JamesM82

Is "Balmoral Stadium" the new ground for Cove? Sounds staunch.

Uh-oh, you might cause some Aberdonian cognitive dissonance.

I wouldn't sneer at the thought of a Nigerian prince investing in Rangers. There's at least one with a spare million, thanks to Accies.

Lokomotiv are owned by Russian Railways, which is itself owned by the Russian government. #justsaying ... In other news, sounds like Hibs are keeping on most of the youths from this year. Are they bringing back reserve teams from next year? Some of those guys must be too old under the existing rules. http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk/news/8656

Sounds like Garry O has caused a bit of a stir in Russia. And ex-Lokomtiv Moscow officials both vehemently denied the 34-year-old’s allegations. Ex-club doctor Alexander Yardoshvili said: “O’Connor is delirious. For a start, you cannot do this kind of procedure at a club – it would have to be done in a hospital in an operating theatre. Honestly, I have no idea where Garry got this from. It’s fantasy stuff. But let’s remember he has a lot of health problems he needs to sort out. He is an alcoholic and a drug addict and is clearly delusional. The methods he talks about are obviously bulls**t. This practice is actually used for patients who have no immune system – certainly not in football.” https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/2585178/garry-oconnor-blood-russia-lokomotiv-moscow-transfusion-hibs/ https://www.championat.com/football/news-3421671-eks-vrach-loko-okonnor-alkogolik-i-narkoman-a-my-ego-lechili-ot-furunkuljoza.html

Lol, why have they shoehorned Hearts and Hibs into that article anyway? Totally pointless and presumably only to keep the ugly sisters happy. 1. They asked Hibs and Hearts for comment because they regularly use Oriam, which was publicly funded. I guess they didn't bother to respond because all it is at the moment is NbM spouting off. 2. If the parliament passes anti-sectarian legislation of some sort, they can't just target it against Celtic or Rangers, it has to apply to everyone in Scotland.

That's blood doping, notorious in cycling because it boosts lung capacity (which really helps with mountain climbing). I suspect he's just making blood spinning sound like it was a matter of routine .

Sounds most like this: "Blood-spinning is a medical procedure used to shorten the healing time of an injury. Small samples of the patient's blood are taken and spun in a centrifuge, allowing platelets and blood plasma to be isolated from other blood components. The platelets and plasma are then combined forming platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which has high concentrations of natural growth factors. The PRP sample can then be injected into the patient's injury, which may help reduce pain and improve recovery speeds." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood-spinning Blood-spinning is a controversial technique because, although legal, it is considered on the edge of anti-doping regulations. It came to prominence in English football in the José Mourinho era at Chelsea, when Villas-Boas was a part of the backroom staff. It involves taking a sample of the player's blood, removing the platelets, the cells that assist the healing process, and injecting them back into the injured area. It is claimed to speed up recovery. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/jan/29/tottenham-sign-striker-jermain-defoe

Where did I say that it was cheating? It's just good planning. Same thing as if you leave players out of meaningless games to make sure they don't get suspended next season. I was puzzled by the EEN reportage. I mean, they could at least have mentioned that them being suspended now had some longer term benefit.

Chapeau to Berra and Michael Smith for getting booked in the last 10 minutes v Aberdeen, thus ensuring they don't carry forward a suspension into next season. Good planning. EEN oddly reports this as a "suspension blow". https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/suspension-blow-for-hearts-duo-christophe-berra-and-michael-smith-1-4732698

This, and you know that the derby is the only game left this season that Levein gives a flying f**k about. He'll probably play the kids v Celtic, even if it increases the risk of an absolute pumping off them, and rest most of the older guys for the Wednesday after.

I doubt any NFL owners want to move their team to Glasgow...

I stopped at 55. Not that pish again?

One of the Glasgow giants appointing a Liverpool legend as manager, but the guy has no senior coaching experience. What could possibly go wrong?

Stats guys have tended to praise Tommy Wright (at least before this season) because it has been apparent that Saints have had the knack of conceding fewer goals than the amount of possession and shots the opposition have suggest they "should". This has been put down to Saints being well organised defensively, as explained in this piece by "Backpass Rule" from this time last year. https://thebackpassrule.com/2017/04/30/what-type-of-vodoo-is-tommy-wright-working-at-st-johnstone/

They're both under-23 so the "swap" could be to avoid having to pay training compensation fees.

I thought Rangers weren't making any signings until the manager was sorted out. Or were you talking pish then? Anyhow, I suppose Hibs may just have to settle for this kind of seethe-inducing instead.

Traynor's seething too much to notice that the game's on a Sunday.

Also done in 2010 when the East was getting rebuilt.

I was more thinking of the Borg from Star Trek. "Resistance is futile"

They did have both of the cup semi-finals on Sports extra. My point was more that even though they weren't really covering the Rangers - Hearts game, just providing score updates, the presenter (Overrend?) got the basics of the situation right. Whereas the guy who was supposed to be specifically covering the game (Richard Gordon) got it horribly wrong.

That post didn't age well. >£20k per week on Scott Arfield? Really? James McArthur won't be cheap either.

Match report by Shug Keevins. "Edinburgh may also claim to be the truancy and flexi-time centre of Scotland". Demolition work on the north terracing ("Cave") going on during the game. Both from the excellent "Hiblog" site. https://thehiblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/hibs-2-motherwell-0-22-march-1995/

As much as folk are complaining about Chick, I'm more irritated by Richard's terrible arithmetic re: how Celtic may clinch the title. He has repeatedly (and wrongly) said that the game today doesn't matter and only the Aberdeen v Hearts game will decide if Celtic win the league before the derby game. He seems to be ignoring that if Rangers avoid defeat today they will either by 10 or 12 points behind Celtic with four to play. Since switched over to Radio 5 and they got the situation right, i.e. that if the score stays as it is (1-0 to Rangers) then the title can't be decided before next Sunday.

Looking at Fitba Stats, I think Hibs must have played three games on midweek afternoons during that period. 2-0 v Motherwell on 22 March 1995, 0-2 v Falkirk on 19 April and 1-1 v Celtic on 10 May. 6000 crowd for a Hibs - Celtic game! The derby on the Saturday before the Celtic game only had 7146. That would be about full capacity (!), because the East Terrace and the old main stand would only hold about 8,000 total, less a bit for segregation. http://www.fitbastats.com/hibs/team_results_season.php?from=18&competition=0&update=Update I think the last game before they flattened the end terracing was Rangers on 4 March.