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We're 8 games unbeaten and won 2-0 last night, having had the worst full time team in Scottish football history less than three months ago. With all due respect, shut it.

Ah, the “true fan” trope. If you don’t agree with me, you’re not a true fan. If you don’t go to Dingwall on Tuesday, you’re not a true fan. If you weren’t at Clydebank in 19canteen, you’re not a true fan. As for the rest, correct me if I missed something, but we saw the game out didn’t we? There was a miserable arsehole sitting at the back of the south stand, waving his fist under the nose of the guy sitting two along from him, because the second guy was happy to see us play out 2-0. It was you wasn’t it? Truly, our fans are only happy when they’ve got something to whinge about (and yes I get the irony). Stick to posting comments on Daily Mail articles next time, you’ll be more at home there.

Omar Daley?

Thanks again for the comments and the feedback. It's always interesting to read what we can do better going forward. I'd probably agree with the comments about the Alternative Timelines section about Albion Rovers and the Scottish Cup - it was brilliant fun to record and seemed to flow very well but it missed the mark on the show itself and came across as self-indulgent. Nevertheless, there's some great stuff coming up in episode three and I hope to see you all there!

Alright, pipe down Danny Dyer.

Two, actually. Beat Clyde 3-0 a couple of weeks back. Ooft.

Good going, Philpy. Your walk was almost as long as your link.

Congratulations to Stevie Aitken on those two February awards claimed by Dumbarton.

I hope he has a contract clause that forces him to bring his accent game to every post match player interview.

Just had our 12 week scan so getting ready for our first. Going between feeling amazing and proud to absolutely bricking it. This thread will be very useful.

This has aged well.

Absolutely, there is so much misunderstanding out there. I can't repeat it often enough, nothing will change for 62 of the 63 teams in the West Region. Absolutely nothing. There is nothing to fear in joining the pyramid, only positives and opportunities to gain.

People who leave wee bags of dog crap hanging in trees and bushes.

Doubt he'll be hanging around long if that's the standard of patter he's having to deal with.

True but the SoS primarily caters to a large and relatively remote area that other leagues for the most part (yes I know about Kello) don't have a presence in and probably have no huge desire to start traveling to. They have their niche in other words and most seasons won't have a licensed champion making their tier 6 status a non-issue. Meanwhile the problem the SJFA has is that the North region don't seem to care about being in the pyramid, and the East region may be about to vote in a return to a three way district feeder format that is clearly better suited for feeding into the EoS rather than the LL. At that point how does Tom Johnston maintain the posture that all three regions need to join at the same time at tier 6 when it's only really the West region that both wants to and deserves to?

Action shot of my pack this week

Agree. Sack Bollan, get him in and I'll come support you lot

" I heard" a lot of things last season, and probably that's what most of it was, hearsay. Whether or not he was a bad influence in the dressing room is between himself and DY. I for one won't lose sleep over it, and will always remember him for his contribution and commitment to the club

Can’t believe it’s now March and we’re still in the dark about whats happening with the juniors next year. Farcical from those running our game disgraceful.

The EFL are condoning the attack.

But the vote was for the full juniors to go in to the pyramid not only one region so he is insisting as he is carrying out the will of the clubs. Anything other than that goes against the vote and there would have to be a new vote due to the material change. The outcome may be different in that case. The junior clubs voted on mass to go. It is not up for a region to decide to go against the will of all clubs. If that is the case then it would be far better to create a set up in the west and let clubs move who want to. To have a situation where you will have the west juniors in the pyramid, the east juniors maybe in the pyramid but the north juniors not in is ridiculous and will make a mockery.

Hopefully grimmy contract has a clause inserted in it that he has to go on at least one marauding run from full back each game. The contrast between Gboly`s trickery and Grimshaw just running full pelt towards the goal is brilliant. Hastie and frear fit nicely in between the two. Grimshaw reminds me of one of those toy cars you got when you were wee that you pulled it back a few times and then let it go before it flew forward at increasing speed in a straight line crashing through everything in its way but usually missing the area you were actually aiming for.

You're misinterpreting by taking the Alan Cochrane line: routinely – and intentionally – dropping the word “opportunity” when you can in your posts, so “once in a generation” sounds more like a pledge than what it was: a call to recognise the significant opportunity of the Independence Referendum. Politicians and activists use the “once in a generation” line all the time, without expecting it to be taken literally. It would be chaos if it was. Earlier this year, ‘once in a generation opportunity’ was applied to the prospect of rail nationalisation under Labour. Twelve months ago it referred to the call for a progressive alliance at the next general election. A decade ago the Government described its London Olympic bid as a "once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity", quietly ignoring the UK's bids to host the previous three Olympics. Should these statements disallow nationalisation or cross-party alliances again until our kids have grown up? Should the UK Government abandon its plans for the 2036 Olympics on the basis of what it said before? Should we be blocked from voting on membership of Europe because that referendum was described as ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ by the then-Chancellor? No reasonable person would claim that. And even if these statements were commitments, you can't advocate tying the hands of future voters. It's a tenet of democracy that people can change their minds – it’s why we have general elections – and if they do so in one year or twenty that’s up to them. If the argument is that people haven’t changed their minds, that’s another thing – let’s argue about the SNP’s manifesto and mandate – but denying the right to a referendum for some indeterminate period on such a disingenuous line is unsupportable.

Out of interest, would people have considered awarding the opposition a 3-0 win fair if, say, the ineligible player had scored 2 goals in a 2-1 victory?? Its a massive grey area. Does it matter how many minutes he plays? How well he played? Whether he scored or set up a goal or did any goal line clearances? I think none of that stuff should matter because it’s a huge can of worms. But I think there needs to be published guidelines so it doesn’t look like punishments are being made up on the spot. Maybe there are already rules on what to do and they’ve been followed, but like others I seriously doubt the same punishment would be handed out to, say, Rangers if they’d made this mistake.

There is a meeting on Tuesday and opinion c no change is the one that would be a disaster. And from only my own point of view I dont see any other option then to apply for EOS. Tuesday is a big night and it needs to be decided then to allow clubs to decide their clubs future existence before deadlines have passed with other options

You've won one league game in three months.

They have no power to stop them but there is no league for them to move too. The clubs would be required to set up their own league under the auspices of the SFA but no west club looks like wanting to take the lead for this and also their is no guarantee that SFA would accept them as my take from the minutes that have been put on this site is that the SFA favours the SJFA coming into the pyramid. I just want a firm decision on what is happening. Clubs need to start preparing for next season and if has been mooted the west will start early next season to make sure their ready in time for the play offs, then clubs need to start planning ground maintenance, pre season etc.

I'm not sure why not, as nothing will change for 62 of the 63 teams. The West Region teams have absolutely nothing to lose by joining the pyramid en masse.

Since the drubbing at Tranent, I think some credit has to go to the new manager regarding how much more organised the team has looked.

Good point, but you'd probably find the WRJFA would do that as well if neccesary. It all calls into question why the SJFA are involved in the PWG and not the individual leagues themselves. We all know different leagues need different solutions.

We arent getting ahead of ourselves. Lot of points to play for yet. But your well wishes are as happily received as ever. Let me reciprocate. The DABs are shitting it at the thought of a playoff agaisnt you. Thank you.

FFS, examining it like a piece of play. 'You can see the intent was there ' No shit. There was definitely contact...

Week 10 update Bags o' death this week, several featured in the Dead Pool, many more not. Which is the same as any other week, I suppose. First up was former Rangers and Scotland captain, Eric Caldow. Obituary: https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-eric-caldow-rangers-and-scotland-full-back-a-gentleman-of-the-game-who-was-never-booked-1-4885138 (this isn't UK-wide but it's the best one I've found). Here is a video of him scoring a penalty against England: On a somewhat related note, look at that thumbnail. Any time I see footage of football from this time I never understand how the stadiums worked. Seas of humanity that look more like something from Dante than a crowd at a football ground. My youtube suggestions have been filled with stuff from this time since I looked up that video stole that video from Eednud in the Rangers thread, and I'd strongly suggest you have a look yourself. Caldow was a Solo Shot for @ICTJohnboy. He died at 84, yielding 41 Base Points plus 50 for the Solo Shot, for a total of 91. The second death this week was actor Jan-Michael Vincent, who didn't actually die this week: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/mar/09/jan-michael-vincent-airwolf-and-big-wednesday-actor-dies-aged-73 I have never heard of him or anything he's been in, but it sounds like he led quite the life. Vincent was a solo shot for @alta-pete. He died at 73, for 52 Base Points. An extra 50 for the Solo Shot brings his total to 102. As a result, the scores now look like this: 1. alta-pete 399 2. Oooooft 375 3. Ned Nederlander 3614. sparky88 3285. DBA 2366. chomp my root 2217. Bishop Briggs 2078. cdisaaccie, Lex, peasy23, The Naitch 140 9. Musketeer Gripweed 10610. gingette, Once a Rover always a Rover 105 11. Ben Twilly 93 12. ICTJohnboy 9113. LoonsYouthTeam 7814. Indale Winton, lichtgilphead, qos_75 7015. Sweaty Morph 62 16. The DA, Ziggy 4417. Everyone else 0 The spreadsheet has been updated to include these scores: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NlaNlT-7ZGlQGqszGFfBb49tVzFpWITUAR7BUjApJUc/edit?usp=sharing

A big hello to Ralphies_Chip

Being docked 4 points was always going to have an effect on their performance yesterday. They've been busting a gut all season and to find out the title challenge was taking out their hands was always going to massively demoralising. The timing of the announcement wasn't great either . The morning of a long trek for an away game. Wasn't surprised that we lost. It is a hard working squad we've got and we've got plenty of time and games to get focused for the play offs.

Anyone who chucks stuff out their car, bonus moron points for doing it while belting along at 70. It's not like an empty can of coke need to be jettisoned from your vehicle at the earliest opportunity

I'm still a fan of Roberts' style but his blind faith in Alan Gow is just wrong and stretching my belief in Mark's decision making. That aside, for the first 30 mins today any neutral walking in would have picked the red team as the ones at the top of the league. We played very well at Peterhead and were outstanding at Elgin. So team selections and tactics seem to be okay. Gow has been a passenger since day one. His only credible gigs were Berwick and second half at Stirling but the whole team were rampant at those times. I've defended Hawke and he's our top scorer but he could do so much more with a bit of aggression, essential for a striker. He had at least 3 good balls played into scoring positions today and took second prize in all of them. Very good in the air but, like Gow, he hangs back on the ground hoping for a defender's mistake rather than attacking the ball. In all 3 today he loitered behind a defender when running across the guy would have got him a clear chance. And that's it for me. We've had a surge of good opportunities and shots at goal but with lightweight forwards the return has been poor. I count six games (actually five now) that were draws we should have won. And the irony is our coach played the game as a striker. We're just short of a goaltaker. Think Henderson, McAllister, Sutherland, Goodwillie. Any of these in our team and we'd be in the play-offs. The next five games is where we can realistically measure progress. As for replacements? I think we are getting dangerously close to the time when nobody will apply for the QP head coach vacancy. Mark deserves a chance to build his own team next season and hopefully he'll see the rump of that team is already playing for him. Gow isn't one of them.

How did he become CEO was it a prize in his cornflakes? I know he’s admitted his understanding of the non league game isn’t great but he must have someone in the SFA who could give him a brief overview.

I ran today it was either Baltic gale force wind where wheelie bins and shop signs were strewn across my path and when that died down for a couple of minutes it was scorching hot sunshine. Fucking miserable experience sacked it off after 25 minutes.

Mentally or physically?

Steven Doris is amazing, everyone else is shite, happy with that?

Now?

It is our problem if we don’t vote for independence. [emoji28]

He was offered a good job when his own future was uncertain. No brainer really.

I'm away to sound like a dick here, but I'm glad that this incident and the one in the Midlands Derby happened today. I'm obviously not condoning it as it's fucking appalling behaviour, but too many people were tarring it as a Scotland problem and how it was only our fans that had a scumball element. This is a football issue. Not a Scottish football issue. (Unless it's sectarian led)

Sparta Tweedmouth and PSV Broxburn await [emoji23]

From the team that started yesterday, only Brian McLean (who made his debut) and David Ferguson are new signings - although Craig Barr got injured very early in the campaign, so his return has been a massive boost too. That aside Duffy brought in Boris Melingui (70th minute sub yesterday), Ben Armour (injury time sub yesterday), Conor Brennan (unused sub yesterday) and Henk van Schaik (injured yesterday and last week). So there hasn't exactly been an overhaul. He's getting a huge amount more out of most players in the squad. Off the top of my head Ross Forbes, Bobby Barr, Calum Gallagher, Ross Perry and Cammy Ballantyne have all looked far, far better players under Duffy. He just seems to have the trust of them, and they reward that by playing with a lot more confidence and freedom. It sounds cliched, but Duffy has taken a disinterested and disorganised looking bunch, and made them interested and organised. Combine that with the fact he's actually playing more than one up front, and it's made us pretty decent to watch for the first time since Ian Murray left. It took him a bit of time to get things the way he wanted, and the first few months involved him swapping players into weird positions, but since the turn of the year I really cannot fault him at all.

I think it is harsh to be questioning Mark at this time. I do not think that there should be any doubt that he will be the boss next season. I also think it is odds on that Gow will be away by then. He was worth a punt but it has not been successful, end of. Connaghs Quay followed by Raith Rovers knocked some stuffing out of the euphoria which had gone on before. I was guilty of getting caught up in it by actually believing we could make the playoffs. Realistically, considering we had no team a couple of weeks before the season start, that was Peter Pan thinking. The injuries, followed by stupid suspensions, to central defenders would have been difficult for any team to cope with considering the backup players were basically teenagers. Where did Nimmo go? Let us not forget Adam Martin who was coming into some form when he got crocked. We have had no continuity from week to week with a choice of first picks. Had we had that I do not believe we would be discussing this. My main concern is that we have not played with a natural striker virtually all season and we just do not have one. I would be playing Moore and East in every game until the end to give them as much experience as possible. Young Grant is another decent prospect. On the subject of who to keep and who to let go Gow is in a class of his own and everyone will have their own ideas on others. I would lose no sleep if Peters, Mortimer and Summers were not with us next season. Whilst not a wish I wonder if Gerry can keep up with us. I think the style that Mark has developed is fine and his formations in the main have made sense. I have no evidence to suggest the players do not like playing for him and team spirit looks good. I would have no desire to see us grind out constant 1-0 victories if we played like Connaghs Quay, for example.