weeyin

I like what John McGlynn and Rhys MacCabe have been doing. And Ian Murray had a good spell at Raith. I'd be surprised, however, to see any of them installed. It's strange for us to be shedding a manager while in a decent spot in the league, so not sure if we'll be looking for a "consolidation safe pair of hands" or "expansive footballing man promoting the youngsters".

I doubt Casey got close enough to his man for a proper bust up.

Doesn't say it wasn't aimed at his family too. Family members can have "personal abuse" aimed at them too. (I have no idea if that's true, btw).

Long term, I'd like to bring in someone to play a bit more football. Short term, I'd be delighted if we can bring in someone capable of organising the defence.

Our official site reports the same. "Stuart approached Chief Executive Brian Caldwell on Monday morning to explain why he wished to resign. Stuart explained that some of the personal abuse was now affecting his family, to the point where they didn’t wish to attend games."

in 2025, there's more to abuse than the moaners in the East Stand. Most abuse comes via social media these days, and can be pretty nasty stuff when the anonymous punters hide behind their phones and keyboards.

He's contracted until 2027, so if we want long balls and no Plan B I imagine we'll need to look elsewhere.

Time to bring in Simo with that expansive, attractive football that's being played in Perth?

Well that deteriorated as fast as the pitch. Take your pick...

When we sign players, rather than bring them through the ranks, we tend to forget about their age. Maswanhise is only 22 and we are the only team he's played first team football with. So we can expect to see the flashes of brilliance along with poor decision making and other typical mistakes less experienced players will make.

The amount of shithousery St Johnstone are getting away with is ridiculous. Yellow card offences that aren't even given as fouls.

You used to be able to get insurance to help offset wages when players had long term injuries. Not sure if that's a thing any more.

It usually is this time of year. Still prefer it to plastic, though.

Somebody tell Gordon he shouldn't be passing to St Johnstone players any more. Some good defending otherwise.

Steve Seddon.

I love VAR. I don't love VAR, and how did the ref not see the handball. He was looking right at it. Also - get in!

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. If any of them hit a bit of form and we lost them in January, we'd be hearing the "questions must be asked why we didn't sign them on season long loans" I actually prefer season long deals, as it can take a player a couple of months to get up to speed and fit in, and then it's almost time for them to leave.

Jar Jar Binks level hilarity

I wasn't sure if it would be funnier if Man U lost to a bang average Rangers team or Rangers lost to the "worst Man U team ever". Butland took it one step further. You're right about the decision, but I have seen so many atrocious VAR decisions down south, getting it right might have been an accident.

Keepers seem to be the exception to the general transfer/loan rules, in as much as you can sign them on emergency loan if you don't have cover.

Aye, Turnbull had surgery in December for a hamstring injury that reportedly left him facing "a lengthy spell on the sidelines"

Norway (hopefully) leading the way with VAR Norway is on the verge of abolishing VAR from its domestic league after clubs in the country’s top two divisions recommended formally that it should be discontinued. The decision by clubs in Norsk Topfotball, which represents the 32 sides in Norway’s Eliteserien and first division, marks the most significant step yet in a fierce debate over VAR’s future in the country. Now Norway is one step from joining Sweden, which has resisted introducing the deeply controversial technology so far, in staging games without its intervention. Norsk Topfotball’s clubs passed a motion that “requests that the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) board recommend, and that the federal assembly adopts, the discontinuation of video-assisted refereeing as soon as possible”. Their verdict will now be handed to the NFF ahead of a meeting in the first week of March at which every club in Norway, including those at much lower levels, will take a final vote on the future of VAR. Cato Haug, the chairman of Norsk Topfotball, said clubs had agreed that VAR, of which the implementation has caused a strong backlash among fans, is unworkable in its current form. “We see the technology has potential,” he said. “But through today’s discussion and subsequent voting, we see the majority of our clubs believe the current version of VAR does not work well enough.”

I was at that Jules game. Felt a bit sorry for him, as he was parachuted in to a terrible defence (69 goals conceded according to wikipedia), but it was a real howler.

It's tough. John McGinn has been one of the more successful Scottish exports, but his trophy wins are with St Mirren and Hibs. I suspect he's enjoying himself at Villa more than he would have enjoyed himself at Celtic, but only he can say for sure if that's true.

Ultimately, it's down to what motivates individual players - and even that might change at different stages of a career. If I had the talent, I'd be very much in the Lewis Ferguson camp, getting as much as I could from living and playing in Italy. I can see, however, how a diehard Celtic fan would be attracted to playing for them early in their career and winning leagues or trophies with their boyhood heroes. It's been great to see Scottish players thrive abroad in recent times. For a long time, many were following the "big move south - quiet move back north" career development plan.