Colognejag

Fair enough. Just seemed logical that if we can after, then presumed we could before...

I think it is far too early to make any judgements. Statistics between countries are not yet comparable, they may never be measured in exactly the same way. I do not think bringing politics into it helps either - Hungary and Poland could easily be described as right wing populists as well. They seem to be doing well. The SNP is not right-wing populist, yet Scotland has not been much different to England. If we are able to continue the lock-down after RUK, we could surely have started it before RUK, but chose not to.

There is some criticism of this amongst the wider population. For the football fans the novelty may wear away, but just getting to see football again and watch it in a bar if you are lucky is great. Getting back to the routine of a match day is also good for people - having to get stuff done before the match starts and so on. I suspect that even if no fans are allowed in the new season, people still want as much of pre-Covid life to remain as possible, even if it means not getting into the stadium.

Watched the mighty Mainz get a well-deserved draw against Köln today with the sound option on - made a massive difference to be honest. They have done it very well. Subtle, and even the faint sound of away fans songs.The Dortmund vs Schalke derby was so flat without the sound - I gave up on that after 15 minutes.

As a Mainz 05 fan, somewhat ironic that the first match back is in Cologne! My first year in Germany was in a town near Mainz and my neighbours took me along to matches. There was a certain Jürgen Klopp playing in defence for Mainz that year.

2 abstentions.

Yeah, the White paper, eh!

Reported that the R rate is now back over 1 again in Germany. Yet, 3,000 people still thought it wise to gather in Munich to protest against lockdown restrictions...

Wow. Not holding back there! We knew the anger about the way the vote was handled, failure of reconstruction etc, what strikes me is the criticism of of the SPFL itself and the way they communicate in public. That seems to have broken the camel's (sorry JLow) back. Think I know which way we will be voting next week. All of the SPFL's own making.

I believe it was ICT and Dundee who mentioned bullying from Dunfermline and Alloa. Rangers highlighted this. I think the days of Rangers holding power went when they were sent to League 2. I suspect the pendulum has shifted to the other erse-cheek.

What other way could Rangers have gone about it? Keep it in-house? Well that would never work. I guess asking for sackings in public was not wise, granted. They asked for the dossier to be kept confidential - some SPFL club has passed it on. Are the SPFL not there to represent clubs rather than direct and publicly criticize clubs? If a club has a grievance, they should respect the right for it to be heard fairly.

Good point. Although Germany has a big population, the cities are not as big as London/Madrid/Paris etc. Biggest is Berlin at 3.5 million, followed by Hamburg at 1.7 million. S1, S2, S4 all going back to school on Monday. I am a teacher - rule is max 12 in a classroom, means kids cannot get their usual teacher and some cases will have teachers of other subjects supervising them. We will therefore continue with online lessons, but the kids are in school instead of at home. Makes no sense whatsoever. Our kids have been great at following the lessons. This provision will actually make it worse. Unglaublich!

Oh great... Wish I had the confidence the politicians have. On the flip side, out for a walk this afternoon and passed a barbers - empty. Strolled in and job done.

Agreed. I also do not get how Germany is getting away with this. Testing a lot clearly helps isolate those who are tested positive to stop the spread. But the death rate is a different matter. The region Cologne is in, NRW, has a population of 18 million. They have 33, 700 recorded infected people in NRW, with 1,331 deaths. The death rate is staggering lower. Many Germans lead healthy lifestyles, but there are plenty who do not. So many more people smoke over here than in the UK too. Goodness knows how many asymptomatic cases there have been (as was seen with the FC Köln testing). The easing of lockdown will tell us a lot. Construction workers have never been told to stay off work, DIY stores have never shut, People have been visiting relatives in each others homes where I live (not supposed to though). Almost all shops are now open and even places like Ikea are open. Final year group pupils went back to school two weeks ago P5 going back to school on Monday. We will see how wise that will be.

If folk like us (expat home fans) could watch live again and others who cannot go signed up, then that could add to the figure. You would also get more away fans for a match than you normally get.

And none of the three were showing any symptoms... 2 were players, one coaching staff.

So the bullies are too strong to fight against. Very saddened by this. Still highly doubtful that reconstruction will take place. As said elsewhere, when all is finalised, the SPFL board has to go.

Agreed, but it still needs to be voted on minimum 11-1 by the Premiership clubs. Even if, it should not be the end of it. Those in charge have shown unbelievable incompetence and must go.

I suspect we will not be the only ones to take legal action. We also have the Sporting Court of Arbitration. And, as said before, this charade cannot continue - the SPFL needs a complete re-vamp of those in charge.

So you suggest we just accept this? Sorry, there were far too many unponderables to simply accept this. And no, I will not accept that we simply have to expect that in Scottish football there is no fairness. This shambles proves that action is needed. Simply sit and shrug your shoulders - is that what you suggest we do? Maybe you should just go and watch the bowls instead. I will not accept this and hope to hell the Board will drag them into the courts.

Old Form boaby - no, Celtic boaby, yes. I will not accept it. Nor, I hope will the Board. Even if we are spared relegation due to reconstruction, this has been an absolute scandal, and those in charge must go. On this particular case, the Board have done all they can , as far as I can see it, to defend our club and the rules. How have they failed here? And no, I cannot accept that we were getting relegated anyway. One point behind with a game to play and many more util the end of the season, no way we could accept relegation was inevitable.

I think it clearly is - who else have said/published anything from Dundee?

Yep, the noise is deafening from Celtic fans who do not want the title given to them...

By announcing that Dundee were the last club to vote and knew they could sway things, they were given undue "advantage" - they should never have been told this. The result of votes should only ever have been given once all votes were in. That is where it all stinks. This is where the SPFL have got themselves into a hole. They could not accept a decision was made that they did not want. I love a bridie, the ones from the all-night bakery in St. Andrews were the bees-knees. That is good enough to like Forfar for me! They acted with grace over Morgan. They are entitled to vote whatever way they did, but like too many voted on something, they were forced into doing, when there was/is an alternative which is more fair. They were told it was the only option. Not true.

Don't know, just a possible reason as to why they felt they had to rush through a decision last week...