Colognejag

I spent some time in Strasbourg - went to watch them whenevr I could - great atmosphere at the Meinau. Royal Blue wasn't an issue, after all, they are RC Strasbourg..! Now in Cologne, but my first year in Germany was 12 years ago near Mainz. I have now been 10 years in Cologne. No way would I support FC Köln. I caught the Mainz 05 bug immediately..!

Remember getting my brother's season ticket at Ibrox for a match which was the last game of the season. Guy next to me st the start asks why the usual ginger-haired ugly barsteward was in the seat I was using. Told him the said ugly ginger was my brother, and I was his Thistle-supporting younger brother. I got a wee chuckle when he announced this to those sitting nearby... Anyway, Rangers go 1-0 up and we score (Alex Taylor goal if I remember correctly) at the death. I jump up and start clapping. Got no bother at all, only "aye, very good wee man..." I guess since they had won the league already they didn't really care that much.

That is my point. In the past years, we have clearly been spending money we do not have. I wish we could go out and spend millions. We can't. At least the board have now decided to be sensible. Who lost it is a valid question about the past, but for the future I am happier knowing that we will budget sensibly. With year-on-year debt accumulation we coudn't carry on. If the board have raised 100,000 quid in a short space of time, it bodes well for future income streams from the contacts the board have raised this money. Asking fans if they can give any extra money is fine by me. Some may choose to do so, some may not be able to do so, some may simply choose not to outright. It is worth asking, though. I am happier now that we are steady more than anything else.

I know what I have in terms of money because my wage is fixed. I know how much my mortgage/tax/car and other fixed costs I will have to pay. I know how much I have left each month to spend. Anything on top of that is a bonus which I might spend, might save for later. It is the same for the club. They know the fixed costs. They can work out an average of of season tickets/sponsorship income/hospitality etc (even budgeting for a worst case scenario). I do not think it unreasonable to ask the fans to contribute on top of this if we want better players. I'd like to thank the board for finding 100,000 quid. It wasn't like this in the past few years, so well done them!

Good work! However, I'd still really like to see more pics of the fans there, especially this "Gus" bloke... Pictures of various players could be from any match, but pics of the fans with the flags, balloons etc at a cup game can give another dimension to the photo section. No criticism, just a request!

Unless it's Reporting Scotland or BBC Breakfast when there is a documentary on that night that they want to plug... And as for Strictly Come Dancing getting on all the news programmes, don't start me - I'd rather watch an extended version of the Egypt crisis than watch them plugging that pile of shyte...

OK, but the Uganda flag is better!

I also like the new cups in Rugby - could football do the same? There is the Heineken, Magners, Britsh and Irish club cups. If there were to be matches against lower English League/Welsh league/ROI or N. Irish leaugues that would be something different for the fans to come out and watch more matches. In terms of numbers of clubs, it would be a challenge to work out who would be in it, but I am sure that some criteria could be made. We could have lower league teams competing in and indeed others trying to get into a new form of cup competition against new teams. These teams may not be able to get into the Champions League or Uefa Cup, but Rugby has shown that competitions can take place for lesser teams as well. This would mean less need for a million games against the same other 9 teams in your league as it is at present...

This is what the SPL seems to be forgetting - the SFL holds all the cards if they want to reduce the size of the SPL. SPL: Gonnae take Hamilton and St Mirren off of us? SFL: Er, naw... SPL: That's us Donald Ducked then.

Anyone know if there is a Nomads show today?

OK - understand now, thank you!

With the current economic climate and sympathy for the fans (from those not in the know), I am delighted that the SFL have shown a pair of bollox. Whatever the ins and outs, getting into so much debt TWICE and cheating others, like our club, to try to get promotion unfairly deserved to be punished severely.

How does 170K profit from transfers become a loss??? I am very poor with numbers - can someone explain this?

2 things: 1. Extra TV money? Bollox - the coverage of the SPL is effectively simply to show Rangers and Celtic away matches for the armchair Old Firm fans - 1 or even 2 fewer Old Firm games will not make them cancel their Sky subscription. They may show the odd match that doesn't include either of the Old Firm, but very few. The Old Firm armchair fans are the ones that Sky needs and they will watch their team whether it is against Aberdeen, Hearts, Strnraer or Elgin. 2. Even if the SPL chairmen vote for it, the SFL clubs have the most say on whether it can go through. SPL says yes, we say no and do not accept the two teams getting punted down to us. The SFL stays strong and then the bottom 2 SPL clubs have no league to play in..!

Oh, Tannenbaum, oh Tannenbaum, wie schön sind deine Blätter...

True, but SA has millions of football fans. How many of the "three times the population of SA" will be willing to travel to another country when they are not football fans. Asking a smaller number of local football fans in Jo'burg or Cape Town if they want a ticket, they would all jump at it. Ask non-football fans if they want to pay to travel to another country to watch the World Cup, very different.

Indeed, but as long as there is enough TV money from rights and advertising the bigwigs will be happy... a disgraceful decision. They claim they will pump cold air at pitch level to keep the players cool. What about the fans? What about players training outside the stadia? I can't see people going in droves to this. At least South Africa had millions of people they could give away unsold tickets to. Quatar has only 1 million inhabitants...It is a spectacle for the fans actually at the tournament, without them we might as well get used to Firhill-like atmosphere for the greatest sporting competition in the world. But, hey, thank God England didn't get it, that's all that matters to some people As a side note, if we did qualify fr Quatar, how would the dodgy World Cup balls behave in a cool 3-metre layer then getting humped up the park into 50 degree heat. That could be interesting...

Sky news suggested it would be the SPL and Alba final that would be affected. No mention of SFL games, but if they have mentioned the Alba, they would probably have knowledge that other lower level football would be affected too..?

Like the crowd photos, Tommy. Thank you!

Hamilton v Dundee Utd and St. Johnstone v Killie had massive crowds on Saturday...

I have a few Thistle ties: One with loads of mini stealth bombers on it One dark blue with thin red and yellow stripes and a stealth bomber on the bottom One very yellow and red one And the hideous Thistle Businessman's tie - truly minging, resembling an exotic snake with the red and yellow merging together They exist, but I'm not selling mine!

Cologne FC - the German Newcastle Utd, loads of fans, but thick and a false sense of grandeur...

This story is going to happen again and again until the football authorities get their act in gear. They are theoretically in charge of the game and in charge of making it a level playing field. The German authorities have a sound set-up which all countries should follow. If you don't know, they have to provide the German FA (DFB) annual financial accounts and be in a healthy/sustainable position. If they are not, the club does not receive a DFB licence to compete the following season. Kaiserslautern found themselves in the 3rd Division as a result of this, and have had to slowly work their way up. Current leaders Dortmund have had to cut their cloth significantly recently and have not been near the top of the Bundesliga for a good few years until now. It makes all clubs follow the same financial path - investors can only do so much and cannot jeapordise the club with this system in place. I honestly don't know why this has not been copied in other countries...

Good call. I know that football played at lower levels can be poor, but it looks even worse due to the tiny stadia or lack of fans. Put Paton's goal in a packed 60,000 stadium and it looks 10 times better. Imagine Zidane's Chumpion's League final goal at Hampden at Central Park instead, filmed with a diddy camera in front of 3 fans and a couple of big tractor tyres...

As someone who lives abroad, I appreciate all photos, but would like to see more photos of the fans as well as the action shots...