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It's handball all day long for me. You can't go to head the ball with your hand in between the ball and your head and not expect to concede a foul.

The Proclaimers - Letter from America

That last night is not a penalty, never in a million years. Yes the hands up, but you have to raise your arms to jump, that’s natural, its not fuckin Riverdance. The well boys arm is then knocked by the jumping Tim (its not an elbow either, the Tim jumped with and into him - he actually elbowed the Well lad in the guts too so that could easily have been given as a foul too). That knock to the arm moves his hand towards the trajectory of the ball but its still obviously headed clear. Anyone who’s ever played football knows a ball only flies through the air like that when its been cleanly headed. No ball could or would fly like that off the palm of your hand. Its just impossible. Its a scandalous call, even for Scotland, one that would never have been given at the other end, and one that was given either because of: Blatant cheating to engineer a last day decider, or Bottling officials too scared of the flak they knew they’d get from those unhinged weegie minkers if it wasn’t given. Its how football works up here. Always has been and its why the rest of us are all just wasting our time…

Who's missing from that? Teasdale? I'm sure there's another that featured in some of the Scotland camps.

I'm reading Alex "Hurricane" Higgins's autobiography. He doesn't hold much back, and is brutally honest about his failed marriages and relationships. I haven't yet got to the part where he tells Dennis Taylor that he is going to have him shot.

From the official site: Central defenders Jamie Mercer and Lewis Carrol, midfielders Aaron Cummings and Zak To, and winger Jack Searle will all remain at Cormack Park next season as they continue their football journeys with the Dons.

I think Hearts challenging for the title has been great for Scottish football. I don't think we (as in Aberdeen) need them to win it for it to still be great though. It'll actually be a negative as they'll bank a huge sum of money. Even if they don't make the Champions League group stage, I think they get €4m just for losing in the play-off then €8m for the Europa League group stage. We're both trying to find the next Lewis Ferguson or Claudia Braga - we'd now be competing with the league winners who are in Europe and have deeper pockets. So nah, I don't want them to win it. However, I have a sneaky feeling they will. And if they do they deserve it. And at least the consolation will be Celtic not winning five-in-a-row.

I'm reading Capitalist Must Starve - set in 1930s Japanese occupied Korea.

A very good book. No real dips in the writing quality from beginning to end. Books like that are rarer than hens teeth. Going to the try the TV adaptation of it from a few years back. The one where people claimed you couldn't hear the actors speak.

He’s got links to Mandy and Palantir but I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the pet shop thing was true He looks the type

I saw that some places are not going to be charging as much as they said they would for transportation now.

The close up, front on, they showed on the highlights last night was fairly conclusive. Agree about that one, that's about as useful as a still image of an offside without the lines.

Cliff Richard - From a Distance

Got to disagree, that picture is no more conclusive than any other. You still cannot tell from that picture whether his hand is actually making contact with the ball or if it is just obscuring the head making contact with the ball. I have not seen any picture or video that shows it either hit his hand or did not. Impossible to tell.

He really is. I reckon something about him will be leaked and finish him. Looks the type to have something very shady in his past. Wouldn't be surprised if links to Mandelson surface.

Now, don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say it was good work.

Mods! Shouldn't this be in the faces I'd like to punch thread?

They are instructed to use common sense. Collum explicitly said so a few weeks back (well, not explicitly, but words to that effect). They chose not to on this occasion. Deliberately. You're completely right though, apart from it isn't handball. Handball is a description of the offence, not a verb to describe touching the ball with the hand. The ball hit his hand, which was shown clearly on last night's highlights. It changes nothing about the decision. It's a really important distinction, and one the sleekit fucker will blur the lines with in his VAR review (although he probably just won't do one because of season ending). It wasn't a handball last night. For the reasons you state. I mentioned on the other thread, it's the equivalent of pushing a goalie over the line with the ball in his hands. Or kicking the back of someone's leg, whose leg then knocks the ball into the net for an OG. Football is a contact sport, and the contact cannot simply be ignored for the purposes of a preferred outcome.

Nah. That's not the case. There are numerous handball decisions that have been let go, correctly, since about a couple of months into the season when Colum apparently spoke to officials and told them to stop giving every single hand ball. I can't think of a single handball where a player has been barged into it. I think there was maybe one where Milne got nudged and handled, but VAR overturned the refs penalty decision. We had a penalty shout against St Mirren which was a very clear and obvious hand to ball. Correctly, VAR decided not to intervene, although I was very surprised because it looked so bad (5,000 times clearer than the Tims one). I've no interest what Collum says in response to some softball questions that never get to the heart of the issue. He changes his mind to suit the circumstances. We can all easily make a case as to why the penalty could be given, it's not really the point. The only other people I've heard suggest it might be a pen are the absolute raving loonball Tims who are too partisan to talk to. I'd have been embarrassed if the Dons had been given that. It doesn't matter, because the whole of Scottish football is watching on, and knows that their Martin O'Neill fairytale shite is simply a product of biased refereeing and completely tainted. As opposed to just the usual unfairness of the budget disparity.

Labour leadership voting intensions Starmer Vs Burnham: Burnham: 61% Starmer: 28% Starmer Vs Miliband: Miliband: 46% Starmer: 39% Starmer Vs Rayner: Rayner: 45% Starmer: 41% Starmer Vs Streeting: Starmer: 53% Streeting: 23%

Everyone's a critic Al

I think 'self awareness' is a quality which instantly disqualifies you from ever being a paid politician so I wouldn't hold out much hope

Think Wes is going to learn a lot about himself over the next few days and it’s going to come as a complete shock to him

Cheatin' Beaton is TBITB for Sunday's game. Easiest bet of the day is that twenty two players won't be on the park at the end

The boy’s hand is in front of his forehead. The ball hits his hand and bounces off. I think 99/100 times thats a penalty in Scotland (other than when it’s a Hun or Tim hand). Not saying I agree but seems consistent with current practice. Let’s see what Wullie says in due course.