honestly united

Looks like Bell's doing the same at Partick so maybe not!! On the forwards, Faal seems to have the better scoring record, though at a lower level, but Adeloye probably the better player. I know they have both come from the National league, but its not as if that is on a par with Auchinleck or Troon - National League now is Notts County, Halifax, Chesterfield, Grimsby, Southend, Wrexham etc and is probably on a par with our league - avg attendances range from 5500ish down to 750ish not saying that attendances have any baring on the standard of football, just gives an indication on how much they can spend on players

I think its the general theme that neither Hopkins or Duffy have the contacts or any ability in the transfer market. Apart from McGinty I think the signings have been solid and looks like defensively we will be sound, however the next 2 or 3 signings will be crucial to get the attacking players sorted. It looks like the first choice Toderov was missed, and another player who may or may not have been a target (no one actually has confirmed if he was) Ugwu has signed elsewhere. Yes its playing into the narrative of a manager that cant build a squad, but it also plays into we were spoiled by having McCall. But the list of candidates was genuinely uninspiring, and it probably wont be much different if / when he goes. Imagine if we had ended up with Woodhouse!!

I thoguth this week felt a bit straight to TV sci movie. Effects and staging felt big budget, the plot and script not so much

5 Trialist, 2 of them keepers though - and who is Bilham?

My mate had bronze tickets orginally which got cancelled. Then SRU emailed offering the same tickets but with a 50% price hike! Seemingly all the gold tickets were kept but moved down to lower class seats when the capacity was reduced - if anyone then cancelled they have offered the tickets back out at Gold prices

bet gatlands injuring them on purpose so he doesnt have to play them

Some good news on TV matches, as Super6 will have 1 game per week on Premier Free Sports for this season - thats your Sunday afternoons sorted

Apart from George and Farrell no one that played at the weekend was picked

I dont think he will have Murdoch as a starter unless he shows something in pre-season - he only started 2 (Dundee and Alloa) of the last 8 games (was a sub in the other 6) and was taken off in both this starts with Miller playing more often than him From previous snippets Hopkin stated he is after another 5 or 6 not sure if that includes loans from Burnley or not, but you would assume we still need 1 main striker, 1 attacking midfield, 1 defensive midfield as starters then sub keeper, then another attacking option. IF we are going 5-3-2 i would assume McAlister and Reading are the width, and he will go with 2 hardworking defensive mids alongside either Chalmers or a new attacking mid (along the lines of Kelly) with a target man up top alongside either Moff or McKenzie

Thanks thats just ruined my post Christmas TV viewing! Only joking, congrats to the big man, and I'll probably have forgotten by then anyway

I only skimmed the squad and assumed it was fairly strong, point still stands though even if they have lost 7 or 8 players they shouldn't be losing to Benetton

I find it quite funny how the Lions PR machine are building up playing in SA as the biggest challenge the Lions can face, then the best PRO team in SA gets hammered by perrenial Pro14 whipping boys Treviso in the final of the Rainbow cup. Thats a team made up mostly of Italians who haven't won a game in the 6 nations for years, have beat the best pro team in SA. Aye this is going to be a tough tour for the Lions

McCall didn't leave until September. Im firmly in the camp that you should have the majority of your squad signed up before pre-season starts, however not just that season, (and not just Ayr) but the majority of clubs wait until the days before the the league cup kicks off to make signing (usually so they dont have to pay them before then) and most teams use the league cup as their pre-season matches - as being ready for the league is the main aim. As most clubs at this level are dependent on loan signings were usually waiting on the bigger clubs completing their transfer business / pre-season training before they look to free up youngsters to go on loan - the vast majority of McCall's signings (not just loans) were well into July, infact his 2 best were Smith arriving late August, and Shankland in September. Im not a happy clapper or a fan of Hopkin but at least want to give him a chance to put a team together - however if we get humped by Albion Rovers and Edinburgh City that chance will be gone

So with the players back in training today, and trialists confirmed hopefully we get some actual player speculation other than Toddleoff, and maybe some actual signing news!

No wanting to defend Hopkin as his recruitment /tactics etc so far hasn't been great but looking back at the 2019/20 season (below) which was McCall's last season and a big rebuild as well, our first signing was (according to wiki) 13th June - most season have been the same, with the majority of signings happening in July - season before Harvie was end June, MUrdoch mid July, and Smith mid August, season before Shankland was September! Majority of signings tend to be in the week or so before the group stages start - every season the same people are in a panic that we haven't signed anyone.

Is one game not already a Tuesday night which would rule out it being live on the BBC?

https://www.glasgowwarriors.org/news/united-rugby-championship-launched-ahead-of-2021/22?fbclid=IwAR3qPDr_Lj75m4y5bWIjG-oGm1VoZaOkvwIUrNJkGuUbZ9dEcE0ES71Rxt0 More re-branding and corporate waffle and bullshit. If you cant be bothered with the brain numbing hyperbole the jist of it is that the Pro16 is now the United Rugby Championship, its split into 4 pools of 4 teams. You play everyone in your pool home and away, then each other team either home or away, so 6 pool matches and 12 interpool. There will be one total league table with top 8 ranked teams into quarter finals for the title (1st plays 8th, 2nd vs 7th etc) However for European qualification the top team in each pool qualifies first, then the next 4 top teams in the combined table get the last 4. SA teams to play in Europe from 22/23 (still to be ratified) Glasgow / Embra in pool with the 2 Italian teams - so one should top the pool each year.

Released fijians Nakarawa, Dolokoto and Sau all in the Fijian squad to play NZ - didnt see Mata in the squad though. Makes the whole move falling through at Ulster seem more like they didnt like what they saw at Glasgow the last few months rather than any serious injury concern

Probably agree on this, obviously we had current Scotland squad players in McKenna and Nesbit at Ayr, but both looked destined for careers in the seaside leagues at that point

Its probably changed as a lot of big clubs from the 80's and 90's have droped down, and there are a few new big clubs, esp in the Eastern European countries

Sad to see as he was a fantastic player while at Glasgow - you wonder if its injuries taking their toll, or the player just not putting in the effort to get fit

For Croatia I would have classed Hajduk as an Elite club (bigger than Rijeka) and for Switzerland Zurich is the main city so would class them as an Elite club also surely?

Trevisio are awareded a walkover win vs Ospreys ends Glasgows hope of making the Rainbow cup final

I thought he was a cracking player, and seemed to be playing at a different level to those around him. However I would add that I was gutted when he was swapped for Cammy Duncan, but would say Cammy was a better player, probably the best keeper we've had

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_European_Rugby_Champions_Cup Wiki saying we have already qualified