JamesM82

I see the emergency loan system is causing seethe in the Championship again. Congrats to St Mirren on finding a way of ripping the pish out of it even more than Hibs did. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42327686

This may be controversial, but I think 2011/12 should be included in the Banter Years. May 2011: "Self-made billionaire" Craig Whyte buys Rangers. Sounds promising. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/craig-whyte-profile-the-scots-billionaire-1076110 For a pound. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/13292829 But, don't worry Bears, he's promised "an immediate £5 million injection" for new manager Ally McCoist. 3 August: Rangers are knocked out of Champions League qualifying by Malmo. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/14321323 Not to worry, they might make some money out of the Europa League. 25 August: Oops, put out of that as well (by Maribor). http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/14569511 21 September: Papped out of the League Cup by First Division Falkirk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/14910198 15 October: Off to a good start in the league, though.10 points clear of Celtic, and Neil Lennon narrowly avoids the sack by coming back from 0-3 to draw 3-3 at Killie. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/15322813 20 October: A BBC documentary suggests Craig Whyte might not be wholly kosher. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15377454 After Rangers lose at both Killie and St Mirren, a win for Celtic in the derby puts them top of the league at New Year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/16281414 Rangers need some reinforcements in the January transfer window. They sign Mervan Çelik. Nah, me neither. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervan_Çelik 5 February: Dundee United knock Rangers out of the Scottish Cup (this becomes an annual occurrence). http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/16778861 13 February: The shit really hits the fan. Rangers enter administration. People seem to be more bothered about the 10 point deduction, than an existential danger to the club. How odd. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17026172 This is also the night of "The big house must stay open". The first real inkling of the banter potential here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyFXEHp-u-o 18 February: In their first game after entering administration, there is a full and passionate Ibrox.("Our club will never die"). Rangers lose 0-1 to Kilmarnock, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/16994712 April: A "tow truck tycoon" is linked with buying Rangers. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13053252.Tow_truck_tycoon_plans_to_pull_Rangers_out_of_trouble/ 28 April: The SFA have imposed a 12-month transfer ban on Rangers (this is eventually deferred until the end of August). Their fans march on Hampden, because it's obviously the SFA's fault that Rangers are going down the pan. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17877910 May: Despite the 10-point penalty, Rangers still manage to finish second. Only problem is they can't enter Europe, because they haven't filed accounts for 2011. Motherwell get stuffed in CL qualifying instead. May/June: Charles Green becomes the preferred bidder, but his CVA is rejected. Unleashing the full fury of the banter years.

That complaint aged well (Efe's goal).

It may be more nuanced than that. Sevco may have offered the right amount of money, but their offer is probably in staggered payments (say 200k a year for the next 4 years). This may have then given Milne the wriggle room to turn them down, if the contract says that compensation has to be paid up front. Basically it will end up with McInnes quitting and the clubs settling out of court.

I don't recall any mad moments on the pitch, but it was much rumoured at the time that he was one of the instigators in the fall-out between John Collins and the players in March / April 2007. I think he was cheesed off at being an unused sub in the 5-1 League Cup final v Killie, when a young Lewis Stevenson played instead of him. Of course, any suggestion of a falling out was denied in public. Even when Stewart was told to f**k off, which freed him up to go back across the city. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/hibernian/6571523.stm

The bromance that developed between Romanov and Mileson (or Hearts & Gretna more generally) before the cup final was boak-inducing. Made it quite pleasing when Hibs skelped them in both cups the following season. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_cups/4764957.stm

Someone has to pay for its upkeep (mainly repairs and rates). Queen's Park can't.

I suspect the police would insist on them playing OF finals in Glasgow. Would either have to just do turn-about, or whoever gets drawn first plays at "home" (another thing for them all to be paranoid about!). Regan sounds like he isn't keen on staying at Hampden. The SFA chief executive says it would cost "many, many millions of pounds" to stay at Hampden, requiring external funding from public and private bodies. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41936351 So I guess it will come down to how much Rangers, Celtic and/or the SRU are going to charge them for rent.

Attendance v Gibraltar (March 2015): 34,255 Attendance v Malta (September 2017): 26,371 Fir Park and Tannadice put together might have held the Malta attendance, I suppose.

That's why I said "dedicated". Windsor Park is Linfield's home ground, CCS is Cardiffy City's, Friends Arena is AIK, etc. What the poster above was suggesting was building some massive dedicated national football stadium in (say) Stirling, which presumably wouldn't have a club as an anchor tenant. That concept is a ridiculous waste of resources for a middle size country like Scotland.

No. Most don't have a dedicated national stadium. Those that do have it in the biggest and/or capital city (eg Warsaw national, Kyiv "olympic", Moscow Luzhniki, Brussels King Baudouin, Stade de France, Ernst Happel in Vienna).

I think he works on English football coverage in America (ESPN?)

re: the "lazy journalism" point: Sorry, but a recent Scotland player (and a pretty well-known one at that) saying that certain players shouldn't be picked is newsworthy. Are you trying to say that if Wayne Rooney said this or that player shouldn't be in the England squad, that wouldn't make headlines?

He doesn't. Quote about Jack: "He's had more red cards than good games for Rangers this season".

High quality journalism by the Daily Rangers. "Aberdeen fans in meltdown" = some bitching about them not beating Accies. Wow.

Maltese Hibs.

By comparison with other teams at their level of football.

I agree the "commentating off a TV" is farcical*, but I don't see what else they can do. If they refused to cover Rangers games at all due to their ban on Chris McLaughlin, then Rangers fans would complain to the Trust that they weren't getting fair coverage (and would probably win). They would also be punishing the fans of other teams when they happen to be playing against Rangers. On the other hand, allowing Rangers to dictate which BBC employee covers them would set a horrible precedent for other walks of life (e.g. politics) as well as football. *Although it does remind me of Channel 4's old coverage of Italian football!

Right, but that's because their show is often based at Celtic Park when Celtic are at home. If you're concerned by that I suppose you should be thankful for the Rangers / BBC tiff, as it means they have to base somewhere else when Celtic are away / Rangers are home.

The usual, one (Brian McLauchlin). He gave goal updates and manager interviews. I'm not quite sure what coverage you would expect of a game played at the same time as a CL match involving a Scottish team.

Sounds like the Hearts version of the Derek Riordan / Gordon Strachan Only an Excuse skit (probably their last good one).

They had a good spell ~4 years ago with Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart up front. That got them into the Championship for 2014/15, where they lost 10-0 to Hearts one week and drew 0-0 with the Buns the next! Downhill ever since.