RabiDuck

Also worth noting, 5 games without conceding, very impressive!

That'll be the one! Sporting integrity and all that...

Quicker passing certainly, averaging a pass every 10 seconds.. with 85% accuracy. Positive!

No doubt thats going to be a forfeiture of the match and a 9point penalty...

Not sure that they'd quite fit in an all time greatest (and I don't have the benefit of quite so many to choose from, started following Rangers in '92 personally) but always had a soft spot for the likes of Boumsong, D'Archeville and Rino...

Because, based on our performances since Christmas, it's us that would benefit from the second berth rather than them. We're int he position now that we need them to drop points elsewhere even if we win all our outstanding games including the derbies...

Trying to understand the coefficient system and struggling somewhat! At present Scotland have 27,875 points and are 14th. We need to be in the top 15 for the second CL place. That's the easy bit. According to Wikipedia, points are awarded for various things, including 10,000 points for playing a game. Something doesn't add up here! In short, I think the situation is that if we outperform Copenhagen, or at least equal the performance of either Olympiakos or Basel, Scotland gain a second entry to the CL next season. Olympiakos play Wolves and Basel play either Salzburg or Frankfurt. I'm not sure I see both of those sides qualifying through those games so we have a very good chance. Of course, had Celtic done the business against Copenhagen, it would already be decided...

Reckon we could sign him up again?

I think so, but with a single striker there's scope to play 2 in behind him perhaps. A traditional diamond of LD,CD,CD,RD,LM,DMC,RM,AMC,ST,ST could be changed to LD,CD,CD,RD,LM,DMC,RM,AMC,AMC,ST and with Kent and Hagi in the AMC roles could be quite effective... Pete always played best in that kind of role and I think Kent could be very similar in some sense

Interesting, I've had similar thoughts. I see similarities with Lovenkrands in him. Plenty of pace and ability, but possibly wasted put out on the wing. BRing him into the middle and let him run at defenders and see where he gets to...

Bring a striker in on loan... Given the gaffers contacts and the state of the EPL currently, Mo Salah doesn't seem to have a whole lot to do any more this season...

I understand the theory, but if you ban debit cards, how exactly would you look to deposit? Banks prohibiting overdraft funds being used to deposit to gambling sites might work, keeping with the "no borrowing for gambling" angle that the credit card ban has started, but stopping people from depositing from debit cards seems unworkable...

The good news is I don't see much likelihood of either side dropping points until the end of season the way it's going. If that holds then it's down to the 2 remaining OF matches. If we can win one of those we should be champions...

VAR the way that the EPL have implemented it isn't working. However if it were to be used correctly for "clear and obvious errors" then it's much more viable. Going forwards I think it's naturally going to become a challenge system as in other sports, so each team (through Captain or Manager) gets a set number of appeals (say 2 appeals with an extra one at half time so 3 in total, plus an additional for games that go to extra time). Then you wouldn't be having constant VAR interruptions, a goal where the striker is offside by half an inch is unlikely to be referred except in desperation as it would throw away an appeal opportunity. Done correctly it should be possible to make the system work. Done the way the EPL has done, it's doomed to fail. Unfortunately for Scottish football it would need to have an intelligent implementation. Oh well!

Again, assuming that the vaguely remembered £5k figure is accurate, or approaching accurate, surely we can find half a million people interested in getting VAR in place in Scottish football willing to chip in a couple of quid? On a more sensible approach, a balanced contribution from all 12 SPFL clubs would be 95k per club. If the OF (being better off than others) were to shoulder more of the burden (say 25% each) it would be £285,000 to Rangers and Celtic and £57,000 to each of the others. Another option, the TV deal struck in 2018 was for £160mill over 5 years, or £32mill a season. Take it out of that! IF (and it's a big if) my £5k figure is accurate or close to accurate, then it's very doable. IF TV money was used for 50%, crowdfuning for 10% (from supporters) and weighted so OF pay 50% between them of the rest, then £171k for Rangers\Celtic and £35k for the other clubs... I know there's not much money in Scottish football, but we should be able to manage that...

I recall reading somewhere an estimated cost of about 5k per match. Across the SPFL that's 38 games per team, so a total of 228 matches. Gives a total of £1,140,000 if the 5k figure is reasonable (and it doesn't sound too off the mark I suspect...) Obviously we're not going to get big screens and everything for that, but a pitch side monitor, remote viewing office and some guys to man it plus cameras at all grounds sounds about right surely?

The Simunovic incident was referred and reviewed and it was determined there was no offence committed against Simunovic so the case dismissed?

It's certainly a tricky one, on the one hand discipline has to play a part and the form that Defoe is in makes it hard to argue against him retaining his place. But at the same time, Morelos is in the running for golden boot and POTY and as a club surely we should be supporting our players striving for such accolades?

Sebo anyone?

Couldn't agree more. The system that Rugby or Cricket uses is perfectly fine. The reviewer(s) look at the data and make a decision that they communicate to the ref on the pitch who then takes the appropriate action. Seems sensible to me!

"In October, linesman Calum Spence’s head was “burst open” after Gers fan thug Stuart McGaughay, 30, hit him with a coin at Livingston." "And we told how Mr Beaton called in cops last week after getting threats when his mobile number was leaked online following the controversial Old Firm match at Ibrox." Interestingly (or not!) a club is mentioned in one example incident, but not in the other. I suspect that it wasn't Rangers fans unhappy with Mr Beaton after the OF game... That being said, the coin incident at Livingston is unacceptable and not to be condoned regardless of the individuals affiliation.

Interesting question, but which (if any) Celtic players would any of us take in the team right now? I'm struggling to think of one, possibly Edouard as a second up top, but even then it's a stretch...

The bigger picture is the key thing. If you'd told me at the end of last season that we'd have had a group stage run of the EL and at this point of the season be only 6 points off the top, I'd have taken it. Yes there's improvements to be made, but we're probably slightly ahead of where I figured we'd be at this stage after the difficulties of the last few seasons.

Also worth considering that without a silly loss to Livingston (Sep 30) and draws with Motherwell (26 Aug) and Hibs (19 Dec) we'd be top even allowing for their game in hand. Those are games against (what are currently) the bottom 6 sides in the league. This Celtic side are catchable if we can just perform against the other teams in the league, we just can't seem to do that.

Agreed, but it's Christmas, let's allow ourselves a day or two of unrealistic optimism before they spanner us at Ibrox and it's back to reality for the new year!!