bloo_toon_red

....that'll let him in after the Priory incident?

It's true, Will Young's been seen in Castro's looking through a pile of property schedules.

It looks magnificent, almost like Peterhead Craigewan golf course, but with sun. I see the sign that's up says "Trump International Golf Resort". What happened to it being "The Great Dunes of Scatland"?

I don't get out much these days(!), so in the last few months I have read a ton of thrillers, including: Archangel by Robert Harris - really enjoyed this one. The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Matarese Circle, The Osterman Weekend, Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum - Osterman the weakest of these, Matarese probably my favourite. The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth - great book The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin - I'd seen the film first, which kind of spoiled it a bit having Mahoney from Police Academy in my head Nazi Hunter by Alan Levy - disappointed me hugely, pretty dull The Spy Who Came in from The Cold by John Le Carre - really quite dark, I've struggled to get in to a couple of his books, I quite liked this one though The KGB Poison Factory by Boris Volodarsky - large sections on poisoning of Victor Iuschenko and Andrei Livinenko, writing style is a bit annoying but the substance is a good read Currently have Fatherland by Robert Harris on the go, alternative history set in Berlin 1964 after the Nazis won the war, shaping up to be a good one.

@50shadesofEarlGrey I was an innocent cup of hot water, when suddenly I was tea-bagged by a complete stranger

Credit where it's due, I think this is a pretty good initiative from the club. If a few youngsters get chance to get their strip and meet some of the players while they're at it, it's a good sign of the club trying to reach out to the fans again, which is desperately needed. Let's not forget, in the midst of all this Sevco crap, our own team has been shite for 3 years and we ought not to take the heat off the club in that regard, it's do or die time this season for an awful lot of people at the club and no amount of boardroom re-shuffling by Milne will save him this time.

What a lot of shite. What's the point of that exactly? Concentrate on your own club if you're going to throw cash about aimlessly. Nothing more than an ego trip.

Nice one. Now time to shred Fed

What we have to remember is that chief executives are businessmen, money men if you like or more appropriately, career men. Doncaster and Regan are not in this to protect sporting integrity at all and are using all the marketing spiel they can ti keep money in the game. I am more and more confident that "rangers" will be blocked from div 1 and that this pair of knobbers will get their jitters, or at worst, will have no option but to resign. They are so far out of touch with football tribalism they wouldn't know it if it bit them on the arse, spat it in their face and gave them a rousing rendition of the billy boys in the middle of brigton cross on the 12th July. Social conditions my fucking arse.

Doncaster is now single-handedly putting Scottish football into meltdown by slowing down this process.

Man's a legend in the making. Where's that story taken from Kow?

Even though this all stinks to high heaven, I'm not at all surprised at Ogilvie. Ballantyne was apparently seen at the Linfield v Rangers friendly wearing a Rangers Fighting Fund badge. There is a disease inherent in so many involved with "Rangers" that is almost neanderthal and is most definitely pure unadulterated evil. Turnbull Hutton's sentiments are so entirely spot on that the debate pretty much ends with his last word. Whether "Rangers" exists as a legal entity or not, they are what their followers and sycophants make of them, in entirely the same way as fan power of the other 41 clubs will have their say. I'm not even sure that they should be admitted to Division 3, there is a very real prospect of them re-entering administration very soon. "Rangers" and all their sycophants must be buried.

LOL! The Hardup Huntrotters.

In a thread about England v Scotland, I don't particularly feel the need to explain my thinking as to why I should consider that I ought to boycott a game that has the ability to excite me as a football supporter, and many others besides. There are plenty of other threads already where people including myself are making their thoughts clear on the situation. Whilst the governing bodies and the media are allowing this situation to spin sensationally out of control, in being seen to be trying to accommodate Sevco in the league set-up, and resultantly spoiling preparations for the upcoming domestic football season, the one certainty, the one thing I can allow myself to look forward to over the coming months is being able to support Scotland. That is the Scottish football team, not Craig Levein, not the SFA, not Stewart Regan, not Campbell Ogilvie, Jim The GodFarry or Ernie feckin Walker, but the team and the players, in their quest to reach the World Cup, and to make a long-awaited (for me) trip to Wembley in what I expect will be one of the highlights of many a Scotland fan's football following life. There's a recession on, people are struggling to get jobs and following football is a form of escapism for many whose daily lives are otherwise miserable. I will not allow this political feeding frenzy to spoil my own desire to follow the national team. Got my season ticket reserved in section D1, and then Wemberley awaits! Really looking forward to this. I think we have a good chance to do well in our group and then stick it to Roy's Boys. Get in!

As I said, and I will say again, I understand it but don't agree with it. The Scotland football team for me is completely separate to domestic issues, it's a totally different matchday experience and I won't cut off my nose to spite my face to prove a point that doesn't need to be made. I have a young nephew I intend bringing to hampden during this campaign, do I deprive him of a wonderful experience just to make a political statement? We can't act like che Guevara all our fucking lives. Some things are far, far more important than the politics of a game of fuckin fitba.

Great idea to get folk supporting Scotland, yes and as stated no different to the last campaign, so aye, yer most definitely cynical. Got fuck all to do with everything else that's going on and I despair at those of you that can't separate that. I can understand it but I completely disagree with it.

FFS! They don't fucking exist!

It's a great idea. One thing though, the SSC email says it's the first time they've done the season ticket, which is a white lie because I got it for the last campaign, and would be purchasing again anyway. Makes perfect sense to me.

Correct. The only scenario I can see is Rangers having to form some kind of amateur organisation (!) to be able to compete in Division 3 until they iron out whatever problems they have, or else form a buy-out of an existing SFL club just as Airdrie Utd did. People shouldn't underestimate the amount of infrastructure required to field a team in the SFL. I'm inclined to agree with Nellie here, seems to be much posturing to try and appease the huns rather than there actually being any real chance of them getting into Div 1. They may have started their pre-season training but at this moment in time, until they can prove the true nature of their affairs to everyone, they have as much infrastructure in place as Yerma's Athletic in the Strikers Sunday Night League.

Yass! Ya feckin dancer!!!!!

Correct, but in addition, it is the advent of the mass of TV coverage, and those who covet it, that is to blame for most of football's ills. Football has become a microcosm of all that is wrong with capitalism in general. The rich buy the best and the poor have to scrape by. We absolutely have to prevent the incessant squandering of 8-figure transfer fees and intergalactical salaries. The Football business has become corrupt the whole way through as everyone battles to survive. Even those perceived to be rich (Real Madrid, Manchester Utd et al) are struggling to survive within the constraints they have set themselves within. The needs and desires of the old firm have been different to those of the rest of us and there needs to be a year zero. Celtic now need to realise that they have to proceed with the same means as the rest of us or else they ought to be next to disappear. The SPL or whatever it re-brands as cannot ever compete in the race to the top in TV, sponsorship or branding. The game is now truly global and I think it is only a matter of time before domestic leagues are truly relegated to history.

Cracks showing in the newco already. Events of last couple of days (valuable players leaving under freedom of contract) and today's effective confirmation of their losing SPL status means their revenue streams are all but set adrift and their business plan in absolute tatters. Speculation is rife that Green will be forced to sell on and quite possibly at a loss, unless he puts Ibrox and Murray Park up for sale - and that's before HMRC force him to do it. Naismith, Whittaker and Aluko leaving probably takes a good £5m of potential transfer fees out of the equation. If Davis and McGregor go, they'll be well and truly fooked. It just keeps getting better and better.

Don't kid yourself, it happens every day in business. But morally, yes, you are correct which is why they need to start at the bottom. But at the point of league reconstruction, where is the bottom? In the absence of more information, I see the bottom being "SPL 2" to coin the phrase from before. That's not to say I agree with that, but there has to be a pretty strong argument in favour of it in terms of punishing Rangers but keeping a certain amount of financial fair-play involved for the other projected 21 member clubs. Form a ruling that any newly-formed club cannot gain promotion to SPL1 for the first two seasons until they can prove their accounts to be in order. In this case you are opening the door for other newly-formed clubs to apply to enter. Who's to say a brand new club from East Kilbride, or Stirling, or a merger of junior clubs could not form a new professional entity to join the new league? If you open up a new market, to new stakeholders, the world is your oyster. This as opposed to going down the same old road with the same old outdated institutions, who the fuck wants Albion Rovers or East Stirling? Super League has revolutionised Rugby League down south. As has the rugby union super-regions. This problem creates a monumental opportunity for us to turn the whole professional game on its head but it needs to be radical for the good of everyone. I hate to say it, but it needs to become "americanised". None of us wants another Gretna, Livingston or for that matter Rangers. Being full-time isn't the only issue, no, but accountability is the fundamental factor. Wages to turnover ratios would be brought in to ensure clubs are run sustainably and a part-time club shouldn't, can't and wont fit into that structure.

I agree wholeheartedly with the OP that under the present league structure, nothing less than Div 3 is acceptable to me. But for the purposes of balance, let’s take a different slant on things. The SFA have been looking at updating the league structure for at least 5 years, and with the McLeish report there is a genuine will within the SFA to take the steps to implement it. Take Rangers out of the question for a minute – Scotland cannot sustain a 42-team professional football league when between 18-22 of those are actually semi-professional (ie, part-time). Look at the history of promotions and relegations from and to Division 1 over history. The teams that traditionally come up and go down are the likes of Arbroath, Brechin, Stranraer, Cowdenbeath, they spend at most 3 or 4 years in Div 1 before dropping down again. They cannot make a concerted push for the top flight unless they go full-time and to take the necessary steps to do that is a massive leap from where they are. The only teams in recent times (last 25 years) to have made the giant leap from Div 2 to the SPL or old Premier Division are Livingston, Gretna, Raith Rovers & Kilmarnock. Hamilton did also spend a short time in Division 2, St Johnstone and St Mirren may also have. We all know what happened with Livingston and Gretna – they got to the SPL in an unsustainable way. Raith Rovers have historically been one of those clubs that teeter on the brink in that they have a decent fanbase but they are a traditional yo-yo club. Hamilton had their difficulties but sorted themselves out. Basically speaking there is probably a hardcore of about 20-24 teams who can consider themselves as being capable of going full-time. The Arbroaths, Brechins, Stranraers and Cowdenbeaths of this world do not offer much in terms of boosting standards in a league context. So, given that the Henry McLeish report goes along these lines, the SFL would not exist if the bodies get together and form this set-up. You would have the Professional League (2x10 or 12), you would then have the regional leagues, and in turn this would open the door for ambitious Highland League, East of Scotland teams to take their places in the new set-up on merit. So what would the point then be in placing “The Rangers” in the Regional Division South when there would be in reality a myriad of other leagues they could be placed in. Whether we like it or not, at year zero of this new league, “The Rangers” would be considered to have a part to play in that set-up if just for the fact that they are a full-time football club. Under these circumstances, would our desire to see Rangers banished overcome our need to see the game completely re-vamped for the better?