denltfc

On the point of the south wanting a united Ireland, its in the founding aims of nearly all parties from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin. I still strongly believe in an united Ireland and would campaign and vote that way. When I was younger I would of been of a more militant mindset but as you grow older you evolve. I have advocated for years within FF when we were in government we should of had a green paper ( no pun intended) on a united Ireland and the all institutions of the Republic have a united Ireland contingency plan the same as we did for the Euro changeover. I was the mover of the Fianna Fáil motion that we organise and contest elections on a 32 county basis that was passed much to the shock of the leadership, I have a press release at home of Iris Robinson of the DUP denouncing me ... !!! In a vote on a unification, it would be carried 70-30. The heart will triumph the head on this one for most voters. It would not be a pretty vote as images of the past and a billion tricolours would fly high from the poles. A simple line to be used in any vote " Did Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmett, Padraig Pearse, James Connolly and Michael Collins die for Ireland not to be an independent and united nation". The old 26 + 6 = 1 would get an airing too. The problem is as time goes on, it gets further and further away from 1921. It pains me to say but I do feel differences when I chat to northerners. Any united Ireland will be a long process not an over nite thing as suddenly 20% of an united Ireland would not want to be part of it. I can see where a joint sovereignty would apply for a while and slowly like Britain with Hong Kong, they slowly withdraw. An another interesting thing is and for the Union to survive, they need to start wooing Catholics into Unionist parties ... as slowly but surely the demographic tide turns against protestantism. The more Orange riots the better in that case and flag protests. There was an interesting article in the Irish Times at the weekend about this http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/the-catholic-unionists-1.1461624

I would imagine the drop in the North has a lot to do with whats happening in the South of Ireland and our current economic woes, the most profitable Sainsburys in the UK is in Newry and about 75% of the cars have southern number plates. Plus the cheap cost of booze in the North helps when stocking up ...

Looking forward to the Quarter Finals, I will be in Croke Park for the Sunday games as the Roscommon minors will be out against Kerry at 12pm that day. I think Cork will have too much for Kildare but it should be a close game and I am excited by Kerry v Donegal, it has the makings of a classic and its a bank holiday weekend as well and I hope the weather picks up and large crowds both days in HQ.

who is in charge at Clyde ? They seem to be very on the ball. Surely counter proposals have been lodged by various SFL clubs by now. Can standing orders of tomorrows meeting be suspended and counter proposals raised ? Also how long did the SFA/SPL have to give notice to the SFL clubs of their new proposals ? Anyone with Knowledge of the rules,standing orders etc Might want to make a sticky so people know how the meeting will run and how votes can be called and carried out. It will save a tonne of queries over the next 24 hours.

Now any of us who have been involved in national politics, students unions, trade unions etc know the rules can be manipulated, the Chairman could rule an amendment out of order under 58.1.2 but firstly an amendment has to be given to the SFL Chairman. Surely Mr Hutton and others who have shouted loudly have been in touch with each other and are currently drawing up such an amendment. The resolution asks that SPL Board makes the decision as to where Rangers will play so an amendment that the full 30 members vote on where to locate the club could be seen as outside the scope of the resolution. Of course the Chairman's arse is covered by rule 58.2 Perhaps an easier amendment to make is the following to remove the word "First" and replace with "Third", it does not change the resolution much and keeps to the spirit of the original motion (ii) That the Scottish Football League Members direct the Board of Management of The Scottish Football League (the “Board”) to provide that Rangers F.C. shall play in the Third Division of the Scottish Football League during Season 2012/13 unless the Board shall have to its satisfaction negotiated and reached agreement with The Scottish Premier League and The Scottish Football Association on a series of measures which the Board shall consider to be in the best interests of the game, how it is structured, how it is governed and how it is financed, whereupon the Board shall be authorised to provide that Rangers F.C. shall play in the First Third Division of the Scottish Football League during Season 2012/13.

What happens if the vote to allow the SFL board to decide is defeated ? Can a motion to a SFL meeting be amended and still legally stand without a new meeting having to be called. So an amendment to the motion removing Part 2 could be carried by a majority of clubs before a final vote takes place. I hope HJ or someone might be able to answer it

It could of been a good negotiating ploy from some clubs. telling fans that they were voting no to Newco and therefore fans started buying season tickets, merchandise etc and also stopped the constant flow of emails, calls etc calling on them to vote no. The spotlight left the SPL clubs and moved to SFL clubs and some of them could then negotiate with Rangers away from prying eyes, they need 7 votes along with their own, more importantly they just need to keep No votes to 4. If you count Hearts as a No no matter what as Romanov is unreliable and I feel Celtic is a yes. They need just 6 more clubs throw in Killie and pressure on the highland 2 plus St Johnstone and St Mirren. Motherwell and Dundee Utd with known financial difficulties. Slowly but surely Green could work his way through the clubs. Also don't discount what each of the clubs banks are telling them in relation to financial guarantees, overdrafts, loans etc and how many of their business plans count on Rangers being in the SPL. and the SKY money The screw could of been slowly tightened.

The question some of the SPL Chairmen must be wondering is (1) How serious are fans about not renewing season tickets ? (2) If they buy season tickets will they just boycott the Rangers games ? (3) After the initial uproar and shouting from fans, will they just continue going to games as per normal The overwhelming majority of posters on here are anti Newco but have any of you come across any supporters in your clubs who would take Rangers back into the SPL ? Has anyone got information from the 11 SPL clubs as to where season ticket sales are in comparison to last year and expected sales targets. Football is a business unfortunately and "sporting integrity" for now is a handy negotiating tool. Although if the clubs had been thinking of backtracking they probably would not of announced their original voting intentions unless of course fans bought into the idea that Rangers were gone from the SPL and proceeded to buy season tickets.