Ivo den Bieman

I would say that Coleraine and Ballymena have never really had anything like the money pumped into them that Larne have had in the past few years so... ..hard one to take for Linfield who were pretty unlucky I felt. We'll see what happens with the cup but I wonder if there may be managerial changes at Windsor Park this summer or if the changes will be more with the squad.

Been strong rumours for weeks he's Montrose-bound but we'll see.

It's been like that for as long as I can remember. Meadowbank Thistle in the second half of the 80s survived as long as they did in the second tier- nearly making it to the Premier in 88/89, because they were able to get the best of the part time players in the country; guys who had a good job outside of football who didn't want / need to give that up for sport, or who didn't fancy playing full time for some other reason. They played in the capital so travel not an issue and Terry Christie inspired loyalty in his team. Players like Stevie Logan, Dave Roseburgh, Walter Boyd would easily have been full time in our present era. They were an awful side to play against- ultra defensive, and they had virtually no fans, but purely on the park they were very, very effective and kept a core of players with them for a long time. Arbroath, Alloa and Dumbarton within the last 15 years have all done well to give a good showing in the Championship over a few seasons. The first two also kept a solid core of players with them for a long time. The old Scots first division-pre the 1994 reconstruction into four leagues of ten, which I cheerfully detest-was a mixture of eight or nine full time teams and the best four or five part timers- back then three of the four Angus clubs (Arbraoth were in long term doldrums back then), Clyde, Stirling Albion- and it was such a great league. The current Championship is good, too, but the variety of grounds and teams was better in the old system, at least for the fans. You could go from a home fixture in front of 5000 with Falkirk or Dunfermline one week to a trip to Glebe Park or Meadowbank the next. A slightly bigger tier also gave part time teams the chance to grow and properly establish themselves without the near-certainty of an instant relegation the following season. Plus there was always the occasional hilarious result as the poart time diddies sworded a hungover Chic Charnley and his mates. I can well remember Kilmarnock being at least partially part-time at the end of the 80s, for example, Dunfermline a bit earlier. Nowadays it's near on impossible for a part time club to establish themselves in the second tier without serious, long term money behind them. In 2024 access to that kind of funding is getting scarcer. That said I'd be delighted if our squad somehow made it up this season. It's a very long shot but I hope we get the chance. Regardless of going up or staying put the sqaud needs major surgery over the next 2-3 windows, as long standing successful careers come to an inevitable end.

In fairness the vast majority of the Rangers fans on other forums are condeming his petted-lip, class-free antics. No doubt attempts will be made to claim that he shook hands behind closed doors. The baldy, sour grapes loser that he is.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Clement fizzing well played, County. Thoroughly deserved.

Decent result after a few stumbles in recent games.

Looking forward to seeing you utter wankers again next season for the revivial of the lower leagues' only Cat A game. My prediction: McIntyre will be sacked after a 0-1 home defeat to Stirling Albion in late January in front of barely 600 fans, with Arbroath treading water in 6th / 7th. The appointment after him will be crucial in trying to turn around the club in a positive direction or frankly crashing like a burning shuttlecock straight into the bottom tier. Mr Petrie will once again cold shoulder the siren calls of Mr Christison, who despite being armed with a box of smokies and the promise of a free service for Petrie's car at Keptie Motors, will be sent away with a noisy flea in his ear. A reminder that all threads next season will probably include the following: 1. both sets of fans to claim that the other's towns are famous for f**k all 2. both sets of fans to claim that the other's town is rife with drug abuse, sex work, unemployment, genetic defects caused by in-breeding, and high rates of illiteracy 3. accusations that the Monday after the game will involve the opposing sets of fans standing in pish-stained leisurewear outside the local Benefits Office; 4. terrible Green Street-style tik toks from the juvenile element cluttering up social media platforms like a virulent yellow starburst of digital acne; 5. Pompous statements from both boards on the deployment of "pyro" by away supports effecting precisely zero change in the deployment of "pyro" by both supports; 6. The picture of that obsese bleached blond galoot in suspiciously green swimming trunks running onto the pitch at Gayfield in 2011, knocking over our terrible Argentinian goalkeeper, being recycled; 7. Montrose fans to roar TIMOTHY FUCKIN CLAYPOLL as Mr Robert Linn is observed through a pair of opera glasses in the directors' box at Gayfield; 8. That picture of Arbroath goalkeeper Hinchliffe being dismissed in our cup tie in 1997, being cheerily waved off by the visiting support, as the Smokies crashed out of the cup at the hands of Lazy Mike McKenzie, being recycled We've so much to look forward to together, haven't we? Who will win the Tommy Campbell Memorial Quaich over our four games next season? I wish you a long and bitter marinade in the acid herbs of relegation this summer, and a sackful of cloggers from Berwick, East Stirling and Brechin City to be signed up for your new "squad". x (or maybe we all grew up since we were last in the same league, but somehow I doubt it).

They’re not interested as far as I know. Too big a step & not willing to risk the future of the club. Plus Aberdeen now has 2 teams in the national league and one very successful team in the Highland League. Is there room and support for a fourth team at HL or above? Doubt it.

Enjoy your night lads. Well deserved. A bit of a procession since Christmas time!

Lads you're six points clear with four games to go. Not sure what more Price could be doing at this stage, or what more you want. He may not be as popular a figure as Andy Kirk who was a very likeable guy, he may not get your side past East Kilbride in its present form. Time will tell. The job of the Brechin manager is to wion the league and make the play-off, it's a lottery after that. Hope City make it back anyway despite the current discontent being expressed by many.

Broadbridge Heath 2-3 Cray Valley Paper Mills (H/T: 1-3) Last week Titograd, this week….Horsham. I’m back in London for Easter Weekend after my time in Montenegro. London is miserable as sin these days, winter clinging on with a bony grip like a 1950s Presbyterian Sunday. It’s been icy rain, sickly air, everyone whey-faced, pinched, stressed & underpaid. No idea who would choose to live here if they didn’t absolutely have to. I say this as someone who loved the London that was before it became a haven for property speculation & a neoliberal gulag. With that in mind I decided to get in the car & into cleaner air away from the big city. I ended up just north east of the Sussex Downs in Horsham, at a club I’d never heard of until a few days ago- Broadbridge Heath. The attraction was the visit of Cray Valley Paper Mills, who folk may remember from their great cup run earlier this season, ended by Charlton Athletic on TV, just before Christmas. This was an encounter in the Isthmian League South-East Division, the eighth tier of English football. Both these teams are upwardly mobile former amateur teams. Broadbridge’s ground is weirdly at the bottom of a Tesco car park, behind a leisure centre. It’s surrounded by a wooden fence, with a big club house and a small stand holding maybe 70-80 opposite. No one was in it today, as it was in the shade, and it was warm & pleasant in the sun. A crowd of 180-200 watched the game, old buffers with dogs, a noisy little knot of 30-40 visiting fans from Eltham, wee boys playing their own games of 3 & in. Broadbridge were founded as a veterans’ team after the Great War; Cray Valley were the works team of a Paper Mill that shut down around the same time as the last episode of The Sweeney. Cray are locked in a deathmatch for the title with Ramsgate, whilst Broadbridge are puffing away contentedly in mid-table. This was a fiercely contested game played at full throttle. The away support was left chafing when Broadbridge scored after just 3 minutes, the ball slotted home after some deft passing in the visitors penalty area. Indeed Cray started the game as though they’d spent a long Good Friday on the piss. Broadbridge could and should have had a second early on, another shot flashing narrowly wide. FUCKIN ‘ELL, remarked Cray’s match photographer. FACKIN STEP UP barked Cray’s terrifying no.6, a man called Palmer, who looked like one of the minor characters in Rise of the Footsoldier. Slowly the visitors began to pull themselves together from this slipshod and pisspoor opening, and levelled after 20 minutes. It was goal of the season material, a ripsnorting right foot volley from fully twenty five yards that warped the roof of the net, threatening to wrench it from its stanchion. Right back Barney Williams was the scorer and its worth a look if highlights make it to youtube. After that Broadbridge, who had started so impressively, fell apart for the remainder of the half. Winger Kyrrell Lisbie- Kevin Lisbie’s son- was playing really well down the Cray left and has an array of tricks and step overs. Broadbridge were pushed further back and fell behind on the half hour when Palmer’s enormous cro-magnon forehead met the ball perfectly from a corner, seven yards out. The ball hissed into the net. 2-1. 2-1 became 3-1 when the home keeper parried a nasty shot straight into the path of the on- rushing Lisbie. Cray had chances to stretch further ahead and arguably could have had another before half-time. Second half was much closer. Cray started off positively but Broadbridge got a foothold on the hour mark. Awarded a free kick 25 yards out, to the right of the penalty spot, a Ronald Koeman-type free kick whistled past Ovenden’s outstretched left glove and into the top corner, another terrific strike. Broadbridge kept pressing and won a series of corners but unfortunately the delivery was reliably abysmal. Cray, tiring, began to try and keep the ball in the opponents corners and rang the changes, using all their subs. In one of these moves Lisbie was sent crashing by a Lochee Harp-style clumsy challenge and the ref pointed immediately to the spot. A golden chance to finish the game, but Doughty’s penalty was a poor trundler saved smartly to his left by the young home keeper. Heart in mouth moment when Broadbridge won a free kick in virtually the same place from which they had scored. Again it was a beauty, heading in, but this time big Ovenden got across at full stretch to palm the ball away to safety. The resulting corner drifted out pitifully. In the end Cray will take the points however they come when things are so close in the title race, but they made heavy weather, unnecessarily, of this game. Coach Steve McKimm will be concerned about how poorly they started and a lacklustre second half. As for Broadbridge, they’re a hardworking physical side who will take a lot of good things from a decent performance against one of the division’s front-runners. The big title decider is a week on Saturday down at Ramsgate when the shoot out between first and second will likely decide the title. I’m a a wee bit gutted I’ll miss that actually, Ramsgate are well supported and the crowd should be in the 1500-2000 region. Both title contenders are at home on Easter Monday and Ramsgate will need to come through a tough match with the ‘Brickies’ of Sittingbourne, who are currently third. If I’m feeling adventurous & it’s a nice day I’ll head to that, if not will head either to Cray v Sevenoaks, Maidstone-Welling, or outside candidate Chatham v Kingstonian. Lastly, yes this is a diddy level- bottom half Highland League / top 6 Midland League at a guess, but if you can’t enjoy the twists & turns of a close title race like this one I guess football’s not for you. We’ll see how Monday goes.

I've been working in Montenegro for a few days. So today, I took in OFK Titograd v FK Drezga, a famous old name fallen on hard times versus village diddy team. It's international week so the big clubs here- Budućnost, Sutjeska Nikšić & co- all have the weekend off. Titograd play at the "Stari aerodrom" or Old Airfield stadium. There is a bigger grass pitch next door- it's part of a complex hosting the HQ of the Montenegrin FA and a training field for FK Budućnost, one of the two biggest teams in the country. Until recently Titograd were in the same league as Budućnost, but a calamitous double relegation around the time of Covid now sees them having to re-animate themselves in what is basically an amateur league- the third-tier Montenegrin Second League (Central). OFK Stands for Omladinski Fudbal Klub or youth football club, and Titograd have long been famous for bringing through good young players who go onto play for bigger teams. "Titograd" is how Podgorica was known during Yugoslav times, depsite Marshal Tito having no actual connection to the city. The game was played in a 3G cage with the only seating (letting the few spectators avoid having to watch the game through a chicken wire fence) a strange scaffolding poles and boards structure with about 20 seats in it. It's certainly one of the more bizarre and unusual structures I've watched a game from. The game kicked off at 10.40 this morning- early for Montenegro- and at peak the crowd stretched to about twenty, basically the Titograd chairman and a few cronies as far as I could make out. Needless to say it was free to get in- whoever could be arsed making the effort was welcome. The game itself was decent. The Titograd players all seem to be 18-23 and are very comfortable on the ball. Drezga meanwhile had some towering ogres at the back and up front- their no. 6 was huge but about as mobile as dump truck, however he held the ball up well. They came to frustrate the home team and did that job very well for almost the entire first half. Indeed they should have been in front but their no. 6 effected a miserable sclaff from a brilliant position, with the goalkeeper toiling. The stand out players for the home team were the wee Japanese central midfielder, Takuto Hamazaki, and the no. 10, Matija Gardašević. Takuto is tiny- about 5' 3"- but can stand up for himself physically and can see a pass really well. There are quite a few Japanese players in Montenegro- there is a link through FK "Adria" who offer an opportunity for young guys from Japan to come and play in a European league. Unfortunately Adria seem to be "in abeyance" presently and the Japanese players are scattered around other clubs at this level. A lot of Titograd's opportunities came through Takuto's promptings from the middle of the park. Gradašević finally opened the scoring a few minutes before half time after the visitors uncharacteristically over-committed themselves going forward- a neat breakaway pass saw him roll the ball under the keeper from about 14 yards out. There was a suspicion of offside and one of the Drezga defenders was a seething mess that it wasn't given, but 1-0 at half time. Drezga gave as good as they got and should have equalised from a corner about ten minutes into the second half. The Titograd defence fell asleep and a header from six yards flashed just the wrong side of the post. It may have made for a better game had that gone in and if there were any Drezga fans there- there weren't- they'd have felt they deserved something from the game for their effort overall. As it was Titograd wrapped things up with a close range finish from about nine yards after great work down the right from winger Luka Lakušić, who beat two or three players and centred the ball for the substitute Kljajević to push past Maraš in the Drezga goal. The visitors slumped to the astro; they knew the game was gone at that point and it played out routinely. Not a bad game. Titograd are battling it out at the top of the league with another formerly big name fallen on hard times, FK Zeta. Titograd's win briefly took them to the top of the table but Zeta resumed the leadership this afternoon with a thumping 5-1 demolition of FK Zabjelo, a fan-run team with a big following. That was a three o'clock kick off but I'd had my football fill for the day and I'm not a groundhopper, so in the end couldn't be arsed. Next time however I will go and see Zabjelo- a suburb to the south west of Podgorica- when they are at home. They seem a great fan-run club and offer a lot of opportunities for the community to get involved in the game regardless of ability or result. Titograd are a good side to watch but football is eerie without any kind of crowd. I didn't go to Zeta as it's quite far away and I'd rather see Zabjelo in a home game. Zabjelo are the "best of the rest" in the league, sitting fourth but with zero chance of worrying the top three. My feeling is Zeta will hold off Titograd's challenge and return to the second tier. Photos: Montenegro FA HQ; Titograd clubhouse; the "stand"; Titograd, in red, celebrate the opener whilst the linesman gets it tight from the Drezga players; tonight's league table.

What a cracking result and presumably performance, sad to have missed that today. I was really underwhelmed by Cove versus Annan a few weeks back but I think everyone expected a much harder game than this seems to have been. Great credit again to the players & the staff. We seem to have hit really good form at exactly the right time.

A relief for the fans at least

The late 80s- duking it out with East Stirlingshire at the bottom of the old second division- probably worse, but that’s going back a long way now.

What an absolute shambles of a club I will laugh long and hard if Lennon is next out of Dave Cormack’s failed manager tombola.

Yep two really good semi-finals and hard to predict, if it goes to form should be Linfield v Larne in the final, but you never know.

It was certainly for the keeper. Typing on phones is shit on the whole

One of the most entertaining games seen at Links Park in years. Some great goals & a stomach-churning see-saw of a match. Both teams determined to win the game & both going at it full throttle. Lyons’ opener butnegging the kerper at his near post, Dillo’s thunderb*****d header to level things just before half time, after we’d given away two very cheap goals, set the tone. Kane Hester’s trickery sent a third whistling home not long after the re-start and when Cawley’s petulance saw him sent off on the hour we seemed set fair. Alloa were also in a bad mood; Neill at no. 6 had an epic tantrum meltdown at whoever plays left back for Alloa, and got his abuse back with interest. However yet again we conspired to give away an awful third goal, a lot of ball watching & leaving it for someone else to deal with caused the equaliser. I actually felt that Alloa became less threatening when they brought that big galoot Sammon on. The Irish Frankenstein- missing only the bolt through his neck- had lots of long balls launched towards him which was all very well, but Alloa were much better playing it on the ground & pulling us out of shape. Webster’s winner was a thing of beauty and I haven’t celebrated a goal like that for a while at Links Park. A great way to win the game which we deserved, just. An outrageous backheel from Webster in the centre circle almost set up Hester, too, but the ball just wouldn’t fall kindly for him at the critical moment, after a long run. Really great game & an important win. Onto Cove where we should travel confidently.

Not a vintage display but a very good second half showing deservedly takes the points. Great to see the points coming up the road.

Cretinous there from Ambrose but we’ll take that! Two great penalties from Webster & QoS have fallen away badly.

With the surreal spectacle of QOS v Montrose on Gaelic telly in the background, time for a summary of this game which I took in today. The tl;dr version is that Cove were very lucky to win that and Annan will be away back down the road wondering how they didn't take at least a point. Balmoral's corrugated shack in the lee of the of the Post Office Depot has acquired two canvas stands behind each goal since I was last here, and the atmosphere was slightly strange; a murmur of conversation and the grumble of the pie shop generator made the soundtrack to the game in the first half, more like an early season cricket fixture at Mannofield. Cove were sluggish and poor for the most part and the girning ald buzzards & blazers in the main stand seemed pretty indifferent to the game's mediocre huff and puff. The sun didn't have much teeth today and it was quite pleasant until the last half hour. Annan for some reason played in red and black and their defence tended towards anarchy on many occasions. There was a good visiting support of 40-50, a boisterous group of young guys disembarking from the Galabank charabanc into one stand, all flags, testosterone and e-numbers. Well, on to the game. Cove had a couple of half-hearted efforts flashing past the side of either post but for the most part the first half was about Tommy Goss. Watching the big man trying to run is like watching a giraffe skateboarding for the first time, but good grief he's a pain in the arse physically. Firstly a bad clash of heads between him and Mark Reynolds saw the latter banjoed and disorientated, with an early substitution necessary. Secondly a dinked ball into the near post from the left saw him send home full back Doyle crashing into a post, and seeing stars for a bit. Fraser Fyvie attempted to use diplomacy to manage the chaos. "Haw that's the second time fae that big c**t ref." Surprisingly, the official remained unmoved by this Gettysburg Address-level rhetoric. Such was the impact of Goss that the home coaching team may have been considering a drone strike on the monster, after he cleared space for Lewis Hunter to let rip from the edge of the box, his shot skimming the bar with Demus in the home goal toiling. Kai Nugent also did well down the right, but the final ball wasn't there. Against the run of play, after a ludicrous water break halfway through the first half, Cove scored. Why have a water break? It was hardly the weather to fry an egg on the bonnet of one of the well-appointed German SUVs in the car park. Anyway, it broke Annan' momentum and concentration and almost immediately Cove scored. It was a scrappy goal, with the ball ricocheting around in the box and the Annan defence dealing with the ball like a consumptive battling catarrh. Eventually, they choked: the ball fell to Burrell who scuffed the ball past the keeper into the right hand corner. 1-0, and it stayed that way to half time. Annan were much the better side for the first part of the second half, and equalised. Michael Ndiweni had been a ghost in the first half, but he scored the goal of the game. Annan were making good progress down the right and Galloway fed Ndiweni into space down the right touchline. He glided into the penalty box unchallenged and from eighteen yards shot low acorss Demis and into the bottom right hand corner. For me we didn't see enough of that from him and Annan have to work up how to mix up the physical threat of Goss and that level of skill from Ndiweni more effectively. At the other end Cove really were misfiring. I've never seen Megginson have a poorer game, missing two or three very good chances. The much-vaunted Burrell was anonymous. Such chances that were created were largely from mistakes from Annan's defence, giving the ball away cheaply or a terrible slack pass across the goal. Yet the home team couldn't capitalise. Annan themselves had tweo great chances to win that they somehow failed to take. Firstly Goss was played in after good build-up and either hit the post or was blocked by Demus, when it looked much simpler to score. Ndiweni was clogged and replaced by a wee guy who was played through with only Demus to beat. He nearly cleared the stand with his effort, let alone the bar. Annan's wastefulness haunted them with a few minutes left. Scrappy play saw Megginson freed down the left and he finally remembered he was a footballer. He sent a skimmer across the face of gal and after a bit of League One pinball Josh Kerr, on as a substitute, thrashed the ball past the exposed keeper. 2-1. That knocked the stuffing out of the visitors and it was easy for Cove to manage the remainder of the game. There was still time for a final gruesome miss from Megginson but at the final whistle the Annan players slumped to the astroturf in despair. Cove will chuckle under their breath and realise they got away with one today. If they can play that poorly and still win then they have a good chance to be involved in the play-offs. As for Annan, if they put in that effort every week they will win more than they lose. They are just slack defensively- who knows what became of Swinglehurst, I think he's long-term injured- but they miss a guy like that. It was hard to disagree with the mannies inf ront of me, who observed that Kerr may just have kept the deeply unpopular Paul Hartley in a job for a week more. Hartley's side, bristling with good players, is much less than the sum of its parts. One side will play much better and lose, and one side will not reach today's level and win. Strange game, football. Speaking of which, back to QoS-Montrose.

I'm still watching- just not enough time for P&B right now. Thought it was a remarkably poor performance from Cliftonville the other night featuring some clownshoes goalkeeping- dear oh dear. Linfield were relentless but had a lot of help. Big psychological blow that for Cliftonville- can see it really now being between the top two. Two very good sides to watch and not an awful lot between them. At the other end I'm pleased to see Glenavon got over their woeful start which led to Gary Hamilton's demise. Intriguing four way fight for the title in the NI Championship with old historical name Dundela pulling ahead nicely- attached their recent vital win in Derry against Institute. Bangor and Portadown in the mix. Dundela have problems though- their park is not good enough for promotion so they need to fix that or pass up promotion I think. Limavady look like bouncing back quickly from the intermediate league which they lead from Queen's University. The bigger names with recent Premiership history- Warrenpoint and Distillery- treading water in mid-table & going nowhere this season. Warrenpoint have been pish in 2024 and fallen away into mid-table.

Michael Beale sacked by Sunderland after 12 games, reported by both BBC & Sky. What a mess- terrible, clueless appointment that. Hard to see Beale getting another gig now tbh.

Fergie bellowing on the open terraces at Douglas Park even featured fleetingly in the Only a Game? series of 1986 (all findable on youtube).