Goggles & Flippers

I went to the rugby museum at Twickenham and the guide explained something that shone a light and made perfect sense. Rugby is traditionally a middle class sport in the UK because of initially it's public school origins but mainly because it was a contact based game. In the mid 19th century there was no social security, so if you didn't work or didn't have a secondary income then you and your family starved. Football therefore was adopted by the working classes as it was essentially non contact and rugby remained a middle/upper class sport as the chances of injury were much higher and therefore you had to have alternative means to support yourself. Rugby is played in winter because the conditions suit it much better. I think Andy has it right on the button though, Notts County and a lot of the European powerhouses were ex-pat cricket teams initially.

Johnson dropped out of things in the second half and at times in the first seemed like in a bit of a daze. For me Keith stepped up and put in a shift, majority of what he did came off.

Your reasoning for that is?

Baraclogh thought he'd be back before the end of the season, no immediate return

Don't dispute that, we are a selling club though and while it's great to have someone's services secured for the near future, it's also imperative for us to punt them on opposed to letting them leave. However, stuff off the park is looking a lot more tight and professional so I am hopeful.

You'd think so wouldn't you, Hutchison had his contract extended by 2 years in the summer of 2011 to keep him here to the end of 2013/14. That didn't really work out as the financial windfall we expected.

Where have all the "tea boy" naesayers gone?

Oh come on, talk about grasping at straws. I never suggested it would be mandatory, I merely advised that many already do. However I don't understand your stance, you want to maintain football being played at this time of year but the potential of pre-season running up Strathy Park steps inconceivable? With respect to the weather, you cite a downpour? We should look at trends and the trend is that the weather here in winter is much worse than in summer. I'm sure there will be freakish weather phenomenon but you have to counter those to what we expect as standard every winter. Just do a simple litmus test, how many games can you think of called off in April, May, August and September over games played in November, December, January and February? I can think of close to a dozen over the past 5 seasons just involving us. From reading Flow's article I don't think he suggested the summer football in isolation would be the adrenaline shot. It would be in conjunction with offering broadcasters more access and also not competing with the EPL so effectively having a captive market. If games have to be moved for TV surely 6pm game on a Saturday night or 4pm on a Sunday afternoon as currently England has to be better than 12:30? Playing in the summer would allow us to get those slots for a few months anyway. During football finals, there would probably be a 6 week shutdown as I would be surprised if UEFA/FIFA would allow games played when they have games on. League is extended by 3 weeks either side, not too dramatic. As for your list of events, flat or jump racing? 3 of the major golf tournaments and 3 of the tennis slams already take place during a regular season, I'll give you 7 F1 races but Rugby World Cup is generally in Sept/Oct. Surely by giving teams access to a bit more cash will allow a for a degree of more competition, it isn't going to improve with the status quo.

But if you read the article that would be an aim in the long term but initially it is designed to give the broadcasters something different, therefore increase revenues from TV and immediately make the experience much more pleasant for already attending fans. Scottish football attendances are in decline anyway, not as if winter football is steaming that. Aberdeen are away for some hot weather training this week, we went abroad before this season, I think its safe to say options wouldn't be as limited as you think and with grass pitches not being churned up during the height of winter means there would be alternatives on better conditioned surfaces than we no doubt have at present. Let's not ignore the fact that the only team able to compete past early December has been Celtic. It would take a while for the rest of the SPFL to get to a stage where they can progress past groups stages. One thing is for certain, without a cash injection (that summer football offers) it's not a problem that will ever need to be tackled. A cash injection improves the quality of the product and then makes us more competitive. If you can advise where if we have a winter break the extra revenues will come from, how our teams will improve in quality and buck the falling attendances, I'm willing to listen. However, best case scenario, Celtic get through the CL and 1/2 teams make it into the Europa league of which one makes it past early December, there's plenty of competition in Scandinavia who would be going through their own pre-season and relish semi competitive games. There would be scope to tie in with the MLS too (Celtic especially would love that financially). Also start the Scottish and/or league cup before the SPFL. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't think of any big game billing on Sky of Europa League pre-qualifier 3rd round games in early July. I don't know why you are finding fault, according to you we'd need to start 3 weeks early and finish 3 weeks later every second year, plenty of scope for you to get your layers and bunnet on. Only issue I see is evening games in summer involving Celtic and their "world's greatest fans", plenty of scope for booze fuelled bawbagery.

Aww man, beat me to it, I saw the link in the BBC Gossip page and then thought I've got a scoop Lot of interesting points, only issue I think is Scottish Football is too fractional with too many self interests and not enough decision makers looking at the bigger picture. Pretty much everything I read in that article makes sense though. especially not competing with the English any longer, but offering an alternative. Summer Football is an easy fix.

I think if you are 6'6" you should be cherry picking any ball within 10 yards of the goal mouth, unfortunately this "talent" you talk of didn't extend to confidence, composure or decision making. His shot stopping at times was good but his physical attributes should have made him formidable, alas that wasn't the case.

Sounds like a perfect modern Scottish internationalist, he'll tell the manager he's not available at 21, at least Boyd was 26 when he spat the dummy.

I don't think Lobey or I suggested it was. A wise man once told me with respect to press releases and journo's pieces, you have to consider the timing and what isn't actually said is often more important than what you can see in black and white. I was driving back home tonight listening to Sportsound and the panel was convinced to a man that McDowall will be walking after Friday's EGM. That got me thinking about this article again and this specific bit: What this "friendly" journalist has implied as the subtext is McCall had his hands tied financially, that accounted for a fair bit of the decline and if he had known about Les then he may have stuck around to raise take advantage of a higher caliber of player that has been available. Essentially, don't write me off. The BBC also had Nicky Law interviewed about the possibility of reuniting and he almost creamed his pants.

Wasn't there a Somali immigrant kid who's family settled in Glasgow and he signed with Celtic and he was meant to potentially be world class? I think because he spent his formative school years here (like Jordan Rhodes) he was available for the dark blue jersey too. Anyone cast a light?

23 starts, about 10 games unable for selection due to injury, 2 managers and a caretaker didn't think he had enough in his toolbox. Sorry don't agree with you.

McCall giving his opinion: BBC Interview Personally, I think if you cash in your chips and walk away, then you should also show a bit of class by keeping your mouth shut until the end of the season as you recognise you were party to and contributed to the malaise.

I'm not referring to just those two. We now have a multitude of options in attack. The midfield have grit, endeavour and drive about them again, the defence is still shaky but left back being an obvious danger area. But the main thing is if you now look at the bench and you have a host of options available that could turn a game. For every James Drayton I give you Skippy and Pearson, both played at a higher level and we have all to a man seen what a difference they've made to things on the park. Yes there are unknowns but we have that too, still think from what I read about Nathan Thomas we've got something of quality to see and Johnson offers quite a bit too. Have they though? Only difference I can see is one extra win and 3 points over us. If we win our game in hand then we're even (not counting goal difference). We were unlucky to face Hamilton before they lost their manager and they've been in freefall since. St. Mirren bolstered by the return of Thompson still only recorded their first home win on the last day in February. I firmly believe we now have what it takes to take something from every game remaining. Yes we've been woeful in too many games since New Year but there's also been a few unlucky pieces of fortune that have scuppered us and made the heads drop.

It's not just the performance, its the strength in depth and quality we have compared to those around us. Skippy has been the final piece in the puzzle. Just need Hammell back for solidity, I just hope we're not putting too much on his return, he was responsible for a swathe of goals at the beginning of last season.

Partick Thistle Ross County (A) St Johnstone (H) Inverness CT (H) Aberdeen (A) Celtic (A) Motherwell (H) Ross County Partick Thistle (H) Hamilton (A) Kilmarnock (H) Dundee Utd (A) St Johnstone (H) St Mirren (A) St Mirren Kilmarnock (A) St Johnstone (A) Celtic (H) Motherwell (A) Ross County (H) Motherwell Kilmarnock (H) Aberdeen (A) Hamilton (H) Kilmarnock (A) St Mirren (H) Partick Thistle (A) Based on the above fixtures, form and players available I'm confident we're going to climb. Can't see us getting less than 10 points. Aberdeen away is the only one I currently think it will be a big ask to get anything from, all the other games we now have the personnel to get something. St. Mirren lost their best player and didn't bring anyone in of note, Thompson returning is a bonus for them but not enough, can't see them getting anything over 4 points barring a miracle. Ross County, maybe 8 points, they're on a run at present. Dundee Utd away despite their up and down form will be tricky. Partick face the hardest run in, play the top three and us, Ross County and St. Johnstone, 4/5 points max.

----------------- Long ----------------- Law -- Laing -- McManus -- XXX XXX - Pearson -- Lasley - Grant --------- McDonald - XXX ---------- Based on Saturday I think there's 8 guaranteed to start, I think Baraclough may tinker to keep players happy and for that reason I think Straker may get another chance to justify the manager bringing him in. If Watt gets the nod then its because Straker hasn't impressed at training and it may be he's already written him off. I'm sure Watt being 17 and right footed (all be it he's done well considering), will also factor. Johnson will be up with Ainsworth for a start, Baraclough seemed to praise his attitude in post match interviews. Personally I think he recognises he does have talent and maybe being political in keeping him on side at least until the end of the season. Sutton is a senior pro, I don't know if he'll opt for Erwin's energy and pace over Sutton's footballing brain from the first whistle. Still feel a bit for Dom Thomas and Kerr. Don't really feel we've seen anything of what Nathan Thomas can bring to the team.

What I saw was a free kick 30 yards out, Skippy (last game mid Jan) and Erwin had run themselves ragged up until that point. Sutton came on to replace the diminutive Skippy as he is known for his prowess in the air and strength to possibly take advantage of the ball being pumped into the 18 yard box. A few minutes later Erwin replaced for Moore so you again have a tall target man and a nippy wee guy playing off him. Sorry for some that Baraclough doesn't replace a like for like to keep you happy but there is sometimes method to the perceived madness.

As much as yesterday was encouraging and I wiped my brow afterwards, I don't agree with many that it was our best performance of the season. I would argue that the Dundee Utd game after McCall left was better. Lost a popular and successful manager, team lacking the 8 players we had available yesterday, for me that is the game that showed real grit and determination.

What's acceptable in terms of impatience in a modern era football fan.

Good point, well made.

Yes it's voluntary with a degree of popularity required. However if you're given a job and you're not up to it, there's a simple solution.