Scottish Football Thread

Needs to change his name to Hoop Dogg

Bobo Balde is training with Thistle

Sauce?

Sauce?

Gone in the summer I think...

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAmNSUlUap5v7SmIyniulnp596trv3aXN

THE shape of things to come, three divisions of 12-12-18, has been agreed in principle.

This abomination will now be pulled and stretched by selected members of the SPL and SFL in a desperate attempt to make it more presentable.
Good luck with that.
It would be easier trying to iron out the lines on the face of the old broad, Madge, in Benidorm.
12-12-18. It’s ridiculous, especially when you remember the two 12s will fragment into three eights.
Yet this time supporters will just have to buy into it. Whatever happened to that new and bold notion that fans were all important?
It isn’t that long ago clubs, particularly those in the top flight, were solemnly insisting that ignoring the views of fans would be akin to financial suicide.
Remember? It was when the game was wrestling with the problem of what to do with Rangers.
All the clubs were squealing that the wishes of fans had to be granted. If you swallowed any of that bilge you probably also believed in sporting integrity.
Of course it was all nonsense. Sporting Integrity was a cloak of convenience, albeit a rather thin, practically transparent one, behind which club leaders huddled together to come up with sanctions.
Rangers had to be punished, they deserved to be punished but it seemed as if additional penalties were being randomly introduced depending on who was in which meeting.
Many Rangers fans like to think the frenzy to cause the club as much additional pain as possible was driven by one club but that wasn’t strictly the case. Many fans of many clubs waded in but this is not to say Celtic fans or their club didn’t attempt to influence the outcome of debates on Rangers and possible sanctions.
Of course they did. And they are still at it on social media sites and on blogs clattered out by individuals who are no better than semi-literate.
The sheer hypocrisy of what is happening within Hampden’s corridors of power right now will be lost on them but let’s not pretend sporting integrity or the wishes of supporters really are important to all those clubs pushing for this change.
If they were listening to fans they wouldn’t be sticking with a top division of 12 , and if there was any integrity there would be no rush to bring in changes for the start of next season.
If, as seems likely, the structure is altered for 2013-14 supporters won’t get what they’ve already paid for, especially those following teams striving for promotion. Actually this entire season will be rendered meaningless.
Sporting integrity won’t merely be compromised, it’ll be crushed but this is what happens when desperation slips in and throttles reason.
This belief won’t sit well with the few who are more or less running the SPL and influencing thinking within that desperate organisation but they can’t complain. After all, they’ve dismissed Rangers’ views completely.
This club, the biggest one in the country, were not invited to take part in talks which will shape the game’s future.
We are then entitled to conclude that this club are not important, which is strange indeed when so many fans of other clubs continue to be obsessed by Rangers, who are simply getting on with their own affairs asking no favour from anyone.
We do, however, expect commonsense to be applied, along with fair play.
Look, Rangers will return to the top flight, which will of course have to be rebranded. Rangers will take a seat at the head of the table where, despite the latest insult of being shut out of reconstruction talks, we will act with the good of Scottish football in mind.
We’ll work through the divisions and we will return stronger and better than ever before.
This club accepted their sanctions and moved on but too many others have been unable to do the same. They continue their assaults and while the deranged, who are using social media sites as conduits for their twisted agendas, should be ignored there are more than a few in the mainstream still maligning the club at every opportunity.
In a BBC radio debate last Saturday night one pundit, in a matter-of-fact manner, said Charles Green speaks with ‘forked tongue.’ No attempt to explain or justify the statement, just as no explanation was offered when another radio voice claimed there was a dishonesty about Walter Smith when he went public with a late bid for the club.
Word of advice gentlemen. From now on be very careful when talking or writing about this club.
To paraphrase something said about another club, Rangers will not be treated less than others. And although there is no desire to pick fights, be assured that no one will attack Rangers with impunity.
Better, however, to quote Bill Struth: ‘Never fear, inevitably we shall have our years of failure and when they arrive, we must reveal tolerance and sanity. You do that, you will emerge stronger than before.’
Tolerance and sanity. That’s what Rangers will demonstrate and maintain, especially when back at the summit.

Rangers giving thought to leaving Scottish football – chief executive
• Charles Green angry with plans to reshape top divisions
• 'I can't see any point in carrying on with meaningless matches'

Charles Green, Rangers' chief executive, has claimed the club should investigate the prospect of leaving Scottish football. Plans are afoot to implement two divisions of 12 and a bottom tier of 18, possibly as early as next season, in the Scottish game. Rangers object to that and have been irked by the fact they were not invited to talks relating to that issue at Hampden Park on Tuesday.

Even if Rangers win this season's Third Division, as is almost certain, they would remain in the lowest league if reconstruction plans are immediately passed. Green, who previously prompted an instant rebuttal from Manchester United after claiming the Old Trafford club were "not hostile" to Rangers joining the English Premier League, has maintained the theme.

Green told RangersTV: "If this [reconstruction] does happen what is the point of us finishing the season? Why should we send players out to get broken noses – like Ross Perry last week – or have players getting surgery when no one can get promoted and no one can get relegated?

"We might as well have a winter break now until next August. I can't see any point in carrying on with meaningless matches. In what league do you win a division and end up playing the same teams again the following season? There is no meaning to it, in reality."

Green added: "I haven't read anything other than what is in the press and if that is what we have sat here eagerly awaiting to transform Scottish football, my advice to the board of Rangers is the quicker we can leave Scottish football the better. I can't see anything that is going to transform the finances, the status or the excitement."

Green conceded Rangers are short of alternatives to Scotland, but pointed to the ongoing situation in Belgium, with Standard Liege threatening to exit their domestic division and instead play in France. He added: "On first glance, of course, there is nowhere for us to go because Fifa have made their feelings known on cross-border leagues. However, we have noted the comments of Standard Liege recently and what [Celtic chief executive] Peter Lawwell said at his AGM a few weeks ago when he discussed the changes in Europe.

"Hand on heart today there isn't an option, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't start looking for an option. If all we have to look forward to over the next four years is more madness then we would be failing as directors not to explore the alternatives."

On Tuesday evening, a somewhat bizarre article appeared on the Rangers website, written by a member of the club's media department. It stated: "This club, the biggest one in the country, were not invited to take part in talks which will shape the game's future.

"We are then entitled to conclude that this club are not important, which is strange indeed when so many fans of other clubs continue to be obsessed by Rangers, who are simply getting on with their own affairs asking no favour from anyone."

He's right to be honest.

The league reconstruction plans are terrible.

When the decision on what was happening with Rangers was being decided by the clubs last season, they went on and on about how it's the fans decision, sporting integrity etc.

Now when it comes to this, they're doing exactly what the fans are against. Every fan wants a bigger SPL, they don't want to play the same teams 4 times a season.