GordonS

Sure but that was a one-off, a big send-off for the World Cup and our first game at Hampden in a long time. Our previous home match was as glamorous as it gets, against the USA, and we got 3,790. The last competitive game, in the penultimate World Cup qualifier and a critical tie against Switzerland that we won, attracted only 4,098. If we'd had a good World Cup instead of doing a Scotland I'm sure attendances would have been better immediately after, though. A lack of feelgood and then Covid have been very damaging. But there are underlying factors too. Looking at the figures it's really bad. We got two 10ks in the World Cup play-offs, down to 7k in the first Nations League game and 5k in the second. We got 15k v England but in better circumstances I'm sure it would have been more than double - it should have beat our attendance record - and then just 3k in our first Euro qualifier. That's back to the crowds we were getting at Tynecastle. As I say, underlying factors, but a good start would be sacking the managers.

1) Buckie get removed from the play-offs 2) EK beat Club 42 3) EK are excluded from entry to the SPFL because it is found that their doctor is actually a vet or their diversity plan is antisemitic or something. 4) Applying the League Cup Precedent, Cowdenbeath are invited to take the SPFL place - which was the plan aaaaall along. This is actually less mental than some of the stuff on the conspiracy theories thread.

For all those obsessing over the fates of bald managers:

Looks like the same platform that the WoSFL use.

Knowing the SFA's casual relationship with the truth, I sure as hell wouldn't be believing their version of events.

It's a fact that Germany, Hungary and Switzerland all have better records than us in recent years. That's why they're ranked above us. Ask fans of those sides who they expect to finish bottom of our group and they'll all say Scotland. Hungary were in a horror group at Euro 2020 but were 0-0 v Portugal until 84 minutes and drew with France and Germany. They qualified for Euro 2024 unbeaten and top of their group. In the Nations League they were in the top league and they beat England at home before humping them 4-0 away, and they drew with Germany at home and beat them away. Only defeat to Italy in their last match cost them a semi-final place. Switzerland qualified top of their group for Euro 2020 then made the quarter finals, knocking out world champions France in the R16. They only lost to Spain on penalties. They qualified top of the group for Qatar 2022 unbeaten, ahead of Italy, finished second in their group by one goal behind Brazil having beaten Cameroon and Serbia, before getting dismantled in the R16 by Portugal. In the Nations League they were also in League A and beat Portugal at home, Spain away and Czechia at home, to finish 3rd and keep their top league place. Those two sides have undeniably, objectively achieved more than Scotland in the same period and go into the matches against us as favourites. Not strong favourites, but definitely expected to win. I'd argue both sides have much better balanced squads and better players in defence and attack than us. One of the daft things about having high expectations of Scotland in these matches is that you won't enjoy any good results as much as you should. If we get out the group we'll have overachieved.

Hardly anyone was going to watch them when they qualified for Euro 2017 and had peak Kim Little strutting about, and hardly any more were at the World Cup 2019 qualifiers. We're waaaay behind other European countries and attendances in our domestic league are comparatively bad too. Glasgow City have been making the last 16, last 8 in the Champions League in front of a few hundred and the OF can't even muster a few thousand when playing each other. There's more to it than just the national team playing bad football - how many do you think would be going if they were good to watch?

That's the same point I made. There's money for facilities where people can play football and for other community benefits, like at Bo'ness, but the discussion on this thread has been about the facilities for fans. 3G cages suit the community just fine. When you're talking about spending of £50 billion you'll always be able to point the finger at something wasteful, but the reality is it adds up to very little now. The media does a truly dreadful job painting an accurate picture of public spending.

At a time of insanely tight budgets and huge cuts, for Scottish or local government to spend money on facilities for a few hundred folk to watch a game of football every two weeks would be batshit mental. They can't fund schools, community centres, ice rinks and swimming pools never mind our particular hobby. What we do isn't sport, it's spectating. There has been grant money available for community facilities - putting in astro and lights and making it available all week, like Bo'ness did. You need a genuine community benefit and not just some terracing for the likes of us. https://www.falkirk.gov.uk/news/article.aspx?aid=7715#:~:text=This is the second Place,the whole Bo'ness community.

Forth & Endrick looks like it has a lot of nice places to visit and it's a summer league, though I'm a bit put off by the gazillion midgies per square metre. The Moray Welfare League though, that's hardcore. Personally I draw the line at public parks but that's a beguiling list of places to visit. https://mdwfa.leaguerepublic.com/index.html

Now very curious about where he's heading.

Lochgelly Albert 3-3 Bathgate Thistle, East of Scotland Third Division. Attendance 90. Lochgelly found themselves 3-1 in front against their promotion-chasing opponents midway through the second half and although they'd had the better of the chances there had been little between the sides. Their second was the penalty in the clip below. As darkness drew in I heard the ref saying there would be three additional minutes and in the third of those Bathgate pulled it back to 3-2. Cue goal-net stramash to get the ball back, standard booking for the keeper. Incredibly, Bathgate snatched their equaliser within a minute and it finished 3-3. I nearly left early too as I was meeting a pal. This is one of my favourite grounds of its size, it's so tidy and well looked-after. A credit to the club and their volunteers - and a surprisingly beautiful view to the south. Easy to forget Lochgelly is basically on top of a hill, the ground sits at 165 metres, though the wind tonight was a sharp reminder. 20240424_194624.mov

James Forrest potentially drawing level as the most decorated player in Scottish football history.

Fun fact - the Dutch royal house of Orange (or Orange-Nassau to give it its full title) has nothing to do with the colour Orange. They originate from Orange, the city in the south of France, which is named after Arasuio, a local Celtic water god.

Lochore Welfare 0-4 Hill of Beath Hawthorn, East of Scotland League Cup Third Round. A fine hat-trick from Ross Allum within 35 minutes killed this tie; the first a double nutmeg of defender and keeper after some trickery, the second a clever near-post header and the third smashed home from a one-on-one. It might be as many goals as I ever saw him score for Linlithgow Rose... Lochore weren't bad, they played with pace and intensity, they just lacked a wee bit of skill compared with the Haws. A very tight pitch meant any loose touch in midfield immediately lead to a clattering. Highlight of any Lochore game is their keeper, who, let's just say, has considerably more athleticism than appearances would suggest. Last time I saw them he was the hero as they knocked much higher ranked LTHV out of a cup. At least half a dozen dugs at this game, probably the highest dog-to-human ratio of any game I've been to. One was altogether too interested in my pie. At half time there was the bonus of an amateur game over the wall, I think it was Benarty Astros v The Swifts AFC. Dunno what the score was but there was a fair bit of cheering later on.