Pool Q

Can’t honestly say McKenna has ever stood out in games I’ve been at, but if he is so highly rated I hope Aberdeen play hardball. Hearts just got c.£350k for s laddie called Marc Leonard from Brighton, just turned 16, never been near the first team.

The pran throwing was by Miller and Young.

Miller and Young were arguing that Strachan should have been kept on and that O'Neill had done nothing in management to suggest he was qualified for the job. English pointed out that Strachan had been given two chance and failed in both, and that O'Neill had taken the Northern Ireland squad to one Finals and had a good go at another one. He made it clear that he thought Miller and Young were talking shite (which they were). Miller clearly isn't used to being spoken to like that (Young probably is) and didn't like it, and I thought Richard Gordon might cry.

No he showed Miller and Young up as dicks. Not difficulty to be fair.

I like Tom English, and enjoyed him tearing into Chick Young and Willie Miller today. Richard Gordon was clearly upset at someone talking to Miller like that. English, Stewart and Spiers are as good as we have up here at the moment, which is perhaps to damn with faint praise.

Yes, a conversation I’ve had with a number of people in recent weeks who have been talking up our chances. I’m heading to both home games and think I’ve probably swung a Rome trip too.

Surely the BBC had already dismissed the appeal. Richard Gordon and Willie Miller couldn’t have been clearer.

Best of luck with that.

They do, don't they.

In a well run business, it matters.

Quite. Well I hope you are proved right.

I had understood he was pretty much an ever-present for Brighton last year. The step up to the EPL has obviously proved too big for him, but I’d have thought ‘no better than average’ is harsh. Other clubs would be interested (Bristol City, currently fourth in the Championship, seem to have been sufficiently so to table a £1.8m offer) maybe just not at the money Rangers were talking? Pure conjecture on my part, but I suspect Rangers must be offering top dollar for Brighton to have agreed to this deal.

All of which, to me, rather begs the question why Brighton have agreed to the deal as reported. In most other businesses a deal structured around those lines would include a sizeable premium to cover both the cash flow and maybe the ‘approval’ elements of it. If he is a marketable asset, and they could expect to get the same money for him from other clubs, then why not just do that? The player’s wishes have to befactored in too of course, but it feels like Rangers were talking more money than anyone else for Murphy, so the loan with an option to purchase deal was deemed worth a punt by Brighton when it became clear Rangers might not be good for the payments, at least not at the moment.

Knew next to nothing about him when he was first linked with us, same applies now. Seven games and no goals for a team that is third bottom of Bundesliga 2 didn’t really suggest anything special, but at the same time he seems to think he can make the Australian WC squad so maybe has something. Only time will tell.

I don't read it as there being an actual commitment by Rangers. The guarantee relates to the fee Brighton would charge, and only Rangers would have the 'option' to purchase? Basically they have him on loan until the summer at which point they have first dibs at a set fee (though it isn't really clear what that fee would be).

Whatever has actually happened here, that's a fair point. That, and the financial state of the club, would make short term commitments a good option.

What odds would you give on Celtic being one of the two from five that have to go to Ibrox three times? Start at about a million to one? All perfectly fair though.

Brighton would be wise to get the money up front.

A Hibs fan in my office just pointed out to me that Hearts fans sang a song about Shiels (and his eye) when he was at Hibs. Can’t honestly say I remember it, but not doubting him for a moment.

Difficult to say precisely where the line is, but I don’t think any reasonable person would argue that this isn’t well and truly beyond it.

Too many would accept that I fear. I agree with RB’s post above, can’t be tolerated (I was unaware of the previous incident involving players). Falkirk have said they are working with Dunfermline to identify those responsible and I hope they can. Life bans should follow.

It was a stupid and needless foul by Lafferty. He might have got away with a yellow I suppose, but 9 times out of 10 it’s a red. And it was utterly pointless, the tackle achieved nothing in the context of the match. He’s not the brightest. And while Beaton is a poor ref, who clearly doesn’t much like Hearts, I couldn’t criticise him for that decision.

In the context of the injuries we have a point is excellent for Hearts. The break comes at the right time, a couple of weeks to get players fit. Move on the deadwood in the squad, and hopefully bring in 3 or 4 players who offer a bit more, and give it better balance. Still addressing the damage Cathro caused. The young players have been excellent, but Berra is the real stand out.

Looking at a few of the articles on the supposed Preston bid of £500k for Windass by journalists covering it from a Preston perspective their source appears to be the Daily Record.

A cynic might almost suspect that Rangers have turned down a bid of £500k ‘it is reported’ is a way of using the media to push up the player’s value to any teams that may be interested. We’ll see if he is sold, and if so for how much. I don’t see Rangers as being in a strong bargaining position though, and I doubt they’ll actually get £500k for him.