LongTimeLurker

Kadyrov and Prigozhin are arch-enemies so that's a foregone conclusion. Interesting angle though is that if Wagner take Volgograd and Krasnodar, Chechnya will be cut off from Moscow and their troops in Ukraine.

...but meekly following all Vlad's orders is looking like a one-way ticket to death in a HIMARS attack at this point. Russia's military capabilities are slowly being expended, while Ukraine is steadily receiving better western weaponry with more to follow. Don't think it's safe to assume that Russian military units are going to fanatically follow Vlad given that backdrop.

There doesn't seem to be much fighting so far. How does Prigozhin just waltz through the heavily populated Donbas and into Rostov and send a column up to Voronezh if he doesn't have at least tacit support from a significant portion of the regular Russian military under Shoigu's chain of command? Why are so many Wagner troops willing to follow this nutter's orders even though a leading general was on Russian TV urging them to arrest him? The obvious parallel is maybe with 1917 when Russia's armed forces no longer wanted to fight WWI.

This isn't a coup one minute then the next minute: The only reason I can think of for why this was allowed to escalate this far is that they first had to use the Ukrainians to wipe out most of the Wagner forces in Soledar and Bakhmut to cut them down to a manageable size, if they ever decided to go off the reservation like this.

Not talked up a lot but the Ukrainians still control a small part of Bakhmut: looks like it was the Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK that took out the bridges at Chonhar:

Camelon were basically taken over by Syngenta late last season.

Think two of the new teams will be in the North Region. Whitehills and Hall Russell are returning from being in abeyance.

Ignoring B teams who officially don't count in determining final league positions: 1 EK (loadsofmoney) 2 Tranent (loadsofmoney) 3 Berwick Rangers (finished 22-23 very strongly) ... 15 Gretna 16 Edinburgh Uni Think anyone confident on predicting 4 to 14 is claiming a level of insight nobody can reasonably expect to have at this point.

You should have posted it in on the EoS subforum, if you really wanted a reaction. The state some people get into on here over anything involving junior football borders on being a mental health issue.

U-20 player maybe? There's no sign of a player by that name on their first team last season.

Looks like Cammy Ross was a big part of Tranent's team last season after playing a few games with Brechin in the Highland League before that: https://www.transfermarkt.com/cameron-ross/leistungsdaten/spieler/718070 was with Clyde as well for a bit but didn't play.

One started out in Dan Winter's cottage in Loughgall during the 1798 Rebellion and the other commemorates the actions of the 13 apprentice boys who closed the gates at the start of the second siege of Londonderry in 1689. One is steeped in the Anglican Ascendancy in terms of its origins, while the other was more about opposition to the Jacobite claimants to the thrones of the three kingdoms, who interestingly in a Scottish context often tended to be supported by Episcopalians (i.e. Anglicans) as well as Roman Catholics. On the flip side of that over in Ulster, many/most Presbyterians actually sided with the 1798 Rebellion against the Anglican Ascendancy. In a Scottish context it would be a bit like having different groups for parades about the Wars of Independence and the Covenanters or something like that, but the Orange Order eventually latched onto the Battle of the Boyne as their big thing so I guess that sort of parallel isn't exact. Interesting how people seem to know so little about what they are able to work up such intense hatred for. One reason that the ABoD is smaller is because you actually have to go to Londonderry to join.

Will be interesting to see if Gartcairn are able to achieve an entry level licence because their 3G cage was pretty much as challenging to turn into something resembling a football ground at the outset as the Scotstoun 3G pitch would be.

GLSDB has entered the chat? The road and possibly also the rail bridges into Crimea from the north at Chonhar were hit by missiles overnight. There is still a narrow land connection to Crimea at Armiansk that provides a longer less favourable road link to Melitopol from Crimea but losing these bridges would be very bad news for Russian logistics. GLSDB missiles are less expensive than conventional HIMARS munitions so this could follow the same script as what happened with the road and rail bridges into the city of Kherson, if they are readily available to the Ukrainians now.

Is John Ward still in the squad? Think it's been posted on here that he is one of the players that was signed to a new contract by Ian Little but this latest signing, if accurate, strongly suggests otherwise.

Only 34 out of 38 necessary fixtures are actually listed as far as I can tell. Guess at least some of the rest get arranged later on the dates that are left open for the various cup competitions whenever that is possible? Still likely to leave a significant backlog at the end for any promotion challenger though once postponements are factored in.

Has played as high as the Championship for Livingston and QoS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Rutherford

Probably still exists on paper but if it can't be voted into the SFA then it is dead in the water.

Think the WoS have a no reserve team rule, so they would probably have to go to the SoS which would put them one promotion away from the LL and two from the SPFL. As long as the SPFL clubs won't take their B teams though this whole exercise is a waste of time. The latest vote should have made it clear they are never getting in at that level and need to look into how to revamp the reserve team setup appropriately instead.

The big one that will likely take precedence over the others on what goes to trial first is still what happened on Jan 6th and that has scope to move well beyond just Trump where the Republicans are concerned. Anyway back on topic, there seems to be a lot of chatter today about the Swedes sending the Ukrainians an anti-ship missile called the Hammer of Thor:

In other news Finn Harps may be from Ballybofey but their blue jerseys would certainly see them voted into the WoS thanks to the influence of the banjo picking contingent from deepest darkest Ayrshire.

Donegal finally joins Northern Ireland 102 years on: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-65946040 My grandfather would have been a happy camper.

A lot of the military goodies that the Ukrainians really need right now like GLSDB and possibly ATACMS to extend the range of HIMARS potentially out as far as the Kerch bridge and the F-16s to give them a shot at something closer to air superiority on the frontlines won't arrive until the autumn of this year or into next year. You would almost get the impression that Joe B wants to have Vlad's ultimate comeupance in all of this only happen while he is out on the campaign trail next year. Donald Trump's various potential legal proceedings in New York, Georgia, Washington DC and Florida revolving around stuff that largely happened in early 2021 or earlier also seem to have been conveniently stalled long enough for multiple trials to happen when he would otherwise have been out campaigning so there is maximum embarrassment for the Republicans in 2024 where that is concerned.

The Waltons Little House on the Prairie

Don't have a strong opinion on this and don't doubt for a second that the Ukrainians intend to retake all three cities mentioned.