The Mantis

I was sticking to the OP's rules so I finally get to post one...

Looks like Carloway, one of my regular haunts. Oh aye, Ronnie McKinnon.

Fulham at home. Mrs Mantis and I were there a couple of years back. Oktoberfest pub in the Fulham Road was good pre match.

So I see . Ymip and I are good mates. His wee lad brings the Stonehaven ICT flag.

Given your own profession, you've let them off lightly. The standard of literacy shown in the statement is appalling. Still, you wouldn't want to come across as Barley Chatterman Lite

Neither does the 'Irishman tying his shoelaces" one.

What he said. Get up for a pish at 4am and see Rum and Eigg across the water.

We've all been wondering where you were Cic. Welcome back, especially from Newky.

Looks remarkably like Brockville that one.

Darlo then? Feethams.

Did you hear about the deaf pirate? He had nae buccaneers.

What sarge said, but keep checking soccerway right up to matchday for changes in kickoff time (he says from experience).

I don't really bother looking at threads for other clubs but I can tell you the Edinburgh City thread is only 110 pages because of Craig Thomson.

That's a real mystery, although it just might be something to do with the C(o)unty thread being six years old where ours is about six weeks. That Dumbarton fan will be after you.

Really have to disagree. The only politics I could see were from PT level up as they were all fighting their corner for resources. The deputes tended to be ambitious c***s though and pretty robotic. The class teachers were sound as a pound and we had a great staff football team, a mixed hockey team, our maths dept which was large had some great nights out. In fact unlike other jobs you didn't see enough of your colleagues as you only got a chance at break time. In contrast I had a summer in a large insurance office and everybody there seemed to be an arselicker and our section head was a pure c**t. I also had 4 years as a rep in the motor trade and met loads of c***s although my customers were mainly sound garage traders. Shallowness was my overriding impression of the guys in my company whereas teachers were more political and compassionate. Really don't know why you're singling out this subset of society tbh unless I'm being whooshed.

My lot are surrounded by Juniors and we play them regularly in friendlies, doesn't bother us who's in the league, the more the merrier. We even had Beith and Bo'Ness last year, they both were impressed by our #notajuniorclub and we're playing Penicuik tonight. Maybe ask Spartans what they think about it though

It is a crowdwank if you just ignore my points. You're right Scottish football is in decline though, seniors and juniors, don't pretend your grade is thriving, the West Premier is good but it's not typical. I told you last week but you ignored that too, the EOS clubs were happy to join it but it wasn't set up by the clubs, it was set up by Regan who is/was clueless about the Junior game and all the seniors happened to be in the east. But instead of seeing that your enemy is the blazers including your own, you keep firing away at the clubs who are just like your club, that's right, just because we're not Juniors, we're not 'crappy', we just happen to be on the other side of the country. So give ME a break.

Not like you to come back with a crowdwank . The fact is 80% of the 160 Junior clubs get the same sort of crowd or less than Whitehill do but I wouldn't describe them as dull or unattractive and neither would you. I look forward to trips to Gala, Spartans, Dalbeattie, Vale, Gretna, etc. These teams look forward to an awayday at Whitehill as we've got a decent social club and the ground is quite popular too. The difference is, I manage to squeeze in a decent number of Junior games a season as well, while you just bore on about the BSC situation which is only hearsay (but I'm prepared to believe it). And I do think it's farcical that they're playing in Alloa. As I've said plenty times, the LL perception in the west is distorted because you have these 3 'glorified boys clubs' as you call them plus Edusport out of a league of 16 which has plenty traditional clubs.

I recently retired after 31 years in the classroom so I can give you a bit of perspective. I went back to college as a mature student at 25 so gave up my company car and a year's earnings to start on pretty much the same money. I have to admit I went into it more for selfish reasons, i.e. The holidays and thinking it would be a good career for ME. Also this was in the 80s when the kids still had a bit of respect. My first year, we even had the belt before it was abolished I found I actually liked working with the kids even though I had gone in for the 'wrong' reasons, otherwise I don't think I could have stuck it long. What struck me right away was the culture of poverty in schools compared to my private sector sales job. No carpets, always fighting for resources like pencils, sharpeners etc. This has improved a bit and so have the salaries. Days off are pretty much a no-no. Don't jump at 2 weeks in Tenerife for £200 if it means missing the first day of term. In my previous job you got promoted on merit, or at least if the powers that be thought you were doing a good job. In teaching you had to formally apply and go through the interview process with a panel of 3. I never got promoted in teaching as firstly, I quite liked the classroom where I was my own boss, and secondly I tried the process a couple of times but I thought the whole charade wasn't for me. The implication of not being promoted is that, unless you absolutely love your job, you can go a bit stale by the time you've been there a while, and heard all the jokes countless times, and be too old to change careers, as I found out when I tried to get into programming a couple of times before the good pay settlements . You don't want to be there in your 50s, being older means the kids prejudge you which makes it harder, and a few of my colleagues had health problems by that time which means the kids just saw them as fair game. In my case I got pissed off when the kids started bringing phones in. The school was quite weak in dealing with it and I felt a loss of control. The kids were so resourceful which included girls hiding their phones in their cleavage etc, and even if you confiscated a phone they would quickly get the sim out and use somebody else's... btw the boys were much less bother and only used their phone as a watch. In my final year I remember all the p7s coming up for a day visit. One wee lad was running along the corridor and a teacher put his hand up to stop him, and got a high five... Ah well, sorry for the ramble but it's made me remember how lucky I am now

Yeah, lovely night for wandering along to Forthbank and getting a concession

But we're all raking it in off SFA subsidies right? According to most Junior posters. Who says the fixtures are dull and unattractive? This is straight out of the BankiesAlive and Isa Goudie book of prejudices well argued post otherwise. Edit- plenty evidence to suggest the LL has overtaken the HFL already. Mainly because the standard in the HFL has plummeted since 1994.

Very sensible pricing agreed between the clubs in group A, we're all charging £10 and £5. Think kids are free too.

Fancy it Rab?

Mrs Mantis has a good nature but not that good We'll be up North on Saturday anyway, either Groningen or Alemand.

Off to the Women's Euros on weds. Going to the 3 Scotland games in Utrecht, Rotterdam and Deventer.