RabidAI

Yeah, Iraq did destroy much of the trust in New Labour and the lack of preparedness for the financial crisis seemed to finish them off. But - they did deliver the initial devolution settlement and participated in the next iterations of devolution, so I would still trust them from that perspective. And it's not like Scottish Labour have too many stand-out, eh, 'selling points' right now, so maybe revive devo max and see what that does for them. Where's "bring it on" Wendy when you need her?

The other thing I tried was to buy one of these DAB radios, as the BBC Sport Scotland website said the Scotland matches were available on that as well as on MW. What I found was that it was just the FM programming that was being broadcast on digital radio, so still no Scotland-football-type torture for me. (But Tesco did kindly refund me for the digital radio). Sorry to bore you. Off I go.

Yep, sounds decent. Think Mr Doncaster's been aiming for something like this for a while now.

I like Sportsound, but they so often bump the live football commentary to MW - for which I have terrible reception - that I've become annoyed with it. For example - no Scotland game for me last night, as it was on MW; any rugby international, then Open All Mics or commentary is bumped to MW: even Steve and Tim take precedence over commentary (in non-Covid times) early on Saturday afternoons, when Sportsound is bumped to MW. It's almost enough to make me go back out and actually take in a game. Also - this thread should be 'Sportsound Listen', if the intention is to say that Sportsound is 'under observation' (see 'epistemology'), as we use our hears for the radio.

Any scope for more devolution first? That's what I would have voted for in 2014. How about Scotland has devolved to it tax-raising powers equivalent to Holyrood's expenditure, which is circa £40bn? Balancing the Scottish Government's budget in that way, over a period of years, would surely prove a case for independence. Anyhow, something will happen on the timeline of: 1979 (devolution vote, fail) + 18 years = 1997 (devolution vote, pass) + 17 years = 2014 (independence vote, fail) + 16 years = 2030 (independence vote, pass); the public need at least a half-generation to digest such big ideas and change.

On average, about one per year - to either the SPFL or the SFA, depending upon what's upsetting me. They've even replied, once or twice; decent folk, I find.

mrman, I admire your tenacity - but I can't agree with you this time. Small clubs deserve their annual chance of A Shot at Glory and the Scottish FA should be wary of robbing the Scottish Cup of its essence. The best I can do in terms of the format is a 7-round-plus-preliminary competition. The Premiership teams enter at the last 32 stage as usual, the Championship teams the round before, with League One and Two teams entering alongside the best non-league teams in the first round proper; it broadly keeps teams of a similar standard entering together. Preliminary Round: 48 teams (9 Highland, 9 Lowland, 30 non-league qualifiers) 1st Round: 60 teams (24 Preliminary Round winners, 10 League One, 10 League Two, 8 Highland, 8 Lowland) 2nd Round: 40 teams (30 Round 1 winners, 10 Championship) 3rd Round: 32 teams (20 Round 2 winners, 12 Premiership) 4th round, and the rest, in the usual way. Hope that adds up!

Maybe just go with the 30 non-Premiership SPFL clubs and the 34 Highland and Lowland League clubs this season. Straightforward 64-team knock out, without as many Covid complications of having cross-border matches. Not sure what's happening with the colts/reserve teams this season, but they've not enriched this competition either.

Seemingly the 'Pars' nickname for Dunfermline Athletic came from a group of Plymouth Argyle's Rosyth Supporters, who were up working at Rosyth's dockyard. No idea if that cross-border connection is true, but sounds plausible. At least, with London Caledonians amateur football and the London Scottish golf and rugby union clubs, there's some precedent for the idea.

I think we may end up with that but it could be a way off, once there's been a fuller pyramid for a while and clubs from all over have had some seasons to find their respective levels. I can see the Lowland League eclipsing Leagues One and Two in terms of quality and intrigue over the next few seasons. That's one reason why I'd like to see two unregionalised parallel conferences at tier 3, which could be more attractive and competitive than the current setup; I don't like more than 3 national tiers, either. Good solution. Another possibility would be to reverse the fixtures the following season and, similarly, just accept the inequalities - as we do now with the post-split fixtures. In that scenario, newly promoted teams could replace the relegated teams in the Premiership's reversed fixtures schedule. And the Old Firm could play their third match at Hampden. It would be noble of the SPFL clubs, given the cancellation of pyramid play offs this season, to allow automatic promotion next season for both the Highland and Lowland champion clubs; it may mean a slightly smaller pile of dosh per club, but league expansion would at least preserve their League status.

Again, good knowledge. I had seen the rugby club's, er, 'crest' on car window-stickers during my lockdown ambles, which confused me (easily done) because 'London Scottish F. C.' is surely a football club, not a rugby union club. Anyhow, that's where the wacky idea took hold - but I haven't the resources to do anything about it!

Didn't know the SRU were involved there; might be as you say that it would have to be founded independently as a sort of proof-in-principle that it could work, then maybe the SFA would take an interest. Crowds of a few thousand would be great; a ceiling of League One level, maybe? Don't know what standard that is, and whether it would be a useful part of youngsters' 'coming of age' to be away from home, playing at a decent level against senior pros. Could just be another of many pathways to player development. Was thinking that supporters with loyalty to any club up here who were visiting London of a weekend could still be interested in seeing them, particularly if at least some of the team were good young Scots. Good knowledge. Decent name, too.

Morning. Could anyone see a football version of rugby's London Scottish F. C. being a success? I was wondering if it would act as a sort of rallying point to ex-pat Scots, and so may have full-time potential with decent-enough crowds. If it was in the English leagues, maybe it could help develop young Scots as loanees learning their trade away from home. If it was in the Scottish leagues (because England-based Berwick and Tweedmouth are), then an additional full-time club could be welcome. Two away trips to London per club per league season might not be that bad a thing, either. I don't know if they'd need a different name from London Scottish, since that's taken (London Scots might do it), or if they could be affiliated with the original rugby club? Thanks.