DoofersDad

Really bad news regarding Deano. Can't remember who made the back pass to him but it was played quite deliberately to his left as though he still thought Esson was in goals. Good to see Esson have a good game when he came on in those difficult circumstances. I was very pleased to see a more positive approach to the game and a greater belief in the 2nd half might have seen us get all three points. However, any points against Celtic are points I will always be happy with. Ofere took his goal calmly and seems to have a good first touch and distribution. I don't know whether it was the wind playing tricks but he did seem rather more concerned about where the defenders were than challenging for the ball at times. We certainly seemed a more balanced and threatening attacking force with him up front and he surely must start next Sunday. Thought Christie's work rate was top class. He put a lot of pressure on the Celtic midfield and was a major factor in them being less fluid than sometimes. But he is also frustrating that when he has the ball his distribution is often so poor. As for the ref, I would echo the sentiments of others. Mind you, I was talking to a Celtic boy after the game and he was moaning about the referee as well saying that the referee cost them the game!

I am sure administrative changes are needed but I think the root cause of England's demise lies far deeper than that. You can have a great structure but it is great players that win matches and there are fewer and fewer coming through the system because youngsters simply don't spend the time playing the game. I am sure there are a range of social factors here (and the weather doesn't help) but it does seem that in the UK we have developed a culture in which playing ball games either informally with your mates or as part of organised coaching set up is not seen as cool. I was in Auckland a couple of years ago and the contrast was stark. On a Saturday morning one large area of parkland was absolutely packed with 20 - 30 games of cricket going on - far too many for the space available but this was presumably a reflection of the demand. Elsewhere seeing groups of youngsters or family groups with bat and ball was common place. Perhaps rising cases of obesity and diabetes among the young will help a return to a culture where kids are once again encouraged and want to go outside and play.

On current form they could win the league next year! It will be interesting to see hopw long they can keep this run going and assuming they stay up, how many of the team they can retain for next season. If they can't stay up they could well find themselves in an increasingly difficult financial position,

Personally I favour Brill but what matters is who Yogi thinks is the better keeper. Brill started the season as first choice keeper and Esson only came into the side because Brill was injured. Esson has done fine in the meantime but has not performed in a way that would suggest he has taken over the mantle of first choice keeper. I therefore see no reason to think that Yogi would not still see Brill as number 1 and would expect Brill to play if he is fully fit. I know he has been on the bench but I wonder if he is fully fit yet. My guess is that he's very nearly back to full fitness and we are in the position where Yogi judges that it is more of a risk to play Brill than Esson but at the same time more of a risk to have a 3rd string keeper on the bench than Brill. I would expect Brill to be in the starting line up either tomorrow or at the weekend.

There was just about as much applause for the subs when they warmed up in front of the North Stand as for anything that happened on the pitch.

Crowd was better today because of a decent number of away fans. Poor home support but precious little for the locals to get excited about. We were the better of 2 poor sides and had more attempts on goal but stats show that despite our supposed emphasis on possession, Dundee saw more of the ball than we did. Good to see Doran play a full game. It wasn't his greatest game but at least he looks to get forward and is not frightened to have a shot at goals. I'd like to see Ofere play a full 90 minutes - Watkins is not a striker and Ofere looked far more likely to score in the brief period he was on the park. Time to rest young Christie as well, I feel. His work rate and appetite for the ball are 2nd to none but there is very little creative coming from him at the moment. As other have said, Shinnie was the stand out player and he certainly answered those who said he would not give 100% for the team prior to leaving for Aberdeen.

...not to mention that it will not be too many Olympics in the future before Scotland will be sending a team in our own right. Yes a GB team and a Scotland team. Then everyone will be happy

Read today that the plan to reduce the numbers to 10 is to appease the broadcasters (sound familiar?). Presumably the ICC feel they will get more income to support the development of cricket in other nations by taking a larger sum for televising a more elite competiton. But it is not just about the money - cricket will develop elsewhere if players get the opportunity to play against better opposition. Perhaps a fairer way of formatting this would be to have more of the test playing nations required to participate in the qualifiers. In that way, not only would the emerging nations have more chance of getting to the finals, they would also have the opportunity to play against test playing nations whether they qualified or not. Secondary TV contracts would also provide a bit more exposure and money for the game. It might also spice up the matches between the test playing nations as the rankings following the ODIs between them would determine whether they were required to compete in the qualifiers or not. On a lighter note I was amused to read the tweet sent by the Japan Cricket Association to the England and Wales Cricket Board which read "Dear @ECB_cricket, this might not be a great time, but as there's room in your schedule, fancy a game in Japan on your way home?". Thankfully the ECB declined the kind invitation.

Having created the structure the SFA should be supporting teams who take the step up rather than penalising those who decide it is not for them. I would imagine that if Brora win a place in Division 2 any increase in gate money will be more than offset by additional costs. For instance, if the SFA were to identify criteria by which you could identify whether or not an overnight stay before a match was required, the SFA could provide a grant to pay that. This would support the likes of Brora travelling to Berwick or Annan and equally would support existing league clubs doing the journey in the other direction and who will also have higher travel costs if we have greater geographical spread within the national leagues.

Great wins for Wales and Northern Ireland too. There is a real possibility for all four of the home nations to get through to the finals. That would be great for British football following on from the generally poor showing in European club competitions this year

No. Part of the magic of the cup is the opportunity for the less fancied teams to make it to the final. Upsets can happen on a one off game but very rarely on a 2 leg basis. The converse of this is exactly the reason why matches in Europe at the knock out stage are in two legs. It perpetuates the big teams getting to the latter stages and it's all about money. Whilst the current arrangements are not without faults, it is at least a structure that gives the underdogs a better chance of getting to the final.

My post above was very much tongue in cheek and realistically there is no viable alternative to a Glasgow venue even if there is a viable alternative to the timing. But whilst the venue probably should be big enough to take the demand for tickets, I personally don't think Hampden is the correct venue, Maybe I'm old fashioned but to me, part of the romance of the cup is that Hampden dream - a dream which meant you were playing in the final and if you won the match your captain would lift the trophy. Having the semis at Hampden as well rather dilutes the experience and the achievement of getting there IMO. Some would say that is over sentimental and that it is logical to have the semis at Hampden because it increases exposure to the Hampden experience to more players and supporters, it increases the use of the national stadium, it increases revenues and it helps to familiarise players to the venue prior to the main event. All those are probably true but whether true or not, they interfere with the romance of the cup. And if they are true then would those arguments suggest we should also play the quarter finals at Hampden? Getting to Hampden used to mean playing in the final. Oh that that was still the case!

Part of the excitement of the overall cup experience is the travelling in large numbers to a neutral venue. The planning, the journey, that sense of camaraderie, of occasion and expectation somehow mirrors the journey of the team in getting through the rounds to the final stages. I have to say that I feel for the poor Celtic fans. Year after year they reach the later stages of one or both of the cup competitions and are denied the experience which encapsulates the very essence of what the cup is all about. The semi final really ought to be at Pittodrie so that the poor deprived Glaswegians can experience the thrill of the day out as well. The venue is ideal because it is far enough away from Glasgow to maximise the sense of journey. I'm sure if the SFA realised just how unfair they were being on the poor, hard done by Celtic fans they would change the venue in a flash.

According to the BBC website we had just 2 attempts on goal. Yet when interviewed after the game Yogi claimed we controlled the game in the first half and played some really good stuff! Hmm. With Utd's stuttering form since they lost their 2 most creative players in the transfer window we really should be out of sight in 3rd by now - but we aren't. If we had emulated our neighbours over the last 6 games we would now be sitting on 64 points - 2 behind Celtic, 3 ahead of Aberdeen and a massive 18 ahead of Utd! Instead, Dundee utd are only 7 points behind with a game in hand. Now that they are out of both cups and have been well and truly battered by Celtic they have the opportunity to regroup and focus on chasing 3rd spot. Given where we are we ought to be playing with confidence and attacking freedom but instead we've had a run of lacklustre performances. It looks as though we don't know how to set up as an attacking unit since Billy left and we don't have the confidence to be creative. We now face Dundee before having to contend with both Aberdeen and Celtic before the split. We really need a positive attacking performance against Dundee to gain a bit of confidence before a very challenging run of games

Go on DD ask them.....lol I've sent them an email asking the question. I'll let you know what they say.

Early kick off on the Sunday? Now there's a surprise! If we arrived on the latest train possible to get to the game on time and then, like the responsible fans we are, went straight to the ground, do you think the SFA would let us pitch our tents on the pitch overnight?

One wonders if McNamara really means that nonsense. Maybe one of his players threatened to shove him in the back, elbow him in the neck and kick him in the head unless he said it. Comparing Ciftci with the likes of Zidane and Cantona is absurd for three reasons. Firstly he is not fit to even lick the boots of those two when it comes to the genius stakes, secondly the infamous episodes McNamara refers to happened when they lost the plot following provocation, and thirdly, Zidane and Cantona did not routinely cheat. Ciftci needs no provocation to behave like a thug. It is, however very interesting that McNamara has used the words C1C3 has highlighted above. Presumably that is an acknowledgement that doing something even more serious is very possible knowing the nature of the man. Instead of making limp excuses in trying to defend the indefensible, McNamara should be apologising for his player's behaviour and pointing out to Ciftci that truly great players like Pele and Law, for instance, never ever resorted to Ciftci's kind of antics. Ciftci doesn't behave the way he does because the behaviour is linked to genius, he behaves the way he does because he's a thug. The message Ciftci must be getting from his manager and the SFA is that there is nothing wrong with his behaviour. It makes you wonder just what he might do next - grab a match official by the throat perhaps?

There's SFA on the SFA website but interestingly the Hibs website has got their semi listed as being on the Saturday - albeit to be confirmed. Perhaps the clubs the SFA would like to be in the final get asked when they would like to play. Just assume that date time and place will be about as inconvenient as possible for the North fans and you can't go far wrong.

You may well be right but on the other hand, the SFA disciplinary process is not a legal one. By their own statement on the website which I quote in my post above, they do not claim simply to enforce the laws of the game (equivalent to a judicial court making a decision on matters of law), they claim to be upholding the integrity and reputation of the game and setting guidelines for acceptable behaviour. Doing that is different from a quasi-legal process and implies that commonsense should be used when a legalistic approach results in outcomes which run counter to the aims stated above. In these situations they could simply state that in their opinion it appears to be intentional and whether intentional or not it was certainly reckless and unacceptable behaviour. If Ciftci has got off because intent was not proved, then surely just about every time someone gets sent off for handball they are going to appeal and get off. The handball offence is for deliberate handball and 9 times out of 10 it would be nigh on impossible to prove intent. As Cif73 implies, if you are right the panel appear to have ignored the incident and have instead made a judgement against the compliance officer and found him to be incompetent - in that, at least, they would be correct.

Those clearly guilty of violent conduct as evidenced by TV footage have got off scot-free whilst the two who receive bans are one player who reacted to an unprovoked off the ball assault and one who was protecting his face from being hit by the ball. It is not only these absurd outcomes that bring the SFA into disrepute, it is their secretive processes. We are not allowed to know who is on these disciplinary panels nor are we allowed to know the reasoning behind the decisions. This is despite the fact that their website states "as part of our new strategic plan, the disciplinary procedures were radically overhauled to provide greater efficiency, accountability and transparency. " One wonders how the SFA could possibly be less accountable and less transparent than it currently is! The website also states that the SFA's disciplinary procedures are "essential in protecting the integrity and reputation of the game at all levels. whilst also providing guidelines of acceptable behaviour for clubs." We must, therefore conclude that the SFA consider it acceptable for players to push other players in the back into the path of their team mates, off the ball to elbow players in the back of the neck with sufficient force to knock them to the ground, and to kick opposing players in the head. By their secrecy and their absurd decisions, it is the SFA who do more than anyone (even Nadir Ciftci) to sully the integrity and reputation of the game in Scotland.

You want more Devine intervention?

Great stuff 11 minutes and they struggled to show any bits where their own team actually touched the ball.

I expect it will be on the Sunday and the pitch will be all cut up from the day before and not conducive to a passing game.

I was listening to Radio Scotland on the way home from the match and rather enjoyed hearing about the Rangers' failure to win any of their last 3 games.

Why am I not surprised? But I actually think there is more of a case for appeal in this one. I fail to see any dubiety or alternative explanation about the assault on Warren but I am sure Utd will argue that the movement of Ciftci's boot into Brown's head was accidental and was simply part of the movement to get up off the ground as quickly as possible in order to keep up with the play. TBH I think it might be difficult to prove intent in this case. It is interesting to see the clip because Ciftci makes himself scarce pretty quick and then, when play breaks down and the referee is aware there is a stramash going on, Ciftci is gesturing to the referee as if to say "Look ref, there's some trouble over there and it's got nothing to do with me!" To my mind that speaks volumes about his intention. If he had not intentionally kicked out at Brown and therefore been keen to draw attention away from himself, you can bet your bottom dollar he would have got involved in the mêlée involving Butcher and Van Dyke (but not Paton!).