ThankCrunchie

They're just as seethetastic in the flesh. I went to the recent Carlisle v Bradford match and found myself having to direct a Bradford fan to the ground. When the conversation inevitably came to Scottish football, once we had cleared all the usual clichéd pish about how it's a worthless product, one horse race, how "sad" it is to see the demise of Rangers, I got asked the question I feared : "Do you support a Scottish side?" When I meekly answered Falkirk it unleashed a ten minute tirade of abuse of how our club are "robbing b*****ds" and how whiter than white Bradford have done nothing wrong. Pointing out that FFC had nothing to do with setting the fee did nothing to aleviate the seethe. I think my favourite misnomer in the analysis was when he tried to claim that because Bradford released Stewart, he hardly got a game and was rubbish the fee should be around £1,000 max. Aye, 'cos that's how tribunals set fees mate. Thus it was very very pleasing when Lee Miller rammed in this goal to win the game.

He could easily do a job in the Second Division. You can tell that he used to be a good defender in his prime - the head wants to do what the legs cannot. His positional sense is good and he wins most headers, which turns him into a formidable goal threat at set pieces. But as all his pace is gone, he's been late on a few challenges and I remember in one game against Livingston, Iain Russell had roasted him for pace, so he just bear hugged him to stop him getting past. Deservedly got a second yellow. His organisational skills are good and you can always hear him barking orders at his team mates. Good captain material. I heard a rumour that Holt wants to assess Smith in pre-season I think the amount of flak that he got was undeserved compared to the comparatively little for Johnny Flynn. Now that Smith's gone it's exposed Flynn a lot more as being the useless sod he is. Smith is a competent enough player for lower league football, his aerial presence is exceptional and he's got a knack for just getting rid of the ball, something our other players aren't too great at. But if we truly have title ambitions for next season, we must be able to be better, surely.

And this is what I think we'll miss most about Higgins. He was really the only player who could spot Taylor's runs and find him with a pass. Many times an attempted pass would fail to clear the defensive line and I'd hear tirades of abuse aimed at Higgins for being "clueless" and being victime to the timeless "Who wis that tae?" but Taylor was making darting runs from behind the defence, it was just unfortunate that the passes sometimes didn't find their man. Of course, if Taylor leaves the case for keeping Higgins based on the strength of his link up play with Taylor is rendered null and void. I still think he'd provide the same type of service for any other striker, as he did for Leahy in the last half hour against Cowdenbeath a few weeks back.. I'm a bit disappointed to see Flannigan away, as he was really coming on to a game. His long passing was probably the best in the squad (which further highlights how shite our midfield truly was this season) and he liked to get stuck in a bit and won more tackles than a midfielder of his type really should. Weatherston is a useful squad member, but we've got plenty of attacking midfielders in the academy, so it's probably wise to let him move on.

A tour of the Valencian Community would do me But it'll probably be the same as the last two seasons, Highland tour, two games against Binos/Shire/Warriors/Alloa (delete as appropriate) and an English team at home

I meant stage presence, I guess. It's a bit difficult to explain, but Gamma Ray looked quite lethargic compared to Helloween. I never noticed any sound issues with Helloween. I was standing right at the back mind you and many's the time I've spoke to someone standing in a different place from me who complains about awful sound, or heard a better mix than I. Gamma Ray should really do a decent setlist sometime, without Helloween covers, and preferably in Scotland.

I missed Shadowside due to being a lazy arsehole. I had one of their albums about five years ago and it was somewhere between poor and average. Good to hear I didn't miss much. Disagree about the Rays. This was the first time I'd seen them so maybe I was just setting expectations too high, but I thought they were plagued with sound issues and were just a bit of a damp squib overall. No idea why they included three songs from To the Metal and only one from No World Order. Helloween were awesome. Their stage craft really put the Rays to shame, it was just a lot more professional. Good setlist that I have no complaints about. But of course, seeing Helloween with Kai Hansen was probably the only reason any of us were there and fortunately it didn't disappoint. I would have preferred to have heard Future World done as the Gammaween combo, but beggars cannae be choosers.

Do you sit near the back of the south stand perchance? I remember some guy going a bit mental because that same coupon was bust. It was the highlight of the game, tbh.

He swerves to the left, He swerves to the right, Graham Bowman Can't handle his car What a little tube. Darren Hill mark II.

Not quite, but watch this space Senko was a solid team player, and I'm disappointed to see him go, but I'm told the ends justify the means. What a week for the Caps. Impressive road wins against top sides and a credible performance if not result against another top team. Really hope this run continues.

Avantasia deserve better than an hour before Lamb of God (who play here often enough), mainly because limiting their show to an hour will prompt Tobi to play all the "hits". If we were promised The Metal Operas in full, or even a Metal Opera select with absolutely nothing from The Scarecrow et al. I would be dropping my plans to be here and making every effort to be at BOA. I really hope they do a proper full length set sometime in the UK.

Definitely. It's been a marked improvement over the last couple of weeks, and long may it continue. Leinweber has been extremely impressive, and is racking up an amazing number of points. Patry has brought another dimension to the second line. The three man revolving defence-attack unit of Holecko, Benedik and Patry worked extremely well against Hull. Hell, Benedik actually looks competent now with Patry beside him. I'd love to see the damage Dobron and Patry could cause on the powerplay, but I understand the decision to separate them. A lot of effort against Belfast, but still deservedly lost. Belfast defended extremely well, always closed down the space and took away passing lanes.

Thank Christ Haworth is away. Interesting time to release him though, is it to avoid him being cup tied? The chief scout leaving is also pleasing, as this season's signings have been largely shite. But ultimately Pressley has to take responsibility for those signings. Hopefully he'll be off next

Zemlak getting pulled on Saturday was fantastic . Although clearly not very popular amongst Edinburgh fans, I think he's actually better than a lot of people give him credit for. Even when he was shipping goals like a sieve he was still making some outstanding saves, the one from Hartmann being almost superhuman. I've never been particularly impressed by Chaumont, and barely noticed Campbell's existence in the Braehead games I've seen. Seems like a good decision to bin them.

Honestly, I don't understand why people do it. The first and hopefully only mosh pit that I was involuntarily involved in was at Sabaton in 2008, when some w****r shoved me from behind and I hit the guy in front, who shoved me out the way and rammed into the guy behind me. I was stuck in the middle and had to "mosh" my way out. I Didn't enjoy it at all. I've been standing on the periphery of mosh pits twice since (coincidentally both Sabaton, in 2011 and on Sunday just past) and still don't understand why people do it, especially when some six foot six monster of a guy entered the pit. I also remember standing maybe 20 feet from the mosh pit when I saw Lamb of God support Heaven and Hell, when some dreadlocked w**k burst from the pit hitting people on his merry journey. One of his targets included my dad, whos glasses went flying across the hall. If he hadn't disappeared before the specs were found I would have hated to seen the damage my dad would have inflicted. He's still seething about it five years on. Having seen a few horrific injuries resulting from mosh pits, I don't know why people voluntarily wade into the pit.

Not Edinburgh. That's probably what I like most about the Caps, it's the closest to a football atmosphere and a departure from the watered down NHL chants you get at other teams. The "chant on command" stuff Braehead did was even more boking than that "wooo" song mentioned above