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There are 18 points to play for before the old firm game and we are currently 4 ahead so I’m hoping for a 22 point gap going into the game.

Compo did this last year too. He wants Rangers to draw or lose and Celtc to win. He's off his heid. 😀

Playing like they're in a "pub team" in December and then being sold for millions in January. That would be quite something.

We can put them in their place whether we're 1 or 10 points clear. Winning the league matters a lot more than a one-off match against that filth, especially this season.

It was a horrible tackle to be fair, how he stayed on the park is beyond me.

Cavaliers and Roundheads. We have to regress ten days or so, to Thursday evening 26th November. It is match day 5 in the Europa Cup group stages. The Jolly Craicsters toting bags of swagger are abroad in Germany, playing Bayern Leverkusen. North Rhine-Westphalia was braced for an invasion of rainbow themed balaclavas atop olive drab puffer jackets. Reinforcing the Green Brigade bridgehead was the Pacific Quay spearhead of Liam McLeod and Pat Bonner. The Clydeside HQ was manned by Big Dick and Tom Anguish of Angst. No Celtic lament is complete without the Blarney Bhoys singing descant. Amid the pyro' smoke, the Irish and Palestinian flags waved, announcing the presence of a Scots club about to strut the very epitome of AngeBall. The arrogant parade was relentless in a stadium barely a third full. Liam and Pat chorused the irresistible nature of Sellik's play. At half time it was 1-1 and Big Dick began with, "wow, just wow". Juranovic had dinked the cheekiest of Panenka penalties to equalise and Big Dick overflowed, "they have never won in Germany, with such confidence that could change tonight". It got better just before the hour mark, the sublime Jota struck to put the Cavaliers 1-2 up. Confidence was coursing both on the field and on microphone. Teutonic efficiency was being effortlessly brushed aside, "it's the movement, it's the movement" hollered Pat. A Waffen SS armoured Division had been stopped in it's tracks by uni-cycling, plate spinning horde of green'n'grey sword-swallowing, ball jugglers. We were told ra Sellik support demanded such an approach to the game and, "Celtic are easy on the eye". The Ride of the Valkyries is a refrain, a constant menace intent upon spoiling the party; and the screaming reached a pitch twice in the last seven minutes. All agreed, it was exasperating, so unfair and, undeserved. The match finished 3-2 to Leverkusen and ra Sellik were out of the Europa Cup with a game left to play. Big Dick checked other Group G results and announced, "Celtic have secured European football in the New Year, they will now play in the Euro-Conference competition". Pat is a lovely man, he is only required by BBC Scotland to talk about ra Sellik, a unique designation. He does not cover other games and sometimes comes across as unworldly, "ah hope the Celtic supporters get a big, attractive name in the draw". Here's hoping Dagenham and Redbridge will suffice? Big Dick then hosted a three way discussion on the rarity of away wins in Europe for Scots teams and the inevitability of endings such as that evening's. The show must go on because another Scots club was participating in the same tournament that evening, the Rangers - Sparta Prague game kicked-off at 8 O'Clock. We were told Rangers could qualify on the evening if, and it was a big IF; Rangers won by two clear goals and Lyon defeated Bronby. As usual, there was NO live commentary, NO updates and, no real discussion. Half-time at Ibrox was 1-0 Rangers and Big Dick announced the score and scorer, then spent the entire 15 minute break discussing Scotland's possible opponents in the next day's World Cup qualifiers draw. The match ended 2-0 Rangers and Lyon scored 3 in the last 20 minutes to defeat the Danes. Big Dick dolefully announced, "Rangers have qualified for the next round of the Europa League". There was no mention of the improved national coefficient, no mention of Rangers position in Europe rising from 216th to 41st in three years, no mention of Rangers Youths already managing two of those Hens teeth away wins in Europe this season, no mention ........................... Ah, life as a Roundhead?

My priority players to keep would be Kamara and Aribo. That’s not to say I don’t care about others but I wouldn’t like to lose either of them. We do need to start selling players and the contract situations of some are worrying. Morelos and Kent will both be going into their final year in the summer and we should be looking to get money for them before we have another Goldson situation on our hands. Fans always view selling players as a bad thing but it should be an opportunity to improve, the recruitment team need to step up and prove that. Celtic found Jota in the summer and have a set price to buy him at the end of the season and frankly from what I’ve seen of him he would have been an improvement on Kent. We can’t be afraid to take risks and use the transfer market to our advantage.

How we deal with transfers (in and out) may well depend on how we deal with the fixtures between now and the winter break. Maintain our lead at the top of the table then changes may be kept to a minimum (e.g. no Aribo, Kent or Kamara leaving). Lose that lead then either the board may wish to cash in such chips to not only help financially but to enable the new manager to bring in players he thinks could rescue the league. There will be interest so it's shaping up to be an important eight weeks for Ross Wilson and Andy Scoulding.

Callum Butcher's attempt at a tackle was worthy of a straight red. Rather than distract the Compliance Officer from his/her collection of Sellik DVDs, wouldn't it be better to allow Charlie Mulgrew, George Galloway and, Jum Spence time to sort Butcher out? It has the added bonus of distracting the three of them from screaming sectarian abuse at Kris Boyd.

I imagine it'll be Paterson we sell. Whatever we get for him will be all profit, it doesn't weaken the starting 11 and there seems to be genuine interest in him from clubs with money. Selling Paterson alone should put us into profit for this financial year and allow us to sign some players in January, albeit probably Bosmans.

Folks, when referring to opposition players (or just any other people), please don't use outdated terms to do so. I know none of us are perfect in that regard and it's a frustrating PC world nowadays but please use common sense.

I would convert these posts into a book at the of the season! I'd buy it!

The compliance officer role is due to the influence they continue to have within the SFA. Some incidents are selected similar other ones ignored. Kyogo should have been cited by now for his antics but hasn’t.Fairly obvious why.

I voted for Sakala, just all round awesome. Had he scored, I think he’d have been the popular MOTM vote. I like the partnership with Morelos, two complete opposites, but I could also get excited by a Roofe-Sakala duo.

3-0 up (7-2 on agg) going into last 5mins. Lowry, Weston and McKinnon.

Awful tackle.

If it's any less that 18 then I'll be demanding manager is sacked and all players sold in January.....

Eh?

I can hear db already when he sees all the posts - stick to the topic

one of the rightbacks is the obvious choice to sell. Barasic, Morelos could be absorbed too. TBH no one is so good we couldn't survive them going.

The offside rule has to be changed. Something to the effect of “deriving advantage” needs to be added in. VAR can judge if a player is offside by half the breadth of a whisker and the ref can decide if that player has thereby derived advantage. That’s a discussion for a different topic, though.

Agree with this. From the boys perspective, he is not playing for us and teams have offered good money for him and will likely pay him far better than us. If anyone comes in for him gut feel he is gone. Also the way Aribo is playing can see him going to EPL. The lower-mid tier of EPL transfers will probably kick start this winter now that things are getting back to some normality. A Watford/Leeds/Southampton for example could quite easily splash £15 million on him. Not sure we knock that back given his contract is running down.

The Barisic suggestion was an aside.

As I was watching the Villa-Leicester game, I noticed that there were three positions that were not doing quite what SG wants. The LCM kept dawdling on the ball and never won it back either - Kamara would slot in perfectly. Their two #10s were incapable of beating a player, to give them territory - Kent would slot in nicely. And, then their Full-backs were not as offensive as they need to be - Although Matty Cash would be considered a better player than Tavernier, I think the latter fits better in their team. (They had Ashley Young at LB too, who Barisic could replace.) If those three were to go, I'd be expecting £40-50M.

I think hagi and kamara might go and I'd expect 20 mill for the pair. I'd also get itten back. He got a re deal from gerrard in my eyes.

I think they give womens football more air time than scottish football

Aribo. He seems to improve with every outing.

Agree with this. Aribo the standout. I thought Alfredo's all round game was decent, but he seems out of form in the final third, although he is getting into better positions, even if he is snatching a little when trying to get shots away. Barisic looked more comfortable with not being asked to fill in as a winger. Felt he got his starting positions much better, and was less exposed on the transition where I've felt it left him stretching to get back at times, and then failing to stop crosses. In turn that meant he seemed more confident/aggressive, and hardly gave his man a sniff. Was really impressed with Sakala off the left. A more than adequate backup to Kent, and you can see the team getting used to how best to use his pace.