn't make the same comment in relation to my earlier comment about a certain Andrew Barrowman!

No option for me. I wouldn't go to a Rangers match and allow any of my hard earned money to go into their theiving hands. An option would be to give the money I would have paid for a ticket to ICT so that we don't cut off our noses to spite our faces. We could turn up at the ground and have a dignified protest bearing placards of schools and hospitals not built because of the money Rangers have stolen from the taxpayers of this country. I have drawn attention to punishments meted out to clubs in the English system before. Clubs like Aldershot, Newport, Halifax all had to reform under a slightly different name and start out several tiers below where they were when they went into liquidation. But there is a big, big difference here. These clubs went into liquidation basically because the product the business was producing was not good enough to maintain the club and they simply failed. Rangers have not failed. Over the years that they have been accumulating their financial time bomb they have been a successful club winning several domestic titles and playing regularly (if briefly ) in Europe. Rather than fail financially, they have systematically abused the financial system and witheld money from the taxman in order to try and buy even greater success. They deserve no sympathy and no mercy from anyone. I can understand the view that other clubs don't want to press for harsher penalties because it could be seen as turkies voting for Christmas but I don't really accept that. Firstly, the rules introduced should be be able to distinguish between clubs which fall on hard times because their legitimate business plan simply fails, and a club which goes into liquidation because they are deliberately avoiding paying money they owe to others in order to buy success. Secondly, it is not just the taxpayer Rangers have cheated, it is the fans, players and staff of honest clubs who may have enjoyed success if Rangers had not been so strong on the playing front. Thirdly, whilst accepting that other clubs may be a little financially worse off if Rangers were banished to East Stirling, it would give honest teams the chance of some success and a taste of European football - surely it is worth a little bit of loss of OF income for that opportunity. Finally, why should the threat of severe sanctions be seen as a problem for other teams? As long as they manage their finances in a sound manner they should never get into that position. And knowing what the sanctions are, it will mean that all clubs know that all the other clubs will be forced to be financially prudent and we will have a more level playing field. It really is time for anyone with any moral fibre in Scottish football to put their heads above the parapet and speak up for bringing a bit of integrety into this issue and to call for any club emerging out of the Ibrox fiasco to be evicted from the SPL and to be required to apply to the SFL where they should be allowed to apply for entry if and when a vacancy arose. Of course, it is not going to happen. Money is far more important than morality to those who run the game in this country and we will be back with the old firm domination of the Scottish game if not next season then certainly the season after. Those who are allowing this to happen should be hanging their heads in shame.

Ross County are neither. They are an SFL team and next season they will be an SPL team. If they and their various supporters on this forum aspire for them to be "the most successful Highland League team in history" or "the most successful team in Highland League history" then maybe they should abandon plans for improvement at their bog of a ground and apply to join the Highland League next season. I am sure they would be made most welcome.

Excellent article.

Interesting indeed. Some decent thoughts there but it appears to suggest that if Rangers went into liquidation and emerged with a new name they would automatically have a place in the SPL. I can understand other clubs supporting that in the event it happened to them, but liquidation should mean you start at the bottom of the structure and work your way up.

Congratulations are in order but it is a shame they have not had to work harder for the title. For Dundee to fail to win at home against the bottom club is very poor indeed and it has been like that all season. County's points per game ratio of 2.1 is nothing special and is 3rd out of 4 of the top teams in the four scottish divisions. Dundee's points per game ratio of just 1.6 is very low for a team in 2nd place and is worse than Motherwell's in 3rd in the premier division and the worst of all the 2nd placed teams in the Scottish divisions. Whilst acknowledging that there are twice as many teams in the English divisions, this points per game ratio would typically place you about 6th or 7th. So whilst County are top on merit, they are top of a pretty mediocre bunch of teams in the SFL this year and have never been under any pressure. It will certainly be interesting to see how they do next year and despite my grudging acknowledgment of their achievement here, I happen to think they will do pretty well.

Much will depend on who leaves and who stays and who gets brought in. I'm not going to guess that. Much will depend on how injuries impact on a team and whether the clubs can field a consistent side. But if County can keep their team largely intact and bring in 2 or 3 experienced players then they are likely to be hard to beat. Personally I don't see them going down and we will do well to finish above them Much as it pains me to say it, I can see County ending up in the top 6 next season. So whilst we have been consistently above them since we joined the Scottish League they currently pip us in having reached a Scottish Cup final and next year they could beat our best ever league position as well. Normal service will then resume after that. One more prediction. We release Proctor, he joins Munro across the bridge and has a superb season. I'll stop now before I get too depressed.

What! No Andy Barrowman! Think I'll stay at home.

I confess to being largely ignorant of the murky world of business finance but would agree up to a point. Borrowing money is a fact of life and we all do it. A mortgage for instance allows us to live in a house that we could not afford were we not to borrow money from someone else. As long as the business pays back the loan and the interest associated with it then there should be no problem. If one business is better at persuading others to loan them money and is more successful as a result, then good luck to them. That is simply good business. It gets murky when the business is less than honest with those lending the money. If those loaning the money are given incorrect information about the business which hides the level of risk then the business obtains money which it might not otherwise have got. Those loaning money have a responsibility to check the business model they are presented with and therefore it can become a grey area as to whether the lender has just been naiive or whether the business has acted fraudulently. I couldn't possibly say which is the case here other than Rangers are certainly in the murky area of business. And where I would certainly take issue with Alex and would go along with Lawrence is that most of Rangers' debt is not their failure to pay back loans, it is failure to pay taxes which they are legally obliged to pay and failure to pay a variety of other businesses money which is simply owed for services provided. There is therefore a world of difference between being in debt and not paying what you owe to others. Other football clubs may be in debt (and some by considerably more than Rangers) but if their business model offers assurances that money owed can always be paid then we should not be unduly concerned. The point here is that the powers that be should expect any football club to act within the law and to pay money owed to others with reasonable promptness. Failure to do that should result in sanctions. It is right to throw the book at Rangers but it would be wrong to throw the book at any other club just because they have what appear to be rather large debts. Finally, just a thought about a specific debt Rangers apparently have failed to pay. Reports suggest an unpaid bill of £8,000 to the Scottish Ambulance Service. Given what happened recently with Fabrice Muamba and the fantastic attention he received at the scene of his collapse, it seems quite appalling that Rangers have failed to pay them promptly. If anyone at Rangers had a shred of decency about them, they would have paid this small but important debt out of their own pocket.

He wouldn't be my first choice either but he was excellent in the 2nd half against Rangers. Whilst he does get caught from time to time, he is usually pretty solid and always gives 100%. He does a lot of quietly efficient work which goes un-noticed by many whilst the occasional slips are, unfortunately always noted and commented on. He can play in a number of positions and is a good player to have on the bench. He's a good squad player and I for one would be happy to see him stay.

If the referendum vote worked on the same rules as SPL we would need 92% to vote "yes" for independence to become a reality.

Spot on. Good first post.

Whatever turns you on

Great blog. Great also hearing of the good progress and Chris's determination to get himself back playing. Hopefully he will be able to provide the solidity at the back next year that we have been lacking this year.

Dictionary

That probably says more about Scottish football than it does about Terry Butcher.