kni

If County can hold Celtic at Parkhead, we can get a result against them too. I would be more confident if Frans starts. Is he fully fit again?

Mutual consent does not mean that no money is involved. It means that a compensation deal has been agreed. In some cases, e.g. John Baird's, there is a separate Compromise Agreement too. CAs are common in business, e.g. when a Director or senior executive leaves a company. The player terminations will probably have cost the club a large five figure sum.

Hemmings would be worth a look if he is available. However, he has started the last few games for Barnsley and scored recently in the FA Cup replay against Chester.

It's unlikely that Muirhead has secured a deal with a new club on the same money. He will have agreed termination compensation so it's only part of a wage that has been "freed up". I would guess that the money is funding Frans's deal. The club will also have to pay more to BR-E if or when he returns from Airdrie. The money to pay for a new left-back would have to come from Jake Carroll's loan deal which ends on 15th January. It's possible that we got him cheaply.

I agree with that. Hopefully, Muirhead has another club lined up and the termination cost has not been too expensive. Several other players have gone early in the last year or so - Hugh Murray, John Baird (18 months left on a 2 year deal), Mark Kerr, Ross Forbes, Mark McGuigan, Gabby Piccolo (a season early) and now Aaron Muirhead. The playing budget is tight and their pay-offs could have cost us a couple of players.

I am not elevating him to our saviour, just recognising Frans' vital contribution at a key point in the season. The stats speak for themselves. The competition for places should sharpen up Balatoni, Muirhead and (when he returns in January) Richards-Everton. For the record, I hope that BRE proves to be a great signing. Btw, I was also congratulating the management for securing Frans on an 18 month extension. If we had not signed him up this month, other clubs could been after him. His media interviews indicate that he loves the club and the fans. Yet we have heard nothing from LSR or DP since he committed his future to the club. Work that one out!

^ That must have been nerve-wracking but an awful lot of fun. The magic of the cup is not dead. Great stuff!

No need to to feel sorry. Excoriation is much more pleasant than being arrested for shop lifting.

So what happens if we are 3-0 down (God forbid) and score in injury time? The atmosphere would be a bit flat to the say the least.

Fair points but La Scimmia Rossa and Dark Passenger told us that Richards-Everton, Eccleston and Carroll were able replacements for Piccolo, Taylor and ATS. They excoriated anyone, including myself, who was sceptical. Significantly, We have heard very little from them on those signings since. LSR, however, returned and trolled us when Stevenson scored his first competitive goals a mere six months after signing for the club. I am pleased that Stevenson is now making a valuable contribution but we should be sceptical of their hype and spin. By contrast, Frans has proved that he can improve our central defence hugely. Bizarrely, Lenziejag remains unconvinced and LSR and DP remain silent on his recruitment! They must have their own agenda(s) As I stated earlier, Eccleston should be given every chance to prove himself. Carroll improved in November but we may have other options in January. Hopefully, our management will be able to add more players who can bring similar qualities/abilities to those Frans.

I agree but did you honesty believe that Gideon Osborne could deal with the deficit? He had very little or no real life experience before entering Parliament. Osborne had been a researcher/adviser (poorly paid) at Conservative Central Office before becoming a SpAd in Whitehall. His wealthy family or trust fund paid for his Kensington/Notting Hill lifestyle. Then he got Neil Hamilton's old Tatton seat. There is no evidence, however, that any of the other main parties (including Nicola's Numpties) have the answer. Do you really want to endorse these thick dumplings by voting for their inane and nonsensical policies?

^ Thanks for that. My guess was that some of the EBT beneficiaries could have paid some or all of their money back. The Duff & Phelps action should be entertaining. Can BDO claim on their professional indemnity insurance?

The management will looked at his fitness and injury record before offering him the contract extension. We have conceded only one goal, against Aberdeen, in the four games that Frans has started. With him on the bench, we conceded 1 to Dundee United, 6 to Celtic and 3 to Hamilton. With that improved defensive record, it would have been crazy not to sign him up.

Rude? That's rich coming from you who smear anyone who disagrees with your narrow nationalism as a British Nationalist. You have dished out insult after insult on here and other threads but can't even take the mildest criticism. Your "questions" were obviously rhetorical, a common debating advice. I debunked all three possibilities with facts, i.e. that both seats were SNP holds, a possibility that you obviously did not even consider. As far as "back off" is concerned, I am not going be moderated by you. Your Scottish Nationalism Socialism has a nauseating authoritarian tone. I am not going back off, i.e. bullied by you, and will continue debunk your nonsense with evidence and facts. If you can't stand the proverbial heat, get out of the kitchen. ETA - my last vote, a few years, was cast for the Greens who supported the Yes campaign. You don't have to be an SNP bully to advocate independence. The SNP and UKIP have a similar nationalist mindset - UKIP blames immigrants for our problems, the SNP blames the English or Westminster. I certainly will not be voting for them next year and will probably abstain again.

Yes and I stated that it is a great signing so what is your point?

Yes and STV reports that BDO, on behalf of Deadco, wants a large slice of the Telfer money. However the bit that caught my eye was " Having already secured a cash pot of £24.3m for the creditors of RFC 2012 plc, the liquidators are continuing to work to try and recover as much money as possible before paying out a final dividend." `Where on earth did all that money come from?

More mayhem at Ibrox as Neal Alexander wins £84k from Sevco. Rangers have appealed an SPFL tribunal decision to award Neil Alexander £84,000 after he won a breach of contract claim against the club. STV understands the former Ibrox goalkeeper was successful in proving to a panel recently that he was due the money as part of a contractual agreement which the club reneged upon. Alexander, who now plays for Hearts, was due to receive an increase in wages and bonuses if his competitor for the number one jersey, Allan McGregor, left the club. McGregor quit Rangers for Besiktas in 2012 after successfully terminating his contract when it was moved between two companies under TUPE regulation. It is understood Rangers argued that McGregor did not technically "transfer" away from the club given the circumstances. But the tribunal ruled he did, meaning Alexander's contract clause was valid.

Steve Clarke is going to Reading so that's one rumoured McCoist successor off the list.

Another coach? If it's a player, George Graham would be a possibility. He'd made his debut for Scotland against Portugal about a month earlier. Archie Gemmill, Eddie Colquhoun and Robert Wilson also played in that match.

It would have taken a swing of 200k votes to affect the outcome of the referendum. That's a heck of a lot of fraudulent ballot papers and impersonators. It also assumes that only the No campaign were involved. Impersonation fraud is much more difficult when there is a high turnout, especially over 80%. There would have been more opportunity in areas where the turnout was lower, i.e. Glasgow and Dundee which (ironically) voted Yes. Where the turnout is high, there is a very high probability that real voter will turn up. He or she will find that AN Other has already voted in his or her name. The voter should then report the fraud to the police. The polling clerk would report the allegation to the returning officer. The returning officer could identify the ballot paper by its number at the count and remove it. I believe that RO could issue a replacement ballot paper to the voter who had been impersonated after verifying the voter's identity. Another nail in the coffin of the Yes conspiracy theory is that result was predicted accurately by Yougov on polling day, both before and after the polls closed. If the majority of voters had really supported independence, the opinion polls would have predicted a Yes win. (The margin of error in such polls is 3% at most, usually much less.) The Yes campaign would have been yelling "fraud' in the media and online but Salmond conceded as soon as the decisive result was declared. It is time that Juggernaut stopped insulting our intelligence with his ludicrous claims and conspiracy theories that can be debunked very easily. He even claimed that two SNP holds in council by-elections last week were a new protest or the start of a major backlash against the "lies". A little research would have shown them to be utter nonsense.

^ The BBC report says that Dunfermline have appointed Potter and McCann for the rest of the season. Ayr could be a good opportunity for Danny Lennon provided that they can afford him.

As others, this is a great signing and timing could not be better. We could have lost Frans to a competitor but he has proved that he is committed to the club and its management. As far as a striker is concerned, Eccleston deserves a chance to show what he is capable of. However, his lack of game time suggests that we could let him move on to get first-team football.

It's the sacking season with clubs making changes before the transfer window opens. It's not the Christmas "present" that any manager wants. I hope that Roberts gets fixed up soon. The BBC report suggests that Jeffries resigned voluntarily, possibly to retire from management. It's unlikely that he would even be considered for the Buddies' job. Hopefully Scully will continue to impress for the Pars. McGlynn has left by "mutual consent" which suggests that he was pushed, or perhaps wanted, out. I'm surprised that Livi can afford to pay him off. Perhaps he was happy to take the money and go with admin hanging over the club.

Wikipedia says that "Hansen won two caps for Scotland against Yugoslavia in a 2-2 draw in the Brazilian Independence Cup, and against Belgium in a 1-0 victory in a European Championship Qualifier." Docherty was the manager at the time. Wiki says that John Hansen now lives in Surrey so he could do some scouting for us.

The won't be in our league next season. They'll be stuck in the Championship at best. If they go to into admin, they could be relegated back down to the diddy leagues. Rangers will need to find another £29k a month to pay McCoist his final year's salary. In effect, that will mean more redundancies and/or no signings in January. One way to find that money would be to try and offload the highest earners in the playing squad. McCoist is harming his team's diminishing promotion prospects even more. When he goes, Rangers will have to find even more money for his successor. They must deluded to even think of bring in the likes of Steve Clarke (as reported by the BBC). Then there are possible additional costs of firing McCoist's coaching staff and hiring better replacements. ETA - Gordon Strachan honourably waived his pay-off when he resigned at Middlesborough.