buster.

Sounds like a way of getting the colt teams into the main league pyramid. It's certainly questionable if there is an appetite for this amongst all of the Lowland & Highland teams, some are ambitious, others happy where they are and not so keen to clock up the miles.

England v Croatia this afternoon.................... Winner of match wins group (draw puts Spain through) Should be a cracker but you have to wonder if Croatia will be able to summon up the physical and mental strength for another match like that of Thursday ? England firm favourites with the bookies.

Back to the football........ Excellent 0-4 win for Scotland and well done to Eck for shutting up the hyena like press pack, who'll head back into the long-grass awaiting the next opportunity. We go into the Israel match needing a win to top the group and qualify for the next stage. Israel will be fresher and having watched the game last night will be targetting Paterson down their leftside. We have some decent young players but they have a long way to go before they'll be able to compete at a higher Internationsl level. The positive is that at least there is something to work with.

The state doing the terrorising should change the relevant policies, if it wants no protests against them.

Good, it appears as though reports and Panucci weren't accurate.

The Sun running with............ Rangers star Eros Grezda major doubt for Scotland clash confirms Albania boss Christian Panucci The 23-year-old Rangers winger sat out training in Shkoder after picking up an injury earlier in the week. Panucci said: “Grezda has trained separately from the squad for the last few days. “I spoke to him and he still has some problems. Eros wants to play, but I do not know if he will make it. I will decide on Saturday.” https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/3501107/rangers-eros-grezda-major-doubt-scotland-clash-albania-boss-christian-panucci/ -------------------------------- Glen Middleton is missing from the Scotland team and bench for todays under 19s game against San Marino. I expected him to be rested but it's a surprise not to see him on the bench. He was subbed off late in Thursdays game, just hope he's ok. Hour played, 4-0 to Scotland, Mebude scored the first. Houston, Shiels and Kelly also started.

IMO Rangers are not a 'brand' as such, the more accurate term for this is reputation. Wrt football, only those teams at the very top of the game can seriously be considered as 'brands', ie. elite CL level with turnover into the hundreds of millions.

Into injury time and it's 1-0 to SA. Details are sketchy but reports suggest that the Yeman squad are all still alive at this moment in time.

Ivan Rakitic: ‘We saw Football’s Coming Home and thought: yeah, but you still have to play us’ Ivan Rakitic packed his bag, kissed his family goodbye and said see you on the 15th. It was early June and he was not planning to be back until mid-July, four days after his daughter’s birthday. His wife, Raquel Mauri, told him he had better explain, so he made a promise: “I told her: ‘Don’t worry, when it’s over we’ll have a big party,’” he grins. “And I kept my word.” The day Althea turned five, he was still in Moscow. That night he called, wished her happy birthday and said sorry: daddy wasn’t coming home just yet. He had a World Cup final to play. Belief had built early, growing with every step, a sense of destiny; by the time they met England, there was a sense of mission about Croatia, a kind of indestructibility. Rakitic says their opening victory against Nigeria got them thinking “maybe we’ll be OK”. Then came the hammering of Argentina – “we had to ensure the ball didn’t reach Messi” – victory over Iceland and two penalty shootouts, first against Denmark then hosts Russia. And that, he insists, “is no coincidence”................. Full interview https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/nov/16/ivan-rakitic-barcelona-croatia-england-world-cup-semi-final-interview

Rangers chairman Dave King has been ordered to pay the legal costs of his attempt to stop a contempt of court action against him............ .........The South African resident's own legal team failed to convince judge Lady Wolffe earlier this week that the contempt action should be stopped because the correct legal procedure hadn't been followed. On Friday, judges Lord Carloway, Lord Drummond Young and Lord Glennie ruled that King should pay the legal costs incurred in his failed appeal. The sum has yet to be decided but the judges said that King should pay an extra fee to lawyers because of the "complexity" of the case.......... https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/rangers-chairman-dave-king-ordered-13600313 ------------------- If I were a betting man I'd say DK will eventually be found to be in contempt but then that would be like me having a bet on womens football in Burma !

Currency has sometimes had a part to play in eventual conflict but this is certainly another slant on the weaponizing of money. An indirect weaponizing campaign being channeled on the back of a more direct and simple method. #Politics

As for degrees of bad feeling and ill will to surround football matches, today sees an International 'friendly' between Saudi Arabia and Yemen

The second half was just fantastic old fashioned football entertainment. Best 45 minutes that I can remember. End to end with two good quality teams who wanted to win the game, 5 goals, injurytime winner.

What is the award that Harold Wilson is handing over ?

Several of our lads playing for Scotlands under 19s tonight, including Middleton, Rudden, Houston starting with Shiels and Mebude coming on as subs, the latter won the penalty that Billy Gilmour converted in the 85th minute to win the game. Wales 1-2 Scotland https://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2019/matches/round=2000953/match=2023810/lineups/index.html?iv=true Group 4 Played Won Draw Lost For Against Goal difference Points Scotland 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 3 Sweden 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 3 Wales 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 0 San Marino 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 0

Why not just stop Scottish football instead of the 'self-harm' but get one over 'on them' trickle towards 'group suicide'.

Apathy is definitely the main thing hanging around the Scottish national team at present. You have a group of mainly young players, a time of transition but immediate expectancy levels from the 'expert hacks' in the media. Eck may or may not be the best man to take the project forward but the SFA would probably have less money in the bank account to afront another recruitment drive. Anyone wanting Eck out should suggest a viable and realistic replacement at the sametime. Between most parties involved (including a lot of the media), they seem to be pushing a downward spiral that'll do nothing to favour the prospects of the younger players who'll have to take this forward.

The Almunia double save at the end of the video is only half of that particular story.

I've seen too many great prospects come and go without leaving their mark at Ibrox to risk getting seriously excited. Contained anticipation with fingers crossed behind back is where I'm at

Middleton, who will celebrate his 19th birthday at the turn of the year, has a lot to his game and is showing signs of being able to perform at first team level. A young and hungry wide player who can create and finish should be encouraged with enough gametime to continue his development and if he is the real deal, he'll make the first team spot his own, regardless of age.

Borrowed this graph from another thread........ Why would the big English clubs want to leave the EPL ?

So much for collective spirit towards the cause. What you've got .......... - apathy and many players deserting a sinking ship - a lot of the media sharpening the knives for a manager who has been in the job for 180 competitive minutes, won one of them and has if the team play ok, an excellent chance of topping the Nations League group. - an Association with limited funds and options going forward You could see this level of apathy coming from a few weeks ago and I guess it's the International way of losing part of the dressing room. With a press pack that resembles a group of hyenas stalking a 'wounded' Alex McLeish, this appears to be only going one way and the only doubt is timescale. Can Eck prolong his stay and qualify from this immediate group ? Apparently a win against Israel would probably be enough, regardless of the result in Albania. However, if we were to lose in Albania, it'll be tin hats and ear plugs for the squad and players prior to the Israel match.

Being reported that given it's a first charge for the club re. delayed KO, it's likely to be a warning, rather than a 5 figure fine. It is based on the precedent involving Valencia (first offence) at Old Trafford earlier this season. https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/rangers/could-rangers-escape-uefa-sanctions-over-europa-league-tie-with-spartak-moscow-1-4829288

Jack was called up as an injury replacement on Sunday but has now withdrawn himself with a knee problem. DR Record say it's a knee problem. You wonder if it has something to do with his limited gametime of late.

As you touched on earlier. This rule is broken on most European match-days in some stadium, somewhere and it will always end up with a charge.