der Berliner

You wonder whether OldCo can be "saved" and remain part of the club / history / tradition.

Truth be told, people have been working themselves into those doom-and-gloom-mode for weeks now. No wonder that they see very little positives now. There sure is not much to get excited by now, but playing competitive football will be a different matter entirely. I still remember seasons that we started being next to last after a four or five weeks in the season, despite top-notch players. And we still finished top half a year later. Whatever will be, will be.

And he looked much better than King tonight, who played in Europe for us. Just my humble opinion. If anything, Clement knows who is not ready for the first team and the bench after the last two games. Doubt we'll see this starting line-up again this season, though. Anywhere close to the first 40 mins on Saturday and half the Legion might commit suicide. As per usual ahead of the season and losses to no-marks.

My my ... what a crap display by City. Falling over like Iberian divas.

Left wing instead of Matondo.

... lol ... he looks one of the few so far this season who is actually running himself in the ground for the jersey.

WRIGHT!!!!!!! ... and who won the ball in the first place? Ridvan!

... Nsiala. Through the ranks of Milan, after all. And so far, Balogun is still playing?

... and I'll keep mine. Was the second part of the sentence, which I assumed you would add by yourself.

A well of positivity he is these days, our CammyF ...

You can keep your opinion 😎

I wouldn't change any of this at HT. Unless we are talking of youngsters. This looks like a B-Team game and should have been advertised as such. Imagine we manage to get any of the half-decent first teamers out there or on the bench injured ... There is no midfield whatsoever, Diomande pretty bad, McKinnon non-existent, Lowry shocking, Tavernier half-asleep. There is next to no service to Danilo or McCausland, Matondo at his average best. Ridvan, Nsiala and Balogun doing what is needed.

"Tavernier plays a "blinder" and any potential buyer runs away ASAP ... " theory.

Could be any game we played at Tynecastle, Easter Road or Pittodrie last season ... they have a go and we look fully disjointed. Lowry looks half the player we had before his loan. McKinnon essentially non-existent. Aside from that, some are just walking around the field disinterested or half-asleep. And because of that, we're 2-0 now.

Blues TV is even worse in their adoration of their side than ManU's was. This is more or less an experimental side, I would assume that after 30odd mins they'll get going. Remember, our last season's first teamers usually needed more than a half to get going, if at all.

... I cracked a wee smile. Just a wee smile ... on your earlier remark.

Has there been any word on Cantwell, conjectures and assumptions aside?

Kelly Tavernier - Nsiala - Balogun - Ridvan McKinnon - Diomande McCausland - Lowry - Matondo Danilo Subs: Budinauckas - Barron, Dessers, Wright, King, Devine, Fraser, Rice, Curtis, Stevens, Allan, Nsio Souttar, Goldson, Cantwell, Jefte, Igamane, Butland, Sterling, Davies, Dowell, Lawrence, and Cortes not there.

Sometimes it is - IMHO - also necessary to take a step back and have a look at where we have been only a few years ago, and where we are now. Let's strife for the better, as always, but keep also rooted firmly in reality.

Vaclav Cerny ... 26, Czech, VfL Wolfsburg (signed for them last summer for Euro 8m), contract till 2027. His stats at Twente (78 games, 22 goals, 21 assists) made Wolfsburg "aware" of him. In 25 games for them, he managed 5 goals and 1 assist. Looks like the Sima-loan-clone this season, if it comes to pass.

Anyone actually in the know about the status quo of OldCo, BDO, HMRC et al? Just "stumbled" over my "OldCo" share that I got for joining the RST back in the day ...

As it happens, Union Berlin played Dynamo Kiev in their training camp in Austria on July 18th, winning 3-2. German report ... https://www.fc-union-berlin.de/de/fussball/profis/spielplan/detail/-1-FC-Union-Berlin-Dynamo-Kyiv-19086O/ 1. FC Union Berlin: Stein (46. Klaus) – Trimmel (46. Preu), Jaeckel (46. Doekhi), Vogt (46. Král), Leite (46. Ogbemudia), Gosens (46. Puchacz) – Haberer (46. Khedira), Tousart (46. Kemlein) – Skarke (46. Vertessen), Prtajin (46. Siebatcheu), Hollerbach (46. Bedia) FC Dynamo Kiew: Bushchan (46. Neshcheret) – Karavaiev (79. Shepeliev), Malysh, Popov, Vivcharenko – Brazhko, Pikhalyonok (68. Lonwijk), Kabayev (79. Ceballos), Voloshin Nazar (46. Yarmolenko) – Buyalskyi (68. Shaparenko), Vanat (79. Samba Diallo) Personal: Gegen den ukrainischen Rekordmeister musste Cheftrainer Bo Svensson noch auf einige EM-Fahrer verzichten: Frederik Rönnow, András Schäfer, Josip Juranović sowie Neuzugang László Bénes standen also nicht zur Verfügung. Außerdem fehlten Alexander Schwolow, Jérôme Roussillon und Kevin Volland verletzungsbedingt. Zuschauer: 648 Tore: 1:0 Hollerbach (14.), 1:1 Vanat (34.), 2:1 Bedia (68.), 2:2 Sambia Diallo (83.), 3:2 Siebatcheu (90.) FYI ... Union's pre-match comments on Kiev The opponent check Coach Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's team finished the 2023/24 season in second place in the Ukrainian Premier League. In the qualification for the Europa Conference League, Dynamo Kyiv was eliminated in the fourth round by Besiktas Istanbul. Ukrainian international Vladyslav Vanat is particularly dangerous in terms of scoring goals. The center forward scored 24 points (DB: whatever these are) in 27 games in the Premier League and was nominated for the European Championship squad, where he was substituted to play for the last twenty minutes in the third group game against Belgium. Shortly after the duel with 1. FC Union Berlin, the Ukrainians will already have their first competitive games. On July 23rd and July 31st, 2024, the team will face Partizan Belgrade in the UEFA Champions League qualification.

Well, it will sure be good to create 200 pages on FF in a few hours ...

Yep. Sadly enough, we hardly ever get a look in and every year we see people trying their luck in analysing deals, transfers, the annual results and whatnot. While we won but the League Cup last season, the Scum despite their monetary riches, weren't a world apart. More like VARapart. Despite millions of CL money and transfer income - one does not dare to think what they could get if they get 10m+ for people like O'Riley. So we have to pull our punches wisely, and I assume Clement was made aware of that and the situation on the whole when he signed. Even if we don't get multi-million people in, there's still the chance of another Sima-style loan or two. Let's deal with the CL qualifiers when they come our way.

It is pre-season, no more, no less. Hearts won't be Manu or even ManU reserves. We will play rather differently against them and against essentially any other Scottish team bar one. That's our bread and butter, not some fancy European sides.