lady-isobel-barnett

Strangeways to endear himself to the support. Shotts on target ratio very poor as well.

What the feck was Yorkie Boy expecting. Did the game not KO at the back of 12 and was it not also televised? I've lots of sympathy for Raith's plight but I can't feel even the remotest ounce of pity for Dunfermline. It's not just the £10+m soft loan debt they've accrued but it's Yorkston regularly changing his tune dependent on his club's status that gets on my goat.

Looks like Fox could be out as well!

Always feel we should let a player get more than the one full game and a couple of appearances off the bench before getting either too excited or too despondent about his worth. In this case tho' we've got a young lad who's obviously nippy, has already looked decent at centreback, then made a great impact in a position that he's not been played at previously. Even at Livingston he had a cracking shot on the turn with presumably his weaker left foot then gone on the following week to get a justifiable MotM. He was signed I believe first and foremost as a right back a position he's yet to play in. I think we've every right to feel very enthusiastic about the lad.

HERE

Just an aside but still relevant to a fair point.....Pub talk with a couple of mates about days out at the racing. Most of the patter was about the fun aspect of the day out rather than the racing itself. I won't bore you with all the tales of middle-aged women unable to stand up, short circuiting into pint glasses etc. More to the point one story ended up with one of my mates, very much worse for wear, directing traffic so as their minibus could escape the traffic leaving the course. The other story involves another lad I know, tired and emotional even before the first race, harmlessly collapsed and asleep in the vicinity of the parade ring. On each occasion the police (surprisingly) found the antics amusing and did hee haw. I say surprisingly as both occasions took place at, you've guessed it, PERTH Races and thus under the stewardship of Tayside polis. Just as alcohol is ready available at our football ground during matches as long as these matches don't involve football, levels of drunkenness are graded by whichever sport you follow. Hooliganism = Hi jinks.

Accies aren't an exception to the rule tho' they're just one of the more successful recipients of a joiny up youth policy. Admittedly probably the worst day to point out that last night's Scotland team contained Bannan & Fletcher, two nobodies in Scotland that have gone on to represent their country. I assume they could just as easily have come thru some Scottish club's youth system. My big hope is that what McCall initiated is being taken to a higher level by McNamara. All comments from Jackie seem to support that aspiration. I think it would be extremely helpful if we could get one of our youngsters imbedded in the first team sooner rather than later but if we have to bide our time so be it. I realise Jaggernaut is playing the Devils Dick Advocaat but it's worth pointing out that if we fail with our current squad we'll only really have the youth structure to fall back on. Scrapping a youth policy to finance the signing of the likes of a current day Ian Harty would be as crazy as it would be unsustainable.

Naw, that would be bread and butter for Grant Murray. Got to go more direct to outfox the old maestro.

Did anyone manage to decipher Kevin Gallagher's Rumsfeld moment? My take on it was along the lines of "Spain only have a Plan A. Their Plan B & Plan C is the same as Plan A only with different players. Of course they've had to change their plan as they've now a different type of player upfront".

Strachan signs for Queens Pk!

Shouldn't prejudge but I wouldn't be surprised if the all too common heavy handed McDiarmid stewarding/policing played a part. I think it's fair to assume someone "unsteady on his feet" couldn't just be chucked out the ground. Conditions around the ground that night were diabolical and it is close to busy roads (hard enough avoiding being knocked down when you're stone cold sober). So I'm guessing then that Tayside Polis/McDiarmid stewards interpretation of "duty of care" is a far cry from what's normal elsewhere and more in line with their generally confrontational attitude we've witnessed often enough.

One thing about Campbell and for once on the plus side was he seemed to be able to instill a high level of team spirit. That's maybe the reason I found Young's time with us disappointing. Most of Dick's team couldn't play much football but most of them you couldn't fault for trying. Young clearly could play the game but imo held back. I'm willing to accept that his drop down a division affected his motivation and he could well be a very useful addition. The guy's versatile, a quality that's almost prerequisite for a McNamara signing, so that reduces the risk factor somewhat. Not sure what his preferred position is these days but I assume he's not been pushed forward that much given he's hardly ever scored for Aberdeen.

Certainly missed by several seasons playing together in a Jags side if that's what you mean. Given the number of clubs he was at Toastie probably played in the same side has half the footballers in Scotland but I've a feeling those two were never in the same team.

Much as I dislike the place it has got a good bit going for it. Need to improve connections with the M9 but bussing fans from the four stations in the area would be simple. I believe Falkirk is roughly the demographic centre of Scotland so it's not so crucial to have the hotel occupancy rates other towns & cities would require. The one thing I could have against us holding such an event is from a selfish point of view. I'd be against some clubs benefiting from State/SFA aid purely because they fit the bill geographically. Money and/or benefits would have to be spread evenly.

More to the point Perth itself has a disproportionate amount of jakies and serious drunken disorder. Surely enough to keep their sheriff occupied before wasting time and money on something so trivial as this. As an aside if the lad had only gone to the 208 Bar that night he'd have escaped all this. As I recall the local farmers wives weightwatchers had first call on the big lounge and we were all sardined round a pool table in yon wee side bar. Service that night was so near impossible it made the Aitken Suite appear super efficient.

As brief as that?

Grant, perhaps the guy feels too insecure to admit his errors and is simply on the defensive. There's undoubtedly in my mind reservations about Levein as an international manager but some of the criticism verges on character assassination. Besides I can't off the top of my head come up with a replacement. Sure I can think of managers who would perhaps do a better job but very few of them would be interested in the position. Someone (maybe more) mentioned Strachan and/or Davies. Just my opinion but the former doesn't appear as the sort that would have the mental stamina to last in the job and the latter comes across as confrontational, which is about the last trait we need. Anyway and far more to the point regardless of who is in charge off the pitch no Scotland team is ever going to succeed or even reach moderate success without leaders on the park.

I reckon most neutrals watching the game last night would have said that the result was never really in doubt. For us Scots tho' it was torture. But what's new? I'm no lover of Levein and I've no idea if that's the strongest side we could have put out but I thought for once tactically we were OK. Better Scotland managers than Levein have put out teams that have come a cropper against sides we should be beating easily. Results against Poland ('65) Zaire, Iran, New Zealand, Costa Rica spring to mind. If Levein's job was relatively safe before, then last night's result and any defeat in single figures on Tuesday won't make his position any less secure.

Perhaps Lambie asked to be treated similarly to how we treated Davie McParland? If this is true some may find irony that our immediate past manager has been a bit of a regular at Firhill since his sudden departure.

Popular lad is Mr Strachan. Was it not just the other month someone posted that he was being sought after to be a trialist elsewhere?

Big Armand is now at Alloa. Played a few times for them but has yet to score.

If I ever knew that then I must have forgotten. Makes sense as I say Symon was never a coach, a very old school manager. There you go, learning something new every day. Just watching the news yesterday I learnt that it's extremely unlikely that Wayne Rooney was adopted.

When Symon was the manager who was his assistant/coach? Never gave it much thought at the time but Scott S was at no time in his career a hands on manager.

Slight exaggeration perhaps, lenny?

Good news When's our next crisis?