DoofersDad

I think the game should go ahead but with a very clear warning from the police that any violations of the Covid regulations will be dealt with seriously with people being fined, arrested or whatever it takes. I don't see why the players should be stopped from playing by the idiot minority or why these idiots should cause the vast majority of law abiding fans should be denied the opportunity of watching the game safely in their own homes. Too often these days, the law abiding majority are made to suffer for the antics of the idiotic or criminal few. That needs to change.

Back to the Rangers' behaviour, or rather alleged behaviour. Following their exit from Europe at the hands of Slavia Prague, the Czech side have made the extraordinary allegation that one of their players was the victim of a "brutal attack" at Ibrox. They claim cameras were covered over prior to the attack which was witnessed by various people including Gerrard and UEFA officials! If true, goodness knows what sanction might be taken against them. If not true and the UEFA officials named deny they witnessed such an attack, then presumably Slavia Prague would face pretty serious sanctions themselves. No doubt we will be hearing more in the near future. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56464382

I'll go for a 3rd option - the pragmatist. We are just 3 points away from the play offs at both ends of the table. I'll settle for a draw so they share just 2 points between them rather than the winner getting 3.

The camera work and clarity is just so much better than the Pixellot rubbish. I must say than when I saw the live stream with no zoom and no replay, I thought Roddy's early effort was a pretty tame one straight at the keeper, but actually it was a well taken effort with a very sharp low stop by the keeper. We aren't playing great at the moment but I'm sure the Pixellot system makes it seem worse than it actually is. However disappointing the result may be, the highlights by the in-house team certainly bring the good bits to life.

No.

Win on Friday night and we will only be 5pts off 2nd place. Anything can happen in this league but that was rank tonight, I'm afraid.

I'm not expecting a classic. Both sides are drawing a lot of games and whilst Morton have scored fewer goals than any other team, they haven't conceded too many either. But with just 8 points separating 2nd top from 2nd bottom, both sides have everything to play for. The wind could be the deciding factor tonight.

Todorov has a decent return with a goal every 182 minutes. That's a goal every other game if he was playing a full 90 minutes and his goal conversion rate is significantly higher than our other strikers. I've sometimes felt that he's almost trying to hard and has maybe snatched at some chances. You can't fault his effort and he gets in some decent positions. I think if he was to get a proper run in the side he could get enough goals to at least help us keep in touch with the playoffs at the right end of the table and away from them at the wrong end.

I’d give the digital pies a miss - they may contain a virus!

Well done Ryan for missing all those chances!

If we score the penalty and go 3-1 up then there is no way back for Alloa. The way we were playing at the time, we might well have grabbed another and then gone into the Hearts game full of confidence. As it is a missed penalty and dissent in the ranks gives Alloa a huge boost and we lost the confidence and momentum we had achieved. Every team has a designated penalty taker and all players are well aware of who it is. It is completely unacceptable that someone who is not that person should try to take a penalty, and one assumes from what we witnessed that Storey was not the designated taker. If that is the case, then Storey deserves some internal punishment for so badly letting down so many people. Having said that, I can maybe understand someone grabbing the ball in the heat of the moment, but what I can't understand is the rest of the team letting him do it. A win would have put us 1 point below the promotion play off places. As it is, we are just one point above the relegation play off place. These things matter.

What an awful year it has been for the club. It is unprecedented what the club and its senior staff in particular have had to cope with this year. I'm sure all our hearts go out to Robbo at this difficult time and, all in good time, we look forward to both him and Scott returning fighting fit and raring to go. It is often said that we are a family club and it is great to see the club behaving with compassion and recognising that the wellbeing of everybody is the priority here. Scot Gardiner's statement on the club website is an excellent one which emphasises what a close knit community the club is.

We've played worse than that and won. I thought we had some decent build up play and put them under a lot of pressure, but too often we hadn't got the close control or inventiveness to create clear cut chances. Then when we did shoot, the shooting was woeful. Maybe lacking a bit of confidence and match sharpness, but we don't have anybody who looks as though they could score goals on a regular basis and that's a worry.

That's a great gesture from the Hearts Supporters and a terrific response from the club. I hope this gets a lot of publicity and is widely supported by fans of both clubs.

There's flooding in the Dundee area at the moment due to persistent heavy rain. Don't think the postponement indicates specific drainage issues. Bad luck for us though.

Aye, and there'll be some of them opting for short sleeved shirts as well.

It's amazing just how often teams don't press home the numerical advantage. There's 2 aspects here. Firstly, the side reduced to 10 men know they have to up their effort and give 100% if they are going to get anything out of the game. Secondly, the team with the man advantage tend to ease up a little. It may be subconsciously, but it's there. What is needed is a conscious effort not to ease off and perhaps to make even more effort. It is important to constantly close down the opponents and not let them find space. Doing that allows the extra man to tell. This is exactly the reason so many big teams get the scares of their lives in cup competitions. The little teams give everything they've got but the big teams think they just need to turn up. It sounds as Robbo gave the appropriate message at half time but that it was not taken on board. Hopefully the players will now have a better understanding of what is expected of them in these situations. The thing is though, that the team have shown type of determination needed before and been praised for it. Hopefully we'll see better in the weeks to come. We'll need to, or we'll find ourselves in the wrong play-offs.

Well done Jim Gannon! At least he was refusing to talk to them because the broadcaster had not honoured their contract, rather than because they had broadcast uncomfortable truths. It would be nice to think the broadcasters would refuse to cover the games of clubs who refuse to honour their contractual obligations, but obviously they are not going to let principles get in the way of their profit. As Kingsmills says, it really is up to the Scottish football authorities to act to ensure all clubs meet their contractual obligations. Their view appears to be that as the big two bring in by far the greatest revenue to Scottish football, it is in the interests of all clubs not to antagonise them by taking any action against them. John Swinney, who tends to choose his words carefully, described Lennon's outburst as "absolutely appalling". It must be clear to all that Celtic and their manager are bringing Scottish Football into disrepute here. But yet again, the football authorities fail to do the right thing and just sit back and do nothing. Nobody does more to undermine the good name of Scottish football than the very organisations which exist to promote and uphold it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55708298 You can read a report on Lennon's rant here. He's totally out of order. Not only does he seem to not understand the seriousness of the situation, but he also seems to be directly contradicting his Chairman. Football has been given a chance to continue and this has required all clubs to strictly adhere to the protocols. Many clubs have gone to great lengths to keep their staff and the wider public safe, but it is folk like Lennon who's failure to properly understand what's involved is going to lead to a further shut down of football in Scotland.

Jason Leitch has been asked about this and the explanation he gives is that assessments of risk consider the total exposure and not whether one aspect of one sport is greater than that in another. It is then about avoiding additional aspects of risk which are not essential to the game as these would add to the total exposure to risk. We also need to understand the significance of the new variant being around 50% more infectious. The maths of this are really quite scary. If the previously dominant variant had an R number of 1, that means that on average, each person catching Covid would infect 1 other person. So if 2,000 people in Scotland tested positive today, you would expect around 2,000 to test positive in 5 days times after the incubation period. After another 5 days another 2,000 would be infected and so on. But with the new variant being 50% more infectious the R number rises to 1.5 and and instead of another 2,000 cases 5 days later, we would have 3,000. Then after another 5 days we would have those 3,000 people infecting another 4,500. If we didn't adopt rigorous measure to reduce infections, then after a month we would have nearly 23,000 cases a day! That is why restrictions have been significantly tightened recently. I'm actually quite surprised that the Scottish government is allowing the continuation of football at all just now. What it does mean is that beyond the unavoidable contact during a game, everything possible to avoid unnecessary additional exposure needs to be done.

With today being the day of Ian Broadfoot's funeral, it is perhaps a day for a bit of reflection. Thinking of Ian today, I picked up my copy of 'Milestones and Memories" and looked back on some of the great days and wonderful people associated with the club. I also had Robbo in mind and I don't think I had really registered before that it is now over 18 years since he first came to the club as Manager. To be here now as Manager so long after first coming here is a testament to what he means to the club and how much of a fit he is for the club. Robbo may not have been here when the club enjoyed its greatest success, but he was integral to building the foundations of that success. Robbo's first spell with us may have been short, but it was full of success and great memories. In 2003 we beat a strong Celtic side in the Scottish Cup and made it to Hampden for the first time. Then in 2004 it was a 2nd consecutive Hampden Semi-final to go with the 1st Division title and the Challenge cup. We started life in the Premier League under Robbo's leadership, but with those achievements under his belt it was no surprise that he was tempted away. Now Robbo is back, albeit in rather different and difficult circumstances, and he has overseen a solid rebuilding of the team. But then Coronavirus struck. These are difficult times for all of us; much more difficult for some than others and Robbo has shown his courage and character in speaking as he has. Memories of the good times help to sustain us through the bad times and with the directors, staff, players and supporters coming together to support each other through this difficult period, the good times will return. You've done wonders at this club, Robbo. Always know you have both our support and gratitude.

I seem to remember the offer being more specifically related to Elgin and perhaps other teams in their League Cup group because the teams from lower divisions were required to have players tested if they were playing a premier division side. I can't see us using County's machine unless we pay a proper commercial rent. Regular testing is an expensive business.

The First Minister said today that any actions against Celtic were a matter for the football authorities. It is appropriate that the football authorities should take action here, but why is it solely down to them? In general, people are exempt from staying at home if they are unable to work from home and the exemptions specifically stipulate that training for professional sport is included in that. But the new law also states that travel should be as close to home as possible. Surely nobody believes that the trip to Dubai was essential and therefore they should be facing prosecution.

Watched the 2nd half and extra time. Bonnyrigg played very well and might even have snatched an equaliser with the last kick of the game. There are decent players at the lower levels and they are increasingly well organised. And, of course, the players will always give their all when there is a chance of being part of a cup upset. I am sure it will be drilled into the players that they will need to be on their game.

I'm really shocked and saddened at this tragic news. On behalf of colleagues on the Supporters Trust Board, I can say it was both a pleasure and a privilege to work with Ian in helping to get his wonderful book to print. Ian had put so much time and effort into the book and I know he was hugely grateful to everyone who kindly contributed to the fundraising campaign. He was also very touched by the numerous messages he had received from folk congratulating him on the finished product. "Milestones and Memories" is a worthy memorial to a man who has made such an important contribution to the Club throughout its history. Our heartfelt condolences go to Ian's family.