Ya Bezzer!

Just out of interest how many people voted for me? I've hardly posted in 2019, I'd be surprised if it was more than 100 times and apart from slagging Rangers I've not done much that's anything other than entirely benign - mostly book reviews and dog pictures. If it's just the usual handful of suspects then I will find it hard to suppress a smile. What a tragically risible bunch they are! 😄 I mean I couldn't actually tell you their names but they are instantly recognizable by their lumpen demeanor and hilariously long lasting animosity, which is, of course, the signifier of the complete no mark. Merry Christmas P&B! 🎅

I love The Beatles but this version is better.

Was up at the Barras for the first time in about 10 years and there was a guy selling new-ish indie type LPs for £6. All still in there plastic wrap. You'd probably pay three times as much in shops. I had everything that I would have wanted but might be of interest to others.

There's plenty good 2nd hand equipment out there. You'll get a good 2nd hand amp for half the price of low end new hi fi. I actually changed out my relatively new Marantz amp for an 25 year old Denon.

My life so far. "Oh no! I'm going to Primary School" "Oh no! I'm going to High School" "Oh no! I'm leaving School" "Oh no! I'm 18" "Oh no! I''m 21" "Oh no! I'm coming up on 30" "Oh no! I'm 30" "Oh no! I'm coming up on 40" "Oh no! I'm 40" "Oh no! I'm coming up on 50"

How many years do you have left on your sentence? Believe me I'd love to be in prison right now but sadly that isn't the case. I was down in London recently and the sink in the hotel bathroom was so small you could barely spit your toothpaste into it. The sink in the office toilets is about the same size. Absolutely screams "Oh we ticked off something we had to do without giving a f**k about anyone that has to use them".

A long time ago I used to live in Moulescoomb. When you told people in Brighton where you were from they reacted in complete horror, in their eyes it was akin to the South Bronx, but since I'm from a former mining village in Lanarkshire it was probably a step up from where I originated from. There certainly didn't seem to be the same level of casual violence, rampant alcoholism and drug abuse that I was used to back home. In fact it's grimness was more that it was completely fucking boring and nothing happened. If only something as exciting as having a Buckie bottle lobbed at your head by a group of youths or a screaming man in a shell suit pull a hammer on you had actually occurred down there. At least that's a form of life, a kind of an excitement that lends a little energy to life.

I have fucking had it with micro sinks.

Had an unbelievable shite week. The kind of week where the whole direction of your life is changed. Then on Sunday morning I woke up to this.

Certainly two of the knife wounds in Caesar were from Erick Black and John Hewitt. 😄

Perhaps not the official history but I think it was Brian Glanville who wrote that the genesis of the Champions League was when Real Madrid were drawn against Bayern Munich in the quarter finals of the 1987/88 European Cup. Real Madrid were already furious that they had been drawn in the first round against Italian champions Napoli and then had to face Porto in the 2nd round. This while eventual winners PSV faced the likes of Rapid Vienna and Bordeaux. So when Real were drawn against Bayern officials from both clubs outraged that the two top clubs had been drawn against each other started to collaborate with the intention of getting rid of the unseeded knock out system. So I guess why I'm saying all this is Aberdeen and Dundee Utd in a way are responsible for how things turned out. They tweaked the noses of the big clubs and were then excluded as a result.

They certainly don't make commentators like they used to but we live in a visual world now and the written or spoken word doesn't matter as much. Outside of the legendary big names David Begg was great. Currently one's you barely pay attention to so I don't get why they'd get any sort of extreme reaction out of anyone.

Prices - Football in this country is overpriced, especially in the way that away supporters get fleeced but looking at it from a 'value for money' point of in comparison to other leagues is too simplistic and reducing ticket prices is going to put clubs that struggle money wise currently into even further bother and will inevitably lead to an even lower standard than is already present . You have to look at it more like this, Scottish football is a niche product and if you want a niche product you have to pay more for it. I'm not interested in going down to Newcastle and watching a match for the same price I can watch us at Tynecastle. Therefore I have to put my hand deeper into my pocket. I'd LOVE for it to be cheaper but I really don't think it's possible. I'm probably prepared to pay £30 for a match. That's roughly in line with other live entertainment but I did recently refuse to go to Hearts because of the ticket price and I don't think that prices going over £30 is really feasible for clubs either, in fact ticket prices have generally stayed around the same price for a while now. So longer term with inflation factored in, I think the price of football is going to come down anyway. Leagues - The set up now is in my opinion the best possible one we can have. Does that mean it's good? No, but that's the situation. At the end of the day Celtic are going to win (or possibly Rangers) almost all the time whatever the set up and that's proved by just looking down the list of winners. There has never been a format in the 100+ year history of Scottish football where the OF didn't dominate. The reason Dundee Utd and Aberdeen briefly challenged the OF in the early and mid eighties were more to do with socio-economic conditions and a couple of world class managers rather than league format. Right now, we have top six and Europe to aim at, play offs and relegation at the bottom end. That keeps most teams season as interesting as its going to be. Personally I'd like there to be two automatic relegation spots because I think it's important to freshen the league up every year. When only one team goes down there is too much sameness. The 16 team league has its merits but again, Rangers and Celtic will still win it, there will be more teams with nothing to play for and the 2nd tier of Scottish football will basically have to go semi-pro/part-time and that in the long term is simply going to destroy long established professional clubs who get relegated. Relegation is bad enough currently, but to get relegated into a 'seaside league' is going to end clubs. Economics - Obviously Celtic and Rangers dwarf everyone else in terms of income but wealth distribution runs two ways. Would Motherwell fans be happy if David Turnbull's transfer fee was split between 42 league clubs in the interest of 'fairness'? Probably not. The economics of the game is tricky as often our supporters tend to look up as victims of unfairness without looking down. The truth is our club was at the forefront of the creation of the SPL, the single worst decision in the history of Scottish football, which cut out most of Scottish football and has led to the standard of the game is country to go into free fall. We were there saying yes, nodding our head and fucking the game in Scotland over because we felt we'd benefit. We also rolled over on Project Brave as soon as we got included. Basically we as a club as shown the same selfish self interest as anyone else. Again in terms of comparing Scottish football to the NFL I just think that's way off. Ultimately the competitiveness of the NFL is down to things like the draft system, something that is incompatible with Scottish football, and the fact that two clubs don't generate 70% of the income.

Not pckng Gallagher agan and then compoundng t by pckng Devln agan has fred the top of my skull off n angr! And yes my keyboard snt workng properly but 've ordered a new one OK!!!

I'm very much in the "Celtic get pumped in the Champions League, Rangers win f**k all ever" school.