Biblio

https://www.youtube.com/@Gameday523 This YouTube channel is worth checking out if you are interested in English lower division and non-league football. The presenter covers some great matches, ones which don't make the national media. He also presents a rugby league show once a week, which is also good viewing.

It must be fun to be a Celtic fan tonight😛

They won't sack him but if they do they will appoint someone useless on the basis of being a "Rangers man".

If he goes then there must be a proper application process to choose his successor. None of this former players bollocks. I think the board think that a large section of the support will be delighted with a 'hero' from the past with no experience or talent for the job. Sad thing is that they are probably right.

I don't think that anyone should be facing the sack yet but if it happens then I would hope for a proper interview process next time, not just a cheap appointment of someone because of a previous connection to the club. The last two managers just went through without any process.

Review of new shirt. I really like the LMC YouTube channel.

If they haven't sold all the tickets for the second leg then I think they'll have a hard job shifting them now.

I think it is Leicester and Leeds going down. They have got tough games and I think Everton will beat Bournemouth who have nothing at stake. I think Leeds will beat Spurs (not a terribly difficult task these days) but it won't do them any good.

I think you are right. I've no doubt that many will disagree but sometimes you have to look at the perforance and not the result. Let's face it, in a few months time, this result will be as meaningless as a bad result from 1983 or 1995 or 2009. Or as a good result for that matter. What is important and meaningful is to create something good for the future. That can only be done by consistent good performances, not through scraping through games by winning 1-0 on a penalty. It also needs a good manager and it is too early to say whether or not that is Beale.

I've been over to see Linfield a few times and always love it there but I hope that Larne win the league this year. They are in a good position - 7 points clear with four games remaining. A Larne win would also mean that there will have been four different champions in the last decade, a good sign for any league.

I know that people were predicting all kindsof winning scorelines on the prediction thread but is anyone really surprised by the result? Disappointed yes, but surprised?

Perhaps. And I have to say that I am not particularly happy with it. I would much rather have a team who have been developed by the club, rather than a legion of signings. There should be a balance of course, but the thought of Ragers making 'marquee signings' (unlikely to happen, I know) depresses me a bit.

If you are happy with the idea that success not only can, but should, be bought, then you will see nothing wrong with what City have done. Personally, I would like to see a limit on what can be spent by any team, anything above that will result in punishment. That would put a stop to the obscene wages, transfer fees and glorification of sugar daddies that seem to be the defining factors in football today.

But, just the same as us,unless he is found guilty then he is not guilty. I don't think we want to do away with the presumption of innocence. I think he will struggle to resurrect his career though.

For all the disappointment of letting a lead slip, I think that for medium and long term prospects today's result was far better than a scrappy 1-0 win against the run of play would have been. Whatever some say, three points is not and never has been all that it is about. It is also about trajectories. Celtic's trajectory had been up, certain idiots like Sutton were wanking themselves senseless in praise of 'Angeball'. If they had dominated today and had lost unluckily then that assessment would still be held by them (and probably by Rangers in a psychologically damaging way). Today's result and performance is something which has stopped their momentum and hopefully is something that can be built on.

I think when people talk about it being the best final ever they mean the best last 10 minutes (of both normal and extra time). It was a pretty dull affair up to 80 minutes but that all seems to be forgotten.

I wonder if there are grounds for suing the existing ones for professional negligence?

I would not be lauding it. I'm not interested in winning like that. What's the point if you can't win properly?

I think that in these circumstances the referee should be allowed to award a goal. Uruguay went on to win on penalties, totally undeserved victory. Ghana missed a chance to get to the semi-finals which may be a long time in coming again. Thankfully, this cheating was not rewarded when they got knocked out in the next round.

I really hope that the next manager, whenever he comes in whether it's next week or next year is not a former player.

Maybe not, but GvB makes him look like PG.

It shows how having a manager who wants to win by attacking and scoring goals is better than one who wants to avoid defeat and scrape out a boring win. I am not into knee jerk firing of managers but I don't really think that van Bronkhorst is capable of creating attractive and winning football. He shouldn't be sacked when there is still much to play for but it is hard to be optimistic about when seeing his philosophy in practice.

I can count myself very lucky to have seen him play in real life. When I was 9, my dad took me and my brother to see Everton play Moenchengladbach at Goodison in the European Cup. We were all Liverpool fans but Dad had lots of Evertonian friends and had helped to organise a trip to the first leg in Germany, which he also attended. We were very disappointed when Andy Rankin saved a penalty in the shoot off to put Everton through but it was a memorable experience. Berti Vogts was playing as well, great team they had.

...was the worst day of my life. I was at the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. Looking out of the toilet window and seeing a line of dead bodies being covered with blankets by the police was an experience I wish I had never had. As soon as I saw it, I left the ground along with my brother. Some extremely kind Belgians let us into their flat to ring our parents, I will never forget their kindness and wonder if I would have allowed foreign people into my house in similar circumstances. We later bumped into a crowd of Italians in evident distress and then a minibus of Liverpool fans from Kirkby who had also left the ground in disgust. Some of them said that they could be classed as hooligans but were outraged at the fact that the Liverpool thugs that night had attacked scarfers and family fans. They believed that a fight should be between consenting thugs. Unfortunately, hooliganism can't always be contained in this way. We had travelled over from Liverpool on a coach, really good atmosphere and good people. On the way back the bus was silent, very depressing atmosphere. Nobody cared about losing the match, I think a lot of us saw the crassness of the regular regurgitation of Bill Shankly's quote about life and death (made in more innocent days)as being fraudulent. As I said at the start, it was the worst day of my life and also one of the most influential. Since that day I can count the number of major football games at major stadiums on one hand, it has been very difficult for me to face the thought of a big match live. Live football matches to me now mean non-league games with my daughter or low key matches abroad in Sweden, Finland or Iceland. Scotland, particularly Rangers, benefited from the English ban, but England and I think continental Europe suffered from the absence. Everton were never allowed to compete in the EC, something which aggrieves their fans and fuels a sense of bitterness towards Liverpool to this day. They had a very good team then and it was quite feasible that they could have gone on to win the trophy but never got the chance. We can see the problems that existed in Paris and Seville recently but thank God nobody was killed.

The better team won and it's not surprising really. The Bundesliga is a better league than the SPFL. Yes, I know that EF are below Dortmund and Red Bull but that's irrelevant really. If Rangers were in the EPL then it is possible that they could, in a one off situation, beat Liverpool and then Chelsea, only to lose in the next match to wolves and the following one to Newcastle, the one after to Southampton. Beating three German teams in one season is always unlikely. Having said this, this season has been a big success. It is not just about 'silverware', winning trophies is not the only criterion for success. To me, success is being involved until the very end of the season, until the last kick of the most important match. I dare say that his is not how many see it, particularly at the moment, but to me it is certianly true.