Thinker

Excellent. Now Dornan will be able to issue a full apology for stating otherwise.

I think it's Emma Hayes, the Chelsea women's team manager. She's been in the studio in the last few days anyway.

I wonder if this would have a positive impact on our qualification requirements. If it came to pass.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/1913812/rangers-manager-australia-ange-postecoglou-yokohama/ TBH, I think he looks okay - certainly good enough to get the better of most of the SPFL. On the other hand, there's nothing about his track record to suggest he'd make an impact in Europe, and he's not a name with the pulling power to attract top players (unless they're from Australia or J-League). I wasn't especially worried about Howe, and I don't feel that different about Postecoglou. They're taking a gamble but then, so did we with Gerrard.

Here's a graph by Bert Kassies ( https://kassiesa.net/uefa/graphs/ ) that shows the "Rangers effect" (or lack of) on Scotland's ranking).

St Johnstone will get two bites at the cherry this year. If they bomb out of the Europa straight away they get into the Conference play off. If they make it to the Europa play off but lose, they go straight into a Conference group. Regarding the coefficient: I can't help thinking Hibs would make a better fist of qualification than St Johnstone (and it would be handy to have them dsitracted and fatigued by European group football), so it would have been better if they'd won the cup / got the better spot. On the other hand, Hibs are cunts. Maybe the Conference will be of a low enough quality that the Scottish teams will do okay. I doubt any "big" team that ends up in the Conference League (Roma, Villarreal) will take it that seriously so they'll probably play their second string.

... but not the slightest bit surprising.

.... but Spurs save their blushes!

Chelsea are perilously close to blowing this.

He also did a great version of "Sloop John B".

From the Heald: Brian Wilson: SNP hammered hospitality but guaranteed George Square chaos IT may be unfashionable to point out but football can create really joyous occasions. Take last Saturday’s FA Cup Final at Wembley with 21,500 people in the stadium, an intimation that normality is again conceivable. There was an emotional quality to the singing of Abide With Me, dedicated to victims of the pandemic. “When other helpers fail and comforts flee; Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me”. Old words with special meaning as people came together after so long, in this way. Then there was the game itself, turning on two acts of beauty – the goal from Youri Tielemans which won it and the save from Kasper Schmeichel that thwarted Chelsea. So Leicester, one of our cities hardest hit by the pandemic, had its morale lifted to the heavens. The occasion was possible through a balanced approach to risk. Putting 21,500 people into Wembley’s open air must carry a scintilla of risk. But keeping them out and playing this special game behind closed doors would surely have done far more harm than good. In Scotland, such thinking is taboo. Even before the latest Glasgow shutdown, there were to be just 600 supporters inside Hampden for the Scottish Cup Final. Now the vast terraces will be empty. To what good effect or elimination of risk, I wonder? Last Friday I was in Glasgow Airport, a place of eerie silence these days but suddenly raucous sound announced the arrival of a flight from Belfast which disgorged a platoon of Rangers tops, clearly here for a party. I should make clear the colour of tops is irrelevant to the thrust of my argument. If anyone had doubts, this confirmed that the following day’s celebrations were going to be a big event attracting supporters from far and near. Given that entry to Ibrox stadium was precluded, the logic pointed to a big event somewhere else – ie the streets, bridges and squares of Glasgow. Who had decided that this was a good – or at least, less bad – idea? It seemed basic common sense – which would have applied equally regardless of which club had something to celebrate – that the thousands congregating in Glasgow should be allowed to do so in their preferred environment, their own stadium. The choice was not between whether or not people would congregate; only where. I have still to hear any rational explanation of why it was thought preferable for this to happen in the aforementioned streets, bridges and squares where, as soon transpired, absolutely no rules would apply, than within the confines of a stadium where they all wanted to be and within which some degree of regulation would have been possible. Then, while I was waiting for my flight, a friend in the hospitality industry phoned in despair to tell me about the latest disaster – the decision not to move Glasgow down to level 2. At this point, the contrast between what everyone knew was going to happen the following day and the latest extension of Glasgow’s lockdown moved from being merely irrational to grotesque. I have never quite understood why it is forbidden to have a glass of wine with a meal within permitted hours. However, the idea this would continue to be banned in Glasgow on public health grounds while the same politicians and experts had put exclusion from a football stadium before all the blatantly obvious risks inherent in the alternative now appeared incomprehensible and irresponsible. Yet who does one turn to for an explanation? Who can the beleaguered hospitality industry ask for the right of appeal, based on reason? In what respect is the public health advice in England different to that in Scotland? There are so many questions and after more than a year of this, so few detailed, satisfactory answers. The decision makers hide behind the mantra that anyone who challenges their edicts is less interested than themselves in public health or protecting the community. That has never been true and should have been called out long before now. The longer this goes on, the more urgent the need for scrutiny. Keeping Glasgow closed is a blunt instrument which fails to recognise vast differences within its boundaries. Concentrating on postcode areas seems more sensible than relying on boundaries which were drawn in the 1990s for entirely different reasons – primarily to keep more prosperous areas out of Glasgow. The idea that people are not going to travel from Glasgow for a meal in Bearsden or Kilmacolm does not accord with reality. So the major impact of this blanket ban within the confines of the city is not to limit the spread of the virus but to put another nail in the coffins of good, responsible businesses that are struggling to survive. If the politicians believe their own rhetoric, why did they not act last Friday to limit the public health damage from the Rangers party? Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf could have made a recording of his pious strictures to be released around 6pm. and then taken the rest of Saturday off. What did he expect in George Square? Community singing of Abide with Me? Ditto the First Minister who should surely have seen the need for containment within her own constituency? The lesson is that while it is easy to ban things it is within your authority to ban, a greater talent is required for seeing a bigger picture – and that is what they made a complete mess of last weekend.

Any of the fans that engaged in public disorder should face the consequences. But I don't remember Yousaf being so keen to press that message home in 2019 when his team secured the treble. I was unfortunate enough to have been out for a meal with my Mrs that evening - Timmy fans banging on the restaurant window, pissing on the pavement, hollering their IRA "folk songs", scrapping in the street - it was fuckiing rotten. There's plenty of evidence on YouTube of what took place that day - but, drunk and disorderly behaviour, public urination, sectarian singing, piles of litter the following morning - all these things that upset Humza so much, strangely, don't seem to be quite such a big deal to him when there's a green and grey colour scheme.

I have absolutely no doubt that if septic had won this year, the Scottish government would have bent over backwards to "facilitate the fans in a safe celebration of their team's glorious sporting achievement." Fans in the stadium, and probably a jumbo screen and stewarding at Glasgow Green.

Throw the book at Rangers, turn a blind eye to Celtic (or, failing that, Hibs will do). Make sure the harshness of your condemnation for any transgression is proportional to the number of Union flags on display. Pretend to be concerned about bigotry when really you're just defending your chosen side, playing goodies and baddies, and politicizing the issue rather than tackling it. It's a dangerous thing the Scottish government are doing. If you're partizan and outspoken on the subject of sectarianism (like Haggerty, 3 names) you're part of the problem. If you're partizan, outspoken and in a position of authority (like Yousaf and the selectively outraged tartan sinn fein MSPs) you're guilty of escalating the problem to a whole new level.

Well, he certainly gets my vote. On top of his appearance record, his two goals at Parkhead in October really set the tone for the campaign. Particularly the second which left Duff man sprawling on the ground with his head in his hands.

Oh yes he Can!

Playaway.... or Breakaway?

I tell you something; that Brendan Rodgers is some manager. Celtic could do worse.

VAR strikes again!

As long as they keep their mask on...

When I was wee a pack of penguins had all different coloured wrappers (these days the whole pack are red - wtf?) and apparently when they were getting doled out, I would only accept a blue one. I clearly had good taste from an early age.

That would make sense, but (if I understand correctly) no. If Chelsea were to finish 5th but win the Champions League, they'd get a spot along with the top 4. If the Chelsea or Man City win the Champions League and finish top 4, the champions of the country ranked 11 (Turkey this year, us next year) get upgraded to an automatic group stage spot. https://kassiesa.net/uefa/AccessList2021.html

It basically redirects your connection through one of the VPN provider's servers and encrypts it so that your traffic can't easily be tracked or traced. Also, you can kid on to be in another country if you want.