Vladimir Putin

Zenit handed a 3-0 technical defeat and forced to play two matches behind closed doors. Given that Dinamo were responsible for selling the tickets for the away end, and that no-one has actually been identified yet, it seems rather unfair. Those Moscow hooligans should be punished equally! I propose sending Kevin Kuranyi to Siberia for 5 years.

It's nonsense to describe this as a 'must win', there are no must win games in November. Yes, it is the sort of game we should be looking to win if we're serious about the league, and it is always important to bounce back after a defeat, but Livvy are in a bit of form and it won't be easy. If we draw 2-2, for example, it's not the end of our season.

Well I think that's quite sad. What would the reaction have been on here if we had got Hearts away in the Cup? Everyone would have been right up for a day at Tynecastle, the fans would have been in full voice, and it's a great stadium. And you want to see them replaced with Cove Rangers or Gala Fairydean (no disrespect intended to those two clubs)? I thought Scottish football had, to a certain extent, united over the summer in order to take a stand against Rangers, and Hearts fans were no different. I find it a bit sad that some of us seem to want to dance on their grave because of a ten year-old decision taken by their BoD. Don't get me wrong, I'm not averse to them spending a few years, or more, in the lower leagues, and perhaps that is what they deserve. But I don't want to see them disappear.

Make up your mind. I can understand Thistle fans wanting Rangers and Celtic to go bust, I celebrated as much as anyone over the summer when the Rangers saga unfolded. But Hearts? Are we really so bitter that we want them to go bust because of how their Board voted 10 years ago, or because they have a few mental supporters?

I don't blame Levein for the Fletcher fiasco. Fletcher sent a text saying he didn't wish to be considered for a friendly - if it had been a Rangers player who did that, would there have been the same clamour for him to return? It doesn't matter than he was subsequently sold for £14 million, or that we couldn't score against Serbia. I do blame him for his tactics, which I think were wrong on many occasions, and he lost the fans from Prague onwards, resulting in his position becoming untenable. I'm not convinced the new man, whoever he is, can do much better, for a couple of reasons. The youngsters that everyone is calling to be played don't really exist, or we would know who they are. I don't believe Levein is stupid - he knows as well as we do that Berra, for example, isn't good enough, and if there was an credible alternative he would be in the squad by now. And we don't have one decent defender at international level, which means that any team with even one decent forward (i.e. Wales) will always cause us problems.

The only teams in Scotland I ever wanted to see go bust were Rangers, who thankfully did, and Celtic, who hopefully will. I think some of the stuff on this thread is really uncalled for. I know a lot of Hearts fans, none of whom ever supported Rangers, and all of whom were genuine Scottish football fans. And the same goes for Killie, incidentally. Did Hearts or Killie ever groundshare with Rangers, or host Orange marches at their stadium? Someone could look at us and brand us ‘h*ns in disguise’. This label is too offensive to throw around, yes, they have a few headcases in their support, but who doesn't? We certainly do, but I wouldn't want other people to judge us based on them. I feel confident when I say that the vast majority of Hearts fans support Hearts, and no-one else. Do I want them to lose their team and spend Saturdays watching the EPL and looking at old programmes? Of course not. Yes, the second vote was a low point, but it wasn't Hearts fans who voted that way. I personally think it would be a tragedy if Hearts and Tynecastle disappear, they are a big part of Scottish football as I know it, and any comparison with Rangers is a joke, to be honest.

Is this game really going to attract people who haven't been to Firhill in years? I mean, I know it's a Cup Final, but I don't see large numbers of fans flying in from all points of the globe. I speak as a (fairly) far-flung fan who wouldn't seriously consider flying home for a Ramsdens Cup final. A Scottish Cup final, certainly. As for the hospitality, I think it's a pretty good idea. Many people won't want to drive as they will want a pre/post match beverage, and Livingston isn't the best place for this on public transport given the lack of pubs in the area. It wouldn't be too great an option if the game was in Edinburgh or a more attractive destination (even Ayr, Kilmarnock, Motherwell), but the choice of Livingston might make it a better option for people.

Definitely not, Elgin away in December would be a serious banana skin. Either a big SPL team or a lower-league team at home. The last thing we want is an embarassing exit without making any money in the process.

This made me smile.

You know as well as everyone reading that this is just nonsense. Yes, we're crap just now and the manager is heading for the door. But if he isn't sacked until, say, the end of the campaign, you will never attend another Scotland game in your life? Don't be ridiculous.

Christ Almighty! Old Harry Houdini himself in the Scotland job? His appointment would certainly shake things up, which is why I suppose it would never happen. As for Levein, he has reached the point where everyone knows he's going to be sacked sooner or later - the results speak for themselves, and most of the fans have made up their mind, so it's preferable to just do it now rather than drag it out for another couple of tortuous games. This campaign is over, if we're being honest, it was over the minute the draw was made. Give the new man the rest of it to try and get some idea of how to get us to France in 2016 (and more importantly, to the Motherland in 2018!).

Dynamo Moscow? Dumbarton would probably take care of them as well.

The only one of those three that was part of the Soviet Union was Latvia. I think my point was that the Irish people don't regret their decision to leave the UK, regardless of their economic difficulties. They are not saying 'Oh, how I wish we were sitll part of the UK'. I agree with Guy Incognito about this - this question is much more fundamental than whether you like Alex Salmond or not, or whether you think you will be £500 better or worse off. It's about whether you believe in Scotland as an independent country capable of governing itself, managing it's resources and making the most of its talents and abilities. Alex Salmond and the SNP are the vehicle capable of delivering this at the moment, but the referendum itself is about much more than just the SNP. It's about whether you think there is a real, justifiable rationale for the UK, other than it being the status quo, and I don't think there is. If I went to Copenhagen, Helsinki and Oslo and proposed a Scandinavian Union, with Sweden as the dominant force controlling the main economic, political and military levers of power, I would be laughed out of the room. Why would those countries give up their right to take those decisions for themselves? Yet that is what you're defending by supporting the status quo in the UK.

It is not. Many of the new European states in the last twenty years were never under 'Soviet rule' either. But the question stands - are there loud voices in Ireland saying that independence was a mistake and calling for reintegration into the Union? After all, their economy is in a terrible state, surely they would welcome the safey that being part of the UK could provide, and apparently currently provides for Scotland?

Are the people of Ireland in favour of reversing their independence from the UK?

Thistle used to do the same with progarammes for postponed matches. What would you do with 500 special edition programmes, toss them?

I regularly watch SKA St Petersburg in the KHL, so I took in a game at Braehead when I was home last Christmas. The standard obviously isn't that high as ice hockey isn't that well developed in the UK, but it is a good nights entertainment, if rather expensive. I was like p12tfc in the sense that I knew next to nothing about ice hockey before I moved to Russia, but now I love it, and the KHL is benefiting from the NHL lockout as a lot of the big Russian players (Ovechkin went to Dinamo Moscow, Ilya Kovalchuk came here to St Petersburg) are coming back home to get some match practice, even some American and Canadian players are coming on short-term deals.

It's probably the best bet for those of us abroad unable to fool the BBC website - I tried to watch the Raith game there, it was listed but the stream wasn't working, but it might be better today. I'll give it a shot.

Our recent record against Cowden is pretty bad, let's be honest. Not just that cup game at Firhill that we lost, but we also looked a bit shaky against them in the 5-2 Paul Tosh game, and we were poor against them in the league 2 seasons ago. Having said that, if our approach is correct, I expect us to win. Maybe not by 3 or 4, but win nevertheless.

Worst away day in Scotland. Someone mentioned Morton, but it is brimming full of character compared to a trip to Livingston, even Airdrie at least feels like an actual football match. Even if I wasn't 2,000 miles away I wouldn't consider a trip to that hellhole.

Is it possible Green could eventually, or in fact rather soon, decide that he also does in fact do walking away, and leave them in an even bigger hole? What happens if he walks? I assume his £5.5 million deal to buy the assets (and I'm still not sure how he managed to pull that one off) would not be available to anyone else who might fancy it, and the liquidators would then assume control of the process. I think it's likely that the diddy teams will vote not to let them back in - the Chairmen of these clubs must be coming under severe pressure not to vote Yes - imagine if Thistle were in the SPL, we would be bombarding the club with letters, emails, carrier pigeons etc demanding that the New Rangers, whatever they are called, not be let back in. In this scenario I can't see a Zombie Rangers playing in the 3rd Division holding much appeal for Green and his mysterious investors. He wasn't a Rangers fan, neither was the Indonesian hotel magnate etc, so they are only in this to make money - something that won't be easily done if they are playing against Montrose and East Stirling, no disrespect intended to those fine and honourable clubs. If he packs it in, then what?

The problem with that plan is that most Rangers fans are so downright stupid that they are not able to comprehend this. They don't understand anything about finances, and their understanding of the term 'cheating' is limited to such acts as diving for penalties/punching the ball off the line. It's just beyond them to understand what fans of every other club see in their behaviour, which is why we're getting the 'We are the people/we shall not be moved' nonsense that is infuriating everyone else even more.

And how far behind is Scotland when it comes to religious bigotry? As Duck Snort says, you could show footage of the London riots to discourage people from visiting the Olympics, or show Rangers fans in Manchester as proof that Scotland should never be allowed to host a major tournament. I'm not saying that there isn't a problem with this in Eastern Europe, I have seen and heard plenty of examples here in Russia, but we don't have much high ground to stand on.

I would have preferred Hardie to Murray, especially if he was looking to take on some coaching experience, but that ship has sailed, and we surely don't have room to add Hardie to Rowson and Murray in central midfield. OIder players have a tendency to get injured more regularly, and we would have three central midfielders well into their 30s. If we're looking to add another midfielder it must be Welsh or someone much younger.

He's still at Airdrie?! Jings, he must be about 40 by now. I used to hate him.