Skyline Drifter

Fecking hell. An entire section in which Lee Connelly is at least 4 or 5 times referred to as being on loan from Sunderland and what it would cost to get him permanently. If only they'd done half a second's research the entire feature wouldnt have been so completely and utterly wrong! Poor.

It will from me. I think it's very apt. I use it regularly.

Fair-ish point. Harkins was genuinely inventive and far more capable of genius than the others, albeit only for around 5 months or so. I wouldn't have said he occupied the sort of "quarterback" role I was describing though. He was more in the sort of role Lee Connelly occupies now, behind the front men rather than a deep lying midfield one like Kerr, McShane and, at least partially, Tosh did.

Fair enough. Maybe it's just me, I do tend to fixate on numbers. It just seemed to me he spent a needless minute or so providing stats to prove what a Primary schoolchild with access to a League table could manage in a line. That Falkirk haven't won the League in the previous two seasons and aren't sitting top now.

Am I the only one getting irked by this "well researched" fact that Falkirk's win rate is less than promoted teams over the last 18 months? It's a bit like the old one whereby scientists had carried out extensive research and were able to conclude that approximately 50% of all married people were men! Falkirk haven't won the league in the last two seasons. It's not rocket science then to prove that their points return is, generally, somewhat lower than teams that have. None of which excuses the way Deans treated the question that was ultimately asked. Not saying it did, just that the whole narrative from the questioner was a lot of needless smoke and mirrors flannel. He could have asked the question he did in about three lines and I could see what Deans was trying to (very badly) say about it. I thought the Rawlins guy spoke pretty well.

Meh, you didn't particularly rate Dykes either. Your opinion doesn't have to be the same as mine. McShane wasn't anywhere near as good as Tosh (nobody was) and I already said Kerr was better. McShane would be our 3rd best of the last decade or so though unless I've forgotten anyone in that sort of role. MacFarlane wouldn't even be in a discussion about mdifield "quarterbacks" who pick passes and set up play. He wasn't that kind of player. He was the kind of player who breaks up play and stops the opposition and he was very good at it but if you want to discuss Macfarlane then we should be comparing him to the McKenna's, McColligan's and Jacobs' of the world, not the likes of Kerr and McShane.

I've maybe forgotten something then. Right enough I can recall the lighter thing. I think our fans were just a bit full of themselves generally at that point and took offence that one of our best players had left us to sign for a St Mirren team who had finished below us in the league. Was it not back at the stage when 1st Division football was a novelty and we were still getting 2,000+ for home games. They probably thought it was a step down for him! Both are sold in the club shop. Certainly at the start of the season they weren't being sold in person by sellers as part of the Covid protocols outside the ground. I assume there's nothing to stop that now though. I think it's probably mainly because there aren't actually that many programmes produced now for there to be any point sending kids out selling them.

Eh? What was wrong with the way John O'Neill left us the first time? Have I forgotten something? Player at end of contract, rejects new contract talks to sign for a bigger club on a bigger wage. Happens every season. For John O'Neill read Connor Shields, or Ayo Obileye, etc. I dont think its been confirmed anywhere though I imagine it will be in the match preview. As far as I know it wont be though. Should be for next game. I dont know a single QoS fan who didnt rate Kerr very highly as a player. He was great for us and I'd agree with @19QOS19 that he was the best since Tosh. McShane was decent too but lacked the wise head. Kerr was better. We havent had a better midfielder since he left. If Wullie Gibson remains in that position medium term he is capable of doing that job too though. The dislike stems entirely from how he manipulated his departure (& took Baird with him) after becoming unsettled following the departure of his mentor.

Mmm, pretty sceptical that the JRG announcement is really at the root of that or that Hearts would have agreed to assume the extra risk but what parsforlife said below is possible I suppose

Kerr was the instigator. Baird was a lot more professional in how he did it. Kerr was excellent for us. I didnt boo either of them either. But we've quite clearly now established the reason you boo Baird certainly isnt 'purely down to how he left'.

He left in pretty much exactly the same way and time as Mark Kerr though. Indeed Kerr manipulated the position far more than Baird did. But you don't mention him?

I think you're missing the point though. Or I am, not sure? I'm not sure what Red Zone requirements will have changed at Rangers and why the crowd capacity would have changed one iota between the Hearts game and whatever game was before it? Red Zones have nothing to do with crowds directly, though at most smaller grounds they will have a knock on effect. For instance, although we have 6 dressing rooms inside the stadium at Palmerston and therefore visiting clubs and match officials are able to get changed in an actual dressing room instead of in a converted bar, enabling secure access to the ones the Away team use means closing one and a half sections of the BDS Digital Stand and therefore limiting away capacity. Likewise the need to accommodate socially distanced subs under cover has required the closure of the Main Stand. Neither of those factors are presumably an issue at Ibrox and if they were then they still will be unless both Hearts and match officials voluntarily waived their rights to insist on them (which would be very surprising). I've been in the away dressing room at Ibrox. It's massive. There's plenty of room for socially distanced changing for a squad in there. They keep a zone for unstripped players etc behind the subs bench anyway which isn't included in the match ticket sales. Socially distancing subs isn't going to change the capacity one bit either. I don't know what will have actually changed at Ibrox since the JRG announcment?

Leaving aside the potential for the Ayrshire Derby to be a sell out (not sure if that was a jibe at Ayr or not?) it still causes issues. Most clubs are unable to open hospitality areas (and in Partick Thistle and Raith's case their actual Boardroom) because of where players are changing. There are ramifications for away capacities (we've lost half of our away seating and, for now, home fans have no access to the Main Stand either). Options for entry / exit are limited. None of it's insurmountable. If people want to go to games now they can, but if people are looking for excuses not to go they don't help. We could have easily sold twice as many tickets to Kilmarnock fans on the opening day if we'd been able to use more of the stadium.

No restrictions by law but the club has a responsibility still to minimise any covid risks as an outbreak could lead to a team being severely weakened or unable to fulfil a fixture. They have a bubble "at work". The players are not the responsibility of clubs or the SFA outwith their time at work. If they want to go on holiday or to weddings, funerals, shops, etc they have no more or less responsibility than the rest of the population. If Paul Watson went to a wedding he's not breaching any club or SPFL bubble rule by doing so. Just as he wouldn't if he went to a restaurant or pub. If he was not permitted to go by his club and went anyway then that's between them. Red Zones are not MANDATORY but they must be provided if the opposing club and match officials want them which in practice they all do. It's completely unrealistic to have clubs planning for match operation not knowing from one game to the next whether the opposing club requires full distancing or not (which in practice they all do anyway) so you still have to plan on the basis there is a Red Zone. The headline grabbing nonsense from the JRG was just buck passing without actually relaxing anything in practical terms. Otherwise, yes, you're absolutely spot on. I think that's what they agreed in principle. In practice nothing will change unless quarantine regulations change or vaccines are made compulsory.

The League Cup 2nd round can't be played midweek because the teams still in Europe are playing in the midweeks at that time of year. The whole League Cup could be pushed back a bit I suppose but they don't really want it running into the bad weather months. The Premiership playoffs can't be arranged like the other ones because there aren't enough dates in the calendar to get the Premiership finished in time for international windows in that case. Unless you have a smaller Premiership and play less games of course but that's whole different can of worms!