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By BARRY ANDERSON A NIGHT when Scottish football plumbed to unprecedented depths of despair. Neil Lennon attacked by a so-called fan while inside his technical area, Celtic supporters battling police and stewards while pretending to be Irish republicans, and two sending offs that verged on the farcical. One of the most controversial seasons ever is drawing to a close, however one last round of chaos at Tynecastle just about topped it all. After refereeing cover-ups, conspiracy theories and parliamentary summits to discuss Old Firm matches, season 2010/11 added another chapter to its book of infamy last night. In the 49th minute of play, Celtic's celebrations following Gary Hooper's second goal were cut short. A man leapt from Tynecastle's main stand to sprint down the track and assault Lennon. The surprised Celtic manager barely had time to react before stewards pounced on his assailant, but that did not stop Lennon swinging his boot at the flattened thug several times. In fact, twice he mistakenly connected with one of the grounded stewards as his rage took over. Few could blame him given the letter bombs, death threats, 24-hour security and everything else he has tolerated of late. No-one should be subjected to physical abuse for simply doing their job, especially when that job is managing a football team. Where was his protection? Lennon hurled a few expletives at his attacker as he was marched down the tunnel by police and the Irishman was later described as "shaken but fine" by his assistant, Johann Mjallby. Hearts may now be punished. It might only have been one brainless buffoon but that he emerged from a section of home supporters to attack Lennon leaves the Edinburgh club open to possible sanctions from the Scottish Football Association. Perhaps there should also be action taken against Celtic for the equally unacceptable conduct of their supporters in the Roseburn Stand. Groups of them fought with police and stewards in the aftermath of the attack on their manager, accompanied by deafening chants of "we are the IRA". Feet and punches were swung at the local constabulary as things threatened to get completely out of control in the away end. On the field it was actually quite the opposite. Celtic were in total command of a match they had to win to keep their SPL title hopes alive. David Obua, Hearts' Ugandan midfielder, was red carded on 32 minutes for an innocuous slap at Charlie Mulgrew. Full article here: http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/heartofmidlothianfc/Hearts-03-Celtic-Jambos-crumble.6767032.jp?articlepage=1

After a bit of prompting from Miss Bluedell, I'm delighted to announce that our player 'smilies' for season 2010/11 are now ready. As always you simply put the initials of the player between the : : tags to insert your team. You can also use the tags to ensure your formatting is suitable. Single player example: :xx: Where xx are the initials of the player. Team example: :sw: :mb: :sp: :sn: :sd: :lm: :me: :kl: Have fun!

Excellent participation in this and the Football Awards (which were posted a few weeks back) so thanks to everyone who took part. Anyway, some interesting results and it is always fun to gauge reactions at the end of the season! So without further ado: Gersnet User Award Results Most Knowledgeable User Winner: Bluedell Runner Up: Frankie User Most Likely to Change Your Mind in a Debate Joint Winners: Zappa/Frankie Runners Up: rbr, Bluedell, bmck, Craig User Least Likely to Change Your Mind in a Debate Winner: Wabashcannonball Runner Up: Calscot Most Helpful User Winner: Frankie Runners Up: Zappa, Bluedell Funniest User Winner: Ian1964 Runners Up: Zappa, Pete Most Frustrating User Winner: Wabashcannonball Runners Up: bmck, Calscot Best New Poster Joint Winners: Dr Preston Burke, Metlika, Flying Hippo, Danny, Runners Up: OnlyAnAmoruso, Wabashcannonball, Northampton_Loyalist, Andy Steel Admin Note: We think the above award just shows the strength of new poster we've had over the last year. That fact the award was so close with so many different nominations says a lot for new members' efforts to get involved and improve debate! Many thanks! User Most Likely to Start a Fight in an Empty Thread Winner: Wabashcannonball Runner Up: Danny Most Missed User Winner: JonC Runner Up: Norris Cole Best Article Contributor to the main site Winner: Frankie Runner Up: Super_Ally Best Mod/Admin Winner: Frankie Runner Up: Craig Overall Best User for 2009/2010 Winner: Super_Ally Runner Up: Frankie Super_Ally will be presented with our beautiful Gersnet crystal later in the summer. I spoke to him by phone last night and he was absolutely delighted with our prize and thanks all Gersnet users for their continued support of the forum. Gersnet Hall of Fame Winner: Super_Ally Runners Up: Bluedell, Craig Gersnet Hall of Shame Winner: Aiden McGeady Runners Up: Darrell King Admin Comments We'd like to take this opportunity to thank every Gersnet member for their contribution over the last year. These awards are just a bit of fun of course and we should hold every member in the same regard as different styles of posts and different opinions is what makes the place interesting. We're especially lucky here to have so many talented, intelligent, balanced and mature posters on here so the quality of debate is certainly well worthy of a daily visit; even if the quantity may not always satisfy newcomers enough to stick around. Those that do are rewarded with a cracking wee forum which is proud of its place in the online Rangers community. Conversely, we appreciate the forum/site isn't perfect so invite any feedback or suggestions for improvement. We're a bit disappointed that our off-topic Lounge seems under-used, so are especially interested in any ideas for the less serious side of Gersnet. Anyway, before I send you all to sleep, well done to those that did manage to win an award and here's hoping for another successful year for our team (and forum) in season 2010/11! We are the people! :robbo:

THE Old Firm were today handed a massive Euro boost on the eve of the new SPL season. SportTimes can today reveal the door has been left ajar for direct entry into next season's Cham-pions League for whoever wins the title. It had been thought this season - when Rangers qualified automatically for the �£10million group phase - would be the last time the SPL winners would benefit from this money- spinning safe passage. However, Uefa have confirmed there is still a chance the 2009/10 winners will get an automatic group slot. If the winners of this season's Champions League gain entry into the 2010/11 competition by virtue of their own league position, Scot-land's champions will go straight in. This was last the case back in 2005/06. Barcelona won the Champions League by beating Arsenal in Paris - but they already had a group stage berth assured from finishing top of La Liga - so Celtic went straight in and avoided a qualifier. A Uefa statement said: "The position at which a club enters the Champions League is dependent on its country's ranking, which is determined by the sum of Uefa country co-efficients over the previous five years. "Champions from coun- tries ranked first to 12th automatically qualify for the group stages - for season 2009/10 Scotland was ranked 10th. "For season 2010/11 it has now been confirmed Scotland are ranked 13th. However, there is still a chance there could be direct qualification. "If the winners of the Champions League this season also qualify for the following season's group stages through their league position, an extra space would be created in the group stages. "The champions of the country ranked 13th - Scotland - would take this place." The news will add an extra edge to the Old Firm's battle for the flag, and history is for them in terms of the Champions League winners already having slots through domestic performances. In the past FOUR seasons the winners of Europe's ultimate prize have already had group spots secured from their league placings - and with the major operators now dominating the Champions League there is a fair chance it will happen again this season which would allow the SPL champions to sneak in. Meantime, new chief executive Neil Doncaster has pledged to bring summer football to the SPL - but only if the clubs want it. Doncaster has revealed he is ready to talk to those clubs who are in favour of a radical shake-up. There have been calls for an introduction to summer football after a string of poor European results in the past few weeks as they go into action early. "There will be no attempt to ignore the issue," said Doncaster. "But it's for clubs to decide what they want. We will consult and put options to them. But we are restricted by the international calendar. "We will be looking at options for next season. We will consult the clubs and we can't afford any knee-jerk reactions." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/display.var.2525525.0.0.php

The Scottish Premier League have announced that they will examine the possibility of reintroducing a winter break during season 2010/11. More...