amms

There is a difference between being disappointed in the manner and motivation of his departure and never wanting him to 'darken our door' again. I was devastated when Brian Laudrup left and the manner of his leaving, I'd have taken him back in a heartbeat though, probably even now.

I've no idea what terms Ally is on. I think the point about redundancies is important, I can't speak German so I don't know if he made it in a snide way or not though. Other than Smith and Russell did any other non-footballing staff leave, I don't recall hearing of any? That being the case we are running an SPL size organisation in SFL 3. That's quite a gamble when you think about it. As others have pointed out huge savings have been made in player salaries so it's not like for like on costs.

You're viewing the situation with the benefit of hindsight though, at the time things were far less clear. Potentially he had an awful lot to lose back then, we still hadn't been accepted to play football at all. As for the making of him so far Little has proved he's a better striker than SFL 3 level, well we knew that already, he should manage to keep his international place because of the poverty of options NI currently have, beyond that I'm not sure 3 seasons in the lower levels of Scotland will be the making of Little. To be clear, I don't applaud what the players who left did and I wish they'd stayed. However, I don't hate them for it, I can understand why they did it and I don't think it negates the good things they did do for us both on the pitch and off it when they were here. I've not read any player say they had no choice, only a few explain why they made the choice they did.

There is a longer post to be written on the culture of football and players in particular. Undoubtedly money is a huge factor in this, indeed it is for most of us when choosing our employers, if we are lucky enough to have a choice. But to state the players could have rejoined on the understanding they could have been sold shortly after massively over simplifies a complicated situation.

So you think there was no communication between the players and the management or coaching staff? I've seen it reported that John Fleck tried to make contact with McCoist but was unable to reach him, I don't know if that's true or not. However I find it very hard to believe that those players had no contact with McCoist, Durrant or McDowall at all over the summer. I believe that those three could not and would not tell the players to stay because they didn't know what was going to happen themselves. You must accept that the relationship between McCoist and Green was strained until very recently? For McCoist to retain any credibility with players he'd need to tell them the truth, or a version of it, that he believed. Bloody hell until very recently he was telling supporters he couldn't ask them to buy season tickets because he didn't know what the future held. I wish all the players who left us well, I hope that one day in the future some of them might return. I think McGregor for example will return on a Bosman in 2 years time, I think that is why he signed such a short contract in Turkey. Our club was a mess, it wasn't the players who did that, the real vilains are still at large, your anger is misdirected in my opinion.

Bloody hell, his parents had a sense of humour. What did they call his sister, Maid Marion? How ironic he's named after a bounty hunter.

Guy Gisborne? Is that a joke?

He didn't claim to 'love the club so much' only that he's a supporter. I don't imagine it was an easy decision for him to make at 19, he says that much himself, indeed he might regret it in the future. I made decisions at 19 I now regret, thankfully no one is still holding them against me. I for one would welcome McCabe back at sometime in the future.

I don't understand that mindset. I've no animosity towards the players who left anyway but having read McCabe's explanation of events how can you remain so angry towards him?

Depending on their lease it can cost even more to close it. Whilst there is still a reasonable demand for airport real estate their shop is not airside and so less lucrative in the modern airport. Their shop in Sauchiehall Street is another loss maker, however simply closing it is problematic because of their lease, in other words they lose less by keeping it trading.

If that's what he's done someone should correct him. I've not read the article in question, I'll look for it at lunchtime.

How we react to articles or writers we disagree with is interesting. When Graham Speirs was at his most aggravating in the Glasgow Herald a good number of years ago I eventually took the decision to simply stop buying the paper. It wasn't an easy decision for me, there was still stuff I enjoyed in the paper but Speirs so annoyed me and to my mind was being accepted editorially that no longer buying the paper was the only way to show my disagreement. Today we've an array of options open to us when we read something we disagree with. Assuming it's online we can usually reply to it. If that's not possible then there are no shortage of forums and blogs available to vent our spleens on. Failing that we can simply do what we did in the 'old days' and not read the author again. The added bonus of the internet is you can be truly selective in what you read, you don't need to boycot a whole paper anymore. Leggat has been pretty consistent in his views on Green, time will tell if he's right or not. I'm unsure about Green, I don't like the populist speeches to the crowd or public utterances on all and sundry. I've no choice but to give him the benefit of the doubt but I'm pleased there are still public voices among the support being critical of him, even if I don't always agree with that criticism.

Hahaha! Having to explain why you've burst out laughing to your wife is always fun.

Turned on the TV last night and Sportscene was on. It was at that moment I realised I didn't know any of the SPL scores from the weekend, I also realised I didn't care either. More worryingly I thought the Hearts top looked okay (made by Adidas too!), even more worrying Hibs have got a darker, sort of British Racing green shade thing going on this season and it's not repulsive. No really, don't ban me, it's not. I mean it's still Hibs with the silly sleeves and the shit players but the shade of green is, well, different. Aberdeen have white shorts for some reason, they look like a works team who got a deal on non-matching strips, it's pathetic. I should take this to the Ashley thread, shouldn't I.

Who shows the Champions League in Holland, Pete? There was a time people in this country wouldn't pay to watch football on TV, times change unfortunately. From the outside I feel I've read a lot from the big 3 Dutch clubs complaining they have simply become feeder clubs for Spain, England and Germany. An increase in TV revenue would be very welcome I imagine, if the price for that is exclusive rights to Sky, they might feel that's a price worth paying. That being said anyone selling their TV rights for 12 years is out of their mind.

From what I can see McCulloch played 30 times last season, are you saying we failed to win over 15 of those matches? Wylde played in 21 matches, a 90% win rate is something like 18 games. I imagine McGregor played in most of the matches we failed to win last season, should he have been dropped for Grant Adam? Statistics tell us part of the story, not all of it.

That I don't know, sorry. He'll not be short of job offers though, they look after their own.

Apropos very little I was told last week that Lawwell will leave at the end of this season, apparently this is an open secret around Parkhead way. His work is largely done of course.

Welcome aboard.

That's a great photo isn't it. Italian footballers from that era just look menacing, no other country can quite do evil-looking like Italian footballers from the 60s and 70s.

A far too literal reading of that Zappa. Adidas make more too, they just shouldn't, even Kuznetsov and Amakachi are coming round to that now!

Hutton is one of these players who gets better with every game he doesn't play. Truth is he's an inexperienced player, not one I've been particularly impressed with in truth, but it's still too early to say. McCulloch is a great player though. He's the most experienced player in the team for a start, he's very good at breaking up play, he knows when to foul, when to mix it, wen to slow it down or speed it up. That's vital to a football team but not always noticed by supporters. McCulloch is also a physical presence, he plays a big role at set pieces, both in attack and defence and he's versatile, he can play in centre midfield, wide left or up-front. He doesn't lose concentration and follows instructions, managers love that. There is a reason that McCulloch has been an almost ever present at every team he's played for and under every manager and it's not because he's friends with them all.

Aha, the heart of the issue. Adidas make bags and tight t-shirts and vests for long jumpers and football boots and Samba and Gazelle. That's what they are good at, they should stick to it. Umbro don't. They make football strips. End of.

The Juventus and Inter Milan strips are okay. The Juve strip is iconic, it's kind of hard to fuck it up, but to be fair Nike would normally find a way. Inter I'm no real fan of that strip, but it's an acceptable version I suppose. A collar would help both.

So is tie-dye back in fashion then? Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a spoof strip? I mean it's like those dodgy versions you find in Thai street markets. My BB junior section team used to wear Barcelona strips, circa Cruyff late 70s, you'd have been ridiculed had you turned up in Springburn Park wearing that top though. C'mon, do better.