Kev

Done. All the best with reaching your goal. If I win this I'll gladly donate the top back to you for Emma to keep.

I'm in 2 minds about this. On one hand yeah I agree this is a really strange one from the top flight, the top of the range artificial surfaces are superb and can be more reliable than grass. With regards to injuries to pros and young players, the clubs, their players, and the academies all need to take a bit of personal responsibility. I've lost count the times I've watched live or highlights of games played on artificial pitches and thought "that player's wearing the wrong boots", so it's no wonder injuries occur. On the other hand though, Morton have been frequently praised over the last decade for having one of the best natural playing surfaces in the country (with the exception of one season). So if we can keep a pitch in decent nick I don't see why so many other clubs are greeting about maintenance.

Not going to bother doing the whole league just now but I'd expect the top two to be Raith and Partick. Take your pick from the remaining teams for the playoffs. You'd think Falkirk coming off the back of an undefeated season will have a good promotion bounce and be up in the top half and maybe Livi too if they use their parachute payment well on recruitment. As for us we're going into our 150th Anniversary season so a relegation battle is obviously imminent

Fixed that for you

As Louis said “it’s a man’s game”! Man up snowflakes

We wish

Fair enough point if you're basing it on your form over this whole season but my exact words were "Hearts current form could see them up there". My point, which I maybe didn't put forward particularly well, wasn't that for non OF teams would get an more an advantage playing Ayr or Morton twice a season than OF teams. It was that non OF teams could, potentially only drop say 2, 3 or 4 points (maximum of 6 rather than 12) against the one of OF by only playing them twice, especially if one of them are in bad form and you actually had a go at them. You're far less likely to drop as many points to Morton and Ayr twice than Rangers and Celtic 4 times. Let me get this right, you would rather play the OF 8 times a season, likely losing all of them in a normal situation, rather than playing against smaller teams who you would likely beat instead? Yes I know that also means 4 games against Hibs, which is exciting for you guys, but no one else outside your fan base gives a shit. With the exception of maybe Aberdeen, I wouldn't class any of your other fixtures as "big". Sorry to tell you this but unfortunately due to our game being marketed but utterly incompetent arseholes, there's really only 4 big games a season. And as for meaningless games, have you looked at the league table recently? You guys have sewn up 3rd, the top and bottom 6 are pretty much a given barring Aberdeen and Hibs actually start playing football again or Dundee and St Mirren shit the bed, and only a miracle of biblical proportions is saving either Livi or Ross County. We're already well into meaningless territory. But sure, you guys keep doing the same thing and expect different results, think Einstein had a quote about that. Who knows, maybe the old firm will inexplicably get bored with winning, become charitable and decide splitting money evenly with everyone is the best idea and that gap between 2nd and 3rd magically shortens. Meanwhile I'll keep watching my wee team in an actual league that's entertaining and has some real drama and excitement.

In my own humble opinion there's only 2 real ways Scottish football becomes more competitive: 1. The OF f**k off to another league (which will never happen) Or 2. We bin this everyone play each other 4 times a season nonsense and increase the league size which is far more likely and would genuinely make things more interesting. You just have to look at the Premiership right now. Rangers have the upper hand in the league for now but still have to play Celtic twice which could turn things around and leave Rangers 4 points adrift. Can you imagine how more exciting everything would be knowing that there was only 1 more OF game in the season? It would also give added importance to just about every fixture in future seasons. Title battles could end up with a 3rd team involved (Hearts current form could see them up there). Battles for European spots and relegation have added drama as teams in those positions only have 2 matches to see each other off. It would also certainly have a positive effect on attendances. Someone noted earlier some Championship games are now higher attended than some Premiership games including ones involving the OF ffs, so the reliance on OF away attendance is clearly on the decline.

Aye saw that this morning and had a wee chuckle. He's right about the seeding though, it dilutes the magic/romance/whatever of cup competition. Unfortunately sponsors and tv companies don't want to see the old firm play each other in last 32 or last 16 stages

Compared to where we were pre-season last year, where we were looking down the back of sofas for spare change, we'll definitely have a bigger budget to work with thanks to the Dalrada sponsorship which didn't come into play until November last year I think.

Have you seriously just compared homeless Clyde playing at half a stadium to you guys getting Hampden when Lesser is ready and supposedly fine?! FFS get a grip

Ooft fair enough that’s a damning stat for a team with Hearts’ budget

What were his other bad runs?! His two previous seasons were a promotion and then a 3rd place finish by a country mile ffs! Aye mangers that spout sound bites about the next level are cringe but wtaf do non old firm teams expect these days? Finishing 3rd is the absolute best you’ll achieve, (maybe a cup if you’re lucky) unfortunately you’ll always have the odd season with a dip in form, if that starts looking like heading to a relegation battle then yeah bag the manager. To sack a manger that’s had you 3rd all season then suffered a bad dip in form which can always happen is just embarrassing imo

Yeah fair enough, as I said in another reply I’ve not seen so enough to honestly give a full opinion. Getting sacked for being 4th instead of 3rd just seems harsh as f**k! If he had been kept on though did you see next season being a relegation battle?

I’ll be honest I’ve not watched enough of your games to make an honest assessment I’m just commenting on the current league status. I know you could easily drop to 5th by next week but have performances actually been that bad?! It sets a precedent, can you’s really afford to be sacking a manager every time you’re on a poor run? Especially when you’re going to finish top 6 regardless?