Stu

As it stands, we're only a maximum of 4 points away from European football. Love counting that number down!

I normally roll my eyes at people who instantly come up with conspiracy theories and wild accusations, but I just don't trust a single person in the entire set-up of Scottish football any more. There's not one individual who I'd happily trust to be telling me the truth. Not Gilmour, not Milne, not Doncaster, not Lawwell, not Green, and I'm sorry to say, not Derek Weir. That's not anything personally against him. It's just difficult to put any faith into anyone involved in this entire clusterfuck of a saga. If it turned out that SPL2 with Rangers was actually the plan all along, it wouldn't surprise me. Nothing would surprise me any more.

The suggestion from Spiers and English on Radio Scotland last night was that an SPL2 (with Rangers) is all but guaranteed now. All the talk has been about the first division clubs being worst affected by yesterday's decision. A group of first division clubs have already met with the SPL. Milne and Lawwell are keen on a 10-team top-flight. Rangers can come into SPL2 as it's invitational. We have an SPL and an SPL2 of 10 teams each. All top clubs are happy that everything fits in to place.

If this was such a monumental and necessary change, why didn't all boards of the SPL clubs do everything in their power to convince their own fans that this was the proposal that had to be accepted. All fans were given far too little information. It's all well and good having open meeting for fans knowing that only locals could turn up or be available.

So you're admitting that fans who don't go to games on, say, a Sunday lunchtime realise that they're not missing anything too much? You're admitting that they feel the product on offer isn't attractive enough for them to willingly choose to return? You're admitting that they're only going out of habit? Blame the broadcasting companies all you want then. I'd say that sounds more like an issue with Scottish football, rather than the kick-off times. Let's be clear, I'm not defending having kick-off times all over the shop. However, I think some are getting far too carried away about the inconvenience suffered in a season. It's not as though we're on television every second weekend. It's not as if we're playing Friday night one week, Sunday lunchtime the next. Also, there will be a number of people who cannot make a Sunday game or a Friday night game. However, that number won't be significantly high. Also, there will be a number of people who cannot make a Saturday 3pm kick-off either. I'm agreeing that awkward kick-off times are an issue. However, I strongly disagree that they are anywhere near as important as other factors that our country's football authorities need to be addressing first.

I'm not asking for it both ways. In the long list of things that need changing for the benefit of Scottish football, kick-off times are a long way down. Yes, in an ideal world, every game kicking off at 3pm would be ideal. However, to suggest that on its own would make anywhere near a significant difference to attendances in Scotland is bordering on naive. Sky, and other media outlets, offer a fantastic package of entertainment. It's up to Scottish football to come up with ways to compete with them when trying to attract an audience. Sky is here to stay. Trying to get everyone to switch theirs off and pretend it doesn't exist is laughable, I'm afraid. All the more reason to vote for the status quo, I'd say...

I'm sure as hell not going to give up my coverage of the golf, cricket, Spanish football, etc just because the incompetent buffoons who run Scottish football continue to make blunder after blunder when it comes to the future of our game.

Really? Who's going to stand up to the Old Firm? At 9-3, are we honestly convinced that the 10 'diddy' teams will stand united on issues? I'm not.

The voting could be 9-3, 7-5, 6-6, it wouldn't make any difference. Every vote taken by every board from every club is done purely for the benefit of themselves. There is zero interest in making decisions for the benefit of Scottish football as a whole. As a result, it really doesn't matter how many votes it takes to pass a decision.

It's down to a maximum of 8 points needed now, isn't it?

Absolutely. I don't think it will take 10 points. It will be exciting to score off the 'points required' as they go from 10 to 9 to 8... I agree, we just need to look after ourselves. Keep picking up points and make sure we don't have to rely on others to do us favours...

And, of course, those post-split possible points can't all be met as the teams involved all play each other. However, it is still possible that ICT and Ross County could both achieve 63 points. Therefore, yes, as it stands, a maximum of 10 more points are required from us.

Seriously, haven't you learnt anything from your Higdon thread?

To be fair, I agreed with MJC's prediction. Like him or not, Brown had at least got a couple of respectable (if not setting the heather on fire) results and he also has the players determined to stick the boot in if needs be. To go there and win as comfortably as it sounds, I think is a fantastic achievement. What a great day!

You mean he wasn't fucking us about?! Who'd have known...

Absolutely. I'm all for supporting former players and allowing them to use our facilities but anyone with an attitude to the professional game like him should never be allowed access past the front gate ever again.

Not even a question. Absolutely not.

You get used to it.

Ah well, dream over. I'll just concentrate on wanting us to finish 2nd then.

Inverness are now guaranteed a top six finish too. Delighted for them. My dream (but still realistic) ending to the season would be Motherwell finishing second with ICT and Ross County finishing 3rd and 4th with all three clubs getting into Europe thanks to Celtic winning the cup.

Watching the highlights there, I loved Higdon's goal. He had two Hibs players grappling and shoving him but you would never have known. Never, ever understood the grief he received from some on here. I know we're going to lose some players in the summer but I'm really, really hoping we can convince him to stay.

So that's us definitely, definitely guaranteed a top six place again then?

I don't understand what you're all greetin' about. You're complaining that Celtic are differentiated to the rest of the teams in the SPL? Isn't that what we want? Look around you. We've got people pleased that Ross County defeated Celtic today. People can twist it any way they like to convince themselves but there is no way, and I mean no way, that Ross County winning today benefits us. They are our rivals for the highest league position that we can realistically achieve right now. They are now just two points behind us. However the SPL carve up the winnings, the higher up the league a team finishes, the more prize money they win. Yet, somehow, none of that matters because Celtic lost? Another of our rivals, ICT, took points off Dundee today. Are we going to congratulate Terry Butcher's team? No? What's the difference? We had a thread just a couple of weeks ago asking how many of our supporters would trade our victory over Inverness for a win over Celtic. To quote the opening post of that thread, "It can't be overstated how massive yesterday's win was for us, not only in the chase for 2nd place but in the chase for the huge jump in prize money which I imagine could give us complete financial stability for next season." Why would we even contemplate swapping that for a win against Neil Lennon's lot? Why would we even remotely consider the idea of lessening the vast gap between ourselves and Celtic by three points at the cost dropping below Inverness (as the table currently stands)? Every single time a team defeats Celtic or Rangers, the Shoutbox is updated with cries of "They just beat Rangers/Celtic, why can't we?" followed by "Oh, we'll never beat Rangers/Celtic" and so on and so on rather than talking about our own team's game played against a non-Old Firm team that very day! Go look in the Other Football section. There's a thread about Dunfermline's perilous financial state. There's a thread about Dundee United's manager leaving. There's a thread about Hearts' manager being dismissed. There's a thread about the controversy surrounding a Hibs player's racist tweets. There's a thread about whether it's okay to refer to Rangers as h**s or not. Take a guess which one has the most posts attributed to it. We are still clinging on to what surely every Motherwell fan must recognise as a successful era in our history with cup finals, European adventures, high league placings. Despite that, all some people really seem to care about is reveling in any sort of difficulty or obstacle that Rangers or Celtic find themselves in. I absolutely and wholeheartedly agree that Celtic should be no different to any other club in Scotland. Maybe we should all try to follow our own advice...

No snow in the city centre just now...

To be clear, I'm not Hateley bashing here at all. I'm only focusing on his set-piece deliveries. Six goals from his corners is incredible considering he's only managed to land about eight corner kicks into the opposition's penalty box in this entire season. Yes, that's an exaggeration too. Rather than proving that he's a fine set-piece taker, I would argue that the statistic you mentioned proves how dangerous we could be from corners. We must have a bloody good ratio of goals to accurate corner kicks. Imagine if Hateley was able to regularly lift the ball over the first defender and not over the heads of everyone else in the penalty box too? I have no problem with Hateley the right back whatsoever. I'd offer him a contract right now. However, it would have one condition written in huge letters with a permanent marker: must not take corner kicks.