stewarty

Video of BBC interview with McDonald http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/9143774.stm

My reading of this story is that Craven may be a 'tad' sensitive. He's assumed that the SFA were going to try and make him take the rap for proceedings at Tannadice when he was in fact complicit in McDonald's attempt to lie to the refereeing supervisor. The two things he mentions which made up his mind to quit early were the phone call from Dallas and the referee's report received via e-mail. Now, Dallas (a lawyer if i recall correctly) attempts to clarify the previously stated version of events by asking him to repeat/expand/clarify. As McDonald said when Craven called him afterwards, he thought Dallas was testing him to see if he would stick to the previous version of events. Dallas' tactic would seem to be perfectly reasonable - its a method I have employed myself when investigating a series of events. The whole business of the blame being switched from McDonald to Craven was the fault of the 4 officials on the day and Craven should accept responsibilty for his part in it. If, after investigating in more detail, the SFA did attempt to lay the blame on Craven to save McDonald then this article would hold much more sway. As it stands, Craven has shown himself to have no back-bone. He refused to flag up to McDonald that he thought it was a penalty (until McDonald asked his opinion), on the basis that he has been wrong before. I find that attitute particularly poor. Referee's, and their assistants, should call incidents as they see it. If he believed a mistake had been made, he should have been shouting in McDonald's ear straight away. I feel sorry for the guy for the morons who have threatened him and his family. Society has no place for those idiots. Unfortunately, Scottish football has no place for officials that attempt to massage the truth because they fear a backlash from the unwashed. The loss of Craven would appear, given the evidence now at hand, to be no great shame. In fact, I think his rush to sell his story to the Sunday Mail might indicate where his motives actually lie. I expect to see him popping up in some pundit role in the near future with the remit to "tell it how it really is" (sic).

Cowan doesn't hold back any punches there - not bad since he probably dislikes both sides of the OF in equal measure.

Welcome to Gersnet! :spl:

God bless Willie Vass for taking the 'he had his back turned' argument completely out of the equation. Its then down to the ref's interpretation of game situations and there are a few things on this point: 1. There was contact with KB and Mastarovic's knees 2. Mastarovic's hands were all over KB 3. Yes he went down easily but these decisions are made every week in football 4. It may have only been 2-1 at that point but it would be unfair for the Tims to try and make out this was a game-changer. Provan was commenting all game about Mastarovic's tendency to get drawn into making rash challenges - it would appear to have been only a matter of time. He really is a hammer thrower.

Sitting far too deep for my liking. Bad time to lose the goal too.

How was Samararse not booked?

4-4-2 for me. Their back 4 has not really been tested so far in the SPL so I would be reluctant to give them an easy ride. Its a shame Beattie isn't going to be fit as I'd like to see him match up and take Loovens and Masterovic on physically; and hopefully give them a bit of a going over. Plus the 4-4-2 can easily become a 4-5-1 should we need to go defensive.

I reckon we'll go behind but pull through 3-1. Goals from Naismith, Miller and Lafferty

Bonkers. Wtf was all these statements about? That is one confused wee man.

Any idea who wrote this? Looks like a smoke and mirrors story originating from Mr Lawwell

Yep, that was my thoughts. You can almost guarantee that there will be someone in the Premiership who is not getting a game at one of the big clubs who might fancy coming to us to win some trophies. Couple that with the decent chance of us still being involved in Europe...

Stick me down for Hearts on 4 December.

They really are getting ahead of themselves. Lennon thought their display yesterday was "breathtaking" and this joker thinks they are the best team in the world. Building up nicely for the weekend but we've got bigger fish to fry before then

Houston was not a happy bunny when interviewed on Radio Scotland. Giving it both barrels to Dougie McDonald. Strange when you consider he gave the decision in his favour. He did mention about the booking near the end with Samaras and the United player and suggested that McDonald "couldn't wait to give the decision against us (United)".

I thought Hodgson would be a cracking manager for them. If Everton won 6-0 today, Liverpool would have been bottom of the league. Says it all really

I've gone and had a look and I think its a thread started by someone "hoping" Smith has a go. Note to self: pay more attention.

Think it was a thread title on FF. I only skim over in case there is something of interest so I may well have picked up something wrong

I thought he played pretty well against Dunfermline in the League Cup. Sure we conceded two goals but he pretty much strolled through the 90 minutes which is quite impressive considering he hadn't played in about 9 seasons.

Yep, me too. Things are going well so it may be a mistake to change it. Guess it depends on what Walter thinks because he doesn't strike me as a man who changes his mind very often once its made up.

Has Walter not given the press the heads-up that he will be commenting on this matter at today's pre-match conference?

Not quite, there's this Celtic Nations Cup thing due to start in the spring along with, no doubt, several friendly matches.

Thoughts? Your colleague is a fanny! In most walks of life I find those who feel the need to proclaim themselves as being bigger, better, faster, more skilful at something or other, are usually a mixture of paranoid, delusional, arrogant, self-serving egotists who attach themselves to individuals or groups of people as they try desperately to fill some void in their lives they are incapable of doing themselves. As an example, think of every twat who tells you proudly that they are "mad" and regale you with all the bonkers (cringing?) things they got up to at the weekend. Either that or he was just winding you up! :spl:

Never say never. You would imagine the part-time/semi-retired nature of the role would suit him at this stage in his life!

Do we expect anything less from those self-serving egotists at the higher echelons of the Scottish game? I think Leggo sums it up nicely - it isn't enough to simply act transparently, you have to demonstrate that you have acted transparently as well. Normally these things are done much more openly yet for some unknown reason, this has been flouted. If there is a reasonable explanation for this situation, let us hear it now. The longer this continues, the murkier the waters become.