buster.

Barton has obviously been brought in to play and that's understandable but I hope Rossiter get's a fair crack of the whip. The XI who started against Burnley last year also started a week later against Hibs. More options this year but I'd imagine the starting line-up this weekend will show us what MW is leaning towards.

Over in the Metropolis of FF, there are over 1500 on the Larsson thread

I couldn't see the seedings plan for the 2nd round in the competition R&R last week. Going away from the usual emphasis on League positions from the previous season would suggest they wanted to add another change to a revamped competition and see how it worked out, we'll see. Given how things are at the moment, we may find East Fife (a team with an excellent League Cup tradition) and Morton in amongst the seeds.

I think what McLaren is involved in does the nation far more good than any SFA efforts of trying to find/produce quality players that if truly good would be gone from the Scottish game before they were out of their teens and with a team who didn't always prioritise his football at International level. The authorities should be looking to provide places for all people to play football or any other sport. Trying to produce elite footballers should be down to the clubs.

When we get back into Europe, it's most probably going to be a tough route through to any group stage given we'll be in the unseeded half from the off. Although there may be changes to competition formats soon, which if anything will make it more difficult to get to a stage where serious money can be made *. * Remember the days (a longtime ago) when it was only about the results for the fans.

I had a quick scan and couldn't see anything either. When seeding has been used it usually reflects league placings from the previous season.

Fighting against the financial downsizing of the Scottish game is like swimming against the tide. The money flow is ever greater towards the larger leagues and we'll see what the next changes to the CL bring regards potential access to decent money. The provincial clubs really have to assume this and get on with it. Ourselves and Celtic will look towards other options if they ever come along. Meanwhile, it's about doing what we have currently embarked upon regards an excellent 'value for money' football infrastructure.

As Rangers were voted down into the lowest senior tier there was a 'noise' made that Scottish football didn't need a strong Rangers. It was a counter to some of what was said by the governing bodies at the time, warning of 'armageddon'. The supporters of other clubs would thereafter ridicule the armageddon reference as they pointed to what were and what they perceived as positives. This included pointing to an exciting game with lots of goals, despite the 'A' word having been used regards the financial. There was no objectivity amongst other fans as they always needed to make the point that Rangers weren't being missed and would use selective evidence to this end, including evidence that didn't really have anything to do with the issue that had been twisted to suit. I think I saw one reasonably objective article where David Low went into some detail how Scottish football was financially in a bad place and his main audience didn't like it one bit. Bottomline this has simply been another aspect of the partisan debate or hatefest which has featured in.... 'The bitter within the Rest of Scottish Football ...v... Rangers'. It's more an unhealthy and dangerous 'hatefest' that has developed and one which has left us as the easiest to point the finger of blame towards. We'll have to wait and see what the SFA do wrt the SCF aftermath to get an idea on the current governing body view. The problem with hate manifesting itself is that the sides get more polarized and less likely to see any reason or look for any compromise. Now whilst Rangers have never been loved by the rest of Scottish football, the present situation is more dangerous (in various ways) than I've ever know it. As for the football, Scottish provincial sides in Europe have been little more than summer canonfodder for a longtime now.

Good news ! You'd imagine that he'll make a scoring debut on Friday

If agents hadn´t had a hand in those stories I´d be very surprised.

After Dumbarton last season, I'd have hoped that he'd have been sent to a top tier team and been good enough to get a game. I guess we can think of Charlie Adam and his loan spell at St.Mirren when he helped them win the second tier and hope Walsh regularly starts and improves markedly. After the loan spell at St.Mirren Adam returned and did well under PLG.

Idiots abound but it wasn't what Hibs fans did.

You had three blatant handballs within 5 minutes, all missed. Second was probably seen but ref decided to even things up after chat with McGhee, then to top it off he didn't give blatant penalty. Rusty in first half. Goal gave us confidence to start playing a bit but still rusty up top bar Waghorn finish. Liked determined directness of O'Hallaron (gives us a different option). McKay is simply our best player, period. Windass looks promising. Kranjcer needs more games but did ok. Win allows breathing space regards treating the next three games as League prep. ps. East Fife beat Dundee on penalties

Tav the first Waghorn the second as per last season

O'Hallaron is looking the part !

Moult is getting closer....need the second.

Like last season Tav gets the first goal.

'Pre-season' rustiness very evident. Far too early too start moaning.

'Daft' and 'Scottish football' often go hand in hand.

Have I missed an abvious reason as to why there is no number 7 ?

The bottomline intent is the opposite of constructive.

Good news and it will hopefully help settle squad as the games approach. ---------- The TavWag angle is obviously not a "non-story" and is what will always happen at football clubs. Their agent(s) may have been responsible for getting it into the press last week.

Lessons Learned Last Week 1. Mr Craig should listen to Mrs Craig on football related matters. 2. Prime Minister's now know that they can do what they want and no action will be taken. 3. When predicting football matches you should use your judgement, make your call, then reverse it.

Finally thanks to Rousseau for taking the time to run a good competition.

Cracking goal. Glad to see tha Portugese win something. Will give a bit of happiness to a country who have had a tough time.