The Hammer

Partick are going well in the Championship and may well end up being promoted. It may not have been their first choice XI but then it wasn't ours either. Assuming (and it's still open to question) we go up then an away draw at a team near the top of the table is certainly a result you'd take next year, especially with goals being scored (not just a backs to the wall 0-0). It may not mean much other than the immediate advance to the QF, but I do think it's a positive omen for next season (still making that promotion assumption).

I'm minded to think the same way, but Premier League teams will not want to cut Old Firm visits from 4 to 2 each season with the revenue loss that would bring.

Over the course of a season there will be matches where it just doesn't happen. Not necessarily anyone's fault, just an off day for whatever reason. Kell said in his post match interview that it was a poor game. Having only just seen the highlights posted above (and having recovered from the motion sickness of the camerawork) it still looks like there were enough good chances created to have scored 2 or 3. If it keeps happening then maybe it's something to start worrying about, but we could have won the game and more times than not will do so when creating more clear cut chances than the opposition, so I'm not too concerned. What is frustrating is losing to teams also at the top (Hamilton would be without the points deductions), but the other side of that coin is that we are dispatching the lower and mid table teams whilst the other front runners aren't with the same consistency. Still 3 points clear with a game in hand and after the 5 point deduction, so we just need to keep going the same way in the second half of the season.

I tend to agree. In the non-football world it's perhaps easier to review potential rule breaches on a case by case basis. Football fans, however, are very emotive and would raise merry hell if they thought their club had been treated harsher than another club in the same circumstances. In that instance I can see why sticking hard and fast to rules may be valid. As I said before I don't know enough about the Hamilton situation but presumably the SPFL deemed the owners "fit and proper" at one point but now no longer do and are punishing (what's left behind at) the club for the now former directors change in "status". I think you're right the SPFL have made them pretty undersirable as a going concern (from both a football and financial perspective).

I don't know enough about the Hamilton situation to say if they are being hard done by. I guess whichever way you look at it the fans certainly are, but is that purely as a result of the way the club has been run or are the SPFL exacerbating the situation? It does seem as if the SPFL are kicking the club to punish the two individuals who have let the situation arise. The whole thing does look bleak for them. As for the -5 points issue that @Scotty brought up, I can see the logic in this being applied. Lets say you're close to needing to go into administration and also looking like relegation is likely. You'd press the button towards the end of that season knowing that the -15 penalty effectively means nothing. The extra -5 the following year is a deterrent against that scenario. I understand that this sounds like a flippant and trivial view of the process which is clearly very serious, but there are people around who would try to use of the rules to serve themselves.

Maybe, but if so then the defeat at theirs would also disappear. Still 3 points down on now, but it could be worse. Alloa would also lose 3 points and Stenny 1 so not too much damage if it comes to it.

The move, final pass from McLeod, run and finish for Zimba's goal was top class. Great to see Billy back playing with a proper strikers finish getting his foot in there. Good timing with Chanka being withdrawn as a precuation.

I don't know what print costs would be. But with crowds of around 2000 how many would buy a programme? I'd guess maybe a third. A print run of, say, 700 would make it hard to cover costs at an acceptable price point for fans I suspect. For other teams at League 1 level that becomes a print run of around one or two hundred and makes it even harder. It's almost like we need to go back in time and have a 2-4 page issue with squad lists, up to date tables & stats, brief opposition "pen pictures" and maybe manager comment. Keep it 'bare bones' and charge a quid. That might be economically viable. The other option would be to digitally release it. That cuts down on print costs (although I don't know what hosting costs might be) and maybe makes a small amount for the club. The downside of that is having to read it on a small screen with ageing eyes!

I always used to buy a programme for every match I went to. There were a few I couldn't get on the day, but I'd have around 99% of the first 700 or so games I attended (now in boxes in the loft along with paper tickets, season ticket books and for some games newspaper reports of the match). Here I'm speaking with my (former) West Ham season ticket holder head on - I stopped buying them in around 2021-22 as I found that at least 80% of the material I'd already read on the club website. From then on I only bought European match programmes (although I couldn't get one in Lyon or in Bucharest). I think it's hard to provide content for a programme with enough uniqueness to make people want to buy it in this digital age. Probably only worth doing for "special" matches. It's also probably an age thing - my son (now 23) was never really interested in reading them.

I did watch the draw, I was later home than usual and it was just starting as I got in so I missed all the guff beforehand. To be honest there are so many teams it's more like "2nd qualifying" than the finals. 72 matches to get rid of 16 team is nonsense. I can't imagine watching many games in the group stage. Scotland have a tough draw, but with eight 3rd place teams going through it's certainly very achievable to get through, especially with a good result in game 1 against Haiti. At least they are non-european oppostion which makes it more interesting, and some "big" teams can take a while to get going. England's group is uninspiring - Croatia will be dull, Panama were poor oppostion in 2018 and only the Ghana match looks semi-interesting. As usual it will get going when the knockouts start, although maybe that'll be last 16 rather than last 32 this time.

I'm in the south-east of England. My story of why is in the fairly recent thread "Why suppport ICT?". I'm a former West Ham season ticket holder (gave it up after 26 years at the end of 2023/24) and am enjoying ICT's season far more than WHU's.

Scotty, the thing with offside is that it is (theoretically) a black and white decision. If you're using technology you can't getaway from the 'hairs breadth' decision. Even if you were to introduce a margin for error there will still be points where you're a hairs breadth from the limit of the margin. Oddly the "semi-automatic" offsides seem to be universally accepted, even though we just see the image a few minutes later with the plane of the offside point. That image isn't superimposed on the video of the incident so we all just accept it as correct, and it thereby seems less controversial.

Be careful what you wish for! It's always tempting when you are wronged to think VAR would be the answer to your prayers, but as someone who has been to a lot of English Premier League games since it came in I'd get rid of it in a heartbeat (in it's current for at least). Goals are no longer celebrated as the VAR check hangs over them, and by the time it's complete the moment has gone. It's something for armchair fans only. I'd make it a challenge system like cricket or tennis, it might work then.

It's always disappointing when you are pegged back to a draw after leading, but I'd have been happy with a draw before the start (although obviously hoping for a win). The draw maintans the gap to Alloa and actually extends it at the top so I don't think we can be unhappy.

I was out on Saturday evening but left my phone at home to avoid alerts and watched it first thing yesterday morning "as live". I thought the midfield were all excellent, to a man. Through the game I kept changing my mind on MoM but did eventually settle on McKinnon - two assists and a goal really deserve the plaudits. When the entire midfield play well it makes life so much easier for the defence and attack. Long may it continue. Getting the early goal was key too. Doing this stops the opposition parking the bus looking for a 0-0 and enables more chances to be created as the opponent has to look to get forward more than they planned. As someone who has only seen the two TV games and watched the YouTube goals/highlights for the rest I did want to mention Munro. As a keeper they really only appear when letting in a goal if you survive on YouTube clips, so even though he didn't really have any spectacular saves to make I thought he played well. Calmly dominated his area, made good decisions and claimed the ball well when he needed to. The defence are also clearly comfortable passing to him when necessary. He deserved the clean sheet. Let's just hope that all the good work and performance can be maintained tomorrow night.

Having read your comment it seems obvious, but I didn't notice straight away. It's not bad knocking that out from a description.

This could drag on for a while. Zengin has accepted the charge but Strain has appealled according to a club statement yesterday: Hamilton Academical FC acknowledges the decision issued by the Scottish FA on 11 November 2025 concerning Mr Seref Zengin and Mr Gerard Strain. The Club notes that Mr Zengin will not be appealing the decision. An appeal has been lodged on behalf of Mr Strain, and that process will now run its course through the appropriate channels. He remains a director pending the outcome of the appeal. Hamilton Academical FC remains committed to full cooperation with the Scottish FA throughout this process, as it has done from the outset. The Club continues to operate responsibly and diligently to ensure stability and safeguard the long-term interests of Hamilton Academical FC. As the matter is now subject to formal appeal proceedings, the Club will make no further comment at this time. Separately, we are aware of press reports suggesting that there is a Police Scotland fraud investigation related to the Club. We consider it important to note that this investigation does not involve any current director or employee of the club, and that the investigation arose due to Mr Strain reporting certain circumstances to Police Scotland upon them coming to his attention. As there is an ongoing investigation by Police Scotland we do not consider it appropriate to make any further comment.

He's scored a few goals for the WHU U21s this season, although got injured in one of the previous international breaks. Recently scored against the Swindon first team in a cup game, but the last few matches hes been used from the bench. He is competing for a place with Callum Marshall (full NI international) who is usually on the first team bench, and Josh Ajala who is scoring for fun in the U21s this season.

I think, in general the world over, VAR has stunted referreeing standards. Refs are often reluctant to jump in with potentially controversial decisions in case they are proved wrong and knowing that VAR will help them correct it if they should have made the call but didn't. They use VAR as a type of insurance policy to make the tough decisions for them. I think there is also an element of VAR officials trying to justify their existence by making "technically correct" decisions that are a bit out of context with the actual events - they seem to bring just as much controversy as decisions made before we had VAR when people were screaming for it. The incidents at the weekend are, in my view, not all that clear cut. With the red card that was given I don't think there is any intent other than to try and control the ball, but it was reckless and no doubt bloody painful. A red was right IMO even though there was no intent. The one on the GK though was much less physical (and the player was entitled to go for the ball) but I think there was an element of him leaving his foot in purposely. Whether that intent is worthy of a red or just a yellow I'm really not sure. Clearly if you are a fan of a team involved you want it done to benefit your team. As for the penalty, I think it was harsh. He was falling and also tucked his arms in (although his elbow did appear to move a bit downwards as the ball arrived). I don't think there was really anything he could do to stop it and I'd be annoyed if a penalty was given against us for that. It could easily have ended 10v10 but then again the penalty might not have been given so I'm not sure Rangers have been too hard done by. Personally I'd amend VAR to be more like tennis and cricket where you call for it if you think a poor decision has been made against you. Give each team 2 challenges per half that the manager or captain can call on. If they are right they keep the challenge, if they're wrong they lose it. Otherwise let the game flow and referee it on the pitch.

I think that's standard across all UK football - those who travel make themselves heard and create some atmosphere but at home games these people are more diluted.

According to Tranent it will be all ticket with adults tickets £15, concessions £10 and U15s £5. Their tweet yesterday which ICT have retweeted half an hour or so ago says "tickets will be available to purchase soon - stay tuned for on-sale details".

3rd January could well be weather affected so maybe buying the day before, or the morning of the game, would be best if you're unlikely to make a re-arranged midweek date.

It does no harm to keep feet on the ground, and abide by the old cliche "take each game as it comes". There will be bumps along the road, there always is, no matter who you are. That said, we should also remember that we are still only a point off the top and that's with a 5 point deduction and having lost to the two teams above us in the table. It may not be a walk in the park, but finishing outside the top two would not be a good outcome based on the first quarter of the season.

The "Thistle" in Inverness Caledonian Thistle is an integral part of the club name, as obviously is Caledonian. Both come from the heritage of the two clubs that went through the merger process and are equally important in the name. Taking the name of a club that, in its own right, ceased to exist 30+ years ago does not give them any rights to the previous heritage. It's just a publicity stunt and no more valid than asking Partick Thistle to remove "Thistle" from their name.

I'm not so sure (that even if they held the correct licence and were promoted) it would have a significant impact on ICT crowds. An impact, yes, but not significant in my opinion. Those who denominate themselves as Clach fans would continue to be, as would those of a purely ICT persuasion. Those that do both would probably continue to do both, and with all teams in the SPFL fixtures would presumably be arranged so that only one Inverness team is at home on any given weekend. Where there are fans who would decide one or the other they tend, on the whole, to go to the one higher up the league.