Thinker

2 hours ago, alexscottislegend said:

Sure don't - they're smaller. Remember when we used to finish school we'd bomb down to the factory, climb over the wall and fill our schoolbags with the rejects till mum told me off, saying they were the floor sweepings!

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.

15 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Does 5th place not get a CL spot too? Chelsea or Man City are going to win the CL, so their (potential) spots are not needed, no?

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

1 hour ago, Blue Moon said:

For future reference, I can have a VPN through my Internet Security.  Can someone explain how it works.  I am not Tech savvy like some of you guys so no insults please.  Will I have to pay extra for it?

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.

1 hour ago, ChelseaBoy said:

Not sure that is a go'er for the same reasons put up by the EPL opponents of the ESL, in that the fans of Ajax, Anderlecht etc, would want to play their local rivals such as Feynoord and PSV Einhoven or Brugge and not want to play Porto or Benfica instead. Being quite tribal fans love to play their rivals for the same city or north vs south and in the EFL the games between any of the Welsh clubs and English clubs have great atmosphere having once been to a Cardiff v Millwall game - and yes i did make it out with all limbs !!! 

I'm not sure it's a goer either, but not for that reason. There'd have to be more than one club from each nation and I'm sure Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Benfica, Sporting, Porto, us, them would all make the cut - so plenty of opportunity for the continution of old rivalries and derbies. I expect Ajax fans would miss playing PEC Zwolle about as much as we'd miss playing Motherwell (which is to say, a minority of traditionalists would miss it).

For me, a move to another league isn't so much about ambition and chasing "success", but more to do with a desire to escape the confines of a badly organised, tinpot, and often toxic SPFL. Ideally, I'd like us to take part in a league where the other clubs are operating at a similar level, have similar sized stadia and budgets, decent pitches etc. and who actually try to play football against us. I've no desire to see Rangers ascend to Europe's higher echelons alongside the soulless, corporate superclubs, but I have absolutely loved our involvement in the Europa League since Stevie arrived. Playing games against proper, well-known European names like Rapid Vienna, Feyenoord, Galatasary, Benfica feels like where we belong.

30 years ago I'd have jumped at the chance to join a British League, but things have changed since then in England, and (like the other "big" leagues) the EPL has become skewed and dominated by a few clubs that have rigged a clear run at UEFA's prize money every year. I can't see how we (or any of the also-ran Premier League teams) could permanently catch up with Man U, Chelsea, Man City etc. without entrusting the club's future to foreign money men. Having said that, I'd probably rather be in Everton or Aston Villa's shoes than in the SPFL forevermore.

My preferred day-dream solution would be to see us join an Atlantic League or equivalent where we can escape to play against other teams currently "trapped" in smaller national leagues. I could get excited about games against Porto, Anderlecht, Ajax and the like, without feeling the need to sell our soul in order to compete.

5 minutes ago, Devil's advocaat said:

The cynic in me suggests that this is seems a very convenient diversion to sneak this jobbie buttie through unhindered.

I know what you mean, but it's easy to underestimate the bungling, amateurish incompetence of football's leading lights. It would be less embarrassing for them if this debacle was a cunning piece of misdirection, but it really does appear to be a straightforward story of greed and stupidity.

I wonder if there could be milage in forming an alternative "no dickheads" ECA. The "elite" clubs have been twisting UEFAs arm up it's back with this threat of a breakaway league for years, and now it's been faced down. And in pandering to them they've created a monster (or 12 monsters). Maybe UEFA are ready to listen to thoughts of fair-minded clubs who'd rather see sporting merit prioritised over dosh?

Nah, probably not...

9 minutes ago, Franc Ergs said:

Is this the same Andrea Agnelli that's just resigned ? .

There ought to be severe consequences for him. Up until a couple of days ago he was playing along with the Swiss Model plan, blatantly lying and all the while participating in secret ESL negotiations.

46 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

This new CL format, called the 'Swiss model', seems, understandably, to have been ushered in to little attention. 

 

It seems to me this is moving the CL the same way as the ESL. 

 

There are two spots left to the discretion of UEFA - to be given based on historical performance! It's a safety net for 'big clubs'.

It beggers belief that this grotesque carve-up wasn't enough for the ESLers. And despite showing themselves to be back-stabbing, lying traitors they still get to fall back on this fat reward. Once again, great work UEFA!

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/12282080/man-utd-liverpool-arsenal-and-tottenham-join-chelsea-and-manchester-city-in-leaving-european-super-league

And that's the end of that.

2 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

If these ESL are taken out of the CL, surely we have a better chance?

If these greedy bastards elite clubs were factored out of UEFA's decision making process, maybe there would be more support for Champions League and Europa League qualification being made more of an even playing field.

7 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

There's supposedly 5 places open in this ESL for new sides, but it's not clear how they qualify - CL winners, Europa League winners?

You'd have to assume qualification would be on the basis of revenue potential.

32 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Is it just me, or does it not sound as bad as it is being portrayed, at least from the initial reaction?  

It sounds like a better format than the revamped "Swiss" champions league, but the lack of open qualification is a turn off. Having said that the existing Champions league is already skewed in favour of the big leagues whereas this suggestion is skewed in favour of the elite clubs - not much of a difference from a Scottish perspective.

There's clearly still plenty of opportunity for a compromise between UEFA and their spoiled favourites.

Irrespective of your opinion of Tom English, this is an enjoyable and satisfying read:

'Rangers' Scottish Cup win over Celtic completes extraordinary Old Firm power shift' By Tom English, BBC Scotland

1 hour ago, onevision said:

Yes but sometime just sometime whataboutery is the correct path.

Was the term "Whataboutery" coined by Spiers? Whoever it was, I hate the word. It's most oftern used by arseholes to gaslight anyone making a counterargument to their bullshit by citing precedent.

38 minutes ago, Bill said:

If the abuse of Glen Kamara and Kemar Roofe shows anything, it's the pointlessness of pretending that a kneeling gesture will somehow buffer black players from racial abuse, or that those who perform the ritual will never abuse others. The problem isn't caused by not taking a knee, any more than it's solved by kneeling. The problem is a serious one but entirely disengaged from BLM-inspired rituals. There's a danger that knee-taking and other social signalling only provides a shield of false virtue for actual racists to hide behind. Kneel or don't kneel but don't pretend it has any positive effect on those who perpetrated racism before kneeling started and, the evidence shows, will certainly not now be dissuaded by the ritual of footballers taking a knee

 

Certainly, prematch kneeling in the UK is unlikely to reduce racism in Czech football.

Do they take the knee in Prague? Are players and fans in the Czech league routinely exposed to messages highlighting the harm casual racism can cause? If not (and I suspect they aren't) maybe they should be.

Some good chat on reddit:

Quote

The silence from St Patrick is deafening.

Why are we even contemplating letting Ireland carry on when we know it’s likely to generate a repeat of the scenes we saw today?

and

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You never see St Andrew fans acting like this. Never!

35 minutes ago, 26th of foot said:

So, four sentences that do NOT mention St Paddy's Day, do not mention green'n'grey/Irish republican tops, do not mention litter, do not mention .......... etc.

I live nearby and can attest that plenty of public urination also took place. (Which is weird because, going by the tone of the media reports / government furore last week, our impromptu George Square title celebration was the first time anything of that horrific sort had ever happened!)

3 hours ago, ian1964 said:

 

Plenty of Sellick taps on view in the gatherings I saw this evening. No point in trying to get their club to get involved - St Patrick is a separate entity.

5 minutes ago, the gunslinger said:

i saw someone suggest that if the winner already has automatic qualification then an extra country's champion gets automatic qualification and that should be us. Any truth in this?

it's true for next year if we keep Scotland's coefficient above the Ukraine's.

Helander for me.

As well as the goal he also made a saving tackle in the first half which, whilst not as spectacular as Greeg's save, was still crucial for the result.

53 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

 

Martindale just keeps going up and up in my estimation!

36 minutes ago, Uilleam said:

Further on, in the piece, the head of PlodFed brays,

 

"If the game does go ahead, we would expect there to be assurances from both clubs that there will be no repeat of the fan behaviours seen in the last few weeks”

The club's response should be a (leaked) letter:

Dear head of PlodFed

Given your dissatisfaction with the public statements, regarding social distancing / title celebrations, we made prior to last weekend's matches, we would be happy to do it your way this time. Please send us your recommendations on how we should address these issues and we shall act accordingly.

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere:

Link: Repair George Square Benches Accidently Damaged

Rangers Football Club celebrated their World Record 55th League Championship yesterday! For a football club to have come through so much and emerge to again become the Kings of Scottish Football is a remarkable achievement.

The Rangers Support have been with the club all the way and it was to be expected that there would be joyous celebrations to follow. During these celebrations, there appears to have been accidental damage to a small number of memorial benches in George Square. This, whilst clearly unintentional, is not something the Rangers Support would like to have seen done and as a result, we are fundraising to replace these benches as a true and sincere gesture of respect.

If there are any additional funds raised we will donate them to the Anthony Nolan Charity which helps save the lives of people with blood cancer and blood disorders. If you are aged between 16-30 you can also help by joining their donation register https://www.anthonynolan.org/8-ways-you-could-save-life/donate-your-stem-cells