Laurence

On ‎10‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 4:25 AM, Scotty said:

17,800 at the Caps game last night and the Ottawa coach is one mr Paul Dalglish. Was looking forward to seeing TFC playing Ottawa in the final after their 2-0 win in the first leg, but I guess the Caps will have to do. game scheduled for next week in Toronto then the 2nd leg in Vancouver a week later.

Our second team more or less shut down Drogba and co last night in the 0-0 draw although it should have been easier for TFC after leading 4-0 in the first leg before Drogba scored one and made the other in the last 5 minutes for a 4-2 final score. 

I saw Paul play on a regular bases for Bury when they  played in the EFL championship a few years ago. He played very well. Star man of the team coached by Neil Warnock

https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2017/12/09/toronto-fc-mls-cup-champions-highlights-recap

Great match

It would be nice if some of the cash earned by Scottish clubs in Europe could find its way into the  game in Scotland somehow.

Maybe used to train Referees or something.

Instead what have we got an F A that can't afford a National stadium.  It looks like Hampden will be lost to the National team.

 A far cry from the Lisburn lions . A few puss-y cats at best.  I suppose the stadium may be taken over by Rugby which seems to be on the up and up in Scotland.

I take no pleasure in this sorry state of affairs.

Gods

To be pragmatic, I feel  considering  we just need to consolidate , and not get too ambitious on our very weak bank account .  We should not stretch our resources more than we have too ,  to maintain our status in the Championship.

Next season is another story , a lot of careful choices will have to be made and  hopefully a few good loan young  players may come our way.  this is a rebuilding situation which is going to take a lot of care and attention.  There is no point signing players that will deplete our cash flow for the future as well.

Mower

Lawn

I have  a copy  brand new  - unread  - of Elgin City v Rangers  ( Collectors piece )

Free to a good home

I would like to thank David personally for his commitment and service to the Caley Thistle club over the last few years . I wish him and his family all the very best for his future whatever that may bring.

Cheers David

Shearing

Score 9 points with pike -

According to the rules

Criteria for Judging a Dive

• 0: Completely Failed
• .5 - 2: Unsatisfactory
• 2.5 - 4.5: Deficient
• 5 - 6.5: Satisfactory
• 7 - 8: Good
• 8.5 - 9.5: Very good
• 10: Excellent

Maybe a coach challenge flag similar to the system in the NFL may be a step forward to get decisions  right ?

It is quite noticeable how often on-line decisions  are reversed in the NFL  by the video adjudicators.

I think  football is probably the only sport ( in the UK ) that is basically adjudicated in the same way as it was in the 19th century

Some years ago I corresponded with a top level  referee  in the English game , his view that officiating for top level games had to be identical  to all levels of the professional game.

He was also bothered about the cost and the problems of recruiting top level officials.   Another viewpoint that match officials  should stick together as a team. Consistently working together, and forming a bond to help getting matters right.

Mind you according to the moderator I am narrow minded . So take no notice of my observations.

Tweet from Tammy Beaumont

• tammybeauWhat a crazy game last night!! Well played @danniwyatt28 1st ever Englishwoman to hit a IT20 100!! Gutted the Ashes is over and they’re staying here but glad we could tie the series 8-8 last night!!
• treakletartYou were all bloody marvellous! x
• kieronfennAwesome series! AND down under! Well done ladies

About Danni Wyatt getting 100   and the Ashes drawn

Just an opinion you know

As far as I am concerned and I don't care if I am in a minority of one

Having a world cup without Italy is like having Christmas with no tree

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

really? Why not just allow the 'big' European teams and perhaps call it the Euros? or maybe we can continue your version of the same elitism shown that has turned European club competition into a farce since the days of the Champions Cup or the Cup Winners Cup. Teams that have never, and will never be champions competing in a TV cash-cow solely for the benefit of rich clubs and who look down on any 'small' teams who have the audacity to actually qualify then have to go through multiple qualifying rounds before they can meet a rich team who finished 4th or 5th in their league. 

Which small nations might you be referring to ? The 5 regional qualifiers out of 46 teams from the Asian/Middle East conference who had to play 4 different sets of qualifying rounds to get there? Perhaps you mean the 5 African teams who also had to face three different qualifying competitions to whittle it down from 53 teams and get through? Surely you cannot mean the 3 North/Central American nations (from 35 participants) who had to go through 5 different rounds of qualification to get there?  I will assume your disdain for the smaller nations does not extend to the 14 UEFA or 5 CONMEBOL (South America) qualifiers as they are far better .... even though 5 of 10 nations qualified in South America from a single round-robin competition where they played each other home and away, and 14/52 in Europe who played 1 set of qualifying fixtures and then the playoffs.  

Of the 32 qualifiers, only Iceland and Panama will be making their first appearance and they are there on merit. If Italy, Netherlands (and Scotland) are not there it is because those nations were not good enough over the course of the entire campaign to qualify. simple.  

Also - of the 32 qualifiers ... and leaving aside those qualifying for the first time ... only 3 teams of the 32 have failed to move on form the group stages in previous appearances .... Egypt (group stages in 1934/1990), Tunisia (group stages in 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006) and Iran (group stages in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014)

Personally, I am going to be cheering for some of these small nations during the World Cup: Iceland & Morocco are my teams of choice for now as I had tremendous vacations in both places and the people were brilliant. I would really love one of these two nations to do what Iceland did in the last tournament and stick a huge middle finger up to those folks who think they should not be there, or who look down their noses at them despite the effort it took to get there.  

 

    

I suppose I can only put forward my point of view, which I am sure very few will agree with

But I can think of at least 14  of the qualifiers I would not be interested in  one iota  - If I switched on my TV and saw the likes of Egypt or Costa Rica playing  , Quite frankly I would prefer  to see Italy of the Netherlands locking horns

If you take out the European teams and the top 3 or 4 South American outfits. The world cup is full of  teams  I would not watch if there was cricket or snooker  on another channel

I mean Saudi Arabia , I ask you

List

Egypt

• Morocco
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Tunisia

I noticed the other day that 4 times winners of the world cup, have failed to qualify'    This is the first time since 1958 that Italy  and their free flowing  lovely football will not be seen  gracing our TV sets.The 1958 FIFA World Cup, the sixth staging of the World Cup, was hosted by Sweden from 8 to 29 June

TV sets  - well in 1958  hardly anyone had one . There were two basics channels  , BBC and ITV which was in its in fantasy,  Very few people had ITV. To convert your receiver  to what was know at the time as  band wave 3, you had to buy what was called a Cydron unit.  It entailed drilling a hole in the side of your TV set  ftiiin box with a knob on you pulled to change from band one to band 3, you then had to turn the knob to tune into ITV . There were two wires attached to the box that you plugged into sockets  you had previously removed the valves.  You can see that watching the world cup on the telly was hopeless.  There was a program on Wednesday evenings called sports view.  This had films of some of the matches usually a week old

In 1958 all 4 of the home nations qualified for the world cup. England and Scotland were if my memory serves me right were iliminated after the first round  . Wales and Northern Ireland went through to the second round,  The Wales tem with the great John Charles ( In my view the best player to lace his boots )  played France in the 2nd round.  No match on TV  but worse still not on the Radio, we called the wireless,   Broadcasting live from Stockholm was difficult even for Radio. I dib manage  as a 14 year old to get my Dads short wave radio to work and I picked up the broadcast in French .  Can you imagine today not being able to get France v Wales  in the world cup on the Radio.

John Charles I mentioned was known as the Gentle Giant, he was amazingly skilfully, I saw him play live a couple of times for Leeds United, a very great player. He was transferred to Torino  where he became a legend. I am told that a statue of John Charles stands outside the ground in Turin to this day. When as an old man he visited the ground and the fans cheered and cheered him.

Now I Italy has no place in the World cup. yet lots of small nations will be there, because of the regional qualifying system, I don't agree with.

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 5:59 PM, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

If you want proof of how Scottish ingenuity has transformed the world you need only look at the inventions which have shaped us all, and there can be few inventions that have had greater impact than the telephone and television. The day after the 91^st anniversary of the first successfully-transmitted television picture seems a good day to celebrate John Logie Baird, the Helensburgh-born inventor who, in 1925 gave the world moving pictures beamed into homes for the first time. Prior to that, the world had been connected via telephone, courtesy of the pioneering work of Edinburgh native Alexander Graham Bell who patented the first device in 1876, though he did not live to see Baird’s invention. Given our modern obsessions with both the telephone and the television, and notwithstanding the well-documented problems they sometimes cause us, both Scots have changed society in ways they could never have envisaged.

The man who launched 10s of  thousands of textile mills

Not so sure about the birthplace of Inventors , but didn't the esteemed Inventor Richard  Arkwright  hail from your adopted homeland of Chorley. I could be wrong on that ?

Also the Invention of the great delicacy to be enjoyed Chorley cake cannot be ignored,

Issues to be debated in the favourite watering hole  of mine the Leyland Tiger, a venue I am sure you are familiar with.

I suspect that the old  firm fans  ( Not all in fairness ) don't really  care about the football  . Their  motivation seems to be  to bring   chaos  if  they can't win or even if they do win.

Glasgow is a City not much different to Liverpool, the people of both Cities are similar, but in Liverpool the two teams get on well as can be expected of rivals.

I am perfectly in tune with Kingsmills in this  and agree with his thoughts.   You would have thought that wandering around the small towns in Scotland  playing the likes of Peterhead and  Montrose would have taught them a lesson, but it appears not.

I do feel for the genuine Rangers fans and their children  ,  My  suggestion to them is to go round to Partick  or  St. Mirren  and  take their kids there.

I refer the readers to my piece on Maidstone a lesson of true support.          Something of a sermon this I must apologise  if I am boring you.

If anyone has answer other than another draconian punishment  , they are wiser than me, which s  isn't hard  to be these days.

The great result for Maidstone in the  F A cup  1st round   brought back a memory I should like to share.  When my son a goalkeeper left Tonbridge Angels owing to a serious injury, he was asked  when regaining some sort of fitness to play for a Kent first division  Sunday league side.   On coming home one day he said " Dad  a strange thing occurred at todays match.  One of the teams playing on an adjacent  pitch seemed to have supporters . They wore replica shirts, carried flasks of coffees, had team scarves. Just like a senior  club crowd.",   I looked into this and found the team playing adjacent was non other than Maidstone United who a few years earlier had left the football league for whatever reason due to financial problems. They had reformed and started again in the 4th Division of the Kent football league.  Now they are knocking out  the likes of Cheltenham Town out of the cup.

I realise it is nothing new  to be a giant killing team , ( Look at Lincoln last season ) , that is not why I am writing, but in my little way to play tribute to those fans who supported their team through thick and thin through the years to get back their league status, which cannot be far off.   I would like to think  I would if called upon would do the same.  Would you ?

On ‎06‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 5:05 PM, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Ya olde black pudding 

Commiserations on the result on Sunday, you must have been gutted with the late  Fleetwood goal.'

2 minutes ago, RiG said:

That does the team an enormous disservice. If anything Livi held us on Saturday not the other way around.

I wasn't at the game, I was on holiday - I submit to your reprimand in its entirety

Looking at the table - Livingston have 21 points , scored 20 goals.  Sitting second in the table.  I think the team did well to hold them to a draw . a good result

Just noticed the table on this web site has not been updated

Below is the table on the BBC web site

View full Scottish Championship table   

I am on an extended holiday  in Little Hampton near Brighton

I said we had to win before bonfire night and we have twice

I am not jumping on the play off band wagon yet on even the safe bandwagon , but I am greatly relieved with the teams progress

Cheers cheers and more cheers

I think we can all agree that this is a top site and we are lucky to have it. Since the advent of  Facebook many clubs have closed down their fora  for this very reason

I hope it continues and subscribers treat others as they themselves would like to be treated. Sometimes a thick skin is useful.