Thinker

Last night was so bad it rules out the whole Rae extended family. Dickie Davis is out of the picture too.

On the bright side - still joint top of the group. (Or, to put it another way, joint bottom.)

Any chance you could give it a rest this evening?

It's going to be a gamble whoever we appoint. There is no safe bet. I thought Gio was a good choice (I was more confident than when we appointed Gerrard). I thought appointing PLG was a masterstroke. It's a roll of the dice I'm afraid, and I wouldn't like it to be my call.

It's slightly depressing, but there is an argument for getting in a manager who can set up the team to, first and foremost, reliably scud the 10 SPL diddies, and not worry too much about European performances.

Some folks can't resist repeatedly having a go at the poor guy at ever opportunity. Those people are serial Cyriel Dessers dissers!

Correct me if I'm wrong Compo, but wasn't there a period a few years back when you were quite persistent with your demand to "Give young Murty the job."...?

When posting, please remember that the preferred and politically correct term these days is MAPs (mutton attracted persons).

It may also result in more victims coming forward to make a claim. I'm glad Gordon Woods has decided to push for justice. Much as I'd understand any of the victims accepting a life changing sum of money as compensation, guilt must be established so that those responsible (for both the abuse and the obfuscation) can be held to account. The idea that NDAs could be used to shield enablers of child abuse is absolutely abhorrent. Surely that's not legal?

I wonder if this is an attempt to low-ball the compensation offer with a quick pay-out, or if the Scum are prepared to pay over the odds in order to avoid a guilty verdict.

Probably best to hedge your bets and go 50:50 HP and Heinz ketchup.

Lynda Bellingham Oxo restaurant commercial

Just adding to the excitement 😁 In all seriousness, I think most voting for him to stay are really only trying to avoid a care-taker manager, and the inevitable multiple will-he / won't-he rumours and protracted negotiations with potential appointments. I'd like as smooth-as-possible a transition to a properly considered new gaffer.

You never know. He might develop a persistent injury or medical condition that benches him for long periods every season - then he'd fit our marquee signing profile perfectly.

I believe, in the early days of football, it was steam-age away fixture logistics that stopped this coming about. By the time travelling the length of the country became more feasible the Scottish League was already established and thriving. But in the TV age, every year that passes Scottish football falls further away from the elite leagues and drags us with it. If we're to have any future we need to escape, but I doubt a British League would ever gain support. If it did, we'd need oil Sheik or oligarch money to make up the ground. Some kind of European league involving other big clubs trapped in small leagues seems more likely, but although the idea is raised once in a while it never seems to get anywhere. Even though I despise the Super League clubs, if ever they get their way it might indirectly open up possibilities for us.

Zagreb drop into the ECL, so they still have the opportunity to catch us. In fact, they'll have easier opposition, so arguably they have a better chance of catching us. Brugge were so close to bombing out of everything yesterday, but 2 quick goals turned the game around against Osasuna and so they're still the biggest threat.

For what it's worth, regarding our coefficient and potential qualification for the FIFA World Club Cup (I know); last year the teams we knocked out in CL qualification (PSV and USG) went on to rack up decent scores (11 and 19 respectively, compared to our 4). Even if we don't do as well as in previous years, being in the Europa League is almost certainly going to be better for our ranking.

Ancient wisdom has it that, on the evening of a blue moon, the flow of juju is especially powerful, and those who have attained mastery can shape destiny, particularly if they have some cool GIFs to post.

Being in the Spanish top flight is an excellent shop window right enough (assuming that he gets a game).

If it were me I'd make sure there was a sell-on clause with an ample percentage. I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up in one of the big money leagues.

Apologies - you're quite right about the details of the case. And I agree - the damning evidence is there for all to see despite Greenwood paying his way out of bother. The absence of a conviction may still limit what the club can say about him though.

I'm no fan of Man Utd, but maybe the fact that Greenwood was (somehow) found innocent in a court of law limits how they can discipline him and what they can say. i.e. Publicly they have to appear to respect the not guilty verdict even though they believe he's guilty. It could be a case of them telling him he's not getting a game so he might as well fuck off.

I see Brugge have been drawn against Osasuna in the Conference play-off. Not easy - I wouldn't like us to have an all or nothing tie against a La Liga club.

Only very marginally less - the convoluted points system is explained here: https://kassiesa.net/uefa/calc.html The chances are they'll score higher than they would if they were in the Europa. I'd be surprised if they didn't progress through at least a couple of rounds of the knockout stages. So the buggers have probably the best chance of any team of catching us.

The hands wander erratically too, I expect.