honestly united

I would expect the biggest income streams are Season Tickets, PATG, Prize Money, Advertising, Merchandise and game day sales (ie catering, programmes, hospitality etc) From what I understand Season tickets are about the same as last year, Prize money should be similar, decent run in the Scottish cup could see more. Advertising and Merchandise I would assume would stay the same, and may even be up given the new strip and maybe people buying online to help the club but thats all guess work, could be down given no fans near the ground making in person purchases. So the biggest loses would be PATG which has been replaced by streaming income, back of a fag packet say PATG is 750 fans at £20 so £15k home game, streaming say 350 buys at £12 is £4k so losing £11k per home game so approx £180k for the year. No idea on match day revenue but I would assume income is going to be down approx £200 - 250k for the year as a rough estimate. As a general point would be interested to see they figures for streaming to see if it is getting close to actual crowds in terms of numbers, whether there has been an increase in away fans etc

Is Dark worth watching, and if so is it easy to find / on TV?

Glasgow should be pushing for a draw - its probably the only points we will get this year!

Chino Tommy Shooter Theme from Sparta FC Dr Bucks Letter Totally Wired

If you look at England, Ireland, and Wales all the development is done by the clubs in essence - Welsh and Irish pro clubs cover everything and in England the Premiership clubs (14 teams as includes stakeholder clubs) each have an academy so they cover the whole country and this has replaced the county under age teams as the pinnancle of the youth set ups. Kids still play for their local clubs but being selected for an academy from a premiership side or a province / region still means something. In England for example the academies play meaningful games with league tables etc. Although the aim is to develop players, it is also developing a winning mentallity which is something lacking from most Scotish players. If Scotland actually had some foresight they could have used the same model when setting up the Super 6 - have a Super 6 club in each area that acted as a development hub for age grade also (ie Aberdeen, Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ayr and Melrose would have captured the entire country more or less - 95% of people should be within an hour of a club) then there would have been a clear development pathway from youth to semi-pro to Pro club. Instead we are still doing the 4 regions which doesnt tie into anything within the pro game and still feels like the amateur days. The Super 6 should help to develop players giving them much needed competitve game time, as that is lacking at the moment as with only 2 pro teams you only have space for 3 or 4 players per club to come through each year, yet we should have (in theory) 10-15 players graduating from the Scotland u-20's each year

I was amazed by that first time I saw it - but agreed after a few times and working out how it works it is ludicrous

the bit in bold, In theory yes, in practice it would make things worse. If Scotland are not able to match the wages in France and England now, when the clubs know they are losing the scottish players for 6N etc, if the SRU came out and said your only getting picked if you stay in Scotland, the wages on offer to a Hogg or Russell would go through the roof as basically instead of missing 12 weeks for internationals your have a player available for every club game in England or France. Also it would be a complete turn around from the SRU as at the moment they are actively wanting Scottish players playing in Eng & Fra as it takes them off the wage bill that can be used to pay younger players coming through - Hogg wsa reportedly on approx £200k per year at Glasgow, before more than doubling that to £500k at Exeter. SRU couldn't get close to that and Finn is on more in France. Granted some of Dodsons pay could go to funding a team by itself though.

Its also so overly telegraphed these days esp. in tag matches, as the guys on the floor tend to huddle in a little group first waiting on the guy to fly over the ropes

In a way you fee sorry for Wilson as he has not been able to play his 2 big summer signings in Grey and Nakarawa and this season was seen as a bit of a write off before it started, but if there isn't a serious show of intent for next season in the form of a big name (or at least half decent) stand off and full back for starters, and probably a clear out of 15-20 players. If they act now the majority of the Jauguares squad are looking for a new club as the wages on offer in the SLAR will be tiny in comparison to what Glasgow can offer, and they could be picking the bones of the Chetahs and Kings if there is anything left to pick. With the SA teams entering next year they need to act soon or risk being pushed back down to being an irrelevance

Went too Venezuela for my honeymoon, mostly on Margehrita which is an island off the coast, which is / was full of 5 star hotels, and had a major tax free port for Tourist cruises, it was really nice but this was back in 00's and i think it is much changed now. Had a few days travelling in land to Angel falls, Canima national park etc which was stunning. Its all changed as had a look last year at going back and dont think you can easily get there from the UK now. Highlight was a rum fueled sunset boat trip which included me another 2 scottish boys that happened to be on holiday there at the same time doing the normally scottish thing of insisting we can handle our drink and the measures are far too small

There are a few countries there or there abouts In the Americas Chile and Brazil are improving as they get to play in the Americas 6 nations now with Argentina, Uruguay, USA and Canada, Brazil have already picked up wins against Canada and the USA, if the SLAR picks up next year that will give them a boost. Not wanting to sound too cliche, if there was a bit less corruption and govt interference the likes of Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda could be pushing Namibia, Madagascar as well get 40-50k at their home games, Algeria and Morroco could probably put together fantastic teams if the french clubs let them

As its quite likely to be the same 20 teams again and the seeding doesn't change that much it was likely to happen. Form the last seeding, only Ireland swapped places with South Africa, and Scotland swapped with Japan. Last time though Georgia were direct qualifiers and Fiji were Oceania 1 qualifier for example so the same but different I think (hoping) there will be a few changes ie Canada wont win the Americas qualifying, infact will be lucky to get 2nd. Im hoping we might see a few changes in the teams, maybe Kenya or Zimbabwe (Algeria could be a wild card if they can entice all their French based players to play the qualifiers) can pip Namibia for the African spot, and Europe 2 could go to Russia, Romania or Spain. Having more that half the teams as direct qualifiers means that the Tier 2's miss out on games against the tier 1's in qualifying. If you went back to only the semi finalist qualfied direct and were the top 4 seeds, you would have for example Australia in the qualifiers with Fiji, Tonga and Samoa who they hardly play at the moment, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, lining up against Georgia, Romania, Spain, Russia, Belgium, Portugal etc Granted to start with the matches would be 1 sided, but at least these countries would be getting games against the top sides on a more regular basis

Couldn't have went much worse tbh. We got the easiest team in pool 4, surely thats something (loser of Tonga / Samoa plays off against top Asian side probably S Korea for the place) Pool 1 NZ would have been worst, Wales best and not much between SA & Eng - the Saffers were a good laugh in Newcastle in 2015 so will take that and hoefully get tickets to that game in France. Wouldn't have wanted France in pool 2, I hate the Irish so beating them good - surely in 2 years we can come up with a plan to beat 1 team!!

I think Embra will turn it around, i think they overachieved last year, but they have solid spine to the team that should see them back to a solid upper mid table by the end of the season. The issue with them is that they placed too much emphasis on Mata to deliver a few big plays per game, and he has just not produced the same form he had at this time last season. If they can get him firing alongside Watson and Ritchie I think they will be fine. They have a solid scrum, van der Walt is a good stand off, and in Duhan they have someone that can score tries. Glasgows issue's are all down to recruitment, and I appreaciate that we dont have the budget of the English, French and even the Irish, but it has been woeful. I thought Rennie was a downgrade on Toonie, but Wilson is 3 or 4 steps back, at least with Rennie we played a bit of exciting rugby even if it cost us tries at times. In terms of players we know that we are going to be made up of mostly bang average Scottish players, what has let us down is the imports, where over the last few years we've gone from gems like Nakarawa and Matawalu (i know they are still here but 5 years on they are no longer at their peak) and DTH, to Frisby, Thompson et al. If you are going to get imports I would rather we went for ex internationals that we going to add to the team and be guaranteed starters, than 3 or 4 players to sit on the bench or not even start. Just going through the squad, Seuili, Pieretto, Lokotui, Matthews, Bean, Dolokotu, Ionne, Tagive, Fergusson ,Thompson, Gordon have all been signed over the last couple of years, I would rather swap all of them for 3 quality signings along with another 3 or 4 academy players to make up the numbers Then you look at the scottish players, Allan, Nicol and Rae should have been good enough to be starting, but are behind Seilui and Pieretto, Fusaro has been passed it for sometime, and Wilson and Harley are on the way out - i still think they have something to offer but shouldn't be starters. In the backs there are a lot of good players, but we dont have the balance. We have 1 stand off who is injured long term, and the back ups are not up to it in Horne and Thompson. Johnson and Jones in the centre SHOULD be world class but has gone backwards with Grigg and McDowall solid back ups, 5 scrum halfs is overkill but what happens when you only have 2 pro teams, but again we still haven't replaced Hogg and Jackson at full back. However there are bright spots for the future, at Glasgow you have Cummings and the Fagerson's that are still young, added into Bain, Dobie and MCDowall who will all be in the Scotland squad shortly, and at Embra have Chamberlain and Paterson that look good prospects which gives us nearly a whole set of backs. We do though have nearly a full squad for Scotland of guys in the 24-28 range that should be with us for a good few years so not in the position we have been in of an aging squad with no one coming through, we just need 2 or 3 additions every year.

If they have been in close proximity to Walsh then surely its the physio?

Not wanting to sound cynical but was Hopkin not touted for a return to Livi?

Im the same. Its another 3 years from now, which seems an age away. On the one hand we have bounced back fairly well from the World Cup, an average 6 Nations, which could have been really good bar Hogg's dropped ball at the Aviva, and the England game was ruined by the weather and Hogg again letting the ball bounce. Autumn started well with decent results if not performances - although winning in Wales and Italy we weren't great, after 30 minutes of good rugby in Dublin we fell apart. An overall record of played 40, won 22, drawn 1, lost 17 must put him as one of the most successful Scottish coaches of recent times and that record, plus 5 wins on the bounce (France home, Italy twice away, Georgia home, and Wales away) you would think he deserves more time On the other hand we could be dreadful in the 6 nations coming up, but he still be safe and have another 2 6 nations before the world cup. We have Italy, Wales and Ireland at home and away at France and England, and conceivable we could be going into the last week needing to beat Italy to avoid the wooden spoon if Wales get their act together. Im not against the decision just think it should have waited a bit before making it.

Best Movie - the trial of the Chicago 7 Tv - Mandalorian

Might have to add Impact back into my record list of programmes - I used to watch it every week when they had broken Matt Hardy, Galloway, Grado etc as they had people to hold my interest, but its been a couple of years since I last watched, as it went down hill I thought when they lost Roode, young, EC3 etc to NXT. This tie up with AEW could be interested so might give it a watch

Rugby today is nearly unrecognisable from the when it turned professional, but i think the next 10 years will see even bigger changes. Clear outs like those are the first thing that should be banned for player safety. Make it simple, if you go off your feet when running into a ruck you get carded. Its starting to work on high tackles and its the next step in player safety. But the rules also need looked at due to the boring play we have seen. Nobody wants to play in their own half as there is too much chance they will get penalised at a ruck which leads to the opposition scoring. Changing to free kicks for ruck offences may help give teams more confidence to run the ball, or limit the numbers of defenders that can join a ruck ie tackler and 2 others

Having not checked if it would have made any difference, seemingly the rules for a drawn play off game where as follows, none of which includes playing sudden death - will be interesting if France had less penalties during the 80 minutes https://www.autumnnationscup.com/about-us/ A Tied Match: In the event of a tie at full-time in a play-off Match, the teams will be placed according to the number of tries (including penalty tries) scored by each such team in the play-off Match. If the teams have scored the same number of tries (including penalty tries), then the team that has conceded the fewest number of penalties during the play-off Match shall prevail. If two Participating teams are still tied, then the Participating team whose team is ranked highest in the official World Rugby rankings as at 12 November 2020 shall prevail.

Why wouldn't you see Price as captain, genuine question. I think he would relish the responsibility I dont think he would be a bad captain and maybe at Glasgow would do a good job, but I just think it would be the same nicely nicely approach that we have had the last couple of years. Grey and Cummings both come across as the same but could maybe lead by example, Ritchie has a bit more of an edge about him although comes across well anytime I have seen him on TV, although Im willing to be proved wrong. I think all the good captains have that balance of being hard and fearless, inspiring, but also being level headed enough to put over your points to the ref without upsetting them, and getting them onside.

The hugely frustrating thing is we have gone from (2 stupid penalties by Ritchie aside) one of the best opening 30 minutes to a match I have seen form Scotland in a long time, too utter capitulation for the next 20 or so. we really lack any sort of leadership in the team, it doesn't help that Hogg as captain is usually miles from the action so cant have a quiet word with the ref when its required. I dont know who you would pick though, Your guaranteed starters when all fit are probably Grey, Cummings, Ritchie, Watson, Price, Russell and Hogg - I dont see Watson, Price or Russell as captain material so would one of Grey, Cummings or Ritchie be a better option? Also having watched the Glasgow game, was good to see Dobie back playing, seem to be a big step up from Kennedy when he came on. Hes still not the finished article but he just has that thing all the great scrum halfs have of looking like he has all the time in the world on the ball and never looks rushed. I wouldn't be suprised if by this time next year he was Scotlands 1st choice scrum half, never mind Glasgow.

You have to play the ref, we just dont and keep getting pinged for the same things

Our defence had been really solid all year, yet we play Ireland and its like we stop trusting the defence and start giving away silly penalties when we dont need to. Just get back to your feet and ready for the next play and not try and win turnovers that aren;t there. Granted the yellow for Taylor turned the game, but we let Ireland back into it at the start of the 2nd half, and just didn't get going again.