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We can't compete. We only spent £15M...

Excellent contribution on the McKinnon/McNeil debate from FollowFollow by the very knowledgeable MO_TxTruBlu. (How much of a transfer fee could Frankie pay to get this chap on here?) “Even today it is often discussed, sometimes hotly disputed, as to who was the better centre half during that period.Here is my take on it. Billy McNeill was a very good Centre Half, commanding in the air, an inspired Captain, a good leader, and he chipped in with a few important goals over the years. As a defender, he had his weaknesses though, he was often destroyed by the sheer power, strength and guile of Jimmy Millar and he was taken to the cleaners a few times, by a speedy two footed teenager called Jim Forrest. As much as Stein saw the leadership qualities in McNeill, he was smart enough to see his weaknesses as well, and set about playing the unheralded, but vitally important, John Clark behind him, as a sweeper. Even with all his experience and aerial command, McNeill (along with Jim Craig), could not prevent a 16 year old from out-jumping them both, to head the winner in the 1970 League Cup Final Ronnie McKinnon was an excellent Centre Half, a cool, composed, determined, intelligent player. He tackled fairly and often, he had great pace, and also knew when to kick the ball clean out of touch, to yon folk up there in the seats.McKinnon was very good in the air. He read the game very well, and did his job with precision, rarely exposed, he would collect that ball, feed it to Greig, Baxter, Dave Smith, and let them do the rest. It was Jock Stein (Whilst manager of both Celtic and Scotland) who gave Ronnie McKinnon his International debut, at the expense of McNeill.....and this was no meaningless Friendly, to bring in the untried, this was a must win World Cup Qualifier at home to Italy. The previous match had seen Stein go with McNeill in the World Cup Qualifier v Poland at Hampden. McNeill with 19 Caps had now fashioned Scotland's Centre Half berth as his own, having been selected in all of the last six internationals. Indeed it was McNeill who opened the scoring, after only 5 mins to give Scotland the lead and well on our way to England 66'. Unfortunately, two errors in the last 5 mins, gave Poland a surprising, and devastating 2-1 win. Scotland's next match was a must win, and Stein opted to drop his Captain, and introduce Ronnie McKinnon of Rangers, to International football. McKinnon did not disappoint, as he and his fellow team mates Greig, and Provan restricted the Italians to zero. It was John Greig who scored that famous winner in the 88th minute. Despite the competition around at the time, Billy McNeill, Jackie McGrory, Ron Yeats, Ian Ure, Frank McLintock etc.Ronnie McKinnon was above all of them, and would get the nod in 17 of the next 19 Internationals that Scotland played between that World Cup qualifier v Italy in Nov 65' until the WCQ v West Germany in April 69'. And lest we forget, He was very much a part of that fantastic Half Back Line of Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, that annihilated the World Champions 3-2 in their own backyard at Wembley 67'. Despite McNeill picking up all the trophies, and accolades during that period, there was simply no contest, as to who was the better Centre Half. After missing out on the Home Internationals in May 69', McKinnon returned to national service in Sept , and would start in all the next 9 Games for Scotland, between Sept 69' and April 71'. Once again he would miss out on the Home Internationals in May 71', as Frank McLintock, who had led Arsenal to a historic Double, for only the second time it had been achieved so far, that Century, was brought in. Scotland failed miserably, drawing 0-0 with Wales, losing 0-1 to Northern Ireland at Hampden, and losing 1-3 to the English at Wembley. McKinnon was back in the Scotland team for the European Qualifier v Denmark in June 71', and for the friendly v Russia. On November 3rd 1971, Ronnie McKinnon suffered a double fracture of the right leg, in a European Cup Winners Cup tie. His career was abruptly ended! During the time that both Billy McNeill, and Ronnie McKinnon were vying for that Centre Half spot for Scotland, the much less decorated McKinnon, won four times as many Caps for Scotland. Ronnie McKinnon collected 28 Caps, between 1965 and 1971 whilst McNeill won 7 Caps during that well decorated span of his career. Of McNeill's other 22 Caps, 19 came before McKinnon had played for Scotland, and 3 more came in the 72' Home Internationals after McKinnon was finished. Billy McNeill got 29 Scotland Caps, in an 11 year International career, from the time he made his debut in that 3-9 Loss to England in 61', until a much more respectful 0-1 loss to England in 72' Ronnie McKinnon got 28 Scotland Caps, in half that time, between Nov 65' and June 71'. They were both good, but McKinnon was better, far better!”

Liverpool’s victories at Newcastle and Wolves are the stuff of champions. But City have even more.

If Real Betis have a goalkeeper crisis then let’s hope we can exploit it on Thursday. But too often I think we find ourselves in games where we’ve barely had a shot on target for long periods of time & the opposition keeper is having an easy time of it

Have been saying for over a year that we should be doing our upmost to recruit Davie Weir.

Just let me use this stick to beat Beale, please. It's all I have left this season...

Brighton and Hove Albion are playing football that’s well worth watching at the moment

The xG shows this is correct.

Ah, this is the worst. Do the arithmetic, Ronnie was born during the Govan blitz. The Luftwaffe were hammering the Clyde shipyards and Ronnie's Maw decided the shelter were not for her or her newborn. Ronnie had it tough from. the start. Twenty years past and the RST was founded. We had our second annual dinner and Ronnie accepted an invitation. The accompanying programme for the bash had several old Rangers and I was tasked with providing biography pen pictures. I spoke with Ronnie and asked if he felt his time was 25 years too soon, given the contracts being handed out in the decade surrounding the turn of the century? He answered his contentment was to have played with Rangers and Scotland. I remember my Old Man returning from Lisbon in '71 and he had less than expected enthusiasm for Rangers progress to the ECWC quarter-finals. Ronnie had broken his leg during the match and Dad reckoned it was too high a price to pay. Ronnie remains a true Ranger.

Have seen the incident back only now and Maeda shouldered Cantwell aside before even attempting to play the ball, his injured happened in the leg-tangle afterwards. Dunno whether you can watch this snippet in Britain.

How do you quantify easy teams? Killie have beaten us and them this season. St Johnstone held them to a 0-0 draw at Parkhead. Are they "easy teams"? Livi are notoriously difficult to play against and we scored 4 goals against them. We matched Celtic and lost due to a dubious refereeing decision - how does xG equate for that? I'm not saying we are playing brilliantly, we aren't but I don't think it's as bad as some are making out. Said earlier in the thread people have made their minds up regarding MB and no matter what happens now / next, they won't change their minds.

Call it Out? Yesterday was the day after the night before. We had received a football schooling from Engerland and added to the national embarrassment, the wonderful Tartan Army failed again to show respect to another country and it's National Anthem. Further, the late Queen whom I believe was, 'Queen of Scots' was remembered by a chorus or two of, 'Lizzies in a box'. Our First Minister, Humza Yousaf showed his statesmanship by smirking throughout the booing and cat calling. Classy? PQ CSC need to act, this has to be put into perspective, amelioration is required. A BBC Scotland Producer decides the final arbiter on this issue is Angela Haggerty. Yep, that Angela Haggerty of Call it Out, Editor of Phil McFournames book, 'Downfall', whose son has Kevin McKenna for a Godfather, has an HND in Journalism from Cardonald College, .......................... etc. Angela, script in hand where the right type of bigotry and sectarianism is cloaked in euphemisms such as, "just rivalry" and, "cheeky". It is just too much fun and if we change the words George Orwell Newspeak style, then Angela, Susie McCabe, RAB Cosgrove, Gerry Braiden, Kevin McKenna, ......................... etc can continue to marginalise and demonise. There is hatred and then there is hypocritical hatred(sorry being, "cheeky"). According to Angela, everything is up for grabs in football "rivalry". Although Angela is on record as stating, "the only National Anthem I will not boo is the Irish National Anthem". Respect Angela! The build up to last week's old firm fixture at Ibrox had BBC Scotland in full on message to Peter mode. Continually emphasising the diminished factor of the fixture due to no Sellik supporters in the Stadium. Peter refused the offered allocation although PQ CSC were not keen to mention that and, the Green Brigade's contribution at the St Johnstone game ie, Rangers killed themselves and killed the fixture was, "too cheeky" because they unveiled the banners on the 66th minute. Angela was not invited to comment. Now, since it was Ally McCoist that raised the issue on the disrespect element whilst praising the Tartan Army for their rendition of Flower of Scotland, you would expect BBC Scotland to get Ally on as final arbiter? Well, that is most difficult because the former Rangers has not spoken to PQ for a decade. You see, BBC Scotland, the Producer, Martin Conaghan and, Presenter, James Cook all had to formally apologise to Ally after a recorded interview. They admitted editing the televised interview to intentionally make Ally look like he took the issue of sectarianism in a light hearted manner. They cut and spliced a joke at the beginning of the interview and placed that footage of Ally smirking at a joke, after the questions on sectarianism and bigotry. Hey, it's only cheeky rivalry by the PQ CSC.