I was disappointed for St Johnstone at their exit from the Europa League last night but not for Scottish football, or our coefficient points. Saints are a provincial club in a very rural part of Scotland. You only have to travel through the hills to Perth to realise that pocket of Scotland, with its tractors, knitwear and wellie boot shops, has no God given right to beat a team from any municipality anywhere.
They have done very well for the last couple of seasons, from a tiny catchment area, but managed to reach Europe by pipping Dundee United, who ironically were good enough to have key players poached midseason.
St Johnstone don’t have potential superstars, they are also the oldest team in the league, which gets you through a long campaign but they are never going to sparkle. Or earn Scottish football a hatful of coefficient points.
Dundee United were decimated by the loss of those two players midseason, and were done no favours with the shadow of uncertainty which enveloped backroom and boardroom for months, but they, Aberdeen and Celtic are the only Scottish clubs capable of getting their act together to the extent required to reach European group stages. For everyone else, Europe is strictly a July pursuit, so don’t stress about it, and Tommy Wright is well within his rights to talk up his own club.
If Scottish football wants to get all introspective about last night, we should concern ourselves with concentrating resources on clubs who are independently financially viable: Dundee United, Aberdeen, Hearts, Celtic, Hibs and maybe Dundee. If more of our sponsorship and TV money went to Aberdeen and United and less to the thirty-or-so hangers on, they would be better placed to consolidate their development work and compete in Europe.
Celtic are five days away from their opening competitive game of the season, so I would think tonight’s friendly against Davie Moyes’ Real Sociedad will be the last strenuous exercise the players go through after what will have been a taxing first few weeks of preseason. After this workout it should all be about recovery before the visit of Stjarnan on Wednesday. The usual caveats apply to Nadir Ciftci, if he looks like he couldn’t run upstairs, he’s about where I’d expect him to be right now.
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Sipsini
Is it your birthday on Thursday then?
HH!!
BMCUW
Happy Birthday to you! Have a great day.
HH
Gerry
GERRYBHOY et al
Cheers,and
Hic…
BMCUWP
My sons ripped into me 20 years ago about them and I have apparently been sporting age appropriate beach wear since.
In Longboat Key last May – an early morning beach walk with Mrs RWE – and then we spy walking towards us, an old geezer wearing a thong thing..
We walked past very quickly and completely avoided any eye contact…burst out laughing.
I would like to thank both my sons for their fashion advice all those years ago.
:o)
papajoe55
14:48 on 11 July, 2015
Small world. Me too also. Making more visits to The Rock from Oz as the years stretch out.
RWE……
Wilson comes to mind.
Izzat no a long drive with the possibility of getting chewed up??
ginger
I can do that, no I really can….thing is..
I have an 8 year old and a 5 year old grandchildren who are beach bonkers and have been talking about nothing else except boogie boarding and such for weeks now.
My budgie smugglers won’t make the beach but my baseball bat will.. :o)
Topsail Sharks CSC
Happy birthday Bobby,
Eurochamps67
Good afternoon,
I am considering taking Mrs M to Santa Ponsa at the end of September.
Any advice on the best places to stay self catering or hotels etc would be greatly appreciated.
HH
M
tallybhoy…
Ye, last year I celebrated it in Italy…this year in work :((
RWE
Whatever’s comfortable.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ygeWsoYYMuQ&oref=https%3A%2F%2Faccounts.google.com%2FCheckCookie%3Fhl%3Den-GB%26sarp%3D1%26checkedDomains%3Dyoutube%26checkConnection%3Dyoutube%253A516%253A1%26pstMsg%3D1%26chtml%3DLoginDoneHtml%26service%3Dyoutube%26continue%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fm.youtube.com%252Fsignin%253Fhl%253Den-GB%2526feature%253Dmobile%2526action_handle_signin%253Dtrue%2526next%253D%25252Fverify_age%25253Fclient%25253Dmv-google%252526layout%25253Dmobile%252526next%25253D%2525252Fwatch%2525253Fv%2525253DygeWsoYYMuQ%252526tsp%25253D1%252526utcoffset%25253D60%2526app%253Dm%26gidl%3DCAA&has_verified=1&client=mv-google&layout=mobile
Magnus
Where are you in oz , my old boss retired to Melbourne 25 years plus ago promised myself a visit but never got round to it , he died a couple of years ago . My wife has 2 sisters in California and a brother in Canada so holidays in that direction instead
idbleedgreenandwhite
Can I just say to you, that in the context of my imminent encounter with sharks ….
…that your nom de blog is unnerving…
:o)
It’s a tad unfair on saying Stuart McColl couldn’t get rangers out of the championship. He was thrown in at the deep end with Super’s shambolic assembly. He almost made it, seeing off the mighty Queens and dumping Hibs. It just seems like normal service had resumed re Rangers Motherwell matches, i.e. He was always the losing manager in those games.
Watch Weirburtons Wonders Win With Wizardry
new article posted.
desertbhoy
About 3hr 45 mins door to door.
Oh and I get chewed up the whole way there and back :o)
The sharks only bite :o)
Looks like the steroid queen on way to Wimbledon victory. Serena Williams more muscular than any of the men contenders. The Williams camp are always a glum looking lot do they ever smile.
Below is an excellent summary of the NAMA debacle in the north of Ireland. This story will run and run.
Nama deal: debtors helped uncover £7m at centre of Northern Ireland loan sale… new
A team of special investigators working for a group of disgruntled Nama debtors managed to trace the £7m payment at the centre of the Northern Ireland loan sale scandal
papajoe55
Headed to Sydney many years ago and managed to get myself transfers to Perth, WA and Brisbane for several years before returning to Sydney and eventual retirement. Now enjoying slower driving trips north and south depending on the seasons and sampling the coastal detours and lovely beach venues I used to bypass when hammering up and down the motorways. Just back from another flying visit to the Red Centre and Uluru (Ayers Rock).
You’d need a microscope to read the back of thon season tickets
I can’t post the link
Google this
Nama deal: debtors helped uncover £7m at centre of Northern Ireland loan sale scandal
A Major Coo for Killie :)
Lee McCulloch has signed a three year deal as player/assistant manager with Kilmarnock
I reckon they got this guy in to write the tune for that video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7zw92lSNus
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
TheClumpany
11:28 on
11 July, 2015
And finally, here’s a link to this morning’s piece about Sevco’s epic trip to London. Well, North London…
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/a-different-sort-of-journey/
Enjoy the rest of the day!
You tube kept running in back ground from my last post
and this came on
Never seen it before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PfCeSjE1IY
: > )
Superb
jamesgang,
Pronounced,”Saeedi”,but I have to say,I like Sady better.
jamesgang,
Pronounced,”Saeedi”,but I have to say,I like Sady better.Sady Janko.Reminds me of a lumber I got in Victorias.Not physically,or gender,I have to add.
Paradise a work in progress