12th Man

You mean "the cost of relegation and promotion the following season" doesnt quite have the same ring. An unreliable source told me that the end of season party cost 700k, mainly on a Rod Stewart lookalike and Les Kidgers fireworks. 200k on player bonuses, the shortfall was actually from the lack of will from the catering staff to have the desire and hunger to make sure they serve customers as fast as possible for 20 minutes.

Don't you mean one of the 'C-l--k-e seven' (sorry Roy) Great player to have in the squad, It amazes me how so many of our players have upped their level of professionalism to conquer the opposition as we have risen through the leagues

[Geek alert] The definition of APR is more complicated than your calculation, taking into account the reducing debt balance over the course of the contract and then annualising the interest charge. [Geek alert ends] (Me thinks you would have to be a geek for that type of reply) Your quite right in your geeky definition on why the APR is 19.9, that is why I used the word overpayment as it sounds more appealing than being scared off by an annual percentage rate of 19.9. My initial post is more to do with encouraging fans to take up the payment plan if they cant afford a season ticket out right and merely stating that it wont cost them a fortune in extra charges in doing so,it would also still be cheaper than going to every game and paying at the gate.

Ive just checked Scotty's link which includes the prices and they are quoting 19.9% apr for installments ???.I make it an overpayment of only 8.57% ie Main stand adult Season ticket costs £350, 10 monthly payments of £38 = £380. £350 x 8.57% = £29.995 + 350 = £379.995. So the most you are going to pay is £30 more than the season ticket price, this will be less for concession/north stand etc. You don't have to put your name on it but will cost extra if you choose to "Batman"? I would suggest popping in and seeing where the available seats are on their pc in the club shop, you will have a better idea of where the available seats are as opposed to just being given a seat number. With it being a bit late for buying a season ticket, bear in mind that you may not get to sit in your seat for the Celtic game as someone may have already bought the seat for that game,I would say its safe to assume that they would give you a ticket for another seat for the day. Better to buy a season ticket late than not at all though.

Any updated info for the supporters bus? is it continuing as usual or will the supporters trust be getting involved too. I haven't used them in ages and after looking at the fixture list, I don't fancy driving to Perth on the 1st of January so me thinks the bus will come in pretty handy, especially if it involves a larger away support whilst pushing for/maintaining a top six place next year. Has anyone got any solid facts? please don't post 'phone Cath'

'Hey wawbag, ge us too San Miguels by the way but' translated into Weegie.

Who he? Georgie Besat was the famous footballer from old, The only one who could match him was Oliver Reed.

Its meant to be this week and played on 24/25 August, against a team ranked 5th in division 1 or lower last season.

I'd say it was good news for Celtic fans , it showed guts and passion and a little bit of skill to come back from 2 - 0 down and get a draw . An early goal at Parkhead and you never know what could happen in the 2nd leg against Braga . Agreed, while their away form in Europe is awful they can turn it on at Parkhead. If they get an early goal and then another before HT (which isn't beyond possibility) then it could be a nervy tie for the Portuguese. They just have to play with one of Mogga's 'attack' minded formations mind you. Your right if the get one goal, another one, another one and one more they have won.

This will be a major blow to Celtic as they try to lure players, who are a bit 'special' to parkhead with the promise of champions league football.

I'm pleased for the coaching staff too,it must be great to see all that time and effort invested in youth come to fruition.

Any figures been produced yet regarding how many season ticket holders we have?

Just paid

Do you think there would be enough interest to produce a football season calendar as opposed to a yearly one. August to July You would have all the new/current players and a team photo available,you could plan your year around the football season and the calendar would be pretty unique too. Thoughts.

Tesco vouchers can be exchanged for here too. ?2.50 in vouchers will buy a ?10 days out token for an adult. (dont just turn up with your tesco voucher you wont get in)

Nice Idea but going from the flat terrain of Belgium to a 1,400 m + ascent, may ruin the rest of their trip slightly. The tourists seem quite happy taking a boat trip along the canal and Loch Ness to visit the castle and see the monster.the Inverness tattoo may even be no around the same time. I recently went to the Highland wildlife park. I had to go around twice just to double check but there wasn't a single County fan in the Dingwall enclosure! I don't know if they had escaped,were put down or were in quarantine. All I could see was a 1960s caravan with no windows and empty lager tins strewn around but one of the wardens later told me they don't get up till the evening.

I hope no one comes to you asking for a reference :( The only player I cant say a good word for is the 2nd division super star, who didn't play well because the rest of our team were too inept ?

I saw him score a cracking goal against Forres Mechanics when he was on trial with us, he curled it past a crowded goal mouth. He ideally needs someone who enjoys solid tackles playing next to him though. He was a bit too light weight for our 4,2,3,1 so would be better in a 4,4,2 or 4,5,1 formation.

You have to remember they are also getting a very good winger and he should have a lot of good contacts by now.

Ldz, When he was good he was very very good and when he was bad he was awful. Fast going up the left flank but I would say that he is better at stopping the opposition at left back than running past the opposition in midfield. He had a lot of good days and the occasional bad one.

Fancy going to a football match ?

I don't like having a go at Hamilton and Inverness ????? that t changes the comment totally "I don't like having a go a Hamilton and Inverness, mun"

I think I will renew my season ticket in the next couple of days, was going to later on in the month but I suppose ICT would rather see how much money they have available to spend on players sooner rather than later. Not that I personally would make a difference but if most people applied the same logic, the club would see what money they do have, instead of making assumptions. It wasnt that long ago that someone wished that he had 10 Ross Tokeleys in his team.

Dundee not reaching SPL is a disaster for Dundee United, says Tannadice chief Stephen Thompson May 30 2010 Gordon Waddell, Sunday Mail DUNDEE UNITED chairman Stephen Thompson has admitted he's gutted rivals Dundee blew promotion to the SPL - because it will cost his club a fortune. The tough-talking Tannadice owner reckons league construction could yet throw the city rivals a derby lifeline as early as the season after next. But in the meantime he's worried that poorly-supported clubs like Hamilton and First Division champs Inverness will be a crippling factor on gates for another year. Thompson said: "Dundee not coming up was a big loss to the SPL and to us as a club. "They're a big club with a good support. I don't like having a go at Hamilton and Inverness but they don't have any travelling fans. "We had 29 paying Hamilton fans who came here on a midweek in February. "Inverness, if they are doing well early on, will bring a few hundred down. If they're not doing well at the end of the season there will be 17 to 20 folk. That brings nothing to the game. "Great credit to them though - I know I had a go at their fans but to bounce back within a year is fantastic. "Nobody has managed to do that since Hibs and when you think about the gap now between the SPL and the First Division financially, it's a great achievement. "But I think there will be change in the near future - not for next season but soon. "It could be the start of the season after but we need the agreement of everyone and the Old Firm need to buy into it because of the current voting structure. "The current chairman of the SPL, Ralph Topping, shouldn't be underestimated though. He is chief exec of a big company in William Hill and is very much one for bringing people together. "There have been discussions held, smaller meetings involving Ralph and Neil Doncaster, trying to get the chairmen and owners involved because they are the ones who ultimately make the decisions." Thompson, however, isn't a fan of the rebuild being proposed for the SPL because he doesn't think it goes far enough. He wants a complete overhaul of the senior game that sees regional leagues feeding into the top two divisions. He said: "I've made it clear we wouldn't support a change in league numbers - that would just be playing around with it. "It needs to be a look at the whole structure. I would certainly like to have a northern and a southern league which would filter into a top two divisions. "Then there's the criteria to get into the league. Something that's sensible. "Nobody has an ideal number. Some are talking about the top two divisions being 10 and 10, 10 and 12, 12 and 12. "Everyone just seems to think 12 is not the number. I'm not strongly of any opinion on the number. Somebody jokingly said why not have 20!" The financial wellbeing of all the clubs is at stake in the wake of one of the toughest seasons on record for the SPL. Thompson told MailSport three months ago that he had already ploughed ?500,000 more of his family's money into the Arabs to see them break even, although their subsequent run to third in the SPL and the cup final will have put a rosier glow on the accounts. But he's desperate to see even a fraction of the 28,000 fans who filled Hampden two weeks ago attend Tannadice next season. He said: "It's a tough world right now and, like all clubs, our attendances were down last year. I'm hoping season tickets will be up next term - if you can't turn some of the 28,000 into season tickets then we do have serious problems with Scottish football. "Even if we can get an extra 500 it would help. I know when we got to the cup final in 2005 and went into Europe that was our highest-ever season-ticket sale at 5800. "We're just short of 5000 at the moment so that 500 does make a difference - it would pay for Peter Houston's salary! "Another 500 is only a fraction of the crowd that supported us at the cup final but without season tickets you don't have a club." One bugbear of Thompson's in such a desperate economic climate is the fact thWe Old Firm are still finding the cash to plunder their youth set-up. He said: "The Old Firm, and Rangers in particular, are going down this road. "Rangers have got no money in the first team but at youth level they have a lot of cash to spend. "They are putting in offers for 16-18 kids under 16 and the compensation levels are 40-50k a go. "That's the route they've decided to go down so they are trying to pick up a crop of everyone else's development programmes. "And they wonder why other teams in Scotland don't like them - and I'm talking at chairman and board level. "You spend five or six years developing these players. We're not interested in the money - we want to produce players to perform in our team." Just thought I would add the whole article for people to read before commenting, its being blown out of proportion, we all know that we would have at least 28 to 32 fans at an away match.

You never know they may have problems if season ticket renewal is low. Further investment may be required just to plug the shortfall. The Alba cup final, high to low in 90 minutes, knowing that the cup was ours for the taking at half time to lose out in the end, 45 minutes of disappointment.(never mind we won the real cup) Dundee fans have had the same highs and lows but not over 45 minutes, their fans have had half a year of disappointment, huge investment, a 15 point lead and totally messed it up. Not only a 15 point lead but to end up lagging behind the winners by 12 points That must be a hard one to take and how many of their loyal fans turned up for the last game of the season to support their team ? There wont be as much cash coming in from their fans next season.