Capital Blu

I'm not sure that the payments in the qualifying rounds are cumulative. I think the payments stated above are the total amounts paid to the losers in each qualifying round, so if you lost in the 3rd qualifying round you would receive £206,000 (€235,000) and that's it. You would obviously also benefit from match day income for each home tie. I think that you can also negotiate your own broadcasting fee for the qualifying rounds as the market pool doesn't kick in until the group stages.

That's the obvious conclusion. It's the same Board who were quick enough to say that they couldn't reduce celtic's allocation at Ibrox.

I certainly rate Middleton. I saw him play for Scotland in an U19 game earlier this season and he was Scotland's best player. He strikes me as being similar to Ryan Fraser at Bournemouth, not the biggest, but still strong, quick, direct, and with an eye for goal.

You should get an idea of Club1872's actual admin costs when their accounts (to 30/06/17) are published in the next few days. They have been lodged with Companies House, but have still to made available to the public. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC476150/filing-history

I watched him play for Scotland U19s against France a few months ago. He was Scotland's best player. I'd describe him as a Ryan Fraser type. Quite short, but still strong, quick and with an eye for goal.

He's a decent player in a winning team, where he can keep the ball moving, linking play and creating chances, however he can't defend, nor is he able to roll up the sleeves and win the physical battles when it's required.

I did go to the Oriam today to watch the U15's and U17's. I watched the first half of the U17s (ht. 1-1) and the second half of U15s (ht 0-0). It looks like I should have watched the games the other way round. Rangers were the better team during the first half of the U17s in terms of possession and territory, but Hearts had the better chances with Nicky Hogarth making a couple of sharp saves. Hearts went ahead in the last minute of the half when the Rangers defence misjudged a long ball leaving the Hearts striker with a clear run in on goal. However Rangers hit back immediately when Zack Butterworth cut in from the right wing and scored from a tight angle. I was told that the first half of the U15s game had been pretty dire, spoiled by a strong cross wind. Hearts were the better side for the first half hour of the second half, with better movement and pace, and scored their three goals in quick succession. The third was a screamer from 25 yards into the top corner. Rangers finally got their act together in the last 10 minutes, earning a penalty which was well saved by the Hearts keeper, then scoring a consolation goal in the final seconds of the game.

Prices should be in the £28/£30 range as Hearts are selling them at those prices.

Graeme Souness lived a couple of streets away from me, followed by Mo Johnston in the same house. Craig Gordon lived on the other side of the same street when he was at Hearts.

Davie White, perhaps not statistically the worst, but when it was bad it was really bad, e.g 4-0 to them in the cup final and home and away defeats to Gornik Zabrze

Hearts will want every penny they can get from the game. They will have to pay and rental fee and their new stand is over budget. On a separate issue, the SFA's lease on Hampdump is due for renewal in 2020. It might work out as a rehearsal for moving the national stadium to the capital.

The last full year accounts indicated that the first team wage bill for 2016/17 would be £10.3m. That sort of figure doesn't leave much for recruitment from ST revenues.

Rangers have been given 3.785 coefficient points for next season, being Scotland's basic seeding figure. Although it has still to be confirmed, it looks likely that the club will be seeded in QR1, but unseeded in QR2. It is likely that the first round opponents will come from northern Europe, e.g. the Baltics, Iceland, Wales or Ireland. Thereafter the standard will rise and second round opponents could come from higher ranked countries like the Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece etc., so the route to the groups will be pretty difficult. It's worth keeping an eye on Bert Kassies site as it is updated with teams as they qualify over the next two or three weeks.. https://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/seedel2017.html The first round draw is on 19 June, with the ties played on 29 June and 6 July.

Fod trying his best to stay out the way of the shot. Poor!

The accounts have now been received by Companies House, but can't be viewed/downloaded as yet. They will probably be accessible from tomorrow.