AJF

Potentially, yes. If you don't qualify for the CL Groups, you sell a player to cover the loss which potentially makes you weaker, but it's the model Celtic have been successfully adopting for some time now and we need to do the same. Granted, they were able to operate this model successfully over a period where they have rarely had any challenge domestically, but it's not really feasible to continue this way.

Aye, we were successful and I don't think any Rangers fan will have too many protests about how we've gone about things since Gerrard has come in. I just feel now is the time where we need to see a more urgent move to the "Get Champions League football or sell assets" model we've been aiming towards for the last couple of years.

Wow

Unsurprising. Compounded even more by our complete unwillingness or inability to sell a couple of players after losing out on the Champions League. Our model needs to change, and change quickly.

In such instances, I'd like you to refer to me as The Enforcer.

I'm not saying whether the allegations are proved or not, nor am I saying they should be - I just included that as an example of some of the bizarre comments he seemed to make that contradicted himself but worked well to deflect attention away from the allegations made.

It's a very bizarre piece from Kensell to say the least. He never seemed to deny they breached protocols, he just said he was confident everyone is aware of their responsibilities. He then said he was either disappointed the person's claims were unsubstantiated and they were making trouble, or he was disappointed that there was truth in the claims that Hibs players never wore their masks when required. Again, no denial. He also then went on to say he was not going to comment on tabloid speculation... despite doing so seconds beforehand to claim it was a Rangers fan that made the claims. It was smart I suppose, it took away the attention from the allegation of Hibs breaching protocols and his failure to deny it and turned it into a narrative of mischief-making, so fair play.

Was Ricksen particularly over-hyped? He won POTY in 04/05 after an excellent season moving into midfield and grabbed a handful of caps for the Netherlands. He turned out to be a pretty good player and an excellent leader for us after a poor start, but I can’t imagine many that would describe him as much more than that.

Only 8 players available and going by someone else's stat earlier of 27 different squad players being named by hibs so far this season means 19 players are out. Something definitely doesn't add up here. One would be forgiven for thinking Hibs may be being cute here and taking advantage of the rules and claiming more players are injured than there actually is so the games can be postponed rather than play it with a weakened squad. Then again, it may be entirely above board. Who knows.

Having a quick look it seems there have been around 27 different players named in match day squads for Hibs this season. If we discount the 8 players testing positive and the further 4 close contacts, that would leave 15. That's some injury list if an additional 7 players are unavailable through injury. Unless of the 7 development squad players that are out, some have also been involved in first team match squads this season, which may explain it.

Aye, I think we are at the point now where we need to accept Jack needs a longer recovery period than your average player as he does seem to suffer from flare ups. Gerrard mentioned pre-season that medical staff told him if we handle this recovery correctly then that should be his injury issue fully resolved.

No.

Good to see Ryan Kent travelling for our Europa League match tomorrow. Hopefully he will give us a spark going forward despite the indifferent start to the season.

Aye, maybe it’s not so much not getting the hype about him - just surprising he managed to do so well for us.

There is no chance Hibs will be made to forfeit the fixtures and rightly so. Even if they had breached covid protocols, there’s no way of determining if that was directly to blame for the positive cases.

Aye, I get what you are saying. I feel slightly similar regarding Novo. Absolutely love the wee fella but he was a very limited footballer.

Gogic is one that Hibs (and Hamilton) fans raved about when he joined them. I vividly remember getting slaughtered in the Hibs thread for suggesting he wasn’t that good after a few games there.

Don’t you dare

Interested to see how Brown does if he gets some game time. If pace is his underlying quality, let’s hope he isn’t another Oli Burke.

Can the mods please lock this thread and save us, thanks.

This guy and the Albania president to have a scrap at Cop26.

Twas just a wee joke

Aye, it's clear from this angle that Celtic's 12th man, Madden, is clearly inside the box when it's struck.

Catching up with the highlights from yesterday and when the Motherwell fan gave it the "wheeeeeey" when they thought Bassey had over-hit his cross to then see the ball thumped into the net by Tavernier was simply lovely.

I reckon you could put a team together that would do relatively well but ultimately fall short. Obviously, the biggest difference between the rest of the SPFL and Rangers & Celtic, is the budget and that allows Rangers & Celtic to fill their squad with quality relative to the SPFL. It means when players are out of form, injured or suspended they have the luxury of brining in an X million pound rated player. If there was an SPFL squad then it would mitigate that issue somewhat as there wouldn't be as big a drop off in quality from the first 11 compared to the squad that you often see so you'd see a more consistent challenger. I think it would then come down to the head to heads vs Rangers & Celtic though, and that's where it would still fall short more often than not.