Doc

Decent summary of events from English. You can tell he smells some blood here. And in one sense he can't lose. Either the SPFL or Rangers get stuffed by this and he gets to write about it. He wants this played out to a conclusion and not shut down like Doncaster and his cronies. You have to wonder what they are scared of. Because it's clear they want this stopped and no scrutiny to take place. Rangers should hold on to what we have despite all the clamour for disclosure. Keep them sweating a few more days Rangers. Who knows what other ammunition they might inadvertently provide us.

Yes it's not like he is attacking all Irish clubs or all clubs in catholic countries. Just one club. One like no other, when it comes to harboring, employing, and re-employing, paedophiles.

A certain CEO at the Piggery for sure. He thinks his (place)man is doing a splendid job and probably deserves a raise.

I agree with a lot of that. The Deloitte PR stunt yesterday was a blatant attempt to wrestle back the narrative from days of negative press and collective dismay at how the SPFL have fucked this up. When even the likes of Scrote are highlighting the limited scope of the investigation (basically "look at what we show you and tell us what we want to hear") then you know there is more mileage in this. The lack of any football right now has created a vacuum where stories like this are food for hungry jounro's. It's all they have to write about. In normal times, with games going on this would have been dropped a few days after the initial vote and Dundee handing in their updated YES vote. But now it's the one story guaranteed to sell papers and generate clicks and hopefully more than a few of the press smell blood in the water. They are no fans of Rangers, or friends to us in normal times, but they don't like the arrogance of the current crop at the top of the SPFL either and in the absence of anything else they aren't going to give this up. Ironically, I don't think there will be a better chance for a total clear out of Doncaster and his cabal. Large sections of the press would love to get their scalps and they sense something here too. We need to keep the pressure on. There is no football on the horizon to distract them and the likes of Euan Murray and Tom English have gone too far down the road now that if they somehow decided to back off they would lose all credibility. If Rangers can seem fair and reasonable and feed their agenda for nailing Doncaster they will keep running with this. Celtic can't counter it without exposing themselves because they have so much to gain from the current situation and the SPFL are on their own and exposed to a level of scrutiny and pressure that they never have been since Doncaster came in. I think the request for a copy of the SPFL's whistleblower policy was clever, because I bet it didn't exist before Rangers asked for it. The new EGM request is important and costs us nothing. If we get an EGM, it heaps further scrutiny on the SPFL and forces them to call in whatever favours they still can in order to vote a reasonable request down. I don't think for one minute we will get the 32 votes we need but we can get to a point where we can reasonably say we have tried every avenue short of legal action and been blocked from showing our evidence at every turn. Then it's time for court action and hopefully what we have from the whistleblower will be the end of Doncaster and his cronies.

It's definitely best if it comes from Partick Thistle. The SPFL has announced that they are relegated and hopefully that's a stain that Thistle will want removed regardless of any attempt at half hearted league reconstruction. Thistle have the stronger moral high ground than we do in this. However someone has to challenge this and if Thistle can't then we have to. This is about fixing a vote to get the outcome you wanted all along and blatantly lying and covering things up along the way. If this is allowed to stand unchallenged then this isn't a league any more. It's a rigged farce designed to benefit one club and one club alone. Doncaster and his cronies will feel like they can get away with anything, because after this they can.

There are several things that have to be in place in order to deliver a proper opportunity of achieving a better foundation for Scottish Football’s future. First, a working group should be assembled and must have members from the highest levels of Scottish Football with long-term interest in the future success of the game. We need to agree a set of goals that will be the basis of reconstruction which takes into account current and future wants and needs of media; member clubs’ financial benefits; and sporting integrity as a basis. It is our belief that after speaking to numerous clubs that the appetite for reconstruction is there and the intention is to set up an immediate and focused working group to take on this task. The centre will have to accept and support the will of the members. Ha ha ha. Does anyone seriously think any of this would happen with the current executives in place? They would only do it if they were dragged kicking screaming to do it. Or more likely it could only happen if Doncaster and his cabal were turfed out and a new Chief Executive, Legal Representative and Chairman were appointed. How about Dundee grow some balls and call for that. Then they might claw back an iota of respect.

Spot on. No amount of spin is going to get them out of the hole they created for themselves when they didn't stick their guns and reject Doncaster's attempted bribery out of hand.

What planet is MacLennan on and what credibility does he think he has left? At the weekend he exonerated Doncaster and Laidlaw of any wrongdoing and said that everything had been done properly. A not so polite "Shut up and fuck off while we wait for Dundee to hand in their Yes vote after they accept whatever crumbs fall of our table." Now, at the threat of an interim interdict from Partick Thistle, he says "Oh we might have to have a look at what happened on Friday after all." Perhaps he is planning that the SPFL should employ the same investigators who are going through the emotional carnage generated by Celtic Boys Club on behalf of its Separate Entity - so that after a lengthy and uncommitted search through the long grass we'll still have no answers in 3 years time. The sooner this useful idiot is shown the door the better.

Yes and it's nice for Rangers not to feel alone in this struggle, as has happened so many times in the past. We have to keep the pressure on until the rats are cleared out.

In normal times when things could be done face to face between individuals with no record kept, I would agree with you Buster. But if this was all done via remote electronic meetings, emails and whatsapp then it's possibly to track it and verify who said what to whom and when it was said to establish the exact timeline. There are too many threads in too many places for just the SPFL to cover up. Somehow there has to be a push for an independent investigation and if that means the police coming in an seizing evidence while that investigation goes on then I'm all for it. If the SPFL really have nothing to hide ? then they would be open to scrutiny. We all know they have plenty to hide here.

Purely coincidentally of course.

The obvious question is, on whose authority are any of these offers being made? Dundee don't control the SPFL purse strings so who has apparently given them authority to make any kind of offer to anyone? I think we need to be told. But I'm sure we won't be.

I agree. I think the positions will ultimately get called as they stand but the problem is the resolution presented for the vote had all the titles, promotion and relegation strands interwoven into it. Clubs couldn't get their money unless they agreed to declare Celtic champions, Dundee United champions and the three teams bottom of the leagues as relegated. It was accept this or don't get your money when you are desperate just to survive. They could have done it differently and limited the damage to member clubs. They chose not to and said take it or leave it expecting to get the outcome they wanted. Whether Celtic are gifted 9 in a row is less important than ensuring that meaningful change comes to the top of the SPFL. Doncaster and as much of his corrupt cabal as possible are cleared out and maybe we get some balance back to the organisation that is meant to look after the interests of all clubs - not just Celtic. That's a fight worth fighting but it will take other clubs to grow some balls and stand up for themselves here too. Not just leave Rangers swinging in the wind as they have done so often.

Exactly. And you can only wonder why it had to go through now, in so much haste, and presented as a take it or you don't get your money scenario to most clubs? Who could possibly stand to benefit most from such an outcome? It couldn't possibly be a certain team across the city. Do you seriously think any form of league reconstruction would have been on the table if they had got the votes they needed for this to pass on Friday? Any proposals would have got the same treatment as Rangers' proposal got on Thursday, i.e. deemed somehow "incompetent" on whatever technicality they fancied dreaming up. Celtic would get their tainted title and Hearts and Thistle and Stranraer would have been fucked and that would have been the end of it.

Dundee can only revoke that vote because the result was not declared - because the SPFL didn't get the result they wanted. If the vote was genuinely outstanding and they didn't already know that it was a NO (no laughing at the back there) then common sense as well as the legality of the vote would dictate that no information on any of the outcomes should have released until all votes were in or the legal deadline for voting had elapsed, as per any established voting process. Basically we should all still be in the dark and potentially waiting 28 days to hear the outcome. Instead that principle was thrown out of the window and they released as many votes as they had to make it clear that one more YES vote was all that was needed while they went back to Dundee with all the pressure and sweeteners they could muster to get the outcome they wanted. Absolutely we have to focus on the process and the mechanics of the vote because those have been flouted to ensure that the "right" outcome was reached by whatever means. That's where Rangers and other clubs have their strongest case and Doncaster and his cronies will find it hardest to wriggle out of it. I hope the whistleblower has some really damning evidence. The way the SPFL are doubling down with every response, we are going to need it.

Possible. Dull as fuck though. Below the split line that's a long time and a lot of games just to decide who goes down. It's bad enough with just 5 rounds to play. And a lot of clubs miss out on one more home against the OF than they are currently getting. Can't see it being widely popular with lots of current mid tier SPL clubs. Plus it wasn't mentioned in the voting options for SPFL members and wasn't on the table for discussion....until 5pm on Friday. And only with respect to one club it would appear.

This article intrigues and worries me. If Dundee are going to be leaking anything I suspect it will be to their local rag so the suggestion of a 14-10-10-10 set up is new and hasn't been mentioned before as far as I know. There are obvious advantages in it as a quick fix for the SPFL in the current shit storm because it removes the threat of relegation from the likes of Hearts, Thistle and Stranraer and undercuts the support that we might be relying on for removing Doncaster and ensuring wider reform. You can bet Doncaster will try his best to stay in place and cover his tracks if Dundee do cave in. However how the hell would a 14 team SPL work? Three rounds of 13 games and then a 7-7 split to play 46 games? You can't be serious. If this is seriously being discussed between Dundee and the 4 SPFL board members noted in the article, who has given these board members the authority to negotiate on behalf of the league with what is effectively a "rogue" club? Why was this apparently ongoing "negotation" not mentioned by the SPFL Chairman in his (not conflicted) statement yesterday? It clear that Dundee's original NO vote was discarded. They were seen as potentially the most pliable of the three dissenting Championship clubs and by hook or by crook they are being compelled/bribed/coerced to change their vote. A banana republic could have handled this better. This ought to end up in court with the Dundee Company secretary questioned under oath to establish the precise timeline of events and when their NO vote was sent. That establishes their original and uninfluenced intention. Everything after that is deception and potentially criminal. Is another tainted title for Celtic really worth all of these lies and making the game in Scotland look even more of a laughing stock than it currently does?

Absolutely no way. They aren't having the Broomloan again. Ever!

European refs know the rules and apply them consistently. That's all that we want and why European games are a relative pleasure. The rules ought to be the same for everyone. But in Scotland when Rangers are playing each ref seems to have a different set of "house rules" that only operate in Rangers games and can be applied without fear of contradiction no matter how stupid. Deliberate handball suddenly not being bookable and handball not being handball if its a bit windy and it's not a Rangers player handling it, being perhaps the two most obvious examples so far this year.

Agree up to a point but we have probably been hoping for too much from some of those experienced players. Davis blows hot and cold, and especially cold if opposition midfielders harry him and don't give him space. Defoe is excellent and looks like he genuinely cares. He still offers a real threat but too often we are lumping balls in to him rather than looking for something whipped in low from wide positions for him to run on to. His injury hasn't helped us at a critical time. McCauley was a fucking disaster and a complete waste of time and money. We should not be relying so much on players at the fag end of their careers. They can do it in the odd game but over a whole season they are going to give you quite a few games like yesterday. Other than Defoe I don't think these veterans have necessarily improved the younger players as much as we would have hoped they would. Maybe I'm wrong but I would rather have taken players 4-5 years younger and with more energy because in the league we're in you can't carry passengers and too often the likes of Davis are passengers.

If we really we just playing for a replay at 0-0 then that's worse in my eyes. That's just gutless. And it's not like we ever looked like keeping a clean sheet.

Well we did in the form of Helander but his long term injury has probably cost us more than any of us realised at the time. Edmundson was expected to be 4th choice centre back behind Goldson, Katic and Helander so we can't blame him too much. Nobody foresaw how Goldson and Katic would turn into headless chickens since the turn of the year. We should not be getting caught out with long balls as often as we have been. That's just basic defending and it's not like we are up against Messi or Ronaldo week in week out.

Six weeks ago I would have prayed that Alfie stayed another season but it's looking like he can't wait to get away and we can't go on like this. Davis is a passenger in too many games and Tav has been too inconsistent (when he's bad he's not just below par he's fucking terrible). Chuck Barker and Ojo out with them and you have the start of a decent clear out. Unbelievable that it's come to this after the ecstasy at the Piggery before New Year.

Not right now but they had it in spades in November and December with the highlight the win at the Piggery. The players can be good enough when they want to play but they just aren't doing it with any consistency or desire to actually win something. It's like they think they climbed the mountain when we beat Celtic at their place when all that meant was that we had drawn level but we needed to focus and stay ahead. They had the best chance any Rangers team has had in years and they have blown it within 2 months. I can't even begin to fathom how a team goes from heroes to zeros that fast. And I bet SG is wondering the same.

In normal circumstances if we had another striker able to play tonight from the start I would agree with you Cammy but we were hamstrung (figuratively) tonight by lack of other personnel. Gerrard's decision has effectively thrown away an option that would have given us a focal point at least against Hearts. If Alfie had put in another disinterested performance then it wouldn't have been SG's fault. As it was that decision robbed us of any real physical presence up front until we had to start chucking the centre halfs up in desperation at the end. I agree about Naismith. He had a fire in his belly tonight and I wish any one of our players had shown a fraction of his desire.