Braesoyetts

Not sure if this is the correct place for this question, but couldn't see a more obvious place, so here goes. What is the oldest football ground in Scotland? I was googling it, but couldn't find much of a definitive answer. By this I mean, a football ground that has been played on continuously since its establishment, that has hosted football the whole time (not rugby, cricket, whatever), and has hosted professional or semi-professional teams. So Juniors would count. And also, the ground is in the same place it was to begin with, or at least overlaps with the original location. My brief searching suggests it might be Cappielow? But I fully anticipate getting shot down about that.... ( Some sources mention Tannadice, though I don't think it was used by any first class teams in its first few years.)

I agree with this. While realistically, we all know the likely ceiling for our club in a given year, there’s no harm in saying that your goal is to win each trophy you’re in for. If you don’t think you have any chance at all of winning, why are you taking part in it? Now, the odds might be millions to one, but to paraphrase Dumb and Dumber “there’s a chance!” Leicester City are the obvious example.

I’m an optimist who assumes we’ll go up alongside Raith.

Looked like a rugby pitch. Maybe that’s what McBeth was thinking too…. Who else is playing on it at the minute? They don’t play rugby on it any more, do they?

Honestly, while it might sound like heresy to say this, as long as I could be assured that we’ll still make the playoffs, I’d be ok with losing this game. After all I don’t think we can make automatic promotion at this point, and it plainly has more meaning for Raith. Especially as I’d rather Rovers were promoted than United. I like United well enough (one of my best friends growing up was a United fan) but Raith have been away from the PL for longer.

Could do both, after all. Got the money I assume.

Ageee with all this. Graham our likeliest looking as usual, but we weren’t at our best today. Player normally quality looked like the ball wasn’t breaking their way. Fitzpatrick a case in point. Bad form comes and goes, and when it all clicks again we’ll be good. Just hope it’s in enough time that we don’t risk falling out of playoff places.

Blocked.

Don’t be a d***.

Hilarious.

I think a sense of perspective is important. It’s a scrappy game, by both teams - sometimes that happens. Thistle are a team with a number of quality players, particularly going forward, and a decent young manager who’s still learning. We have holes, particularly between the sticks and in our defensive play. But overall we’re a decent side, particularly for the financial investment. i don’t think the doom and gloom talk is justified, though I understand it’s standard in Scottish football for some reason.

He holds the ball up better than just about anyone I’ve seen at this level. So not a bad plan. Was a bit better when we had Tiffoney to spearhead some attacking runs too though.

Mitchell is a bit rough. Speaking of Rough, I think Alan might be better in goal right now than any of our current crop. Certainly rather him there than anywhere else around the club….

Thought McBeth looked good overall. Lot of skillful touches. The rugby tackling is maybe a bit out with his remit, but sometimes you’ve got to do it when the alternative is to give away a break.

Done. Cheers!

How does that ‘ignore’ option work again?

Reading this post is like opening a poke of chips and finding a jobby inside.

Sure but another way of looking at it is to take 0 as a baseline, and 50k or so (going by the biggest crowds in Scottish football) as the top end. Within those parameters, the variation I was talking about isn’t all that much. Just one way of looking at it. One additional point - the clubs may be trying within their limits, but I’d say they probably could be more inventive with looking for ways to appeal to potential customers. Even minor league baseball teams over here are streets ahead of any British football teams in putting on a show and incentivising folk to come to games. Now, Scottish football actually attracts a lot of fans per capita (just not compared to some historical periods), but I wonder how much more they could do with better promotional strategies, especially outside the OF. (I know, football isn’t baseball, and Scotland isn’t America etc etc. I’m sure a lot of purists wouldn’t like it, but it might be good to find a way to appeal to more kids, families, non-traditional football fan demographics, with something more than an appeal to club loyalty)

Who gets significantly bigger crowds though? Obviously the ugly twins, the Edinburgh teams, the Dundee teams, Aberdeen. Beyond that, maybe St Mirren and Motherwell, but mostly just due to being in the top flight. The rest of the teams with respectable crowds are likely just hovering in the 2500-4500 zone. Any variation is likely just due to economic circumstances and club performance/level.

I mean responding to someone’s comment (however you think of it) with a dismissive, and also standardised response. Not really adding much to the conversation. That’s what I meant, though not an important matter either way.

Ironic you should say that.

The idea that you can judge a manager as out of his depth after a few months (during which his club won most of their games and went on a long play-off run) is laughable. Doolan may or may not turn out to be a decent manager, but he’s doing better than McCall had been at this point, a man who has had a long career managing in Scottish football. He’s also done nothing that would indicate an obvious lack of competence. Is he Pep Guardiola? No. But then again, he doesn’t manage Man City. Overall, seems to me like he’s doing a decent job, so far better in some areas than in others - we’ll see if he continues to grow as a manager. Commenting on his abilities at this point in his career is wasted effort, so I’ll stop right there.

I remember watching May scoring for fun back in his first spell in Perth, about ten years ago now (back when the SPFL put up a good highlights package on YouTube - then they removed the commentary for no reason and it kind of ruined it). At the time I thought he looked like he’d go on to big things, but it never quite panned out. Still not a bad player at all, good physical presence, and maybe would make a bigger impact against lower level defences (looking at you, Brian Graham). Edit: Also, agreed about the hair - if he doesn’t work out on the field, he can join our Bon Jovi tribute band.

What does this even mean?

Ah, I couldn’t have said if Van der sar played or not, but I watched the team walk in from their coach, and the abiding memory is of big Edwin being like a clear foot taller than everyone else…. And I’d forgotten about Collins John - the backwards John Collins!