blonde poker forum

I remember another thread in which I suggested we should have a Celtic thread and Celtic was supposed to start it but he never. 

I stick quite a few selections up on Tips for Tikay for Scottish Game and although a few of them get through, there seems to be little interest in discussing them and I put that down to a lack of knowlege on the game up here. 

So going forward I'll put up my selections here and hopefully we can all make some money, but would be happy to discuss the different aspects of the game and gather thoughts of others as there are quite a few Scottish lads on here who support different teams. 

Just picked this up on Twitter and I wholeheartedly disagree with it, what are your thoughts?  If you could take control of the game what would you do to make it better?

I thought I read last week that the scottish cup games were the worst attended for years?

Attendances seem to be down for most clubs. The standard of football is probably the reason for that, along with the cost.

Think celtic will win the league this season though, so it's not all doom and gloom.

if i was running the game i would make it a 16 team league 30 game league season

or if the teams are that desperate for cash that they need the games vrs celtic and rangers to fill there coffers

split after 30 and a 44 game season

too many teams are filling there squads with journeymen pro's from the EU to insure they stay up rather than bringing players through
if there were less pressure on going down the clubs would be able to blodd young scottish talent with a hunger to play
rather than journey men who are after a cpl of seasons money before they retire

30 game league would see me going to pittodrie for 13 league games a season would miss the old firm games as the atmosphere is normally toxic

Celtic winning the league again is doom and gloom for Scottish football.  Part of the problem is the monopoly that was held by Celtic and Rangers. 

Attendances certainly look lower to me, from the games I have watched. 

How do you improve the standards?  Cost wise it must be able to be done better, look at Germany. 

I partly agree about non-Scottish players but its EU law to allow freedom of movement. 

I'd like to see us adopt something close to a draft system to allow our young players to flourish. 

Regarding league set up I think part of the problem is there are too many clubs playing at senior level.  We don't have the population to sustain so many clubs.  We need a cull.  In principle I am not against a league of 16 I'd probably prefer 2 leagues of 14.  With entry open via a decent pyriamid scheme to juniors/semi pro clubs. 

We also need to clear out the guys who's coaching methods have held the game back in this country for years.  They linger like a bad smell and they routinley go from job to job.  I'm thinking guys like Jimmy Nicol, Jim Duffy, Alex Smith, Tommy Craig, Jim Jefferies, Dick Cambpell there are quite a few. 

Why is it that even when they were in the Prem, Hearts & Hibs only got 15,000 attendances- surely a city that big should be getting more through the door to challenge the Glasgow big two.

Lack of success, poor owners,  not being competitive would be the main reasons.   Same would apply to Aberdeen and Dundee United. 

In addition to the above many people from Edinburgh/Dundee/Aberdeen etc will travel to watch Celtic and Rangers before supporting their local teams.

At a guess, their capacity isn't that much bigger than that. Dominance of celtic and rangers over last 30 years probably killed the enthusiasm of locals too, and as kmac says, people start following celtic and rangers instead of their local team.

Capacity wise I think Tynie holds about 18k and Easter Road slightly more. 

The puzzling one for me is Dundee, I know both clubs have their history but how can you have your stadium on the same street as your biggest rival and expect to be competitive.  Pull one down and make an all purpose stadium from funding from both clubs. 

Well we're at it should get rid of Hampden.  Stadium is joke worse in Glasgow.  Of the 3 that constitute being stadiums. 

if we moved to a 16 team league, teams wouldnt be so worried about relegation all the time

event at the split quite often the team in 6th/7th spot are looking to make top 6 just so they dont get caught up in the battle of the drop

teams who are safe but not in the shout for the title would bring along cheaper youth players rather than forking out good money on journey men from the EU

aberdeen is split 3 ways with 1/3 of the population supporting the home side 1/3 celtic and the other 1/3 rangers most of scotlands cities are like that i would imagine
but cities like dundee and edinburgh having rivals take away fans from city

ross county/inverness another pointless splitting of the area, lower down the leagues the same tto many teams fighting over too small a catchment area and having to deal with the big 2 taking away fans

scotland has the population of london but do you see 42 league clubs in london? what is needed is reducing the number of clubs with clubs merging  but its not going to happen
teams even with only a few hundred fans are not going to themselves out of the league just look at the inverness merger
some die hard fans of the old clubs still wont support the new team and clach fans got there way and they stayed in the highland league

How many teams re there from Fife?  That is one of the areas that grate me most.  There are I think off top of my head 5 teams playing in the professional set up, attendances aren't great, local rivalry cutting their noses off to spite their face.  If there was one team from the kinddom using all the resources instead of it being split 5 ways minimum they could possibly have a successful team and we have seen in days gone by with Dunfermine/Raith making finals there is a sizeable fan base that will come out to support the local team if they are successful. 

Prompted by something else, I looked up "Third Lanark" yesterday. Quite a story, that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Lanark_A.C.

Interesting to see that even back in the day the whiff of corruption was in the air.

Will they ever return to Senior Football?

This is (or might be....) Cathkin Park, as was. Is it still there?


(http://www.stadiumguide.com/wp-content/uploads/cathkinpark_front.jpg)

Presumably, it used to be rather more than 18,000 judging by this photo?

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BFgxTcWCcAEtdok.jpg:large)

Cathkin Park is still there but not as a football stadium.   it was a stadium within a bigger park, you can still see some old parts of the Cathkin Park terraces from within the park.

Third Lanark were well before my time buy granda talks fondly of them.  Seemed to be quite capable in their day. 

Whereever there is money there will be corruption. 

I would guess that all stadiums are a lot smaller now, due to the all seater requirements.

St Mirren must read blonde. Tommy Craig left by mutual consent this morning.

There are 3 games played in the Scottish Cup tonight. They are replays from last week.  

There isn't really much I fancy, its an ugly day to play football.  I'm not too far from cliftonhill at the moment and the weather is terrible.  High winds, right nip in the air and its wet and its to get worse as the night goes on.

When I looked at the fixtures I thought Albion might be a bet at anything better than 11/10 but that seems to be best price.  With the wheather sure to play its part I might bet unders but will wait a bit closer to kick off to see how bad it is.  

The other 2 games the home teams should definitely win but at the prices I am happy to swerve and save the tokens for another day.  

Was only a matter of time, I questioned the logic when they appointed him.  My old boss is a buddy and I said to him it would end in disaster.  TBF he was disappointed they had got rid of Danny Lennon. 

Getting rid of Lennon made no sense to me either.

Fairly pleased we kept the betting tokens dry.  Albion lost 1 - 0 can't say it was a huge surprise the closer it got to kick off the more tempted I was to back unders given the conditions outside.  In the end I opted not to bother, as much as I thought the conditions made for a bad game they it have ultimately led to a few mistakes that could have seen goals scored.

Celtic do you have any opnionons on Martin Odegaard  who Celtic have been linked with.  Bit of a wonderkid apparently.

Betting wise, I've been looking at the weekends fixtures for the SPL and there isn't a great deal jumping out at me.  Dundee away to Hamilton possibly represents the value.  I have had a small bet on Motherwell aho are playing the equally terrible Ross County.  Motherwell should have been hammered by Celtic at the weekend but they were dogged in defeat and did create some chances of their own, a similar performance will be too much for Ross County I feel.  It's also expected that they will have the new boss in place for the weekend and the smart money seems to be on Terry Butcher making a return.   That can only be a good thing, personally I don't rate Kenny Black much and was surprised the Motherwell board left him in charge. 

Know we have been linked with him, not seen anything of him. Always a bit sceptical when the word wonder kid and Norwegian used in the same sentence. It's not like they are well know for producing fantastic players. Anything would help us to be fair. Guidetti has to be given what he wants, if not, then the board will have to have something up their sleeve as a replacement.

Thoughts on scepovic? I'm convinced he has a twin that he sent over in his place. 😀

If its Terry Butcher I will never be back.

Took charge of Hibs and basically got them relegated. How did he manage to get Hibs relegated the Season Hearts had a 15 Point deduction.

No Thanks.

Heard it will be a someone completely different from the usual Pish merry go round managers. Surely Terry Butcher isn't that appealing.

they did manage to finish above hearts so there pt deduction didnt come into play

still with the clubs in the spl its unbelievable that hibs were anywhere near the drop zone
and losing the play off was downright criminal

Hibs is a poisoned chalice for as long as Rod Petrie/Tom Farmer are there.  Butcher wasn't at fault for their relegation imho.  He's a decent coach and done well for Motherwell before before doing an even better job at ICT. 

Who would you go for?

And as if to prove my earlier point about how there were certain guys in the game who shouldn't be allowed to coach because they are absolute pish the early front runner for the St Mirren job is Billy Stark.  I get he has a connection with them as he played there before.  I thought one of the best things WGS done, and I understand he was responsible for it was getting Stark away from the under 21's when he took over as National coach. 

Butcher has been told he hasn't been successful. Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Would like MVG. Not the Darts Guy
We had a previous player called Mitchell Ver Der Gaag. Seems to have done pretty well in Portugal.

Would personally have Mark Mcghee back. The football we played with Mcormack Clarkson and Porter that season was incred. 

McGhee isn't going to go back is he?

MVG was a half decent player, haven't heard much of him as a coach though. 

Whatever happened with Motherwell and the fan ownership did that work out I thought I read other day that the finances were under pressure. 

I see Hibs fans are organising a campaign for community based ownership.  Is that sustainable for teams that want to be in the top tier?  I'd love Celtic fans to own the club instead of that c@nt Desmond but can't see it ever working out. 

Motherwell are doing the exact same.

We could be another Hibs in the making and fancy we could end up playing Sevco in the Playoff.

I really shouldn't laugh but this makes me chuckle everytime it appears on Facebook. 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZvEFjqVvgs

Robbie Neilson - Manager of the Month

I posted Hearts as a pre-season bet to nothing at 9/2 on TfT so I am pleased to see they are doing well, somewhat begrudgingly I must add as they really aren't a team I like.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30432188

Continuing on the Hearts/Rangers theme it seems Rangers will win the title according to Barry Ferguson - ""I still firmly believe they will win the league." He never was the sharpest tool in the box. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30424659

How does fans owning the club work?

Not a 100% sure but I think its based on one member one vote.  It works for Barcelona and since they have gone down that route they have had some of their greatest successes.

http://www.uk.coop/sites/storage/public/downloads/insight3_bara_0.pdf

I've had a smallish punt on Dinamo Zagreb tonight at 23/20 with VC.  Celtic's away record in Europe doesn't seem to be improving much.  Our biggest problem is traditionally in the Champions League away games but we haven't fared great in the Europa League either.  Despite the noises coming out of Celtic that there wont be many changes tonight the big loss is Scott Brown, he's not my fav bt when he's missing our midfield lacks organisation and drive. 

I'm considering having a bet on Dinamo -1 but want to get a look at the team beforehand. 

Ambrose in defence. Scepovic up front. Life savings on Zagreb time.

Someone already has 23/20 into best price 11/10. 

I've had another 2 bets 13/5 -1 and Marcelo Brozović Anytime scorer @ 6/1

You seem to be destroying this game Kmac wp! I got on the Brozovic anytime tyty hope the rest comes in for u gl:)

Cheers buddy.  Glad you got on.  We were unlucky not to scoop on all 3.  But I'm happy with the win. 

Great tip Kmac, followed you in on the win and handicap, but not the anytime unfortunately

Stan Petrov just on with Russell Howard. Good to see him well on the road to recovery.

Ally McCoist offers his resignation from Rangers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30451727

Yet to be confirmed if resignation has been accepted. 

Any short list has to have Stuart McCall at the top of it, a rat I have always disliked.  He'd be up there with those of them I hate most.  Fun times ahead.

must have had his eye on someone for the christmas party

VC not taking any chances on Ashley pulling a turkey out the hat and have Dennis Wise as short as 4/1. 

Please let it be. 

Any value in the rangers game tonight based on the unrest?

Sorry mate just seen this been doing some DIY.  I never checked the prices prior to hearing of the "sacking"  as never realised they were playing tonight.  I like QotS I think they are a fairly well organised club and I don't think you'd go far wrong backing them against Rangers.  But there is a seige mentality at Ibrox there always has and probably always will be no matter what version of the Club is there.

With that in mind I'd expect they'd come out fighting tonight, but it's weirder than normal with McCoist being in the dugout tonight.  I haven't the game on or checked the score yet but I'd probably expect them to win by 2 tonight.  Just on the basis of they'll be wounded. 

http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/serving-notice-on-sevco/

Interesting take from Phil Macgiollabhain.  He's been pretty resourceful when it has come to Rangers so he may well be right on his take. 

Disappointed I never backed Motherwell @ 19/10 looks a particularly good bet now as best price is 11/8. 

I still like Dundee @ 5/2 and will be backing them along with a few others.  I will mostly back singles/doubles.

St Johnstone @ 15/8 - Saints aren't the greatest team but they are on a streak and playing with more confidence and getting players back fit and Kilmarnock are a poor team. 

I will be having a very small bet on Alloa at 17/2 away to Hibs. Hibs aren't 4/9 shots against anyone in this league.

I think Aidrie are slightly overpriced against Dunfermline.  I can't back Airdrie with much confidence but fancy they are a smidgen too big against a Dunfermline team that concedes too many goals, even though they are 2nd in the table. The Diamonds don't score many but if they manage to get their noses in front they are fairly solid defensively.  16/5 for a home win is a bit of value. 

It's not often I'll stick up a 4/11 shot but I'd make Forfar much shorter against the Albinos.  Stirling Albion are in terminal decline.  I'd make Forfar more like 1/5 at home against Stirling Albion.  I think they would have been shorter had it not been for the fact they have come through a relatively sticky spell but have back to back wins. 

In the 3rd tier game all our normal home bankers are away tomorrow and whilst I expect mostly away wins at the priced they all seem a litle skinny to me.  My preference would be a small bet on a draw @ 3/1 between Clyde and Albion Rovers. 

Brilliant appointment for Motherwell.

Will utilise his knowledge of the English lower leagues to get us some Stars.

 Ian Baraclough

FFS wp Well, that was the appointment I was waiting on before betting them, seems someone knew last night when the price went from 19/10 into 11/8.  I expected the reveal to be before todays game to provide the players with a boost.   

One of my good mates is a big Sligo Rovers fan and he was impressed with Barraclough in his time there.   I obvs hope he fails at Motherwell :-)

I've had worse days.  It was looking like a really nice day until Motherwell managed to throw away 3 points in injury time.  Moral of the story there is not to back when the assumed value has gone.  I ended up being swayed towards them when the new manager was announced. 

Ended up with 3 away wins in the bottom tier out of 4 games.

Strange set of results up and down the country I think.   Disappointed that Dundee were 2 - 0 down so early, I don't feel as if we got a run for our money there.  I  have a friend who was there today supporting Hamilton I'll get his thoughts later. 

For now with a small win I'm off to the Christmas Party. 

So Rangers announce to the Stock exchange today that McCoist has invoked as 12 month notice period in his contract.  In dong so he gets a £350k pay rise.  So the club were already in deep shit and rumours circulating on another impending administration and Super Ally pulls this stunt. 

What a mess. 

In other news Celtic find out today who they face in the last 32 of the Europa League.  Not expecting us to go far now we can't draw Liverpool. 

I was under impression that the 8 teams finishing 2nd would draw a team coming out the Champions league. 

Happy with the Draw?

Happy enough, I think both teams are pretty gash and f we can sort our  a centre half during the windo and Guidetti is registered for the next round of games we should be in with a chance. 

One of the coaches on my list of people needing chased out the game has left his post today. Jim Jefferies has left Dunfermline.

John McGlynn has also left Livingston today, I don't know too much about him other than he's good with young players, he might be in with a shout as Scotland under 21 coach, if only he was liked by the SFA.

In other news Celtic have been charged by UEFA for fans misbehaving in Zagreb by letting off a flair. If only they were so prompt in dealing with racism and corruption.

More bad news for Rangers - SPFL are to withold £250,000 of television funds due to them over an unpaid part of their fine for the EBT's. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30510604

In other news Celtic's Alexander Tonev failed to have his 7 match ban appeal overturned for racist comments he is alledged to have made against Shay Logan or Aberdeen.  To be clear, I abhor racism and if there was a shred of evidence against this guy I'd be the first one to call for him to be forcibly removed from the club and a maximum fine imposed but this is one guy's word against another.  There is no evidence in support of the charge brought by the SFA.   All very strange.  It would be easy enough to use another racial slur and say that many Eastern European nations have issues with racism especially towards black players but that is not helpful in this debate. 

From the BBC  "It was revealed that the original decision had been based on the belief that Logan, 26, was a more reliable and convincing witness than Tonev, 24." You what, now?

Would Logan make it up tho? I just can't see he would.

That's not the point.  I don't no either so really couldn't say.  But to find someone guilty of such an offence I'd at least want to see some evidence or witness. 

But there are no witnesses. Therefore, wouldn't it be more reasonable to accept the word of the victim?

I'd say no.  If there are no witnesses there should be no charges.  Perhaps a quiet word with the player and it brought to his attention that should there be any further misdemeanours then it won't be looked upon favourably. 

Put this into context:

Ian Black Was Banned for 10 games for betting not only in games he wasn't involved in (against the rules in Scotland) but betting against his own team.  There was a body of evidence against him.

Duncan Ferguson who nutted Jock McStay got a 12 game ban alongside a spell in Bar.

I don't mean to pick out Rangers players but these are scenarios I remember were there was clear evidence of a breach in rules.

Jim Goodwin - 3 game band recently for an Elbow, he's also a serial offender.

A player at Berwick was banned for 6 games - Jack Hay - I think for a tweet he made again clear evidence. 

If there was evidence against Tonev as I have said I'd be the first to want him out and whilst we were at it I'd want that Zionist scumbag Biton removed as well. 

Leigh Griffiths - was filmed in a song which, imo had overtly racists undertones and would have been deserving of a ban. 

No rape trials, dont get seen lads....

Ok then, why would Logan make such a thing up?

Tonev was such a terrible witness, it seems that he incriminated himself, rather than helped himself.

As for biton, there's no room for politics in football.

There still has to be evidence, or at least corroboration in Scots Law and despite the fact that the SNP decided to remove this it will be back soon because Sturgeon knows it was a really silly move and just one of the few reasons Kenny MacAskill was bulleted.

The point is a victims word should be taken to the point at least an investigation occurs in any process. Then theres the reasonable doubt, the only reasonable doubt in cases where someone in a football match claims to be racially abused, in the vast number of cases is that they misheard/misunderstood what was said. I cant imagine anyone would lie as everytime racism on the field rears its ugly head, the victim comes off worse off in terms of stress incurred. Theres nothing to gain for the victim, tonevs evidence was lol, easy case.

Hahaha ok. 

I never said he did.   But you can't hand out 7 match bans on the basis one guys word against another. 

I mostly agree, I am not saying Logan has lied, not at all.  But Neither do I think in the odds of probability that a guy should receive a 7 match man when there is no proof.   

What do you know about Tonev's evidence?

Didnt he claim that he couldnt have said it because he didnt even know what c*** meant?

You  either decide he did say it or didnt for me, he offered no plausible alternative as to what logan heard, because he couldnt. There was no middle ground a la the terry case (I know he was guilty). I disagree that you cant find someone guilty based on one persons evidence being judged truthful over the others, they were there to weigh one case against the other and came out that one must be the truth.

It seems you are judging on technicality, do you truly believe that he didnt say it?

Why is that funny?

Why is it not?  Politics plays a part in everything, especially in football.  Moreso in Scotland were we have seen more political policing of our fans than many other countries. 

I saw a guy with a Palestinian flag celebrating when nir bitton scored earlier in the season.

How does that make sense? Or make political statements in football credible?

Guy was clearly an arsehole.   Waiving a Palestinian Flag is not a political statement indeed waiving any flag is hardly a political statement. 

But it's clearly waved for political reasons, unless he was just a Palestinian who happened to be in Perth that night, and wanted to catch a game. 😀

Or he was trying to be provocative?  Generally the ones that waive flags don't do much else.  Same as the 90 minute bigots.

Ashley tightens his grip at Ibrox - Llambias installed as new Chief Exec - Dennis Wise next please.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30545231

Why do you keep going on about Wise?  I havent followed his career closely at all but with a quick search, his managerial record doesnt seems pretty good and whatever happened with his upstairs role at Newcastle seemed to be more to do with internal politics than his actual ability to do the job.

Are you just assuming he will be terrible because he has some sort of friendship with Ashley or is there something from his post-playing career that Im missing?

There are a few I like today:

Motherwell @ 5/2 away to St Mirren both teams are really bad but Motherwell have Barroclough in charge for the first time today and he will have had a week to look at what he has, I was also impressed by how they played against Celtic in spells in defeat a few weeks back. I'd have this as more of a flip so I think 5/2 is fine for a bet.  

Hamilton seem to be turning it around in last couple of games, after a solid start to the season and then taking a bit of a dip they got back to winning ways last weekend.  From what I heard from my Hamilton supporting colleague they probably just deserved the win but he said had they not got the early goals it may have been a struggle as Dundee came on quite strongly.  On the otherhand, I don't rate Ross County at all and as a match up I think Hamiton are stronger in majority of positions so 7/5 is enough to get me tempted (smallish bet)

I have also backed Dundee again I'm a bit of a sucker for them.  I like what Paul Hartley is doing I like the football they try and play and I feel the price is just a wee bit to big.  11/5 at Thistle who have played pretty well of late and who trounced the form team outwith Celtic might not be everyones cup of tea but for me it's one I can't pass up.  

There isn't much I like in the Championship at the prices.  If I were going to take a punt I'd probably take Rangers on somehow, they are in turmoil at the moment - moreso than normal and I'd probably take on Hibs, I haven't been impressed by them at all, although last few weeks has seen some improvement. No Bets in Championship today.  

In League 1 Stranraer are the form team, not a team I trust but they have undefeated in 6, two points off the lead and away to play-off rival today.  Dunfermline on the otherhand have parted company with their manager Jim Jefferies and although I don't know much about the boy who has stepped up other than he was a decent prospect when he played with Celtic under 21's but for whatever reason it never took off for him and he ground out a living playing at St Mirren mostly, he is assissted by Neil McCann who I can't stand and as analysts go I find pretty bad so don't see how these two bring improvement to this team.  Stranraer at 5/2 is appealing.  

If Stirling Albion play half as well as they supposedly played last weekend they have a chance away to Ayr.  That's a big if but I'm going to give them a chance @ 15/4

League 2 is probably my most profitable in terms of actual returns simply because I have almost every week managed to come up with a nice double.  To my mind its a league that the favourites seem to do pretty well in but I also think that due to their being no fulltime professional teams the books don't shorted up the favs as much.  Today I will be having a yankee on Arbroath/Albion/Queens Park/East Fife - For the purpose of this thread the one I like most out of them at the prices is Abroath at evns.  

To a level 1pt stake we made a profit of 2.43 points.  In realty it was a little more, but as we never set out a staking plan we'll record all single bets at 1 pt going forward just to keep track and see how we get on.  

Yeah the Ashley connection and you know the old addage of how everytime there is trouble caused by ICF its actually Chelsea :-)

Realistically it's never going to be Wise but it would be fun. 

his managerial record seems quite good*

Another winning day for us, that Ayr 90th minute equaliser was a bit like someone hitting their gutshot on the river. 

Running profit - 7.83 points.

Big result for Dundee United up at Tannadice against Celtic.  I slept in and missed kick off, I had a look at Dundee United earlier this morning after watching the NFL and was contemplating backing them depending on Celtic team news.  Key for me was Ambrose, if he had been playing I was having a small wager on United.  So that worked out well, time I woke up 8 minutes into the game they were 1 - 0 up with a howler from Ambrose. 

Anyone any idea what is going on with Owen Coyle?  He seems to have stuck on about 3 stone since he's been out the game. 

He has a new job in the US for next season, he's going to need to shed a few pounds.

Mr Super Ally has left the building. 

Seriously any Rangers fans out there have any idea what os going on over there? 

Seems things got quite heated today.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfSoIGbU4lk

What now?

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsID=14129&newsCategoryID=1

Was having broadband issues this morning and never managed to update here but as posted on TfT Hibs were too big a price at 23/10 to beat Rangers. 

I also like Airdrie at home against Ayr today.  The price is a little shorter than I would have liked but, i'll probably still give it a dash.  19/20. 

Anyone who reads this, will know I quite like Dundee and I like what Paul Hartley is doing.  That said, his squad is crippled with injury at the moment and although Garry Harkins comes back in today there are stil 9 players out, and that is a lot for a club like Dundee to handle.  St Mirren on the otherhand are just terrible but this could be the game they win.  16/5 is available it's probably pretty close to being the right price.  But I can't ignore the injurt problems at Dundee.  I'll be on under 2.5 goals and may fire a small dart at the draw. 

Great shout Kmac, Rangers really are in a mess!

Incredible work kmac

Cheers guys.  Not sure if I can really claim that St Mirren one as a result.  I actually bet them to win but wasn't as confident about recomending it as I was about betting on my own dime.  I just really wanted to be against Dundee. 

Airdrie was a nice result, I have heard a few good things about them lately. 

Full card on Thursday of SPL games with 3 derby matches.  I have tomorrow off work and will have a good look at the games and post thoughts on all 6 fixtures and hopefully find a few more winning bets. 

On Saturday there is sure to be some value had and I will take a look at those fixtures on Thursday/Friday see what I like.   

One bet I have had already and I'd still take a small punt on is  in the League Cup Semi Final Match.  Celtic for all our woes should be shorter than a 1/2 shot against Rangers.   The bet I have had was Celtic - 1. 

I don't see how this Rangers team can compete with Celtic.  I also understand that there is likely to be a number of players shown the door either though release of by transfer at Ibrox in the transfer window.  I would expect Celtic to try and get a player or 2 in. 

Any thoughts on the Dundee derby Kmac?

I was liking United  @19/20

I clicked on to post the same. Seems very generous although Dundee are improving.

I was over United like a rash.  I never got a chance to post yesterday as I had to work a bit later than planned then had to sort out food/drink for having a few folk over for hogmanay and by the time I got up 8 minutes ago they had already marched into a commanding lead so couldn't put them up here :-)

I'm so hungover that I'm struggling to type right now as I have one hand over my right eye and typing with the other so no big explanations for my selections today. 

St Mirren 29/20 with Victor.  I expect this to be a low scoring affair given the weather across the West Coast its windy and wet and New St Mirren Park doesn't provide much shelter from win and rain.   St Mirren will be buoyed by last week's excellent away result.  Killie have been a bit hit and miss and they don't score or concede many.  I'll be playing under 2.5 goals in this one as well @ 4/6

I'll also be having a small punt on Motherwell for similar reasons to the above regarding the conditions and also I think the 21/5 again with VC far too big in a local derby.  Hamilton have been blowing hot and cold lately, they could have the match won by half time but I'll take a chance on the fact that conditions suit the anti football team more. 

I have some thoughts on the Celtic match which I will post later on but want to see the team news first.  I'm going to be opposing Celtic in one way or another. 

Well no need to worry about Celtic game as it's off. 

Hamilton decided to turn up the day and have the game in the bag at half time, I can't say that wasn't a concern. 

TOP of the league, wohoooo perfect start to the new year

I might be one of the only Celtic fans who welcomes this.  I want it to be competitive come May though. 

What are the odds on McInnes staying?

Saw McInnes at a petrol station in Stirling the night they beat Inverness. He was heading to glasgow. I'm guessing he's from there but a bit strange?

Also, do you really see the league as competitive so far?

Worst celtic team, possibly ever, yet we still feel comfortable.

which team you support ?



i'd like to think he will stay 1 more year but on the plus side he has gotten most of the squad tied up for 2 or 3 more years so who ever comes in will have the same squad
no idea who we can get to replace him would have to be a domestic manger but not much talent on show in scotland at moment
and even a youth coach in england gets paid more than a manager in the SPL (outside the old firm)

Worst Celtic team ever?  FFs behave. 

Did you erase the days of Macari/Brady etc.

And yes it has been competitive, you realise the league doesn't revolve around Celtic right?  When was the last time the top 5 teams were separated with just 5 points. 

I'm talking about winning the league. 4 team close to celtic. Feels that none of them can win it. That's not competitive. As for the other teams, last season was close between motherwell and aberdeen for second. Probably been similar over the years without checking.

It doesn't feel like Celtic woud be worthy champions at this junture either but league titles aren't given out in December/January its over the course of the season. 

If its still squeaky bum time around April/May I am not convinced yet that this squad has the mental or teticular fortitude to deal with that. 

Moving on there is a full league card this weekend with Championship, L1 and L2 playing todaay and the SPL in action tomorrow. 

The first game of the day is the Edinburgh Derby.   Odds against Hearts seems fairly reasonable, but I wonder if Hibs will be  buoyed by recent performances and the opportunity to snatch 2nd place from Rangers who are still in a mess despite lines being drawn for another power battle. 

It's difficult to see by Hearts their form in this league has been tremendous.  Undefeated in 18 and they have only dropped 4 points and concded 8 goals in doing so.   It's a no bet game for me, although I will have a dart at FGS as I like to have an interest on TV games.  James Keatings 5/1, Jason Cummings 9/1 one from each team keeps me interested.

In the Fife derby between Cowdenbeath and Raith I am eding towards Rovers.  Both teams are inconsistent and pretty poor.  However Raith are sure to be in good spirits following a decent away victory at Falkirk last week.  Added to the fact they have managed to extend the loan signing of Barrie McKay from Rangers there are more positives for them than negatives.  Additionally Raith seem to play better away from home.  and would be 5th in the away from league whilst Beath would be bottom on home form.  Raith @ 13/10 for me. 

Rangers at home to Dumbarton, you'd expect with the recent news coming from Govan that the boys in blue would be in good spirits if the believed the latest media hype but dig a bit further and all is not as rosie as they try and make it seem.  The club is in a mess on and off the park, I think most people expected that despite the off field issues Rangers would win this league at a canter. 

Dumbarton are hardly a fashionable club and it would almost be unthinkable to many that they could go to Ibrox and get a result, but that is how much a mess Rangers are in.  To put it into context Dumbarton are a shorter price to win at Ibrox than  Ross county were to win at Celtic Park last week.  That despite the fact that Dumbarton are a part time team and Rangers still have the 2nd biggest budget in the Scottish game.  I want to be against Rangers, as I often do.  The best way I have found of doing that this season is laying them pre game to back them back later in the game.  It's probably not the shrewdest way but I have a fairly decent record over a short sample of doing this.  I'd leave this game up to individuals but the Asian Handicap is probably the best way to go.  This will be a tight afair. 

League 1 seems a little easier to work out today.  Stanraer are the form side in the league and should easily beat Ayr United at Sommerset Park.   Both teams come into the game off a defeat but for Ayr they haven't won in 8.   They really are a dreadful team and their only point in 6 was a 90th minute equaliser when we opposed them with another pretty  bad team Stirling Albion.   It's not for everyone but I think Stranraer are a pretty solid 4/5 shot in this.  (Such a shame Argueboy isn't here to tell me its like backing them as a home team at 2/7 or such) 

Forfar seem to be going through a bit of a sticky spell and although they have won 3 out the last 6 it's not that good when you consider two of those wins came against Stirling Albion which by all accounts was a bit of a lucky one.  They also made hard work of seeing off Ayr United.  Brechin on the otherhand are a bit of a draw specialist and seem to find it difficult to hold onto a win when they go in front.  Today could be the day that changes though.  The 12/5 with Coral makes this a small bet for me. 

I'm going to continue with my faith in Airdrie away to Morton.  Airdrie ar unbeaten in 4 and have had 2 good wins in that patch.  Morton are all over the place at the moment and are really struggling for consistency their latest win was a 3 - 4 win against Stirling Albion.  Prior to that thy drew with Brechin and suffered losses at Spartans (non league) and lost to Peterhead/Stranraer.  The other game they managed to win was against Airdrie right at back end of  their last 6.  I know a guy who is a season ticket holder at Airdrie and he tells me they are playing well, have a few decent young players and are well organised.  With that in mind I like the 16/5 with B365 its out of line with most other firms. 

League 2 is banker galore for the home teams today.  The two I like best are Albion Rovers 19/20 home to Annan.  and Queens Park home to Clyde @ 37/40 with VC.  Arbroath will also win but they are too short imo. 

Free roll for the rest of the day, that's the way I like it :-)

Pretty decent day all round. We were free rolling the day and a little more after 25 minutes of the Edinburgh derby when our 9/1 fgs poke managed to get us off to a good start. 

The killer result for me on the day was Queens Park, has cost me just ovwe 4k on the busmans coupon.  Pretty sick as I was fairly confident they were a decent bet today. 

But decent wins for:

Raith - 13/10
Stranraer 4/5
Brechin 12/5
Airdrie 16/5
Albion 19/20


A few schillings were lost on the Rangers game with that late, late goal. 

Well done, another good day.

Gonna have to remember to stick my nose in here of a weekend, because I love a muggy multi :)

Well done mate, good tekkers!

Ya KMac gotta be the scottish football king!:)

top bombing Kmac

Cheers folks. 

SPL tomorrow and the one I really like is Dunde United they will be on a high after the derby win over Dundee a couple of days back but more importantly Partick are without 8 players due to injury.   13/10 with Stan James is deece.

5 of Thistle's team that played today were reported as being out in yesterdays press.  I guess they just churned out the team news from the Celtic game. 

what do people thinking of celtic taking the week off next week?

this will now give them 3 games to fit in later in the season (with the killie game postponed for LC semi)

and possible a final in LC to fit in, ok they arent going into the Inter game as favourites but if they do get through that game
there schedule will look very crowded and celtic are the sort of team that will rest that many players against dundee in the cup
as they try to win the clean sweep in scotland every season

Its a joke and nothing but pure greed by the PLC. 

have they got a friendly lined up?

Every team is allowed one cancellation per season I thought? Aberdeen done it in week 2.

Celtic are gonna win the league. Aberdeen fans need a reality check.

CELTIC will take on European giants PSV Eindhoven and Sparta Prague in the Maspalomas Tournament in January.
The Hoops will travel to Gran Canaria for their New Year training camp where they will go head-to-head with the continental heavyweights in a set of friendly matches.
Ronny Deila’s team will play PSV on Saturday, January 10 at 12.15pm before taking on Sparta on Tuesday, January 13 at 4pm.
Details of live coverage will be announced soon via the official Celtic website and Twitter account

They games will be no harder than training.

That's not the point, they shouldn't be played in the first place.  It's a joke and total greed from the PLC.

Why not? Clubs not allowed to make money anymore? It's hardly gonna affect our season.

Not at the expense of the league/european campaign.  What if there is an injury to one of our better players playing in these meaningless games? 

How can you be sure it won't affect the season, our worse performances have come when we have had to playe back to back games. 

I hope Aberdeen win the league and that c@nt Liewell is chased on the back of it. 

You hope aberdeen win the league? Really? And you think that will get rid of lewell?

As for affecting our season, our European campaign has a 95%+ chance of having two games left this season. How about taking the upside, and maybe scepovic scores a couple that inspires him to maybe get a few goals on his return?

I understand your dislike of the idea of a plc, but I'm yet to hear a better argument or system of running celtic.

2 games one at the beginning of the season and one in January i just dont see the point in taking a game now when they are still in 4 competitions
and when you add in 2 friendly games its alot to ask of the players 

I think a lot depends on what teams they put out, I'd say it's easier playing two friendlies in the sun, than training in scotland.

http://www.espnfc.com/scottish-championship/story/2228568/nba-phoenix-suns-owner-robert-sarver-makes-bid-to-purchase-scottish-giant-rangers-fc-marc-stein

Is this well known in the UK?  First i have heard of it.

Smoke and mirrors. 

heard it on the radio Scotland this evening

http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/buyers-remorse/#more-5659

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/financial-crisis-deadly-serious-as-rangers-enter-crucial-week.115488187?utm_source=www.heraldscotland.com&utm_medium=RSS%20Feed&utm_campaign=Scottish%20Premier%20League%20News&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Things getting weirder at Ibrox.  Felix Magath buys 1% of the club and starts making noises about becoming manager. 

The Amercan has taken to making statements saying he is not involved with any other individual/group who has shafted the club before. 

The biggest news in Scotland this week has been Alex Neil moving to Norwich.  Really never seen that one coming.  I have been impressed by his work at Hamilton but he has very little experience.  If I were Norwich and wanted a Scottish manager I'd have looked at McInnes/McNamara over Neil.  I wish him luck though, maybe now Gary Hooper will get some game time. 

Dundee haven't won in 8.  I think its fair to say they have been a tad unlucky on a number of occasions.  They also see to have lacked concentration at key times especially in the early parts of games finding themselves fighting an uphill battle. 

Injury wise they have been stuggling recently but with players returning and the signing of former Bulgarian Under 20 international Kostadin Gadzhalov likely to make his debut this weekend they might  just be about to turn things around.  He;s not a player I know much about but he must have showed something as a youngster to get recognised by the national set up.  He looks a big strong lad and with the influential Gary Harkins back then today could be the day to side with Dundee.  Motherwell are pretty terrible and the introduction of Ian Barroclough as manager hasn't had the desired effect yet.  They struggle for goals.  Earlier in the week Dundee were mostly around the 4/5 mark but they are drifing slightly and I could be tempted to bet them by kick off if they get above the 1.9.

Ross County have a pethora of injuries, they are struggling for confidence and are in a poor state on the park.  Partick Thistle on the other hand are one of the form teams in the SPL, playing wih confidence, scoring for fun (relative terms) and look a good bet at 13/8 with Billy Hill.  I'd have made them 13/10 shots for this one. 

I think I want to be with Airdrie again today but the price is probably about right at 11/10 most placed.  Although Corals 23/20 could entice me in.  Funny old game.  Fairly difficult to get reliable team news for these games so early in the day but I'll wait to hear.  The obvious threat to this bet is Peterhead are an excellent away team although they sit in 7th in the league if we were looking at just away games they would be 3rd.   Big difference in a 10 team league. 

Morton have been on a pretty dismal run and I think we have been on the right side of that a few times, today might be the game that sees them get back on track but at 6/5 I think I can leave them but they could be a bet in a muggy acca. 

Today seems quite difficult.  Many of the games are too tough to call.  I could make a case for opposing a few of the shorties awy from home.  But t wouldn't be too convincing. 

Muggy Lucky 15.

Partick
Airdrie
Morton
Albion Rovers

Today seems one of the hardest football days I have ever seen, in both Scottish and English leagues. Very few strongly fancied teams.

Rangers situation good for the hearts bet I sense. If they got there act together early in the month and strengthened it wouldn't be ideal. As a hearts fan I watch with interest.

They are incapab of doing so, too much bad blood.  No trust and no leadership or direction. 

Position this with how things were at Celtic when Bank of Scotland were trying to close us down or at Hearts through various struggles or even Motherwell.  The "people" aren't that great at doing things for themselves. 

I have been impressed with the way "Hands on Hibs" have gone about their business in trying to force Farmer's hand. 

Shame about the postponements today!

Meh. 

The rangers issues and a young decent hearts side bodes well for us I think. Less punters going west, can't see many kids rushing to support them. This relegation has probably been a breath of fresh air.

I agree, I think it will have a major impact on Hibs/Aberdeen as well.    Maybe even Dundee United now they are posting profit. 

Scottish related in a way but I fully expected Alex Neil to hve Gary Hooper back in the Norwich line up today as its a player he would have been very familiar after his time up here.  As a result I meant to back Hooper in my anytime lucky 15, sadly I I forgot to place the bet earlier.  I'm literally rushed off y feet had to go do a big shop today, the Mrs is having her pal and man over for dinner which inevitably eans I had to cook as well.  so from 9 -  12 ish we were shopping, from 12:30 - 2:49 (alarm was set) I was placing a few bets.  Only remembered the lanytime lucky 15 when I heard the ping on sky sports app as I was trying to make lunch at same time for the niece.  FML. 

The upside is I never backed Airdrie as a single, but I did have them in my muggy acca.  WP me. 

Nice wins for Dundee/Morton.  Shame about the other games being off.    I have made a smallish profit but had the anytime scorer got on we'd have been quids in. 

Celtic have approached Dundee United over a pre-contract negotiation for Gary McKay Steven, could be a good signing for us.  But our record from signing other Scottish clubs in recent times isn't great. 

Happy to be corrected but only Agathe, McNamara and Brown stand out.  There are far more failures imo. 

Mackay steven signed a pre contract apparently. That mean the end for commons?

Probably. 

I think Commons wil go to Bolton, I've thought this since Lennon got the job. 

GMS has loads of potential, I hope he turns out to be as good as McNamara/Agathe and not a Willo Flood/David Fernandez type for us.

Quite a few games postponed today, and even in places were games go ahead conditions are likely to be tricky. 

I'm stickiing up a few bankers to start with and I'll pop up a few lively bets that should get us a sweat.  even in such cold conditions. 

As a small single, I think there might be a bit o value in backing Hamilton against Celtic in the live game at 12.45, I thought about 13/2 was the right price for Accies and can see there is 15/2 available.  Celtic never managed to win any of their bounce games in Gran Canaria last week.  Remains to see if there will be a bit of rust there as there hasn't been a competitive match in 12 days.   Hamilton obviously suffered the loss of their manager last week and they were caught cold by Dundee United mid-week and after going down 2 - 0 fought back to 2 - 2.  From a betting perspective I'd hope they have snapped out their self pitty mode and give Celtic a game.  As a Celtic fan I obviously want us to win by a few but at 15/2 Coral need punished. 

Aberdeen are probably the biggest banker in the SPL at the moment but I think they are actually plenty short enough today and would struggle to back them at the prices. 

I quite like Thistle away to St Johnstone, Thistle haven't played near as bad as the results suggest according to my season ticket holding former colleague.   They have been struggling with injuries but appear to have a full compliment to chose from today PTFC @ 12/5 With Coral/Baldy/Tote.

Big game in the Championshp for me is Falkirk v Queen of the South.  I must admit I was surprised to see The Doonhammers at 9/4.  Seems plenty generous.  I'd have made them a good bit shorter.  They are a decent footballing team but a tad inconsistent and if they turn up today the 9/4 could look pretty big at full time. 

The last outsider of the ones I think will provide a sweat today is Airdrie, I expect them to bounceback from last week against the inconsistent Dunfermline.  Airdrie have done relatively well for me in games I have backed them.  18/5 still seems a bit big.  I have been impressed by how Gary Bollan has turned things around after a pretty horrendous start to the season.  I expect to see him land a bigger job in future. 

The Bankers:

Morton 5/6
Peterhead 3/4
Stranraer 5/6

All looks good. I am on Peterhead in various bets. Surprised game is on tbh, must be better up there!

i am surprised the Elgin game is off it ain't that bad around here

Might be frozen underfoot. 

Do you live in Elgin Iron?  I know a few bhoys from the Elgin Che Guevara CSC.  Good bunch. 

Small village 8 miles away

I hope maybe a few folk took this onboard this week as well. 

This is going pretty bad today.  Should have just left it.  I almost did. 

If we somehow get lucky and escape this I may start believing in the Holy one again.

rumour has it there is a new mystery bidder in to buy rangers

he is supposed to be a lottery winner

his wife was over heard saying she doesnt know what he would of done if the 4th number didnt come in

Michael Carroll?

Could bring in his mate Johnny Adair as chief of security. 

And big Nazi Nick as his number two😀

4 SPL games tonight. 

Celtic have been off the boil of late and look vulnerable but Motherwell are poor, new manager not had desired impact  might be next season before his ideas get through to the team.    I fancy Celtic win by at least 2 tonight not a recomendation but anyone wanting a bet could do worse. 

Dundee will be too strong at home for Killie and despite having one of worse home records in SPL, I fully expect them to beat Killie.  21/20 seems a good price.

I've tried to be onside with Thistle a few time but more often than not I have got them wrong I think.  Although still showing a slight profit due to catching them at right price.  Tonight though I think Hamilton will do a job on them, I don't thnk Hamilton played that badly against Celtic at the weekend.  29/10 @365 looks very tasty. 

Dundee United can be brilliant one minute and terrible the next, weird team to get right.  I think I will leave this one alone to be honest.  If I was wanting to bet I'd probably go Ciftci as first goal scorer with Coral @ 5/1 out of line with most others.

Well played Thistle. 

I guess that also rules Canning out of the managers job. 

Well despite a terrible start as Caretacker manager Martin Canning got the Hamilton job. 

In todays fixtures, it's a bit late but I wouldnt be rushing out to bac Celtic at 1/5.  We will probably win but 1/5 is way to short given our inconsistency. 

Dundee United too short at home to Motherwell to consder backing.  Incosistent and although Motherwell are dire they are capable on their day of getting a point. 

I think the SPL is pretty much priced up well in the other fixtures, the one game with a bit of value is perhaps Dundee.  They play better away fro home and seem to have found a bit of form of late.    So dart one is one Dundee @ 13/8. 

Another tea I am not mad to bet is Hibs but today is a big day for them and a win will take them 2 points behind Rangers.  Then the pressure is on.   Queens are no mugs but if Hibs turn up then they will win.  11/10 is probably a bit short in terms of value but this is more one of those "feeling" bets. 

Value wise I think Montrose are probably a bet at home to my local lower league team Albion Rovers at 27/10. 

Not really a great day I don't think. 

In England, I am probably going to back Bolton at Lollerpool.  11/1 sems attractive.   

Not allowed a bet today! Gl with yours!

Hibs have frustrated me all season, they have been blacklisted.

Montrose doing a Blackpool.  FFS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hWWe-ts2s

I have put the Wee Rovers up on a number of occasions on this thread, and I like what they are doing at the moment.  But Just felt today at the prices we could take them on.   Lets go Bolton though. 

Predictably the media are alread ramping up tensions ahead of the newest Glasgow Derby this coming weekend.  Of course they have a duty to sell Newspapers but the media should be reporting fact and not fiction.  The club formerly known as Rangers are in this mess imo due to the lack or integrity in Scottish Sports Journalism.  For many a year there had been people making noises about what was going on at Ibrox but the lapdogs of Sir Minty never once spoke up, instead they curries flavour for snippets of exclusives about "super casinos and Hotels" but at the same time the club was slowly lingering towards death and now that has happened "the people" can't and won't accept it.   The media have once again been complicity by not facing up to the harsh reality at play.   

Along with Murray the media in Scotland, most notably the Daily Record were salivating at the bit when Craig "wealth of the radar" Whyte strolled into town.  That went well, then the merry men stood shoulder to shoulder with Charles Green despite many a warning from the good people of Sheffield. 

Most recently they are playing up Dave King at the latest potential saviour, this Guy has more convictions than Craig Whyte. 

I pitty the entire situation at Ibrox.  I was lucky enough to be at the last ever "old firm" game on the 29th of April 2012,it was a good day, Celtic won, it was the last I actually bothered about Rangers as an institution.  I won't be going to the game this weekend because I don't want to play along with this omnishambles.  I wish every Celtic fan a safe trip to the National stadium, I fully expect Celtic will do a number on this tribute act and expect "the people" will be their usual angry selves. On Monday we will be wall to wall of bad news, ther will be the aftermath, the post mortem, the inquest and no doubt the sumit and all the blame will be attributed to the fans but in reality the media are more culpable than anyone.

Thoughts on the celtic fans that paid 3k to put an ad in the paper to state that this isn't an old firm game?

Hopefully there's not to much nonsense in the aftermath of Sunday's game.

Waste of money that could have been put to better use, but I guess someone had to tell the truth.

I'm not really a fan, but Phil seems to think there will be nonsense http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/dangerous-myths/

Why did they do this and why isn't it an old firm game?

For me, people can dress it up, or down as much as they want. We are
Playing Rangers on Sunday. It will hurt more than ever if we lose, and will feel great if we win, more so than any other game against any other scotch team.

Before Christmas thought it might be close, the state of rangers just now, they'll get pumped.

Probably because we have always objected the "old firm" term.  We are not linked to them in anyway. 

We are playing a version of Rangers, we aint playing the club we had any rivalry with before.  That club are dead as a dodo. 

Best entertainment to come out of Ibrox in a few years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL02kequruA#t=691

What a game on Thursday. Super Celtic!

Today at the prices I like Partick and Ayr.  Might also chuck in Dundee for the trixie.

What's your thoughts on the whole Collymore twitter spat kevmac?

I see the Gers fans at it again last night, will the SFA charge them?

Stan is of course 100% right.

I find it ironic that fans of the Govan FC give him abuse for beating up Ulrika but then love Gazza. Funny old world.

I like that Collymore seems to have learned and grown up he used to have a soft spot for the Bears.

The SFA are incompetent as has been proven time and again and will do nothing.

well well well rangers, well well well



just a statement of fact

Motherwell v Rangers saw THREE red cards AFTER the final whistle.

goalkeeping howler too

Was a great kick followed by a left hook.

Shocking scenes yesterday, I wonder if it will lead to summits that brought us terrible laws like the Offensive Communication and Threatening Behaviour At Football Act? 

i think the motherwell player got away lightly with just a kick and a punch, cowardly act pushing someone in the back he obviously had no idea if there was a follow up after the push so reacted in self defence . i hate to stick up for an old firm player but in my youth if someone pushed me in the back they would of reacted violently

push in the chest isnt as bad IMHO

Why do you hate to stand up for an old firm player? What difference does it matter who they play for?

cause normally they are the ones at fault lol

Seriously can we drop this old firm thing, its really grating this has nothing to do with any supposed firm there may have been between two Glasgow Clubs way back. 

Rangers, in their second coming are not related to Celtic.   

Iron was Ian Durrant in the wrong when Simmy took him out? 

Such bullshit, from supporters of other clubs in Scotland that like to blame all the problems of football on Celtic and rangers instead of looking closer to home. 

From what I seen yesterday the Motherwell player was out of order, but Moshni should be jailed for his part. 

don't be absurd.  If (and it's obviously a huge if) the incident led to court proceedings a fine/community service would be the maximum possible sentence.

Really?

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/sports-stars-sentenced-to-prison-6258865.html?action=gallery&ino=2

Geo

With you on this, think it was a really instinctive reaction to being assaulted. Cowardly to push like that with the hope that there is no payback or your mates all rush in and break it up. Was pretty impressed by the instant reaction  tbf, better than the standard pop in, throw a punch and retreat fast that you get from most footballers

Worse than what Ferguson done to McStay imo. 

Agreed

Geo

ferguson had previous convictions

If we put every young man in jail who had a dust up we would be paying double taxes to build prisons.

give me a break see worse reactions to a spilt drink 2-3 times on a saturday night
if you was going to lock guys up for reacting like that i would be serving life for
what i did in the bars of germany and so would most of the british army
and geo please dont try to tell me you havent seen or been involved in much worse than this
and were unlucky to get ROP's

Not what I'm saying at all. I'm merely pointing out that you are incorrect about maximum possible sentence.


Geo

Again

Not what I'm saying at all. I'm merely pointing out that it was incorrect about maximum possible sentence.

If others want to think I meant anything else, they are seeing things in my post that just aint there


Geo

You are incorrect - there is utterly no way that a first offender gets jailed for a football pitch fracas.

Again, you're seeing something in my post that isn't there. You state as fact that the maximum possible sentence is a fine/community service and it is not.

Whether anything more than a fine/community service would be handed down in this case is neither here nor there. First offence or not, the maximum possible sentence can be a prison sentence depending on what the charge is and how serious the Judge rates the offence.

It doesn't take a lot of searching to find cases of jail terms for assault on a first offender.

Geo

The maximum sentence for an undefined crime is life imprisonment, it might even be death for interfering with the queen's pigeons or similar. 

In the context of this discussion we have an incident and imo the range of any action by the authorities is no action to a fine/community service.

If you want to reinforce Kmac's fantasy that the incident deserves to be dealt with by imprisonment then gl.

Lol you just don't listen do you. I've made no preference as to what I think the punishment should be.


Geo

I chuckled at death for interfering with the queens pigeons.

So you don't think ABH should constitute jail time?  Or are you wearing blue tinted specs?

Is Moshni the fella who kicked matey up the backside, and then gave him a slap?

LOL @ getting bird for that...

OMG aberdeen are 3 goals up away to Rijeka team that has been in the group stage for last 2 season i think

i think the team is so good they have got us seeded in tomorrows draw,

we werent seeded in the 2nd round so getting it for 3rd round will be a massive boost

just got to hope we dont blow up now

you spend your whole career as a journeyman pro travelling to far flung places such as Azerbaijan and Brighton to play your home games you make one mistake and its gets tweeted round the world and added to your wiki


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34890393

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graeme_Smith_(footballer,_born_1983)

revamped league cup sounds exciting
80 group games over 2 weeks 6 shown live on BTsport
then last 16 knock out format as currently but 7 games being shown on tv

also bringing back a winter break in january

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35031970

wow brendan rodgers to celtic

thats a huge statement by the celtic board

It is, I'm amazed they managed to pull it off, delighted with that appointment.

First scheduled game vs Leicester. Tighty better get tickets from Leicester...

all tickets for that one being sold through the tournament organisers website

Scando was a cheap option whilst the league was a 1.01 shot every season.  Now Rangers are back it is back to big time spending in order to stay ahead at Celtic.  Great signing for the club.  Wonder which players will come in?  Super Mario might be on his way!

"Rangers" can't spend big, they don't have the money. We are on a different level from them in terms of finances and structure and we will only spend about £15m total between fees and wages in the summer.
The only reason we got near Moyes and ultimately Rodgers is because of their affinity with the club at a time when both of their stocks had taken a dip. 2 seasons ago and they aren't even in the conversation.

Great pitch invasion.  Scots do it as well as anyone.  Great game to watch.

Absolutely cracking game.  Delighted for Hibs.  They have waited a long time for that. 

The Loaf Man is going to need a new hat for next season and it better have more magic powers. 

I'm not sure Brendan is the correct choice for Celtic for what it's worth.  But it does show a level of ambition/intent not shown since Desmond brought n O'Neill.  Pretty sure Rogers hasn't taken the job without a promise of a decent transfer kitty.  I wonder who he will bring as his number 2.  I'd hope it was someone with a good understanding of Scottish football as that will be important.

Yeah that was a cracking game with the better team undoubtedly winning. Chuffed for the Hibs fans they have had deal with some amount of disappointment over the years.

In Edinburgh this weekend visiting my missus who lives here.  Was reading an interesting article about Rodger's being appointed in it today.  No idea of their club loyalty as a paper so i might be reading it unaware 'Scotland on Sunday'. Leftie paper?  Looked more independent style to me from reading it cover to cover. Had some good articles on numerous areas included politics/sport (interesting article on why Murray dropped the coach).

They said Desmond has gone shit or bust financially to get a top top gaffer because he was really fucked off with Rangers' reaction in the directors box in the semi final this year when the Rangers directors behaved in a very unprofessional manner towards the Celtic directors when they got through to the final after he had been very professional towards Rangers in 2012 when they went busto and said Rangers were a huge British club and Celtic needed them for the good of Scottish football and wanted them back asap.  Sounded like he was determined to make sure he does everything in his power to stop Rangers thinking they will ever catch up with Celtic in the short and medium term and really put them in their place.

If he said this he is hilariously kidding himself on.  When we were relegated they immediately put up big banners at Celtic park taking a dig at Rangers.  There was a vote of the SPL clubs also to allow Rangers to go back into the premier league which they voted against, which goes against their need to have Rangers there for the good of scottish football.

You know way more than me boba i am just reporting what the article said today.  Just thought i would ask the scottish lads on here what they thought of it.

The banners weren't put up by Desmond. It wasn't Desmond that voted. Desmond did say, or is at least quoted as saying that rangers are a big club and hoped they would be back ASAP.

The appointment of someone like Rodgers was always going to happen IMO. It made perfect sense to 'get by' til the financial and competitive challenge of Rangers returning to the league happened. I believe if Rangers were promoted last season, deila would have been out the door at the first opportunity the board could get, which obv would have been failure in the champions league qualifiers.

You've spelt liquidated incorrectly.

I do enjoy the official club statements from the new club but this has to be my favourite. For once they had the moral high ground and they still managed to fuck it by playing to the hordes and actually condone them for invading the pitch.

Sunday, 22 May 2016, 18:36
by Rangers Football Club

AddThis Sharing Buttons
Rangers finds it incomprehensible that no one, either from within the Scottish FA or Hibernian Football Club, has condemned Hibernian’s supporters following the violent scenes at the end of yesterday’s Scottish Cup final when Rangers players and members of our backroom staff were physically and verbally assaulted. We have not even had the courtesy of any contact whatsoever from Hibernian to ask after the wellbeing of those who were attacked by their club’s supporters.

There must be a full independent investigation into the shameful scenes at Hampden. Rangers is also at a complete loss to understand why certain individuals have hastily attempted to gloss over the appalling events which unfolded at the end of Saturday’s final.

No matter how many times Hibernian’s chairman and Scottish FA vice-chairman, Rod Petrie, and certain other biased commentators wish to play down Saturday’s mayhem and violence, the truth must not be distorted. What unfolded on Saturday cannot and must not be put down to exuberance. That is a complete insult to Rangers, our supporters, and those individuals who were intimidated and attacked.

It was clear to most of those who watched in horror that the Scottish FA’s security procedures failed when Hibernian’s fans went over the top in their thousands. It is to be hoped that all of Scottish football will share Rangers’ disgust and any attempts to attach blame to our supporters for the disgraceful and violent behaviour, which led to our players and fans fearing for their safety, will not be accepted or tolerated by this Club.

We acknowledge that a tiny minority of Rangers fans also encroached on the pitch but only after having been faced with prolonged and severe provocation and in order to protect our players and officials who were being visibly attacked in front of them. Any club’s supporters would have done the same. This distressing and deeply disturbing episode would never have happened had Hibs fans behaved properly but as they swarmed across the pitch it became immediately obvious that the security procedures were inadequate and had failed.

These fans were allowed to rush, unchecked, towards Rangers supporters at the opposite end of the stadium – all the while goading and threatening them. This makes it preposterous to suggest Rangers fans were somehow to blame as some commentators appear anxious to do. This thuggish behaviour must be investigated and as many culprits as possible brought to book and formally charged. This is the second time in a year that Rangers fans have had to endure attacks by another club’s supporters.

It must also be said that it was not at all helpful to see leading members of the Scottish Government, including the First Minister whose parish is Govan, passing comment on social media without any attempt to condemn the behaviour of Hibernian’s fans. These failures are unbecoming of our elected representatives.

Certain media outlets have also attempted to distort reality. In the case of the BBC this is, of course, not news. BBC employees, in particular Stuart Cosgrove, believe Rod Petrie’s comments to be ‘balanced’ and others speak of a ‘minority’ of Hibernian supporters. Another, Tom English, who was not even at the match, would prefer the authorities to focus on Rangers fans’ reaction. We will not endure this insult.

So, let everyone be clear on one thing – Rangers demands that players, staff and fans be protected from the violence and hatred of supporters of other clubs. Rangers fully expects the Scottish FA and Police Scotland to take action to provide our people with a safe environment. When players are unable to accept medals at the end of a final because of fears for their safety and our supporters are alarmed and extremely concerned for the women and children among them, then surely every step must be taken to ensure that this is

The Scottish Poker Association (SPA) has launched an investigation into yesterday's "Final Table Invasion" and subsequent riot by Todd Cairns' fans after his 25/25 Series victory in Glasgow. The fans of his opponent, Steven Smith, showed tremendous restraint and only entered the Final Table area to prevent Steven and his coaching staff from being assaulted by Todd's rabble.

It was a shameful episode for Scottish Poker which resulted in Steven having to pick up his runner up medal in the car park and Todd not being able to complete his lap of honour round the card room.*
 * All of this may or may not be true
:D

That statement from Rangers was like a declaration of war. I take it when Jimbo Traynor wrote that he was still on the Whisky and Succulent Lamb? 

As a neutral it did seem a tad combative.

Seems Joey Barton has gone to the rangers according to sjy sources he will have his medical today.  I wish him well, I really do.  I wonder though what the rangers fans will think of him when they read these comments from his twitter account.

Can open worms everywhere.

what are everyones views on rangers this season

bookies have winners without celtic as rangers 1.5 and aberdeen 4.3 hearts 8.0

i think its going to be much closer than that and by christmas i would be surprised if all 3 or the above are much closer together in the odds

Warburton's got a magic hat. Talk of them getting Pritchard on loan. He'd look like Maradona in the SPL.

Also talk of them getting rvp but all these players will need to gel and get used to getting lumps kicked out of them week in week out by 3rd rate players that would be playing conference in the English league

Rangers were defensively poor for large parts of last season, and I don't think Clint Hill (nearly as old as Tikay) will be the answer. Think they'll be good for high scoring games, but will ship enough goals that they won't be challenging at the top after about Oct/Nov, fairly soft start could see them up there early on though.

The odds on RVP & bookies stopping taking bets leading to big hopes sounds like the similar scenario for us with Ibrahimovic earlier in the summer - same result too.

Unbelievable ref tonight but in a way i am happy team has been warmed up well and we should get a good start to season, without the distraction of a play off.

team did actually look good tonight and despite not scoring we looked better  offensively than we did last season and Lewis despite the bobble  looks a reasonable keeper
Dont think he is as good as Ward was last year but time will tell. Think we can get 2nd again this year and maybe even get the gap to Celtic into single figures

what on earth are celtic playing at 3-0 up at half time then 3-2 before the 60 minute mark

we need a strong celtic in europe to help get our ranking up

strong finish but never good to let in 2 away goals

5-2 to the celts

The first half is as well as we've played in years in Europe, Rodgers has made a huge difference already.
They never looked liked scoring but then again we are always liable to lose soft goals. Great nights entertainment though and good to see my big pal Rod after the game.

Celtic looked good.  Played with pace passing was sharp few were misplaced but sure BR will work on that.  Defending was sloppy for goals I think they just turned off.

Pretty happy taking 5 - 2 lead into next week's tie.

Could Celtics draw be any harder for them?

was out for dinner tonight with a Celtic supporting friend

he said " easy 9 points at home, should be able to get enough away to get through"

seriously if Celtic finish with 4 points i would be amazed they might need a little luck to win a single point

It's not about the points. It's takng part and the fact Celtic have made it to the group stages is a result in itself.  A few lads I work with who support different Scottish teams mostly the Newco from Govan mind you were shitting it that Celtic would qualify because of the extra money they'd get. 

If Celtc invest the march is on to 10 in a row and if the rangers try and compete again they will suffer a second death. 

It's a great draw, this is why you are in the competition, I far prefer our group to Leicesters for example which is basically a glorified Europe League group
I'll be in Barcelona for the first game anyway (well I've had to extend my trip for another day, it's a hard life :))

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Q4DlRnDg8hope aberdeen get as much protection today away in the green half of glasgow  :-)

Reasonable tackle IMO.

If Aberdeen are the challengers they might as well just give us the flag now.

You know Celtic will destroy the league this season, Aberdeen are still the second best team from what I have seen and I was happy to go back in again tonight on them finishing second at 10/3, I'm just disappointed that the tribute act dropped another 2 points last night or I reckon Id have got 4/1 after today.

i have to admit the celtic first 2 goals were well taken, and cant see any keeper saving them. i turned it off in the dying minutes after the red card and pen but up to then i thought for a game in glasgow aberdeen put up a good effort.

we will need to do better though this season its been a slow start we are missing Hayes

I thought Aberdeen sat way too deep and we had so much possession. Was only a matter of time. We have a shaky defence at the moment, I'm thinking they might have some a bit better trying to attack more.h

oops one way to wide up rangers hope it doesn't backfire

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/7231365/Rangers-fans-furious-at-Aberdeens-new-club-dig-on-official-club-website.html?CMP=spklr-_-Editorial-_-FBPAGE-_-ScottishSunSport-ScottishSunSport-_-20160901-_-Football-_-560276588

Did anyone see Scotland's Game on BBC1?  Alex McLeish admitted what we all knew. 

Yeah it's a good watch, you actually forget how mental Scottish football has been over the last 30 years culminating in the death of Deidco.

is dembele going to be at celtic for 2nd half of season way to good for Scottish football 4 year contract means nothing if an EPL team wants him

He'll get a move to a bigger league in good time, we'll keep him for a couple seasons with a bit of luck then punt him for silly money. He's only 20 and is still very raw with lots to learn.

i am hoping he doesnt stay too long

Why not? We sell him and we have griffiths, or we buy someone else. It makes no difference to Aberdeen. We could have you up front every week and still win the league :)

sad news as rangers fan dies and more seriously injured on way to game as coach crashes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-37530736

Supporters club from my home town Iron, small town so we all know each other. RIP Ryan. Hope the others with serious injuries get well soon as well.

Celtic reportedly refused £30+ million for Demble and £5 million for Gordon during the window. Meanwhile Aberdeen was desperate to keep hold of Johnny Hayes and refused 3 bids from Cardiff the last one being £600k. You could buy the whole Aberdeen squad and pay there wages. IMHO the miss-management of Rangers and the team going bust has killed Scottish football and any chance of the old firm breaking away that could rescue it.

Since Rangers went bust Celtic tighten there belts got there house in order, they still manged to outspend the rest of Scottish football and although dropping a couple of trophies they won the league without breaking a sweat each season. With Rangers coming back to the SPL this season Celtic spent big (for the SPL) and have a squad that could be competitive at the top of the English Championship. If they moved south they would easy be top half of the EPL with the cash that would come with it, TV money increased sponsors money  etc.  Meanwhile the rest of the Scottish league will be playing for 2nd (in 2-3 seasons time playing for 3rd as Rangers get stronger).

Celtic and Rangers are just too big for Scottish football with  every town/city in Scotland having more old firm fans than fans of there own teams even Edinburgh. The sooner there is a change and the old firm move to different pastures the sooner Scottish football can recover and turn interesting again.

Good news for Aberdeen though today as we got a year extension on Hayes contract so he wont be going for £300k during the summer.

the rangers will be busto again before they strengthen.  As soon as they sack he bread man or when he decides to go they might strengthen a little. 

I near pissed myself other night though, on the way home from the office I was listening to Clyde for the first time in about 4 years and big Derek was saying how Dave King has spent near £15  million on their stadium and training facility.  I wonder who feed's the big man this nonsense? 

You really would have thought the day of succulent lamb were gone. 

and the slide continues 8 games just to get into the europa league now for who ever gets a place, and celtic will have 6 games to get into "champions" (money goes to money) league

Simply put Scotland needs the other clubs to step up. National Coefficients can't be kept up with only one club making it through qualifiers. Even back in the 2000's when Scotland were 10th, it meant we got an extra team into europe (+ Kilmarnock under the 'fair play' place iirc) - who diluted the coefficient, starting the slide again. Until someone else stops getting knocked out in qualifiers our coefficient is at the whim of Celtic's qualifying draw.

Comedy Chaos night.

Rangers issue statement that they've accepted resignation of Warburton & Weir.
Warburton says he knows nothing about it, no resignation given.
Warburton talking to lawyers.
Statement removed & returned to Rangers site...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38939432

Statement re-issued says he''s definitely gone.

Nearly the anniversary of administration.  Great times.

The most dysfunctional club in British football, they literally can't do anything right.
Apparently Warbiola offered his resignation on Monday which wasn't accepted. The board then changed their mind tonight but didn't bother to tell him.
They should go for Tommy Wright, he has the right profile.

What a time to be alive  :D

top 4 teams in SPL all at home and missing each other in the q/f of the scottish cup anyone call fix?

you're presuming hearts will be hibs. So I doubt it could be fixed.

yeah even if they dont hibs are bigger than any of the other teams left in the comp maybe not by league placement but still

the sheep are on fire

we're going to win the league
we're going to win the league
i know you dont believe us,but
we're going to win the league

only 24 points behind now with 13 games still to play

Going to land a cracking ante post bet for half of Tips For Tikay. 

You think the Aberdeen bet is landed? Huge results today for it.

not yet imho Aberdeen has had a longer season with Europe plus the fact we don't finish season well normally

Yes rangers are in a mess.  They are financially insolvent still and they have no plan to get out the mess they are in.  I see them regressing further under Murty.

They are without a management team, following a transfer window of loan deals, they're sending injured players to sit and wait A&E in full kit, looking for voluntary stewarding staff, won't commit to a new contract for their best player (who is 37), their stadium is falling to bits, and they have Graeme Murty (a Celtic fan) in the dugout.

Maybe admin doesn't beckon, but they are most clearly not in good health financially.

I try not to snigger when I chat to the Huns in the office when they float ideas about getting the De Boers or Van Bronkhurst in they might have played for them for tax free earnings but they ain't thick enough to want to manage them.

wow i know there is nothing extra  in it for finishing 2nd but i am starting to believe we might just do it

Just a thought but with the bottom 7 looking very close anyone think 6th place might have less points than the team in play off or even relegated ?
6th place team might not get a single point after the split, they will still finish 6th but likely with less points than a few if not all the teams below them

Game over for the impersonators.  Next step is insolvency.

It's happened before, 7th ends season with more points than 6th.

BTW there's a difference in cash at the end of the season from 2nd to 3rd.

Yeah it's happened a few times with 6/7 but never as far as 11th

Prize money in spl is huge not like it's the difference between signing a league 2 player or splashing out on a championship one

2nd was £250K more than 3rd last season.

Hearts and SJFC big let downs today.  Was hoping they'd apply the pressure on the mob from Govan.

ridiculous celtic game on tv again this weekend its not like they are playing anyone special
we all know celtic have won the league do we need to show there home games aswell as there away games on tv now

aberdeen v motherwell much more attractive game than celtic v servco IMHO

i dont do this often but i will be supporting the team in green on sunday

Celtic v Them in Any Form is always going to be the TV game. 

I wish it weren't but that's the world we live in. 

Go home, youre drunk

LMAO i was just joking guys

could be the biggest margin of victory in decades on sunday

I'm pretty sure you're at the wind up but BT picked Dundee Utd v Hibs as their live game this weekend over Aberdeen v Motherwell and rightly so.

The bookies have finally caught up on what we've been saying on here for months/years and have priced Sundays game up correctly. I'm looking to get on Celtic in the second half but there appear to be very few markets.

Celtic on the slide Aberdeen on the rise is the title race over yet?

not a single Aberdeen player in the Scotland squad

Who would you have in there?

Shinne and Mclean

That's a fair call

as soon as this type of player moves to league 1 or championship in England they get called up

i expected more from WGS

In place of who?

Well Grant Hanley shouldn't be there. 

Scotland are proper shit though.  No matter who they pick.

best april fool this year and its still getting spread around my facebook by rangers fans that havent read it

http://www.scotzine.com/2017/04/uefa-to-honour-real-madrid-and-rangers-as-worlds-most-successful-clubs/

St Johnstone to finish 3rd is that even possible? 

I thought Rangers were improving with this new guy? 

what a crock of shite the end of season fixtures are

aberdeen have one saturday fixture

play hearts on the sunday (not on tv so why the sunday)
then play celtic on tv on the friday night to give celtic an extra rest day
we then travel to ibrox for a midweek game (why no tv coverage? instead they show partick celtic 2 teams with nothing to play for and are neighbours)

Maybe it's to try and encourage Aberdeen fans to go to games?

Extra rest day?

sorry you play on the saturday and for no apparent reason we play on the sunday

its like they are trying to make the fixtures harder for us than newco

then why have us travel to glasgow midweek when most fans wont get home till the early hours of the morning

Was talking about your home games.

our only TV is a home game lol

Friday night football is excellent, I can see more of that next season, the fans, in general, love it.

Aye but that's against Celtic and always sells out. It's the other games that are a problem.

problem is even outside glasgow the majority of towns and villages and even cities the punters support one of the old firm
people dont want to see aberdeen play hamilton or motherwell so only the hard corp go week in week out

whereas every game for celtic or rangers could sell out

Then why would you expect people to watch it on telly?

apart from rangers and celtic no team in scotland can fill there stadium
a midweek game between 2nd and 3rd where the away team need to travel atleast 2.5 hours each way would get tv coverage in any other country
rather than 1st and 6th where the teams are in the same city

some of us cant get tickets to any game because they are all taken up by season ticket holders who fail to turn up week in week out untill a big game comes around.
does my nut in, i used to get tickets for the away wheelchair section years ago apart from when there fans turned up (rangers celtic and sometimes hearts) but thats stopped now

Try being a Celtic fan when most ofyour trips north are mostly for early kick offs. 

The TV deal means that fixtures involving Celtic and Rangers away from home are far more likely to be on TV as the contract stipulates a maximum of any games shown from one stadium.

Super Neil McCann

I have always had a soft spot for Dundee since 1986. 

But I hate this cretin more than most h*ns in the media and now hope Dundee get relegated. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-39665873

Are Scottish juries normally 15? I thought everywhere was 12, or have they added a few extra expecting dropouts?

Yes, 15 in case of dropouts, 12 minimum needed to start case. Need at least 8  to vote guilty for a guilty verdict even if jury size is less than 15.

Was an ex-Rangers Chairman (defence lawyer) cross examining an ex-Rangers Manager about an e-Rangers owner....

was nice to give the Hibs fans and neutrals hope in todays game after we took a quick lead today

but we look forward to beating who ever in the final

my money is on 3-1 win to dons no matter who we play

The gulf in class in the old firm currently is incredible.

not really 1 team has been shipping money trying to get back to the premier the other has been saving and now splashing the cash

Correction , one team shipped all their money trying to pretend they were a Premier team while in the lower leagues & are now skint. The other are run properly.

you have to admit celtic tighten there belts while rangers were missing now celtic are on a very good financial footing and can afford to pay the wages of a much better standard of player and manager
 

You're missing the point - they were still paying Premier League wages when they started up in the third division. Still taking the squad to 4 star hotels before big games. Because they were Rangers and they had standards to keep up. If Celtic had spent more there was still room to do so because the club is run correctly.

As I said one wasted their money & one were and are run properly.

nah if you read my first post i said a team (rangers) has been shipping money trying to get back into premiership, celtic cut its cloth as it didnt need to spend anywhere near as much to stay ahead of aberdeen
rangers have built up enough debt they could go under again and celtic have clear most of there debts and can spend freely now
gap between celtic and the rest is going to get wider and wider

And the point I'm making is they didn't ship money to get into the premiership, they shipped money to act the 'big club'. The Rangers spent £20odd million the year they were in the 3rd division, the same year QOS won the 2nd division for less than £250k.

A big difference between shipping money to get promotion & squandering money to act the big shots.

Rods right, as usual.

Celtic haven't even "splashed the cash" we are in the position that we are because we are one of the best run clubs in Britain. We've always been the biggest or second biggest  club in Scotland depending on your view but we were run abysmally for long periods. We now have the best manager, best squad of players, best youth system, best training facilities etc. but you can't underestimate the job Brendan Rodgers has done, this is more or less the same squad that Deila had with the addition of Sinclair and Dembele. He's improved just about every other player in the squad starting from the goalkeeper and he's also built a really strong bond between the players and the support, everyone is singing off the same hymn sheet. Fair play to the board for showing some ambition and getting him here.

If you take Celtic out of the equation the league is actually pretty competitive, Aberdeen have finally taken their fingers out of their arses and have been decent for 2 or 3 years now, Hearts have turned their finances round and just need to sort their manager out, St Johnstone continues to punch above their weight under Tommy Wright, Partick Thistle are improving both and off the park, Roy McGregor runs Ross County properly. Sevco Rangers are obviously a basket but the Dundee teams need to get better and Hibs will be a good addition next season.

rangers "splashed the cash " trying toi act the big boys and get back into the SPL in 3 seasons (failed) FACT
celtic tightened there belts there was no need to spend money with no domestic competition FACT
when rangers got back to SPL cheap manager but good enough Delia goes quality manager Rogers comes in FACT
VVD and forster to Southampton and money used to deepen the squad depth rather than marque signings FACT
gap between celtic and aberdeen/rest of SPL has widened immensely this season with the addition of sinclair and dembele each of those players are worth more than any other squad in the SPL put together is worth  FACT
the 4 seasons that rangers were out of the SPL gave celtic a chance to put themselves on a stable footing to ensure the gap between them and the rest of SPL including rangers will be huge for long time and will also give them a chance to make group stages of ECL on a regular basis though the lack of TV money prize money and sponsors money compare to the top 4/5 leagues in europe will mean getting to knockout stages will be equivalent of winning the ECL FACT

You seem determined to have an argument here whilst basically agreeing with what Rod and I are saying. Are you just crabbit because you can't tie down second place ;)

The only thing I'd take real issue with is the point about Rangers being away for 4 seasons allowing Celtic to put themselves on a stable footing. Firstly Rangers were liquidated and a new club was formed and started life in the bottom league (which they shouldn't even have been allowed to do but most clubs bought into the Armageddon myth). Second Celtic were already on a stable footing, we've had a model that's worked for years and has nothing to do with what any other club does, dead or alive. We paid our taxes and NI and didn't use an illegal tax scheme to buy players we couldn't otherwise afford.

Just because you type FACT in capital letters doesnt actually make it a fact even on the internet.

The court case however anyone following that on twitter.  Absolute scenes, if I wasnt so busy the now I'd take a few weeks off and go and sit in the public gallery. 

@Jamesdoleman has been keeping me going though.

what makes them facs ar the fact that they are infact facts

celtic didn't F@ck the taxman and have paid all there bills etc etc these debts were very managable
but at the time of Rangers going bust Celtic had debts these debts due to to "success" in europe along with good management have basically been wiped out
allowing celtic to spend more freely now without having to pay interest on £20 million + worth of debt

i am praising celtic here guys, they have done a great job in getting there books balanced something that might/ might not have happened if rangers had by some miracle found an investor who cleared there tax bill for them

Praising Celtic but still getting it wrong Iron, your 'FACTS' are opinions, mainly press driven I'd say,  I'd give you a couple of half facts but only because you've shifted slighly on where Rangers 'splashed the cash'.

1 Rangers kept the second highest wage bill in Scotland, from bottom league, all the way up. That's WAY beyond splashing cash to come up - Gretna did it in successive years for £4m - Rangers pissing away approx £70m was grandstanding.
 
2 The books were balanced before the Rangers Liquidation. Bank loans 2011 £10.9 m, Bank Loans 2016 £6.6m. Hardly major consolidation. (and we had to make large sales to keep books balanced during the years you think we were consolidating).
The biggest debt (post McCann) was run up under Martin O'Neill and the tightening of the belt came under Gordon Strachan & mainly Neil Lennon who was never allowed to splash cash, spending rose a bit in NL's last year, stayed up under RD, but these 3 years of slighly higher spending coincided with large sales, which were used to cover lower incomes.

3. Ronnie Deila was struggling badly in his last season, it was that & his own admitted failure to deal with the pressure that saw him off. The 'experiment' of a promising young coach from abroad having had mixed results the board had to get a Celtic Man, and an experienced manager. The Rodgers signing follows the pattern of the Martin O'Neill signing. This was about getting sales back up and qualifying for Europe, the reappearance of a financially hamstrung Sevco was well down the list of priorities.

4 The VVD & Forster (and Wanyama the year before) money kept things ticking over financially - other players were bought as the board had to release some of that income, but it mostly went to keeping things stable.
To describe what happened under Deila as improving squad depth shows you don't understand what went on. RD's first season he brought in a stack of expensive loan players - which don't improve squad depth. He had a shotgun approach when he did buy & a predilection for buying 'projects'. This strikes me more as trying to make Rodgers' success at  getting players the fans wanted rid of last season playing at the level they currently are fit the 'success paid for when Rangers were missing' argument, that's like giving John Barnes credit for Martin O'Neill's early success, retrospective nonsense.

5 The increased distance is due to an overall improvement - the signings help obviously (1/2 a fact) - but getting performances out of Forrest, Armstrong, Boyata etc is the biggest difference for Celtic. And the gap isn't that different from other years, slightly more, but that's because there's a record to chase. 13/14 we got 99 points, but slacked up at the end of the season - because of the prospect of an Invincibles season, we aren't taking the foot off the gas.

6 Celtic were probably the only club NOT to see significant benefit from the demise of Rangers, struggling in CL qualifying & season ticket sales dropping off as the quality of play  suffered under Ronnie Deila. Many other clubs cleared debt & saw attendances rise. I'll give you that the demise of Rangers gave us an opportunity, but associated with that opportunity was a financial hit, the opportunity wasn't taken.

 Love Impartial Debate

call it what you like irresponsible spending as if money was no object over spending on players wages that wasn't needed  maintaining a premiership squad while in tier 3 and 4

i call this splashing the cash or wasting money

So do I, but you insist on saying it was to get to the top league, I'm saying it was to keep up the 'same club/big club' illusion. No-one with half a brain would have condoned that spending even as a money no object way of going up the leagues.

yeah it was to act the big boy it was to get up the league it was so they could try (they failed) to compete in the cups it was a total waste of money they could of gone up the leagues at a fraction of the cost build up a fighting fund for when they got back into the SPL and be in a great position but no they splashed/wasted the cash that was coming in from ticket sales paying wages thats put 11 out of the 12 teams in the SPL to shame
they were able to attract players that aberdeen and hearts craved it was stupidity of the highest order

linesman issued with a red card at killie vrs dundee game

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/scotland/39840405

Keeping the discussion here to save dummies being spat....

Looks like the top scorer bet has another potential twist, with Liam Boyce of Ross Co now drawing with Sinclair. A couple of games each to go. Although Sinclair seems to like scoring against Hearts who we have in the last game. Would be ironic if, after all the arguments it was someone from Ross Co who won...

50 years ago today Celtic became the first non Latin team to win the European Cup with a team assembled from within a 30 mile radius of Celtic Park.

Hail Hail the Lisbon Lions  ;tightend;

Who was the first Latin team to win the European Cup with a team assembled from within a 30 mile radius of Celtic Park?  ;)

:)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLiIQTirC2k

#67

Ha, yeah the punctuation could have been better there  :)

And apart from that, there was plenty of Latin spoken on a Sunday in those days.  ;)

unlucky tomorrow guys

3-1 to the dons

Name your price on that?

2,000,000-1 50p please

We gave it a bash

Fair play to Aberdeen. It was a decent cup final your boys just ran out of steam:

Yeah last 20 mins we were out on our feet in a way I am glad we lost in injury time could of lost 3 or 4 in extra time

Beaten by that celtic team has no shame about it,

Fair assessment, it felt very much like our 85 and 88 Cup Final wins.
Aberdeen proved why its so difficult to win trebles.

#Oneofourown

He's some Bhoy  ;applause;

Its like a combination of Davie Hay and Artur Boruc.

https://streamable.com/wtsdl

 ;tightend;  :D

OMG we did it it feels like winning the league we kept McInnes despite sunderland offering to treble his salary

Good news for Aberdeen, hopefully he'll get some spending money, got a few players to replace.

Wonder if Martin Bain being in charge down at Sunderland helped put him off. Certainly Bain didn't come out of the recent Craig Whyte court case smelling of roses...

think the £1.2million we are getting for hayes is a record for us atleast christie is coming back

(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/19143747_10155350486992482_3642668568904307136_o.jpg?oh=04aadc9c8b2bba2e73544b13e2c1e46a&oe=59D7DDDC)

I don't like McInnes but he's a decent manager and I am glad he is staying at Aberdeen. 

I'm glad too.

Because Delboy is here for 10 in a row, 10 in a row?

:)

You like his greeting face when we beat them too?

(http://i1323.photobucket.com/albums/u593/Rod_C1888/pppayout_zpstoyspasj.jpg)

Paddy are claiming they've paid out on Celtic winning the league already.

In fairness the fourth best team in Luxembourg is a tough one

To be fair to Cavey, I screwed up posting the tweet and took ages to fix it, he posted while I was fixing it :D

Hahahahahaha the gift that keeps giving.

yeah, your post didn't do a thing!

Pay Up Oldco

As much fun as it is to watch rangers (and in my case celtic) slip up or in this case get humiliated it really does &€£8 up our co-efficient meaning teams have to play in earlier and earlier rounds

National Co-eff is screwed anyway, getting that we don't really expect any club to get into group stages bar Celtic (please prove that wrong Aberdeen). We miss and coeff takes a hard hit. From next season there's an extra qualifying round for the CL as well - which could see Celtic playing qualifying rounds with a few squad members at World Cup/European Championships. Although as we're pretty sure to be seeded we should manage, it's another risk.

Need to change to Summer Football IMO - meaning our teams are up to speed in the qualifiers.

They would have got pumped home and away by Limassol anyway so the hilarity of Tuesday night was well worth the half a point that they might have picked up  :)

Scottish clubs significantly underperform compared to average league revenue.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DEDHG0vWsAAN2Uf.jpg)

To defend the other clubs for a bit -  there were 11 clubs who would be struggling to equal Celtic's revenue if they clubbed together - so the average is very misleading there.

Admittedly underperformance in qualifiers is a problem, and there's more coming round to the idea of summer football, meaning our teams hit the qualifiers at full fitness/preparedness.

terrible result tonight

Great performance Away from home tonight for the dons, i noticed no one is offering EW odds on spl and only 2 have "winner without celtic"

Anyone think that rangers should be the favourite in this market? i think Hibs at 20-1 is value but i also think if aberdeen can avoid losing any more players we should be slight favourites

Of course Aberdeen are favourites without Celtic, they are miles ahead.  Pedro has wasted more cash than they have and they have mortgaged the ticket sales and no doubt Euro income to get the upfront money to sign the likes of Dorans.  Half the players they have signed wont cope in the SPL. 

Hibs at 20/1 might be worth a poke but its a big ask for them to finish ahead of Aberdeen/rangers/Hearts and probably even St Johnston on the first season Back in SPL

This, also I wouldn't want to make the mistake I did last season, thinking Rangers would get a good start and the odds on Aberdeen would move out.

I don't see Rangers making a decent start (going by performances they're in real trouble) - Tempted on betting the manager to be mutual consented in the week after the Celtic game at Ibrox.

Celtic played really well yesterday but they are still not palying at a 100%. 

Could easily have scored many more than we did yesterday. 

Watching the The Rangers game right now and you would have thought they had won the league by the celebrations when they scored. 

I actually backed them at 4/5 as I think Motherwell are utter garbage and likely relegation fodder when they lose Moult.  They were 8/15 at kick off so more than happy with my 4/5 I got during the week.   

You still think Motherwell are Relegation fodder. The refereeing decisions yesterday were diabolical.

That handball you never got was terrible. 

I think when Moult leaves, which he will you will struggle badly.  Although on yesterdays performance if that is consistent you will survive the league.   

Cup final for Motherwell, they wont play as good in the coming weeks

wow making the most of this don't  expect to be there long


BUT ................................................................

Paddy Roberts back at Celtic for another season  ;applause;

Craig Levein new (kind of) Hearts manager  :D

McInnes staying up north huge for the Dons
at the weekend he was 1.05 to be rangers next manager
hopefully now the speculation is over we can get back on track stop losing ground on Celtic
i don't think we can close the gap

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41916201

So much gold in one statement.  Jimbo Traynor is seething hard.

Rangers Club Statement:

THERE has been a great deal of media speculation regarding the appointment of a new manager. We assure all supporters that they will be the first to know when we are certain we have someone with the correct qualities required by our club.

The Chairman made it clear at the AGM that the club did not consider there to be an outstanding candidate among those who had applied for the position and the club was therefore considering managers currently under contract. This requires permission from their present clubs.

The position of Rangers manager requires an ability to win football matches and the mentality to cope with the demanding off-pitch environment that goes with being the Rangers manager. This is a critical aspect of our assessment of any candidate during the interview process.

After the two games against Aberdeen, we requested permission to engage with their manager to assess his readiness and willingness to consider the Rangers position. This was declined. We were subsequently made aware by Aberdeen’s statement that, at this stage in his career, it would be best for him to remain in his current post. We endorse that position because moving to a massive club like Rangers is a big step with concomitant risk. We continue to consider candidates but will only appoint someone in whom we have full confidence and who feels he is ready for the job.

In the meantime, we have great confidence in Graeme Murty, who will continue as interim manager at least until the end of the year. The manner in which he has approached this task is a credit to himself and the club.

servco: can i have a look at your menu please
5* Michelin chef:  sorry we don't have any tables free today
servco: that's ok we didn't want to eat in your shitty restaurant anyway

Concomitant  :D

I don't think I ever posted it on this board so it's probably considered bad form but I backed Murty for next manager when Pedro got resigned for a bit of fun and knowing what a shambles the Zombs are there was always the potential for him to get the 10 games required. Win or lose I don't think I've ever enjoyed a bet as much.

The hurt and the bile coming from Ibrox is amusing me so much. 

I done a mortgage for a chap recently and I was speaking to him today about a potential Buy To Let purchase and he's ITK about the goings on in Govan/Scottish Football and he told me the story was McInnes wanted to see the books at Dave King said gtfo.  McInnes might be a lot of things but he isn't stupid and he told him without that access he couldn't take over the team. 

All is not well. 

All is not well in Scottish football full stop imo

Really?

Murtyconcomitant!

King has to find £11 million for the buy out. 

The bears are distressed. 

Hibs to win the league without Rangers at 20/1 thanks to whoever put that up.

surely celtic are odds on sealed to win the league without rangers

Celtic were something like 1/10 in the full market, I think PB meant Hibs without Celtic

Yes, that’s wit I meant.  Too much rum.

Aberdeen just seem to fall apart when playing the old firm otherwise it could be closer at the top

The "Old Firm" died in 2012 with Oldco Rangers.
Interesting table right enough but Hibs should be included in it as well.

rangers are getting better all the time. Giving celtic a hard time now. Soon be back to the good old firms of the past when you didn't know who would win

can't make it up

instead of the first game after the split being Celtic at home to Killie, win the title infront of there own fans, they have Celtic traveling to arguably next best team in the league who are fighting for 2nd spot and Europa league football.
if Celtic drop a point or 3 at easter road Lunch time on a Sunday Celtic at home to Rangers to pick up the trophy infront of there own fans against there oldest (some say youngest) rivals.
atleast its at celtic and not ibrox

Mon the HIbs!

never seen so many people hoping there team lose a game in my life

I'd happily take the win at Hibs and have the party at home to The Rangers.

However word from inside is that Peter Lawwell (CEO of Celtic) is furious that the SPFL have chosen to take our first chance of winning the league away from home, thinking inside the club is that if it had been home v Kilmarnock we'd have had a full house, full hopsitality etc - instead we get a midweek dead rubber. Estimated cost approaching half a mil.

But, not winning v Hibs would screw with the SPFL and have The Rangers coming to Celtic Park in danger of crowning the champions, double whammy.

On current form Hibs are well capable of taking something from Celtic anyway, so depending on the odds Hibs win/Draw might be a good bet.

Males sense to everyone if Celtic killie  was first game after the split, don't think anyone thinks Celtic are going to slip up. Maybe the spfl are hoping Celtic buckle under the pressure and lose to hibs then rangers then hearts and the tired format of a league gets a shot in the arm instead of the reform it needs

We win it when we win it, I don't care who it's against, the biggest game off the season is on Sunday and not because it's against the Zombs

As usual there is a total overreaction to the possibility of trouble at the game itself, the last time it happened was 18 years ago, it was a 6 o'clock ko on a scorching Sunday of a bank holiday weekend, it was a perfect storm. I remember going to the game knowing it was going to be absolute carnage, I've been to dozens of them but it was mental for hours before the game even started.

There's more chance of trouble at the Hibs v Zombs game on the last day if second place is still up for grabs.

True, I lived in Cowcaddens at the time, getting back after the game was like being in the film The Warriors.

Are they coming yet?

Betfair settled the w/o Celtic market today. I wouldn't mind but they settled Aberdeen as a loser.

its very much a neck and neck 3 horse race, i am worried as a dons fan

Who did they pay out on, seems weird as that one will go right down to the wire?

God knows, someone was pure clicking buttons after Celtic won the league. The market is now re-instated as if nothing happened. 

Frank Lampard was definitely the best English midfielder  of his generation!

I hope Gerard’s success in management is commensurate with Gary Neville’s.

Gerrard has no idea what he has signed up for  :D

Out of him and Gerrard yes.   Scholes in a different world to both shame England didn't understand his talents and build the team around him

3pts today for the Dees and we're safe for another season.

What are Sky Sports doing interviewing Rangers fans on live TV. Scott Browns mum could of been watching.

can't believe we are going to miss out on europe this season

Why would you miss out?
Top 3 are guaranteed and 4th qualifies if Celtic win the Scottish Cup.

runner up in cup no longer get a spot?

Nah they changed it, so Motherwell will need to win to get into Europe.

He’ll be resigned to a garden before Santa delivers our 8th title in a row 😂😂

It would be nice if Stevie G can get a few big name signings and hopefully make the league a bit more competitive. I watched 17 live games this season and the standard was a joke to be honest

GTD 3rd spot now, will Celtic rest players before the cup final?
against anyone else other that Rangers or Aberdeen i would think they might after a long season not sure how many of there team are involved over the summer

do Celtic fans care who comes 2nd?

He rested a lot of players tonight so will probably play a strong team on Sunday in preparation for the cup final.
I wanted Hibs to finish second as I backed them at the start of the season but they Hibsed it in their last 2 games.
Aberdeen would be my preference to finish second now but not through Celtic losing to them but not really bothered as a second place finish will just stoke the delusion across the city through the summer so win/win really.

Mon the dandy dons!

On a separate note, what an absolute embarrassment of a club Hearts are. And Levein celebrating like they have won the league.

What a superb end to the league!

That's one thing about Scottish football, it's never dull  :D

What a easy life Rodgers has when these are your two closest rivals.  One shot on target for the whole game against 10 men at home!

Yip, Aberdeen were abysmal, stole a point.

Gerrard didn't help his team bringing on those Liverpool lads especially when Jack had to go off.

Aberdeen really need a striker before the end of the window

hard to get a decent one when National league teams in England can offer better deals

a nice loan deal of a promising 21-22 year old from England's top flight would be very helpful but not sure we can afford even that

That's one National league team and very much an outlier.

Hibs have done it with Kamberi and McLaren.
There will be be players available after Thursday when the English window SLAMS SHUT!

I can't have it he was on much less at Aberdeen than Salford are (overpaying him) in their league.  Surely he moved to be the main man, be a big fish in a smaller pond and make a name for himself potentially?

Heard an interview with him, he was struggling for a game towards end of last season, into his 30's, seemed more about getting a game regularly in a  winning team. Said money wasn't hugely different.

Or he was fed up of living in Aberdeen, just saying.

Poor Night for Scottish Football.

So Boyata wants to move Teams place bids Celtic cant let him go because the dont have a replacement for the Champions League.

Celtic play CL and Boyata who's fit sits at home in Glasgow.

The mind Boggles.

Celtic Board should be ashamed of themselves.

For balance, Boyota is adamant that he is injured.

It's more the recruitment dept to blame in my view. We've been trying to get him to extend for a year like we did with KT, Rogic, Forrest and McGregor but once it became apparent that he wasn't going to it's difficult to understand why we haven't made CH  a priority as we were already shite there anyway. That's left ius in a really bad spot when Fulham came in for him, if we had sold him the board would have been slaughtered.
The player has then acted pretty disgracefully, I don't believe for a minute that he wasn't fit to play tonight.

The whole situation has been a major fuck up on so many levels.

We really should have progressed over the 2 legs even accounting for the shambolic defending and poor finishing.

Not being 100% fit and being injured are not the same thing.

ok anyone got any views on rangers this season?

i don't think they are anywhere near ready to challenge Celtic
Aberdeen have been rebuilding over the summer quietly in the background
and i think they will push Rangers close for 2nd spot

10-1 for aberdeen to win the league without celtic i think is huge as is the price of most of he teams

as they have rangers as short as 1/14 1/16 in places anyone got a view on this ?

Rangers have improved significantly more than aberdeen have.


1. celtic
2. rangers
3. aberdeen

The gap bettween Rangers and Celtic will be smaller than Rangers and Aberdeen.   

Great bet Iron. Ladbrokes were tweeting that 91% of their bets to win the league were on Rangers, but backed off quickly when asked if Celtic would be better odds then. They still have Celtic 2/5, Rangers 2/1, Aberdeen 33/1 - so the daft money on 'resurgent Rangers' is giving an odds boost to Aberdeen.

Add in a multi-million damages claim to be sorted with Mike Ashley, potentially a further one from Elite/Hummel for having to break the deal signed with them which Ashley sued over, legal costs etc & Rangers are sailing close to another insolvency event. Candeias who was decent for them was sold at a loss & if they can sell more I expect it to happen. They talk of Morelos going to England for millions but he doesn't qualify for a work permit under FA rules.

All points at 10-1 being a worthwhile bet, I'd say putting it on Fred would be a good recommendation as well. I'll be putting a few quid on it.

Still underemployed or would be challenging on that one too - was 11 between Rangers & Aberdeen last season, 9 Celtic & Rangers. That was after a bad season for Celtic with top striker leaving, other main striker signing off with mental issues for months, manager leaving etc etc. Rangers are getting their customary ramping, they are on for 3 in a row as Champions of the Close Season. Press want Gerrard to be successful when he's really not doing very well so news reporting doesn't comment that his record is comparable to the 2 managers before him who both got sacked.

i want to see tonight's games to have a better idea but i think Aberdeen will be close if not in front of Rangers at the end of season


nah If Celtic put there foot on the gas they will have the league done and dusted before the split i think rangers will get 2nd but its going to be close run thing and 10-1 just seems a little big


also will Gerard still be at rangers in 10 months time?

I don't see how tonight's game will give you a better idea. It's just a fact that Rangers have improved massively compared to Aberdeen, regardless of what happens tonight. By that argument you could say the gap is even bigger by looking at the results in the previous round of the Europa league.

I don't see how they've improved massively. They've done the same scattergun approach of cheap/free signings & won some pre-season friendlies, I'm not buying the hype.

the players they have brought (albeit on paper) are better than most of the ones they had last year. And they have kept the 'decent' ones they have.

its the Aberdeen game at 5.45 i want to see should give us a better understanding of the team going forward

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7784937/Scotland-brink-winning-second-Champions-League-place.html

Great news for the Scottish league this is.   Thought it would be due given the strong old firm performances didn't think it would happen this quickly.

Not helped by Celtic playing half a team earlier, but since we'd won the group already resting players was probably worth more to the club.

Getting 2 teams in the qualifiers is a bit of a help, but the 2nd team will have a hard road, it's bad enough in the champions stream.

A mighty sweat for Rangers there last few minutes.

The significant downside to this is that we get another Europa League spot which sees the co-efficient divided by 5 rather than 4.

Good point, we need more input from the other teams.

Any thoughts now?  Aberdeen will do well to get third.

Aye, they've been really inconsistent & Rangers managed to up their game.

Aberdeen's been hit by Injuries all season, Rangers managing to make the group stages of Europa eliminated the financial worries.

Still think Aberdeen will finish 3rd but its been a dreadful season so far

 ;bigadz; Still reported that they needed £10m borrowing this year to stay a going concern.

Agreed they spend like it's not happening but the worries haven't gone away.

GSM Celtic tonight in Scotland.   Thought Rangers would push them harder and longer than this. 

rangers still have game in hand and 2 games v celtic

if Celtic go further than them in Europa league can put pressure on Celtic squad

Aberdeen finally Scored after 5 league games without a goal (equaling there longest  streak in history)
hoping the return to scoring might help us get something at home to Celtic this weekend but its a long shot they will likely rest some players next weekend instead of this one

FFS

you ok Iron?

It's ok to be not ok.

how we lost that game i will never know

Aberdeen player among the people caught in the covid outbreak in the city after 8 players went to a bar on saturday night. 2 infected 6 more having to self isolate. This weekends game postponed but the next 2 that take place while they are self isolating are still scheduled to go ahead.

i wouldnt back this season finishing on schedule at 50/50

PHEW nuff said

Scottish Football is rubbish:

https://mobile.twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/1319350550106951680 (https://mobile.twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/1319350550106951680)

Hope Gerrard wins the Europa league and stays a few more years to make Scotland interesting again.  Please don't go to Lolapool too early.   Become a rangers legend.   Awaiting Celtic's reply.

Can't see them winning the Europa League. Gerrard already a legend to Rangers fans. Should stay another 2 years, although that will hopefully harm his chances of a move to Liverpool or the Prem.

Interesting times ahead I think.