Uilleam

"Duped", perhaps.... Stewart, remember, failed selection as an SNP candidate for Holyrood. That demonstrates the calibre of the man in a wanner.

Nah. He must have missed a few games

Surely, for most domestic games, we don't need two sitting midfielders? Apart from which.....Kent, a player who, increasingly, gives every impression of having outlived his usefulness.

I am not fully enamoured of Colak. He is a player who 'gets on the end of things' - as long as these things are provided. He is, to cut to the chase, a goal-hanger. Morelos offers more. I await a cascade of criticism.

I can't help wondering what would have happened had Clancy actually awarded the goal. I imagine that that would have been a 'clear and obvious error' to Walsh on the VAR kit, and, following review, the goal would have been disallowed.

Where do you start with a team which gift wraps goals for the opposition, butchers chances, and, in between, in the middle of the park, consistently gives the ball away by making obvious, readable, passes, or misplaced passes, and whose players resolutely wait for the ball to arrive, allowing it to be nicked by the opposition? The opposition coach has an easy team talk: keep your shape, keep up the pace, and wait for them to make mistakes, as many as it takes for them to give us the points.

It works both ways, of course, but McG is definitely the major factor.

That fellow Johnston who plays for them, and whom I have never seen before, looks like the transsexual offspring of David Moyes.

Nor probity, nor professionalism

Jesus wept. I think I'll go for a cerry oot.

Your prerogative, but 10 000 hrs of repetition, and still no **** can play the piano.

Groundhog Day. How many remakes can one man stand?

I think he misunderstood the Green deposit return scheme. He should be made to share a cell with Lorna Slater.

Give the Great Man a chance, lads - he's only just walked through the door. However, he will need to make a decision, soon, on whether to demand a Progressive National XI now, or, and this would be my preference, wait until after Indy.

THEY DID IT FOR HUMZA!

He "identifies" as St Patrick? It wouldn't surprise, he has "identified" as a 'businessman' for long enough. Mind you, many had, and still have, him down as The Crawling King Snake.

Don't tell me: the boss eyed bastard sold it.

Craig Whyte was a Glasgow Academy boy, was he not? Wrong side of the Clyde.

Cyprus, and not North Cyprus.

The SFA, for once, has done the decent thing, and arranged to stick the matches on something obscure called Viaplay Sports, so we need not fear seeing them, even by accident. Of course, this is not purely altruistic; it also works for the SFA, as few will be able to observe how dismal the National XI actually is.

.........And such would be easily proved. Barcelona could publish and be damned, or publish with suitable redactions, to protect the innocent. How many referees, etc were there working in La Liga over the 16 year period? There will have be a churn , but is that enough to justify 400K per annum for reports on them? Therefore, the majority of the expenditure would, it seems, have been spent on reports on youth players. This, again, could be proved easily. However, there remains the question of why would you ask a referee to scout players, and pay him handsomely to do so?

It's about 400K GBP per season... That's a lot of reports, and a lot of data to assimilate, particularly when it is likely that more than a club will have other sources providing information, opinion, and stats.

Oh dear! When sharks turn on shark, there is generally blood in the water. FOOTBALL Barcelona could face Champions League ban over payments to former referees’ chief Uefa opens investigation into £6.5m spend over 16 years, which club has said was for ‘technical reports’ on officials Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter Thursday March 23 2023, 3.00pm, The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/barcelona-could-face-champions-league-ban-over-payments-to-former-referees-chief-f5rrzxzn9 Barcelona are facing the threat of a possible Champions League ban after Uefa announced its own investigation into the club paying millions of euros to a company run by a senior Spanish refereeing official. It comes as Spanish prosecutors pursue a case against Barcelona over payments to Jose Maria Enríquez Negreira’s company totalling €7.3 million (about £6.5 million) from 2001 to 2017, while he was the vice-president of Spanish football’s referees’ committee. Regulations introduced in April 2007 allow Uefa to ban teams from its competitions for one season if they have been involved in fixing matches, even if those were not in Uefa competitions. It previously barred the Turkish clubs, Fenerbahce (from the Champions League) and Besiktas (from the Europa League), under those regulations. Barcelona have denied any wrongdoing, saying the money was for technical reports on referees and youth players. No evidence has yet been published that referees or individual games were actually influenced. Any suspension from Uefa’s elite club competition would be a serious blow to Barcelona, who have been struggling financially since the Covid pandemic. The club have a 12-point lead in La Liga and look certain to qualify for next season’s Champions League, which would guarantee at least €50 million of income. Uefa said in a statement: “Ethics and disciplinary inspectors have today been appointed to conduct an investigation regarding a potential violation of Uefa’s legal framework by FC Barcelona in connection with the so-called ‘Caso Negreira’ [Negreira case]. ” Prosecutors in Spain have formally accused Barcelona of corruption, fraudulent management and falsification of business documents. An investigating judge will decide if this will lead to charges. The payments came to light as part of a tax probe into Negreira’s company. The Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, said last month: “Barça has never bought referees and Barça has never had any intention of buying referees. Absolutely never. The forcefulness of the facts contradicts those who try to change the story.”

Did St Nikla not say that the difficulties were just 'growing pains'?