A spectre is haunting Scottish Football

From the TSFM Manifesto 🙂

A spectre is haunting Scottish Football — the spectre of Sporting Integrity. All the powers of the old firms have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Billy and Dan, Blazer and Cassock, Record and Sun, Balance Sheet and P&L.
Where is the football fan in opposition to these that has not been decried as a “sporting integrity bampot” by his opponents in power?

Two things result from this fact:

I. Sporting Integrity is already widely acknowledged to be itself a power for good.

II. It is high time that Lovers of Sport should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Sporting Integrity with a manifesto of fair play.

To this end, Lovers of Sport of various partisanship have assembled on TSFM and sketched their manifesto, to be published on tsfm.scot.

Those who love sport though are challenged not just by the taunts of the monosyllabic automatons in the MSM, but by the owners of our football clubs who have displayed an almost total disregard to our wish to have a fair competition played out in the spirit of friendly rivalry. In fact the clubs, who speak those fine words, are not nearly as outraged as we are by the damage done to the integrity of the sport in the past few years .

In fact the term Sporting Integrity has become, since the latter stages of the Rangers era, a term of abuse; a mocking soubriquet attached to those who want sport to be just that – sport.

Sporting integrity now lives in the same media pigeon-hole as words like Islam, left-wing, militant, Muslim – and a host of others; words which are threats to the established order now set up as in-jokes, in order to reduce the effectiveness of the idea.

In fact, a new terminology has evolved in the reporting of football by both club officials and The Succulent Lamb Chapel alike;

“.. Sporting Integrity but …”.

For example

“We all want sporting integrity, but finance is more important”

Says who exactly?

Stated in such a matter of fact way that the obvious question is headed off at the pass, it is sometimes difficult to re-frame the discussion – perhaps because crayon is so hard to erase?

This is the backdrop to The Scottish Football Monitor and the world in which we live. Often the levels of scrutiny employed by our contributors are far in excess of any scrutiny employed by the MSM. Indeed our ideas and theories are regularly plagiarised by those very same lazy journalists who lurk here, and cherry-pick material to suit their own agendas; regularly claiming exclusives for stories that TSFM and RTC before us had placed in the public domain weeks earlier.

This was going to lead into a discourse about the love of money versus the love of sport – of how the sacred cows of acquisitiveness, gate- retention and turnstile spinning is far more important to the heads of our football clubs (the Billys, Dans and Blazers of the intro) than maintaining the traditions of our sport.

However events of Friday 14th November have given me cause to leave that for another day. The biggest squirrel of all in this sorry saga has always been the sleight of hand employed instil a siege mentality in the Rangers fans. The press have time and again assisted people (with no love of football in general or Rangers in particular) to enrich themselves – legally or otherwise – and feed on the loyalty of Rangers fans.

A matter for Rangers fans may also be the identity of some of those who had their trust, but who also assisted the Whytes and Greens by their public statements of support.

Our contention has been that rules have been bent twisted or broken to accommodate those people, the real enemies of the Rangers fans – and fans everywhere.

Through our collective research and group-analysis of events, we have also wondered out loud about the legality of many aspects of the operating style of some of the main players in the affair. That suspicion has been shared most notably by Mark Daly and Alex Thompson, but crucially now appears to be shared by Law Enforcement.

I confess I am fed up with the self-styled “bampot” epithet. For the avoidance of doubt, the “bampots” in this affair are those who have greater resources than us, and access to the truth, but who have lacked either the will or the courage or the imagination to follow it through.

We are anything but bampots. Rather, we have demonstrated that the wisdom of the crowd is more effective by far than any remnants of wisdom in the press.

I have no doubt that the police investigation into this matter is proceeding in spite of great opposition in the MSM and the Scottish Football Authorities – all of whom conspired to expose Rangers to the custodianship of those for whom football is a foreign language.

I have no doubt that the constant exposition of wrong-doing on this blog, in particular the questions we have constantly raised, and anomalies we have pointed out, has assisted and enabled the law enforcement agencies in this process.

If we are to be consistent in this, our enabling of the authorities, we MUST show restraint at all times as this process is followed through. People who are charged with a crime deserve to be given a fair trial in the absence of rumour or innuendo. We must also, if we are to continue as the spectre which haunts the avaricious – and the real bampots – be seen to be better than they, and give them no cause to accuse us of irresponsibility.

This affair has now evolved way beyond one club gaining unfair advantage over others. For all the understandable Schadenfreude of many among us, the real enemy is not Rangers, it is about those who enabled and continue to enable the farce at Ibrox.

This is now about systematic cheating at the heart of the Scottish game (in the name of cash and in spite of lip service to sporting integrity), and how the greed of a bunch of ethically challenged officials allowed another group of ethically challenged businessmen free rein to enrich themselves at the expense of the fans.

Whether laws were broken or not, the players at Rangers have come and gone and are variables, but the malignant constant at the SFA and SPFL are still there. Last night, even after the news that four men had been arrested in connection with the takeover at Ibrox in 2011, they were gathered together at Celtic Park with their Irish counterparts, tucking into succulent lamb (perhaps) and fine wines, doing some back slapping, making jokes about the vulgarities of their fans, bragging about the ST money they have banked.

The revolution won’t be over until they are gone, and if they remain, it is Scottish Football that will be over.

 

 

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About Trisidium

Trisidium is a Dunblane businessman with a keen interest in Scottish Football. He is a Celtic fan, although the demands of modern-day parenting have seen him less at games and more as a taxi service for his kids.

4,164 thoughts on “A spectre is haunting Scottish Football


  1. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/rangers-2-livingston-0-run-down-ibrox-now-a-precinct-for-pedestrian-performances-and-.26133716

    A surprisingly blunt / honest summary from a Gary Keown, with the final paragragh;

    “…The cheers at the end were short and muted. Rangers announced over the PA system that there had been 28,053 people in the stadium for this bleak affair, so that, at least, gave us all something to laugh about on the way home.”

    Are some of the :slamb: munchers getting fed up trying to talk up TRFC?

    And don’t think there is any chance of Keown getting run out of town either… ! 🙄


  2. Big Mike’s team lost at the Sports Direct Arenabowl today. That’s the derby gone west then. Whit if he’s noo scunnered wae fitba in general? Will he just shut doon The Rangers ra morra?


  3. Well my team lost today, but we had a genuinely competitive game that was brilliant & exciting to watch. Even with my green tinged specs, Utd have to be commended for bringing through & playing so many young players………and I agreed completely with Jackie after the game when he chided Guidi for encouraging tabloid style transfer speculation about his players, unnecessary in my view.

    We need many more games like this and perhaps if we do then maybe we can all start to become more optimistic for our game in the future?


  4. Continuing On the western theme!
    High Noon imminent at Hampden for the 2nd time in 2 years. last time the Marshal let the bully do what he liked despite the universal backing of the townsfolk.
    Before that the Marshals office also let the town bully do what he liked for over 20 years
    In the marshals office 2years on we still have effectively family and paid servants of the bully and a lily livered politician or two

    .Can’t see a Gary Cooper emerging from that lot ..Can you?

    We have all observed the great strides that many of our clubs are making on their own (with ZERO SFA help …ABSOLUTELY ZERO !!! ) having to go about and honestly fix their own financial problems…Aberdeen the latest on the list…with no nonsense or shenanigans or rule breaking ..It will be therefore absolutely criminal and the lowest point ever if the SFA ‘marshals ‘ effectively let the drunk and disorderly bully from Ibrox continue their behaviour for another generation
    As Eco said above Wildwest it will be…until such times as we run our marshal and the bully out of town


  5. Cygnus
    guidi and company just won’t accept that there are some manager’s in the Scottish game that are passionate and have the patience and drive to nurture young players, not an easy task when your media are the complete numpties that they are in focussing on the charade over at Hogan, at least Jackie you where head hunted for the right reasons.
    Cracking game today
    Merry Xmas to all
    and I mean to all


  6. Cygnus X-1 says:
    December 21, 2014 at 4:48 pm
    8 0 Rate This

    ….We need many more games like this and perhaps if we do then maybe we can all start to become more optimistic for our game in the future?
    ———

    Sorry Cygnus, the match was obviously undermined by the total lack of Rangers 😯

    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .

    Only joking. Great viewing for the neutral. As you say, always an inspiration when a Scottish team nutures its own players.


  7. occam says:
    December 21, 2014 at 12:41 pm
    4 2

    Haywire says:
    December 21, 2014 at 11:31 am

    Paladin had a gun and travelled by Wells Fargo. Tonto and the LR made sure the stage got through. ‘Keep them doggies rollin…

    Wis it no Jim Hardie (Dale Robertson) did the Wells Fargo troubleshooter gig… 😀


  8. ***Damp Squib Alert***

    I’ve been hearing from the SMSM than there’s an ‘explosive’ AGM scheduled to take place down Ibrox way sometime tomorrow.
    You’d like to think that one of them would’ve done a bit of on line research and found what happened when Sports Direct had their last AGM.
    When questions were asked from the floor, uncle Mike played the deadest of dead bats of which Geoffrey Boycott would have been proud and simply repeated the mantra that everything is done in the best interests of Sports Direct and their shareholders.
    I’m sure Derek will follow suit tomorrow and lots will be left a tad deflated.
    Much more important is how are the wages going to be paid this week.


  9. @StevieBC

    Tragi-comic reading. No lack of real humour, though, albeit downbeat:

    There was nothing chanted about the manager, Ally McCoist, positive or negative, other than a lone voice imploring him to sing The Sash early in the second half.

    What’s the point? He doesn’t want to be there on the touchline. If the club could cobble together the £750,000 it would take to pay him off without having to call in the receivers, he’d be joining the majority of Rangers supporters in spending his Saturdays doing something more enjoyable.

    The Easdale brothers did come in for a smidgeon of abuse from a small group of people in the front of the Broomloan Road Stand. Around 50 of them gave us a few renditions of Sack The Board and Get Out Of Our Club, but it has about as much impact as throwing a Malteser into the North Atlantic.


  10. Danish,
    I think someone misheard what was being shouted at Ally.
    It wasn’t the Sash they wanted fae Ally, they we’re shouting at him to tell them about his Stash!!


  11. mungoboy says:
    December 21, 2014 at 5:39 pm
    2 0 Rate This

    Danish,
    I think someone misheard what was being shouted at Ally.
    It wasn’t the Sash they wanted fae Ally, they we’re shouting at him to tell them about his Stash!!
    ———-

    That was an odd spectator comment, mungo. Perhaps a wee rendition would give some supporters that warm fuzzy feeling of normality? Lots that rhymes with ‘sash’, though — notably, ‘Mash’ (‘bring in the…’), ‘bash’ (‘wull ye sing at the…’), ‘cash’ (‘sing aboot yer…’), ‘pash’ (‘this fitba is utter…’), cont. on page 895


  12. smallchange says:
    December 21, 2014 at 5:18 pm
    7 2 Rate This

    Yup – but Paladin was ‘Have gun – will travel’ …. so they must have met! 🙂


  13. smallchange

    Wis it no Jim Hardie (Dale Robertson) did the Wells Fargo troubleshooter gig…
    ____________________________________________________________

    Well remembered. He then went on to Iron Horse, which most distastefully was the title to a Christie song 🙂

    Bronco Layne was my real hero though, with Dick West (The Range Rider’s all-American boy sidekick), Bret Maverick and Sugarfoot just behind.

    Uncomplicated days when I went out in the streets of Budhill (great place to stay if you were a cowboy) with my Lone Star pistol and Texas Rangers holster 🙂

    Trigger, incidentally was my rocking horse 😉


  14. Haywire says:
    December 21, 2014 at 11:31 am
    16 0 Rate This

    Absolutely the best! Just dug out my copy of ‘Further Adventures of the Wee Boy’ and as entertaining now as the first time I read it. More so, in fact when I starting making connections with TRFC characters.

    Now who might this be? Big Chief Toffy Teeth – “Chief of the Laya Bout tribe whose lack of scruples would make even Rank Bajin blush. He has formed an uneasy alliance with the aforementioned villain to further their nefarious deeds….”

    I’m sure we could find parallels between every one of the characters and the current drama.

    Bud Neil was a very prescient writer!! 😀


  15. “Should I stay or should I go?”

    @SkySportsNewsHQ: Sky Sources: Ally McCoist leaves role as Rangers manager. #SSNHQ


  16. Gardening leave apparently – or so I believe.
    Billy Davies in the morning?


  17. Gardening leave. Wonder if they’re still making him attend tomorrow. Might as well sell rope and masks at the door.


  18. Derek Johnstone proving live in air that he doesn’t understand what gardening leave is! Or the financial reality of it.


  19. Costly Coisty!

    I suppose by the time he’s free to do as he allegedly threatened to – and spill the beans we’ll be a year down the line and what he has to say will mean diddly squat in the grand scheme of things.

    interesting times. The next few days should reveal Ashley’s hand.


  20. And would anyone like to hazard a guess at dj’s solution?

    I mean without using the words king, 16m and belong obviously.


  21. Big Pink says:
    December 21, 2014 at 6:31 pm
    3 1 Rate This

    smallchange

    Wis it no Jim Hardie (Dale Robertson) did the Wells Fargo troubleshooter gig…
    ____________________________________________________________

    Well remembered. He then went on to the Iron Horse…(sic)
    =================================================================
    I do remember this as a “trendy” pub (at least in the 70’s) at the top of West Nile St, near the Junction with Sauchiehall St…!)


  22. I’ll summarise for you non sky’ers.

    Rangers will be fighting off managerial applicants with a big stick for the chance to play in front of 50,000 every other week. Money no object, obviously!


  23. Ally’s garden must return to where it belongs, for the good of Scottish fitba. Headline (please): “Ally’s Agricultural Football” 🙂

    The Clyde manager’s next piece should illuminating.


  24. Before the Western theme dies (or preferably someone kills it off… 🙄 !)…no mention has been made of Ty Hardin in “Bronco”, aka Bronco Laine/Lane…?

    My father, God rest him, explained that Bronco was a particularly strong brand of toilet tissue in the post war years…which would account for “Bronco’s” hardness. 😳 ..obviously in the days before the dreaded Andrex puppy adverts…(redundant wee brown jobby emoticon)


  25. essexbeancounter says:

    December 21, 2014 at 8:30 pm

    Big Pink says:
    December 21, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    smallchange

    Wis it no Jim Hardie (Dale Robertson) did the Wells Fargo troubleshooter gig…
    ____________________________________________________________

    Well remembered. He then went on to the Iron Horse…(sic)
    =================================================================
    I do remember this as a “trendy” pub (at least in the 70’s) at the top of West Nile St, near the Junction with Sauchiehall St…!)
    _____________________________________________________

    Correct. It was the Empire Bar then the Iron Horse in the 70s, and it’s changed back and forth a couple of times since. My granda used to run an er, pre-off-course law gaming establishment on the floor above in the 40s and 50s.

    Had a snifter in there myself before several Green’s Playhouse concerts – most notably the one in my avatar!


  26. I take it things like appearing on ‘A Question Of Sport’ become ‘gross misconduct’


  27. occam says:
    December 21, 2014 at 6:42 pm
    4 1 Rate This

    Haywire says:
    December 21, 2014 at 11:31 am
    16 0 Rate This

    Absolutely the best! Just dug out my copy of ‘Further Adventures of the Wee Boy’ and as entertaining now as the first time I read it. More so, in fact when I starting making connections with TRFC characters.

    Now who might this be? Big Chief Toffy Teeth – “Chief of the Laya Bout tribe whose lack of scruples would make even Rank Bajin blush. He has formed an uneasy alliance with the aforementioned villain to further their nefarious deeds….”

    I’m sure we could find parallels between every one of the characters and the current drama.

    Bud Neil was a very prescient writer!! 😀
    ========================================================================
    Occam….agreed entirely…and a superb cartoonist too…on a par with Ron Ullyet in the (English) Daily Express!

    PS…gonnae gies a len’ o’ yer copy…or dae ah huvtae go tae thae bar stewards at Amazon? 😀


  28. essexbeancounter says:
    December 21, 2014 at 8:43 pm
    0 0 Rate This

    mmm……

    If I had a pound for every book I have lent never to see again I might be able to buy out … or even create a brand new outfit in whichever sport I might think appropriate – mud wrestling?? 😯


  29. essexbeancounter says:
    December 21, 2014 at 8:36 pm
    2 0 Rate This

    Before the Western theme dies (or preferably someone kills it off… !)…no mention has been made of Ty Hardin in “Bronco”, aka Bronco Laine/Lane…?
    ——–

    Western theme is great @essex. Just so surprised at how many series that suddenly came back after they were mentioned. No wonder we Scots are partial to a bit of cowboy culture.

    Mind you, acres of gardening puns about to sprout … erm … blossom, I hope!


  30. Club Statement
    Written by Rangers Football Club

    RANGERS would like to announce that Ally McCoist is relinquishing his duties as manager and will serve out the remainder of his 12 month notice period on gardening leave.

    We would like to thank Ally for all his hard work and dedication over the last few years, but we feel it is now in the best interests of all parties to move on.

    Assistant Manager Kenny McDowall will take over his duties until the end of the season.


  31. Wow, @easy, nae big name manager. But maybe McDowall will do a better job than His Superness. An unexpected moonbeam, perhaps?


  32. Probably a good thing for Kenny McDowall.
    He can continue trying to make the most of the things with the dreadful hand he’s been dealt over the last two or three years.
    Only now he’ll be able to concentrate on what’s going on during the games without the distraction of having to explain it all to Ally every five minutes.


  33. Danish Pastry says:
    December 21, 2014 at 8:57 pm
    0 0 Rate This

    “O me, you juggler, you canker-blossom, you thief of …”

    Not you DP – nice deviation


  34. Big Pink @ 8:21pm
    ====================

    Davies was my first thought but now McDowall is confirmed would suggest big Mike ain’t for throwing more good money after bad.


  35. Danish Pastry says:
    December 21, 2014 at 9:05 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    So we have a former CFC chief scout trying to dig Sevco … out of a hole. 1 big s..ally .ry down, 2 salaries remaining – one possibly enhanced??


  36. Dave King could be in more bother with SARS.

    timeslive.co.za/local/2014/12/21/tax-u-turns-on-cards-after-probe-into-sars-rogue-unit …


  37. If the big earners are being shown the door, or benched to avoid win bonuses, and the like, McDowall might be in his element with the youngsters.

    Wasn’t he well thought of at Celtic?

    This austerity drive Phil’s been predicting will be fascinating. They can’t surely keep the whole stadium open for 10-15,000? Wonder if the wi-fi contract is cancellable? Most people have mobile data these days anyway.


  38. “The thing that haunts a man the most is what he isn’t ordered to do”

    Had been thinking along the western theme from a young Eastwood in Rawhide to his great ‘Unforgiven’. Then switch on tonight to Gran Torino.

    Conscience and Integrity – what price?


  39. Carfins Finest says:
    December 21, 2014 at 9:32 pm
    ‘Dave King could be in more bother with SARS.’
    ——
    Link not available, apparently. What’s the story,CF?


  40. Carfins Finest says:
    December 21, 2014 at 9:32 pm
    0 0 Rate This

    Dave King could be in more bother with SARS.

    timeslive.co.za/local/2014/12/21/tax-u-turns-on-cards-after-probe-into-sars-rogue-unit

    _________________…

    Billionaire businessman Dave King is the most prominent among high-profile South Africans who could be slapped with far higher tax bills if their deals with the taxman are reviewed.

    The findings of the investigation, carried out by a panel headed by Johannesburg advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, largely confirm reports by the Sunday Times over the past few months – and vociferously denied by SARS at the time – that the rogue unit engaged in a wide array of illegal tactics.

    It found “prima facie evidence” that SARS operated a covert unit that illegally spied on the taxpayers it was investigating, including some it had cut deals with.

    The result is that all deals reached in the past 10 years could be up for review, with potentially damaging consequences for SARS, long regarded as one of the government’s “cleanest” and most effective agencies.

    Prominent figures let off the hook by SARS for a fraction of their tax bills include billionaire businessmen King and Christo Wiese as well as political firebrand Julius Malema.

    http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2014/12/21/tax-u-turns-on-cards-after-probe-into-sars-rogue-unit
    _____ 😯
    just as well he hasnt committed to his 8 mill of the 16


  41. So, the world and his wife has been told that they can’t afford to pay off their duff manager but they can keep him on a monthly drip feed for 12 months in the hope that like Mr Micawber, something will turn up.
    The second admission is that they can’t afford to hire a new guy any time soon but they will stick with A££y’s Nr2 as a cheaper option on the same basis.
    As Hately would say, it’s like a new signing!
    In the meantime, over in the Den, they are NOT a happy bunch.


  42. Going with Kenny McDowall is a fair indication that MA has not been infected with Rangersness. As a coach, McDowall was highly regarded at Celtic Park and Celtic were sorry to lose him when he left. As a manager though he is not the finished product as yet.

    Perhaps Ashley and Co aren’t too fussed if he screws up – on the basis that he could hardly be any worse than McCoist – but may get a bonus if he turns out to be a gem hiding in plain sight.

    If Ashley was really committed to the project on every level, would he be leaving the managerial appointment to chance?

    As usual, more questions than answers.


  43. occam says:
    December 21, 2014 at 9:25 pm
    3 0 Rate This

    So we have a former CFC chief scout trying to dig Sevco … out of a hole. 1 big s..ally .ry down, 2 salaries remaining – one possibly enhanced??
    ———

    You’re right. These are no savings at all. And if rumour was correct, ‘Coisty’ is raking it in (oops, I punned by mistake).

    No idea how they prune the budget apart from shutting things down, cancelling luxuries, off-loading anyone sellable, and running a youth team.

    Keeping them in the Championship may save a load of cash too, if bonuses and onerous contracts increase with promotion.


  44. easyJambo says:
    December 21, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    Club Statement
    Written by Rangers Football Club

    RANGERS would like to announce that Ally McCoist is relinquishing his duties as manager and will serve out the remainder of his 12 month notice period on gardening leave.

    We would like to thank Ally for all his hard work and dedication over the last few years, but we feel it is now in the best interests of all parties to move on.

    Assistant Manager Kenny McDowall will take over his duties until the end of the season.
    ================================
    If that is the “club” statement, I wonder what the company statement will say? An AIM announcement tomorrow should have something to add to the statement of 15 December announcing the manager’s resignation. At least there is nothing going on tomorrow that will distract attention. Oh, wait a minute.. :irony:


  45. The McDowall appointment tells me that Ashley isn’t for throwing a lot of cash at the Ibrox black hole. This move costs nothing, after all they are paying McDowall anyway, and he surely can’t be a worse manager than McCoist- can he?

    However it shows a distinct lack of football ambition. If this appointment is followed by a fire sale of players in January, then maybe all Ashley wants is his money back, and his commercial interests protected. I don’t think he’s bothered about promotion, or the playing side. If he was, he would pay up for an experienced replacement manager.


  46. So the club’s biggest earner (salary) may not attend the AGM??!! Even though responsible for on field performance during the last 3 years in a senior management position.

    Compare and contrast AGMs of all listed clubs in SFA membership..


  47. I have posted only once before, as I am in awe of a fair number of posters. I would just like to share a wee bit of information from parents of Rangers Academy players. Jim Sinclair has also left the club as has the chief Academy scout.


  48. andy says:

    December 21, 2014 at 9:39 pm

    1

    0

    Rate This

    Carfins Finest says:
    December 21, 2014 at 9:32 pm
    0 0 Rate This

    Dave King could be in more bother with SARS.

    timeslive.co.za/local/2014/12/21/tax-u-turns-on-cards-after-probe-into-sars-rogue-unit
    =============
    Thanks Andy.


  49. I think the Bears are about to find out at the AGM that MA has them by the baubles!

    Scottish Football & TSFM deserve a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.


  50. Craig Houston has told SoS page to remember the names Joe Oliver and Octopus wrt BPH and Margarita.

    Can anyone join the dots for me?

    P. S. It’s garden leave as in sit in the garden rather than gardening leave as Ally will have plenty to pay the gardener with!


  51. essexbeancounter says:

    December 21, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    Before the Western theme dies (or preferably someone kills it off… 🙄 !)…no mention has been made of Ty Hardin in “Bronco”, aka Bronco Laine/Lane…?

    How very dare ye! Tearing across the TSFM plain above, I mentioned my hero 🙂

    My father, God rest him, explained that Bronco was a particularly strong brand of toilet tissue in the post war years…which would account for “Bronco’s” hardness. 😳 ..obviously in the days before the dreaded Andrex puppy adverts…(redundant wee brown jobby emoticon)

    🙂 My mum used to put that toilet paper in our half landing toilet – just for me. Yes it was hard, but I WAS a cowhand after all 🙂


  52. ok i’ll bite

    Champion the Wonder Horse (Jim Bannon) TV
    My Darling Clementine (1946) Henry Fonda Cinema
    The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) James Stewart, John Wayne Cinema


  53. weeman says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:05 pm

    Craig Houston has told SoS page to remember the names Joe Oliver and Octopus wrt BPH and Margarita.

    Can anyone join the dots for me?
    ==============================================================

    Jo Oliver : http://www.octopusinvestments.com/team/jo-oliver/


  54. Another sign of a lack of Ashley long term football strategy is that a relatively inexpensive but imaginative appointment (say like McCall, Butcher Davies or McInness) would probably have paid for itself in gate revenues. This will most certainly not do that.

    Not to say that Butcher or McInness would take the job of course. I mention them by way of illustration.


  55. Sky bordering on accurate reporting in the headline McCoist piece.

    Club went into admin and were liquidated but ‘reformed as Newco Rangers’ in 2012.

    Simples.


  56. When is the Neil Rankine Tribunal due to report, or is it being held back so as not to jeopardise Ashley’s “Saviour’s Day” xmas #1 hit?


  57. Big Pink says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    My mum used to put that toilet paper in our half landing toilet – just for me. Yes it was hard, but I WAS a cowhand after all
    ___________________________________________________________

    You had two toilets?!!! Snob 😆


  58. occam says:
    December 21, 2014 at 8:53 pm
    4 0 Rate This

    essexbeancounter says:
    December 21, 2014 at 8:43 pm
    0 0 Rate This

    mmm……

    If I had a pound for every book I have lent never to see again I might be able to buy out … or even create a brand new outfit in whichever sport I might think appropriate – mud wrestling?? 😯
    ===============================================================================
    Occam…I will take that as a gentle “no”…funny how nobody ever asks to borrow my tax books…not even those on offshore tax planning (aka fiddling!)…ok then, form an orderly queue…. 👿 no Mr (D) Murray, you are not invited!


  59. Octopus – I’m sure someone will confirm this but was there not some link to Ticketus?

    Slightly tenuous but oddly appropriate is that Octopus had someone called Lothar Mental working for them up to 2011. Coincidence? I don’t think so! 😀

    http://www.theplatforum.com/octopus-investments

    Scottish Football has had a pretty good weekend of competitive fitba. Stuff Armageddon for Xmas!


  60. woodstein says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:10 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    ok i’ll bite

    Champion the Wonder Horse (Jim Bannon) TV
    ——–

    Wow! Another long forgotten series. As soon as I read your post I could hear the theme music.

    How did we find the time to watch all these Westerns?


  61. jean7brodie says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:14 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    Big Pink says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    My mum used to put that toilet paper in our half landing toilet – just for me. Yes it was hard, but I WAS a cowhand after all
    ___________________________________________________________

    You had two toilets?!!! Snob 😆
    ===========================================================
    Jean…referring to the rooms in question as “toilets”…now that is pure posh…!

    Many “Western” orientated words spring to mind…(..”mind like a sewer boy, as my wee maw (RIP) would say!)


  62. Davies doesn’t fit this scenario – he loves a fight with a board.

    Neither will friends or ex team mates of McCoist.

    Hence the McDowall decision. He will hate that he’s been put there, but if he wants his salary to continue he’ll need to do the gig.

    Ooft so messy


  63. Big Pink says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:07 pm
    3 0 Rate This

    essexbeancounter says:

    December 21, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    Before the Western theme dies (or preferably someone kills it off… 🙄 !)…no mention has been made of Ty Hardin in “Bronco”, aka Bronco Laine/Lane…?
    How very dare ye! Tearing across the TSFM plain above, I mentioned my hero 🙂
    =====================================================================================
    BP…thanks for that…I will now go off to my little bed, singing that…

    “…tearing across the Texas plain…Bronco Laine”

    The words of the verses will come back to me in my sleep!


  64. Presumably Kenny McDowall would be given a pay rise given his promotion to manager? Could be not so cost effective if TRFC end up with two ex managers on gardening leave?


  65. jean7brodie says:

    December 21, 2014 at 10:14 pm

    Big Pink says:

    My mum used to put that toilet paper in our half landing toilet – just for me. Yes it was hard, but I WAS a cowhand after all
    ___________________________________________________________

    You had two toilets?!!! Snob 😆

    ______________________________________________

    Come to think of it, we had FOUR toilets. I think they keys fitted all of the half-landings 🙂

    To think they demolished those mansion closes 🙂


  66. redlichtie says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:20 pm
    0 0 Rate This

    Octopus – I’m sure someone will confirm this but was there not some link to Ticketus?

    Slightly tenuous but oddly appropriate is that Octopus had someone called Lothar Mental working for them up to 2011. Coincidence? I don’t think so!

    http://www.theplatforum.com/octopus-investments

    Scottish Football has had a pretty good weekend of competitive fitba. Stuff Armageddon for Xmas!
    ——–

    @Red (sounds a bit cowboy-ish), I think Mr Mental is actually ‘Mentel’, but funnily enough misspelled on the site you linked to. At least he’s listed as being Mentel. Someone being a bit mischievous?

    PS Would he go Tonto if he found out out he was called ‘Mental’? (another tenuous Western link 😮 )


  67. essexbeancounter says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:19 pm
    3 0 Rate This

    I’m sure they might be equally entertaining! I know a few accountants and litigation lawyers who, if they wrote a book based on what they hadn.. taken down as balance sheets/evidence would be laughed out of ….. 🙂

    The truth will out!!

    Have a great Christmas all and look forward to ….. well we each make our own future in that …. Always look on the bright side of life ……….


  68. Danish Pastry says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:21 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    woodstein says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:10 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    ok i’ll bite

    Champion the Wonder Horse (Jim Bannon) TV
    ——–

    Wow! Another long forgotten series. As soon as I read your post I could hear the theme music.

    How did we find the time to watch all these Westerns?
    ===========================================================================
    DP…I was a young hooligan celebrity in my part of Glasgow…knowing all the words and singing them just as lustily as Frankie Laine…but running down the street at 7.00 am, singing at the top of my voice…my poor parents got laldy for me… 🙂


  69. A half buried thought that has been around in my head since Ashley’s Keegan fiasco and the emergence of Roy Kinnear.

    Kinnear is being mentioned in horror by the bears tonight, but we may remember that Dermot Desmond was also a champion of the wee wellied one (post Dalglish and pre O’Neill). Is there a connection?

    Given the distaste for McDowell’s Celtic provenance on FF tonight (although in fairness there are more temperate heads contering that) what kind of reaction would we get if a connection existed?


  70. So, it was worth lobbing 750K at Ally to avoid him attending the AGM then. Quite a strong piece of negotiation by his agent.

    “Well Derek, if Ally is the manager he’ll be entitled to attend and he’s not the sort of guy to lie to the shareholders if asked a direct question…this year.


  71. occam says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:36 pm
    1 0 Rate This

    essexbeancounter says:
    December 21, 2014 at 10:19 pm
    3 0 Rate This

    I’m sure they might be equally entertaining! I know a few accountants and litigation lawyers who, if they wrote a book based on what they hadn.. taken down…
    ============================================================================
    Occam…just in the middle of “silly season” for us beancounters and am doing a good impersonation of Hans Christian Andersen (DP is it spelt with an “e” or an “a”?)…but please do not infer anything to ICAS…they will be saddened. :irony:


  72. Big Pink – that wouldn’t be Joe Kinnear, would it? 😀

    Having said that might not Roy Kinnear be a good role model for an aspiring manager in terms of his comedic value and girth?

    Scottish Football needs a strong Arbroath.

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