ahemps

I'm pretty sure Rochdale didn't get relegated or promoted for 36yrs from 1974-2010. Elgin not moving for 24yrs is quite incredible but everything is setup in the Scottish lower leagues to advantage the leagues above. In League 2 it is harder to get relegated than most leagues but also harder to get promoted unless champions. Many seasons the league could only differ by 1 club.

I do like this competition and it has been a great addition but the 2 winners so far are from Italy and England and this years final could be from they 2 as well. I don't grudge Roma and West Ham their titles as the CL has become a closed shop. I would hope over the next few years we see teams from nations out with the top 5-6 ranked countries win this or the Europa.

I think getting to the highest level a player can while still playing is the ideal scenario. All players want to get to the top clubs and/or the best wages they can. From a fans point of view it is to see them play. A move to Juventus that sees him be a fringe player or if they don't get to where they want he might be a bit of a fall guy (see McTominay at times with Utd fans). I would hope that didn't happen but is Ferguson better than Aaron Ramsey was when he went there? To contradict my view I will be honest and say I didn't see Robertson being the success he became. I thought he was a really good player who didn't deserve to go down with Hull and would find a decent mid table EPL club. Never thought he would get to the heights he did though so it can work out by aiming for the top and seeing what happens.

Right now of course they are not but Juventus will see where they are today as a low point and Bologna will see where they are as almost their peak (Bologna haven't qualified for Europe in 24years). Juventus want to be competing for the Serie A and getting to CL finals (Inter were there last year so Italian clubs will still expect to be there every so often) I would love to be proven wrong and Ferguson went to Juventus and improved their starting 11 but I am not sure he is at the level Juventus want to get too. Of course he will want to make the move and test himself and with a manager who knows and seems to get the best of him but I think he is better staying put and actually playing CL with Bologna or if he needs to move then getting a slightly bigger club like Lazio, Napoli or Roma if he stays in Italy or a move to Brentford or similar like Hickey would be better for him to continue getting game time.

I think that is mainly the Scottish media. I have heard several 'Italian pundits/reporters' saying Motta will be going to Juve and taking Calafiori with him. Ferguson is a good player and I would like to think he could play for Juve but if we are honest is he really good enough to start for Juventus?

I wonder about this, gates do seem to be healthy just now but only a couple of years ago I was listening to the Aberdeen, Motherwell and another chairman who were saying the average age of the match going fan kept increasing. There wasn't the same amount of young fans going as years ago. This may have changed recently but it made me wonder in 10yrs or so will our attendance per capita drop slightly as it is quite an anomaly as stats go. From my own very limited sample size I would say that in general kids will go to the football but are not as committed to weekly games as their dads are.

Lots of chat online how the officials were out to get them at Tynecastle. Blows my mind that they fail to see they got what could be said a debateable penalty 1st. If the officials are out to get you they would deny you a stonewaller, not give you one with enough doubt to get away with not giving it. Also it is a very risky game if you are officiating with the intention of making sure the OF get beat by giving them a penalty 1st, they score that they probably win the game, no blame is put on the fact they actually missed it.

One thing is absolutely certain is that you or Rangers will never have 20 away fixtures. It has happened to numerous others but will never happen to either of you two. The perks of being part of the establishment. I remember the year after Clarke left Killie and the top 6 was quite different from the year before with Motherwell and Livi replacing Hearts and Killie. Rangers had played all the other top 5 at home twice and if it wasn't for Covid cancelling the season it would have led to a headache for the SPFL. At least 2 of the remaining 5 would have had to go to Ibrox for a 3rd time (maybe a 3rd if Rangers were on 17 away games at the time of the split).

Like the OF ends at Hampden. If only one of Hearts or Aberdeen win their semi but wanted to keep that end for the final they don't get a choice. Absolutely should be a coin toss and clubs pick what changing room/section they want to use.

I think Gundogan is a big miss too, not quite as magical as Silva but a very effective and big game player.

I think in todays game players are trained to play out at all costs. The 'if in doubt kick it out' or 'never play across your goal' is now seen as draconian. Pep Guardiola's philosophy has been the driving force behind this. That is great if you have the players his Barca and Man City have but seeing this at every level of the game now is utterly criminal. The main reason a player is a defender and not a midfielder or a striker is they are not as good with the ball. Everyone wants to have the skills and vision of a De Bruyne or a Messi etc. but generally you get moved further back the less good you are with the ball. Asking the worst footballers in the side to play tiki taka football against the better opposition players in your own 3rd is mental. Also in the main the attackers have now worked this out and press defenders doing this and we are now seeing goals every week across all levels of players losing the ball in their own 3rd. See Spain gifting Brazil a goal in their friendly. I believe in trying to play football and not hoofing it up the park but we have went too far with it now in my opinion. The risk to reward ratio is too heavily in the risk section to be doing it in every single passage of play.

I agree it is a difficult draw and we are the lowest ranked side so not finishing last would be seen as being better than expected form outside. Switzerland are ranked above Hungary though and once you remove Slobozlai the rest of the Hungary squad looks very basic. If you look at the Swiss squad it actually looks more impressive with more players playing at more top teams. I don't know as I have not seen them but Hungary must be very well organized and are getting more than the sum of their parts.

I have heard about this leader group thing as well. I think Gordon is in it too. I would expect though we can't be taking players who are part of this group over a player who is more likely to actually play. Leaders emerge and if Cooper is left out then someone else within the squad will step up. We have plenty character in the squad, we have plenty guys playing at the top level who will have high standards and we now have plenty experience across numerous players. A leadership group was maybe a good idea when Clarke 1st came in but I don't know if it is quite as important now.

This might be a modern fan thing, I think the vast majority of Man Utd fans liked those players. The players you mentioned were very good but were also hard workers that helped balance the team but in the last few years the gap between the top clubs has accelerated to such an extent now that almost every player at these top clubs has to be a superstar in their position. Fergies era was not even that long ago.

Sadly there is no obvious route for success. It has worked out okay for Gilmour and may end up working out for Doak but maybe not for Ramsay. It is not a guarantee that had he stayed another year at Aberdeen then maybe he would have followed Hickey's career path and still ended up at the top level. It is incredibly hard and rare to make it at the top level so going for it and falling short doesn't necessarily doesn't mean you won't be a professional footballer, just maybe not at the top level. Injuries at at this developmental stage may end up being very unfortunate for him.

Is this not really because they have some pretty big donors to the Republicans. The anti gun campaigners are probably a bigger pest but don't pay enough to have politicians in their pockets.

Good job they didn't sign the Rangers back line or it could have been 7.

They can't mention it as it would annoy too many of their viewers/readers. Scottish football has one of the most unbalanced financial share in world football. I hear about this from journalists and reports by people from outside Scotland who tend to only use Scotland as a comparison. It is amazing none of our journalists don't cover it but it lessen the achievements of the OF if they do so it doesn't get mentioned.

Rangers fans online are saying that he's way better than Sam Johnstone who was the guy keeping him out the Palace team. Butland and Hart have been successful up here but Hart was 3rd choice at Burnley behind Pope and Heaton before being backup at Spurs. Butland was 2nd choice at Palace then Man Utd before coming here. Even look at Fraser Forsters loan back at Celtic and again he was behind Alex McArthy at Southampton at that time. It is as if there are different levels and facing Haaland and Salah is harder than being shot at by Shankland and Theo Bair. What I would say though as an OF scout is to look at the back up keeper market in the EPL as they clearly are very good keepers when they come up here.

That squad is missing Grealish and Rashford, Eze is a left winger and has been in the squad recently and possibly even Sterling. I think Barnes is quite a bit down the list. He would be a great addition to Scotland but 1 cap for England may be worth the world to him and there is nothing wrong with that and he may never want to close the door on it.

Is McGregor out for the season? I have seen some comments from Celtic fans fearing the worst. Will be interesting how we line up without McGregor whether we change the style with just Gilmour sitting deeper or if we ask someone to fill his role like McLean or even try Christie there who looks very good in this position surprisingly?

I think apart from Gordon I am not sure there are any other obvious players who may not feature after the Euros. It would be good to bring through some younger players for the nations league.

In what way would it piss them off? 3 keepers is the norm. I expect all the keepers know that. Kelly has always been the 3rd choice and probably expected to be dropped now Gordon is back fit. Do you think McRorie should be in here as well because he used to be 3rd choice and he may be upset now? There may be an outfield player who has missed out on this squad pissed off because there is a 4th keeper. Being picked for fringe players like Ralston, Hyam, Doig, Brown etc. are selected and dropped regularly, do we need to protect the feelings of the these guys? I am sure Kelly is big enough to accept he is a fringe player and if not picked this time but selected next time he would still be happy to turn up.

I think that's a bit strong. When Tierney is out and we move players around there is a noticeable difference, McGinn and McTominays ability to get forward and score goals are massive factors in the way we play. They 3 would be more irreplaceable than McGregor in my view. McLean would be a back up to McGregor and Jack can also play that position in a more breaking up play style but the best deep midfielder we have is Gilmour who could do the role McGregor does. I like McGregor though, our midfield is very strong and our best midfield has Gilmour, McGregor, McGinn and McTominay in it, the rest have to play a squad role and wait for their opportunity.

I don't think it would be a random punter. I am sure Clarke has in his mind someone from Conway, Hardie, Stewart, Nisbet or McBurnie in mind should Dykes or Adams get injured to be another striker and to bring one of those is slightly more valuable than a 4th keeper. I think he knows everything he needs to about his keepers at this point, the only thing he might want to see is how Gordon is after his injury but I don't know what he learns from Kelly as 4th choice. I may be wrong but my perception is that Shankland was a late call up to the last squad, he got 5 minutes against Georgia, scored a goal and is now almost a guarantee squad pick. There is more chance of discovering something new by bringing one of the above strikers mentioned than Kelly.