DaveyDenoon

Okay, steady on. I’d forgotten about Motherwell being in Europa league this season and I hadn’t seen any of the Europa League games results this week due to being otherwise engaged. My world doesn’t revolve around football and I’ve seen precious little, barely even results, apart from trying to keep tabs on the Celtic and Ross County games. No need for personal abuse.

Christ I hope so. Otherwise I genuinely believe that Rangers will stop 10IAR.

Well the second half has shown that this no striker business is nonsense. If he’s changed it at half time on Wednesday we might still be in the CL. But you’re right, it’s Lennon we’re talking about and he’s thrawn as fuck.

I’d say it’s 2-0 despite his selection rather than because of it. Since the strikers came on it’s been far better. Please can he bin this Levein-esque nonsense once and for all now?

Maybe this is a dumb question but if the game isn’t live on TV why was it scheduled for Sunday? Was it practice for Europa league games?

I said it when he was appointed, I said it halfway through last season and I’m saying it again now. He is not the right man for the job. If Lennon is not binned then 10 in a row will not happen. Lennon (or more accurately the board’s continued penny pinching) will cost Celtic the biggest achievement in the club’s history. If there’s unrest at any club on the verge of the biggest moment in their history, as club that has dominated and won the last ten domestic trophies then you have to ask why. Something is not right and it’s highly likely to be down to the manager. He has got to go.

Hearts v Dundee in the Championship opener. Whatever you think of the SPFL's ability to run the Scottish game, there's no denying their top trolling expertise.

And when did goal difference become relevant in knockout cup competition?

They have now. At the time of my original post that wasn’t the case. So I will stand corrected on that point and say that maybe Thistle haven’t been quite as magnanimous as I first thought. My overall point still stands though. Unfairness (which was a reasonable moral argument, but that ship has now sailed as they failed to convince enough of their cohorts of their case) does not always equal illegality (which is now the only argument which can be progressed as it seems to be going to court and I cannot see what rules or laws have been broken here).

Why are they all raging when the overwhelming majority were against reconstruction? Surely only an absolute maximum of 16 are raging? And I'm not saying Thistle or Stranraer don't feel hard done by, or even that the three of them don't have reason to feel hard done by. But outwardly they're handling this much better than Hearts. The essence of my post is that stuff happens in life and in football all the time that is inherently unfair but that doesn't mean there's automatically a legal case to be brought over it.

Let's not forget it's not just Hearts that's been affected, but Partick and Stranraer too. The latter two however are behaving with considerably more class and dignity than the former. They don't like it, it's unfair but they're accepting it and vowing to get their justice on the pitch next season. A year from now hopefully both are celebrating a trophy and a promotion. The whole situation is borne out of a situation that is nobody's fault. The SPFL and the clubs are dealing with it as best they can knowing that whatever the outcome there will be people unhappy. Without meaning to sound too harsh, we have three clubs out of 42 who are adversely affected which in the grand scheme of things is about as good an outcome as could possibly be hoped for - not forgetting that the concerns and adversity faced by these three clubs is very real. By all accounts it's not going to put them out of business which has to be a positive even if they are somewhat unfortunately relegated. Bottom line is if they had performed better for 75/80% of the season they'd not be in that position (granted, someone else would). Life is full of unfairness and ill fortune often beyond anyone's control. Football is no different - in fact it can be even more unfair sometimes. Unfair that Rangers lost the league cup final due to a goal that might have been ruled out with VAR, unfair that Cardiff City were relegated thanks to a desperate offside decision against Chelsea, unfair that England got knocked out of the World Cup when Frank Lampard's "goal" may well have completely changed the outcome had it stood, unfair that Scotland failed to reach the 2012 Euros thanks in big part to a rotten penalty given to the Czechs in the last minute. The list goes on. Its also unfair that some people have more money than they could spend in 100 lifetimes whilst others haven't a pot to piss in. Unfair that some kids are born sick and don't live very long, unfair that some bloke down the road won several £million on the lottery and I didn't, unfair that some good people have lost their jobs due to the bad decisions of idiot management. Life is full of unfairness, but it doesn't mean that there's potential litigation in every situation does it? Hearts are experiencing a bit of unfairness here, visited on them by events outside of anyone's control. The clubs voted in accordance with league rules (several times now) and the SPFL as a company have acted within company law as far as I can see (I'm not an expert though). Decisions were made in the basis of those rules and those laws whether or not we like them. I fail to see what Hearts' case actually is other than "wah wah wah it's no fair 😩😩" and I doubt there is much legal weight behind that. If the clubs or SPFL have acted outside the league rules or outside company law then I'll stand corrected, but I have yet to see any sensible robust argument made as to what that might have been.

I remember being in a bar after Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 at Celtic Park to effectively clinch the title. The place was bouncing with, amongst others, Bobby Petta songs. He could blow hot and cold at times, but the fans loved him. As for the notion that Petrova got booed and abused....😂😂😂 Let's just be kind and say Barnes was talking nonsense....

Nightmare in the end! But there was plenty excitement and it is simply wrong of him to say everyone was against him from the off. Just not true.

If Brown played Snoddy in with an inch perfect pass to score the winner in the last minute v Serbia, I'd happily take that right now. Do we then take them in the squad to the Euros? Different question...

Exactly this. He was probably the worst manager in Celtic's history, which is why he was sacked quicker than any other. Whilst his result percentages might not be bottom of the list, not many others got destroyed at home in the cup by a lower division team and don't forget Caley were less than ten years old at the time. It was the whole package that was so uselessly inept, on and off the pitch. He claims he never had a chance as the fans and dressing room were against him from day one. That's utter crap. There was a real buzz of excitement upon his appointment and his opening results were promising (he seemed to have a particularly good set up for playing against Aberdeen) but things soon went downhill. Despite initial good results it was clear that he wasn't popular in the dressing room and, more importantly as popularity isn't what a manager should be all about, he clearly lost the respect and confidence of the players due to his abysmal management style and non existent man management skills. Every week there were stories of unrest and him falling out with players coming out of Celtic Park. It turned into a bit of a circus, which was quite something for Celtic at around that time. Perhaps in common with many great players he felt great frustration working with players of a lesser calibre and allowed this to shine through? Whatever the reason he soon lost the dressing room and once that happens it's only a matter of time. If he was any good and eg had won the league or something, he'd have been a hero and could've stayed there as long as he wanted. He wasn't and he didn't. Winning the league cup merely papered over some pretty big cracks that were beginning to appear. He also comes across as a bit of a self important arrogant dick, which doesn't usually help. I would liken him to Sol Campbell - a fantastic footballer but an unpleasant and unpopular person who couldn't hack it as a manager and decided to play the race card instead of accepting (and perhaps working on) his own shortcomings.

Neil McCann thinks “it’s really really good”, that “there’s a lot of great stuff in it” and that he is all for it. That confirms it must be absolute pish.

Similar model in place for the restart and conclusion of the Championship down here with streaming on TV free for current season ticket holders and £10 for others. By all accounts this may be in lieu of refunds for games missed. To be honest I'm not happy about this, I hold season tickets for myself and both my boys at a total cost of around £500. I bought them to take them to the games and enjoy the day out, the atmosphere and the fact that nothing beats being at the football in person, not to watch it on TV. There's not a hope in hell of the three of us sitting down in front of the telly together to watch the games played in front of an empty stadium. Apart from the fact it's not what I bought the tickets for, as much as we all enjoy going to the games together they have little interest in watching live football on the TV anyway. Maybe its because we don't have a McDonald's in the garden... I for one won't be accepting this "solution". I want to support the team aye, but I can't afford to fork out for nothing. Some can and good luck to them but many of us have other priorities and we make sacrifices to attend the football which are simply not worth it if we don't get the days out we've paid for. Especially in these economically uncertain times.

As far as I understand it, Rangers/Celtic will buy 200 tickets whether they are used or not. But you're absolute right in that the £3k which that generates will be worth significantly less to the clubs once taxes and increased costs are accounted for. Furthermore, how many away supporters currently generally travel to third tier matches? I'm asking as I genuinely don't know. Presumably clubs such as Dunfermline and Falkirk bring at least that (200 or so)? In which case the true benefit is the £3k gross minus tax/additional costs, minus £15 times however many away supporters would travel on average in any case. Not so attractive as first presented. Rangers/Celtic would have to agree to buy an awful lot more than 200 away tickets to leave the clubs with any real benefit. Would the colt teams have to declare squads separate from the first teams to prevent any potential unfairness or manipulation especially eg towards the end of a tight season? What if a youngster in the colt team was having a particularly good season and showing real,promise, but couldn't move up to the main first team as a result of declaring separate squads? Or if a seasoned pro was coming back from long term injury he couldn't get up to match fitness in the colt team like they used to do in the days of the reserves? Also, I see any colt team cannot progress behind the Championship. What if eg Celtic colts win the championship? Would second place be promoted and then the playoff spots move down one? What if Rangers colts finished second? Starts to get silly then. Or would there be no promotion or relegation that season? Again, getting silly, All this nonsense just to save Hearts' skin? I am really struggling to see any significant tangible benefit to the lower league clubs in this.

True But why do Rangers and Celtic get to enter colt teams in the third tier but other premiership clubs have to enter in the Highland or Lowland league and pay 25k for the privilege? Quite frankly I think it's the daftest thing I've ever read. As has been said before, why would any team in the current third tier vote for something which will puts most of them now in the bottom tier and at risk of relegation out of the league? Why are Cove Rangers being denied their well earned promotion when Dundee United are getting theirs? Stranraer and Partick will still be finding themselves in the bottom and second bottom tiers respectively. Championship clubs will all be at much greater risk of relegation when the leagues are reset back, as is likely. All to save Hearts from going down? If Chuckie is serious about reconstruction being in Scottish football's best interests and not simply about saving her club, would she accept three up and one down to achieve the numbers instead of two up none down? If the clubs said "right we'll accept all your reconstruction proposals, you know for the good of the game like you said, but only on the basis that Utd, Caley and Dundee come up and you still go down." would she go for it? That would be the acid test and she'd never go for it. Reconstruction should be for reconstruction's sake alone and considered purely for its own merits. Maybe it is needed, maybe not. But it should only be introduced because it is an improvement on the current set up and no other reason, and certainly not as some stop-gap solution to a completely different problem or to have the entire game jumping to a tune written purely to save one club from relegation.

Plus a much larger percentage of their income is from TV money versus gate money whereas in Scotland we rely much more on the gate money as a proportion of overall income. Perhaps the top division could just about get by playing behind closed doors for a limited period due to the new improved* Sky deal. *Improved in terms of pure financial increase and not necessarily in terms of quality of broadcast, overall good for the game, etc

Anyway, as for the question.... Ive been fortunate enough to attend a few derbies in my time - Celtic v Rangers, County v Caley, Hibs v Hearts, Cardiff v Swansea and West Ham v Millwall (tasty and massive riots outside between the ground and Upton Park tube station, Millwall are absolute fucking animals!) and of course Scotland v England at both Hampden and Wembley. Have to say the atmosphere at all of them is pretty special. I'd love to do the following: River Plate/Boca El Classico Revierderby (preferably at whatever they call the Westfalen these days) Galatasaray/Fenerbahçe Red Star/Partizan Reckon most of the Eastern European or Greek ones would be amazing tbh, they just seem so fucking mental when it comes to supporting their team. Turin, Rome or Milan derbies would also be worth seeing I reckon. Was once offered a ticket for Man U v Man City (back in the late 1990s or early 2000s before City started buying up trophies) but to be honest not many of the English ones excite me that much, everything just seems so sterile in England now - I don't mean I want to see violence or anything (so why go to West Ham v Millwall I hear you ask 😂😂) but it just all seems to be bums on seats and polite applause at most of these games now particularly in the Premier League with derbies just producing slightly raised volumes of applause from time to time. Perhaps someone who's been to Man U v Man City, Liverpool v Everton or Arsenal v Spurs will tell me I'm wrong in which case I'll bow to their superior knowledge, but I just don't see it. I genuinely feel the Championship (which I regularly attend these days) and lower leagues have much more passion surrounding the games than the Premier. One thing the return to football in Germany has proved however, is that without the fans the derbies have very little that is special about them. If it's true when they say that it's the fans that make football what it is, then it's especially true that they make the derbies what they are.

They do the same with Cardiff and Swansea. I know of one Swansea fan who lives on Sloper Road (directly opposite Cardiff City Stadium) and for the derby back in January he managed to get a ticket but they made him go to Swansea, get the supporters bus to Cardiff and back then make his own way back to Cardiff again. Swansea is about an hour's drive or so from Cardiff so he was away about 8 in the morning. He could've walked across the road in his slippers at 10 to 12. There were other Cardiff based Swans fans who were successful in the ballot but ended up not going either because they had no way of making that trip or just because of the hassle of doing it. Ridiculous. As has been said, if Glasgow's finest can handle 60k at Parkhead when Rangers visit it seems a bit of a cop out and wholly unnecessary when CCS holds little over half as many (and only 28.5k attended that day). And the game was shite.

Not to mention the stadium announcer. What was the point of that? As pointless as tits on a fish. As for the football, it was actually a pretty decent game but with the lack of crowd/atmosphere it was not particularly enjoyable. Weird, strange, bizarre, whatever you want to call it. Certain moves, passes, interceptions or passages of play were met with silence where you expected some kind of reaction and it felt almost deflating. This is not the future I hope! If it is then football is done.

The only concern the government has is how to achieve the above but without taking the blame. All their efforts are being lured into deflecting the blame onto Joe Public and “stupid people” not following the rules. Government announcements are deliberately vague, contradictory and confusing in order to create the environment where they achieve everything you say and avoid blame for the huge death toll. We are all expendable, the vulnerable doubly so. We are basically seeing true Tory ideology in practice.

Would keep him safe from Coronavirus...