LongTimeLurker

Some clubs seem to know their first three fixtures:

No doubt a useful counterbalance if the Belarus military ever gets any ideas about doing a coup, and only a few hours drive from Moscow if Shoigu gets any ideas about toppling Vlad once Russia's hold on the occupied portion of Ukraine is a lot less secure than it is now:

It's the replacement for the South Qualifying Cup so it arguably has a history in senior grade terms that goes back to 1895: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Qualifying_Cup http://sfha.org.uk/scottishcups.htm Don't think the South Qualifying Cup was ever that big a deal compared to the North one but the HL clubs soon binned the North Challenge Cup.

Taking that area with dachas had happened before the Kakhovka dam was blown up as well: The problem is that they are only on a swampy island and need to cross a second bridge and take a town called Oleshki before it really qualifies as a bridgehead. Not having Russian snipers close by probably makes life easier in Kherson though.

Maybe they were players who were not going to be out of contract until the end of June.

Igor Girkin's take: Cue tired patter about windaes etc but how can you say we'll go after the organisers one second then turn around and say the Wagner dudes can head home or go to Belarus the next? Does that include the guys who shot down the 7 Russian military aircraft? Can see why Igor isn't impressed. Wonder why the "potato man" as he appears to be referred to in ex-CCCP circles delayed his speech. Did Vlad do something that deviated from a pre-agreed script?

It would be nice to think so but you only have to look at some of what gets posted on here to realise how much tribalism there still is over the junior vs senior thing and how some ex-junior people linked to EoS clubs are still in zeal of the convert mode where anything linked to the SJFA is concerned. Could take a while for this to get sorted unfortunately.

Somebody was paying the bills when they were in Alloa and I doubt it was the youth club to any huge extent.

Never declared publicly AFAIR and given Thomas Brown's role with the LL that's maybe understandable.

A Bo'ness derby would be like an old Star Trek episode with the good Captain Kirk battling it out with an evil one from a parallel universe. Will be interesting to see what Albion Rovers' first taste of this competition will be. Away to Luncarty might give them a bit of a reality check in more ways than one.

Especially when the Russians haven't managed any significant advance for around a year now when Wagner hasn't been heavily involved. If they head off to Africa and Syria who fills that void? Bigger picture though Putin is now like Gorbachev after the failed coup at the very end of the Soviet Union. Still has the top job but now shown to have only weak control over his "power vertical". If Shoigu and Gerasimov are being replaced he will have to choose their successors very carefully or he could wind up being publicly humiliated like Gorbachev was by Yeltsin.

If you read the article it was only Joan Collins that was pushing the no votes for part-time clubs angle not Ian Maxwell. Nothing to worry about basically.

Not just for Pollok. It was done to open entry up to all pyramid clubs from either tier 5 or 6 down (forget which).

Only other thing that makes sense is that it was all a big hoax to get the Ukrainians to do something rash and they didn't take the bait. If it was a genuine mutiny and they really are returning to their bases I seriously doubt Prigozhin will still be alive by Monday.

Hence why it's only the Chechens being sent to Rostov.

If they are wearing lots of Adidas and have tattoos better just to avoid rather than trying to crack a joke that might be misinterpreted would be my thoughts on that.

Russia is very centralised as a country and most of the main transport links in the European part radiate from there so whoever controls Moscow has a big advantage.

Time for a Kobayashi Maru move by Mad Vlad soon by the looks of things or he is not going to live long and prosper.

His plane appeared to leave in the St Petersburg direction, which is his hometown and main powerbase:

They had to reach Rostov first. Was seeing tweets about a 50 km long Wagner column leaving the occupied Donbas for Rostov late last night and assumed it was a farfetched windup so didn't post it here. Rostov is one of the main logistics hubs for the war so seriously doubt its just admin clerks that are stationed there. Since then and for the last few hours a Wagner column has been driving up a highway to Moscow with no signs of any roadblocks being prepared and only the occasional helicopter showing up and getting shot down. Strongly suspect that if a Ukrainian armoured column decided to go for a jaunt up the highway from Chernihiv to Moscow today the response from the Russian military would be considerably more robust and effective.

Wagner wouldn't have taken over the southern military district command HQ so easily in Rostov if the Russian Army were gung ho about defending Putin.