JamesM82

Andrew McKinlay is "Vincent Guerin" and I claim my £10 prize.

Dyche might finally be forced to start Patterson.

If you keep telling yourself that often enough, you might start to believe it.

It depends on how much the management and control of the two clubs are integrated. UEFA set some rules in place after Red Bull started buying multiple clubs. They changed their structures after those rules were brought in, so UEFA allowed RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg to play in the same group (which I think Celtic were also in).

It depends on the details, doesn't it? I could see your point if Hibs just become a de facto Bournemouth reserve team, whose primary purpose is developing younger players for them. But I don't think that's what they have in mind.

I'm sure that Girona fans are "horrified" at being somewhere beneath Man City in their chain. They're top of La Liga and just scudded Barca 4-2. I'm also sure that Union SG fans are "horrified" at being somewhere beneath Brighton in Tony Bloom's priorities. They're top of the Belgian league and are playing Liverpool tomorrow night. Of course, there are also examples of "feeder" clubs doing badly (e.g. Troyes got relegated last year), but it's hardly a death sentence. I've never been a big fan of multi-club ownership, but the reality is that it's here to stay and FIFA / UEFA aren't going to get rid of it. Why should we be the luddites?

Looking at Companies House, I'm not sure the filings yesterday (12 December) are directly related to Foley. All the documents are revisions to "Confirmation Statements" from 2016 to 2022. I think I read recently that Hibs had noticed some discrepancies in their share register and would have to correct them. Presumably this is them updating the public record having made those corrections. I asked someone who should know about these things and he says these corrections are a necessary "tidying up" ahead of the Foley investment, so there is perhaps an indirect connection. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC005323/filing-history

I think they would say though that NI have been higher than that recently (e.g. qualified for 2016, lost in playoffs for 2018 and 2020). It's only since Covid that they've fallen off (badly). Those earlier results mean that their FIFA ranking is still decent(ish) - they're ranked above Israel and Georgia. Also, a game against them will be "competitive" in the sense of club teammates / rivals wanting to prove a point against each other.

You say that, but I think the only time recently (say, since 1980) that we've scudded them was 3-0 in one of those weird "Nations Cup" games in Dublin.

"Deserted" = Went to bigger and better things.

Norwegian media is saying it's a record fee for Stromsgodset, but are claiming that it's less than £1m (13 million Norwegian krone). IIRC there were similar "arguments" with Millwall in the summer about how much they paid for Nisbet. I guess that means there are add-ons (appearances, etc.) within the fee(s) Hibs are claiming. Whether that's fair or not depends on how realistic they are.

Hibs Observer (Partick McPartlin) is reporting this, but from the angle that Hibs are open to selling Melkersen rather than saying it's agreed. Suspect that the £1 million thing is Hibs opening position in a negotiation and they'll haggle down to (say) £700k. IIRC they paid a decent whack for him (£400k?).

Saw this on the bird app. It doesn't really cohere because the traditional Dutch shape is 4-3-3, so you would drop one of the mids (Wijnaldum) and play their most capped RB (moving Daley Blind to CB). I think for Scotland this would be something like (5-3-2): GK Leighton (91) DF Dailly (67), Weir (69), McLeish (77), Boyd (72), Robertson (67) MF Fletcher (80), McStay (76), McGinn (62) FW Dalglish (102), Miller (69) That's without forcing in a second GK (Gordon, 74) or yet another CB (Willie Miller, 65). I know Christian Dailly never really played as a RB - he sometimes played as a LWB for Scotland (!) - but I think it's the best fit without going too nuts. Does show though how some of the current players are starting to get up there in cap totals.

Pedro will be relieved that the SSC have put up an even more incompetent performance today than his team did last night.

TBH the players have been far too exercised about trivial stuff that shouldn't concern them, e.g. how tickets at Hampden are sold. The whole thing needs a total reset. Starting with a new coach - get in someone who has done a good job with a similar NT (that worked before when they got Signeul) - and take the games out of Hampden until they can consistently attract >15,000 crowds.