weeyin

I'm on the fence on this one. We need to sell a player, and if an offer comes in, it would make sense to move him on. On the other hand, a preseason under McGhee might give him a new lease of life.

If you know any competent, professional people willing to put in the necessary hours, I'm sure they will be happy to accommodate them. The bottom line is, if they were available, they'd already be working for the Society.

That would only hold true if they charged a tenner at the gate next season.

The league cup has had many issues over the years. It used to be 2 leg ties at one stage, then they tried groups - which failed because the format meant there were far too many meaningless group games. I always preferred the format of straight knockout, ties decided on the evening with extra time and pens, and final in December - but not averse to trying out a new approach. Not convinced this is the right one, though, as it seems to be a hand crafted effort to manipulate the competition for TV coverage and larger clubs. Maybe they can call it he Curated Cup.

I don't know what they have been priced at recently, but historically, Accies season tickets used to be really cheap. Good to see a club looking after their fans like that.

Trump has been bankrupt a number of times and is under investigation for fraud for his "Money University" or whatever he called it. Despite the spin he tried to put on it, he's not self-made - he inherited a healthy business from his dad, and ran that into the ground once or twice too. The money he spends now is all other peoples' cash. He even managed to fail in the casino business. He'd be more suited to the Ibrox Board.

Votes are all fine and good until you end up with Donald Trump.

Most of the Celtic fans stateside are, unsuprisingly, in the traditional Irish cities. So New York and Boston have quite a few.

It was Barry Hearn that summed it perfectly a few years ago: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearn-stuns-sfa-with-attack-on-scottish-football-1-3624056 And of course, we did nothing about it: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/scottish-football-learned-nothing-from-barry-hearn-1-3949710

The difference between the NFL and the SPFL is the NFL has saturated its multi-billion dollar market and is looking to expand. The SPFL can't even negotiate a reasonable deal with the TV companies in Scotland. Same goes for the EPL who also have a multi-billion pound product they are looking to expand. In one sense, it seems like a reasonable idea to grow your market, but there is so much more that could be done domestically it sounds more like a money making scheme for Celtic than an actual attempt and increasing the visibility of our game. They'll feel at home in Philly, though. The fans there for all sports are pretty brutal...

They also tried sin bins at one of the U18 international competitions.

I think that system was invented by famous Texan, Hank Hill: Soccer

The situation we're in, selling a player for 200-300k each season would be a big help. If could have a 1 million quid transfer that would be great business, but even 200k represents a significant % of our turnover. We did well with Ojamaa and Anier, but then we seemed to stop being interested in selling anyone.

You mean the 2 goals he let in because he had double vision, cracked ribs and a ruptured spleen? I don't think he should have a testimonial, and I believe his save at the end of extra time was huge. Blaming him for 2 goals, however, is a little bizarre.

I agree with Andy_P. If the OF ever did leave our league and finagled a B side to remain, I honestly think I'd give up on the game in Scotland.

It's also early in the 5 year plan and, I believe, a loss was expected at this stage. The important thing is that we do continue to bring spending back under control. Les definitely gave the organization of the club's infrastructure a much needed overhaul. And I believe the longer term plan of small transfer fees and developing youngsters with a view to selling each year is definitely the way to go. In recent times we lost focus on the selling part.

Is this the same Derek Weir who admitted at one of the Q&As that he, and his fellow board members, consistently set budgets that were too high because they got carried away with their success? I have a lot of time for Mr Weir, but it was that set of board members that put us in the position where only Les would buy us.

I think a lot of us "proddies" at proddy schools encountered that which possibly tilted us into the anti-rangers camp at a younger age. Segregated schools meant we were never exposed to the same nonsense from Celtic fans on a daily basis. Over the years, however, I think it balances out given the levels of sectarian stupidity that pours out of both teams. As The African said, though, I think hate is too strong a word. More like a healthy derision for both and a little embarrassment that some of their antics would have a place in the 21st century.

I think 10th and no cup run is what Les had already put in place before McGhee signed up.

Not if you use a phone line. An audio line is a reasonable alternative to nothing at all. But there are plenty of ways these days to broadcast meeting across the globe. From webex at the top end to Twitch at the bottom end. All it takes is one microphone and a decent moderator. I'm boring myself now, though. Seems like I have been moaning about this forever. I'll just get back to the "loading" screen on Periscope and wait for the approved minutes to be published.

A bit strange that they can put up the Q&A on periscope without an internet connection. Maybe they could lend the club the money I have contributed over the past few years to install a telephone.

Well that's OK then. Take my money and don't let me participate in the society's affairs. Seems like a good deal. Maybe we should not allow questions from the people who attend the meeting too. Because that could result in chaos if 2 or 3 people speak at the same time. Most businesses that organize these things use some kind of conference call facility. During the meeting, the phones are muted to all we can do is listen. If we have a question, they can be emailed (or otherwise transmitted electronically on skype, slack, twitter, social media of choice) and the moderator in the room asks them on behalf of the questionier. If they use something like webex, or join.me they can even present slides etc. to the remote callers. This isn't new technology. I have been using it for 20+ years. We have continued to be shut out of these meetings, unable to contribute, question or even read minutes of the proceedings.

Law's move to Rangers was always going to be a bad career move as there is no way you can improve as a player by dropping down 3 divisions in the same country. You need to be playing against better players to develop. I'd still take him back, though as we have never adequately replaced him. I don't care that he made a stupid choice. No chance he'll be here, though. Plenty of clubs down south will be happy to pay much more than we can for his services.

I have complained about it on a regular basis since about a month after I joined. It's doubly annoying as they like to make a big deal about their members across the globe. Failing to mention that those members are excluded from participation in all meetings. The stock answer is "you can submit a question beforehand" which is almost pointless given you can't follow up and your question might be in relation to something that arises during the meeting.

The long distance/overseas attendance will be poor as, once again, they are not granted access to the meeting.