lady-isobel-barnett

Likewise. Crackin' open a bottle of Bollinger as I type.

Think this is relevant to the thread http://sport.stv.tv/...lects-on-year/? Last para kinda sums up my view as well.

I'm sure that a Whelpdale not so long ago won best in show at Crufts.

One thing I've learned from Sportscene that no matter what teams are playing the manager of the less fancied side will always have his team well organised and in any case the players of that less fancied side well be well up for it.

Well nobody's crossing was going to improve in yesterday's conditions. It was tho' refreshing to see a goal come for once as a result of a well taken free kick. I'm guessing that when Sinclair starts laying on better crosses and regularly striking perfectly placed deadballs he'll be with another club.

I was thinking of the incident Steven mentioned yesterday. I'm happy enough if the ref gives a free kick. I just didn't know if a booking was automatic or not. Btw I couldn't see much difference between the Rangers fella's shirt tugging and the Queens player's.

Great photos as always, Jim. Trust you're feeling better today.

I noticed that the 2nd Rangers player sent off was for two yellows, both for shirt tugging. Does anyone know if it's an automatic booking for shirt tugging if the referee whistles for the offence or is a yellow just discretionary?

Very much appreciated, Tommy. Even the pun The photo of Aaron in amongst the three Queens players is a cracker

And why the bold writing?

For what it's worth even tho' I think O'Donnell is getting too hard a time of it from fans (at home games particularly) in no way would I not defend the rights of the paying fans to shout abuse at whoever.they choose to. I do tho' believe when it's largely singled out to one player, especially one who's playing down the flanks and young or youngish, it's confidence sapping. I might be wrong, and I'm only generalising in any case, but I feel it's too often the Jags guy playing nearest to the JH Stand that gets the most slating. Some like Paton when he played at fullback can deal with it better others. On the specific of O'Donnell most of the criticism appears to be when he's going forward where his delivery and decision making can often rightfully be faulted. He does appear to be doing a good enough job defensively and I sense that's getting ignored by some of his detractors.

Good points. Didn't actually hear the booing but nothing surprises me these days..Getting angry with the abuse O'Donnell is getting. Firstly he's only a teenager but also those that are on his back presumably want him dropped, which of course would lead to Paton being withdrawn from what looks to be his best position. O'Donnell played better in the 2nd half probably because he wasn't directly getting the confidence sapping Paddy Boyle type abuse of the first half.. As one who feels we don't usually play bad conditions well I thought we weren't too silly today. Continually letting the ball run out of play for.throw ins doesn't lead to enjoyable football but it's the correct tactics. And did the ref ever play football? He didn't seem to make any allowance for the conditions at all and by booking their No 8 early on he created a rod for his own back. Apart from all the inconsistencies that were bound to follow he didn't have that bad a game.

That's not what I'm saying. What possible benefit to Rangers would it be to loan out a 41year old?

Hearts as a football club don't know what they're doing one day from the next so I very much doubt they've made any binding decision with Balatoni. They did tho' allow us to cup tie him up at Culter. (more's the pity some may say) and that would normally suggest Hearts have little interest in him this season at least. But then it's Hearts we're talking about.

Why would any club loan out a 41 year old?

I think from attendance point of view Boxing Day will be the better option tho' I don't really know why. I'm not sure that 3pm tho' is the right time to kick off. I imagine a lot of folk will be going out socially on Monday night. Think an earlier kick off would've been preferable but again it's just gut feeling.

Shirley Knott

Partick Thistle Ladies Team Nobody been in touch with me

Midgies or red back spiders? Tennents or Castlemaine? Susan Boyle or Kylie? Fresh water crocs or Alex Salmond? Lot's of things to be weighed up before such a move.

Not really. That was payback for the Dundee "penalty" at Firhill. So by my reckoning we're due further payback for this latest outrage against our poor wee souls.

Something I've said on a couple of occasions before. Conrad turned up for the Firhill Day in May, when he was effectively no longer on loan, and he also attended the '71 Night in October. Too often we've had guys on loan I've suspected have had attitude problems. Clearly Conrad isn't afflicted with that.

If there's enough interest then we should anticipate a healthy enough return. If it's only one club doing the bidding I'd be very surprised if we get as much as £175K. What we don't know is firstly what Montrose are due (flat rate/percentage/zilch) and is the reported interest in Aaron been followed up by competitive bids. I quite like the idea of us netting a sufficient sum to match one year of the Warriors input with a few bob left over to cover a decent quality loan signing. All conjecture of course but regardless of what happens in January us signing Sinclair was an excellent piece of business.

Generalising I know but Divisions 2 & 3 are largely made up of part time clubs with a part time attitude. They appear to be comfortable with the status quo of playing each other four times a season and more to the point a league system that disallows relegation and promotion to their second tier. If I wanted to be ultra cynical it's also in the interest of the majority of SFL clubs to have full time clubs struggling for existence with one or two brought down to their level an annual bonus perhaps. For all the many faults of the SPL I don't think not serving their member clubs is one of them. With the SFL it can easily be argued that they pander to I grant you a majority, but a majority who have little ambition and have an obvious minority of fan support. Nothing will happen in positive change not just because of the self interest of the SPL but because of the relative petty self interest of the majority within the SFL. Hypothetically say the SPL said they'd introduce a straight 2 up to 2 down (or expand their league to 16 clubs) on the understanding that the SFL allow promotion & relegation to and from the 3rd Div, how would the SFL vote? I think I know the answer would be "no thanks we'll keep our closed shop". I hate with a passion these small leagues with their monotonous repetitive fixtures but that aside I feel the only way forward for clubs in our league would be an SPL2. Put another way the status quo within the SFL has no positive future for clubs like ours.

It depends what paper you've read. I've certainly picked up conflicting reports. I'd imagine the situation at Tyncastle is rather fluid to say the least. A lot could depend on how many 1st team players depart in January. Given Vlad's latest passion they'll probably keep only the tall ones or those that can jump.

One for Brian Cox methinks but maybe someone on here can do the maths.......If it takes the average server about two minutes to serve the average punter a half heated pie how long would it take to pour and then serve the average punter a half hearted pint of lager? And a subsequent question....Would the queue for lager be longer than the faces of those who currently serve pies to the average punter?