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Week 48 update One death this week, rugby player Doddie Weir: Doddie Weir, former Scotland and Lions second-row, dies aged 52 | Scotland rugby union team | The Guardian There's also a nice video tribute from Tom English here: Doddie Weir: The rugby titan who captured the heart of Scots - BBC News I watch BBC Breakfast before I go to work in the morning and although I only really see 20 minutes of it or so, over the past few years there's been a lot of time devoted to another rugby man and popular Dead Pool pick, Rob Burrows, as he's lived with MND for the past few years. Doddie Weir was featured here occasionally too but I hadn't seen him for a while until a couple of weeks ago when he and Burrows were featured along with Ed Slater, another rugby player recently diagnosed with the disease. The last I remembered was befitting of the famous commentary description of him as a "mad giraffe" - he looked like a rugby player. Tall and large. In this most recent appearance though he looked about half the weight he was before. He was in a wheelchair and had difficulty speaking. Since I started running the Dead Pool I've taken a bit more interest in the ill and dying and I don't think I can imagine anything as horrible as MND. To me, it's a combination of two things. You see someone like any of these rugby players, or Fernando Ricksen, and it's an athlete. It's someone you associate with being physically strong or remarkable, and you're just used to them being fit and strong. Then you see them diagnosed with this disease and see what it does to them and it's hard to rationalise this against the perception you have of them, or imagine such a rapid and obvious physical decline. The other thing to consider is what it must be like to go through this yourself. Seeing people like Weir and Burrows and how they fight through the disease doing the good they have, I don't think I could do that. They're lucky in that they have the support of family and friends, and they have a platform to raise awareness of it, but it must still take a massive amount of resilience to carry on. I don't know that I could. I hope I never have to find out. This month, a former teammate of Burrow's, Kevin Sinfield, ran seven ultramarathons in seven days to raise money. He's over £2,000,000 so far. Weir died at 52, so he's worth 73 Base Points. He's worth an extra 37 for a Vice-Captain and an extra 73 for a Captain. He was a popular pick, so I'm going to list them all separately: 73 Base Points for: @Arch Stanton, @ayrunitedfw, @Blootoon87, @buddiepaul, @gkneil, @HI HAT, @ICTJohnboy, @Karpaty Lviv, @Lex, @LoonsYouthTeam, @Lofarl, @mathematics, @Melanius Mullarkay, @paulathame, @pawpar, @peasy23, @psv_killie, @qos_75, @Raidernation @Sergeant Wilson, @sleazy, @sparky88, @The_Craig and @The Naitch 110 as a Vice-Captain for: @10menwent2mow and @thistledo 146 as a Captain for: @cdhafc1874, @Fuctifano, @JustOneCornetto, @mozam76 and @nessies long lost ghost After all of that, the standings now look like this: 1. Bishop Briggs 691 2. JustOneCornetto 680 3. Indale Winton 635 4. Ned Nederlander 571 5. chompmyroot 551 6. Arch Stanton, sparky88 518 8. Billy Jean King 460 9. Arabdownunder, gkneil 445 11. weirdcal 430 12. psv_killie 426 13. Moomintroll 416 14. mathematics 394 15. peasy23 391 16. The_Craig 388 17. buddiepaul 361 18. Fuctifano, Sweaty Morph 342 20. Savage Henry 338 21. thistledo 336 22. pawpar 327 23. The DA 321 24. pubcarking 315 25. cdhafc1874 305 26. Raidernation 291 27. Melanius Mullarkay 280 28. The Master 273 29. scottsdad, tamthebam 262 31. nessies long lost ghost 259 32. Arbroathlegend36-0 255 33. Blootoon87 253 34. lichtgilphead 237 35. Karpaty Lviv 235 36. microdave 228 37. HI HAT 222 38. ICTJohnboy 221 39. senorsoupe 219 40. Desp 217 41. ayrunitedfw, The Naitch 213 43. Sergeant Wilson 209 44. ThomCat 208 45. Aim Here 205 46. Florentine_Pogen 202 47. gingette 199 48. jimbaxters 196 49. sleazy 194 50. Lofarl 176 51. paulathame 171 52. LoonsYouthTeam, thisal 160 54. qos_75 159 55. Mark Connolly 153 56. mozam76, The Hologram 146 58. 10menwent2mow 144 59. Scorge 141 60. mizfit 136 61. sophia 131 62. Lex 125 63. willie adie 115 64. Hamish's Passenger, speckled tangerine 112 66. Les Cabbage 111 67. Miguel Sanchez 105 68. Bully Wee Villa 104 69. Oystercatcher 85 70. djchapsticks, Enigma 81 72. Ray Patterson 76 73. cambozpar 74 74. statts1976uk 68 75. D.V.T. 59 76. Aladdin, BillyAnchor, doulikefish, invergowrie arab, smpar, Soapy FFC 58 82. Cardinal Richelieu, get_the_subbies_on, RossBFaeDundee 52 85. HTG 48 86. Amarillo Bairn 44 87. Bert Raccoon 39 88. Curmudgeon 35 89. Bold Rover, Clockwork, dagane, Duszek, Hedgecutter, lolls, Stringer Bell 29 96. amnarab 27 97. Everyone else 0 The spreadsheet has also been updated with these scores: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mup1IJllKHs0a47J8G6IXUkvShJrV28Iuc-Kkn7RKuo/edit?usp=sharing

After getting things very wrong in the past few weeks, Dick got his tactics and starting 11 spot on yesterday I thought..... You wouldn't think that seeing all the posts on here/ social media when the team was named dishing out abuse, then when we won the game (that presumably the majority of these people weren't in attendance at) there's absolute silence/ no positive comments whatsoever. By all means call him out when you think he's got things wrong, but there's far too many people who now refuse to see any sort of positive in any decisions Dick makes, or won't acknowledge it. People going on about 4-6-0 formations and 'no strikers' etc. - just absolute nonsense. The reality is that the way we lined up yesterday got the best out of what we have at the club going forward. Bobby Linn being allowed to play a fairly free role, playing on the last man, with Scott Allan looking to feed him at every opportunity. As things stand, Scott Allan is the only player we have who can create good chances for strikers with his timing and weight of pass, and Bobby Linn is the only attacking player we have who can give him the runs/ movement required infront of him. It's blindingly obvious to me that you need to play the two of them together every single week. Having Scott Allan, giving him no runners/ nothing to aim for and asking him to get involved in a midfield battle as we've previously done when we've dropped Bobby and put Allan in central midfield is fucking lunacy. So far for the majority of his game time, Allan's been asked to play in a lineup that negates his best qualities and play a role which highlights his deficiences in terms of tracking/ tackling etc and I really hope after yesterday this stops and we can start at least trying to use him properly. With the proper players infront of him/ around him he'll create good quality chances every single game.

Tayport 0-3 Broughty Athletic

Thought your lads put in a shift and did well to frustrate us in the final 3rd. Decent crowd you brought up and score aside hopefully they had a good day out. Was pretty similar to our game against Banks O Dee last season, a well organised hard working team but just not able to really trouble Jamie Macdonald at the back. There’s certainly no disgrace in losing to a Full Time team several divisions above. I’m quite glad our manager chose to respect your club and not throw out half a team as you’ve got a great cup record and are a banana skin for clubs like us. Good luck in your other competitions this season.

Clyde 1-3 Dumbarton, Scottish Cup, 26/11/2022 Second visit to NDP of the day and back to earth with a bump for the Bully Wee after two good draws with Dunfermline and Falkirk. This was absolutely desperate stuff. Deservedly beaten by a Dumbarton side who controlled the game throughout. Worrying for Clyde. Made my Fans Bar debut at NDP. Decent enough.

30/42: Hamilton Accies 4-0 East Kilbride, Scottish Cup, 26/11/2022 EK made a strong start here, played some nice stuff and should probably have been ahead early on. It was hard to make a case that Accies deserved their half-time lead. The first 45 were really poor in general. Second half Accies really stepped it up and could have scored a few more. Watching Accies seems quite a grim experience. I know it was a cup tie against a side leagues below, but the place just felt dead and the young team's drum is oppressively loud. Maybe the least enjoyable club I've visited this season. Main point of note in Andy Ryan getting the second hat-trick of my 42 season, joining Dale Carrick in the club. His last goal was a beautiful chip.

Done.

There’s a lot of things to be unhappy about this season, yesterday isn’t one of them.

Happy Coca Cola day everyone , sometimes the fairytale does come true️

Scottish Cup day, pretty uninspiring draw, so Hill of Beath v Elgin was my pick. Connelly put the Haws ahead but Dingwall and Hester won it for Elgin. Ross Allum won and missed an early second half pen as Mailer was sent off for a DOGSO but Haws never really capitalised and Elgin are in the draw for round 4. About 600 in attendance.

I thought we were absolutely magnificent in the first-half last night and, genuinely, if we'd gone in at half-time 5-0 up it wouldn't have been unrepresentative of the dominance we'd shown. As well as the two goals, Wylde had one off the line, Wilson missed a good chance and Wallace missed a glorious free header with the net empty. We looked like a side who were loving playing on a big, wide, slick astro. Clyde looked like a team who were hating playing on a big, wide, slick astro. Both Kalvin Orsi and Gregg Wylde were superb. Kalvin rinsed the Clyde left-back a ridiculous number of times, and Wylde's deliveries were quality all game. They had so much space to cause havoc, and looked miles ahead of the full-backs they were facing physically - strength, pace, effort. The lot. Both wingers have played well in recent weeks, but last night was as good as I've seen either player play for us. All over the park we just looked a lot better than Clyde. We had a really good balance about us in midfield - Div Wilson was making some great runs, Ryan Blair was controlling the tempo of the game and Joe McKee was just spraying Joe McKee passes about. Faz not tinkering with shape and lineups looks to be working wonders, a settled side can make such a difference. Up top Ryan Wallace was probably my Man of the Match. He led the line in a way we haven't seen a Sons striker do for quite a while. He dropped deep and linked the play, he looked a threat, he used his John McGinn arse like John McGinn. He knew when to start an attack and when to slow things down. It was exactly the sort of performance he's put in countless times against us over the years. His goal - whilst lucky on the finish - was a great move. He started it. He charged into the area. He finished it. He's looking fitter and sharper by the week, and last night was the first time he's looked like he's actually enjoyed himself on a football pitch in a Sons shirt. A wee word for Ross MacLean too, who took his goal exceptionally well. He frustrates the life out of me, because he is capable of things like that - but so many games seem to pass him by. Hopefully the competition we have for places can push him on a wee bit. Goal aside, I thought we defended well. Clyde's threat was limited, but Buchanan and Carsy dealt well with Jordan Allan - who gave Bucky a torrid time last year. The big man took quite a dunt on his head and was due to go to A&E after the game, so fingers crossed he's alright and back soon as he's been a rock for us. As for Clyde? Well they were absolutely terrible. You could see signs of a team in transition. But at this stage they looked like a side with a Danny Lennon defence and a Jim Duffy attack. And that's the opposite way you'd want it. Under Duffy we very rarely outfootballed teams, but we'd never be outfought. And I saw glimpses of that in Clyde. In the first-half we ran the show and played some great stuff. After they scored they turned it into more of a scrap and had a tiny bit more joy that way. Ironically in the way we used to play against Danny Lennon's Clyde. Duffy should get the defence sorted out, but I was amazed they were such a rabble at the back. The full-backs were miles out of their depth, whilst Steven Thicot and Peter Grant looked so clumsy it was unreal. Two good players with decent careers, but both looked all over the place. Big Neil Parry in goals never seems to play well against us either, and he wasn't helping matters. Especially at cross balls. They looked like conceding every single time we attacked. They had nothing at all in midfield, and very little up top until big Erik Sula came on and just started fouling people. We've played every side in League Two at least once this season, and I'd fancy them all to beat Clyde if they faced them in the playoffs based on last night's showing. Although I also expect Duffy to at least have them semi-organised at the back come May if the Bully Wee end up ninth. It must be a weird time as a Clyde fan, because it already looks to be a straight two way fight between yourselves and Peterhead for 9th and 10th. Two positions neither team will celebrate finishing in.

Max, mate. Can we have a wee word about apostrophes and capital letters? Cheers.

It should be remembered that Gerry Britton: (a) prepared and presented in April and May 2022 a written proposal “on behalf of” the Club Board for discussion at a trustees meeting (b) that led to the original “note of interest” mentioned in the Three Black Cats statement made on the Club website in late May, a few days before the TJF elections had wrapped up (c) he and all bar one of the then trustees then met several times with the group who eventually became the new trustees to discuss and iterate on a proposal (d) as one of five trustees at the time, Gerry Britton had to agree to the appointment of the new trustees by variation of the trust deed (e) he will have then been at the Club Board meetings where it was discussed whether to approve the share transfer following a request from Three Black Cats to transfer its shares to the PTFC Trust Remember all of this when he tries to give the impression that he was not involved in the decision making process.

All he is at this point is Low’s PA, and consequently he’s as compliant in this horrible situation as she is. It’s such a disappointment seeing his legacy circling the drain like this because he chose to latch on to the despicable Jacqui Low rather than actually try to look out for the club’s best interests. You can f**k off too, Gerry.

Rather pleasing. At least Clyde fans can sleep easy knowing their promotion winning team who finished 2nd in League 2 in 2019 would pump us.

Luncarty 3-2 Thornton Hibs Moorside Park, Dundonald Bluebell Final of the Alex Jack Cup today. An excellent game for a neutral. Luncarty took the lead early on, but Thornton Hibs equalised soon after. A penalty after a clumsy foul gave Luncarty the lead at HT. Around the 70 minute mark, Luncarty scored a third, but Thornton Hibs didn't give up and again scored soon after. They had some chances to equalise but I think the better side won.

*No defeats.

TASC SOCIAL MEDIA MAN OF THE MATCH - RESULT Congratulations to Bobby Linn on winning the TASC Social Media Man of the Match Award for his performance in the Lichties 2-0 win at Fraserburgh yesterday. The Lichtie legend fired us into the hat for the next round with a brilliant double to see off the Highland League outfit. Thanks to all who voted Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Bobby, Bobby Linn

Renfrew Ladies 2-1 Hutchison Vale Women. A late winner for Renfrew just a couple of minutes after they had missed a penalty. Decent game.

Thank goodness, if it was a recent opinion people might think it was a bit stupid.

Some of our support will never be happy. Tricky tie in difficult conditions on a heavy pitch against a team at the top end of the Highland League. Safely through

Don't make me tap the sign.

I think there’s enough positives to take out of yesterday. I was disappointed to see Shanks and Isiaka not starting but as we all seen starting Bobby up front won us the game. Thought Allan did ok in difficult conditions but was more impressed with Bitsindou if I’m honest. Back 4 looked solid enough. From what I remember Fraserburgh had one cleared off the line at the start but didn’t threaten Gaston for the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully a wee confidence boost for the lads going forward starting with Morton at Gayfield on Saturday.

Statue of Billy McNeil unveiled in his home town of Bellshill today, the first and only scotsman to lift the European Cup as captain of a Scottish club

Barry Ferguson Snarling faced over hyped wee fucking ned. Not even the best player to fall out his mum's fanny.

Bizarre take not to be immensely proud of an uncapped guy who quite literally came to our club with the intention of being considered for his country's WC squad in one of their most competitive positions and not only making the squad but getting minutes on the park. I'm 100% chuffed for Keanu and I'm a realist to understand that he'll probably make the club a good amount of money in a transfer fee without us having to indignantly transfer list him for the 'crime' of representing his country on the biggest stage in international football.

Considering he's a proven international manager outside of Europe with actual silverware, currently raking it in from oil-rich employers who hand out luxury cars for winning games, I'm thinking he's probably not looking to move to a mediocre northern European country who've only just qualified for their first tournament in twenty-odd years. But you'll say, "how do we know if we don't ask?", and someone else will say, "how do you know we haven't already asked?", "has he applied for the job before when it was advertised?", "is it true he's shagging Bruno Metsu's missus?", or "give Steve a chance with your new defensive system, FFS", and before we know it the second half's started and this is still the equivalent of Dryhorce asking why we haven't called up a Barcelona player whose Spanish granny once got pumped in Yoker.

The Britnat mewling about “move on” “once in a generation” “divisive” “day job” might hold some water, but for the fact that in numerous elections since 2014 & especially after 2016 the Scottish electorate has decided it’s not a dead issue. It’s not the SNP pushing for a second referendum, it’s the Scottish electorate who keep voting for them, it’s not the SNP being denied democracy, it’s every single voter in Scotland. I’m personally aggrieved that despite winning several elections since 2014, my voice isn’t being heard. The UK nationalists can howl all they want about wee Nippy etc, but until they start winning elections, it’s not the SNP being fucked over by Westminster it’s every single voter in Scotland. The sooner the debate isn’t about SNP but about who really matters, the better!

Can’t see that happening he was only 13 years old when Rangers were actually a thing.

So do we have to kick Greive out the squad as well? Strain too seeing as he's on the fringes, not worth the risk. Ayunga I'm sure is qualified to play for Kenya as well. If he plays so well for us he gets international recognition then what a disaster that will be. Unfortunately there is just no other option than to kick four of our best players straight out the squad. Still, once Gilmour has us back to budgeting for 12th every season we won't be able to sign anybody with any international aspirations anymore so I guess the problem will solve itself soon enough.

We are through and unscathed. Some wild results elsewhere justifies the reasoning for such a strong starting 11.

It's amazing how under rated Gal is even amongst our own support...there's very few strikers our there at our level who guarantee the goals he brings every season. Yes his touch and link up play can sometimes be poor but he's one of the best around at our level at playing the target man role and being a handful for opposition centre half's.

Billy Bremner and David Harvey before Scotland v Brazil in the 1974 World Cup, played in Frankfurt I think?

POINTS FOR MONDAY. @The_Kincardine & @The Captain - Tunisia 0 v @mathematics & @Salvo Montalbano - Australia 1 SPFL Allstars scoring again. @pleslie99 - Poland 2 v @senorsoupe - Saudi Arabia 0 Bobby get his first WC goal. @Arch Stanton - France 2 v @Helpma - Denmark 1 Fell asleep at 0-0 @ArmadaleKillie - Argentina 2 v @JustOneCornetto - Mexico 0 They're back in it! Todays Teams/Players - Scores added to Monday. @The Hologram & @specsaver = Japan v @Spring Onion - Costa Rica @TheGreenElves & @Blootoon87 - Belgium v @Eednud - Morocco @Ross. - Croatia v @BaSeDG0DSA1NT - Canada @BigBo10 & @peasy23 - Spain v @Insert Amusing Pseudonym - Germany

The reply was almost as funny:

We had budget problems in the Summer and rumour was we offered players less than last season so wouldn't be surprised if Queens offered both better deals. Our budget improved towards the end of the window once we secured a 6 figure partnership deal which allowed us to sign Robbie Crawford, Grimshaw and Ambrose. I was gutted to miss out on both as they did well for us last season and thought they were cracking signings for league 1 but Dougie has done very well to replace them.

Yet some think they're no even worthy of a place in the league! An absolutely thoroughly deserved though not unexpected result. Well done the Uni their manager is a LL legendary goal machine let's not forget that! Congratulations a fantastic result for not only the Uni but the LL.

I couldn't bring myself to pick him. I regret nothing

Were the crowd within walking distance of the pitch, that would have been off putting for Edinburgh/City/Fc

When we were training in trenches it utterly pissed down one night and I had to spend it in the cold clammy clinging mud. It is vividly one of the worst memories in my life. No one was trying to kill me, I knew hot food was only a day or so away and I knew a dry clean change of clothes were waiting for me when we rotated out.. Day after day, week after week of that energy draining, hope sapping mud must be a vision of what real hell is like. The mud gets into your food, you constantly have to clean your weapon, even taking a shit becomes a task of getting the slimy cold things off off you to somewhere they will not get slimier and finding a way to dump and wipe without getting more mud on than shit off. Trench foot is a huge risk. The skin becomes cold and wrinkled and circulation to the outer bits gets cut off. The skin dies allowing in disease and things like blisters and open sores develop leading to further infections and worst case the foot can end up being lost. Prevention is theoretically easy, keep the foot dry and change socks regularly. But, well those pictures... taking those boots and socks off once a day for your foot inspection will be another chore of mud, cold and discomfort. Bleak pictures. f**k Putin and f**k every one of his apologists.

No complaints about the result or scoreline. We worked hard and kept it respectable but there was never really a spell where we looked to be troubling RR all that much. Everyone in a Talbot jersey put in a shift and the legs tired towards the end. Maybe a wee bit more composure in the final third would have helped as some potential opportunities broke down a bit cheaply imo. Anyway, just observations, not going to be critical of Talbot for losing to second tier opponents.

2-0 and job done. Let’s take the positives and move on

Greenock Morton V Queen of the South. Scottish cup round 3. 4-1 to The Ton. 1614. Crowd 1614. £18 no programme but free team sheet. A real treat today. Finally managed to tick of Cappielow Park. A perfect day for football, cold, wet and windy and a cracking cup tie. A deflected shot by Robbie Muirhead put the home side ahead but QOS fought back to equalise on the half hour mark. Both teams had chances but it stood 1-1 at the break. Second half continued to be even end to end, but with 15 to go, Morton won a free tick on the right after Quitongo pulled a Ton player back. Man of the match Robbie Muirhead then hit a left footed shot over the wall and beat the keeper at the near post. Morton had took control, and then won a penalty with two minutes to go which Gillespie converted after Muirhead handed him the ball. Morton then scored a fourth in injury time to put a very comfortable score in what was a tighter game than 4-1 suggests.

Ended up a 5-2 win for Darvel. Only the 11th time in Scottish Cup history (and 6th time since WWII) that a non-league side has scored 5 goals away from home against league opposition. The last one was Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale's 5-3 win over Stirling Albion in 2017/18 - before that it was Ross County against Queen of the South in 1990/91.

Tuned into Sportsound for "Scottish Cup 3rd round coverage". 40 minutes of chat about Rangers so far. Waste of time, turned it off again. Good chance to promote non-Premier teams, to talk about all the potential shocks and instead it's endless Old Firm coverage.

You could start naming rugby players if that's the criteria.

Whenever there is a thread with a laugh at Rangers expense you can always count on the boring Celtic posters to come in and ruin it.