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I don't understand the clamour for Strachan at all. I think Calderwood would make a good Scotland manager. Whilst he is seen by many in the media as a figure of fun, he has the common touch that football players seem to like whilst still commanding respect from his players. I don't for one second believe he'll be considered though. The SFA need to be bold with the next appointment. The fans have got their wish over the last 3 or 4 appointments and with the exception of Walter Smith none have really turned out well (McLeish's results were good but he was too easily seduced back into club management). Out of all the names that have been mentioned, only Walter Smith does it for me. I think we should cast the net far and wide. With the Wotte influence, I wont be surprised if it's a Dutchman. I'm going to throw in a name from the extreme left-field: Steve Nicol

Sorry, LYNTON. Yes.

Me too. Read it previously that is. Not that I sourced boys for Ted Heath. Ever heard the story about Charles Linton? No? Google it. It's all 100% true...

It's always good to go and see Bond on the big screen. I don't go to them expecting to see Oscar-nominated performances, it's just a bit of gaudy entertainment. I think the reason that Casino Royale was such a good film in comparison to say the previous three (Goldeneye was a good film and the two Dalton ones were pretty good too in my opinion - The Living Daylights was the last of the classic formula Bond films), was that the screenplay stayed quite true to the book. You could re-make every film as far back as Thunderball and get a completely different film if the screenplay followed the book, with the possible exception of OHMSS which is pretty close but includes parts of the plot of You Only Live Twice. Licence to Kill was actually closer to the book version of Live and Let Die (and The Hildebrand Rarity) than the film itself was. I'm intrigued as to what Fleming strand if any Skyfall follows. With the exception of all of the Brosnan films, every film to date has taken at least something from the books.

Lord McAlpine's name is being discussed openly on Twitter and various internet blogs. The worrying thing about this is that if this turns out to be true, it gives a certain credence to the mentalist rantings of David Icke, who's been telling people about this stuff for years.

Correct. Fat arse needs a spell on loan with a diddy team to learn his place. Charlie Adam how would you like to be remembered; Ross County, St Mirren and Blackpool legend or Scotland, Rangers, Liverpool and Stoke flop? The fact that any player in an under-performing team comes out in 100% support of their manager, whilst not altogether surprising of the media-facing robots that football players are, is symptomatic of their own personal failures as footballers in that team. McGregor's and Adam's attitudes post-Belgium were completely defeatist as if they went on to the pitch expecting to lose.

He's spot on. Footballers in this country get away with all sorts. Like possessing cocaine for example. Dick.

Completed. Good survey apart from missing one very important issue: Summer Football.

Not being at the game I can't comment on his general play, whether he is acting as a good foil for McGinn and Fraser/Hayes coming in off the flanks, but 1 goal in 12 league games this season isn't good enough from Vernon and he needs to be dropped for a couple of games - maybe time for McManus to come in to the first team squad and make a claim.

He is a horrible, horrible footballer. He is everything that is wrong with Scottish football for the reasons you say there, and they are the same reasons why the technical aspect of the game is not being allowed to progress in Scotland.

It's different shades of blue in any case. The Scottish flag's official colour is Pantone 300 which is a lighter shade of blue than that traditionally used on the UJ which has tended to be a darker Pantone 280. I've read in historical football books that the reason that Scotland elected to play in dark blue as opposed to the colour of the flag was so as not to be associated with a certain mob that used to play their football down Govan way. I reckon so long as Scotland remains to be part of the Commonwealth, the UJ will remain, with the Queen as head of state and resultantly keeping her flag on all those countries in the Commonwealth who have a UJ set within.

I lost count of the amount of times a simple square pass or a 10-yard pass did not reach its target. It was not so much to do with the ability of the players because during the course of Levein's tenure as Scotland manager, we have in spells played some pretty good stuff, but it was clear from last night that these players were terrified to try anything risky, Maloney was the only player who looked willing to take a man on or to try something creative. It is obvious that the mounting speculation over the poor performances of Scotland has reached the players and they have no confidence. Players are never going to come out after a game and say "aye, I think the manager should get the dunt" are they? What I don't get though is this crap about "effort". There was plenty of effort from a defensive perspective, but whilst the first half stats showed that Belgium had two-thirds of possession, one stat that may have been interesting is the amount of time Scotland passed the ball straight to a Belgian player or out of play. I don't accept the argument of the Belgians closing players down either because we're talking about poor composure. There was the kind of poor passing I wouldn't even expect to see in domestic football. Effort in an attcking sense was non-existent. Allan McGregor's obnoxious comment to Al Lamont after the game "What would you have done, attacked them?" was utterly preposterous. The presbyterian negativity of Scottish football managers and hierarchy has seeped into the players - a goalkeeper FFS! There was no counter attacking. There was the prospect of one counter attack when Kenny Miller could've crossed into the box from the right wing but instead, in true Kenny Miller fashion, he checked back onto his (weaker!?) left foot and crossed it to the ball boy on the opposite corner flag. The one thing I'll applaud Levein for is his HT removal of the abysmal Commons. There was more movement in my bowel during those first 45 minutes. If I was Paul Dixon looking at the lazy cunt that is Danny Fox playing in front of me I'd be absolutely raging. Levein's position is untenable. He has to go, along with Danny Fox (lazy), Alan Hutton (too accustomed to the automatic pick), Gary Caldwell (unless in midfield which I've always thought was his best position), Kenny Miller (no explanation required) & James McArthur (guilty of some very poor play last night and has never convinced me he should even be in the top 20 Scottish midfielders).

There was no doubting that Maloney caught Bale, but I would say it was moreso a case of Bale running across Maloney rather than the other way around. There was an ever-so-slight change of direction from Bale to draw the contact. There was no way Maloney could avoid making contact with Bale there. Running at that sort of pace it is inevitable that even the merest of touches will put a player off balance. It was clever gamesmanship from Bale's perspective, he knew he would draw a foul by catching Maloney out, it's something many footballers do, and is precisely the kind of situation that Michael Owen was speaking about last week. But it doesn't matter, we lost the game on the balance of play, this despite putting out just about as strong a side as we've been able to for a couple of years. Charlie Billy Big Baws needs dropped for the next couple of squads cos he's been pish for about a year.

I agree. I was never all that convinced with all his "I love this club" nonsense. Whilst it's good to see passion, it shouldn't come at the cost of professionalism and respect for your team mates. What JB needs to remember is when he joined us he was ridiculously out of shape and we gave him a chance to get his confidence back. It did seem very shady that he signed a new contract and then lost his place in the team. But Langfield has shown on a few occasions in his time with AFC that he has the professionalism and desire to wrestle the gloves back when he's faced adversity. Brown can learn a thing or two from Langfield's attitude.

What's really impressed me is Fraser's consistency. It's not often you have an 18 yr old play at a high level for 3 or 4 consecutive games, but he's surpassed that standard to the extent where he really could (and probably should) have won back-to-back monthly awards. I don't think anyone will expect him to keep up this consistency, even Craig Brown has said he doesn't expect him to play every week, whether to protect him or otherwise, but with the level he is playing at, it is incredibly difficult to drop him, and with good wide players on our books like Hayes and McGinn, that is a ringing endorsement to him. I hope Peter Pawlett sees this and ups his game at St Johnstone for when he comes back, because now all of a sudden Pawlett (a player I have previously admired) doesn't appear to be all that. Keep it up loon.

Alan Maybury is a cynical cunt and it's good to see his ability hasn't improved since he left us. Shocking behaviour from a so-called experienced pro.

Yass! COYR!

There was a "meet" at the St Pauli game pre season I believe. Just daft boys who've never grown up.

Winning ugly, I love it. Was difficult draw for us so pleased we got there in the end. Huns at home next please. So, Vernon and McGinn to start Saturday I hope.

Interesting.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19685823

In footballing terms I agree with all of this. It would be wonderful if our entire first-team was made up of SPL-level footballers, but certainly in my lifetime there has always been at least one fall-guy in the camp, and now with Mackie gone, Magennis has picked up the mantle. Mackie, Byrne, Bus, McQuilken, Dow, Ingolfsson, Winnie, the list is endless. There is however the possibility of a bigger issue with Magennis. For his supposed lack of ability to cut it at the top level (which I don't disagree with), his attitude to the game and his desire to work hard is top class. He appears to have a very likeable personality too and I think above and beyond the footballing issues, clubs need to have the odd Magennis in their ranks. I'm sure many of us who've played football in an organised set-up at any level will have played with a Magennis type - a guy who'll never command a regular spot every week but whose attitude and team-player mentality is infectious on the rest of the players. I know it's a cliche, but I'll bet that Monday to Friday, he's good to have about the place. It's good for team morale. His team-mates will recognise his shortcomings on the pitch I'm sure, but they'll certainly respect him. Maybe some of us fans ought to show him a bit more as well. He could be our next cult hero....

Levein will probably step up his efforts to persuade him he's Scottish now he's getting a game in the EPL (he did try before didn't he?).

Rangers were automatically expelled from the SPL. The vote wasn't to "keep" them, it was to admit them. (not directed at you RR, I know you're quoting Green) As GS says, he's being deliberately disingenuous to continue to stir up the hate mob that follows his disgusting Frankenstein FC. Rangers are now no different to Livingston or Airdrie Utd. Do those clubs lay claim to the titles of Ferranti Thistle, Meadowbank Thistle, Airdrieonians or Clydebank? No, because they are generally followed by reasoned individuals rather than a sectarian quasi-paramilitary army of brain donors.

Great news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/19655394