"The monkeys start to squeal, lie and create conspiracy plots" - Scottish Football 2012/13

race for 2nd is nuts

 	Team 		P 	GD 	Pts
2 	Inverness CT 	27 	7 	41
3 	Ross County 	28 	2 	41
4 	Motherwell 	27 	5 	40
5 	St Johnstone 	28 	1 	40
6 	Hibernian 	28 	0 	38
7 	Kilmarnock 	28 	6 	37
8 	Aberdeen 	29 	-3 	37
9 	Dundee Utd 	28 	-5 	37

Anybody but Motherwell please.

Anyone but Caley Thistle. I have a grudging respect for what Butcher's done with them, but they're still born of total cuntery.

Smashing point for 3rd division strugglers Stirling Albion tonight :)

James McFadden at Fir Park, hello ten years ago!

Shocking from us tonight.

Absolutely rubbish. I'm all for competitiveness in the league, but I'm more for us not being shite.

The only way it can be competitive is for Celtic to get worse - the gap in investment is too big for other clubs to bridge in the other direction.

John McGlynn mutually consented out of Tynecastle...

Not before time - I know they've fallen on hard times but that squad should be nowhere near the foot of the table. I'm predicting the return of the prodigal Elvis.

Yeah, seems likely. Barry Smith to Falkirk to replace him, maybe?

only if Elvis and Vlad can put aside their differences so idk

Oh aye, forgot about that.

Och, hope Elvis holds off until Lithuanian Central Bank has flogged us/put us out our misery and we become The Hearts 2015 Ltd or whatever. Whoever comes in is inheriting a terrible job.

Latest odds, everyone on Earth including Stuart Baxter getting a mention.

Gary Locke And/Or Darren Murray 4
Peter Houston 4
Paul Hartley 5
Steven Pressley 5
Craig Levein 6
Colin Cameron 8
John Robertson 10
Derek Mcinnes 11
Allan Johnston 12
Jim Jefferies 12
Jimmy Calderwood 12
Sandy Clark 12
Alex Mcleish 14
Gus Mcpherson 14
Terry Butcher 14
Alex Rae 20
Allan Moore 20
Andy Thorn 20
Davie Weir 20
Gary Bollan 20
Gary Mcallister 20
George Burley 20
Glynn Snodin 20
Gordon Chisholm 20
Jim Duffy 20
Jim Mcintyre 20
Mark Venus 20
Owen Coyle 20
Charlie Mcparland 25
Nick Barmby 25
Nigel Worthington 25
Steve Kean 25
Stuart Baxter 25

No random Lithuanians?

Surely you can cut anyone who already has a job out of that list?

On the basis that this one will only pay them sporadically? You'd think so. TBF we may not be able to sign a manager over the age of 21..

David Southern was spouting some pish about how the new candidate would have to be aware of the stature of the club and the fact that we have the second highest wage bill in the spl. Er, hasn't that been part of the problem?!

(Glynn Snodin?!)

Snodin = former Jambo + recently unemployed

Ah, thx - didn't realise he was actively on the job market. Seemed like such a weird name to stick in there (er, amongst all those other glittering names etc and so on...)

New sponsor for Rangers - Blackthorn cider - owned by C&C - who own Magners - who sponsor Celtic.

"Old Firm" brand alive and unwell.

guy cannae pick a team but lol

"We have the quarter-final to prepare for and we are playing Juventus in the last 16 of the Champions League. We're not renting our training ground to them."

Scottish sports journalist of the year, Keith "wealth off the radar" Jackson, today:

What was an alleged sustained catalogue of rule breaking and deceit stretching over an 11-year period, all the way from 2000 to 2011, has been dismissed as a figment of the imagination.

Aye, so what was the fine for, ya tadger?

But Rangers have been found guilty of not much more than being Rangers. And of allowing Craig Whyte to take advantage of them at their weakest moment.

Um, no?

On the basis that this one will only pay them sporadically? You'd think so.

That and the fact they'd maybe have to pay compensation to the current club.

Killie vs Hibs cup tie is a cracker so far, but not as good as James Dayton's magnificent beard.

Oh Killiepaws

hat tricks all over the UK this weekend

Leigh Griffiths' first ever, I think.

Hibs vs Falkirk
Celtic vs Dundee Utd

Johnny Russell ruled out for a while with a leg fracture.

Totally forgot the draw was today. Dundee Utd the worst we could have got, obv, but lack of Russell is a help.

Hibs >>>>>> Dundee United atm imo

What I've gleaned from twitter: BBC says Jon Daly is to sign for the huns on a bosman, and Romanov, his family and Fedotovas have all resigned from the board of UBIG. STV thinks this means he's relinquished control of hearts, but the Herald think otherwise.

Why? Why would Daly do that?

Oh, he's 30, I thought he was younger than that. Money, then. Will they never learn?

Still, can see his choice of celebratory flag going down well at the sportsdirectbargainbin arena

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8333/jdtric.jpg

Wouldn't that make him the first ever Republic of Ireland player at Rangers? If anything proves they're a completely new club it's that!

The first since WWII I think? First was in the earliest days of the league, 1903 or thereabouts.

1903 = pre-Republic, I don't think there have been any since ROI was formed, if so they're uncapped.

Alex Stevenson then, 1930s.

A couple from the o.g. Irish team before it split.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rangers_F.C._international_footballers#Ireland

oh wait
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Stevenson

Stevenson is the only footballer to have played for both the FAI XI and Rangers and is one of only three players born in what is now the Republic of Ireland to play for the club. The other two were Alex Craig and James Lowry McAuley (Reuben Evans was another Rangers player from the Republic of Ireland but he did not play for the first team).

xpost, obv

That's a bit misleading as James McAuley and Alex Craig were both pre-1916.

my god all this talk of Rangers signings dredged this up from the farthest recesses of my memory http://youtu.be/oUXhW3JC9Zw

Ah those innocent times when you could laugh at anti-Catholic employment policies.

Can't find any more than Alex Stevenson so I think that makes Daly's signing somewhat significant. I have no idea of Daly's faith, if he has one, but he may well be the first Irish Catholic to play for Rangers.

They can't actually sign him until January, is that right?

Still, bit of a pishy one when you have a £20m warchest to win the second division. Moonbeams!

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/rangers-chief-executive-charles-green-1497340

They can sign him as a free agent and register him on 2nd September - they'll use a bunch of Bosman's to circumvent the spirit of their transfer ban.

Meanwhile, these cunts:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-21656061

The latest SPL accounts show directors pay and benefits increased by 16.5%, despite a 6% fall in revenues.

Oh aye, that makes sense re Bosman fudging.

"Bosman's"

ugh sorry

Right, so what's the craic with Vlad? He definitely away?

No one really seems to know - he's resigned from the board of UBIG (who own hearts) but is still their majority shareholder. (I think?!)

I've never been to Tynecastle. I feel like I may regret not taking the opportunity tomorrow night with the way things are going.