sjc

I think the biggest factor in them becoming dominant around this time (early 90's for Rangers, mid-late 90's for Celtic) was the change in behaviour patterns of their fans buying season tickets as opposed to pay at the gate. This gave them a huge advantage in terms of having cash to finance summer signings.....SDM also had a fair bit of cash on tick with the BoS as well TBF!

Why is it any better than 1pm or 5pm? There are only a handful of away fixtures where that would be a problem. It would be if you work til 1pm on a Saturday and I'd say a 5pm ko in mid winter isn't ideal if you've got an hours drive home with young kids. 5pm would be less of an issue it we switched to a summer season imo but everyone on here goes away on holiday for the whole of June, July and August apparently, so that's a non starter.

Setting the bar high there, eh!

The bubbly has gone a tad flat for St Johnstone since 2014 to be fair....

And more than just the one, I heard.....

Even people that have businesses?

There's an AK47 munitions factory worth of bullets en route that'll require dodging!

I'd say its a bit of a leap to pin racism on Brexit. It's never really gone away no matter how much we like to think it had. FWIW - it's not even just a British thing. My wife was regularly racially abused (even assaulted) whilst working as Doctor in Malta.

I appreciate this but not everyone gets compensated in these industries, sadly. Anyway, my suggestion wasn't aimed at screwing footballers over, it was to do away with the ridiculous transfer fees involved which further increase the divide between rich and poor Clubs. This is one way. How to protect players in the circumstances you mention as well as compensating clubs for the initial development of players would be a square to circle but not necessarily unsurmountible.

You are aware that a lot of smaller Clubs only offer 1 year contracts, don't you?, and that footballers currently get get injured in the final year of their contracts? Why is it different from working in the oil and gas or construction industry which are statistically the most dangerous?

My situation was hardly a "race to the bottom", I earned a very good living from my chosen career. A higher top line pay rate, albeit without the "perks" that on the books employees got. It needn't be dissimilar in footballers case.

I know what you mean about the whole job security thing.......that said, I worked freelance with essentially no job security for 20years. Where's the difference? Your 2nd point is why I said having this alongside a squad size restriction to prevent this (ie 18 or 22 players maximum over 21yo Similar with u21yo players too). I agree the development fee is a tricky one......but they do currently have something in place for u24yo.

Welsby's totally knackered after his walk tonight. Feeling the cold a bit too.

As well as having squad number restrictions, I'd like to see a worldwide introduction of maximum term 1year contracts. This would essentially do away with transfer fees. However, I'd want some sort of a development fee tribunal for 1st time transfers though to protect the smaller Clubs. It would see some of the power move back to the Clubs from the players/agents.

You can roll it in glitter though.....

I bet Frimpong is on more per week that St Johnstone's highest earner. That's the difference. There's plenty of free transfers available but finding talent willing to play for £500-2000/week tops, not so much.

Big Clubs have always had more money than smaller Clubs. That will never change. But when Dundee Utd beat Barcelona or Aberdeen beat Real Madrid the rules such as foreign player restrictions, number of substitutions and being able to retain talent easier helped to level the playing field a little. I agree that players were treated like commodities and in some cases, appallingly but the amount of money going out of the game to agents is ridiculous. You won't be able to level the money playing field, what you can do is change the rules that take the benefits of having huge sums of money comparable to others. IE : restricting number of players over 21yo to 18 or 22.......this also creates a pathway for youth players as there would be less of a logjam and more opportunities when injuries occurred. I'd also restrict the number of players under 21yo to prevent hoarding at this level also.

I remember his brief appearance here on P&B.

Don't give them ideas FFS, Bennett. The original was shit enough!

Costco mince pies. Sensational!

As long as he brings drink round to your house, Throbber, I'm sure he'll redeem himself.

My argument isn't that Celtic need a Rangers* to survive, they don't, but they do need one to thrive. Your Chairman/BoD's aren't going to sanction £9m purchases of the like of Eduard or £7m on Julien simply because they won't need to in order to beat the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs. They won't take this gamble on the hope of making the UCL group stages either. This in turn will be seen negatively by the supporters, many of whom will lose interest (as seen 2012-16) and attendances will fall off.

I must have imagined Celtic park being half full on numerous occasions........ There's a very good reason why Lawwell and the Celtic BoD's are doing their best to ignore Resolution 12. Don't take it personally, it's football, it's built on local rivalries. Any Club would suffer if their historical rivals disappeared.

It's quite simple folks, divide and rule. As we saw from 2012-2016, Get rid of Rangers* and Celtic wither at the bone.

He'll fit right in with the rest of the team in fairness then.......