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In my early teenage years, I played with Fir Park Boys Club . We were coached by Joe Wark and Sammy Campbell, and were part of Motherwell's official youth set-up. We enjoyed modest success, the fly in the claret and amber ointment in those days was Celtic Boys Club. National cup competitions ended when you met CBC, usually in the quarters/semis, by at least a three goal margin. Three dozen lads replete in green blazers and neckties would appear, all carrying the official CBC flight bag, desperate to pull on the jersey. Only two subs in those days, thus 13 lads stripped. Every one of the three dozen could walk into our team.Almost half a century later, I wonder how their ensuing 'separate entity' status fits? I was queuing for thirty minutes this morning to gain entry to a supermarket. The chap in front was perusing his mobile for a few minutes, then looked up, smiled, and asked if my left foot was still chocolate? We played in the same Fir Park BC team for three years. We discussed our constant disappointments, his were eased by a short professional career. We did the catch up thing, careers and family. He was semi-retired, having spent the last couple of decades increasingly involved in Hedge Fund management. Looking forward, he was anxious to take his grandson to Fir Park this coming season? We spent 15 minutes talking SPFL. There was agreement on the shambles that has overtaken the SPFL on line vote, and how damaging the continuing fall out will prove going forward. We got on to the Deloitte investigation, and again agreed it was another failed attempt to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet. Here's the nub of this posting, he went on to outline the extent of cross pollination that has occurred in the last twenty years, among Deloitte, Harper/MacLeod, the SPFL, and Celtic. Recently, he had an instance that is occurring more frequently. A client firm had dealings with Dundee United, he read the various contracts, signed off for United by a Laura McCallum, Head of Football Administration and Legal Affairs. He remembered the name from the past, and looked at the references. Laura began as an intern at Sellik Park, moved on to Harper MacLeod, before joining the Tannadice Admin' team. Apparently, Laura is Lawyer of the Month at the mo' and is looking forward enormously to getting back to Parkhead. I have spent this afternoon plodding through the net, to see if any other names jump out. The Financial Director at the Chamber of Secrets these last four years is Christopher McKay. His previous employment was at Deloitte. Another name screaming from Deloitte is Declan Lawwell. Anyways, a chat in a queue has thrown up an idea to check the extent and expanse of cross pollination?

Lots of positive comments though?

I agree with a lot of that. The Deloitte PR stunt yesterday was a blatant attempt to wrestle back the narrative from days of negative press and collective dismay at how the SPFL have fucked this up. When even the likes of Scrote are highlighting the limited scope of the investigation (basically "look at what we show you and tell us what we want to hear") then you know there is more mileage in this. The lack of any football right now has created a vacuum where stories like this are food for hungry jounro's. It's all they have to write about. In normal times, with games going on this would have been dropped a few days after the initial vote and Dundee handing in their updated YES vote. But now it's the one story guaranteed to sell papers and generate clicks and hopefully more than a few of the press smell blood in the water. They are no fans of Rangers, or friends to us in normal times, but they don't like the arrogance of the current crop at the top of the SPFL either and in the absence of anything else they aren't going to give this up. Ironically, I don't think there will be a better chance for a total clear out of Doncaster and his cabal. Large sections of the press would love to get their scalps and they sense something here too. We need to keep the pressure on. There is no football on the horizon to distract them and the likes of Euan Murray and Tom English have gone too far down the road now that if they somehow decided to back off they would lose all credibility. If Rangers can seem fair and reasonable and feed their agenda for nailing Doncaster they will keep running with this. Celtic can't counter it without exposing themselves because they have so much to gain from the current situation and the SPFL are on their own and exposed to a level of scrutiny and pressure that they never have been since Doncaster came in. I think the request for a copy of the SPFL's whistleblower policy was clever, because I bet it didn't exist before Rangers asked for it. The new EGM request is important and costs us nothing. If we get an EGM, it heaps further scrutiny on the SPFL and forces them to call in whatever favours they still can in order to vote a reasonable request down. I don't think for one minute we will get the 32 votes we need but we can get to a point where we can reasonably say we have tried every avenue short of legal action and been blocked from showing our evidence at every turn. Then it's time for court action and hopefully what we have from the whistleblower will be the end of Doncaster and his cronies.

They're the original virus. They enter every part of the national fabric and replicate. Before you know it they've overwhelmed the whole society and reduced it to a corpse.

I was thinking that when I read it and was surprised

Four games

I know and i've realised i have made a massive error in not including one of my favs David Speedie Although signed for Chelsea, I'm not sure if DJ played a game as Kerry Dixon and Mr Speedie played up top in nearly every game i think.

Good enough to beat you know who????

Don't know Leggatt, but that is a decent XI, well as long as McCreadie was not lined up against George Best. Here is a difficult one (difficult for me, at any rate) : An XI of Scottish players who played furth of the British Isles (so no 'He once turned out for Dundalk, etc); as you said, earlier, it doesn't have to be a good side......

The word in Gorgie is that Ann has reading up on what Gafferposted.

Aye. Doesn’t have to be a good team, right enough.

Ann Budge seems to be telling the players to take a cut now or contract will be suspended. i wish there was an option other than a temporary wage cut but after careful consideration it is the only way for the club to proceed with financial certainty. having paid the players’ wages in full for march, i have written to them today to request the formal notification of their acceptance of the temporary wage cut proposed in order that we can process salaries next week. i remain hopeful that the players will accept for the reasons outlined above, as the only viable alternative is that their contracts remain suspended under clause 12 of the standard spfl contract which means that they will not receive any wages during the period of suspension. to reiterate, this is the least palatable of the viable options available to us and even if this is ultimately the route we have to take, we would continue to be open to dialogue with individual players on a month-by-month basis. https://www.heartsfc.co.uk/news/article/chairmans-update

The scope of the Deloitte investigation is almost laughable but reality is that it will probably help the SPFL to persuade enough clubs to shelve the whole affair and get on with the crisis management surrounding C19. Hardly convincing it is not a difficult sell in these circumstances. Part of me now looks toward the existential threat coming into focus for football clubs, including our own and wonders why we continue on this route. If there was a realistic chance of getting 75% of clubs to vote in favour of a resolution for an Independent Inquiry, then perhaps but I don´t think there is.....What would happen after that ? Some of the posters who know about finance point towards an IMMEDIATE prioritisation and action regards getting costs as low as possible. As well as bringing in as much revenue as possible. Today we hear from Club1872 that season ticket renewal time is close. Perhaps our latest move does have something to do with the real priority, perhaps not. The still hidden trump card that could inject disinfectant into the 6th floor at Hampden, to clean it out so to speak and render some of what is written above as pish, is the Whistleblower evidence/dossier. Given what we have said, how do we get it out there if the clubs do not vote for an Independent Inquiry ? Would then going a legal route (if this were to be the next option) be feasible and give us a realistic chance of success? What would that success look like and would it be worth the money spent at a time of impending financial crisis?

Dutch season canceled with leaders Ajax denied title. Common sense prevailing. https://www.espn.com/soccer/ajax-amsterdam/story/4088830/coronavirus-sees-2019-20-dutch-season-cancelled-with-ajax-denied-title

Only one ex Chelsea player Compo, not good !

Things not looking good for the SPFL three wise monkeys Doncaster, MacLennan & MacKenzie. Even McLaughlin trying to throw them under the wheels of a bus. Their time is up. All three must go.

Another question would be: why Deloitte? I've no issue with them and believe they will act professionally. But how were they appointed? Who else was considered? What criteria were used to select Deloitte ahead of others? Again, from a reputational risk perspective, surely they could envisage being drawn into a shit storm of negative attention if they agree to perform such a seemingly skewed investigation?

The Scottish Government has now set out its plan to get us out of lockdown. It's quite simple really ... we will continue to have social distancing until a vaccine becomes available. As I've been suggesting for a while, this is a disaster for our club, for the economy, but most of all for people's lives (many more of which will certainly be lost as a result of this approach). Since this is a forum about our club though, let's focus on that. If the club is able to allow fans back into Ibrox, it is highly likely to be limited. By how much? By my own estimation, considering the 2m rule, we would be operating with an absolute maximum capacity of around 11,000, unless the club can fit Perspex separation somehow (which just isn't practical). This means that we need to reduce our operating costs by around 70%, with all other things being equal. For how long? Here's the biggest problem. According to the UK Government's chief medical adviser, it is unlikely that we will have one for another 12 months. And then how long will it take to make it widely available? My own guess is 6 months but that's perhaps optimistic. So, we can expect to operate with these restrictions on income for at least another 18 months?!?!? I am deeply concerned what this means. In some ways it doesn't matter because if this is indeed the approach governments choose to take, football is the least of our worries. In the future I am certain that our grandchildren and great grandchildren will look upon this time as the biggest screw up ever. China may or may not have created this virus, but it's our reaction to it that will change our lives forever. Unbelievable! Back to our club though ... we need to drastically cut back starting TODAY. If we wait until other clubs and businesses start, we will not get the same value for our assets. We need to be having pragmatic discussions with all staff and players to negotiate huge reductions in salaries. We need to be making all players available for sale, but in such a way that gets maximum value (I.e. managing the perception of a fire sale). Even if players don't agree I think we need to cut what is paid anyway. We may end up in court but you have to be alive to be summoned there. Actually the club has a huge opportunity here too, but,only if it acts right now.

I think Barry Ferguson was summed up when he left Rangers at the top of his game to be an average player in England and return to rangers half the player he had been. The nature of his exit from international football and his conduct during the le Guen era further enhanced his reputation as a downmarket ned.