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skygod

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Everything posted by skygod

  1. That sounds great in theory but the reality is different. 1. We're not in a financial position to tell people to be off with their piffling offers. 2. If the player is "worth so much more" why are we paying them comparative peanuts? 3. If we turn down offers which are good money but aren't what we think the player is worth, we can end up with nothing when they walk as free agents (or for training compensation). We have been burned too many times. 4. When you are faced with players like Taylor allegedly in tears, begging to be allowed to join Celtic although he was under contract for another two years, are you going to force him to honour his contract? It's easy enough for us to say "£3m or f**k off" but real life isn't like that. Only by being financially secure can we be in a position to pay players more, offer them longer contracts and be in a position to resist offers until they reach our full valuation.
  2. I don’t think for a moment that Clarke will leave, other than voluntarily. I’d just like to see him introducing more young players into the squad in preparation for when he does step down.
  3. Tommy Burns wouldn’t have been playing right back. It was Hugh Burns. 1-1 draw, Williamson scoring.
  4. He’s 24 and he’s got 10 U21 caps. Hanley and Cooper have started six and seven times respectively for their clubs in the Championship this season. The Scotland squad for the 2024 Euros will have a few changes from that for the 2020 tournament, albeit it was played in 2021. Out will go Marshall, McLaughlin, Paterson, O’Donnell, Gallagher, Turnbull, Fleck, Fraser, Nisbet and Forrest. In will come the likes of Gunn, Kelly/Clark, Hickey/Ralston, Porteous, Souttar, Ferguson and Shankland. Mostly fringe players on the periphery of the two teams. Hickey at 21 is the only one who can be described as young. Where are Robbie McCrorie, Ben Doak and Josh Doig? Either Scotland are very poor at producing international class players or they just don’t get the chance at full international level. We tend to let the likes of Cooper, Hanley, McKenna, McLean, Dykes, Adams and Armstrong hang around without them ever establishing themselves in the team. The result will probably be another solid elimination without embarrassing ourselves. That’s an achievement in itself given the years of failure to qualify. Clarke is to be commended for what he has achieved but I wonder if we need someone who will be braver in infusing younger blood into the team.
  5. I have loads of reserve match programmes. Here’s a few I posted before to show the strength of some reserve teams back then.
  6. I don’t know whether or not he qualifies through his parents or grandparents but he has been resident in Scotland for the necessary five years qualifying period.
  7. I’ve never been impressed. There’s not a lot of fit alternatives but that’s no excuse to have somebody who’s a liability in the team. I don’t think Armstrong’s a wing back but I’d rather see someone like him get tried out in a friendly than someone who is likely cost to us at the Euros if he has to play. O’Donnell got in the team and stayed there for a while although he was just a “Steady Eddie” from the SPFL. Sometimes you need to look beyond where someone’s playing and at what they have to offer. If Lyons had been fit he would probably have played last night, yet he wouldn’t get a look-in if he was Scottish.
  8. He’s in the EPL so that gets him in the Scotland team. The only ones I can think of who aren’t are Tom Cairney and Alan Campbell at Luton.
  9. Some of them looked well short of the required standard. Clarke should try out some new faces instead of recycling some of the duds.
  10. Three full matches (assuming he plays 90 mins on Saturday) in fifteen days plus parts of two others. Doesn’t sound too onerous, although he could have sat out today. Presumably the club didn’t ask that he be left out, which they reasonably could have done once Scotland were eliminated.
  11. Lost 0-2, finished bottom behind Georgia FFS. Watson played second half, McArthur (captain) second yellow in added time.
  12. Czech Republic at 13.30 today. Wales starts, Watson Disney. Can we get at least one point? Avoid the wooden spoon?
  13. skygod

    Sky Tennis

    Murray’s out for an extended period with ruptured ankle ligaments. He might not be fit for much of the clay court season anyway.
  14. skygod

    Sky Tennis

    Lost a final set tie-break. He's still a tremendous competitor but his defence isn't what it was and he's not going to be competitive over five sets. If I was him I'd forget the clay court season and call it a day after Queen's Club and Wimbledon.
  15. skygod

    Sky Tennis

    Loving following the tour week to week. Makes you realise how much time players spend away from home, living out of a suitcase. In Murray’s case you wonder why, at 36 with the enormous wealth he has accumulated, he spends so much time away from his wife and young family. Especially at the start of the year when he was hopeless. Brisbane - lost Dimitrov Melbourne - lost Etcheverry Montpellier - lost Paire Marseille - lost Machac Doha - won Muller, lost Mensik Dubai - won Shapovalov, lost Humbert Indian Wells - won Goffin, lost Rublev The win over Goffin was the best he has played for ages. He has carried his form into Miami where he has beaten Berrettini and Etcheverry, who thrashed him 3-0 in the Aussie Open. In fact, he sealed the match with a 7-0 tie break. He’s currently a set up on Machac, who beat him in Marseille, with a rain delay. He’s beating guys ranked higher and/or more than ten years younger. How long it will last I don’t know and there has to be a good chance that this will be his final year. He’s had a fabulous career - three Grand Slams, two Olympic golds, Davis Cup, 46 ATP titles. In another era it might have been much more but nobody else did as well against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.
  16. He’s as good as gone, based on what McInnes said when he left.
  17. Wasn’t there talk of Charlotte, whose Technical Director is ex-Killie player and SFA coach Tommy Wilson?
  18. I remember the pitch being very heavy and some of the players looking they had had a guid Hogmanay! Interesting that you say Queen was playing for them because I thought Ronnie Hamilton, who went the other way as part of the deal, was playing for them that day. I definitely remember Bobby Adamson and Bobby Pinkerton running amok in the second half. Here's my story of a game of two halves. Sometimes if Killie were playing away, I would go to watch the Reserves, Third Lanark, Partick Thistle or Queens Park but 24 September 1966 found me at Somerset Park. They were at home to Dundee United who had some exciting new Scandinavians in Lennart Wing, Finn Dossing and Orjan Persson I wanted to see. It was an uneventfully goalless first half which I watched from the terracing opposite the stand. I thought I would go behind one of the goals in the second half, not being able to watch up-close goalmouth action at Ruby Park. I decided United were slightly more likely to score and went to the railway end. United scored in the 52nd, 53rd, 60th, 63rd, 69th, 71st and 79th minutes for a 7-0 win. One of the biggest demolitions I’ve ever seen and certainly the biggest after an even first half. The following month, United won 2-1 in the Nou Camp in the Fairs Cup and followed it up with a 2-0 win at home.
  19. Fixtures: Friday, March 29 Rangers – Kilmarnock Friday, April 5 Kilmarnock – Hibernian Friday, April 12 Kilmarnock – Hamilton Accies
  20. Thinking of Jamie MacDonald, no questions about training in the afternoon or the cryo chamber?😂
  21. It’s actually Georgia they’re playing. Watson starts, Wales Disney. McArthur captains. 1-0 (Wilson) 1-1 HT 1-2 Wales on, Watson off 2-2 (Wales) 2-3 FT
  22. “‘I’m expecting to be on a UEFA Pro Licence course by then [summer], which takes away any issues. As long as you have enrolled on it and started it, then that is seen as enough to be able to lead the team,’ Naismith told the Evening News.” (16 February)
  23. Armstrong’s only 26 and, even at the end of his current contract in a year’s time, he’ll be only 27.
  24. If Dumpweed says it, you can take it that it’s true. And calling players idiots for choosing not to spend most of their training and playing time on an artificial pitch is quite offensive.
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