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Don't know. The Russian tanks are quite clever. Inside each one there is a smaller one, then a smaller one, then a smaller one...

I'm super grateful for the support and encouragement you all gave me yesterday. It was surprising how much of an impact that had on me. One poster reached out via pm and shared something of their similar experience. I hadn't realised how much I needed that until it was received. Being an adoptee means often feeling like the perpetual outsider and completely unique (which is sometimes great, but other times has me feeling like that whale whose song can't be heard by other whales) so having someone saying "I've been there too mate, and it's ok to be terrified" was wonderfully validating. There wasn't much to the report. I was wanting the social background report compiled by the social worker, but I was told that will be in Elgin in their SW archives. It was fucking daunting sitting with a sealed envelope that had "on her majesty's service" stamped on it and my birth name written on it. I was in a wee room in the archive wing and it felt like I was in a spy movie. The staff are absolute pros and the lad that was with me (legally he has to be there) felt more like a counsellor than a librarian. The report itself told me little that was new, but it was a lovely look into the past. There was an assessment of my parents as suitable adopters, and it was moving to think of them as young, scared people who were desperate to be parents but were unable to conceive naturally. It humanised them, and I don't do that enough. The stuff about my biological mum was scant, but it seemed she was a woman massively out of her depth and I left just feeling a lot of compassion for her, rather than the anger I'd felt towards her before. Mostly what I got were next steps. I know names and dates I can use for genealogical research, so I'll be haunting libraries and church records in Elgin and Huntly for the next few months. I'm excited about that. So aye, it was a great day yesterday, and I'm grateful to you all for the support. Greenies aren't just coloured circles either. They all add up and do have an impact. Have a fucking beautiful day a'body.

This is something I’d expect on COYB Facebook page.

Katie Melua's lesser known follow up single.

They thoroughly deserve to have made the final, but I wish they hadn’t. Here comes Manchester MK2. Thousands of these cnuts ticketless in a predominantly Catholic country against a team who, unlike Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester, will have thousand upon thousand of their own in Seville too. This is the easiest prediction I’ll make all year - these cnuts are going to disgrace their club, and by association, our country.

My dad is in his 90s and still talks about the Cologne game in particular from time to time. He’s got dementia now but he still seems to remember the great games he has seen and the great times he has experienced following Dundee. Makes me proud to support Dundee no matter how bad we are these days.

SNP, SNP, Green, Labour, Lib Dem, Alba, Zanu PF, National Socialist German Workers Party, Scottish Conservative and Unionist.

Seems legit.

I'll give McGlynn plenty time if there is evidence on the park of a cohesive unit, effort, teamwork and the knowledge we will actually be competitive in matches. All have been missing for a good few years now.

See when all the Junior fans were slagging off the LL and, in particular, BSC I defended them. There's no divine right to be the "correct" way to run a football club and attaching a senior team onto a successful youth club that served the area well was a good idea. It still is (Bonnyton, Rossvale, St. Cadoc's, aren't doing too badly). Even when they were playing in Alloa it was fine as it was only a temporary measure. Now we're five year down the line, no attempt to remain attached to the youth club, serving the area in name only, lip service at best about returning to Glasgow, voting for the Colts and against relegation and now selling out the (albeit meaningless) name of the club to advertise a fucking podcast. Everything the Lowland League does to make it a laughing stock, from the outside, seems to be promoted by this shambles of a club and George Fraser.

Of the first 10 years

If he was that highly rated, I'm sure East Fife would've appointed him when their managerial role was vacant less than 6 months ago.

I like how Foster is making out as if he lost it only because of some disgusting sectarian remark and we're meant to just ignore his previous for attempting to leather his own teammate at St Johnstone or spending half his time on the pitch for us when we're losing flying into challenges in a complete rage. He's an angry wee guy who hopefully fucks off once the playoffs are done.

McCann is a very good player at this level when played in his best position. Christ, even at LB he's a better defender than ATS. Complete mystery to me why Rennie favoured McGuffie at WB instead.

Don't recall if it's been highlighted on P&B already, however a great looking read by Graeme Strachan due for release 16th May. Best deal I could see was Amazon @ £13.73 for this gem.

Just want to say that the Raith fans here recently have been very decent in their behaviour. You've said goodbye to a manager who did a good job for you and who is now across the Forth at what was once a rival, have been sporting about it all, made good posts about what to expect from our new manager, while refraining from repetitive jibes or jokes as stale as a three week old pan loaf. For that, thank you Still enjoy reminiscing about the 7-1 thrashing we dished out at Frank Connor's going away party in 1990 , just wanted to say All the best - hope our seasons turn out to be brilliant

Yeah, it seems quite descent here m8.

A vocal chunk of our support were convinced Rose was shite - never got that one.

guy is just an out and out winner , it took me 6 months of toing and froing before he decided to take the job but i knew he would deliver from day 1 , he took the job then turned it down and my words were im no going anywhere else , the job is yours and when my phone went to say he was taking it i knew the club would win trophies , we have had words along the way but thats because we both care , saturday if it happens should be fantastic and i for one will be thinking of the guys who spent countless years at the club working on a shoestring just keeping the club alive

10/10. Fluked the Lord of the Rings question (never read or seen 'em). And on the subject of Quavers, watch out - they taste curly.

Dry your eyes ffs [emoji1] It was full time, the place was bouncing and everyone’s favourite *** Coisty was giving it yaldy with the fans. Whether you like Rangers or not, it was nice moment.

THE WINGS OF WALTER AND THE SPIRIT OF JIMMY BELL IN THEIR HEARTS. Thats the tattoo sorted.

A touching collage that pays tribute to those who have died. Did they mean to put the Rangers badge front and centre?

Come on home pal

Imaging claiming to have won the Cup Winners Cup nearly 2000 times.

Jimmy wisnae great at tributes himself to be fair.

If there is a standard it's based on Western doctrine on how artillery should be organised and deployed and what they would do if they had that many artillery pieces - it's something that has kept NATO planners up for decades is dealing with what they expected the Russians would do. That expectation largely being built on how they - NATO - use their kit and assuming the Russians would or could do the same but in greater volume. It turns out, they can't turn that volume into proportional fire power. If this "special military operation" has proven anything it is that situational awareness, command and control and logisitics are the absolute cornerstone of military operations. Ukraine started with a good foundation of those, with a vast amount of Western input (all those SIGINT flights for example) but not a lot of guns. Russia started with a lot of guns and piss poor command and control doctrine and lousy logistics. Russia now has a lot less guns and those they have aren't as good as the ones they lost and still has piss poor logistics and command and control. Ukraine still has decent C2, and now has more guns in absolute terms than when they started, all of a considerably higher technological standard than what the Russians have now. So it's not unfairly marking the Russians down or any such shit. The amount of fire power they rolled in there with is ridiculous - but its all for nothing if you can't deploy it and use it correctly. They haven't, the liklihood is the Ukrainians will and that will be a comparative advantage for them vs. The Russians from now on.

This is basically the last hurdle to year round lager production/consumption. Deeply pleasing. Keg is filled with a Czech Pilsner.

That probably means that one person has put a fiver on it.

Spoke to Glasgow journalist at the Queens game last night. He said the courier article was an incredibly tame version of what was actually said. Told me a few quotes that are utterly insane. Sounded like Danny Lennon fits the bill to join his pal Sim as they have a common viewpoint. The Goodwillie hangover has a long way to run. The guy did say the player may not be with us much longer as the club working on an exit deal.

Biggest takeaway for me tonight was the graft that our boys put in. Far too many games this season where we’ve shirked tackles or not tracked runners but everyone of ours put everything into that tonight and the crowd responded in turn. It was night and day from recent displays at Peterhead and Montrose and great to see. I still make Dunfermline favourites (quite simply, I think they have better players than us) but I’m really encouraged by tonight and looking forward to Saturday.

I'm beginning to think you're not a real Sergeant at all.

I see your Gorilla and I raise you

@Jacksgranda enjoyed your Guardian column today.

For me I can accept us getting relegated, I can accept managers having poor spells, and I can accept a rookie manager making mistakes, if I can see both progression in them/the club and a plan for the future. It's 2 years in and I've only seen regression in most factors. Tactically I liked how we played when Davidson came in, it was nice to have a style of play and it was nice to see us playing high up the park. We done f**k all up there but I assumed the next step for him was working out a way to get us chances that wasn't just overloads out wide then crosses. But that step never came. Now we don't even play up the park but still rely on wide overloads and crosses. The majority of his time in charge has now been the more negative, aimless, style and he shows little signs he has any idea how to change it. In terms of recruitment I gave him some leeway with the first window due to Covid, then the 2nd as January is shit to deal with. I thought last Summer he could use his contacts down South and get some exciting younger players in to help us return to where we were at the start of the season, as our style had completely regressed by the end of the season. But he didn't do anything to improve the squad short or long term. Instead we got multi-year deals chucked at undeserving players in Brown, MOH and May based entirely on him wanting continuity rather than them actually earning it. The centre of the park has bugged me for years, even back into TW times, and it's ridiculous that wasn't a priority last Summer even with McCann in the squad, as we all knew he was gone soon. I think TW would've gone for Jason Holt permanently if he'd stayed, or Matt Butcher, but instead we got an ancient Craig Bryson (who was a good player who done well for us last season, but he shouldn't have gotten a second year). I could accept the loan of Crawford. We needed a back up to Wotherspoon in that attacking role and as a back up who only plays occasionally then Crawford wasn't the worst 6/12 month option to tide us over until he found better. Then we hit September and he signed him permanently on a multi-year deal, why? The farcical situation where we sign players, give them a run of games, then let them vanish is another worrying development to his management. Muller/Dendoncker/Ambrose/Brown/Butterfield all proclaimed as first teamers and played religiously, then suddenly vanish. That's ignoring Mahon/Devine/Vertainen/Bair who either get ignored or get a single chance. To me this is scattergun panic management, and reeks of someone hoping changing players sorts things because he doesn't know how to change anything else. January was a better window as we got in players of a good age and you could see why most of them were targeted in terms of fitting in, even if they arent good enough in the end you could see the logic, but the system that allowed the club to identify and approach these players before January is now gone. I hope Davidson has learned from previous mistakes by seeing what a poor window does and what a planned for window does, but it seems like hes still pushing the line that hes not to blame for recruitment issues so im not holding out much hope. A PCA signing or two would ease my mind. So aye, I've tried my best to give Davidson chances and make excuses for him. But to me he's starting to look very much a short term success type like your John Hughes. Can come in, get a good squad performing and look exciting, but long term he's one dimensional and he can't build a squad, so ultimately nothing he's involved in will ever last. That's why I think we need to move on from him, long term hes going to be a problem for us, and he already is as hes tied us too long to folk like Brown, Booth, MacPherson, Crawford, MOH and May, so the quicker you move on the quicker you can start rectifying the mistakes. So theres my rant, with the caveat I've had about 4hrs sleep in the last month, as I'm bored of this idea that anyone who wants Davidson out isn't giving him a fair chance and is just agenda driven.

Some Talbot fans have been called trolls for being critical, I don’t think they are, I think they are loyal fans who pay their money and are entitled to their opinion. My only observation is their is a far larger presence on threads after a defeat than a good victory and this tells me one thing. We have been spoiled repeatedly after consistently successful seasons, there is lots of supporters who expect to win every game, every trophy playing good football but in reality it doesn’t work like that. I spoke to some Talbot fans at the beginning of March who predicted there was no way we had the depth of squad to win the league, they rightly base that on evidence of previous campaigns when the 3/4 games a week start we drop points. Think there is a few things at play here Talbot usually run a squad of about 18, that’s the budget obviously, when we are in the winter and 1 game a week we are fairly settled on the park but usually means some players are not getting game time which tells at this stage of the season. If the manager rotates early on and we drop points the team selection would be criticised as perceived better players are not playing to keep everyone match fit. Fair credit to Darvel they have been free scoring at the business end and look as if they will get over the line to the play offs. I think some other things need to be put into perspective a 20 team league of 38 games after the team took a year out was a big ask to play at the top of their game at all times, I think we have seen that playing out in some games. You have clubs now struggling to put a team on the park, using youths and even trialists at this stage of the season which for me shows the 20 team league on top of cups was a big ask and we need to cut the club some slack over that and pull together to try and get some silverware which I think is still a good return for the first season back after a year out.

Aye.

Arrived last night at Tenerife airport to a WhatsApp message showing FFC twitter update of McGlynn and Smith being announced, excellent start to a wee week chilling in the sun. Not getting ahead of ourselves but feels good to have people at the helm who have a bit experience and seem to know what they are doing. Well played the board for the professionalism displayed in these negotiations and the lack of leakage. p.s when do they ST’s go on sale COYB

12 years to the day since I, and approximately 63% of the East Stand, ended up in Jack Daniels after it went 2-6...

Aye, definitely. Even at full time every player (and Coyle) over to the fans, seemed a real togetherness last night. The first half was atrocious. Very little football played but i genuinely think a lot of that was down to the pitch. One in particular where McHugh tried to lay the ball 5 yards to Longridge on the edge of the box and it bounced over Longridge’s foot. Also, had McHugh had a bit more support closer to him from our midfield, I think we could have taken advantage of Ambrose’s shocker of a first half. Second half both teams were a bit better. Dunfermline had a couple of half chances but I thought our defence for the most part coped very well. Tommy Robson had a great game. After a ropey start to the season, other than Charlie Fox, he’s been arguably our most consistent player. Murray and Quitongo coming on when they did definitely gave the fans a lift. Both of them happy to actually run at Dunfermline’s defence. I would start Quitongo on Saturday in place of Longridge. Dunfermline’s left back matched him for pace last night but he can produce something out of nothing. Unfortunately Longridge has been poor for a while now and shouldn’t be a starter imo. Definite positives to take going.

That's his shtick. He's an absolute fucking simpleton who's best ignored.

You need infantry support because tanks struggle for vision, and especially in urban environments they are vulnerable to being flanked. They can't clear out buildings and keep them free of enemy, and they liable to drive into ambushes/onto booby traps without mobile infantry to scout and spot for them. Tanks are useful for direct assault, destroying enemy armour and dug in/fortified positions, but they can't reliably hold ground or defend themselves from enemy attacks in environments where there is plenty of cover and obstructed vision that would permit infantry to flank or surround them. They absolutely require their own infantry to prevent that. It used to be that certain nations absolutely forbade tanks to enter urban areas under any circumstances they were so blind and vulnerable. Needs must, and it still used to happen, but even the modern, heavily armoured 70 ton behemoths are still enormously vulnerable to enemy infantry attacks in built-up areas. An RPG shot from above into the rear, or down on to the engine deck will disable most tanks, so it's not difficult for infantry to conceal themselves until they have an opportunity for a good shot, unless they are also being pressured by enemy infantry supporting the armour. Tank crews can't go into urban areas unless they are buttoned up. To do so would be suicidal, so they have the hatches closed and vision is limited to what you can see through vision blocks, periscopes, sights etc. You could be entirely alert and on your toes, and it would still be entirely feasible for enemy infantry to walk up right behind you, and for you to have no idea they were there thanks to your inability to spot them. Because Russia appears to have a shortage of infantry supporting their AFV's, (it's debatable precisely why), it's for the above reasons that I think they are suffering vastly inflated rates of AFV losses over and above what they should be. It also makes it impossible to recover and repair your own damaged vehicles if the enemy controls the area with boots on the ground, and I also suspect that's the reason why so many Russian tanks are burning out to the point whereby they are nothing but useless scrap.

He knows how, because everything he ever says works, no sorry, my little mistake, he is an utter fucking arsehole who pretends to be an authority on every single subject ever because he is a Qualified Historian.

Problem here is there is absolutely zero evidence that the new BOD have been anything but professional, nor is there any evidence anything is leaking from boardroom. You seem to be creating problems that don’t exist.