grazza
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Posts posted by grazza
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I'm sure I heard Twickenham a bit of chore to get to and not very good transport links compared to other London Stadium Given that FA and league cup finals were not staged there while Wembley was being rebuilt.
Say it was to become a 32 team euros with 12 more matches not sure too many of the larger stadiums e.g. 80k required. Say the likes of Finland v Albania might be a challenge to fill a larger stadium especially as there is so many games in the tournament unless the ticket are cheap which they won't be.
London is the same way as Moscow in 2018 is large enough they can probably justify 2 stadiums, Dublin I suspect it may be harder though if we get to stage where Both Irelands and Wales only get a stadium each then I worry Scotland will just fall in line and it becoming 8-4 split in England's favour and just 1 host spot awarded. SRU and Edinburgh City Council really should be proactive put a bit of pressure to do what they can to publicly promote it as a candidate host.
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I can't see any more than 12 grounds being used overall if up to 32 teams. I just hope that it is at least balanced so England get half the stadiums and rest of us make other half.
London - Wembley, Tottenham,
Liverpool - Anfield,
Manchester - Old Trafford,
Newcastle - St James,
Then 1 other probably Villa Park or Elland Road
Glasgow - Hampden,
Edinburgh - Murrayfield
Dublin - Croke Park and Aviva
Cardiff - Millenium
1 other - Probably a stadium in Belfast, Cardiff city if they don't want to spend any money or Swansea to spread it out a bit.
I not sure why England not going it alone from FA point of view I get the politics why UK government may want it. Given Germany is hosting 2024 on the above you could add Sunderland, Emirates / Olympic stadium, Hillsborough, Southampton, MK
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See SFA have nominated Hampden as part of Euro 2028. Hoped we would have at least had 2 stadiums and had Murrayfield as other ground. Minimum for the bid is 10 stadiums in total. Hopefully if they do increase to 32 teams they will allow more stadiums. We are probably hampered by Republic of Irelands 2 stadiums in Dublin and likewise Wales both in Cardiff and a likely reluctance outside of maybe London to use 2 stadiums in same city (unless they expand Swansea instead).
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Only fair he gets another year with being appointed fairly late and delay in clan starting season. He says he has talked to over 100 players already since start of year, I'm guessing ice hockey less strict or don't have resource to do anything about tapping up players while at clubs. Fair enough its short career with short contracts and not megabucks at this level everyone has to get best deal they can. Hopefully means Gareth Chalmers is talking more a hands off role in player recruitment, seemed like a conflict of interest with him running an agency. Seen him at Dundee pre lockdown with Clan when they had a different head coach and very much looked like he was running the show rather than letting head coach get on with it.
I'm off to Dundee v Nottingham tonight. Hard to know what to expect from Dundee but they are pretty good at home and this Panthers team don't look good this season. Would expect Belfast, Sheffield and Cardiff to make the final 4 but the other place is very much up for grabs so finishing 5th rather than 6th is critical. Would be great if premier picked 4th v 5th for their quarter final matchup though will likely show Sheffield.
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Well aye but just using existing clubs so last couple years covers Sevco. Could have got rid of 11-1 vote system but Aberdeen ruined that.
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Top flight with 12 works well enough obviously the dominance in the last couple years of 2 clubs that is likely to continue means at the top end your limited in what you can do. While Scotland has 5 clubs in Europe a euro play off could be good. So teams 6th v 7th in semi and then 5th plays at home to the winner in the final. Creates meaningful matches for teams at top end of bottom half post split
2nd tier - My goal is to keep this as much as possible a full time league but allows ambitious part time clubs to compete and potentially aspire to full time. A small increase to 12 teams with same split as premiership. I would however say there needs to be 2 automatic relegation places.
3rd tier - 12 teams, champions promoted, runners up in play off final, 3rd v 4th in semi. Bottom 2 go down automatically.
4th tier - 18 team league, top 2 automatically promoted then play offs , Bottom 3 automatically relegated, team 15 in play off with 3 of Tier 5 runners up
5th tier - Lowland becomes, (Western and Eastern Leagues), Highland (3 champions are all promoted, runners up in play offs) Each of these league with 14 teams.
6th Tier- Highland should try to establish a strong feeder to the highland league so the 4 teams we take out of the current highland league joined by the highest ranked the current feeder league. Might need to consider a conference style system where there is a north and south split and you play own conference more times than other conference and fixtures planned to limit cross conference travel when weather is at its worse.
Highland Championship North - Lossiemouth, Turriff, Invergordon, Banks Of Dee, Bridge of Don Thistle, Hermes
Highland Championship South - Fort William, Strathspey, Carnoustie, East Craigie, Lochee Utd, Broughty Athletic
Western Championship and Eastern Championship feed into their leagues. Teams on getting to tier 6 have 3 years to become licensed or be demoted if no evidence of sufficient progress to be licensed.
7th tier - Glasgow West (renfrewshire / Argyll), Glasgow East(lanarkshire), Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Midlands Grampian, Tayside, Highland, Lothians, Fife & Central, Borders
8th Tier - Developmental like current WOSL division 4. Would be good if these clubs were invited into regional cups with 7th tier clubs in their region.
Scottish cup - Round of 64 would be great for when the last teams enter. All tier 6 teams can get a temporary licence to enter however will have a cut taken from prize money placed in a bond they get back when licensed. Non league/ junior cup and amateur cup winners invited
League cup. Assuming 5 teams in Europe and 11 places to join them in last 16. Tier 1-3 all get straight in group = 31 clubs. Joined by 5 highest ranked teams from tier 4. 36 teams - 6 groups. Group winners go into last 16. Runners up and best 4 3rd places teams go into a play off round to get 5 other teams
Challenge cup - Winners of non league (junior cup) get invite to this, goes to runner up if they got promoted anyway
junior cup / non league cup - tier 5 downwards. Possibly early rounds could double up with regional cups if fixture congestion and travel require.
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Support to an extent in that I will watch on the tele and have an active interest. Champs league is pretty much the same clubs getting to last 16 every season. The other competitions lot of clubs from bigger nations don't treat it with respect and more worried about top 4 position than actually winning a European trophy.
I enjoy in particular non Glasgow clubs games in the early rounds travelling to some obscure places I learn about and good to try get a feel for how the Scottish league compares to other nations, also start of the season so at that point more keen to so more games on tv. Celtic and Rangers I will watch and take more interest if there is a couple of players in the Scottish national team. The whole British and Irish flag waving doesn't do them any favours though when they are representing Scotland in Europe and gives a very parochial view to the world watching that makes us all look bad.
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1 hour ago, Burnieman said:
The SJFA have offered to run a national cup competition for tier 6 and below, with the same rules/flaws as have always been.
At a recent EoSFL meeting, that was about as popular as a dose of Covid in your squad.
I believe the HFL are not interested in any form of national non-league cup.
I wonder if Highland and Lowland (colt teams not included) beyond just the normal 2 invites would be up for all playing in the Challenge cup with the tiers 2-4 so 64 clubs in total. Assume regionalised for first couple rounds.
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In terms of defence would expect something proportionally like Denmark or Norway within NATO, short term keep existing arrangements and then as others have said find a niche role that compliments neighbours.
The EU first things first the main thing is close alignment to the single market.
The monarchy I would like to see go, will be interesting how the hysteria is when the the Queen dies. It needs to be made clear what head of state system we are replacing them with. I think such a vote would need to be at least a decade after independence. Really I think once Australia or Canada becomes a republic then that will start a chain effect. A ceremonial democratically voted head of state would be my choice with a maximum of 2 full terms and I would say the same for a prime minister (2 election wins plus half term if they took over when predecessor resigns). Hopefully Proportion representation in the parliament would remain so we have checks and balances.
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A new modern hospitality suite is important next step. Easier to attract and maintain sponsors and if done right be used for functions throughout the week. A modest amount of seating so long as there is significant space in front for the terracing and maintain the character of the ground.
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We look lot stronger in middle of the park takes some pressure of the central defence. Great game by the goalie and McInroy a great find in midfield. Would still like to see Ashford and Adeloye play together could compliment each other well.
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For relegation from the highland league is there any boundaries regarding what league a relegated team would go to.
Assume Turriff or Strathspey would go to North Superleague. Fort William more complicated do they get to opt which league they would go to or is this set?
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5 minutes ago, The Naitch said:
Was that some of the crowd leaving at the full time whistle? I know it's been dire so far but even so.
I didnt even realise replays had been scrapped must have missed that. Better just be cos of covid. My flashscore app said if draw it goes to replay so prob lot of folk that thought was the case.
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30 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:
Even if expansion was agreed, nobody is in favour of 20 team divisions, especially at tier 2.
Doubt there is another nation of the population of Scotland within Europe with mostly full time 2nd tier. At most I think we could go to 12 clubs in 2nd tier and do a same split system as premiership as it would work better where more to play for though I would say if that happened should be 2 automatic relegation places.
I think there is a place for a truly national tier with part time clubs and tier 3 is where I would have it at.
Tier 4 however I would look at at hybrid system with 6 in north division and 6 in south play own division. 4 times and other division 2 times. Highland and Lowland champs should be get promoted automatically into this. There is a lot of short termism in the SPFL for clubs that are worried about dropping out and bottleneck of not coming back in, only way to convince them for reform like my idea may be to have no relegation from tier 4 for 3 seasons but 2 clubs get promoted each year from tier 5. How would lowland / highland fans feel about that so long as at end of it highland and lowland champs guaranteed promotion on yearly basis.
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7 hours ago, Richey Edwards said:
The "mystery candidate" is Peter Grant.
The opposition just need to stick a mirror in front of him to keep him occupied throughout the match, though Dunfermline fans probably wished they tried that.
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Would like to see a guest pundit for the whole episode like we had with Ray each week. Think it brings a fresh perspective and ensures it doesn't get too bogged down on in-jokes etc Good show as always. Love the Telfer and Shaughan lower league podcasts.
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Assuming the flag is that of Palestine. They are Fifa members. Am I missing something was there a flag that had been doctored with an offensive symbol or statement?
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Totally get on paper we are one of the weakest teams in the league and most of that is on Hopkin especially the lack of balance in the team. However while we are a weaker team we should at least be competitive. I think lot of us just want to get to end of season still in the league and have a clear out. Just looks like most of the team know already they don't have a future at the club beyond this season. Lot of poor quality teams in the league this season maybe leading to complacency when we play teams above us.
Fair play to Raith though they are club of similar size to ourselves but play in a positive manner would like to see them go up
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Have seen the club advertise fairly often even before covid for turnstile operators. Its not the easiest gig to sell these days a 2 hour shift at low wage, 20% of your wage might go on transport and if the games postponed no work.
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Trilogy going on Xbox gamepass on day of launch.
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The die in your sleep thing its pretty distasteful. I remember Ayr fans singing that at Cammy Bell not long after Stuart McGrady sadly passed in his sleep and I raised it at the time but no real appetite from fans to oppose it. Usually its more on away games that there are more bevied up muppets singing stuff like that. Its just crap patter anyway much better chants that could be done against former killie players.
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On 08/10/2021 at 17:04, sergie's no1 fan said:
The break between the Stanley Cup and the new season is an absolute killer.
Maybe a daft question, I'm an NHL novice but why do they have such a gap between the two, yet cram so many games in per week all over the country?
It is a tough schedule and above arenas have various event so suits to have setup for hockey for a few games before reconfiguring. Season runs at same time as NBA so imagine some coordination between the 2 where an arena has team in both. The road trips are designed to try and keep travel down so group far away games together. The players I think like having the lengthy off season break, lets their bodies properly rest and recover. The league in last couple years have put in mini breaks for team staggered so the whole league doesn't shut down. Most players play far from their 'home' cities or countries so couple days off isn't really enough to go home so longer offseason suits better. NHLPA will have a say from players if anything were to change.
In UK elite league 90% of games around weekend so most games are back to back occasionally even 3 days fri-sun. Dundee for example might play away in Cardiff on a Saturday night and bus back up to Dundee and need to play 5pm on the Sunday. They do then probably have 5 or 6 days before next game . NHL teams more likely to play 4 games in a week but bit less likely to play in consecutive nights unless on the road.
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14 minutes ago, Thumper said:
I had two pals video call me from high up in the stand just as the third went in. At this point I was sitting tuned into a stream and considering swapping the wine for Domestos. Consequently got to celebrate on video with the rest of the ground, topless.
More than a few folk I know took their kids to their first game last night. Incredible. My first game was watching us getting beat off Costa Rica at Italia 90 and being set for a life of misery.
Were they sitting in top tear at corner side that we got winning corner from. Think I was behind them as seem them video calling someone for maybe last 10 mins of game. Great night and think its what we all needed to truely draw a line on the covid era and hangover of what if's from the euros. Realistically going to be a challenge to get past 2 rounds to get to world cup but this team has a bit of nerve if things get tight. Next euros not that far away either so hopefully get in decent seeing either.
Great to have a Saturday miss the days when we had more of them then I could make more games, think that has been the biggest factor in crowds over last 5 years or so though performance also has influence.
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Yogi Bears Pars v Bully's 45-90 minute cameos (The proverbial relegation 6 pointer)
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
Gutted actually played very well by our standards from this season. Goalie should have done better on the 2nd one had a quiet day other than the goals. Don't think Dunfermline are that good but took their chances. Both teams play on terrible pitches next week