John Blutarsky

'We didn't get enough votes at the end of the day and that's obviously what we needed, what we hoped we would get.' quite astonishing, insightful analysis from mister d beckham.

ah, jim leishman, who doesn't believe a winter break would benefit the game, according to the this organ. like last season, this one finishes first weekend in may. most people generally don't start holidaying until the schools break up in late june. i would be more inclined to go watch a game in may/early june than venture from comedy mansions to firhill in sub-zero temperatures thru' december & january. the game in scotland certainly needs less people like the buffoon leishman.

indeed. analysis would sell neither tickets for the growing number of empty seats nor newsrags. may the hairs on their heads turn into drumsticks and beat their brains out.

football operates in an era where clubs in top leagues regularly commission to their own specifications, sports stats and data from specialist companies like opta. it would be easy for celtic or any other spl side to commission stats that would support the view (or otherwise) that refereeing decisions in matches which involve them deviate significantly from the norm. if this did happen to be so, surely the bookmakers would be on the case anyway. perhaps there's a reason why they haven't sought actual evidence to advance their case.

braved the elements and ventured out to the monkey. the 50/50 is still excellent but i completely forgot to ask about the Erdinger.

i consider it my civic duty to go and investigate this right away.

biggest threat of litigation comes first from the sat broadcasters and then biggest clubs. very unliley that anyone outside of biggest spl clubs could afford to pursue football authorities. they're just covering their backsides.

Gijs de Jong, the KNVB's competition manager, told media in Holland: "When we heard there were death treats, we pulled out." it's clearly not the dutch referees who are filling in for their scotch counterparts.

a picket line wouldn't be allowed as it's not a strike, insofar as referees being self-employed, are not subject to laws governing striking. one by one, refereeing assocs across europe are confirming that they won't help out. so effectively, there's a good chance financial chaos could ensue as a result of a few trained volunteers deciding that they're not going to turn up this weekend - law suits from satellite broadcasters unable to show telivised games, non renewal of sponsor deals etc. karma?

now it's irish referees. if this wasn't the sfa, it would look like a half-decent wind-up of both ugly sisters.

Managers reactions to foreign referees penalizing physical challenges that Scottish refs would allow could be interesting.

hibernian at firhill. reasonable crowd and beatable.

only the third time in the spl that the ugly sisters have been defeated on the same day. what a fine competitive league it is!

which is the reason why anarchists only drink herbal tea

that's about right, so far it's about 300 down from last year's average.

what?

i'm speculating that he either has them or plans to get them, as it was definitely said that he wanted to go into management on the programme last night. would love to see him replacing the hapless one but i expect he might be getting prepped to take over from the spetugenarian broon. he's currently contracted to 'well until next summer.

or telling us at every opportunity that we're all in this together when he's clearly in it for himself. hypocrisy is deplorable but there are degrees of hypocrisy and this one is way off the scale.

38 degrees are a dull but worthy coalition of well intentioned liberals but they could hardly be described as a tory hating lefty mob. what kinda twisted world do you inhabit?

where it works elsewhere it's because roads/pedestrianways/cycleways are designed for shared use. that requires investment as well as appliance of common sense and courtesy from all parties. as i said, cycle routes around glasgow are improving but across the uk these examples of cycle lanes are probably a fair example of how cyclists are accommodated.

back on topic with a sensible answer. around glasgow, there's a relatively good and improving network of cycle routes, so it's possible to commute to and from the town centre and minimise the amount of time you share a road with other traffic - summer or winter. for wet weather and darker nights, make sure you have the right equipment and make sure it works. some people don't follow these top tips, same as some drivers don't check their brakes, tyres, lights, wiper blades and don't abate their speed in winter conditions. this week, there has been a higher than normal spate of motoring accidents across the central belt. driver carelesness probably contributed and there were no doubt many more near misses, just like the daft lassie on the bike. as luca-t says, if it's excessively wet or icy, don't go out. there's off-road riding for cycling folks who like that sort of gig. jaggernaut - on a relatively flat road, say Dumbarton Road, i average about 15 - 20 miles/hour with little effort. how would it be safer, for me or the pedestrians, cycling on the pavement?

mostly milan players, not surprisingly as a result of the fabled milan lab. curiously enough, we don't have anything similar but it's not the main reason that the comparison is a bit like comparing maserati's and reliant robin's.

granted, a badly run part-time club/team would be no better than the badly run/managed/coached side of the moment. however, i think ma ba's original post was highlighting the current jags set-up with a p/t bino's side that was well organised, fitter etc. same could be applied to cowdenbeath and raith. raith's structure, with the balance of the squad being f/t might work better for us, given budget constraints and all that. as for the team training, i witnessed about ten minutes when i stopped when out on a run a few weeks back. ok, it was only a snapshot but i left with the impression that it was a poorly structured, languid, going thru' the motions exercise - pretty consistent with most of the performances i've seen this season. mccall was not present and it was the day before the game.

didn't make it thru' the first year, i believe.

signed eight or nine from the spl and apparently moved on a few promising young players without even assessing them. it's why european clubs don't give free reign to the coach when it comes to signing policy.