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Toepoke

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    Scottish cup 2023/24

    in Football related - Discussion of non TA football

    Posted

    1 hour ago, RDFH64 said:

    Bet if you look back over the years you’ll find they’ve been kept apart far more times than they’ve been drawn together .

    Statistically two teams will meet each other every three semi final draws, so they are more likely to avoid each other.

    I've no doubt in the old days of behind closed doors draws there was jiggery pokery going on, but not since they've been televised.

     

    Kenny Dalglish... How good was he 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

    in TA specific

    Posted

    On 3/8/2024 at 8:39 PM, Malcolm said:


    this is what I remember about Dalglish.  My memories start around 1978 and I remember DAlglish not being in the team on many occasions.  

     

    Kenny Dalglish was in every Scotland team from May 1976 to February 1981. A 43 game record for consecutive caps.

    He did miss a few games v England in the 80s, as mentioned in the above interview, due to them clashing with the European Cup final.

     

    The news thread

    in Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Hertsscot said:

    Same thought crossed my mind. Undoubtedly if it had been an SNP minister in Westminster or Holyrood the normal culprits would be baying for blood for the next couple of weeks.

    I first saw the story on the ITN news last night, they showed the minister on VT but didn't even mention her name!

     

    The news thread

    in Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere

    Posted

    11 hours ago, Hertsscot said:

    What a waste of taxpayers money. Should be coming out of her pocket

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/06/taypayers-foot-the-bill-after-academics-libel-action-against-minister

    I'd settle for a swimsuit photoshoot as compen.

    8 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/viewpoint/24165053.snp-scottish-income-tax-fantasy-labour-msp-michael-marra/?ref=twtrec

    SNP Scottish income tax fantasy of Labour MSP Michael Marra and Malcolm

    Where to start with Michael Marra’s comment about the Scottish Government’s Budget being “based on the economically and fiscally illiterate assumption that income tax can be used to plug the hole left by the SNP’s failure to grow the economy”.

    It is, of course, a most politically convenient assertion from MSP Mr Marra, Scottish Labour’s party spokesperson on finance.

    However, it does not stand up to scrutiny.

    Mr Marra should know, surely, that the fortunes of the economy in Scotland are inextricably linked to those of the UK as a whole.

    The Scottish Government does not in reality have major economic levers under the current set-up.

    READ MORE: Alarming talk on future of free university tuition in Scotland

    Of course, it has some devolved economic powers and has done a good job with some of those, as can be seen with Scotland’s success in attracting inward investment. There was a sensible acceleration of infrastructure spending from Holyrood in the wake of the global financial crisis, although the capacity to boost such expenditure unilaterally is severely constrained by the devolved funding arrangements.

    In short, the Scottish Government’s economic powers are small potatoes indeed. And they most certainly pale into insignificance relative to the wrecking ball the Conservative Government has taken to the UK economy.

    Mr Marra, as someone who would presumably in many other circumstances highlight the huge degree to which Scotland is intertwined with the rest of the UK, should realise that this wrecking ball has hammered the economy north of the Border as well as every other part of Britain.

    You would think Mr Marra and his Labour colleagues in Scotland might want to highlight the great damage caused by the Conservatives.

    However, most of the time, they seem entirely wrapped up in pointing their fingers at the SNP and its junior partner, the Scottish Greens.

    You could with some justification take the broad view that Scottish growth should be expected, under current arrangements, to amount to the expansion in the UK as a whole minus the drag from Scotland’s particularly acute demographic situation. Scotland faces particular challenges when it comes to the size of its working-age population, and notably the outlook for this. The population is ageing throughout the UK, but Scotland faces particular difficulties.

    Of course, free movement of people between the UK and European Economic Area countries was a crucial means by which Scotland could tackle or at least mitigate this challenge.

    This great benefit was removed by the Tories’ hard Brexit. And Labour, unfortunately, has made it clear it will not bring it back, having ruled out the UK rejoining the single market if it wins power.

    And this red line for Labour means that the blow to Scotland’s exporters from Conservative policy, with the hard Brexit resulting in the loss of frictionless trade between the UK and EEA countries, will also not be reversed or mitigated in any way.

    To be fair to Mr Marra and Labour, they did not cause the Brexit damage.

    However, they have made it clear they will not address it, and that is lamentable.

    Obviously, for political reasons in Scotland, you can see why Labour wants to point the finger at the SNP and accuse it of failure on the economic front.

    READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Astonishing silence from Labour

    This, however, seems somewhat disingenuous from Labour. Surely it must know the blame for what has been visited upon Scotland lies at Westminster.

    It was the Tories who delivered the hard Brexit. Then again, with Labour making a big noise about not rejoining the single market, we can perhaps see why Mr Marra would not want to shout too much about that.

    In fact, he and his Labour colleagues might not want to talk about Brexit too much at all to the electorate north of the Border, given the big vote in Scotland to remain in the European Union.

     

    READ MORE: Denial after denial from brass-necked Tory arch-Brexiter

    The UK’s economic output has fallen short of that of similar countries by about 5% since the 2016 Brexit referendum, economists at investment bank Goldman Sachs observed last month.

    Another dreadful thing delivered by the Conservatives (from 2010 onwards) which has laid Scotland low is grim austerity, with savage cuts to welfare and public sector pay freezes and caps.

    You could be relatively “economically illiterate”, to use one of Mr Marra’s own phrases, and still realise that such policies have taken many billions of pounds out of people’s pockets and thus weighed very heavily on aggregate demand and growth over the years.

    Surely Mr Marra must be aware of this effect? Austerity has hampered the whole of the UK, although Scotland looks to have been one of the worst-affected areas, given the make-up of this savage programme.

    The International Monetary Fund forecasts the UK economy will this year record the second-weakest growth among the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations.

    The UK is expected by the IMF to expand by just 0.6% in 2024, marginally ahead of the 0.5% forecast for Germany.

    France is forecast by the IMF to grow by 1% this year. The US is projected by the IMF to expand by 2.1% in 2024.

    There is, of course, plenty of scope for valid debate over how much people should be taxed and how money should be spent in the context of the quite limited devolved fiscal powers of the Scottish Government.

    In Scotland, higher earners pay more income tax. However, you can see instantly some benefits in terms of spending, including free university tuition for people living in Scotland and the Scottish child payment.

    In recent times, it has become increasingly frustrating to hear those who should know better paint a picture that the Scottish Government has some kind of huge economic and fiscal powers.

    And it is, frankly, utterly demoralising to hear Mr Marra’s assessment of Scotland’s finances and economy.

    Thought Malcolm had made the Herald for a minute 😄

     

    Stonehaven Orange March

    in Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere

    Posted

    3 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

    I am actually quite amazed by that. I thought Kilmarnock would be rife with orange walks and orange lodges. 

    Any idea why this is?

    Tends to be a thing in the neighbouring villages rather than the town itself. When I was a kid in Kilmaurs I used to watch them pass and be quite impressed with the sound and colour of it, oblivious to the history behind the marches. I also used to wonder why the kids I recognised on the march were amongst the thickest at the school.

     

    The Weemin

    in TA specific

    Posted · Edited by Toepoke

    25 minutes ago, ThistleWhistle said:

    Don't half make it convoluted:

     

    How does Women's Euro 2025 qualifying work?

    The qualifiers will see each team face the other teams in their group home and away.

    Group winners and runners-up from each League A group automatically qualify, with the remaining seven places taken by the best-ranked sides from all three leagues.

    All third and fourth-placed teams from League A will go through to the play-offs.

    The top three teams in each League B group will also make the play-offs. If Switzerland finish in the top three of their group, then the best ranked fourth-placed team from League B will go into the play-offs.

    From League C, the five group winners and three best-ranked runners-up will reach the play-offs.

    The 28 teams making the play-offs will be whittled down to seven, with the first round being split into two paths.

    The eight sides from League A will be drawn against the eight sides from League C. The six best teams from League B will face the six lowest-ranked teams from League B. Both sets of matches are two-legged.

    In the second play-off round, the remaining 14 teams will be split via seedings. The seven nations with the best ranking will be drawn against the other seven teams. The winners of those fixtures will qualify for the finals

     

    Cheers! I wasted half my dinner break trying to work it out from Wikipedia.

    12 of the 16 League B teams go into the playoffs. And as Switzerland aren't eligible it's possible to finish bottom of the group and reach the playoffs. Bizarre system!

    New Ticketing System Now Live

    in TA specific

    Posted · Edited by Toepoke

    2 hours ago, Orraloon said:

    I think 20,000 is more than normal. 

    Definitely. Really surprised me how many have sold for an inferior package to last time.

    I bought some individual tickets yesterday but there wasn't that great a seat selection left at all.

     

     

    The Referree / Var thread..

    in Football related - Discussion of non TA football

    Posted · Edited by Toepoke

    36 minutes ago, N4Footsoldier said:

    but now it just seems like the whole of football is at war with the handball rule.

    I've been saying for a while (probably on this thread already) but for me the simple fix is to punish all handball offences with an indirect free kick, with the exception of when it's a clearly deliberate act (eg. Suarez v Ghana).

    When a team are getting a penalty for the merest flick off a defender's arm, the sanction is far heavier than it should be. 

    (Also under current VAR stipulations it would mean most handballs wouldn't be pulled up by the video refs).

     

     

    The news thread

    in Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, scotlad said:

    According to this, Galloway and his team sent out two versions of election material; one to voters with Muslim names and one to voters with non-Muslim names:

    That truly is the measure of the man. 🙄

     

    The old Scottish Labour tactic, depending where they were campaigning SNP stood for "Soon No Pope" or "Soon No Protestants".

     

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