Shadow Play

A lot of talk in modern football about the importance of formations. Ron Atkinson famously favoured 4 at the back, 3 in the middle and 3 up front....................for the diamonds in his rings! * * an old joke shamelessly taken from Spitting Image - for those of us old enough to remember it.

I’ve no strips but I do have a T-Shirt showing two Dundee fans overlooking Dens. They had a similar T-Shirt with 2 United fans overlooking Tannadice which if I remember correctly was half the price

The smartest strip ever - if you ignore how uncomfortable the material is . You simply can’t go wrong with that design. Apart from the old Coventry away strip of course!

At last, something from you that all of Pie and Bovril can agree on. I’m going to have to give you a greenie for that GD.

Should every team in lower divisions be promoted just because they happened to be sitting at the top when the league was halted? Likewise, should every team sitting at the bottom of their league be relegated just because they were sitting at the bottom when the league was halted? If the answer to the above questions is “NO” then who is going to decide which teams were ‘likely’ going to win their leagues and which teams were ‘likely’ going to be relegated? In my humble opinion, it would be farcical to guess which teams were going to be champions and which teams were going to be relegated. It is simply a non starter.

There is a certain United poster that would accept that as long as United pay more than 6p in the pound.

virginton. I thought the point I was making, while admittedly brief, was straight forward, however, to add further clarity to the matter: I wasn’t criticising EUFA for making plans. I was merely suggesting that to allude to the fact punishments (i.e. no entry to European competitions) will be handed out to leagues should they not “complete current campaigns” by July / August appear not to take into account the gravity of the situation. In particular it appears to ignore the fact that every European country is at a different stage of the Coronavirus outbreak and that some countries may well struggle to be ready by the dates suggested. Thank you.

...........and yet they are working on plans expecting countries to “complete current campaigns” perhaps in July and August despite not knowing how the whole of Europe will look at that point? Remember each European country is at a different stage of the Coronavirus outbreak.

No surprise that Uefa fails to understand the gravity of what is going on across Europe.

That’s because some people have an incredibly low IQ.

I don’t doubt the above but the point I was making is football clubs will vote for whatever suits their club the best. What happens to the club down the road will be of little consequence. Far more clubs will be affected by a loss of TV deals than the loss of promotion.

TV rights are shared out with all clubs, to a varying degree of course. The loss of income from missing out on promotion will effect far fewer clubs.

Do you not mean it’s easier for Scottish domestic rugby because they don’t have big TV contracts to consider? Scottish and English football will do whatever the TV companies tell them to do. At least one thing won’t change because of Coronavirus.

Then I assume many, many people will die and it is something we will have to accept. In the mean time Governments are buying time until they can learn more about the virus.

The ideal time to relax restrictions is obviously whenever a vaccine has been created and everyone has been inoculated. Given that is likely to be at least 12 - 18 months away that is not likely to be an option. Realistically, I assume restrictions will be relaxed once many, many more ventilators and ICU spaces are available to deal with the near inevitable significant increase in infection rates relaxing restrictions will bring. All the time of course Governments across the world will be hoping that the virus has not mutated into something even more deadly by the time the second wave comes.

A double whammy Ludo because your season ticket isn’t worth anything now either. Realistically there is no chance this season will be completed. Try not to be annoyed though. I’m just looking at the fact I bought season tickets for me and the kids as me doing my bit to help the club.

Was that the time when United were sponsored by Belhaven? If I remember that era correctly one was brewed in Scotland, the other bottled at Hampden.

You’ve been saying that for the past 4 seasons.

There has been a lot of talk about how this season should finish but if the report on the BBC website (detailed below) is accurate it’s very unlikely that any of us will be back supporting our team in time for the start of the new season. Now that will have massive consequences for clubs. UK lockdown 'could last until June' Tough measures to tackle the outbreak in the UK have been in force for nearly a week - but a leading government adviser has warned they may need to remain in place until June. Imperial College London Professor Neil Ferguson told the Sunday Times: “We’re going to have to keep these measures (the full lockdown) in place, in my view, for a significant period of time – probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. He added that even if the lockdown was lifted, people would probably still need to abide by social distancing measures for months to come.

The lower leagues in a England have ensured that league results are only recorded once the season is completed. Much like if a game is abandoned after, say, 70 minutes you don’t just let the score / result stand. There is less money in these leagues and little or no TV contracts to worry about so fairness to all is probably their primary consideration Like everything else in higher league football unfortunately decisions will undoubtedly be made with money and TV contracts at the forefront of any decisions that are made.

TCM, I said in my earlier reply that my first game was against Ayr United in the early 70s. I do remember we lost and I wonder if your first game was the same as mine? Surely we couldn’t have been beaten by Ayr United twice at home in the same decade?

Why are you a Dee? My dad, grandfather and great grandfather all supported Dundee. That’s worth much more to me than supporting a team just to see them winning trophies. First game? At Dens v Ayr United in the early 70s. Dad took me in to see the last 20-30 minutes. That was back in the day when the gates were opened half way into the second half. Where do you sit? The Derry. Longest you've travelled to watch the Dee? Never been out the country to watch Dundee I’m afraid. Missed the European games and Palace. Ever missed work/event to watch the Dee? A wedding but then again I’d use just about any excuse to miss a wedding. Favourite ever player? Jim Duffy or John Brown. Love players that will run through a brick wall for the cause. Most enjoyable game? I would say the Doon Derby but that was more of a laugh at United than actually being an enjoyable game. The game that stands out for me is the 4-3 ‘Fedora match’ against Rangers at Dens. End to end stuff. I particularly liked Stainrod’s post match interview. Best goal seen live? Bobby Glennie’s rocket against Aberdeen. Top corner against a keeper at the top of his game at the time. Probably more to do with the fact that Glennie never scored goals. Favourite away stadium? Muirton. That was a real football ground with so many memories for Dees older than me. The last time I was there before it was bulldozed to make way for the monstrosity further up the road was the Saturday night pre season game at Muirton in the late 80s. Utter mayhem. Worst away Stadium? McDiarmid. The epitome of what football has sadly become. Worst player? Way too many to chose from but if I have to. From years ago i’d go for Vince Mennie. Probably has more to do with the fact we paid close to £100,000 to bring him from Cologne so there were high hopes for him. The most recent one has to be Danny Williams. Again, big wages paid for absolutely nothing!

How about using one of Shankland’s hats? Shankland has saved United on many occasions this season. Looks like he can now save the world. That’s definitely doubled his value!

China went far further with lock downs, social isolation, arrests of people refusing to carry out isolation instructions and the decontamination of cities than the UK Government is every likely to do. Comparing China’s response to to the UK’s response isn’t exactly a fair comparison. That’s not even taking into account that China had the first wave of Covid-19 and as with previous pandemics the virus may be mutating into something even more deadly for all we know. In any case, I’m not deliberately trying to be all doom and gloom about Covid-19 because every day we have to face risks - especially with double-decker buses and ten-ton trucks.

When we were kids playing football in the park and it was getting dark the common shout was “Next goal’s the winner“. In these strange times why don’t we just reverse that, work out who the last team to score in the Championship was and declare them champions. It’s about as fair as declaring teams the champions with about a quarter of the season to go.