ahemps

Yeah I sometimes wonder if City make these moves to get their opposition to overpay. I think they done the same with McGuire and Cucurella. If there is only 1 offer on the table eventually West Ham will take it but if City threaten to make a bid then Arsenal have to up their offer. If City really wanted him they would outbid Arsenal and get him. They have Rodri and Kovacic (and even Stones moves in to that position at times) as their defensive midfielders so they weren't even needing him. Good player but way overpriced.

Tierney is rumoured to be on £110k a week and would cost around £40m. What is the highest paid player at Celtic on? What is Celtics record transfer fee paid?

Yeah we are only now getting close to verging on it......

Yeah they let him off the hook quite a bit but then they are not fans of non OF teams and likely appreciated him coming on their POD. I like Kevin and Kieran too and it is not on them to push him but a person with more knowledge of Scottish football who doesn't fawn over the OF could have picked him apart.

Just listened to Doncaster on the POF podcast. He has no intention of looking at the gulf that exists in Scottish football. He mentioned that lots of leagues have dominant teams and it is just the way it is. He doesn't even see it as an issue and seemed surprised that people see that domination by the same 1-2 teams is a problem where he sees it as the norm. To be fair to him he touched on the TV deal and how they had discussed it with other TV companies but nobody else was interested so basically Sky was the only option. He was asked about promoting the whole game and not just the OF but again his answers are very discouraging. When the people in charge of the game see the inequality as a good thing then there is absolutely no hope. Another nail in the coffin for me.

What do you suggest we do about that? Celtic and Rangers are losing players at 15 and 16 to Aston Villa, Liverpool, Chelsea etc. When these types of clubs are looking at players from Aberdeen, Killie and Dundee Utd how can these youngsters be kept up here? The clubs often don't have much choice depending on the contracts the players are on. I know in an ideal world you can look at Robertson or Hickey to suggest they go and play and develop and these big opportunities will come again but they are the exception. If a an opportunity comes along to join a bigger club very few will ever turn that down as they may not get another chance.

Maybe before the 80's but I don't think since the mid 80's we have. They have got out of their world cup group 3 times, getting to the quarter finals in 1990 and have also got out their groups at the Euros. Since the 80's they have a far better record than us, that is going on 40yrs.

From 1932-1975 only Nacional and Penarol won the league, 43yrs. I don't know if there is another country with a longer period of domination by 2 teams. The OF are currently on 38yrs, surely they will smash that out the park.

Is this not all round world football now though? Surely any vote in the SPFL to have kept it to 3 would have been temporary.

I heard a European reporter comparing the Bundesliga to the SPFL in that basically it is Bayern's to lose and on the odd occasion the may slip up Dortmund might take the odd title. I didn't think it was fair as the Bundesliga has more teams with potential to challenge long term (at least challenge Dortmund's 2nd placed position) and also that one season for Rangers in the CL and Celtic not could see the dial swing in their favour where as Bayern are almost guaranteed a CL place even if they have a poor domestic season. It was interesting to note that from a neutrals point of view though that they don't even see the SPFL as a 2 horse race anymore.

That's actually a fair point. In the grand scheme of things SPFL prize money isn't that big a deal for the OF. FWIW I think each team should get the same flat fee or if anything the bottom 6 get a minimally higher fee as the top 6 get 2 more OF games and likely that 5 out of the top 6 will get a European place.

I didn't mention their ability, I think they are all good players that have excelled in the SPFL. Knowledge of the English market would get you these types of players and you have used this market probably more than any other. I asked your definition of an English jobber, you avoided answering that and instead pointed out they were international players which implied I thought these guys were not good.

Joe Hart, Matt O Riley, Carter Vickers and Aaron Mooy (via China) none of these guys were EPL standard when you got them. What do you class as 'English jobbers'?

I wonder if there is a caveat to that though, the figures may be slightly bigger as it is always the OF away from home who are playing so it is likely the exact same fans/people. The EFL will have totally different people viewing different games therefore are probably hitting a much wider audience overall.

Are you serious? Do you honestly wonder why the OF fans are not allowed fan zones?

How obvious was the booing? I was at the game and didn't even notice it. I agree it is pathetic and have always hated it when this kind of thing happens no matter who the player is. It does nothing to help the player, the team or the atmosphere.

I accept that but you have to look at what they done in their own era. English clubs dominated Europe and players playing in these teams must have been generally better or they would not have done so. To then say the captain of the most dominant team in Europe who won 3 European cups is in todays world only at mid table EPL level is ignoring basic facts when he was literally playing and winning the biggest club competition on a regular basis.

Celtic and Rangers are awful at developing talent and have to take a look at themselves for this. They play in a non competitive league where they have a huge opportunity to give kids playing time but they choose not too. Ajax and Benfica are in the exact same scenario in that they are in a 2-3 horse race but manage to develop talent at an impressive rate, the teams they compete with Porto, Sporting, PSV and Feyenoord also do a good job of this. The OF could play 1-2 youths every home game (except against each other) and still win comfortably and probably do the same away from home as well. They could be giving game time to many and finding a few diamonds but they absolutely fail in this regard.

Is Tierneys FA cup not of note?

Bremner was in a team that regular went far in European competitions, finals and semis of the European cup, winning the cup winners cup and Fairs cup and was voted the best player in in Leeds greatest ever era. Gemmill won the English league with Derby then was signed for and won the league with Notts Forest who despite personally not playing in a European final was in the squad of the team who did. Derby also went to the European cup semi final so were not some piss poor team. Souness also won major European trophies with the most dominant team in Europe at its peak. To say these guys would be mid to bottom level EPL today is blatantly not true due to the fact they were main performers for some of the top clubs in Europe at their time. I would give you some leeway if they played during periods where English clubs were terrible in Europe but they were not and that has to be what you measure them against. They also have to be measured in their era and they were none of the things you are suggesting.

I heard Alan Burrows discuss this a couple of years ago and he mentioned that he knew Motherwell and Aberdeen had fewer home supporters at these games. It doesn't surprise me that St Mirren and St Johnstone are saying this as well. I know a Killie season ticket holder who doesn't go to the OF games with his 2 sons. It is likely that all but maybe Hearts and Hibs are seeing lower crowds for these games. Hearts and Hibs may still sell out as they have a big support and they seem to have few results against these teams (within the last 5years). If you are say a Motherwell fan and haven't won at Ibrox for 29yrs and haven't beat them at Fir park in 58 games and have to listen to their disgusting fan base then no wonder the home crowds are down for these games. There is nothing but misery in it for them. These games are not what football is about for the the non OF fan.

Steau Bucharest won in it 1986 with 11 (+2 subs) Romanian players. I doubt they all lived within 30miles of Bucharest though. Real Madrid won it they year before you with 11 Spaniards Benfica won it in 62 with 11 Portuguese although Eusebio was technically from Mozambique There were lots of runners up with 11 players of the same nationality, even the Inter team you beat was all Italian.

Why did your mum and dad refuse to buy you a Celtic top?

Did Dundee Utd not change their name from Dundee Hibernia? If only they kept it they would attract those those Irish fans from Peterhead that the poster was referring to.