Caledonian Craig

Has it not been considered that Rhodes is not in the squad as his form has dipped this season. He has four goals so far and isn't even Blackburn's top scorer this season so far. Chris Martin has scored seven goals so far this season for Derby and May has three goals so far but has had plenty of assists as well. So you see no real mystery as to why Rhodes misses out but I do stand by what I have said as in he is two dimensional whilst we have other strike options with more strings to their bow.

Raonic retired V Monaco when losing 5-2. If Andy beats Ferrer tomorrow he will move into 8th in the race for London above Raonic.

I will say Abellio taking over looks like it will be bad news for a sector of catering employees on the trains. It is strongly thought they will put the catering to outside catering company whereas at present under First employees in catering work for the rail company. As soon as catering staff get farmed out to external catering company they will:- A. Lose all travel passes and have to pay to travel on trains. B. Lose protection from the union leaving them open to be treated like shite. C. Lose the right to apply for internal vacancies in other sectors in the company ie ticket examiner, gateline, dispatch, conductor etc etc etc. I worked for ScotRail under National Express when catering was offered by CCG (Compass Catering Group) and the terms and conditions were plain awful. Absolute minimum uniform supplied (one of each garment), many 12 hour plus shifts, many shifts without twelve hours gap between shifts, no union protection and wages at bare minimum of not even £10,000 per annum. When First took over and took catering in house things improved considerably on all fronts with several items of uniform supplied, training offered on varying courses to help you do the job to better standard, far better wages, travel passes, union protection, pension plans and far better shift patterns. So you see First aren't exactly the Gorgon they are painted out to be. Wait and see what Abellio offer before jumping up and down in celebration but straight away I can say a sector of their employees are set for rough times.

Just to re-iterate though okay if you can't bring yourself to sing it for whatever the reason but is there any need for some (not you Lamia or you Renfre Blue) to come onto message boards such as this and try to implore people not to sing the national anthem as some sort of protest. Ludicrous and plain divisive in my opinion.

Well as I understand it the reservations people have about singing Flower of Scotland is that the lyrics will stick in people's throats due to referendum result. I say it is the national anthem and I will be singing it regardless of 'that line' as in any case as I said it says we can still rise' and we can and it is much more likely now than it ever has been in my lifetime. My point is why choose not to sing it because of that line not resting easy with people's conscience? We sing it with feeling and in support of the team just as Doe A Deer is sung as a way as supporting team or creating an atmosphere during the match and I'd bet many who sing it cannot stand the film it comes from but that is not the point it is sung to ramp up an atmosphere.

Sorry you are wrong. I always sing it with feeling and still will on Saturday as the words still hold relevance as we can still rise to be a nation again. Maybe never happened this time around but the lyrics doesn't exactly say we can still rise now and be a nation again in 2014 does it?? So please don't try to guess what the song means to me and the relevance of singing it. Out of interest do you join in with Doe A Deer? And if so do you love The Sound of Music as a film?

There is plenty of scope now for a referendum in the near future for varying reasons. Firstly, the narrowness of the vote (55-45 is by no means conclusive). Secondly, if the powers that Westminster promised do not meet up to what the Scottish government want or they feel it falls short it is surely grounds to call for another referendum as Brown's promises were a big catalyst for swaying the vote the way it did. Thirdly, the political landscape has not only changed in Scotland but it is rapidly changing in England with UKIP rapidly eroding away the Tories/Labour stranglehold and so I believe any request for future referendum may be met with less objections so lets not be so dismissive of another referendum any yime soon eh?Especially, considering Westminster's continuing gaffes as in sending in bombers to another far flung country, allowing murderers from Eastern Europe to freely enter the UK and murder again nd more gaffes are sure to follow. As for Scotland not existing as a country I'd beg to differ. It hasn't got independence but I still rate it as a country (in my opinion) as do many sporting governing bodies. And sorry but we will NOT lose our national team to FIFA I will bet my life on that. And sing the song - I certainly will. If it is a graveyard it has more life in it now than there was five or ten years ago.

Fair enough. I just hate all this negativity though going into a crucial game. I understand how much you worked for independence and all I can say is don't ever give up on it - nobody should as it is not an issue that is going to go away. I hope you enjoy the game.

A really good player for us to have in the squad. As I said on another thread in my opinion he was our best player in the first half V Germany and put in a great shift until he ran out of legs. I wouldn't be upset if he started but who do you leave out?

Pretty certain this will be the side:- Marshall Hutton Hanley Martin Robertson Brown Fletcher Morrison Anya Naismith Fletcher

Sad news as surveys show First took ScotRail forward improving punctuality, increasing customer satisfaction and bringing all railway employees under the same employee unlike the previous incumbents (National Express) who had catering done on the cheap via outside catering company. As I understand it Abellio are going to take catering to outside catering company which will be very bad for current employees in that sector. Also means we are having our trains run by a foreign company now. Not much for me to be happy about.

No. We want Germany to crush Poland to leave them spirits and confidence-wise crushed for their games against us. Seems clear that would be ideal.

Lamia that post was to Renfrew Blue. I will only add this people should keep politics out of football. The referendum is done (for now) and I will be at Ibrox on Saturday to support Scotland to the maximum of my ability to the maximum of positivity. In my opinion people saying they will refuse to sing the national anthem only brings negativity to the support - not what the national football team needs or wants.

Sorry but that is not constructive on the political front. Sure it may make you and others feel better but for future referendum which will surely come we should now be looking to bring on-board as many of the 55% as possible and ostracising them by urging them they have no right to sing the anthem does not help that cause.

Polls are a deadly accurate indication and so two years ago independence was so much further away (20%) and yet there was none of this defeatist talk of not singing the national anthem then was there? If ref had been two years ago the loss would have been much greater (that is a certain fact) yet I presume all the no singers now still sung the national anthem then which I cannot fathom out. For me far far too much is being read into lyrics of the anthem here. The national anthem is what it is and I'd expect fans to join in heartily to give the players the necessary boost, create a fiery atmosphere to intimidate opponents and lift our players spirits to the highest level possible - that is the ethos as far as I am concerned of the national anthem at Scotland matches. Do you honestly think England fans are 100% royalists? Of course not but they all join in and sing the national anthem with feeling. Do you think the French supporters don't contain some royalists but they still sing Les Marseilles because it is their national anthem even though it glorifies the French Revolution. Heck how many Scotland fans CANNOT stand The Sound of Music as a film but merrily churn out Doe a Deer every match and join in. Since you seem (very wrongly in my opinion) to think Scotland has ceased to exist as a country then I take it you will no longer attend Scotland matches as you feel it will be living a lie so to speak? Sorry but we can take the referendum result two ways. We lost it but a mere 5% swing is all it would have taken to swing it the other way so you can either take the positives from that, realise that genie is out of the bottle and realise this issue will not go away and see it as a massive base to build on - and a base we weren't even at two years ago I may add. Or you can choose to sulk, knuckle under and give up and say sod it Scotland can go to hell as I am not interested anymore and display a complete lack of fight which would be extremely odd considering you day you put so much into the independence vote. That being the case you should not be ready to give up the fight - I know the SNP hasn't and their groundswell in members since the Ref vote suggest they are growing in strength and support - not diminishing. Keep the faith and the rewards will come. Give up and all your work will have been for nothing. Back to the national anthem I will sing it and supported yes vote and fully hope all Scotland fans will band together as, first and foremost fans of the Scotland team, as it is business as usual for the national team and they need our 100% support throughout this campaign and that includes singing the national anthem.

I would agree with Gary Naysmith and Graham Alexander and would throw in there Neil MCann and Kevin Gallacher.

Did you think independence was imminent two years ago when polls had independence vote at 20% and did you sing the national anthem at that point?

Bleedin' spot on. I am there to support the team in whatever way I can for the whole match which means applauding each player out onto the pitch during warm-up, cheering them onto the pitch singing the national anthem and cheering every pass and tackle we make and get behind the team. If we can't bring ourselves to do that then what is the point of calling us supporters?

No not digging up at all but just find the viewpoint very odd indeed. If anything is needed now it is a show of defiance and not singing our national anthem smacks of a form of surrender.

Given up have you? But for why did you sing it two years ago when only 20% (in polls) backed independence and before that when the figure was lower. Flower of Scotland was still sung then with great feeling even though independence was far less likely than it is now.

Do us a favour eh? Get your dummy back. So the vote didn't go the way we wanted - granted a disappointment. But if you think people encouraging others not to sing Flower of Scotland is anything other than counter-productive you are badly mistaken. Flower of Scotland exists as our national anthem (regardless of what the lyrics say or mean). Ask Scotland players past and present and they will tell you what it means to stand in front of us and hear Flower of Scotland resounding around the ground and how it acts to fire them up. Now if you can't or don't want to sing the anthem as means of making a political point the only thing you are offering the team as a supporter is negative vibes which we can all do without.

Yup I think Deecie would like that.

You are missing the bigger picture here. We are there to support the team and part and parcel of that is making things as intimidating as possible by booming out OUR national anthem which also serves to fire up our players. Fail to do that and we are failing in our duty as supporters. Take your political protests elsewhere as they have no place at a Scotland international. Thanks. End of story.

Sorry but anyone refusing to sing our national anthem is doing a dis-service to the players and the team. No two ways about it. And what it achieves I'll be buggered if I know.

Yes but Robertson is already showing his talent at international level after just two caps and getting rave reviews. Dorrans has ten caps and yet to set the Heather alight and minus the rave reviews so some difference between the two. Don't get me wrong I hope Dorrans can prove me wrong but I just don't see it.