Dundee Hibernian

Fair enough: we'll agree to differ. United have made an arse of things, closing down the Fair Play this season is shown up as an error for this match.

It's Police Scotland: somebody in Tulliallan Castle will potentially be commanding each clubs' Safety Officer to restrict access to parts of their grounds, with little attention to common sense. But I'm guessing it's more about limiting the number of fans travelling around the area, perhaps at key points like Dundee Station. And, of course, although stewards are utilised inside the grounds to lessen police involvement, the police have responsibility to ensure safety outside the stadium. If it was either Glasgow twin visiting, matches wouldn't be treated with such heavy hands.

St Johnstone v Dundee Arbroath v Dunfermline Dundee United v Raith Rovers Montrose v Falkirk * I doubt the police have issued the word 'lockdown' to the clubs, but the SFPL fixture list for this Saturday at 3pm* is likely to have availability of the constabulary stretched, mostly in their minds, but perhaps in reality given the decline in behaviour surrounding some matches recently. Unfortunately, clubs have to listen to them. * edit to add, Montrose/Falkirk game is 5:30pm, which may create further issues.

Aye, true to an extent, but I think the hospitality profit for home clubs takes a hit with a fixture move away from a Saturday 3pm. Anyway, I'm over today already, but will be well pissed off if Raith take anything from next Saturday's game.

Thank fuck.

Most days he's egg bound..

Can't miss this opportunity: the 2003 Scottish Cup Final? Nonetheless, that's irrelevant to this situation. I think United will see sense and pound signs and change the ticketing set up for the game in 9 days time.

As I wrote, surely common sense will prevail, but perhaps United's lack of a "Head of Stadium & Facility Operations" has helped them make the present error.

Trio of pre war stars of the Scottish game, Archie Coats having been a prolific scorer for Dundee netting more than a goal a game over a long career. Alex McSpadyn was also a consistent player for over a decade with Thistle, and made a few appearances following the 1945 conclusion of the war. James McInnes appears to have been a left half, and turned out for Newcastle during the war years. All three players had their careers truncated by military service.

United have handled this poorly, as per, but I think there has been police/safety officer advice, which hopefully will be changed in a day or two. Ogren/Capuano appear to have decided not to open the Jerry Kerr/Fair Play at all this season to save money, which wasn't very forward thinking of them. I'm optimistic that good sense (and greed) will prevail, and another 600 tickets released for away fans.

Another tale which may or may not be true: Raith have got the Shed, but polis have insisted on a larger segregation section between it and the George Fox Stand. Maybe we'll find out at 10am. All this doesn't affect me in the slightest, as I have a season ticket, but thought I'd just slide this one into Thursday.

I think initially United were planning to allocate behind the goal to Raith fans, but representation from supporters' groups have indicated that, in present circumstances, it would be bad PR for our own fans. It'd be a big surprise to me if they've changed their mind, as the club is great at shooting themselves in the foot, but it appears they have.

We'll agree to differ on that point, and not get into semantics about which statement you found "overly sweeping". In any case get a feeling that clubs pushing for a vote on the use of artificial pitches have a different agenda from the one they claim to be pursuing.

Therefore, from your comments, when you earlier stated 'False' in relation to my original post, you actually meant 'True'. You are strongly in favour of artificial pitch use, I'm on the fence and see the arguments. The 'simply due to costs' part above is central to the issue, good grass is better than good artificial (and Raith have the best I've seen), but at crucial points of the year many clubs struggle to provide a good grass surface. Earlier I noted the financial benefits to clubs of operating artificial surfaces, but the present debate is about use in the top league. If all clubs get a vote on the issue, which given the structure of the SPFL I think they should, should all clubs have to follow the decision, that is, install artificial surfaces or natural grass playing areas?

You'll have to clarify that sweeping statement ("False"): I think you've misunderstood what I wrote. > Noting that the US national "soccer" teams no longer play on any artificial surfaces for a number of health related reasons The US national sides, both male and female, don't play on artificial surfaces any more. That's a fact. > I recently read that they have been removed from general use in some states/US counties, not just due to health concerns, but also because of their environmental effect This is also true, a simple Google search would confirm the fact.

Celtic v Airdrie in the 60s, match proceeding in spite of a pitch invader.

Noting that the US national "soccer" teams no longer play on any artificial surfaces for a number of health related reasons, the obvious economics benefits for less affluent clubs using these playing surfaces may well be declared void in future by bodies outside of the football authorities. I'm sure I recently read that they have been removed from general use in some states/US counties, not just due to health concerns, but also because of their environmental effect. I was swayed after being strongly against them a number of years ago, after seeing the sporting benefits for communities: now I'm not so sure.

Something for everyone in this photograph from the 1994 Cup Final.

Steven would have had to send Chris Hamilton off if he'd given the foul the other/correct way, as he'd already been booked. But that's no excuse for the collective performance of the team.

Middleton and Watt were signed on ridiculous contracts, which is weighing the club down in a similar manner to Birighitti's deal. Sibbald is OK at this level, and possibly in a bottom six side in the top league. Moult was always a risk, and is clearly limited following his injury earlier in the season: prior to that he was showing up well. He's on a one-year deal, and probably knows, like several others, that he won't be a Tannadice next season. That's a problem and one of the reasons, to my mind, that the players lack motivation when things don't go their way. Back to Watt, who I've been critical of in the past. I don't think he was awful last night until he was booked, then he lost any enthusiasm, perhaps through fear of a red card, more likely because he can be sulky when he feels an injustice. Leaving that aside, Goodwin is clearly out of his depth, emphasised by his post game nonsense which contradicted his actions. But United are stuck with him, I'd imagine. Never mind, Ogren never saw relegation as an issue, and claimed it's only be one season in the Championship. "Go United".

I keep emphasising, my belief is Goodwin was given a 27 month contract when he took the job in March 2023: and I also maintain he was given the job by Mark Ogren and Tony Asghar, who was still behind the scenes at Tannadice until May last season.

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore.

No complaints about the result, Pars deserved it. Plenty complaints regarding the performance, but that's been coming. Goodwin, for all supporters may want him out, is going nowhere (in more senses than one). I'm more disappointed in the players.

I think Matthew Benham, Brentford, was quoted a while ago as saying United was his "Scottish team", but can't recall where I read that. He certainly made money out of his Midtylland venture, selling on to ASOS (and many other fashion companies) owner Anders Povlsen, who is incidentally one of the richest landowners in Scotland. Tony Bloom, who fell out with Benham after being a friend and business partner, may be trying for a bit of one-upmanship: in any case, it's no bad thing if more than one party is interested. Another reason for "why us?": Ogren wants out, are the likes of Killie for sale? Perhaps we're at a low ebb, our price presently would be less favourable to a purchaser if we were in Kilmarnock's league position.

Police limited the crowd to 3600, from memory. It was a quarter final, and Stenhousemuir had already put out St Johnstone and Aberdeen, interest was high, and the Warriors held Hibs to a draw at the interval. My memories of the game was of Keith Wright being quite physical on George McGeachie who toiled all of the second half, and of thinking Kevin Harper would go on to be a Scotland great. Hibs prevailed by four goals, with a couple from Harper. They produced a Murrayfield programme for the event: Fans leaving the ice rink after the match (screenshot from a video):