steelboy

the future england internationalist quote was made long before he arrived at fir park.

why would it be retarded to take 20 grand for someone who could well never play for us again? we'd get the fee, save in wages and get someone who doesn't want to be here and could spread a bit of miscontent in the dressing room out of the way.

it's not a learning experience it's the spl. if we're going to become a kindergarten club then maybe the season ticket prices should come down. everyone wants to see a team play good football and play fair but i think we're being a bit too extreme. what's good about watching our back 4 passing it about for a minute amongst themselves until they put themselves under pressure or watching our players stand off and let opponents attack at will while the oppostion are going in full blooded for the ball? if solid, pragamatic football was good enough for faddy, pearson, clarky, mcdonald and quinn to get big moves and very rich i can't see it harming any of our current batch.

why would they swap a young player they rate highly, who has just signed a new contract and who has set up several goals this season for one who we don't want anymore who is out of contract at the end of the season.

why would he be worth more? if he's out of contract in six months and he is isn't going to feature during that time all he is someone taking a wage. this seems to be another thing which has been very badly handled. i don't rate him that highly but i but i'd have been delighted to see him come on when we were trapped in our half in the 2nd on saturday. if he leaves or is frozen out he'll have to be replaced (not by slane) in the window.

there's no chance of willo flood coming (unless he's related to gannon). i think paul caddis can leave celtic at the end of the season, he'd be a good signing. i was going to suggest barry bannan as well but it seems he went out on loan to blackpool a couple of weeks ago, it's only til the end of january though so he's maybe still worth a bash.

for a wee bit of perspective there was a stat in the times today that wayne bridge has crossed the ball 29 times in the epl this season and not hit a man city player once.

i'd still have him in the team or at least the squad because we've got so little depth and he's the only real option at left mid in a 4-4-2. however when a players best quality is that he gets fouled a lot then he's hardly going to be difficult to replace. we might not be able to find a more skillful replacement but it won't be difficult to find someone who's better at defending, shooting and crossing. having said that i don't think i'd ever fault his effort when he's been on the park for us.

it's fair enough saying that we did and we brought young players but we were only 45 minutes away from a great result and we did nothing in the second half to suggest we believed that we could even take a point from the game. meechan struggled terribly in the second half and leaving him on suggested that we weren't serious about winning the game. putting pollock on ahead of sutton was nuts as well, i like what i've seen of pollock but i don't think he would have benefited much from half an hour getting bossed by caldwell and n'geumo. it looks we're putting out a team aiming to advertise gannon's football philosphy rather than one to win games.

of course he didn't throw the game. he was only attempting to right the wrongs visited upon glasgow celtic by the tyrant craig thompson. all is well and good in the spl title race thanks to big jim.

i don't care any mention of pikeys and i'm bringing up snatch. dua bet tha dags?

after the celtic game jim gannon wonders what he's going to do with a caravan with no wheels.

i didn't think that was a pen. it wasn't deliberate and jennings hands were down around his body.

how does jennings kicking the ball across our 18 yard box equal yassin giving away a goal?

1. we probably disagree in the difference in quality but if the epl with near infinite resources and ten times the population with only 3.5xs the games can't solve every problem what chance do we have. 2. we need a certain amount of refs. changing how exams are graded isn't going to effect which refs are most capable of handling spl matches. it'll be the same people with the highest grades they'll just score lower in the tests. 3. i don't see how that would improve standards. it just heaps more pressure on the refs and undermines them. netherton - i honestly don't believe refs are incompetent. before the dundee united game i can't remember a single thread on here complaining about refs.

1. england has pro refs and the standard isn't a great deal better. 2. even if you raise the pass level it'll still be the same people passing. 3. reprimand how?

i don't think jamie's stamina is an issue it's his lack of strength. he looks timid in the tackle and is easily brushed of the ball. even faddy has been held back by his lack of athleticism. there are far less talented players playing at a higher level (eg. dirk kuyt, stewart downing) because they are faster and stronger.

1. being sent to the third divsion isn't a punishment, elite refs officiate lower league games all the time. 2. we already have managers constantly complaining about inexperienced refs handling their games this will only increase that. 3. what makes you think that a top ref being demoted for one who is considered to be at a lower grade is going to result in an improvement. chirs kamara described pro ref mark clattenburg as having a nightmare today. english fitba pays their refs more than we pay our players and they still can't get it right. you say be accountable, what does that mean? does anyone actually believe hugh dallas or the individual refs want to make mistakes on a saturday and end up being castigated in the papers on tv and online? referees are far from perfect but so are players, managers and fans.

is there anyone who can tell me in any detail what should be done about about refereeing standards in scotland?

i misread this post as suggesting boyle should move over. on reading it properly it's stupider than i first realised. we're in no danger of getting of getting relegated any time soon. the idea that we have to choose between investing heavily or fading away to sfl status is retarded.

that's fair enough but lukas, hateley, murphy and forbes are all 20 years old. lukas and tom are athletes, jamie and ross are held back by their lack of athleiticism.

if he throws in his missus i'll consider taking the reins at fir park.

hopefully the young players will be living a bit more quietly than you are

i can't find an updated table but dundee united have commited more than 100 more fouls than we have in less games.