Alex MacLeod

Amazing the things you learn on CTO. I never ever realised Preston was a dockyard town till now. I know it has a Marina but never thought that was once docks.

What is a glamour friendly? Wouldn't call a Man U XI one cos its unlikely that any of first team squad will be there. Was a Liverpool XI with players we'd never heard of before or since a glamour friendly?

The bowlers in my team were panicking before my innings that we didn't have enough runs to defend. Because our last wicket stand upped the total to over 70, and it was a good bowling surface , they knew they had a chance to win the game. TI am a qualified umpire I actually went to umpire the game, but because Lancashire F.B. were a man short, I was asked to play, and another umpire was found from the Blackpool club. Otherwise I was too old to play. I was a Station Officer and all the other players were Fireman rank, a bit embarrassing to be hugged by one of my own men. The sad thing about my memory of this match that the lad at the other end sadly died a few days after the game from a heart attack. He had not reached his 36th birthday He was a Retained Sub Officer like me making up the numbers., You wonder Laurence why people like me have a go at you from time to time well that highlighted statement is one of the reasons. Here you are involved in a team sport with other team players and yet you still see yourself as a Station Officer and them as lower ranks. That us and then mentality and superior / subordinate attitude is exactly what has destroyed this once great Britian. As for cricket as a spectator sport......give me 220:20 any day You have no idea - The Fire Service is a command situation. The officer is not a manager but a commander his orders are to be followed to the letter without question It's not about being popular, that would make mistakes more likely. If your house is on fire and your family are trapped it is down to the men following orders. To make sure nothing is left to chance. The Fire Service is not a debating society it is about doing what you are told, and doing it promptly and quickly. Think your missing my point Laurence. First of you make the statement that I have no idea without knowing anything about me. To put you in the picture I was a retained fireman in Fort William many years ago. I was a fireman / emergency response operative at the Grangemouth petrochemical complex and I was a Fire Team Leader offshore in the North Sea. We done all the training that the fire service do plus some very specialist training due to the nature of our industry. Oh! and we put out some fires too. But to get back to the point Laurence. There is protocol to follow on duty but that should not be a consideration when participating in a team sport outside of work.

Just to correct a small point in your post Laurence, and without meaning to seem personal, as you may think, Scottish fans, and I was one, did not riot at Wembley. The definition of 'riot' is: a violent disturbance. Scotland won the game. The fans invaded the pitch at the final whistle and in the euphoria a set of goalposts got broken and some turf found its way into peoples pockets. There was no violence and no intent to harm or maime. Just a few thousand happy fans celebrating a great win.

What age group is this?

You wonder Laurence why people like me have a go at you from time to time well that highlighted statement is one of the reasons. Here you are involved in a team sport with other team players and yet you still see yourself as a Station Officer and them as lower ranks. That us and then mentality and superior / subordinate attitude is exactly what has destroyed this once great Britian. As for cricket as a spectator sport......give me 220:20 any day

No, probably a helluva lot more. From the Independant in 2008 when the ECB were trying to play down 20:20. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/salary-leak-places-ecb-on-back-foot-793618.html

Those items may not be online but they do have them in shop

First thing.....to refer this as a bye is not quite what it is. Teams enter this competition at the stage merited by thier league position at end of previous season. Thats not a bye. I dont recall a situation ever where a defending team came into a competition at a later stage than that merited by league position though maybe it has happened in past. Its certainly not mentioned in the rules of the competition. Format:- Round 1 - 30 teams from football league. (If one of those teams has qualified for Europe then their place will be taken by last team in SPL) Round 2 - 15 winning teams from above + bottom seven from SPL (Positions 6 - 12 unless situation above occurs which would then be 5 - 12) Round 3 - 11 winning teams from above + remainder of SPL The situation has not occurred where a team lower than top five of SPL qualifies for Europe so format is straight forward based on league position.

A short corner can cause a defense to panic and lose shape allowing for the whipped cross into the box to someone who's now unmarked. Short corners allow retaining possession whereas the long corner can lose you that. Its all about what feels right at the time. I wouldn't knock either method because both can result in a goal if executed well. I would also re-iterate what others have said in that pre-season friendlies are all about chopping and changing, experimenting etc and not about entertaining fans.

To me success has to be to go that little bit better than last season and I feel very confident we can. That success may just be one point more than last season. One win more, one loss less, one step further in cup games, one goal more, one lost goal less. That little bit better shows success.

£1.99 in Menzies and Woolies.........unless you had a deep pocket in yer coat

First he's illiterate because he miss-keys a letter when typing..........now he doesn't even know his own name. What hope has the poor lad got with fans like ours?

Especially with such difficult qualifying rounds to get there every year

But some of the women are more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

I would have them all play best of three up to QF's and best of five after that. As for the prize monies I see nothing wrong with that being equal at the slams. The sponsors and punters put up the funds and the players entertain regardless of sex. The more successful males will, however, make a great deal more monies outside of the actual tournaments.

Best way to get round spelling and pronunciation problems is to find out what the dressing room have nicknamed him and just call him that. Maybe not. Probably be as simple as Greenie and that'll open up debate on spelling again. Is it Greenie or Greeny? The things our fans argue about......

Get a message to Terry quick. Fans are not happy that our success last season allows us to enter the league cup at a later stage. We need to ensure we finish no higher than sixth in future seasons. In fact, to ensure we get to play round 1 we need to get relegated. Reading Rule 12 I think Partick still start in Round 1 as it states the SPL at end of season are deemed to be higher than below. At end of season Dundee were 12th in SPL and Partick 1st in Div 1. My interpretation says Dundee come in at Round 2.

Was that the 3-0 win over Buckie where a certain dennis Wyness also featured as a triallist.

All the fuss about a flag. Dont hear anyone mention the hundreds of other people with Scottish flags on the day. Of course this one was being brandished by a politician liked by some and loathed by others. The waving of the flag was picked up by the Biased Broadcasting Corporation who then report a story about political gesturing. After all Mr Salmond wasn't there as a fan of Andy. He couldn't be he's a politician and they are not supposed to cheer on one of their own.

I believe the turf was removed, drainage improved and the pitch re-grassed. No games being played on it to give plenty time for growth.

Sometimes that happens when things dont go t1ts up. A new owner may want the assets transferred to a different company for reasons of convenience. i.e merging two companies. A simple example........I set up a company called MacLeod Holdings. I then aquire all the shares and, ultimately, the assets of Inverness Thistle and Caledonian Football Clubs Plc and transfer all to my holding company. Inverness Caledonian Thistle remains the club but the company is now a newco. No debts, no disasters, just a new company taking over an existing product. The thing is many companies get into financial difficulty for one reason or another and end up as newco's. The company folds and the assets, customer base, goodwill etc are transferred to a new company.

POLWORTH Sounds promising for the season.

Hearts are a bit different though. Their debt is to two foreign banks who have gone bust. Had the banks not gone bust then the debts would still be classed as loans. Yes Hearts also owe the taxman and they have an arrangement in place to pay that off. I dont think, however, that they have the same big list of debtors that Rangers had

I dont recall ever paying more than a fiver for one of those friendlies.