PauloPerth

One of the most cringe worthy things I've read in quite a while: "And work it did. Your intensity is incredible and I love the sense of danger you bring to every waking moment. You always reminded me of the most popular boy at school: people would do anything to be his friend, and your players would do anything to impress you." What a complete fanny.

But but but... Do the fans sitting in those seats have safety belts so that when the hospitality folk come back out they don't get thrown out their seats backwards? What happens if they have a cup of bovril? Are they politely asked to move to the side each home game so that the hospitality goers can come back out? ... This makes no sense

Those seats that lift up to the left of Swanson.... What do they keep under there?? It all looks a bit thunderbirdsish...

* shoot Past tense was wishful thinking on my part

I don't want any dubiety here... I really do feel Chic Young is a c**t

Surely Richard Gordon should have a button to cut the c**t off

Jesus Christ will someone please just shot Chic Young

Congratulations Caley Thistle, and thank you!!! Have a great night! Great occasion, well done to both sets of fans. I only caught the second half due to work, what was the size of support each club took?

What a loss for east fife, original Bayview looks a perfect neat and compact ground. If you'd just stuck your new stand in at the old ground it would have still been one of the best grounds outside the premier league today. (And probably better than most in the premier for many of us!). They really did tear the heart out of so many clubs in the late 90's- early 2000's in Scotland with the ground changes and 'improvements'.

The Bad and The Ugly:- (pointless rant about folk on the radio I don't like listening to)... Willie miller is very poor. An intelligent guy who just can't be bothered taking an interest in anyone outwith aberdeen or the old firm. Most weeks I think he'd struggle to tell you who the dons are playing in the game he's covering. Derek Ferguson and Chic Young are disgraceful. Either give derek ferguson training in how to speak in the media or get rid of him. It's embarrassing. Agree with the point further up that he actually has decent things to say occasionally during discussions before the matches begin. Chic has never been good and the fact he gets a wage for the shite he produces is criminal. Billy Dodds is poor. John Robertson I don't dislike but don't think he brings much to the table, offers zero insight, as with dodds. Preston shouldn't be on the radio as he's an agent. Conflict of interest. Similar to when Gordon Smith got the sportscene gig every week years back. Biscuits might have something good to say but his voice is terrible so you just don't listen to him. Heshouldslowdownandhavegapsinhissentences.

Enjoy open all mics, it's a great format, but they don't have to employ some of the dross they do. After the football on Saturday, where I got to enjoy Derek ferguson's weekly failure to string a sentence together, the rugby came on. What a difference! I only listened to 10 minutes, as it was rugby after all, but 3 folk who spoke well, had interesting and insightful opinions and seemed knowledgeable about their sport. The Good:- Richard Gordon is obviously a class above the rest, but in the last couple of seasons he's let himself be dragged down to the level of others in terms of petty disagreements which drag on and on.. Usually against Chic. He can be full of himself though. Michael Stewart is excellent. Don't particularly like the guy but he talks well, is prepared to give an opinion rather than avoid criticising at all costs, and gives a bit of tactical insight. I like Rob Maclean and Jim Spence. Paddy Bonner has been surprisingly good as I think he seems to take an interest in other teams than just celtic, and he talks well. Compare that to hartson on tv on Sunday who is awful. Tom English speaks well but is boring and goes on far too much. Peter Houston was covering a game the other week and thought he was very good.

I would say stay at Dens. McDiarmid was undoubtedly a big catalyst for our growth as a club, and as RG says it can be a great atmosphere when full - but then I think that's the same with most grounds. McDiarmid was unique and original when it was built, but now we have plenty of these new stadia in scotland in the 4 boxes round the pitch format, which is obviously the most cost-effective and what you would probably end up with. We had no choice other than to move as we got offered such a great deal and didn't have money to build new stands at muirton. The big downside for me is it's so far out of town. If you go into The city centre on a match day you hardly know there's a game on. A football ground should be the heart of its community, surrounded by pubs and places to eat. If someone came along with hundreds of millions of pounds I'd want him to build us a new ground on the South Inch in Perth, right beside the train station, stands really steep and almost on top of the pitch... Like what many grounds used to be! The best grounds to visit are always the original ones with a bit of character - tynecastle, EEP etc. There's plenty of land behind the Derry, if they could ever afford it, you could easily get a decent new stand in there, with rail seating/ standing in the lower tier for all the moaning dafties in the Derry, and seating and hospitality above.

Ok cheers You obviously weren't at McDiarmid Park on Friday night were you? Delighted you went second best and left Beaston alone!!

What are the new facilities in the post, has the new stadium finally got the go ahead?

Agreed, to be honest I just pulled a figure out the air, but there must be a valuation where your board says yes as He's leaving in 4 months time anyway to join a rival, so will his heart be in it as much as it was before? £100k?? The GMS and Shinnie pre-contracts do throw up a few potentially interesting scenarios though- if GMS scores the winner in a league cup final for utd v celtic, or Shinnie scores against the Dons so ICT pip aberdeen to the title.. Would they still be as welcome with their new supports?

Wonder if McInnes was tempted to offer £50k or so to get him now, could really have made a massive difference in the league run in. I'm not sure how much ict would want to let him go. Most folk seem to have written off your chances of the title, but the past two results have both been battling comeback draws, it's not as if you're throwing games away, still to play celtic twice as well. The safe bet says celtic, but think there could be a few twists and turns to come, and a complete back 4 would make a huge difference...

Was that also the area of edinburgh they were from? They were a works team called Ferranti Thistle who unbelievably were chosen to join the league ahead of all the Highland League clubs and Gala, Annan etc back in the early 70's. Something about the traveling distance being too much if one of them was selected. They were made to change their name on joining the league set up. So you see, Scottish football has a historical connection with poor administration and running of the game, it's not just a recent thing!

Think ICT were originally Caledonian Thistle but later added the Inverness as well?? Think clubs get more support from their local council if they have the town name in there.. Promotes the town, whereas if you were just Morton or Caley Thistle, nobody outside of football fans would know where you're from.

Lugar Boswell Thistle is a great name. Still on the go, play in the Ayrshire juniors

One of the best games I never saw would have been Perseverance Arbroath at the mighty Inverness Citadel. Epic!!

In terms of juniors, Jeanfield Swifts. In the same league as Burntisland Shipyard, there used to be/ possibly still is a side called Coaltown of Balgonie When I was a boy I always liked seeing the result of Keith when they played in the early stages of the Scottish Cup. I had this image of one guy on his own taking on a team of soft southerners in a Hotshot Hamish stylee.

Scotland is blessed with many poetically named clubs, but what are your favourites? There's the romantic: Queen Of the South, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Heart Of Midlothian The sublime: St Johnstone The alliteratively appealing: Roath Ravers, Alloa Athletic, Annan Athletic The basked in tradition: Hamilton Academical, Airdrieonians, Queens Park The 'teams that are so embarrassed by the town that they come from that they'd rather associate themselves with the nicer bit along the road': East Fife, East Stirlingshire The bizarre that we now take for granted: Stenhousemuir, Cowdenbeath, Dumbarton And the shite: when teams were deciding what second name to give themselves, be it Athletic, Albion, County, United, Rovers, City etc... Albion Rovers just didn't quite get it did they?! There are some crackers outwith the big leagues: Gala Fairydean, Burntisland Shipyard and Ardrossan Winton Rovers for example, feel free to mention any. My top 3 league club names: 1. St Johnstone. It has to be doesn't it?? It has historical relevance - St John's toon of Perth, and is a great name. Slight drawback is thickos from down south ask where St Johnstone is. Hopefully now Saints are a force in Europe St Johns toon has been firmly plotted on the map. 2. Inverness Caledonian Thistle. To be honest this should probably be number one if I could bring myself to be a bit more impartial. It's got it all: the town name, massive football historical significance by including the two teams merged to form this Highland giant, the poetic and patriotic, and it abbreviates down really well to 3 initials. It also sounds like a shit cold American drink if you say the 3 letters, but that's the only negative. 3. Queen Of the South. This would have been higher as it's a great name, but the story of how it got it's name is too much of a disappointment. Basically some stiff from the tourist board in the 1800's trying to promote the town, decided they'd call themselves the Queen Of the South. It's a bit like a kid going into school and telling his classmates his new nickname is going to be Shagger or Ace. Heart of Midlothian just miss out but, let's be honest, nobody really calls them Heart Of Midlothian do they? It's Hearts to most of us. Plain old boring Hearts. Your top 3 ??

The building of McDiarmid Park (1989)

East End Park 1991 Scottish Cup semi-final St Johnstone v handball on the line was a certain penalty lovecheats Dundee United

McDiarmid Park has been great for us and really was a piece of forward thinking by the club. It's just a pity that the design became a template for just about every other new stadium in the country.. I guess the 4 separate stands is the cheapest and easiest way to do it. In our first season we averaged 6000 in the first division (second tier) and everyone was talking about how McD wasn't going to be big enough, our crowds that first premier season were huge (average 8-9000 ?) but thank god Geoff and the board knew what they were doing and it was only just over 10,000!! The biggest mystery to me with the new stadiums is why the stands have to be so far back from the pitch.. St mirrens being a very obvious example.. Even mcDiarmid is too far back to be honest. I used to love the old match highlights on scotsport when one of the opposition was about to take a corner and some wee boy in the crowd behind him would pat him on the head!! The other big thing is how steep the stands are.. Again st mirren is one that springs to mind, but there are others. The main stand at McDiarmid is one of the best stands for legroom and view due to how steep it is. In fairness to the st mirren board though, at least they've got the capacity bang on, and even games v the old firm they won't be outnumbered on their own patch, and the ground will never feel too empty. Favourite grounds in the past were East End Park and Brockville, both for atmosphere. East end always was a tidy ground, perfect layout and we used to think of it as a mini-hampden. Brockville was a dump but it was a brilliant away day, really hemmed in and atmospheric. The side enclosure at Tannadice was a great view, really steep. Never thought much of Easter road or tynecastle, not the best for atmosphere.. away ends open and far too big for our support! They're both great grounds now, still hemmed in the middle of housing schemes but great views. Easter road maybe too big but both are excellent semi final venues. Celtic park also was poor, miles away from the pitch and the cup final last year let us experience the ground with a great view. When they're averaging 35000 why do they have to stick the away support in a restricted view area?? Sometimes you wonder if clubs actually want people to come to their games!! Pictures below of cup semi final at celtic park St Johnstone v rangers, same day as hillsborough tragedy. 9000 saints fans squeezed into a corner of the ground, what an atmosphere that day... Again apologies for the quality: