hislopsoffsideagain

As someone who supported Thistle prior to the merger, I've always wished they would make the away top red and black stripes. And that strip is an absolute belter.

Would be delighted if we signed Tumilty. He was very good for Raith in 2020/21 and started last season well too; his form went off a cliff in the second half of the season with the rest of the Raith team but I thought he had a chance of a move to someone like Livingston this summer. Certainly Raith are disappointed that he is likely to leave. He's a very attack-minded full-back and would surely free up Carson to go back into midfield (FWIW I think Carson has been generally very good at RB)

Club accounts for 2020/21 are tough to analyze because of Covid losses - and also because of the funding clubs received from the government as a result. As regards ICT's own situation, I would put forward this question - How many full-time clubs in Scotland are not running either at a loss or close to the wind, year-in, year-out? At the top end you have Rangers and Celtic. Rangers have run up extraordinary losses since 2012 and probably require Champions League football to make a profit. Celtic either need Champions League football or to see a player for an eight figure

I feel like you're being nice because you know I'm now worried I'm going senile!

Hardy isn't mentioned as having left - I wonder whether that means he may be joining permanently - Yes he is, I'm clearly blind "a run which saw us not win a match in 3 months, following some horrible circumstances that quite honestly, no decent person should have to deal with"...if that's referring to what I think it's referring to, that's certainly an interesting way of putting it...

Given how few players we have signed up, losing Deas or Carson would be pretty grim even if we got cash for either. The situation with Sutherland is tricky; we really should be looking after him but on our budget can we afford to pay a player who may not play at all, especially since we will probably be light on numbers as it is? Sounds like Devine and Welsh are coming back, and it would be a surprise if Cammy Mackay and Hyde didn't stay too. Doran has been a wonderful servant to the club but certainly seems be trending downwards. Hard to justify keeping him

Signed up for next season: Mark Ridgers David Carson Robbie Deas Cameron Harper Scott Allardice Roddy MacGregor Tom Walsh Billy Mckay Austin Samuels Definitely leaving: Reece McAlear (end of loan) Logan Chalmers (end of loan) Joe Hardy (end of loan) Kirk Broadfoot Ryan Fyffe (signed for Buckie Thistle) Out of contract: Cammy Mackay Danny Devine Wallace Duffy Harry Nicolson Lewis Nicolson Aaron Doran Lewis Hyde Sean Welsh Shane Sutherland

The keeper and back four can be found here. We're going 4-2-3-1 this year, as for some reason none of the strikers in this league could hit Adam Rooney levels of goalscoring, let along Michael Higdon levels. On the other hand, the midfield could get a bit over-run and there may be more wingers than there are wings. Still, it's my site and my rules, so there. CENTRAL MIDFIELD: CALLUM MCGREGOR (CELTIC), JOE ARIBO (RANGERS) Honourable mentions: Lewis Ferguson (Aberdeen), David Turnbull (Celtic), Tom Rogic (Celtic), Jason Holt (Livingston) McGregor fits into Ange's system like a glove

So when I first did one of these, Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, I had a hairline that was still within communicating distance of my forehead and Allan McGregor was playing for Rangers. What? Oh. Anyway, this is the fifteenth annual Team Of The Year. Here's the previous fourteen. I regret nothing. Except Daniel Majstorovic, but that goes without saying. 2007/08: Allan McGregor (Rangers), Alan Hutton (Rangers), Carlos Cuellar (Rangers), Lee Wilkie (Dundee United), Lee Naylor (Celtic), Barry Robson (Celtic), Stephen Hughes (Motherwell), Barry Ferguson (Rangers), Aiden McGeady (Celtic)

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that Samuels could be a really good signing. I was very impressed with him against Kilmarnock, where he proved a decent physical match for Ash Taylor and he has pace to burn. He's clearly not a winger - we learnt that from the games at Hamilton and Partick earlier in the season. But I think with a run of games he could do really well. Obviously Sutherland's wonderful cross was the main factor in the goal but Samuels' instincts to attack that area of the boss, to get the jump on Akinola, were very encouraging.

The players ranked 25 to 11 can be found here. Before we move on, there has to be an honourable mention for Caleb Chukwuemeka, whose exploits for Livingston had escaped me before I published the first part of this double-bill. Chukwuemeka, on loan from Aston Villa, suffered the ignominy of being subbed just seven minutes after coming off the bench against Aberdeen with David Martindale criticising his work-rate. That was less than a month after arriving; the forward has made a couple of appearances off the bench since but has disappeared in recent weeks, suggesting Martindale's opinion of

Ten years I've been doing this. Man, there have been some duffers. Here, for the record, are the nine previous 'winners': 2012/13: Rory Boulding (Kilmarnock) 2013/14: Stephane Bahoken (St. Mirren) 2014/15: Jim Fenlon (Ross County) 2015/16: Rodney Sneijder (Dundee United) 2016/17: Joey Barton (Rangers) 2017/18: Eduardo Herrera (Rangers) 2018/19: Umar Sadiq (Rangers) 2019/20: Madis Vihmann (St. Johnstone) 2020/21: Shane Duffy (Celtic) Here we go for year 10, with the countdown from 25 to 11. 24= LIAM SHAW (CELTIC) 24= OSAZE URGHOGHIDE (CELTIC) The duo joined Celtic

"Robbie Crawford - The Globetrotting versatile Midfield player has transferred to Partick from Motherwell FC. The one time Rangers FC player has had spells in Iceland, Finland and in the USA with USL Championship club Charleston Battery." It's not the same Robbie Crawford who came through the ranks of Rangers. It's the one who came through at Ayr and more recently played for Livi and Motherwell...

Kilmarnock need to go up this year, otherwise they are going to be in massive trouble financially. Therefore they are throwing everything at this. I expect even their loan signings are costing them some cash - they won't have been the only club looking to get in Daniel Mackay for example. Their budget is the highest in the division by miles and we can't possibly compete with it. Ash Taylor will be on crazy money. I'd like to think Dodds has a plan for all these attackers he has signed, but it may well be the case that he's taken a punt on several players who have plenty of upside (

I did it for the first 9 games, so the law dictates that I have to do it again: here's a look at the second quarter of the Championship season. ARBROATH A+ First, a caveat: whilst Arbroath are indeed part-time, this is not a bunch of guys playing for expenses money and a post-game booze up. Dick Campbell's squad contains plenty of players who could - should - be at full-time clubs but who probably make more money from the combination of football and a day job than plenty of full-time players at this level. Not only that, but they get Campbell's expert tuition. Arbroath are un