wee-toon-red

There was a fair bit of chat on Twitter about it last night, either a BBC or Sky journo tweeted it and tagged Ian Blackford.

Talk that the SNP could be prepared to help the Tories get a bill through to call an early election. While they’d almost certainly gain seats with an election in the next few weeks, is it worth the risk of being seen to assist the Tories - if they want to call an election they must think they’ll benefit from it - or even the risk of trusting the bastards at all? I’m not convinced.

Letwin amendment passed, deal fails. Chaos underway. Fuck knows what’ll happen now.

McRorie can’t get a game for Portsmouth and folk seriously want him in the Scotland team/squad? Eh?

This will certainly be a novel way of being knocked out of an international tournament.

What’s the general feeling from hardcore rugby fans about bonus points? They’ve been around a few years now and seem to be widely accepted but they still feel a bit weird to me. Have they led to more try-scoring, assuming that was the intention?

Cheers. So a non bonus point win for Japan over Samoa would indeed be very helpful, assuming we get ours against Russia.

So we're potentially going to be four points behind Japan when we play them but it seems to be the case that we're likely to need to get a bonus point and deny them one, therefore winning by five points to overtake them. What if we win by four, with neither side getting a bonus point or both getting one? Is it points difference? Or have I missed something that means we can't finish tied on points?

Shankland's hopeless outside the box 🙄

Take the emotion of the fact that the poor guy died out of things: If a deal was agreed in principle for a player to move, but the final contract hadn't been signed, and on the way to the office to sign it the player falls down the stairs and suffers a career-ending injury, is the buying club still liable to pay the fee? Assuming of course the "final contract" definitely hasn't been signed and isn't a smokescreen for Cardiff to avoid paying.

Agreed. It's no coincidence that Cairney's back playing, and seemingly playing well enough, now that he's dropped back down a level.

Great shout. If he keeps his form up next season and grabs that elusive first win - which he could of course still manage this year - he'll be in the hunt for a Ryder Cup place too.

Marshall Jack Hanley Mulgrew Robertson McGinn McTominay (McLean if McT is suspended) Christie Snoddy Fraser Burke

No Tierney or Paterson either.

He's 18. If he was 20 and struggling for a game I might worry but he's still very much a kid and has plenty time on his side.

Scottish football is garbage and so is the English championship. At 18 he'll learn more spending a full season training with the Chelsea first team than he would going on loan to play hoofball in either of those leagues. He's also very slight still and there aren't many managers in either of those leagues who will give him enough game time to get up to speed physically. There's plenty time for him yet so staying at Chelsea for another year before going on loan won't do him any harm.

Staying as far away from the Scottish leagues as humanly possible would be the best thing for his development, with keeping clear of the English championship the next best thing. If a lower end English premiership team isn't likely then going abroad would be best if he has to go on loan somewhere.

Imagine how good Jack would've been last night if Stevie Clarke hadn't ruined him last week...

Been listening to them for a while, they're generally very good. If you can ignore a lot of the "did you have a night out?" "who were the big drinkers? "who was the best laugh?" chat, then there is some interesting stuff in there like the two examples you mention. It really shows that the majority of the players are just normal folk who happen to have a particular talent and shines a light on their attitudes to football more or less just being a job to them.

Not Cardiff or Paterson's fault but centre mid is really the last place we need a player.

In centre mid of all places 🙈

He also has a knack for a goal in big games and is always willing to receive the ball. Doesn't always use it as well as he could and can let his temper get the better of him at times but both of those are understandable for a 20yo who only made his full debut in senior football less than two years ago.

I did mean the full team but I get why that isn't possible. That League One team would be lucky not to get relegated from the Scottish Prem. Other than the keeper it's honking.

Just for fun, what do you reckon "the stats" say should be our starting XI? Pick whatever formation makes it easiest for you to check.

Without disagreeing in general terms about Robertson's suitability for the captaincy, I really don't remember him playing much better before he was given the armband. If there has been a decline in his performances then I'd suggest that's been in line with the rest of the team rather than something particular to him.