TFW

Heard this morning - not from an inside source I might add - that Morton might be letting Kris Doolans go as part of their cost cutting. Would love to see him back at Beechwood.

It's all pie in the sky at the moment. I tend to agree with the notion that we might not see live football at our level for quite some time, but hope I'm proved wrong if things keep on improving. The cost of testing every player at every game is going to be huge, and there appears to be no talk of any financial assistance yet to help with that - although I fully accept I'm certainly not party to what goes on behind closed doors and ZOOM meetings. Perhaps there could be help for those who have retained their Junior status from the healthy SJFA coffers? I don't see them spending too much of their capital in the near to medium future anyway? Games, I assume, would have to be made all ticket if the attendance levels are set at 500, as were mentioned before the shutdown by the Holyrood government. Some form of guaranteed head count would need to take place, and I don't envisage committee men handing out raffle ticket stubs would wash it with government. Clubs who have a thriving sponsorship set up would obviously miss out on considerable income if the social distancing rules aren't relaxed some time before proposed kick off. There is so much more than wishful thinking called for here.

Seek help. Fast.

Butch has very obviously got his own blueprint as to what he wants from the team, which will be moulded to his way of playing. He will undoubtedly have learned a lot from Tucker during his time at Beechwood, and it will be interesting to see whether or not the players he's got lined up are high energy players who can play the kind of pressing game Butch enjoyed. Think it's going to be maybe somewhat of a roller coaster ride to start with, but I can't honestly see Butch not making a real go of managing. He'll also get plenty of backroom support at Bellsdale, just as Tucker does with Talbot. Interesting times ahead....

I knew of one bloke in particular who had to touch the crossbar, physically, at both ends of the ground to actually tick it off his list of visited grounds! The 0-0 thing is really weird. Heard the tale of one guy coming up on the hop to a Scottish Cup tie, i think at one of the University teams, which turned out to be 0-0 so he had to come up again later in the season (from south London) because he had to see a goal. They are very well organised affairs. Hotels booked en masse, long before the weekend kicks off. Coaches travelling from London and south Wales. The sheer close proximity of the made up schedule I put in the original post would be attractive to the organisers as travel between each of the games would be very simple. Finding a hotel / hotels that might be able over 100 hoppers in the locality might prove somewhat trickier. As someone with a programme and memorabilia hut open on matchdays every home game at Beechwood I'd be rubbing my hands in anticipation.

I fully concur Arthurlie1981. Much as I want to see the fitba back, and go and have a drink in my local, I don't want to rush into things because somebody thinks he's got a better handle on things than Jason Leitch. I well rememeber Michael Gove saying how he'd "had enough of experts" during the BREXIT election. You're not related by any chance, Crazy Feet?

A number of years ago I visited the very first Scottish Groundhop at Dalbeattie Star when they played Edinburgh City. The Groundhoppers have been back a few times since then, and although they can be a pain in the proverbial they can put some very welcome money into a club's coffers. What is the Scottish Groundhop? It's a number of matches, usually in one particular league, spread over three days with varying kick off times, and if clubs have their making money heads on there's plenty to be made. Groundhoppers have one love....visiting as many different grounds as possible in a season / career and then usually boring the arse off everybody with their tales about them. A typical Groundhop weekend has a match on the Friday night, so if we're looking at Ayrshire ex Juniors, it could be at Kello Rovers on the Friday night. Saturday might see games at Glenafton 11am kick off, followed by Cumnock at 2pm, and then Talbot at 5pm. Three games in the day, i's the stuff of fantasy for these fans. Sunday might see a visit to Lugar at 11am and then Muirkirk at 2pm, before heading home down south. These are eagerly awaited each season by the folk who go on them. I tried to see about getting the Western Juniors to agree to looking at the possibility of hosting one such weekend, but their response was "We kick off at 2pm, so NO!" Unfortunately that head in the sand attitude has denied some clubs from a decent pay day. True, I know ther eare anumber of fans at the hosting clubs who moan about having their kick off times messed about to accommodate the Hoppers, but they tend to be in a minority. Commercially, the Hoppers spend money as they all want souvenirs of their visit. So any club with any commercial nous will have special programmes printed, new badges commissioned, maybe a few pennants etc. At Dalbeattie they had a real ale beer tent, which was hugely popular. There's bucketloads of money to be made from such a visit. Wonder how long it'll take for the first visit, Covid-19 notwithstanding?

Is there anybody Darvel haven't signed yet?

From what I can gather Jim.

I think the interesting thing will dome when the respective title winners have to play off against each other. Not discarding the SoSL winners, but just for the sake of debate - if the West teams continue to be dominant over the East clubs as they were in the Junior Cup, then the promised dreamland of bettering themselves will come a hard reality check if West teams dominate the play offs to the Lowland League and the teams from the East stagnate in their own league. That's when the silliness usually starts and teams start accruing debt at an alarming rate to try and get promotion. Will Talbot win the League? I hope so, same as I do every year, but it's not the end of the world if we don't as we'll still be playing the kind of clubs we've been used to over the years. If we do win, and progress - Talbot have never lost a two legged game don't forget - I think the Lowland League will be interesting. No doubt there will be some cricket scores, same as there are now, but much closer games against the top three or four. As I've said before, am genuinely looking forward to the season and the challenges it throws up - if it starts. Would love another pop at Lithgae Rose, Bo'ness, and some of the better LL teams in the South of Scotland Cup.

If Craig McCracken puts pen to paper, it's the same Talbot squad as last season. If that's the case, then I imagine Tucker might have his eyes on the uncut young players again to bolster the squad. We really don't need to be signing tested first team players unless maybe the odd player is coming up to retirement? Whitey always amazes me at the way he keeps going, but he's selected much more intermittently nowadays - kept more for the big games where his wealth of experience is so invaluable. I expect Gareth Armstrong will eventually make that role for himself - another piece of Tucker's tactical genius given he was signed as probably one of the best right backs at the grade.

Norman Montgomery.

He's probably never seen his club in one Blackie, so it'll be lost on him.

If you'd seen Brandon Lewis bullshit and bluster his way through the air passenger quarantine debacle on the BBC News this morning you wouldn't have said that.

Always enjoyed Talbot's trips up there. Genuinely friendly club.

That is one preposterous statement. Fans are happy with mediocrity because they don't have some sugar daddy throwing the cash at them instead of Kelty Hearts?

Piss poor Marks for everyone with these god awful puns.

You've always been a lardy boy though?

Shows the pulling power of the club. Think either f them would walk into any team in Leagues 1 and 2, but prefer the set up at Beechwood. I well remember Brian Young being tapped up by Stranraer who wanted to sign him. He was all set to go, attended the Hall of Fame day at Talbot and just couldn't go after an emotional time with the fans.

It's always difficult keeping a reasonably sized squad together, especially when you have players who are so keen to play. We've lost players before because of this, and will undoubtedly do so again, but Tucker's got the squad ticking over very nicely indeed. Both the players mentioned are very exciting on their day, and it's no surprise others might want to try and tempt them away should they perhaps pick up that they want more game time - or can pay more money. I hope they stay, but if they go we will move on. We have other young players who got good game time last season and came up to the mark every time they were called upon, and I have no doubt that the likes of Hamish might also be able to play as a co-striker as he has a definite eye for goal. Shankland, as already mentioned, is adored at Beechwood and I think the feeling is certainly reciprocal. He has a great rapport with our younger support, and it is the kind of thing that would be really difficult to replicate elsewhere. Craig McCracken is another player still to sign, and hopefully that will happen soon although he will have a demanding legal career ahead of him. Best header of a ball I've ever seen at Beechwood, and has scored some really important big game goals for us. If we get three out of the four re-signing I'll be more than happy. I also reckon Tucker's probably got one or two young gems nobody else will have considered on his radar as well. All in all am still very positive about the forthcoming season as and when / if and when it ever gets started again.

But no full stop ? Full stops are sometimes used, albeit to do so would make "Cheers" a sentence, which doesn't really work, as there really does need to be a verb for a sentence to be correct. It's something that's crept in over the years and has become fairly common place. I blame the Americans.

Grammar too, there really ought to be a comma after "cheers"

Inquiry old boy.

You said it, nobody else.

I don't know about squeaky bum time at the Buffs, but breach of data protection breaches are viewed very dimly indeed, and I assume that the Independent Inquiry will be looking at the breach as set out below Section 170: Unlawful obtaining etc of personal data Section 170 of the Act builds on section 55 DPA 1998 which criminalised knowingly or recklessly obtaining, disclosing or procuring personal data without the consent of the data controller, and the sale or offering for sale of that data. The provision was most typically/commonly used to prosecute those who had accessed healthcare and financial records without a legitimate reason. Section 170 adds the offence of knowingly or recklessly retaining personal data (which may have been lawfully obtained) without the consent of the data controller. There are some exceptions: for example where such obtaining, disclosing, procuring or retaining was necessary for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime. Section 170 (2) and (3) set out the defences to Section 170 (1). As for punishing miscreants involved in data protection breaches, fines can be huge, see below GDPR penalties and fines The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) sets a maximum fine of €20 million (about £17.5 million) or 4% of annual global turnover – whichever is greater – for infringements. However, not all GDPR infringements lead to data protection fines. Supervisory authorities such as the UK’s ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) can take a range of other actions, including: Issuing warnings and reprimands; Imposing a temporary or permanent ban on data processing; Ordering the rectification, restriction or erasure of data; and Suspending data transfers to third countries. What is the maximum GDPR fineThere are two tiers of administrative fine for non-compliance with the GDPR: Up to €10 million, or, in the case of an undertaking, 2% of annual global turnover – whichever is greater; or Up to €20 million, or, in the case of an undertaking, 4% of annual global turnover – whichever is greater. GDPR breach fines are discretionary rather than mandatory. They must be imposed on a case-by-case basis and should be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. The two tiers of GDPR fine Lower level of GDPR penalties Fines of up to €10 million or 2% of annual global turnover can be issued for infringements of articles: 8 (conditions for children’s consent); 11 (processing that doesn’t require identification); 25 – 39 (general obligations of processors and controllers); 42 (certification); and 43 (certification bodies). Higher level of GDPR penalties Fines of up to €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover can be issued for infringements of articles: 5 (data processing principles); 6 (lawfulness of processing); 7 (conditions for consent); 9 (processing of special categories of data); 12 – 22 (data subjects’ rights); and 44 – 49 (data transfers to third countries or international organisations). Traffordab is quite correct, it could be very squeaky bum time indeed for anyone / any organisation involved in the leaks.