Skyline Drifter
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Posts posted by Skyline Drifter
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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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Have to hold my hands up to getting that entirely wrong tonight. The entire episode I was sure he was picking Phil. He made it clear he didnt particularly like or want another gym. He (rightly) doubted that, as good as Rachel may be, its not really scalable if she's not hands on. When Phil confirmed he's already turning over £2.7m for me it was as easy a decision as there's ever been.
But there was a 'volte face' in the closing moments. For all Phil clearly, by an absolute mile, had the better business with more potential, Sugar just didnt believe in him personally. He hung himself with the 'business isnt necessarily about profit' line. Sugar was clearly horrified at that. That and nailing his colours to the 'Pies by Post' concept that is clearly limited. It was obvious when he called them back in Phil had realised his own stupidity and tried to row back from it, talking about opening more shops. But he was too late.
Fundamentally Sugar clearly looked at Rachel and saw a determined business partner with a focus and clearly given her lack of staff turnover capable of inspiring loyalty. And he went with his gut on the person rather than the much better business.
Ultimately he's probably got that right. Nine lives Phil finally shot himself in the foot once too often.
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4 hours ago, Bing.McCrosby said:
On that i was reading that Doak isn't far away from playing and is back in full training.
Very unlikely hes not going to have much time in matches for his club before the end of the season. But would be an exciting addition to the squad.
According to an article I read from monday he's started running. He's not in full training yet and they are hoping he might get on the pitch for the 18s before end of season.
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On 13/04/2024 at 07:59, Newbornbairn said:
I read that since it changed from offring a job to offering an investment, the first 4 made Sugar money but the last 8 have all failed. Probably reflects on the type of candidates they bring in now.
I suspect that will be partly because in the early days they got a flood of applications from people with genuine business ideas who needed help and it's now graduated into a game show with clueless twats whose first aim is to be accepted and then they worry about it. I have a friend who interviewed for the show and got accepted through to the 2nd round of interviews, though he never went. Decided he preferred his current job for now. He 100% had no business plan though and not one person at the production company gave a toss or asked him about it.
If you seek out candidates and then ask them to come up with a business you'll get what we have been getting. Candidates who genuinely have a business plan are far more likely to go on Dragon's Den. Less of a waste of their time and more of a genuine investment. The Apprentice is a game show for publicity seekers.
It was far better when it was a job interview but got binned after it became clear it didn't actually work in practice. I assume there was a lot of friction with people who had genuinely worked their way up in business seeing some gameshow winner parachute in at their level and being expected to work with them. Tim Campell who won the first series seemed to do well, probably at least partly due to the novelty. He's obviously still close to Sugar and is back on the show now but even he only worked directly for him for 2 years before leaving. I think all the others left within 2 years too and after the Stella English debacle in season 6 he said he wasn't employing anyone directly again.
Series 7 saw the new format start and was won by a genuine innovator in Tom Pellereau, albeit they very quickly binned his new idea and went back to his previously successful nail file product. Ricky Martin (Series 8 ) and Mark Wright (Series 10) were both very successful and have been held up by the show as a standard of what can be achieved. In between was Leah Totten and her Beauty Clinic which I believe did well also.
Since then it's all been a bit less memorable. I recall Joseph Valente (Series 11) with his gas business where SUgar left the business after 2 years and it subsequently went bust. Not clear whether Sugar got his money back on leaving or not. If I'm being honest I had to look up the other winners since then. Apparently they were:
Series 12 - Alana Spencer - Ridiculously Rich Bakery
Series 13 - Shared - James White - Right Time Recruitment and Sarah Lynn - Sweets in the City
Series 14 - Sian Gabbidon - Swimwear
Series 15 - Carina Lepore - Bakery
Series 16 - Harpreet Kaur - Oh So Yum Desserts
Series 17 - Marnie Swindells - Boxing GymsI recall Alana and Marnie from just last year. I'm not sure I even watched some of the ones in between.
Companies House suggests that By Alana Limited which appears to be what the company Spencer and Sugar started was actually called is doing well and making decent money. Albeit Sugar resigned in 2019 and the company bought back his shares. Certainly doesn't appear to have failed.
Right Time Recruitment is still trading too albeit it's not exactly flush with cash and its current accounts are somewhat overdue. Sugar exited in 2020 when the company bought back his shares again.
Sweets in the City appears to still be trading relatively successfully with Sugar having made his exit in 2022 with his shares repurchased. Not sure it's making much actual profit but there's over £100k of capital still in it.
Sian Marie Fashion Limited certainly didn't work. Sugar exited in 2022 and it was in liquidation and insolvent by early 2023.
Dough Artison Bakehouse Limited (Carina Lepore) is still trading, with a remarkably similar website to Ridiculously Rich Bakery incidentally! Sugar departed last year and appears to have gotten his money back looking at the way the asset base collapsed in the year after. Company looks fairly worthless based on its 2023 accounts but that might just be that it cleaned itself out buying him out and it will recover. Hard to say at this point.
Oh So Yum Limited appears to be trading successfully. Sugar exited in 2023, after the last set of accounts was filed. Looks like he probably got his money back and left it solvent and trading but with little capital at that point.
Bronx Boxing Limited (Marnie) is still trading and he's still a 50% owner it would appear. Very early though. Company only started trading in June 2023. Accounts were published for the period to end of June 2023 showing his investment coming in but nothing since obviously so no clarity on how it's doing
So basically, I'm not sure it's fair to say the last 8 have failed. Impra Gas (Joseph Valente) and Sian Marie (Sian Gabbidon) definitely failed. Far too early to debate Bronx Boxing. The other five are still trading albeit Sugar's exited from all of them. Alana Spencer's Ridiculously Rich Bakery seems to be doing fine. The others are all still validly in operation but nobody's got rich from them.
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10 minutes ago, craigkillie said:
Isn't Cairney a sitting midfielder who would just be a worse version of at least four guys we already have in that position (McGregor, Gilmour, McLean, Christie)?
Wouldn't have described him as a sitting midfielder. I think he's a wee bit more attacking than that, though probably not as much as Ferguson.
I mean he's obviously a downgrade on players already in the squad. If he wasn't then he'd be in the squad and they wouldn't. But if we're looking for a direct midfield replacement for Ferguson he's worth at least throwing a name into a conversation. He's a more direct replacement in terms of playing centrally than Fraser is.
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11 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:
I think these are fair enough points, other than the “less we see of him, the better he gets” part as I don’t think anyone is saying he outstanding. He is just better than the other options, and offers something we don’t actually have in the squad right now.
Personally, I would find it disappointing if Ferguson was replaced with another defender. That would leave us with four players for the attacking areas, but with McTominay especially potentially moving deeper in some games. You wouldn’t be surprised if three of those four players started either so that only leaves you with Armstrong to change things in those areas.
Four players? Do you mean specifically four 'midfielders'? McTominay, McGinn, Christie and Armstrong? I mean obviously there's Adams, Dykes and Shankland too.
Again, I don't disagree. I don't think we particularly need six centre backs or a 3rd left back. If Hanley makes it then Hanley, Hendrie, Tierney backed up by Porteous, McKenna and one of Cooper / Souttar is enough with Tierney able to move left if Robertson has an issue and indeed Hickey able to switch sides assuming he makes it also. I wouldn't be taking both Souttar and Cooper, nor Taylor. I'd prefer a Fraser/Gauld/Cairney. I just wouldn't be astonished if Clarke remains loyal as far as possible to his established squad (which is the squad picked for the March get together add McGregor, Hickey, Jack and potentially Jacob Brown, and obviously including Hanley and McKenna who pulled out of it). If squad size remains 23 I'm not particularly expecting to see a left field pick outwith that.
If squad goes to 26, and especially if Hanley and maybe Hickey or Patterson don't make it then there are more opportunities there for change.
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39 minutes ago, allyo said:
Don't disagree with much if this (apart from the nearly mental part), but I wouldn't completely rule out Doak. He wasn't fit for the friendlies against minnows and he might be for the Euros. And from memory I think Patterson, Gilmour and Turnbull were all uncapped when selected for the last (albeit extended) squad.
If he's hanging about Liverpool squads he wont be overawed. Appreciate its a long shot and a bit of a wildcard, but if he even got the odd substitute appearance for Liverpool before the end of the season I could see him as an option.
Running last week for the first time but he's nowhere near playing first team football. They're suggesting he might get an outing with the 18's in May. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that there's no chance an 18 year old with limited senior football experience is getting called up for the Euros when he hasn't played at all in six months.
Hickey's in the same boat of course but he's levels above Doak in terms of seniority and importance to the squad so will be given every chance inevitably.
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11 hours ago, No_Problemo said:
It is very rare for him not to appear for Southampton - when games are tight he generally always comes on if not starting. There was a BBC podcast today about the Southampton players which is worth a listen.
I can’t see anyone else that offers what he does to replace Ferguson in the 23. He seems to be impactful as an impact win especially, and we know he has worked well with Dykes previously.
We have no other attacking players that can provide an injection of pace and directness across the forward positions. He can also come on at RWB to add to our attacking options if we are losing, or come on higher up the park to help us play on the counter if we are winning. He also allows us to change system to incorporate wide players if necessary.
Yeah, I get all that and don't particularly disagree with any of it. Fraser's done well for us in the past, has done ok for Southampton and is getting as much game time as a few of our squad and he undeniably offers something. His candidacy for Germany probably depends on how much his relationship with Clarke actually has been repaired but as @2426255 has pointed out previously he's been in squads since that initial spat.
I just think the whole "can't be anyone but Fraser" clamour is being a fed a lot by a narrative that sees him get better the less we see of him. Fact remains in an admittedly good Southampton side he's starting about half the games and less often than Stuart Armstrong and Che Adams in the same side. He's not a defender and whilst his ability to cover right wing back in an emergency is another string to his bow, it's not really a reason to take him. If Hickey and Patterson don't make it they'll be replaced by Ralston and probably McCrorie but maybe Johnston (both of whom can also cover midfield incidentally). As a direct replacement for Ferguson he's a good candidate (as are Cairney and Gauld but the former hasn't been seen for far longer than Fraser and the latter appears completely off the Clarke radar). However, if we presume for the moment that squads stick at 23 and that everybody else other than Ferguson makes it, then I can see Clarke just using that extra space to take one of Taylor, Souttar (assuming Cooper makes it directly, other way round if not) or Jack. Or even a returning Jacob Brown. He has guys like Kenny McLean that he trusts to play midfield if he needs bodies, and potentially Jack. I don't think it's a given that Ferguson gets replaced by another attacking midfielder in a 23 man squad.
Of course if squads go to 26, or the likes of Hanley doesn't make it, then the goalposts move.
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1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:
Two so far…
I don’t even think there’s much of a debate as to who should be our first choice striker right now.
He's certainly hitting form at the right time for now. Combined with Dykes not being in great form and lingering doubts about Shankland's pace at international level as much as he did ok in Amsterdam, it points to Adams being in pole position. He didn't start either of the recent friendlies though. Maybe that means nothing and Clarke just wanted more of a look at the other two, or maybe it does.
I still think we might play Dykes against Germany when we presumably expect to be under the cosh a bit and might benefit from his greater physicality but a lot of water still to flow under bridges between now and June.
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2 hours ago, No_Problemo said:
I don’t even think there’s a debate if we replace Ferguson with an attacking midfielder - I can’t see how anyone else makes any kind of sense in front of Ryan Fraser.
41 minutes ago, craigkillie said:I would have gone for Fraser or some similar attacking option as part of our expanded 26 even if Ferguson had been available. The issues at RWB should also point towards bringing him in given it's a position he's played for us before in this system. I think we still want another attacking player to replace Ferguson though (assuming the increase to 26 is confirmed).
I'm not saying we shouldn't potentially call up Ryan Fraser, Craig's comments make a lot of sense, but there's a lot of this smacks of the more he doesn't play the better he apparently gets. I've just sat watching him not get off the bench for Southamption tonight. He's in and out of their side and it's two years since he contributed anything internationally. He should be part of a conversation if the squads move to 26 but I don't think he is if they stay at 23.
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4 hours ago, German Jag said:
The tables for the last 10 home and last 10 away games now updated to include the Northern Ireland & Netherlands games.
Thanks. Downloaded it there to have a look at comparable numbers. I can't recall who I was debating it with back then and can't be bothered searching for it but I recall about the time of the Euros ticket sale saying that I expected a far higher number of fans to have 12 points within the next 12 months than had at the time.
There's not much movement at the highest level. Whilst there's some moving about within it, the cumulative total at 24 points or more is now 963 people compared to 962 in November!
2683 have 17 points or more now, compared to 2512 in November.
4946 have 14 points or more now, compared to 4599 in November.The first big jump is at 12 points where there are now 10489 members total, compared to 7869 before.
18228 on 11 or more compared to 14971 before (the published table has this number wrong but that's the correct add up number)
However, 20750 on 10 or more compared to 20548 before.
Thereafter the numbers haven't really moved much at all.
So basically, by far the biggest movement in the table is in that 10 - 12 band. An extra 2,500 have made it to 12 points and an extra 3,300 to 11 points but only 200 more made it to 10 points. Higher and lower levels of points have had some relatively minor movement but there's definitely a group of people became "every gamers" about the time we were heading to the WC playoff with Ukraine and they've marched their way up to 11/12 points now.
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05/06/12 - Dougie Samuel (Spartans)
04/12/16 - Stewart Petrie (Montrose)
02/06/17 - Peter Murphy (Annan Athletic)
26/11/20 - David Martindale (Livingston) (Caretaker initially, officially confirmed 21/12/20)
29/05/21 - Stevie Farrell (Dumbarton)
20/12/21 - Darren Young (Stirling Albion)
21/12/21 - Dougie Imrie (Morton)
04/01/22 - Derek McInnes (Kilmarnock)
22/02/22 - Stephen Robinson (St Mirren)
04/05/22 - John McGlynn (Falkirk)
24/05/22 - Ian Murray (Raith Rovers)
24/05/22 - James McPake (Dunfermline Athletic)
26/05/22 - Rhys McCabe (Airdrieonians)
23/06/22 - John Rankin (Hamilton Academical) (caretaker initially, confirmed 28/06/22)
10/11/22 - Ray McKinnon (Forfar Athletic)
03/01/23 - Gary Naysmith (Stenhousemuir)
05/01/23 - Paul Hartley (Cove Rangers)
11/02/23 - Stuart Kettlewell (Motherwell) (Caretaker initially, confirmed 22/02/23)
12/02/23 - Kris Doolan (Partick Thistle) (caretaker initially, confirmed 03/03/23)
01/03/23 - Jim Goodwin (Dundee United)
21/03/23 - Ryan Strachan & Jordon Brown (Peterhead) (Caretakers initially, confirmed 25/04/23)
*09/04/23 - Steven Naismith (Heart of Midlothian) - See note
17/04/23 - Scott Agnew (Stranraer)
07/05/23 - Michael Tidser (Kelty Hearts)
29/05/23 - Tony Docherty (Dundee)
19/06/23 - Brendan Rodgers (Celtic)
11/09/23 - Nick Montgomery (Hibernian)
26/09/23 - Duncan Ferguson (Inverness Caledonian Thistle)
09/10/23 - Michael McIndoe (Edinburgh City)
15/10/23 - Philippe Clement (Rangers)
05/11/23 - Craig Levein (St Johnstone)
15/11/23 - Ian McCall (Clyde)
15/11/23 - Andy Graham (Alloa Athletic)
04/12/23 - Jim McIntyre (Arbroath)
05/12/23 - Allan Hale (Elgin City)
09/01/24 - Callum Davidson (Queen's Park)
23/01/24 - Scott Brown (Ayr United)
06/02/24 - Dick Campbell (East Fife)
25/03/24 - Calum Elliott (Bonnyrigg Rose)
01/06/24 - Jimmy Thelin (Aberdeen) * Future appointment announced 16/04/24. Peter Leven remains in charge until then
Vacant - Ross County - Derek Adams resigned 07/02/24, Don Cowie in Interim Charge
Vacant - Marvin Bartley sacked 04/05/2024. No interim manager announced as season over.
*Note
Steven Naismith was appointed caretaker manager of Hearts on 9th April 2023. After a successfully spell he was given the job permanently on 7th June 2023. However, as he does not have a Pro Licence and Hearts qualified for Europe they were required to 'officially' name assistant Frankie McAvoy as manager on the same date. Naismith instead took on the title 'Technical Director'. Following Hearts elimination from European competition, Naismith was officially re-confirmed as Manager on 6th September 2023 with McAvoy reverting to assistant. As nobody surely seriously believes McAvoy was ever actually in charge, I've listed Naismith as continuous from 9th April and ignored McAvoy's official 3 month spell as manager.If the technical most recent reappointment date of 6th September is instead used for Naismith then he drops four places further down the list, in between Brendan Rodgers and Nick Montgomery.
Updated for future appointment of Thelin at Aberdeen. I've put him on the full list on a future date (by no means certain to be the correct date). If a different date becomes clear nearer the time will amend. In the meantime, if other clubs change managers between now and then they'll go in to the list ahead of him. He's not managing them yet, announced or not.
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Aberdeen again making life awkward (they did this when Craig Brown retired) by announcing today the future appointment, on a day not exactly specified, of Jimmy Thelin as their manager. It's been left as the vague "this summer" and "from June". Until Aberdeen confirm anything different I'll assume this means 1st June.
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On 15/04/2024 at 12:02, craigkillie said:
Prior to last weekend there was a chance it could have happened with Dunfermline and Raith this season - they've met 6 times already across the League, Scottish Cup and League Cup, and could have faced off in the play-offs.
I'm probably missing something obvious but why has this weekend ruled that out? Or do you just mean in practical terms rather than officially?
Dunfermline are 9 points behind Partick Thistle and Airdrie with three games to go and a 13 goal difference to Thistle, 11 to Airdrie. Three Thistle or Airdrie losses, three Dunfermline wins and it comes down to goal difference. 11 or 13 would be difficult to pull back across six result but not impossible. Appreciate it's not happening but it still theoretically could presumably?
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in Tartan Army Ramblings
Posted
He has a point though. That was nothing like a 'first team squad' Ramsay played in even if its technically a first team game.