Monkey Tennis

Somerset Park was already one of the best grounds in the country. That new affair will genuinely make it second only to Tynecastle.

That's an unusual topic.

Yes, I often think of Stenhousemuir as European champions, and Inter Milan as a Lowland League club. Therefore, they clearly are.

I think part of the charm of Dundee as a football city isn't just that the clubs share a street (alas, that might change) but that they're of similar stature and have been probably since the late 60s.

If Annan are still alive, that sounds like a terrifying closing fixture.

Someone who's now 70 could quite conceivably have played in the Dundee side that last won the League Cup.

Yeah, sorry about that. The parallels are present. The Dutch game reminded me a bit of the recent Falkirk one.

A period of decline needn't be uninterrupted. Christ, Queens knocked Dundee United out of the Cup this season. It's doesn't prevent the season from being one of steep decline for us.

Nice idea, but a Dykes hat trick is likelier.

What, we did well in 2 of the 5 remaining games? It hardly challengers my point does it?

Yip, totally agree with this. It's a year since we beat Spain and there's a good argument that we've been in decline ever since. That win in Oslo was tremendously exciting, but it wasn't deserved; it was absolutely freaky. It was the decisive match in qualifying, and we made heavy weather of it from then on, even before this run of friendlies. The rogerings from England and France weren't pretty, but at least mealy mouthed excuses were available. We've run out of even them now though.

By that logic, I should be championing Dykes. However, I reckon he's hopeless.

Northern Ireland fans used to chant "Ireland, Ireland..." in the George Best era.

It took a massive deflection.

Really pitiful. It would have been a dreadful half if we'd turned round at 0-0. It's amazing how little we've created or threatened.

BBC to pay for a proper package that is free to air for viewers, and allows them to show plenty live games, but these are not allowed to simply alternate between OF away games, requiring instead to be more broadly spread. Alll Scotland games to also be on the BBC. Off the Ball to be binned. Open all Mics to be retained as a format, but with every ex-player dismissed. Kenny McIntyre also to be dismissed, then tortured a bit.

Ah, good spot. It's Tommy Bryce.

I'm not seeing Queens represented there either, despite 46 others making it.

Nah, that's what certain players do during games. Good to see the new guy on board. He's making the right noises without any bombast. Hope it all works out.

'That old lie' indeed.

I recall seeing us getting a point there once when Goram was in goals for Hamilton. It was a full year before he signed for us in what was billed as an incredible coup, as if he'd come straight to us from Man United.

Yeah, you see that would be my point. People who support nearly all of the clubs in Scotland do so for much the same reasons as you or I presumably support ours. I'm not saying OF fans are reprehensible people or anything - I know and like plenty. Some of them on here are clearly good guys. I do kind of see them as a separate species where football support is concerned though. I think their relationships with their clubs, and therefore football, are very different from those the rest of us have. I hate the two sides unequivocally for what they represent, and for how unfair they render our game. I can't imagine feeling anything like that towards clubs that are a bit like my own.

Go on - explain. I know my club doesn't have an immediate rival in the same way, but I still can't imagine despising anyone as I do the OF. I even include the Gretna of early this century in that.

Genuine question: Do you really hate Dundee United in the same way and to the same extent as you do the OF? I find that odd. A rival can bug you and stir resentment. It surely can't rival what the OF represents in our game and culture though? No?

The Rangers re-birth was put into the 4th tier. This thread is, after all, all about an accurate reading being reached after an interminable delay.