Skyline Drifter
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Posts posted by Skyline Drifter
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49 minutes ago, Bob Belcher said:
Don't know if you got anywhere with this but I just checked and had the same thing happen to me.
I got in touch with SFA and apparently the ticket wasn't registered as scanned in the data provided by the Dutch FA. I replied with pictures of me there and is nothing they can do apparently!
That's ridiculous. They should have facility to manually edit a member's points (I accept it may need some sort of management countersignatory to stop someone just adding point to their mates accounts). If they don't have then the system isn't fit for purpose. I'd be complaining higher up the chain if you are able to provide photographic proof of you inside the stadium.
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18 minutes ago, JS_FFC said:
At the moment we have Ralston, Taylor, Souttar, Jack, McGregor and McTominay playing domestic cup finals the week before the Gibraltar game. Norwich (Gunn, Hanley and McLean), Southampton (Adams, Armstrong, Fraser) and Leeds (Cooper) are all in playoff spots at the moment.
The 2nd CB would be whoever out of Hanley/Cooper isn’t in the playoff final
Injuries could obviously impact Leeds between now and then of course but Cooper's not playing for them anyway. And Southampton have already ruled Armstrong out for the rest of the domestic season. Ralston's fairly unlikely to actively feature in the Cup Final for Celtic either.
I take your point though. None of those players will be available for early join up.
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Just now, 2426255 said:
That's it, I believe it was you that said previously there was a standby list last time with Lewis Ferguson on it. Why would that method be changed? I don't know though.
Wasn't me. Couldn't have told you that.
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Just now, 2426255 said:
Can you imagine a squad announcement before the Finland game, just doesn't make sense or worse after it around midnight lol. That would be one for the books
No. The squad will need to be announced ahead of Finland. I accept there's an argument for having a larger squad go to Gibraltar and trimming it on return, especially if there are fitness proofs to be made by the likes of Hickey and Armstrong. For me though when the games are so close you just name the Euro squad and use them in the friendlies. Possibly with a standby list.
Does Stevie Clarke really want to be calling three or four players to his hotel room after Gibraltar (be that in Portugal or back in Scotland, not sure if they'll go direct to the airport post match) and telling them they haven't made it? I'd get that out of the way before they go and take a party that will go to the Euros away.
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25 minutes ago, JS_FFC said:
This is exactly what’s going to happen. Hes naming a larger squad in May and then trimming it on the June 7 deadline.
Has this been said anywhere? We obviously have the two friendlies Gibraltar and Finland but the final squad is to be confirmed on the day of the Finland match (not clear if that means midnight or during daytime hours, and presumably it's CET anyway. Ergo, it'll certainly need confirmed before the Finland game.
I'm pretty much assuming he'll name a squad for the two friendlies the usual week or so ahead of the first and that it will be the Euro squad. I suppose it might be slightly larger if there are lingering fitness doubts over a couple and they are given the week / Gibraltar game to prove their fitness.
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1 hour ago, JS_FFC said:
My current plane, based on the assumption that Hickey and McTominay will be fit enough to go but Armstrong Ferguson, and Patterson will not. The guys in brackets are the 24th-26th men that get in if the squad is expanded:
Goalkeepers: Zander Clark, Craig Gordon, Angus Gunn (3)
Defenders: Liam Cooper, Aaron Hickey, Jack Hendry, Scott McKenna, Ryan Porteous, Anthony Ralston, Andy Robertson, Greg Taylor, Kieran Tierney, (Grant Hanley) (7/8)
Midfielders: Ryan Christie, Ryan Fraser, Billy Gilmour, John McGinn, Callum McGregor, Kenny McLean, Scott McTominay, Ryan Jack, (Tom Cairney) (8/9)
Forwards: Che Adams, Lyndon Dykes, Lawrence Shankland, (Jacob Brown) (3/4)
Your current plane or what you think Stevie Clarke will take? Not necessarily the same thing. I'd take Craig Gordon for instance but I'm not convinced Clarke will unless he plays most of the remaining games for Hearts.
For me Grant Hanley's either fit or he's not. If he's fit he goes whether it's 23 or 26. If he's not then he doesn't. I don't think the squad size affects him. Same as Hickey in effect. Is there doubt about McTominay now? I know he went off injured yesterday but I didn't see the game so was not aware it was anything serious.
On the positive news front Southampton have confirmed Stuart Armstrong has a quad injury and not a knee one and he has a 'good chance' of being fit for the Euros though he won't play for them again this season.
If it's 23 for June and picked today (on the assumption Hickey, Hanley and Armstrong make it but Patterson and Ferguson do not) then:
Gunn, Clark and probably Kelly
Robertson, Tierney, Hickey, Ralston, Hanley, Hendry, Porteous, McKenna, Cooper
McGregor, Gilmour, McGinn, McTominay, McLean, Christie, Armstrong
Dykes, Adams, ShanklandWhich is 22. One more from Souttar, Taylor, McCrorie (Ross), Johnston, Jack, Brown, Nisbet, Conway
If Gordon plays 3 or 4 of Hearts remaining games and plays ok then he displaces Kelly.
Possible Souttar is preferred to Cooper, that's a coin flip.Armstrong not making it opens the door for a question about Fraser, Gauld, Cairney, etc but it will most likely be Jack or Brown unless both are also not fit.
26 man squad opens up the possibility of more adventurous picks but I guess it's likely to just mean three more from the list above.
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37 minutes ago, Jives Miguel said:
Didn't watch the game, but those are 50/50 at best for me. Don't understand the outrage at them not being given.
Referring to the two involving Ashley Young, didn't see the third one people are on about.
All three involved Ashley Young.
Thats not even good trolling though. Must try harder.
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1 minute ago, Molotov said:
It’s clearly an aggrieved fan who is employed by the club to operate the Twatter account that has clearly lost the plot. Won’t be surprised to see that individual removed from this role.
Not sure if serious?
It's not an aggrieved fan. That's directly from the mouth of Marinakis. He's done it deliberately and the club will be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. Again. He's an arse.
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3 minutes ago, 2426255 said:
It's so bad, hard to believe a professional club would tweet that - it's like an April fools joke. Just get rid of referees and VAR and let the teams ref themselves then or better yet just let the fans fight amongst themselves to make decisions. It's got to that point, chaos rules apply.
It's not that hard to believe. Forest have form for it in the last 12 months or so. I just knew something embarrassing would come having watched the game. They can't just leave well alone for everyone to see for themselves how bad it was. I was expecting something attached to Clattenburg's name later or tomorrow though. Five minutes after full time on the Twitter account smacks as if someone's given Marinakis the account password to deal with it directly from the Boardroom himself.
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5 minutes ago, DrewDon said:
The handball is borderline, I think - it would be given in Scotland, but I have seen enough in England to know that the bar for intervention is higher there (and I personally prefer that approach). The one with Reyna is undoubtedly one that, if it gets given on the pitch, the VAR isn't intervening; again, though, I have seen similar ones this season that have also not been reviewed most likely on the basis that the degree of contact from Young isn't severe enough. The most egregious of the three is the last one, I think.
His hand's well out from his body, and there's a lean into the ball too rather than it just hit him. Even in England that handball is given 90% of the time. And less obvious handballs are frequently given.
Young's reaction after the handball is very much that of a guilty man wondering if he's got away with it.
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10 minutes ago, Molotov said:
Why do you think that all three were denied?
Do Forest have an argument?
We see similar decisions in Scotland that tend to favour the bigot brothers.
An argument about what? That they were incorrect is surely beyond question. Absolutely anyone would give a penalty for all three surely in isolation? I accept that there's a debate that there's not an obvious enough error to over-turn the onfield call in the first case though I suspect Taylor would give a penalty if he saw the thing again.
Beyond that? Forest have been robbed by refereeing in several games this season (most notably previously the one where Willy Boly was sent off after about 10 minutes v Bournemouth for a challenge in which HE was fouled! There was also the infamous late Liverpool goal coming after they got a drop ball which everyone acknowledges should have been a Forest ball (albeit more than a minute earlier and 100 yards away from the Forest goal). That's extremely frustrating. It's not going too far to suggest that referee decisions (and of course FFP) are the only reason Forest are still in a relegation fight. However, none of it excuses such a toys out of the pram Sunday League amateur statement. They'll be doing nothing because fundamentally they CAN do nothing and Marinakis needs to realise this isn't Greece, Forest aren't Olympiakos and he can't bully the FA and everyone else into giving him his own way.
Get on with it and win some games.
Only Stuart Atwell knows why he denied them all. I'd imagine Dermot Gallagher will appear with yet another apology this week and Atwell will have at least next weekend to do some shopping with his wife. Nothing will change though.
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The performance of the VAR in the Everton v Forest game today is truly embarrassing (Stuart Atwell I believe). He'll be sat down next week. There's an argument about Anthony Taylor too but to be fair it's easy for a referee on field to make a mistake and a couple of them were probably blind side for him. There are no excuses for Atwell. Sky were able to show all three as blatant penalties within seconds. I take the argument the first "wasn't enough to overturn the on field call". I disagree but I accept the argument. There's just no argument at all for the other two. They are penalties. All day, every day.
Then just when you think things can't get even more embarrassing, and I speak as a Forest fan, along comes that statement. FFS. Employing Clattenburg to "officially" whine about referees was already pretty embarrassing. Letting the YTS write the official club statements after an afternoon in the pub and threatening "options" is laughably amateur. We're back in the Premiership but Marinakis is making the club a laughing stock.
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7 hours ago, Alan Twelve said:
Right, so being picked for, and appearing for, the first team squad is evidence of not being good enough to get near the first team squad. Gotcha.
He has a point though. That was nothing like a 'first team squad' Ramsay played in even if its technically a first team game.
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5 hours ago, Caledonian1 said:
Dykes just scored v Preston (on sky) However it was following a horrendous error by terrible ex Aberdeen and Killie goalie, Freddie Woodman. In fact both goalies are ex-Killie - Bachman in goals for QPR
Did he move from Watford during the game?
Begovic be disappointed to lose his place.
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9 hours ago, The Moonster said:
My dictionary spells dictionary correctly for a start. If defecting means to abandon a country then you can't go back. If you have another definition of defecting I'm all ears.
Touche. You can have the spelling error.
Its perfectly acceptable use of the word defection though, and it's perfectly possible to defect and then defect back. Spies have been doing it for years. This is a bizarre hill for you to die on.
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38 minutes ago, kiddy said:
Don’t know where folk are getting the 3 game ban from?
England gives a 3 game ban for it. Some people think football doesnt exist outside Sky!
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51 minutes ago, Rocco said:
I’m not sure how it would be violent conduct. He didn’t swing a punch, elbow or kick out. It was a tackle, which endangered an opponent and should be a one match ban
It'll not be violent conduct, it'll be 'Serious Foul Play'. Same thing. Two game ban.
Great result today playing with 10 for 75 mins. Hopefully you celebrate it with 3 points at Annan next week
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50 minutes ago, The Moonster said:
It's a defection if you completely ignore the meaning of the word defection, yes. He played for England at U15 and has played for both Scotland and England at U21. It's pretty common for players with dual nationalities to play for both at levels that don't tie them down. Hackney hasn't abandoned Scotland by playing for England U21s.
I'm not sure your dictionery says the same as mine. Moving from one country to another is the very definition of defection. It being potentially possible to defect back doesnt change that.
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2 hours ago, The Moonster said:
Hackney played for England before he played for Scotland. He still may well end up playing for Scotland. There has been no defection.
Well there has. I mean, I know he's still eligible to play for Scotland at senior level but he has switched from playing for our u21s to playing for England's 21s. Thats clearly a defection whatever the rules still allow.
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1 hour ago, Quentin Taranbino said:
If Hickey/Patterson are both out like, I'm not convinced the replacements will even have a chance to start. Ralston has the best chance of starting but nobody after him will start. I think Clarke is more likely to move Robertson/Tierney over or use Ryan Fraser if he is included in those circumstances.
Eh? I can't see any grounds for thinking Stevie Clarke, who hasn't picked Fraser for a squad in over a year is suddenly going to start him in a pretty unfamiliar position (he's been playing left wing for Southampton when he starts) ahead of Anthony Ralston, who, regardless of what you and I may think, has been in squads fairly consistently since Hickey was injured and was on the pitch in that position against the Dutch last month.
He's not going to play Robertson on the right either. Tierney could do it but I don't see him deliberately disrupting the position he's made his own to do it if Ralston's fit and available.
2 hours ago, JS_FFC said:I don’t see any way that Ralston isn’t on the plane now, agreed. I also think if the squad stays at 23 you probably can’t take both Hickey and Patterson unless you’re really confident in the fitness levels. If it’s 26 you can punt around a bit but if it’s 23 you kind of just have to take whoever’s more fit of the two + Ralston IMO.
You can take all three in a 23. He already was a candidate for that 23rd shirt along with Cooper / Souttar, Taylor and Jack. In Ferguson's absence there's another spare shirt.
That said, the likelihood is this will see Patterson out and if anything make it more likely he takes a risk with Hickey even if not 100%.
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2 hours ago, JS_FFC said:
You’d think anyone remotely serious would have their business plan created before even going on the show.
Its no coincidence IMO that 6 of the last 8 winners either went for a gym or some kind of dessert parlour type business.
These are the kind of businesses that tend to do well for the first year or two out of novelty. The perfect amount of time for Sugar to make a quick buck and get out before it goes tits up.
All the while he and his two mates are pocketing handsome salaries from the BBC and getting their faces on the telly for a couple of months every year.
It's not actually clear that he does make anything to be fair. Looking at the filings online it looks like the companies have bought back his shareholding at cost but as they are all small companies what they file lacks any significant detail to be sure.
I'm not actually sure it's fair to call it a "prize" when they win if he ends up getting his money back to be honest. But it doesn't look like in any of the recent 8 he's actually made anything.
I do agree with you on the types of business that have been winning lately. And the two that weren't in that category have both gone tits up.
As I've already pointed out, the candidates these days are recruited and go through a vetting process for entry without anyone even asking about a business plan. It's absolutely an afterthought in a game show and if any of them actually have a genuine one it's a bonus. It's why I thought he'd take Phil given it's a genuine existing business. It's also why he was desperate to nab a bit of Paul's dentist practice.
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15 minutes ago, JS_FFC said:
I’m not sure how many players have come back from hammy surgery in 9 weeks. I think he will be out.
I do think Hickey has a chance but any further setbacks and he’s probably done.
Yeah, not disagreeing per se. He's now a longer shot than Hickey is (Hickey is at least now running on grass). Just noting that Dyche himself said he couldn't be sure if his Euro dream was over, only that he definitely wouldn't play for Everton again this season.
I think Ralston must be an absolute nailed on cert for a pick now as long as he doesn't get injured himself. Even if both Hickey and Patterson make it there will be enough doubts about both to necessitate having a fully fit right back in the squad as well.
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1 hour ago, JS_FFC said:
Patterson confirmed as needing surgery, season over.
Club season over. It's certainly not good news but he's not been ruled out of the Euros yet.
In slightly better news BBC are reporting that Grant Hanley will return to training and first team contention with Norwich next week.
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I looked at it close up in the JD Sports in Newcastle Airport on the way to Netherlands. It isn't any better in person, really don't like it. I'm beyond the age for buying football kits for myself anyway so makes no odds to their customer base but it's horrible and the fact every one is patterned differently close up is bonkers.
My son doesn't like it much either and he's 100% the market they are aiming at.
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SFA New Ticket System
in Tartan Army Ramblings
Posted
The away game cant possibly be the reason to any significant extent. The number on 12 points or more is up by more than 2,500 and the number on 11 or more is up by over 3,000. We only got 2,400 for Netherlands and about 1800 of them were sold on day one to those who were already on points above that level. It certainly drifted down to 7 pts though so probably about 500 or so of the lift can be attributed to people taking a chance to go to an easy away trip when it was there.
No, the rise is in the home member attendance. As I said before, qualifying for Euro 20 re-ignited a lot of interest. The SSC sold out and a lot of the newer members stated going every game (or they may have been going every game before but not members because they didnt need to be). It maybe wont go quite as high as I thought given the number on 10 hasnt really moved but it looks fairly likely up to 18,000 people might have 12 points shortly. Compared to 8,000 6 months ago.
If I recall correctly the discussion was about how easy it may be to get away tickets and tournament tickets in future. Its likely going to get harder and for qualifiers with any sort of rationing people are going to need the mid teens to have a chance. I'm seriously considering heading to the Gibraltar game to get the points. Otherwise my ceiling any time soon is likely 14 points.