flyingscot

It would be the only way you could asset strip Livi- lets face it everything else was sold on by previous boards!

They don't have a clue is the justification. "We can't have a league with 9 teams in it and we can't punish the poor fans of Livi". I hope fans in D1 will boycott Livi games if they get away with this and write off their debts again. I don't know why be bothered paying everyone back- we really were mugs.

In saying that it is not a situation uncommon in Europe. Fiorentina are the most high profile 'bankrupt' to be reformed under a different name, and other clubs throughout the leagues have done similar- Switzerland had FC Lugano which went bust to re-appear as AC Lugano, Netherlands had FC Zwolle and Roda were in deep shit too. The damage to Livingston FC pre-dates Angelo Massone. If the finger of blame is being pointed Dominic Keane and Pearse Flynn must also take blame. I mean that lottery winner put £4million through the books- and bankrupted himself after being sucked in. They took the business model as Geoff Brown said that never pays. Livingston can never sustain being a force in Scottish football and blowing money to come 3rd in the SPL and win cups. The club has been into administration before (whilst sponsored by Intelligent Finance of course!) and should have learned its lesson then. To get into the red again and to such an extent that administration is required again is the sign that football simply isn't working there. Is it all bad management or can it really be sustained- would things be better if Livi accepted they can't afford D1 football as well and play in D2? The club was in deep trouble before Massone walked in- indeed I don't think he understood fully what he was getting involved in, but that is his fault. In saying that Livingston's fans I think were so desperate to see the back of Pearse Flynn that anybody would have done- much like Hearts before Romanov rolled up. In the end the players and staff are the ones that suffer most along with the fans (and taxpayers too!). Massone will brush his hands get a taxi to Edinburgh Airport and never be seen again. The players and staff will be left with mortgages and families on the dole. Sure some players and staff will get new jobs but youth boys may never play again. What ever you think of Livingston as a franchise club, I don't blame their fans that support them as a local team, and sad for them too- many will drift away from football altogether. In the end clubs like St Mirren, Falkirk, St Johnstone have been largely sheltered from the mess the SPL and Premier League did by overspending. It might annoy our fans but a decade in D1 helped us and sure whilst we had to sell up and move, we paid our debts and built a new stadium without the taxpayer which the club owns entirely. Clubs like Killie, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers didn't escape and have had periods in lower leagues and large debts. Angelo Massone might well be the man that has dealt the final blow to football in West Lothian, but the patient had been on life support for some time.

Don't think so- I think only if the contracts have been broken are they allowed to go. They are still 'assets' of Livingston and the administrators will put them up for sale to get money. Unless anyone can correct me....

Train drivers earning £37K is skewed by London. Train drivers here earn about £33K on Scotrail. One thing to remember is that it isn't a job you'll get from school- you can only start driving at 21. Even assuming you get a job at 21 you'll start on the training wage.

It is very difficult to take the league tables at face value because they cover so much- and a lot of it utter pish. I mentioned before that I did indeed go to Paisley- indeed my grades were such that I could have done the course at Glasgow or Edinburgh too if I wanted too. I actually went to Paisley as it offered a course were I combined it with real life experience. Indeed I spent around 18 months working during my course in my profession- an apprenticeship if you will (something I think you advocate Stuart!). It was great as I was able to apply skills learned in real life to the university environment. I still have my job to date- and at day one after graduation could walk in and do the work- no training- left on my own. Graduates out of other places with little experience have to adapt and 're-learn the way work does it'. In the end, my course was independantly assessed for it's quality by our professional body, I ended up being on that panel when I was there and Paisley did far better than a lot of other universities for that degree. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of shite that goes on in Paisley but the same is true for all universities- (perhaps Glasgow it is your daddies boys not bothering their arse instead of guy from scheme!). To quote Margaret Montford 'perhaps Edinburgh isn't what it used to be?'. Problem is you can't scratch the surface- you have to go deeper to evaluate it. I have my own prejudices too, even if I can have a laugh with the folk who have a go at Paisley. I joke at some of the 'made up degrees to keep folk off the dole'. Even the lecturers at the university had a laugh at the guy who asked if this class was 'sports science with psychology'. In the end though your probably best not scrapping the universities in total, but rather the degrees which don't offer a great deal.

On the Heineken, I think Leinster shaded it- a game too far for Leicester. Leinster also had a massively more vocal support and made up the majority of that ground!

Anyone off to the Heineken Cup final on Saturday at Murrayfield. I'm looking forward to a Leinster win!

How many payments do Livi have to miss with regards wages, where a player can claim breach of contract and leave on a free? Is it something like 3?

Nonsense, a good few of the SPL teams are making profits.

Excellent draw. Argentina can come and go, and do not have regular rugby. Good to get them. If we got England now we'd be laughing, anyone who saw the New Zealand - England game saw how many kicks Carter missed, and England's discipline was awful. On the other hand they will improve- always a tough challenge- but we can beat England at any time as the fans and the game motivates us and gives a level playing field.