weeyin

Bob Malcom's entry in wikipedia is where I tested out the theory "can anyone really edit these things?" Over the course of the years it was edited slightly by moderators, but the basic made-up "fact" is still there. (I promise I haven't made any wiki edits since then).

Not quite a done deal, but sounds like it's heading in that direction.

Be interesting to see if he takes them up on that offer. According to the wiki entry their most recent season makes Dundee Utd's look like a roaring success.

That was the Dundee Utd model that put them into millions of pounds of debt and helped relegate them twice in recent seasons.

It's not so much about fitness as training schedule. In the regular season you are tailoring your training to be in peak form in time for the match. Pre-season you start off with some of the intensive stuff to push you to the limits. It's not designed to get you ready for a match at that point. I remember Robinson talking about one league cup game we played where the team had done double endurance sessions during the day before playing in the evening. The alternative, of course, is to change your training to be less intensive between games, but you run the risk of not being at your peak when the league kicks off. I've heard a few managers say that since the new League Cup format started it can take 2 or 3 weeks into the regular season before the fitness is where they need it to be. Finally, the lower league teams kick-off their season before the Premiership so typically start pre-season earlier too. That means they are usually a week ahead in their programme. Of course, as a Premiership team we should have the better and fitter players, especially compared to League One and League Two. It does mean, however, that the differential can be less this early in the season and if you aren't 100% on it that results can go against you. That is why you see so many "upsets" in the group stages. I don't have any fear that SK will have us well prepared. My bigger concern is what kind of squad we'll have 6 or 7 weeks before the transfer window closes. I'm still not convinced this is the best format for the League Cup, but we're all in the same boat, so just need to deal with it. After seeing many variants over the years my favourite was still the one-leg, straight knockout, decided on the night approach with the final in October.

Cornelius wasn't part of our academy was he? So if there is compensation we'll need to split it with Hibs or whoever else was involved in development.

Davies seems to have lost every job he had by falling out with the board and/or claiming they were in league with the media to conspire against him. So no great surprise there. I don't hate Nevin, but he was definitely responsible for a lot of the issues at that time. He had no business being Chief Exec of any club.

My highly scientific back-of-a-fag-packet statistical analysis predicts that young players who leave us have more success if they have at least 50 appearances under their belt. According to soccerbase, Cornelius has 53, so he has a chance. He's the kind of player I would have been happy to see stay, but not overly concerned about leaving. More easily replaced than a midfielder like Campbell.

As well as the interest free loan, I believe in prior years we've also taken advantage of various grants there were available to fund improvements.

Most teams don't get all those sorted until the league starts - or even a few weeks after that.

That's certainly how it turned out, but I think ourselves, Aberdeen and even St Mirren were looking for a better goal return from him.

If it's like last season's, it's being made in China.

Is Lesser Hampden still going to be plastic turf after its revamp? If so, then I hope Elgin is away so we can play on grass.

I don't think he's made appearances very many places. One of those people that likes to keep himself to himself and stay out of the limelight. Not sure about his health these days either,

GA manage to get KVV to extend his contract. That probably used up 80% of the summer window budget. It certainly only left Hammell enough to sign Aston Oxborough in August.

Still don't get it. Since his first season with us, Mains' league goal tally is 5, 3, 4, 2, 2, 2, 7. Less in 7 seasons than KVV scored this past season.

Unless someone can show me the stats, and how those stats stack up against other teams, I can and will deny it and put it down as another one of the tropes that football fans love to repeat but don't always stand up to scrutiny - (back to haunt us, anyone needing a win, never do well on televised games, never win crunch games etc.). This season we signed 11 players, none were ex. We brought in 7 loans, 2 were ex (one who left has a youngster before he played for us) I'm open to the argument it's easier to persuade ex-players to come back on loan, but I don't think we're unique in that regard.

Considering the vast number of players we've signed in recent years - especially given the size of our club - the number of ex-players in that number must be a pretty minuscule percentage.

Nah. He'll be off to Aberdeen once they crash and burn next season.

My guess is that a kit you like and any Motherwell victory are 2 things that would surprise you.

Not sure why you think American football fans are gullible. There are 5 or 6 live EPL games shown every weekend, plus all midweek games shown live, plus 5 or 6 Championship games, plus the League Cup, plus the FA Cup, plus a ton of Champions League etc. etc. Anyone with a passing interest in the game knows who Wrexham are and where they stack up in the English pyramid thanks to the blanket coverage of the English game over the past 10 years or so. That tourney is the US equivalent of the old "Soccer Sixes" except a bit more lucrative. As well as the domestic teams, Wolves, Hapoel Tel Aviv, West Ham and Borussia Dortmund are also competing. The main difference is that it's $1 million to the winner and $0 to everyone else.

Although the Championship was close this year I'd still have been disappointed if the team in 4th had been promoted. If there has to be a play-off (and I don't think there is any need) then second top vs second bottom at least maintains some level of integrity for a league system.

I guarantee that as a 28 year old player at Man City he'll be ripped and have the core strength of an MMA fighter. I'm never, however, going to google "Bernardo Silva shirtless".

Not so sure about that these days. Sports science has moved on the past couple of decades to the point that most players are bulked up. I think it was Arsene Wenger that introduced the notion to British football that the only thing better than a talented footballer was an athletic, bulked up talented footballer. You don't need to be a Kipré or a Mandron, but you need a basic level of core strength to stand up to the rigours of weekly midfield battles.

I don't if the season ended this way, but for a long time he had the most yellow cards and was also the most fouled player in the Premiership.