weebaldie

I liked Sloop John B as sung at Dumbarton, but now modified to... You want to come home, you want to come home, Erskine & Paton, you want to come, You want to come home, you want to come home, Dundee's a sh*tehole, You want to come home! Welcoming the pair back might be psychologically unsettling and put them off their game. As for the snake, don't give him an excuse to moan 'poor me' to his pals in the media. A total non-reaction would be most appropriate now that DU have paid up.

Pathetic, a week on from being presented with the 1st Division Trophy, that snake has put yet another dampener on the club's success. We need that £80,000 right now for new player contracts. DU should do the decent thing now and pay up, regardless of what he is saying. We the fans (not the club) should give DU an ultimatum to pay the money before the end of May or the boycott is on. But would fans be willing to contribute say £40 'Tannadice' cash in advance of the season? I suppose it could be volunteered on top of the season ticket price, like the one off hospitality at the beginning of this season.

Brian Wilson sporting 'groovy' collarless Jags beach wear back in 1965. Bob Hope's thin hooped number isn't bad either! Wow, look at Carl's brand new shiny Rickenbacker..I want one! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fviwc3YeG8

Rugby Park in 72/73: 2-0 down with less than 10 minutes to go. Dennis, Joe Craig (only his 2nd goal for the club according to Official History) and Stevie Chalmers scored to win 3-2. I can remember this more clearly than many matches in the last few years!

From the Scottish Sun :- CHRIS HIGGINS lifted the Ramsdens Cup for Queen of the South and begged beaks NOT to hammer Jags kid Aaron Muirhead for nutting him. Partick ace Muirhead left Doonhamers skipper Higgins with a suspected broken nose after nutting him seconds after Lee Robinson saved his penalty. He was shown a straight red card before team-mate Kris Doolan cancelled out Nicky Clark’s opener with the last kick to send the final to a shootout, with Queens coming out on top. Higgins confessed he and his Doonhamers pals had provoked the Jags kid — and he insists he doesn’t want to see him taken to task. He said: “Aaron has stuck the head on me, on my nose actually, and he deserved to get sent off. “But he’s young and he’s maybe frustrated at just missing the penalty at that moment. “It doesn’t help that we are all in his face and pushing him on a bit. “I’m in there winding him up, which I probably shouldn’t have done, but people wind you up all the time in games, it happens all the time in football. “So it’s maybe not right from my point but he should also have kept his nerve. “If it had gone the other way it could have been ME doing it, you just never know. “He has missed a penalty in the last few minutes of a game and he is probably raging at himself for that. “But he’s young and I’m sure he’ll learn his lesson. “Hopefully he does not get hammered because Thistle are a good side and I think they will go on to win the First Division, so I honestly hope he doesn’t miss too many of the games in the run-in.” Muirhead was already due to sit out Wednesday night’s Division One title crunch with Morton through suspension but he is now set to be hit with a further ban. Queens went on to win the shootout after keeper Lee Robinson saved from Stephen O’Donnell and Conrad Balatoni as well as SCORING one of the spot-kicks himself. The Doonhamers goalie — booked in normal time — risked a red card by repeatedly trying to wind up Thistle’s penalty takers. Jags boss Alan Archibald said: “I thought that the referee could have handled it better but the boy has got away with it so fair enough to him. “Gamesmanship is all part of the game and they used it the best they could but I don’t really think it affected the outcome.” Jags now go into the midweek clash with Morton having come through 120 gruelling minutes and Archibald admitted: “Going to extra-time was probably the worst case scenario for us. “We took a couple of knocks as well but we’ll just need to dust ourselves down and get on with it. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

Muirhead sending off :- sometimes you see an individual player being surrounded by a posse of the opposition after a bad tackle or a perceived dive but for missing a penalty and doing nothing else, that was severe in-his-face provocation by Higgins and another plus a third player joining in behind Muirhead. Higgins instigated the incident and should at least have been booked.

Agree with Lindau. Tomorrow night's game at Kirkcaldy is massive as the added psychological benefit of a win would be huge prior to the QOS/Morton double header (and in case Dunfermline don't make it to end of season). Having achieved the superb 6 points at Cowdenbeath, this to me feels like the first in a series of cup finals, there is so much at stake for the club's financial future. Although nothing will be decided by tomorrow's result, my stomach is already churning in anticipation!

Lesser Hampden anyone? Pre-season friendly a few years ago (Twaddle's last game for us if I remember correctly). I saw Thistle reserves lose to QP back in the seventies there. Cathkin Park. Unfortunately didn't see Thistle play there but attended QP-Third Lanark 40th anniversary game in 2007 (this match is on Youtube) If anyone hasn't seen the park, worth having a look next time you're over Hampden way. Climb up the steps from Cathcart Road opposite Crosshill Railway Station. Creepy and sad.

The magic number in this proposal is 8, the number of post-split top tier berths to potentially accomodate the Gruesome Twosome (maybe as soon as next season?) plus the 'Sleazy Six', the cabal that is Aberdeen, Dundee U, Hearts, Hibs, Motherwell and Kilmarnock, who have ducked and dived through relegation avoidance, financial mis-management, ground criteria and ground sharing rule changes (using PTFC as a patsy), and of course overturning a democratic vote that should have kept us in the SPL in 2004. They may have to work a bit harder to achieve finishing 3rd to 8th before the split, but it's all about the opportunity for all six of them to have 4 home games a season against Glasgow's two newest professional football teams (founded 1888 and 2012!). All other clubs are considered make-weights by the above 2+6. In case anyone's forgotten, interesting reminder of the SPL ground criteria & sharing debacle from a Caley website:- http://caleyjags.com/s/s.htm

Third photo - The two parked trolleybuses at the 105 terminus in Northpark Street were a type delivered to GCT from Dec 1957. As there are leaves on the trees, photo therefore may be as early as 1958. Trolleybus service was withdrawn 27th May 1967, so no later than that. In the photo, the south terracing has been rebuilt, removing the greyhound track, when was that done? Edit - just seen a newspaper article on the above mentioned website saying the ground was upgraded by June 1959, so photo could be between 1959 and 1967.

I'm beginning to think the SFL vote on Friday 13th is a sham in that there will be further adjournments, disputes etc. regarding the Sevco entity, playing into the hands of the SFA and SPL who are fanning a smokescreen to hide the fact that Sevco is in no fit shape to start in ANY league this season. There are TWO entities remember, Oldco is STILL twitching on the slab while Sevco is still trying to manifest itself as the successor for the WATP hordes who are far from convinced, while a myriad of outstanding legal and financial issues remain unresolved. This would explain all the stalling and lack of urgency on making decisions throughout this farce by Sevco, the SPL and the SFA. The SFL are also culpable as they could have been thrashing out rules months ago in preparation for the eventuality they now find themselves in. Meanwhile, Dunfermline and Dundee are embroiled in arguing who deserves to become SPL Club12, the SPL not appearing to give a toss. They and the SFA may suddenly announce that it's too late to decide who becomes Club12 and neither club will gain admittance to the SPL, therefore no slot in the SFL for Sevco either. So the outcome for this season 2012/13 could be :- 1. SPL Club12 will be a blank therefore only 11 clubs. 2. Dundee and Dunfermline remain in the SFL1 and no available slot created in SFL. 3. SFL 'Sporting Integrity' not compromised as the Sevco decision ultimately will be avoided due to time constraints. 4. Sevco's failure to gain league entry is perceived as a 'suspension punishment' for the sins of the Oldco, thus validating a 'Rangers' identity for fans and the media. 5. Several of the SPL clubs will drip feed 'on the brink of administration' scares to their fans via the tabloids through-out the season. 6. Sevco Zombies will be told by SFA/SPL that IF they get their act together, the SPL Club12 slot is their's in Season 2013/14 as they have already been 'punished' by missing a season. 7. Sevco Zombie fans wear their perceived 'suspension punishment' on their sleeve as a badge of honour and link to the Oldco, prompting season ticket money and investment to pour in for the following season's war chest. Season 2013/14 :- Normal service resumed with damage limitation for Scottish Football and no concessions to the SFL but with Sporting Integrity still intact.

My view (probably someone else has come up with something similar) :- 1. SPL must make their decision TODAY, accept SEVCO in and deal with the flak or reject them. 2. If rejected, SFL accept them only into SFL3 this coming season. If the SPL want the cash cow back in the top divison quicker than 3 years, then demand restructure with new leagues of 16/16/10 all under one organisation with new leagues A, B & C for 2013/2014. League A - Top 11 from SPL + Top 5 from SFL1. League B - Bottom club from SPL + Bottom 5 from SFL1 + Top 9 from SFL2 + Winner of SFL3 ( Newco's potential 'ladder') League C - Bottom club from SFL2 + remaining clubs from SFL3 + potentially additional clubs in the future. Some play-offs could also be included and any splits within the season could be decided later. The 'compromise' that's being foisted on the SFL would be allowing promotion to the top league in TWO years from the bottom league not just for Sevco but any other team currently in SFL3.

On BBC - Donkey stating that only two viable options for Scottish Football - Sevco have to be accomodated in either the SPL or SFL1 implying SFL3 is now not an option financially. In that case the SPL must be forced to make their decison today to accept Sevco into the SPL or reject them. If they are essential to the future of Scottish Football, the SPL clubs vote them in and they can deal with the wrath from their member clubs' fans. This brinksmanship has to stop now! Until then, the SFL clubs should refuse to give any indication of how they would vote regarding SFL1 or SFL3.

Pie & Bovril reporting that today's SFL meeting adjourned until 'next' Thursday - 12th July I assume. Everybody in the SFA & SPL are now running scared of making any collective decision. Regardless of how the SFL teams eventually vote, delighted that the SPL mob have been handed back the Sevco ticking bomb and THEY will have to make their definite decision tomorrow, thus supposedly firing the first salvo at Sevco...or welcoming them in with open arms if it's too risky to expect SFL1 admission. Then again, the SPL may adjourn also! The SFL may yet have no decision to make on this farce.

Scotsman Poll - 98% vote for Newco to SFL3 (over 22,000 votes). Scotsman Any chance the SPL clubs might 're-assess' the situation and actually vote Newco into the SPL after all on Wednesday, fearing the increasing risk that the SFL clubs won't play ball? They could claim they hadn't fully appreciated the consequences of no Newco for at least three years. They've changed their minds before remember, even after running a ballot!

Is it possible that the club/board are reluctant to issue a NO statement because of past favours from oldco that we the fans are unaware of, for example, the terms for the loan players we've had or even financial help? Another issue could be the fear factor. Firhill is nearer to Ibrox than any other senior club and we are a minority support even in the club's locality of Maryhill and the rest of the west end. We're not like Dunfermline or Kirkcaldy where the majority probably do support their local teams. Even there, we are already aware of threats made to Raith's Starks Park and staff. From a personal safety aspect, assuming sevco do end up in the SFL3 and the season kicks off 'normally', will it no longer be advisable to travel to Firhill/St George's X on the subway when sevco are at home while wearing a PT (or any other non-sevco club for that matter) top or scarf? These points are not excuses, just speculation about why the board members don't want to raise their heads above the parapet and announce a NO vote.

I bought my season ticket weeks ago. Very rarely post, but this latest 1st Divison 'compromise' being discussed for the brand new club that wants to play at Ibrox really concerns me. With us (and many other teams) in such a precarious financial situation including the loss of income from the Warriors, the last thing Beattie needs to do is to alienate our core support. Having potentially undermined our expected pre-season ticket sales, our own financial plan for the coming season could falter and we could very quickly become the cheap new take-over target for predator Green. Regardless of potential leverage for restructuring of leagues and play-off places, Beattie should have kept his mouth shut on the subject but of course was encouraged by the Glasgow media who are cr*pping themselves over their own survival with the demise of one of the cash cow culture clubs, as no doubt are the Glasgow Hoteliers, the SPT subway operators, the NI ferry operators etc.

After that brutal 0-1 defeat away to Hamilton on a freezing Friday night back in January, decided not to go to another away game this season (unless crisis support required to avoid play-off spot and/or relegation). As I am now a 'soothsider', I decided to go and see QP v. Stranraer a couple of weeks ago when Thistle were at Kirkcaldy. Standard of football wasn't bad I thought, entertaining 3-2 victory for QP after being 2-1 down at half time. Pitch wasn't perfect but surface much better than Firhill. Attendance was about 680, atmosphere was OK considering, about 100 Stranraer fans had travelled up. The game was entertaining enough not to be distracted by the empty stadium opposite and behind the goals. Wasn't much worse than the Firhill experience, facing an empty main stand, an increasingly unused north stand and the 'grassy knoll'. Hot food served at half time, supporters' shop was open and half time results shown on sportsTV (unfortunately switched off at the end of the game so didn't get final Jags result until I got home, the 2-1 defeat at Kirkcaldy). So £12 to see a reasonably entertaining game I could walk to while avoiding the £30+ cost of another horror away match, but not actually depriving the Jags of any cash. Also paid my respects to Third Lanark by showing a visiting football fan from Darlington the football graveyard that is Cathkin Park after the match! Dare I say it, if Thistle were no more, it would have to be QP for me, the only remaining real team in Glasgow! Then again, if they were struggling in the bottom half of the football basement... For the moment, QP seem to be playing well, have put a good run of results together and are likely to be involved in the promotion play-offs so will probably go to another couple of QP home games, provided Thistle are not at home of course.