bluearmyfaction

First home game of the season I've missed and it was a six goal thriller. sux2Bme

Stalin? He was as much of the Left as Hitler was of the Right. At some point left and right break down as being useful terms. Both the Communists and the Nazis believed in state control of the economy and its commanding heights, essentially transferring wealth into the military, arrogating all power to a self-appointed and immovable elite. Although the Nazis privatized things, they made damn sure that those private companies were run by Nazis, and then eliminated small businesses so the state retained control. It's whether this is a natural consequence of following a hardline dogma or whether they abandoned it entirely basically to ensure everything was in their personal control. I'm damned if I know, the biggest purely socialist organizations on the planet seem to be kibbutzim.

Nice kit. Other than the sponsor. I dread to think who Holemasters might be.

There is a difference though. The only route to promotion for Kelty/Brora is via a play-off. Everyone else missing out on a play-off berth could have avoided it by topping their respective divisions. In the same way as teams getting relegated could have avoided it by not finishing bottom. So, whereas every division had promotion on offer at the start of the season, and there has been some promotion, the Highland and Lowland leagues had possible promotion on offer at the start of the season, and that has been denied. It's made their seasons pointless except in terms of pot-hunting.

Maybe they could play inside the Ring of Brodgar. String some nets between the stones, the goalposts are already there.

It's intriguing though how the Pyramid is forcing teams to up their game, hence, I assume, the Queen's Park professionalism move. I've no idea what's happened at Montrose but their brush with relegation seems to have galvanized them, promotion for the first time in a generation and very solid this season.

How big do you think Queen's Park could get now you've gone pro? How large is the market of Weegies who do not want/cannot afford the Old Firm but who were not interested in an amateur club with no real prospects of climbing? Glasgow is big enough to have three top flight clubs, Partick and (going back long enough) Clyde have shown that, and right now there are only two...

And so the colt team invasion begins...

I'll take a point. We've lost a number of players out of contract and are about to lose the manager, so I'm looking down with some trepidation.

Why did Mileson pile into Gretna in the first place? He could have invested in Queen of the South and started at a higher base. Indeed would not have lost so much money given the support and stadium.

Both of whom were voted in rather than played their way in. Coincidence? In that other League members voted teams who, well, have not exactly been a threat? (having said that I really like Elgin's ground for some reason, it's got a retro vibe)

Caroline Barker, a non-league aficionado.

It's already raising the game within the League as well. No idea how they did it, but Montrose's brush with the drop seems to have provoked a sea-change and their best performances for a generation. And now Queen's Park are pro they will probably improve hugely too. Two fewer clubs dancing around the trapdoor - ups the chances of Brechin et al to fall through it.

Embarrassment?

There was a vogue for that in Argentina in the sixties. Is that the shirt though or some sort of leisure product?

It's possible. If members do not abide by the other members' rules, why should those members accept them? It would be different if the season-ending decision were illegal, but that's such high threshold. Essentially, the Hearts/Partick case is that their interests should be preferred over those of the teams that would go up to replace them. And if the SPFL had voted to annul the season, the teams denied promotion would have the same complaint, mutatis mutandis. Whatever happens, unless the season gets completed, SOMEone loses out. It's not unreasonable to rely on performances over the majority of the season at the expense of unplayed games that are the minority.

Did Whitehill Welfare predict Covid 19? Spooky.

At least with offside there's an element of subjectivity over interfering with play. Whether the ball is over the line or not is a demonstrable fact...

They can use VAR, apparently. I'm guessing third ref (and on-pitch ref) refused to believe their eyes because the tech is supposedly infallible. And apparently the thing did beep - but during the half-time break. If Sheff Utd don't win this, there could be scenes. Imagine if Villa send Watford down by a point. Watford might point out that one match was played with invalid equipment...

Utterly bent. Check the betting markets.

Taking it out of payments not yet made. Clubs get tv money a month in arrears. This smacks of a story leaked for a purpose; it's not clear whether the £3m is a repayment or the amount yet to go out.

2 is very difficult. Most JRs succeed on procedural failings. Even so, it's difficult for the Jambos to say that the procedure was unfair in a way that fecked them over, given that pretty much every vote has been in favour of having some relegation. 1 might be their best hope - to say that there is no provision for this sort of scenario, so they can't then change the rules part-way through the season. But I don't know what the league rules say about things like amendments. What's more a concern is I think FIFA reserves the right to take action against any FA that allows a court challenge against them. A charitable view is that that protects associations from political interference (like Dynamo Berlin winning 10 titles in a row thanks to Stasi pressure). A realistic view is it stops any independent scrutiny of the way they run the game. But that's why most of these things end up in arbitration - that's not a court challenge, is quicker, and is more private.

Cienciano of Cuzco won the Copa Sudamericana ( ~ Europa League) in 2003 and the Recopa ( ~ Super Cup, albeit more prestigious) in 2004, yet have never won a domestic trophy. Paraguay got to the 2011 Copa America final without winning a single match - three draws in the Group stages and two 0-0s in the knockouts with penalty wins.

Yes, thanks to the Champions League for the most part. A million in prize money can destroy a small league and the much bigger prize money destroys a bigger league. Especially as the Premier League in England is, weirdly, one of the best for sharing the wealth amongst its members. One of the worst is FC Copenhagen, who have won 12 titles since 2001, and only formed a few years before as a merger between the two biggest sides in the city, after Brondby fought their way to success. It's like the Real and Atletico Madrid merging if Getafe won La Liga.

It was because the agreement in place that limited Ligue 1 to 20 clubs is due to expire on 30 June. That had not been taken into account. The French league and FA had basically assumed that it would be 20 clubs next season as well. The clubs due to be relegated pointed out that there could be an agreement for 22 clubs and that would require a re-think. So it may only be a temporary victory. If the clubs stick to a 20 team Ligue 1, the decision to relegate the two clubs is surely going to stick.