26th of foot

I believe the game has been transferred to Leuven, a town about 15 miles east of Brussels.

I was told this last week. Given the nature of his Brother's ailment, I suspect the family will be relieved his constant suffering has ceased? Still, brave decision by the player to play both friendlies and the season opener.

"and if it goes to VAR"? Saturday evening's Sportscene had Steven Thompson presenting, guests were Michael Stewart and Kenny Miller. The show's Producer remains Eamonn Donohoe. The titled words in inverted commas arrived at the dog end of conversation on the Edited highlights of the Livi' - Rangers game. We had just been shown a repeat then, a slow-mo repeat of Livi's long throw into the Rangers box in the final minute of the ninety. The blowing of the Referee's whistle occurred during the ball's mid flight; however, a pin balling of three touches ensued before the ball was turned into the net. Michael Stewart deliberately ignored the inconvenient whistle to end the discussion with, "and if it goes to VAR"? The edited highlights showed Colak's headed goal but it was not repeated and no studio conversation mentioned it. Livi's Australian left back, Philip Cancar being cautioned followed by another yellow card swipe at a Rangers player was not in the highlights either. Cancar being substituted with several minutes of the first half remaining was missed too. Livi' boss, David Martindale had given two post match interviews to both Sky and BBC Radio Scotland where he admitted good fortune with Cancar's actions, but Sportscene edited it out. Did BBC Scotland's Sportscene provide a true picture of the match in it's edited highlights? Michael Stewart was in the PQ studio during the game, he was the designated VAR man for the live radio broadcast. We were told VAR was being trialed on Saturday at Livingston but Michael made no attempt to find out what VAR made of Colak's headed offside goal. No, Michael had a narrative of plucky Livi' deservedly frustrating cumbersome Rangers. Post match on radio, Michael laid into Livi' Keeper, Shamal George in conceding Tav's free kick . He criticised his failure to move his feet, his lining up of the wall and, his lack of strong wrist. Clearly, Michael was frustrated and angry at Rangers going ahead in the game. Neil McCann at the game interrupted to say, "from my position directly behind the ball, I knew from the sweet strike the Keeper was not getting to it". Michael lamely replied, "it was not placed into the corner of the net". Saturday evening's Sportscene was broadcast just after seven O'Clock and Michael in the PQ studio all day had ensured his narrative prevailed. Now, we know BBC Scotland apologised, specifically because normal Editorial standards had NOT been maintained in numerous items concerning Rangers and Rangers supporters. In this light, the club contacted PQ and asked if a more objective view could be broadcast? Sunday evening's Sportscene was due for broadcast, highlights of ra Sellik's opening fixture and St Mirren against Motherwell being the main content. One of PQ's many Dandies, Jonathon Sutherland presented, with Leeann Crighton and Marvin Bartley as guests. We were shown Philip Cancar's two scything attempts at tackles We were shown a replay of Colak's headed goal, two graphic lines were imposed on the screen and Bartley felt that proved the Linesman's decision was correct? Thirdly, the Livi' long throw into our box was again shown but, this time Leeann Crighton mentioned the Ref's whistle mid flight and stated, "the game has been stopped, what occurs in the couple of seconds after would not be up for discussion. VAR would not be used". Again, Michael has made a complete Cnut of himself and the public broadcaster because he prefers to sit extremely comfortably in his preferred prejudice.

Total football - it's the Dutch way.

Going forward. I have noted in the preseason games and, in today's; that we find it hard to provide Colak with the necessary service. The still frame above provided by Ian proves two Livi' players were playing him onside. Andy Walker's silence, immediately followed by, "it's a tight decision" is his usual cop out. The timing is in the 58th minute and, that was sixth touch the first inside the box. Sky ran the half time stat' that Colak had 4 touches in the entire first half, all outside the box. I suspect Colak can become effective, we must work on ways to find him in the box.

Forty-eight minutes of the first half and the Livi' Keeper has NOT had a save to make. Twenty-five crosses into the box and none of those found Colak.

Sky reporting two items pre-match : 1. The pitch lines have been painted thicker. I cannot understand the advantage, perhaps other Gersnetters can provide an explanation? Maybe the fact Leigh Griffiths training with Livi' over the last fortnight is the reason? Reputedly, Leigh enjoys a thick white line or four. 2. Livi' have NOT watered the pitch thus, the surface will be even more sticky than usual.

The super-soaraway Scottish Sun are reporting Peter Lawwell has been persuaded to end his retirement and take up the reigns of ra Sellik Chairman. What will the Green Brigade say?

These last eleven years, the Ghost aka Ian Bankier has been the Chair of ra Sellik. He announced today that he intends to leave his designation on the 1st January'23. A Lawyer who worked mostly in the whisky industry, was plucked by Dermot Desmond to provide a buffer between himself and the rabid Yahoos. Ian took the job as Chairman in 2012 and stood up at the AGM to inform those attending that he attended a denominational school. Ian was cheered to the echo. Ian has not been overly taxed by his workload, ra Sellik Trust revealed his salary last year. He attended seven Board meetings and trousered in excess of £70,000. After winning 12 domestic trophies in a row, Bankier told the AGM two years past that the club intended to target Referees because, the Board felt they had not been treated as other SPFL clubs. Last year, Bankier criticised the Scottish Government; again, because ra Sellik had not received fair treatment during the Lockdowns. The shortlist of possible replacements include : Martin Compston - knows all the lyrics to all the hate filled songs. (Pray for)Neil Lennon - a real Sellik man. Tom Boyd - a Daftie but a green, white and, gold Daftie. Tommy Sheridan - a Sellik Swinger. Phil McFournames - a Yahoo who put the bile in Baillieston.

Three points, a clean sheet and, no injuries on the drastic plastic.

Refreshing to read sense on a BBC Scotland forum. I foresee an invitation to appear on Off the Ball?

Apparently, Glen Middleton is on the cusp of a permanent move to Dundee United. When he was Gaffer at Hibs, Jack Ross had Middleton on loan and they will reunite at Tannadice. I believe there is a modest transfer fee involved? I was impressed by Glen's pace and I thought away Euro games suited him best. I remember him notching a good goal in Villarreal. He made 15 appearances, scoring 2 goals for Rangers. In the last three seasons he has wracked up nearly 50 appearances on loan at Hibs Bradford and, St Johnstone. Further, he has been capped internationally from under 16 level to under 21 - nearly 60 appearances. Ryan Kent is a difficult player to depose but, I cannot think of Glen being on the Rangers bench in the last couple of years. As stated, he has pace; I wonder why we could not find the player? I wish him well at Tannadice although he has my every sympathy having to deal regularly with former University of Dundee Rectum, Jum Spence.

Thin Skinned RAB? Back in the mists of this thread, I did an article on the symbiosis between PQ's litany of ra Sellik and Aberdeen supporters. I used the Hippo and the Oxpecker to highlight the relationship(page 124). An acquaintance working in PQ at the time suggested 'Hippo' was a good nickname for Stuart Cosgrove - increasingly thick skinned. I thought the acronym RAB(Rancid Auld Bigot) was more appropriate because of RAB's long association with and usage of the 'H' term. RAB has never missed an opportunity to explain the derivation of the nickname for Jim Traynor preferred by PQ and Pie and Bovril - 'Jabba'. There is another symbiotic relationship, PQ and Pie and Bovril. Or is it? Just like RAB's thinning skin in his seventieth year, Pie and Bovril has been running threads for a few years on Sportsound, Off the Ball and, recently, 'BBC Scotland's Grovelling Apology'. The last one is already 13 pages and growing. Of course, the apology to Rangers and Rangers supporters being grovelling or otherwise has come about because Big Dick stepped down from Saturdays to the appointment of Kenny(the H-u-n)Macintyre as successor; nothing about providing the same service to Rangers and Rangers supporters that PQ has provided to every other License fee payer. On Saturday, RAB mocked P and B for labelling the apology as grovelling. Saturday's guest was someone with no interest in football, Alan Cumming. I remember Alan when he was a budding talent, attended the Kings Theatre in the late 80s to witness a wonderful performance with Forbes Mason as, 'Victor and Barry'. These days, Alan has joined Irvine Welsh, Martin Compston, Brian Cox, .... etc who live the millionaires life in the States but regularly continue to tell those of us remaining in Scotland how to vote. You feel for them, enduring four years as Trumptonians as opposed to experiencing the joy of existence here in the realm of Queen Nicola. I suppose it is the freedom of expression question? Make a satirical joke reference the First Minister and you will be cancelled whereas if you want to sing the praises of the IRA, do as Martin did, climb upon the Las Vegas stage. So, a guest with no interest in football appearing on a football show, there has to be a reason and a script. Drama graduate RAB obliged, when Cumming asked for the name of the guy doing those historical documentaries, RAB is cued to say, "Neil Oliver". Cumming delivers the punch line, "Aye, he's a fascist". Neil Oliver continues to live in Scotland and his advice on voting differs from RAB and Cumming, thus depicted as totalitarian with no tolerance. The next scripted act demanded Cumming play the 'straight' man. He picked a Yahoo's contribution mocking Rangers as winner of the week's competition and RAB provided the punchline, "ah don't think we're allowed to laugh at Rangers on the BBC anymore". The reason is Cumming's has a new production to sell, 'Burn' - a new take on the life of Rabbie Burns. RAB told of having already purchased his briefs for the Theatre Royal. He added, "looking forward to it immensely" because RAB prefers his politics to be totalitarian and non tolerant of opposing views. Tomorrow belongs to Alan and RAB. Like Neil Oliver, RAB has enjoyed a long term dislike of three Michelin star Chef, Gordon Ramsay. The successful Scot was visiting Auchenhowie last week and RAB hated the coverage. He wondered aloud, "has any newspaper dredged through his historic social media"? Clearly, a reference to RAB's latest protege, Susie McCabe who was revealed a fortnight past as an intolerant bigot in two national blats. It is Angela Haggerty all over again, but do not worry; Susie can pin that wee badge upon her lapel and, Police Scotland will say, "nothing to see here". Why does RAB hate such an internationally successful fellow Scot? I hear his lobster ravioli is quite wonderful. Sincerely, I hope those persistent, avarice sh1t chewing oxpeckers do not visit the sweating, farting Hippo that is RAB. He is becoming too thin skinned. PS I hope Neil Oliver takes BBC Scotland and Cumming all the way.

....... and Irvine Welsh says ........?

I remember my final year at University in 1978, the Underground was given the full makeover. The old red trains became the Clockwork Orange, every station was upgraded and, the Underground was rebranded, 'the Subway'.

Alarming - looks like Aiden McGeady has just been informed he is to be awarded another international balaclava. Livingston 1 Rangers 4 FGS : Colak.

Tie to be played either 300822 or 310822. Rangers v Queen of the South.

The Egon Ronay of Newton Mortgage should have a column in the matchday programme. I was hearing today, Black Rooster are intent upon taking a kiosk within the Stadium? Their Chicken Fricassee and Pol au Pot is only available to those with Kilmalcolm and Newton Mortgage post codes.

Talking of North east cuisine. Way back in the day, a fixture at Pittodrie meant arriving amid the grey granite at Noon. The Masonic club just off Union Street was a must and you had to be in early to get a seat. The freshest fish for lunch was available and I love fish; however, there was a member's wifey who did a pot of homemade stovies. They were served piping accompanied by a pair wholemeal oatcakes. A culinary triumph. In Lanarkshire, stovies are served with the outsider of a plain loaf. If Gordon Ramsay put Stovies avec oatcakes on the Amaryllis, I might give it a whirl.

Two sides of PQ. Friends again is the message. The new found camaraderie took a BBC Scotland cameraman and Journalist up the marble staircase and into the Rangers trophy room. David Mason welcomed both, introduced the Walter Tull cup and, told the trials and tribulations of the life of one of the first black players in British football. Walter was raised in a London orphanage alongside his brother, Edward. At the age of 20, Walter began a professional football career that took him to three clubs in England. He had a season at Clapham, three at Spurs and, three at Northampton Town. Meanwhile, Edward had been adopted by a Glasgow family, privately educated, he attended Glasgow Dental School and, became(reputedly) Glasgow's first black Dentist. In 1914, Walter signed for Rangers because he wanted to be closer to his brother. World War One intervened, Walter joined the Middlesex Regiment and, Edward the RAMC. Edward survived the conflict and married a Glasgow girl. Sadly, the now commissioned Walter fell in the Spring of 1918, thus never played for our club. In 2003, the Rangers Supporters Trust put up the Walter Tull Trophy to be contested by Rangers and Spurs each time they played a challenge match. It is a story worth telling and remembering and well done BBC Scotland for helping get the story out there. Susie McCabe? Susie McCabe's name has appeared frequently on this thread, she is a most regular guest on RAB Cosgrove and Tam Cowan's Off the Ball. She ticks RAB's boxes, - hates Rangers and Rangers supporters, Sellik supporter, big supporter of Scottish independence, near Dennistoun neighbour, Lesbian, Stand Up Comedian .............. etc. Susie is under RAB's tutelage, just like Angela Haggerty back in the day. RAB will help make Susie mainstream. She has already appeared on BBC's Question Time. Like Angela, Susie has a social media sectarian past. Of course, Susie can be assured Angela will NOT 'Call it Out'. Susie is addicted to the 'H' term, her Twitter feed was littered with accusations. Her latest is that Murdo Fraser MSP is a member of the Orange Order and celebrates the 17th century. Murdo's crime was to celebrate Tuesday's pre-season win over West Ham. Susie's hatred is her comfort blanket; last year at the Euros, she was booked to do her routine at the Glasgow Green FanZone. It was midweek, a quarter-final not involving England and of 200 tables, only a dozen were occupied. Susie died, came off stage to the sound of her own brogan footsteps and, Tweeted - "hard gig, thanx H-u-ns". Susie does not care for the fourth estate, in justifying her refusal to purchase a newspaper she Tweeted, "the fall of Der H-u-n proves how sh1te the Scottish media are". However, we know BBC Scotland will persevere because Susie's hatred is in the right place. Susie's 50 H-u-n a day habit is no different from RAB, Angela, Chris and Connie, .............. etc; she will continue to get the PQ gigs to allow them to condition her to hate more carefully. If you are unfortunate enough to ever find yourself a victim of Susie's interpretation of entertainment, i suggest you make a determined effort to find something marginally more humorous such as Janey Godley or a burning orphanage.

The latest Ofcom figures have just been released and they are not good reading for the PQ gang Hut. Figures for 2022 reveal less than 15% of those over the age of 16 years access their news from BBC Scotland. The figure for 2021 was 24%. This means the Pacific Quay based channel is ranked below BBC Radio 2, Channel 4 and, Instagram. Further, BBC Scotland now lads considerably behind BBC 1, ITV and, SKY. BBC Scotland's own former Lawyer, Alistair Bonnington has lodged a complaint with Ofcom reference his former employer and he claims the reason for such a drop in viewing and listening figures is because the station has become slavishly biased towards the SNP. Another former employee, Editor Tim Luckhurst stated, "it is becoming harder to justify the deployment of License Fee payers' money to finance BBC Scotland's dedicated Scottish news output". I suspect this is a go at PQ's flagship show, 'the Nine' which has already recorded viewing figures lower than 10,000?

Cheers mate, appreciated.

Could I request one of our Admin' post the full BBC Scotland apology and admission on this thread for continuity reasons? Thank you.

Devil's Advocaat, You are correct in saying, "I don't think we exactly win"; however, I think Compo is also correct in paraphrasing Rangers are not the winner. Seven years, BBC Scotland deliberately took Rangers supporters License Fees and provided a much lesser service to the Rangers support. They knew elderly, infirm, hospitalised and, Gers fans in remote areas had little or no access except through the national broadcaster. Pacific Quay laughed up their sleeves, taking their substantial salaries(part paid by our payment of license fees) and triumphantly celebrating their on going preferred prejudice. During the last four years, BBC Scotland did NOT speak once to a major world football figure, Steven Gerrard because he managed Rangers. PQ is half a mile from Ibrox. In the same period, they provided NO coverage to Rangers winning the Premiership(title confirmed after St Mirren defeated at Ibrox) and, failed to provide any live commentary for anyone of nearly 40 home European games. Of course, there was another narrative propagated by BBC Scotland. Their reporter was intimidated and barred from Ibrox. Chris McLaughlin lost his Press privileges due to constant lack of objectivity whilst reporting on Rangers. BBC Scotland promoted Chris twice, he is BBC Scotland's 'Sports News Correspondence'. Again, in part we paid for his corresponding increases in salary and conditions. I welcome BBC Scotland's admission of failure to apply objective Editorial standards and accept their apologies but, they have NEVER and will NEVER do to another club what they did to our club and support.

That is a photograph.