barcelonabear

He chose to be ambitious. He left a Championship bound club for a club with whom he played in the Champions League. Celtic were his only option for a move, the same way they were Paul Lamberts only option for a move, same way they were Kenny Dalglishs only option. Many a so called Rangers man has played for Celtic, many a so called Celtic man has played for Rangers. If they choose to come to our club, pull on our jersey, and give their all for our team, then they deserve to be treated as equals amongst us. The 11 players who step onto that pitch deserve our unequivocal support, no matter who is listed on their cv of former clubs.

Ally McCoist at his old gaff, makes a mean sandwich! The goalie, shouting at us in a bush in Spain for the Villarreal game... the next few days were quite blurry

Barry Ferguson and Wayne Rooney, to name two glaring examples, were only given their chance when Smith left. His reluctance to nurture youth has been evident throughout his career and he prefers experienced, solid professionals. You need to remember though that we were chasing ten in a row, and weren't producing the performances of previous seasons. So had he gave more game time to Ferguson and he didn't play all too well then the fans would have been on his back and it could have ruined him as a player like it did to the likes of Maurice Ross. As for Rooney, he was 5 days shy of his 17th birthday and it was as much about an injury crisis as it was the boys natural raw talent that forged the chance for Moyes to play him. Again towards the end of Smith's tenure at Goodison the team was struggling due to reductions in the amount of money being spent on the playing staff and so if Rooney comes in and doesn't play well it could have stunted his potential. Yes he prefers experienced, solid professionals but he's not done too badly with that preference.

The under 21s squads are usually very similar when announced, Stark seems to almost be trying to build a club mentality there. Also i'd rather Ross Perry was in there ahead of Wilson and getting game time, if possible, at a more competitive level than bounce games as it will only benefit us in the future.

It's £2 more than St. Johnstone need to offer as a reduction for a future fixture. Remember Dundee Utd charged again even though the second half never got going.

10,000 fans at ~£25 a head? If you notice I did say that I didn't think this was the case with St Johnstone today. I'm sure Livingston, Motherwell and Killie have spoke out in the past about this being the case. Wondering now when they will fit this game in as the league also has to rearrange our fixture away at Dundee Utd on the 10th of April, seeing as one of us will be playing a Scottish Cup semi that day. Thankfully though it won't go on during the week, seeing as the refs are off to Spain for a training course (scored a nice wee extra day off uni thanks to that!) Are you a ref? Interesting. All this aside there should be no room for excuses as far as clubs in the Scottish top flight are concerned. This sort of carry on is the reason we're falling down in FIFA and UEFA standards. Something really should be done. WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN! How dare you sully me with such a name! Nah i'm not, but one of my lecturers is an SFA ref and SPL 4th official.

10,000 fans at ~£25 a head? If you notice I did say that I didn't think this was the case with St Johnstone today. I'm sure Livingston, Motherwell and Killie have spoke out in the past about this being the case. Wondering now when they will fit this game in as the league also has to rearrange our fixture away at Dundee Utd on the 10th of April, seeing as one of us will be playing a Scottish Cup semi that day. Thankfully though it won't go on during the week, seeing as the refs are off to Spain for a training course (scored a nice wee extra day off uni thanks to that!)

How hard would it be for the SPL to phone round the clubs the night before a game and make sure they have switched on their undersoil heating when the weather forecast is to be below freezing overnight? I genuinely believe St Johnstone have just been caught out this time around, but clubs in the past have chosen not to turn on the undersoil heating as it would cost more than they would get in through the gates for the game.

Deals on the table for him but with all the uncertainty over the clubs immediate future his agent will no doubt be telling him to take his time to see how things progress before the end of the season. From what I heard at the weekend he's been offered £18k a week with a £4k appearance fee, so would be up there with the top earners.

I'm pretty sure McLean did get booked for "over-celebrating" on Saturday, at least the radio coverage on BBC Scotland mentioned that he did. As for Whittaker, I don't think it's as much leaving the field of play as it is going into the fans that warrants the yellow card, and big Whitty stops short of going for a hug with the bears in the enclosure. As for this gem "i dont think people should by any means be tarring celtic with the scotlands shame brush.our fans are loved worldwide and have never trouble anywhere" he is right, remember that time they never caused an international incident on the way back from a European game, and they never had to have a flight grounded in Cardiff. They truly are the most amazing deluded fans in the world.

I think Jamboross put it best "There's still 13 games to go, you're getting the excuses in awffy early are you no? I think you might want to look to a certain Mr. Mowbray rather than the (admittedly terrible) referees for your current predicament however, you lot still get your share of the dodgy decisions going in your favour." Seems their teams defeatist attitude on the pitch is contagious.

It seems that lot across the city have no rock bottom to hit, as they're continuous fall over "every1 been oot te geet them" has reached an all new low as they now appear to be seeking the backing of other clubs over the "heinous" decisions that have befell them in the league this season. http://www.hmfckickback.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=68059 *(note - I wasn't sure what side of the forum this should go on as it's clearly aimed at us, but as it involves them lot it may have been more for the general sport bit, so posted it here and will let the mods decide where it should end up)

The camera angle makes it looks worse than it probably was. Boyd isn't the type of player to throw his arms up intentionally at an opposing player.

ouch!

Nor the £65,000 they're paying Robbie Keane every seven days Desmonds actually pumping in money to them though to cover those wages though. Which only goes to show it was a Lawell signing. Their rich, Irish overlord hardly invests any money in them, unless he is going to gain a decent financial reward from it (on this occasion through short term projected merchandise and ticketing revenue increases). He was more interested in his share with Man Utd before the Glazers offered him some cash.

St. Mirren had their youth team as ball boys during the cup game the other week. Though that was probably because you couldn't expect the fat ones to run for all the balls that went over the roof of the stands and return by the end of the game.

Not surprising as they were so small that they were barely noticeable at the game. I was expecting something larger, though i'm glad it wasn't as that would be more of an embarrassment. "Donald Muir - the Rangers supporting, well thought of in the city, business specialist - get such competent people out of our club now" could we get one of them printed, cos having 2 enemy within banners, seemed like there were too few ideas behind this protest.

I've already got a tenner bet with my mate on that one!

Fishing for an answer or just plain daft?

What the fuck can the club actually do though? We haven't got money to dig ourselves out of this situation. A protest to show our anger at this will do nothing. The guy who got us here has trudged off away from the mess he's made yet again, though no doubt if it gets sorted like it did before when McLelland was chairman then he'll have no doubt about riding back in like some sort of white knight. The bank is not in the wrong to want its money back. The club seems to be doing its best to sort out the situation. All this protest is going to do is highlight things that are already known, and that have been highlighted, and potentially disrupt the focus from on the field matters. Which is no doubt why people at the club are only saying the bare minimum on the topic.

Seems Langfield is back to his Clangers days, though not surprising with a defence of Diamond & Mulgrew in front of him

You joking? He may have won the ball but he made the opposition player jump and fall, therefore foul. It seems to be the new rules for slide tackling . Soon tackles will be made like they are in touch rugby.

Sol Campbell was interviewed on Football Focus talking about his forthcoming wedding with Martin Keown (interviewer, not who he's marrying). Though they never mentioned whether it was to another groom or to a bride, so either he's openly coming out or... he's getting a beard.

I thought that could be a good shout for both parties earlier, an end of the season deal. Can start the week after they play us! May seems to be a decent youth coach but he's failed to convince as a manager. Surprised he's lasted as long as he has, fair play to the Falkirk chairman for giving him a fair whack at the job.

I also believe the protest was originally based on lies and on half truths, but do you expect anyone to believe the club if they came out and said it was all dandy without hard evidence. I dont. That is the point - it is clearly NOT dandy - but now we know its not D Muir who is putting the reigns on the club. it is a situation entirely of our own making and the bank is actually keeping the club afloat Muir is clearly just seen as a point of reference for the bank presence, I assume that coupled with the media lies is why most of the stuff is directed towards him. The club seems to be trying to say as little as they need to, so to try and keep the focus on the park where it should be. If things are happening behind the scenes we will find out about them if they come to anything, no point in false hope.