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Honestly mate, just do what you fucking like. We're all bored to death of your whining.

Ok, I'll bite, but only because that tweet is so misleading it's unreal. The tweet suggests all 5 where officers, however only one was actual in service and the another was retired. Looking at the replies to it, it's full of mindless idiots unable to do their own research. Bottom Left - David McAtee was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police and National Guard, authorities claim they were returning fire, however video evidence suggest that they had fired pepper balls at the restaurant first before McAtee fired his weapon, possibly fearing possible looters. The body cameras worn by the officers at the time surprsingly were never switched on......strange that one. (link - https://abc7chicago.com/david-mcatee-louisville-shooting-police/6235196/) Top left - Chris Beaty was a night club and business owner who had intervened in a mugging and got shot (link - https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/local-artists-indianapolis-chris-beaty-mural) Center - David Dorn, retired police chief shot and killed by looter in a pawn shop. (link - https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/03/us/david-dorn-st-louis-police-shot-trnd/index.html) Top right - David Patrick Underwood, shot and killed in a drive by shooting while providing security at outside a courthouse in Oakland, the FBI are investigating as it's been investigated as domestic terriosim and motive is unclear, not been linked to riots as of yet. (link - https://www.wfmj.com/story/42198950/retired-officer-ex-college-athlete-among-victims-of-unrest) Bottom right - Unkown. I can only find one female death during the period of time for the protests, Sarah Grossman. Sarah died due to acute respiratory issues after she was in a group sprayed with tear gas at a demonstration in Ohio. (link - https://www.thelantern.com/2020/06/columbus-looks-into-death-of-ohio-state-grad-who-attended-downtown-protests/) Social media is full mistruth and exaggeration on both sides, it's your responsibility to double check what non-verified sources spout out especially if it's pushing a narrative All this took me less than 10 mins to check.

Comedically they are now discussing the voting structure - it amuses me to think that a plan that Rangers and Celtic want to push through will probably fail due to the voting structure that was put in place specifically for them.

Hearts would throw their weight behind an appeal by Peter Tobin if they thought they'd stay up.

Ooft, we're definitely through the gammon looking glass if defenestrating Cecil fucking Rhodes is now considered a 'far left' position.

People forget that clubs can already do this with young loanees anyway. Players who are out on loan can still play for your reserve or development side every week, while their training can be split between the parent club and the club they're on loan at meaning your coaches continue to work with them. That's still a significant amount of oversight of a player's development, so as you say there's not really any extra benefit here. The match day is the only time the parent club's coaches don't have control, and is that actually a bad thing to have young players learning from different managers? You could update the loanees to more recent examples, but I think the crop of players who were on loan to Championship clubs from Celtic or Rangers when they were first shoehorned into the Challenge Cup and these debates started are a good illustration of why this will actually hurt players as well. At that point you had Jamie Lindsay, Aidan Nesbitt, Joe Thomson, Paul McMullan, Ryan Hardie, Tom Walsh, Scott Roberts and Jordan Thompson on loan at Championship clubs. Taking the player with the best career to date in Jamie Lindsay, his career trajectory was a loan spell with Dumbarton in the Championship where he got experience of a relegation battle and success in staying up, a loan spell with Morton in the Championship where he got experience of challenging for the playoffs and playing in them, a loan spell with Ross County in the Premiership bringing another relegation battle which was unsuccessful. He was then was released by Celtic and signed permanently for Ross County, was arguably their best player as they cantered to the Championship title and got a move to Rotherham, where he'll be winning promotion from League One if their season is called on PPG this week. We're supposed to believe that if Jamie Lindsay didn't have all those experiences on loan, didn't experience the lows of relegation battles and highs of promotion challenges, testing himself in the Championship and Premiership, learning from more experienced teammates and working under four different managers, he'd be a better player. If he just stayed with a Celtic youth team that whole time, even though there was no chance he was ever going to make it at Celtic, if he played alongside other players his age rather than anyone more experienced and spent those years playing at a lower level than he did with the loan system, he'd be a better player. Not only would he be a better player, but he'd actually be magically transformed into a player capable of competing for a place in the Scotland squad. This doesn't only apply to Jamie Lindsay, the best of those eight players I've listed. If Scott Roberts had just been able to play in League One with a Rangers youth team rather than being a laughing stock of a player in a laughing stock of a Raith team being relegated from the Championship, then bounce around failing to hold down a place in the team at Annan, Elgin and Albion Rovers, he'd surely be competing with Ryan Jack for a place in the Rangers team and Scotland squad just now. It is complete and utter bollocks. Anyone who engages their brain for five seconds can see that it will do nothing positive for the development of young players.

Guys, FYI the Sonstrust has just posted the following statement which will be conveyed to the Dumbarton FC Board ahead of any discussion and vote on the proposals to restructure the leagues including the introduction of Colt teams. THE SONSTRUST would like to reaffirm its opposition to the idea of ‘colt teams’ being introduced into the SPFL League system. In a consultation conducted in 2018, 89% of Trust members voted against the idea of having Colt teams play in our lower leagues, and it is also the unanimous position of the Sonstrust Board. We would therefore firmly oppose any league reconstruction proposals which introduced colt teams into the bottom tier. We believe the democratic principle of ‘one club, one team’ should be upheld, and to see the lower tier devalued into little more than a development league for the top two sides in Scotland to test their youth against is something we could not support under any circumstances. This opportunistic attempt to use the crisis in Scottish football to shoehorn their development sides into the lower leagues, with the promises of guaranteed ticket sales and joining fees should be recognised as no more than a bribe – one that compromises the integrity of the competition. We believe that whatever financial benefit can be obtained by admitting colt teams into the league will be outweighed by the loss of revenue and goodwill from our supporters who overwhelmingly oppose the idea. The low attendances and boycotts at Challenge Cup fixtures involving colt teams both at The Rock and at many other grounds across Scotland show that there is little appetite to see the introduction of colt teams into the league. The Sonstrust will therefore be making firm representations to the Club in opposition to any reconstruction proposal involving colt teams being introduced into the league setup. No matter the financial gain, the Club should not sells its soul by voting for such a proposal and risk antagonising its supporters who have been incredibly generous to the club over the past few months, rallying around and contributing financially to help ensure the future of our club.

I honestly don't think anyone who suggests this understands football. They might watch football and support a team, but they don't actually understand the fabric of the game and what makes it tick. Competitive football is about two teams turning up to beat each other. Those clubs each represent a city, town, district, country or cause. People are emotionally involved in that. Those eleven players are representing one of those things. For ninety minutes, you invest everything in it and switch off from reality. It matters. There can be a car load of away fans, but what is representing them on the park matters as much to them as Real Madrid does go their fans. When you introduce reserve teams, you bring in a situation where one team cares. Sure, you'll have fans of the big club club liking to see the youngsters do well, but does it hurt them when they lose? Do they feel elated when they win? No. If you bring forward a situation where a team can win a league and nobody is emotionally invested, nobody is having the party of their lives and, frankly, nobody cares, what's the point?

If those tears get into your keyboard you could get electrocuted.

Still find it mental that people expected Sturgeon to criticise Black Lives Matter protests this weekend when she still hasn't condemned the much more dangerous Janey Godley voiceovers.

Uncle Roy saying no to any reconstruction as he thinks it's now too late for any change before the new season. Good lad.

Certainly got me onside. What a beautifully simple way to raise awareness and create debate about a subject that needs to be addressed.

In times of crisis you always discover heroes in unlikely places. Take a bow Sons of the Rock, this is poetry. Every self-respecting football club and supporters group in Scotland should be coming out with similar statements.

We can start learning about Britain's role in ending it as soon as we actually start learning about Britain's role in doing it in the first place. Neither of these things are part of our current curriculum in any meaningful way and therefore don't register in the national psyche. It seems a little bit churlish to celebrate your own role in stopping slavery when you were complicit in the process for decades before that, and built your own country off the back of the profits. Even when we stopped it, we paid reparations to the poor little slave traders who ended up out of pocket, not the countries and communities which we ravaged for years.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I posted my opinion about colt teams on here before, having experienced them in The Netherlands myself, but unfortunately this has come back again so here is my take on it again. In The Netherlands, the colt teams are very much hated by fans of lower division teams. They rarely take any fans to away games and at home games they don't get high attendances. In the first season attendances were half-decent but after that the novelty factor wore off and they fell. The record low attendance in the 2nd tier was at a game between FC Twente Colts and PSV Colts with an attendance of 72. That 72 included all comps, sponsors, journalists etc., so the number of paying fans in attendance was probably in single figures. The effectiveness of these teams is much debated as few players from those teams actually ended up in their club's first team. The really big talents tend to go straight in the first team or get loaned out to a top flight team. Plenty of clubs have pulled their colts team from the pyramid since it started, there are now only 10 left even though there are 34 full-time teams. Some big clubs like Feyenoord even never bothered with a colt team in the pyramid and their youth set up is very strong. The Dutch youth system has a very good reputation but that's due to an extensive network of coaching, training, scouting and youth partnerships going all the way down to lower non-league. Big names like Robben and Van Nistelrooy came through the youth system of a small non-league club before eventually being picked up by professional clubs. Out of the extensive Dutch youth system, the "colt team" system is arguably the least effective and most controversial part. If Scottish football is really serious about youth development, improvements should start with coaching, training etc. Even considering colt teams should only be done once all those aspects have improved massively. Just as a clarification: in the Dutch pyramid colt teams are only allowed for the 34 full-time clubs. They can't get higher than the 2nd tier or the tier below their first team if the first team aren't top flight. They can't get into cup tournaments with first teams. Colts of non-league clubs actually do join cup tournaments and are not in the league, which sometimes results in odd situations of a first team playing against their own colts. I once played in one of such games myself when I played football (I was in the first team), it was weird...

That isnt a problem here though, as Hearts were expelled. hth

I do like the way Rangers and Celtic enter at Tier 3 and any other clubs at HL/LL totally ignoring the EOS / WOS / SOS clubs in the pyramid. Colt and reserve teams need to get into the sea at every level including Stranraer and Stirling University. The pyramid should be one club, one team. Reserve clubs should play in a reserve league. If clubs are so desperate for a development team playing competitive football then have a feeder team in another country like Man Utd did in Belgium then there’s no conflict of interest or simply continue to loan players to other clubs. I’ll be furious if the Raith board back this absolute insult of a deal to pander to the Ugly Sisters for 30 pieces of silver. Hopefully fans groups around the country follow Dumbarton’s lead with strong statements to the clubs.

Why would anyone visiting Edinburgh go to any of the places you have just mentioned?

Correct. The only thing this does is increase the probability that the rare genuine talents we do develop will belong to one of the OF. These guys will develop with or without colts. It's a power grab to hoover up the best young players in Scotland and increase their attractiveness to youngsters in England and abroad too. Everything else in the proposal is essentially just a bribe to make it happen.

Every P&B post you've made has been on this thread - Is there an explanation for unusual behaviour like that?

The narrative that you’re a knob is still pretty clear.

If Rangers stopped being bigotted and sectarian they wouldn't exist any more. The club literally exists as a safety valve for the vile opinions of roughly half of Scotland's underclass.

A proposal to further tighten the Old Firm's grip on our game in exchange for saving Hearts from their deserved fate. This has to be the worst deal of all time. I expect this to be laughed out the room if it ever limps to a vote. Ann Budge showing she is willing to wreck our game in exchange for 1 season of probably still being in and around the relegation zone of the SPFL. I suspect all of the good guys will absolutely smash this apart and that will be the end of it.

Guys, FYI the Sonstrust has just posted the following statement which will be conveyed to the Dumbarton FC Board ahead of any discussion and vote on the proposals to restructure the leagues including the introduction of Colt teams. THE SONSTRUST would like to reaffirm its opposition to the idea of ‘colt teams’ being introduced into the SPFL League system. In a consultation conducted in 2018, 89% of Trust members voted against the idea of having Colt teams play in our lower leagues, and it is also the unanimous position of the Sonstrust Board. We would therefore firmly oppose any league reconstruction proposals which introduced colt teams into the bottom tier. We believe the democratic principle of ‘one club, one team’ should be upheld, and to see the lower tier devalued into little more than a development league for the top two sides in Scotland to test their youth against is something we could not support under any circumstances. This opportunistic attempt to use the crisis in Scottish football to shoehorn their development sides into the lower leagues, with the promises of guaranteed ticket sales and joining fees should be recognised as no more than a bribe – one that compromises the integrity of the competition. We believe that whatever financial benefit can be obtained by admitting colt teams into the league will be outweighed by the loss of revenue and goodwill from our supporters who overwhelmingly oppose the idea. The low attendances and boycotts at Challenge Cup fixtures involving colt teams both at The Rock and at many other grounds across Scotland show that there is little appetite to see the introduction of colt teams into the league. The Sonstrust will therefore be making firm representations to the Club in opposition to any reconstruction proposal involving colt teams being introduced into the league setup. No matter the financial gain, the Club should not sells its soul by voting for such a proposal and risk antagonising its supporters who have been incredibly generous to the club over the past few months, rallying around and contributing financially to help ensure the future of our club.

A tad hypocritical for a complete moron who can't see the differences between hundreds of bams overloading a tiny village of 400 (mainly elderly) people just so they can get pished in the sunshine and thousands of people protesting against systematic racism, yes.

Colts teams can get so far to f**k. I’d sooner Thistle were in the fourth tier of Scottish Football than Old Firm Colts are admitted to the pyramid. One of the few things still going for Scottish Football is that both the Old Firm and some young players see non-Old Firm clubs as a viable part of the player development pathway. As soon as you provide 36 or whatever weekend games a season for a Colts team you totally kill that off. The ambition for the country’s best will be even more concentrated with the Bigot Brothers, who can then offer more money and a much clearer route to progression for several times as many youth players. At the moment the Old Firm has to loan out its “not first team standard yet” youth players so that they don’t rot. This is an important counterweight against their ability financially to sweep up the overwhelming majority of youth talent. This advantages other clubs as they typically get subsidised loan arrangements for underdeveloped prospects. At the moment you also get a small number of players who don’t sign for the Old Firm at all. They are willing not to take a big pay check early in their career calculating that promising playing time will give them a chance to ply their trade in England. This means genuine talents like John McGinn, Andy Robertson, Robert Snodgrass, James McArthur, James McFadden etc. actually do play against the Old Firm in proper football and give other clubs a glimmer of a chance of delivering them a bloody nose. And when those players do move on, there is a proper market for those players rather than just two domestic bidders. So teams like Hamilton actually do get a million for a player instead of £250k or some risible training compensation. That money sustains and rewards non Old Firm youth set ups that are run well. Colts strangles that nascent alternative. The Old Firm will loan out fewer youths, release fewer youths surplus to requirements, and far more easily reap the financial rewards of discovered talent to the exclusion of other Scottish clubs. Even if you put an age limit on their Colts you are at best encouraging more players to be released in their mid 20s from the Old Firm instead of in their late teens. That’s bad for their development. If Clubs are drawn in by this promise of four years of paltry admission fees they are total mugs. We know fine well that money is just going to be spent on signing an extra journeyman in most cases and will not in fact support grass roots or youth development. Get it in the fucking sea where it belongs.

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I think of progressive and forward thinking, I certainly think of Rangers FC.

These boys were the real deal.

Aye, because nobody gave a shit about it before. I've been aware of the darker side of History, and Empire in particular, for as long as I can remember. You don't even have to get into skin colour to see the way the English have protected their own interests at the expense of others. Highland Clearances, anyone? How about the treatment of the Irish during and after the Great Hunger? I've heard a few people trying to play the "aye, but he was a philanthropist as well" card. Leaving aside the obvious Savile rebuttal, how did Colston have the opportunity to be a philanthropist? By having a fúckload of money. How did he get that money? By buying and selling human beings. The number of so-called philanthropists who have tried to buy their way to heaven, or at least respectability, is a long one.

The murder of yet another black person by the police in America last week led to an long-overdue discussion of the ways in which systemic racism is perpetuated in many Western countries. The United Kingdom is absolutely one such place, indeed our history with the slave trade makes us as a country directly responsible for a great deal of the continued inequalities which persist in places like the USA, which was the ultimate destination for many of the millions of people who these slave traders kidnapped from their homes. Therefore, people across the UK are protesting against this systemic racism in our country, as well as showing solidarity with the even more oppressed black people in the USA. I realise you already know this and are just posting a pithy wee remark to show yourself up, but it's still worth saying anyway.

the royal family benefiting from a car accident for which no-one is held to account - hah - what compete tosh ! it's not as if they have any sort of previous for that sort of thing....

He looks like a sex offender version of Jools Holland. There is no way that computer contains only music.

I think the view that they have to get a certain demographic of folk onside if they want any change is quite telling imo, and one of the main reasons they are protesting. I think the whole point is that they are fed up of trying to get folk onside who clearly don't want to listen, so they are taking matters into their own hands. Also, why should the BLM movement seek the support of middle Englanders who have neither experienced racism in their lives and who have little to no understanding of it. Personally i've learnt more about Scotland's role in the slave trade in the past week or two than i ever learnt in higher history or whatever. I've walked past statues for years without ever really noticing who they were, and i'd imagine a fair few others will be the same.

Is it because the volume control is broken?

Unless you are The Four Tops, that phrase is unacceptable. Jackson is a horrible ***.

I hope you fucking drown on Thursday.

Maybe they should put up statues to the West Africa Squadron? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa_Squadron

Was out the other night as I was told there was a fox that hung about the park & ride. Saw this Kestrel instead.

Judging by your credulous stupidity throughout this thread's last few pages, I'd say "uncovering the truth" might be a tad ambitious for you.

10 for Monday.

A nice circle. Their ancestors kidnapped or bought in West Africa and shipped to the West Indies by the UK, the profit from their enslavement shipped back to the UK, post WW2 labour shortages meant them being invited to work in the UK itself, then their parents and grandparents deported back to the West Indies because the Home Office "lost" their paper work. Maybe Disney could make a wee heartwarming tale of it.

I can only assume the rather sizeable 'undecided' contingent are the ones who will demand to know exactly which currency will be proposed, whether we'll still get Eastenders etc before they make their minds up. Considering what a perpetual omnishambles the UK has been since the last referendum, you'd think they'd at least have some inkling of which way they'd likely vote. 'Oh eh.... ahm no sure' seems to be taking the piss a bit in my view. Like others have already said, as someone who doesn't view 'No' as a rejection of Independence, but an endorsement of Westminster, I'm baffled as to how 'No' is still polling mid to high 40's. Just how completely intransigent and unfit for purpose does Westminster have to get before folk stop presuming it's the only reasonable course of action? It's like an abusive relationship at this point. They act in any way they like, with complete impunity, and half of Scotland is so utterly in their thrall that they're terrified of leaving the abusive situation. It's a mystery to me.

#BlackBagsMatter.

Guys, FYI the Sonstrust has just posted the following statement which will be conveyed to the Dumbarton FC Board ahead of any discussion and vote on the proposals to restructure the leagues including the introduction of Colt teams. THE SONSTRUST would like to reaffirm its opposition to the idea of ‘colt teams’ being introduced into the SPFL League system. In a consultation conducted in 2018, 89% of Trust members voted against the idea of having Colt teams play in our lower leagues, and it is also the unanimous position of the Sonstrust Board. We would therefore firmly oppose any league reconstruction proposals which introduced colt teams into the bottom tier. We believe the democratic principle of ‘one club, one team’ should be upheld, and to see the lower tier devalued into little more than a development league for the top two sides in Scotland to test their youth against is something we could not support under any circumstances. This opportunistic attempt to use the crisis in Scottish football to shoehorn their development sides into the lower leagues, with the promises of guaranteed ticket sales and joining fees should be recognised as no more than a bribe – one that compromises the integrity of the competition. We believe that whatever financial benefit can be obtained by admitting colt teams into the league will be outweighed by the loss of revenue and goodwill from our supporters who overwhelmingly oppose the idea. The low attendances and boycotts at Challenge Cup fixtures involving colt teams both at The Rock and at many other grounds across Scotland show that there is little appetite to see the introduction of colt teams into the league. The Sonstrust will therefore be making firm representations to the Club in opposition to any reconstruction proposal involving colt teams being introduced into the league setup. No matter the financial gain, the Club should not sells its soul by voting for such a proposal and risk antagonising its supporters who have been incredibly generous to the club over the past few months, rallying around and contributing financially to help ensure the future of our club.

Back next week.