BrahimHemdani

Well my apologies but Frankie and Rousseau both moderators have added "thanks" so they must have different rules. IIRC pictures of past diners at the dinners have been posted the only exception being when young Miko was not in the published picture by Bluebear.

I asked before I took the pictures and no one objected at the time or since.

Name names I trust we all looked much younger and better.

DMS nice one. He's in goals on Wednesday.

I am reluctantly compelled to agree with you, GS. Top scorer if you ignore the Diddy LC. See it's better when you don't try to wind me up!

According to our dinner informant, Naismith is on £55,000/week at Norwich and "prepared to come down to £15,000" to sign for us.

TB, your almost pathological dislike of Miller, was subject of some brief debate at the dinner, pity you weren't there to defend yourself. I can't speak for others but quite apart from being our second top scorer overall and top scorer in the League he also has 7 assists in the League alone, including putting the ball on Garner's head for the winning goal the last two weeks. No doubt our coaches play him where they think he will do the best job for the team.

I did think I saw you disappearing under the table more than once.

Are you a secret agent?

Rangers are currently the highest ranked team in the "unknowns" category of Q1, which means that it is highly likely we will be seeded, as I suggested at #7. Possible opponents therefore include Shamrock Rovers, Derry City, Cork City from Ireland, Coleraine and Ballymena from NIR, Connah's Quay, Bala Town and Bangor City from Wales, as well as teams from Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, The Faroes, Iceland, Hungary, Lithuania, Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, Kosova, Albania, Gibraltar and Malta. Given that the first round is regionalised it would seem quite likely that we might end up in Wales, or some part of Ireland. Edit: "Unknown" in terms of seeding of course!

OK I'll buy these explanations but will expect to hear more of the lawyer story at another date. Nice to meet you, sir.

It's like comparing apples and oranges. Hill has been our best defender by a mile; Miller has been our best striker by a mile. The difference is that Hill is more easily replaceable and also a year older; as well as being English so always going to going back down south.

Now that I've seen you in person, I can see the likeness; others will have difficulty as I noted you were hiding in both the Official Gersnet Dinner Official Photographs. I also noted that you were the only male to appear wearing a jacket and new shoes apparently, class thanks. Anyone who does not sit in the DB and wears a jacket and new shoes to the football must be minted.

I'm not sure whether to believe this story or not, any more than your excuse for missing the match. I don't know any lawyers who work on a Saturday. As usual it was a pleasure to organise the lunch/dinner, just very disappointing that more folk including quite a number of "regulars" were unable to come along this time. I was glad that the new venue worked out well and can only apologise for my poor organisation with the pre-lunch weather and the fact that the mini bus did not turn up to transport us from Ibrox. I'll try to do better next time.

This one is really surprising. There seem to be two ways to look at it. 1) He is playing what he considers to be his best team in order to finish as close to Aberdeen as possible and he rates Foderingham as #1 even without seeing Alnwick in a match situation. 2) He already has a replacement lined up for both of them, so no point in playing Alnwick and presumably wants to give him back to PV and cancel whatever is owing (£300,000)? If Alnwick doesn't play in either of the last two games, I think you have your answer.

I'm impressed by your research/ knowledge of MLS players but would be very surprised if we go down that route, despite the fact that it's been successful before.

I think what you need to remember here is that the SPFL Board is made up of the Clubs + ND. The Board can only propose what the members will support at an AGM or EGM called for that specific purpose. Even given the situation of Hearts and Hibs at the time, for those who were in the League then, self-preservation was they key. Bear in mind that most seasons 7/8 teams could finish in the bottom 6 and all of those might finish 11th. So to agree to an 11th place semi final berth meant that most of the teams in the League would have been like turkeys voting for Christmas. IIRC the play offs were already in place in the other divisions, so they probably saw the current system as a major concession of itself. One of the arguments put up by the Premiership teams to defend their position was that they play 2 more games, so their season goes on longer; but that's a bit thin. I couldn't find anything about this online last night but I found this just now from Falkirk FC. There's no date on it, but it seems quite recent: CLUB STATEMENT: SPFL PLAY-OFF STRUCTURE Falkirk Football Club Chairman, Doug Henderson has released the following statement regarding the SPFL Divisional Meeting, which was held last week, during which he discussed the structure of the SPFL play-offs. Doug raised the unfairness of the current system. The SPFL Meeting agreed that the next meeting of Championship sides would discuss the issue to try to come forward with a common proposal. The Competitions and Events Committee of the SPFL also agreed that they would review the matter including any proposal from the Championship Meeting. Doug Henderson said: “The current system is extremely popular with supporters as was shown from the great response from all Clubs during the play-offs over the last three years. But, it has also been shown that it is extremely difficult for a Championship side to win through in up to 6 games when a Premier League side only has to play two. I have proposed that there should be a one off play-off at each stage in the competition so that the maximum number of games a Championship side would play is 3. I think it is possible to restructure the competition without losing any funding. A single game with extra time and penalties at a neutral venue would attract a crowd, in most cases, which would be greater than the sum of the attendances in a two leg play-off. This year, for instance, the Falkirk v Hibs game drew 11,000 at Easter Road and 8,000 at Falkirk. If the game had been played at a neutral venue (like Hampden) on a one-off tie then, in most years, the attendance would be at least 30,000. By comparison, I would estimate that a Falkirk v Dunfermline play-off at Hampden would attract a crowd of over 20,000 – which would be in excess of the sum of the attendances in a two leg match. Some might argue that the TV money would be lost, but the total TV money in this year’s play-offs was £200,000. By comparison, a Quarter Final in the Scottish Cup would attract a TV revenue of £160,000. On this basis it seems to me that it would be more attractive to TV companies to have one-off play-offs with the result at the end of each match and I believe this could be reflected in the income received.” I'm sure a more equitable system will come at some point. However, it's not clear if they are proposing that the Premiership team comes in straight away to a semi final or if they mean 3v4 and then 2v 3/4 in the Championship first.

And two ladies!

That is correct. I did take the liberty of congratulating myself on being the only one with a full house now; but I did give you, BD and plgsarmy an honourable mention for 4 out of 5 each. Oddly they both missed the first one and you the most recent.

The SPL teams were dragged screaming and kicking into the play-offs; the current system exists to protect the 11th placed team as much as possible. I'm sure I read somewhere that a change had been discussed; not sure if it is being implemented next season or was thrown out.

There's no way we would have started without you

Presumably that's why they've been released?

I don't think Pedro will be shopping in the MLS or in the English Leagues One and Two or even the Championship quite frankly. He knows that's where most of the current dross came from and I doubt he'll make the same mistakes that MW made. There might be one or two Scottish boys who could add something but current Motherwell and Hearts players who have been mentioned aren't going to raise our quality to the required level. He says we are already working on deals so my guess they are Portuguese or Mexican guys he has worked with or others who have played in those leagues where he saw them perform. If he starts with Bruno Alves, that'll do for me.

Did you honestly think we were watching this thread waiting for you to appear?

It's tough at the top. 6 points two weeks running and don't move up a place