buster.

The political atmosphere within the Scottish game is difficult with pressure groups (eg. SFM website, Res.12) pushing for real measures to be taken against Rangers and encouraging a general attitude of alienation towards our club from all other fans. What is being pushed for is similar to 2012 and a threat amongst supporters not to buy ST's so as to put pressure on the respective boardrooms at their clubs. Within our own club you also have a difficult dynamic with many of the support not at all interested and often hostile to any concilatory noises coming from Rangers towards anything else to do with Scottish football, including other clubs, governing bodies, MSM etc. The hope will be that once next season gets underway it'll be business 'as normal' when it settles down after some initial grudge games / ST's are renewed / other moments ..........that work some of the bad feeling out of the system. So until some more time has passed I doubt much will change. But I don't think it constructive to maintain a 'cold-war' footing with all and sundry for very long and efforts will need to be made on our behalf to break some ice and remove some of the fuel that keeps the Celtic-Minded from aggitating and recruiting other fans into their Rangers hating cabal. The time to make such moves are when the team are being successful. If on the field we can change and become a team that other 3rd parties will note for an exciting brand of football and want to follow then it would make sense to become a club that easily attracts the neutral rather than making it easy for the extensive network of Celtic-Minded aggitators to push their calculated and often co-ordinated poison.

1. 2015/16 isn't yet finished 2. No Speculation doesn't mean it isn't happening

The difference Europe would make is that MW has already stated the need for '1 or 2 more' if we were to qualify. Perhaps players with experience such as some linked these past few days. However qualifying for Europe may actually mean we play the same number of or less games because we wouldn't play the 4 LC group games. We'd be unseeded in the first Euro qualifier and we'd have quite a few new players to bed-in quickly so there would be no guarrantee of progress.

This is in some ways would be a similar type of target to that of the old days. In fact I'm sure we were previously linked with him. It'd be fair to say that the success-rate for this type of signing was poor with a lot of money being wasted but at the sametime there were some that proved to be excellent business. Hopefully the more professional looking football operation will mean we get a lot more right than we get wrong.

Mibbes aye mibbes naw.........we can predict this and that but we won't know until Conrad Logans Maw starts singing.

I said the same prior to the semi-final but we did 'ok' ! Ironically I think Hibs will ask more questions of us than Celtic did.

With a return to the heady and sometimes bizarre days of abundant transfer speculation I'd almost forgot about the SC Final !!! McKay, Waghorn and Miller is an excellent front three to start and IMO we'd only miss Forrester as a decent option from the bench. That said, you could argue that against Dundee our football was better, quicker and more incisive with HF in and MW sat in the stand. Midfield is where Hibs can be fairly strong and this is where they'll be looking to dominate. We'll miss Ball but we've had three weeks to work on how the midfield will shape up. Tend to think that Hibs will be up for it and physical tiredness won't come into it. In 4 of the 5 matches against Hibs, they have scored the first goal early into the game Stanton, 14mins Cummings 11 Cummings 23 Cummings 5 Twice we came back to win the game 2-6 and 2-4. If Hibs are going to tire it'll be mentally and we don't want to let them get ahead this time. Without Ball it'll be difficult to keep it tight so you'd expect another game with at least three goals in it, probably more. I think it will be a cracker of a football match and it's there for who takes their chances and get it right on the day.

Taking into account the young lad from Liverpool and it is plain that he fully trusts his staff (McParland), which is healthy and shows that personel are hired with an eye to adding real value.

Last season Barton was voted as best player in a team that earned direct promotion to the EPL, so regardless of character the player comes with recent pedigree. In Frank McParland we have a man who knows Barton and probably helped bring him in at Burnley and watched the player be successful.

Friday was a 19 year old scouser and now Saturday has a 33 year old scouser knocking at the door. For a number of reasons can't say I'm too keen on Barton but the present football operations success rate re. signings makes you have doubts about your own doubts.

Less than 9,500 fans at the three games ( @ Kilmarnock, ICT and Partick) Killie lost 2-4 in front of 2,700 If they lose the play-offs they may not be in the top tier for a long time.

It'll be worse on the M8 ! --------------- I'll probably be a long way away in front of a computer.

It was more the revolting players at Celtic !

The day I take as read claims from The Daily Mail will be a cold one in hell. That said, we'll have had to offer a rounded package that was attractive to the lad and I doubt he'll be on peanuts but would hope that the more substantial financial rewards are tied in with performance and possibly a percentage of any profit made on him.

'Same difference'

I watched from about the 20th minute to HT then from the 65th minute to the end and during that time Hibs should have put the tie out of sight. They just don't seem able to finish a job. That isn't to say next week is cut and dry. It'll be about us and what we do, ie. if we turn-up and play as we can then we should win.

We are supposed to focus on welfare junkies and immigrants gorging on our public services and cash #DailyMailetc Don't mention the costs, losses and collatoral damage that comes from creative lawyers, tax advisors, accountants alongside fraudsters and supposedly respectable banks and corporations. There is a general lack of accountability for 'the suits' that is hard-wired into the system. ------------------------------------------- Difficult to comment on the specifics re. Grier and Witney as there is no accompanying detail. If Greir was unaware of what was going-on, I'll eat my bunnet.

Aswell as being badly flawed and discriminatory against football supporters it is now an embarrassing disgrace of legislation that is extremely difficult to police and publicly ridiculed by the judiciary. Not surprising that Spiers was a proponent of it when he acted as a consultent/witness in front of Parliment.

Will have nothing to do with Ashley's one-sided commercial and retail deals.

Perhaps one season isn't enough to make judgements from but it was certainly noticeable that we didn't seem to suffer from injuries as much as in other seasons. In fact, I'd say it's the best single season I've ever known regards number of missed games. I go on a lot about the footballing infrastructure but injury preventation and treatment are an important part of it, especially when the stated policy is to go with a squad light in number. What we seem to be seeing is co-ordination through-out the footballing operation and a joined up strategy that hopefully allows us to make the most of what we can afford. We still need to be patient and realistic because this IMO is the only type of strategy that will allow us to achieve close to sustainability and be successful. ie. calls for inflated warchests when defeats come our way are reactionary and simply not viable or the way to go.

Glad to see that we'll be developing him as our own player. Much more constructive than a loan. On the face of it this would be McParland directly adding value within the improving footballing infrastructure. Thereafter, it's about the coaching and the individual taking his opportunities. Encouraging signs........

Thompson will struggle to get anywhere close to a good deal when trying to sell his shareholding in the club. He's a lame duck, swimming against the tide and desperately in need of a sale. I'll offer a fiver........

McCoist was manager at a particular and complicated juncture in our history and unfortunately only compounded what was a general omnishambles both on the field, within the football operation and financially. He will never manage a football club of any standing again because he simply hasn't 'got it'. To argue his case is akin to being a member of the 'Flat Earth Society'.

Nothing will come easily and yes, you'd imagine that he will have contingencies in mind. However, the facade that was presented about Ashley, his wonderful, extensive and expensive legal front sat in their tanks being 'bullet-proof' has been shot down and every viable & realistic effort should be made to pursue this given the importance of those commercial deals and the 8.92% voting rights.

I don't know how long any process might take for the Football League (FL) to review the situation and enforce their regulations but I'm sure everything will be done this end (armed with quotes from Justice Peter Smith) to show the FL why the situation demands urgency. Another angle is the voting rights of the 8.92% at any GM or AGM. Ashley has been under siege from various fronts in the last year or so and he's now generally seen by many as toxic. We need to keep on top of this and make sure the FL aren't allowed to feel comfortable if they are considering the 'long grass'.