FortescueFotheringhamSmyth

Agents might be slippery, conniving parasites most of the time, but you have to say that is a phenomenal piece of business. I think Leon Angel is Marciano's agent. He's had some bad press, but most of them have. The mid-30s journeyman Vermeer, who won a few Dutch ca..... ehhhh.... Sorry!...."Won a few caps for the Netherlands" 7 or 8 years back, went to the US last year. The Eredivisie journeyman they replaced him with has just moved to the US. A couple of kids have been pushing the elder statesmen for the #1 jersey in the past three seasons, but you'd have to assume Rocky is going there as the #1 keeper, unless they've just signed someone else. Has to be a huge increase in wages on what he was getting at Hibs.... and Macey has presumably taken a large drop on what he was getting at Arsenal.

Do the first 5,000 posters on the inevitable Miggs.Net "This should be £12 admission & £5 at most for concessions" thread get priority?

I've no idea of the identity of the troglodyte who posed the 1st question at Postecoglou's opening presser... but Ange couldn't have had a better introduction to life in Glesca. The inquisitor was a fairly extreme example of just how "Celtic-minded" some todgers in prominent positions can be and Postecoglou's too intelligent not to have a pretty good idea of what he's let himself in for, but an opening question registering quite so high on the David Icke / Diane Abbott / Piers Corbyn scale must've been an eye-opener. An Aussie sports coach arriving in Glesca is like Richard Dawkins taking over as headmaster of a madrassa in Pakistan or a Creationist school somewhere in upstate Oklahoma. Day #1:- Pray, eat some garlic, fill a hip flask with holy water, some ablutions, pray, parrot some "holy" scriptures, thank The Lord for creating the earth (4,000 years ago), say grace, sacrifice a goat, chant some incantations over your food, pray, parrot some more drivel, throw stones at Satan, burn a witch, pray... then maybe do something productive for the last 5 minutes of the working day. A response of: "Look, cobber, hard though it might be for you and your fellow bogans, hillbillies & rubes in this inbred city of backward bigotry to believe, Scottish refs are no more prone to bias than refs elsewhere and very few of them are Orange Order or Opus Dei members. Before I'm done here, I'd like to be able to say that I dragged at least one half of Glesca fitba into the 20th century and maybe even got it to a stage where it might have a chance of entering the 21st. Sinn Fein in Belfast are looking for hardworking activists such as yourself. Housing's pretty cheap over there. Give them a call." Would've been like Brian Clough's "pots and pans / cheating" speech on his 1st day at Elland Road, though: utterly pointless. I'm struggling to think of an institution in the British Isles that I loathe more than Celtic FC. Chelsea FC run them close, but I think the Bhoys edge it. As someone who loves Australia and still regrets leaving the place, it's bloody annoying that Postecoglou's pitched up at a bunch of fire-worshipping, spear-throwing troglodytes... but I suppose it's marginally better than coaching in Arabia - especially in Qatar

Inter d'Escaldes beat HB Torshavn 1-0. HB drop into the Europa Conference League... but can't play Hibs, as they're on the "Champions' Path" and Hibs are on the "League Path." Fair performance by the Andorra Champions. Whichever end of Espana or Hibs go to, this is still a bye. Albion Rovers would be about even money to best S.Coloma or M.Calpe over 2 legs. Anything less than 4 at home or a 2-goal margin away and the 1st "Ross Out!" thread will be up on Miggs.Net.

Sigh!. Yup. McBookie - and almost everyone else - went up on the outright 21/22 Premiership as soon as Rangers had clinched the title. Some were taking bets on next season before Rangers had won. As I pointed out elsewhere, Bet365 went up on the opening Premiership games two hours after the fixtures came out. Most other bookies are up on the opening games too. However, none of the gutless parasites has yet chalked up on a Wooden Spoon or Relegation market... or a Without The Old Firm market... or a To Make The Top Six market... or a Handicap market... or any markets on the lower divisions, cups or League Cup groups. Bookies think it's too early to make predictions - or to allow anyone else to make predictions with the bookies' money at stake.

Champions League preliminary round tomorrow. Andorra champs Inter d'Escaldes are big underdogs (7/1) against Faroes champs HB Torshavn, in a one-leg tie on neutral territory... in Albania. They finished 6 points ahead of possible Hibees' opponents Santa Coloma. 1 win and 3 draws for Inter in the 4 games v. SC. It'll give an indication of how gash the Andorra league is. The preliminary round is a 4-team tournament. Folgore of San Marino play Prishtina of Kosovo in the other semi. On neutral territory. In Albania. I thought Albania must be slipping envelopes to UEFA when they were awarded the final. A Kosovo team playing in Albania is about as neutral as Celtic playing on the green in the middle of the now demolished Divis Flats.

Nope! I don't think Sainties are likely to run into serious financial trouble - in the sense of going tits up or even having to release half the squad. That's not what I said. That's not what I meant. Very well run club. Best run club in the Premiership by some way. Sadly, with no fans in, the two cup wins will have meant less of a boost to their finances than they deserve. I'd guess Sainties income streams overall for 20/21 were well down on 19/20, as were everyone else's. The budget in Perth for 21/22 might be lower than it was for last season. Covid-19 may not have run its course just yet. Bookies will price up the 21/22 season on the likelihood of things that may happen in 21/22... not on the prospects of a meltdown five years hence. Possible budget cuts this season will have an impact on clubs' chances in the 21/22 campaign and will be factored in to bookies' prices. Possible - or even probable - bankruptcy in two or three years' time doesn't impact on clubs' chances this season. Ross County will likely be in serious trouble if/when Uncle Roy ups anchor, but his track record suggests he will keep bankrolling the budget to their usual level. He will fill in the holes on their finances. If Ross are again 4 points adrift at the bottom when the winter transfer window arrives, he will be far more likely to bring out the chequebook than the directors at Sainties or any other club who have an eye on their club's medium-term health and are attempting to stick to a budget.

I have two acquaintances who are professional gamblers. One is solely a sports gambler, betting only on two sports. He is keen follower of Scottish football, though he does not bet on football, other than maybe an ante-post wager on his lot to win a cup. Early last season, he mentioned that a friend, who works at an ancient "proper" Scottish university, had run 1,000 simulations of the 2020/21 Premiership season through a computer. Nothing special about that: decent software that will do those type of probability analyses is common these days. He only ran them to the 33-game split. At the end of the season, I recalled that the Sheep had nicked 2nd five times - all behind Celtic - and remembered some of the stats on the Erse Cheeks, who won all 1,000 simulations between them. I asked my acquaintance if he still had the figures. He did. Celtic won 755 times to Rangers' 245. In 1,000 simulations, Rangers reached the split unbeaten only 9 times. They matched their 28-5-0 record three times and bettered it three times. Celtic's worst performance in 1,000 simulations was 21-7-5... which still gave them one point more than they got in real life! Clearly all this ballcocks depends on what info the programmer puts in. I've never met the guy who ran the simulations, but it seems he does this type of thing relatively accurately in several fields. It wasn't very accurate on last season's Premiership though

No bookie has chalked up yet. I doubt you'll be favourites at this stage. Dundee would still be seen as more likely for the drop, but you would be comfortably 2nd in the lists. Uncle Roy is more likely to find a fiver down the back of the sofa than some other chairmen/boards. Bookies won't be keen to have Ross too short, as this would mean offering tempting prices about United, Livi, Well, both sets of Saints and, indeed, Dundee - all of whom are more likely to run into financial trouble than Ross, so long as Uncle Roy remains in good health.

Maybe bought something from a ne'er-do-well in the bogs in the Alamo?

It'll be interesting to see how a fair dinkum bloke from Melbourne goes in Glasgow. Aussie sport is not known for suffering fools, galahs, drongos, bogans or hoods gladly. By way of contrast, neds, jakeys, nyaffs, wallopers & mindless one-eyed delusion are what makes Glesca "soccer" the world famous brand it is. Will Ange buy into the Celtic-minded philosophy? I hope he doesn't and I don't think he will. I reckon he'll go OK though. First up is the Champions League qualifying campaign... Midtjylland. 2nd in Denmark in the season just gone. Only one point behind Brondby. Been in the top two for four straight seasons. Won the title three times in the last seven years, having never had a dinner prior to 2014/15. Owned by Matthew Benham, who owns Brentford. They also have a link-up programme with Liverpool. They are known for their thorough "moneyball" statistical analysis of opponents and of their own performance. They are the club that "discovered" the throw-in coach, Thomas Gronnemark, who moved on to Liverpool and who has been credited with playing a major part in the Scousers' transformation into champions. Even though Matthew Benham presumably puts money in, their squad doesn't look up to Celtic's class on paper. Nor should it, given the respective budgets of the clubs. Only one player in the Denmark squad for the Euros - Lossl, the goalie, who only has one cap. He was a 1st-team player at Huddersfield but couldn't make the side at Everton. The midfielder Cajuste is in Sweden's squad but not in the XI - he came on for the last 5 minutes v. Spain. Dalsgaard has plenty of Danish caps and has been Brentford's first choice right-back or right-sided #5 for most of the last 4 seasons, but has just gone home, presumably not reckoned to be EPL class. The left-winger Sisto also has 20-odd caps. Seems a nutter, though. Refers to himself in the 3rd person (Maybe a Zlatan fan?) and drove home from Celta Vigo during Covid lockdown, earning a €60k fine. (Good replacement for Bolingoli? He is left-sided and likely just as good at defending, winger or not.) Sviatchenko is there too. They have a new manager - the previous guy, Brian Priske, buggered off to Antwerp last month, having led Midtjylland to a 1st and a 2nd in his two seasons. They played a flat-4 at the back under Priske, with the fullbacks looking to get forward. Generally a 4-2-3-1 in possession, with the 6'3" Guinea number #9 Sory Kaba leading the line. European results of late have been moderately impressive. Only took 2 points in the Champions League group last season (draws with Liverpool and Atalanta) but had got past perennial Bulgarian champs Ludogorets, Young Boys and Slavia Prague in the qualifiers. (As well as putting out Leicester and Rangers in the Europa League, Slavia won the Czech league without losing a game - beating Sparta 2-0 & 3-0 and finishing 12 points ahead of them... and we know what Sparta did to Celtic.) Midtjylland were papped-out 7-3 on aggregate by Rangers two years ago though. Celtic should win this tie, but Postecoglou's main goal this term is to wrest-back the title from Castle Mordor. With Rangers likely to "Go on the B of the bang" in the Premiership, Postecoglou needs the squad to be ready for the league. Trying to be cute in European ties, with players he doesn't know well, should not be on the agenda. If Celtic play to their potential in a month's time, they should squeak through this... but I wouldn't be taking anything shorter than 4/5 in the "To Qualify" market and it won't be a disaster if the Danes win.

The very idea that one Erse Cheek might ape the other!!! That'll never happen.

They're planning to do Luncarty away on Saturday and all their other friendlies. Pretty certain they'll be streaming the League Cup. No reason not to... unless Premier have some small print clause in their sponsorship contract that nobody's spotted yet.

The number of different opponents drawn by each club in the group stage, with multiple opponents shown. Figures on the left are number of different clubs faced out of number of matches played. Most clubs will have played all six seasons for 24 matches. Obviously the clubs just north of Embra & Glesca switching between North and South sections should avoid repetition more easily. 21/24 – DUNFERMLINE (St.Mirren x2, Dumbarton x2, Peterhead x2) 19/24 – FALKIRK (St.Johnstone x2, Ayr x2, Brechin x2, Forfar x2, Stirling x2) 19/24 – STENHOUSEMUIR (Partick x3, Albion x2, Airdrie x2, QoS x2) 19/24 – STRANRAER (Motherwell x2, Livi x2, Ayr x2, Annan x2, Clyde x2) 18/24 – CLYDE (Killie x4, Morton x2, Dumbarton x2, Stranraer x2) 18/24 – DUMBARTON (Killie x3, St.Mirren x2, Dunfermline x2, Annan x2, Clyde x2) 18/24 – EMBRA CITY (St.Mirren x2, Motherwell x2, Hamilton x2, Livi x2, Ayr x2, Albion x2) 17/24 – DUNDEE UTD (Arbroath x3, Cowden x3, E.Fife x2, Elgin x2, Kelty x2) 17/24 – DUNDEE (Peterhead x3, Forfar x3, Raith x2, Cove x2, Brora x2) 17/24 – BRECHIN (St.Johnstone x3, Stirling x3, Falkirk x2, Forfar x2, Peterhead x2) 17/24 – ST.MIRREN (Partick x3, Dunfermline x2, Livi x2, Dumbarton x2, Embra x2, Q.Park x2) 17/24 – EAST FIFE (Hearts x3, Dundee Utd x2, Peterhead x2, Cowden x2, Elgin x2, Forfar x2) 16/24 – ALBION (Hamilton x3, Ayr x3, Morton x2, Stenny x2, Embra x2, E.Kilbride x2) 16/24 – MORTON (Motherwell x2, Killie x2, QoS x2, Partick x2, Q.Park x2, Clyde x2, Albion x2, Berwick x2) 16/24 – ANNAN (Motherwell x3, Hamilton x2, QoS x2, Ayr x2, Dumbarton x2, Airdrie x2, Stranraer x2) 16/24 – HAMILTON (Ayr x3, Albion x3, Livi x2, Airdrie x2, Embra x2, Annan x2) 16/24 – STIRLING (Elgin x3, Brechin x3, Falkirk x2, Caley x2, Arbroath x2, Peterhead x2) 15/24 – QUEEN OF THE SOUTH (Motherwell x3, Q.Park x3, Morton x2, Partick x2, Airdrie x2, Stenny x2, Annan x2) 15/24 – ELGIN (Arbroath x4, Stirling x3, Dundee Utd x2, Ross x2, Alloa x2, E.Fife x2) 15/24 – PETERHEAD (Dundee x3, Hearts x2, Caley x2, Dunfermline x2, E.Fife x2, Cove x2, Stirling x2, Brechin x2) 15/24 – QUEEN’S PARK (Partick x3, Airdrie x3, QoS x3, St.Mirren x2, Motherwell x2, Morton x2) 15/24 – AYR UTD (Hamilton x3, Albion x3, Livi x2, Falkirk x2, Embra x2, Annan x2, Stranraer x2) 15/24 – LIVINGSTON (Airdrie x3, St.Mirren x2, Hamilton x2, Ayr x2, Alloa x2, Stranraer x2, Embra x2, Berwick x2) 15/24 – ALLOA (Ross x3, Arbroath x3, Hibs x2, Livi x2, Raith x2, Elgin x2 Montrose x2) 15/24 – MONTROSE (Ross x5, Forfar x3, St.Johnstone x2, Alloa x2, Arbroath x2) 14/24 – ROSS COUNTY (Montrose x5, Arbroath x3, Alloa x3, Forar x2, Elgin x2) 14/24 – CALEY THISTLE (Hearts x3, Raith x3, Cove x3, Cowden x3, Peterhead x2, Stirling x2) 14/24 – RAITH ROVS (Cowden x4, Caley x3, Cove x3, Hearts x2, Dundee x2, Alloa x2) 14/24 – AIRDRIE (Livi x3, Partick x3, Q.Park x3, Hamilton x2, QoS x2, Stenny x2, Annan x2) 14/24 – FORFAR (Dundee x3, Montrose x3, St.Johnstone x2, Ross x2, Falkirk x2, E.Fife x2, Brechin x2, Brora x2) 14/24 – COWDENBEATH (Raith x4, Hearts x3, Dundee Utd x3, Caley x3, E.Fife x2) 14/24 – PARTICK (St.Mirren x3, Airdrie x3, Stenny x3, Q.Park x3, Morton x2, QoS x2) 14/20 – KILMARNOCK (Clyde x4, Dumbarton x3, Morton x2) 14/16 – BERWICK (Livi x2, Morton x2) 13/20 – COVE (Caley x3, Raith x3, Hearts x2, Dundee x2, Peterhead x2) 12/24 – ARBROATH (Elgin x4, Dundee Utd x3, Ross x3, Alloa x3, Hibs x2, Montrose x2, Stirling x2) 12/20 – MOTHERWELL (QoS x3, Annan x3, Morton x2, Stranraer x2, Q.Park x2, Embra x2) 11/20 – HEARTS (Caley x3, E.Fife x3, Cowden x3, Raith x2, Peterhead x2, Cove x2) 11/16 – ST.JOHNSTONE (Brechin x3, Falkirk x2, Forfar x2, Montrose x2) 11/12 – E.KILBRIDE (Albion x2) 10/12 – HIBS (Alloa x2, Arbroath x2) 7/8 – KELTY (Dundee Utd x2) 6/8 – BRORA (Dundee x2, Forfar x2) RANGERS, EAST STIRLINGSHIRE, BUCKIE THISTLE & SPARTANS have played in the groups in one season each. The draw hasn’t thrown-up many proper derbies. One Dundee Derby, one Ayrshire Derby, one Renfrewshire Derby and one Pars v. Bairns game. Motherwell will face Airdrie for the first time this year. I’ve genuinely no idea if Accies v. Airdrie is much of a thing, but they’ve played twice. Partick & Queen’s Park have come out together three times. No Edinburgh Derby, no Pars v. Raith, no ‘Well v. Accies and no Caley v. Ross… though Ross will have played the Angus diddies a total of 11 times after this season’s group, as well as both City of Discovery outfits. The Angus sides haven’t faced each other as often as they’ve played Ross. Montrose have drawn Forfar thrice, Arbroath twice & Brechin once and there have been two Brechin v. Forfar encounters. There have been lots of Fife derbies: Cowden have drawn Raith 4 times, East Fife twice and Pars once. East Fife have also drawn Pars, Raith & Kelty. None of this will change anyone’s mind about the current system though.

Connah's Quay Nomads will be throwing the hammer in either Moldova or Albania... if they get past the Armenians who beat St.Johnstone... There may be a righteous and vengeful God after all.

An acquaintance who is a staunch follower of a British team went to Shkupi a few years back. Some restless natives blighted his trip. We can't go, but the utter Balkan bollocks that reared its head yet again in the Austria v North Macedonia game this week isn't something I have a lot of time for. I'd seal off the Balkans from the rest of Europe... but I'd send a couple of Arsenal players back "home" first. The erse cheeks are bad enough, but this "Albanian community" shite that defines Shkupi/Sloga belongs in the 1300s. As Mark Renton says of Mikey Forrester, I'd want nothing to do with the cnuts! Kosovo would be even worse... and we'd have maybe a 45% chance v. Shkupi/Sloga. Less than that as a percentage chance v. Valerenga, even though 11 points from 7 games is only a steady start in Norway this season. Gibraltar/Andorra is a bye. Larne/Bala would be hard to shag up. Bohs should best Stjarnan and I'd not be overly confident of our chances at Dalymount. Cannot complain about the selection of possible opponents though. Sheep could go to Sweden, Belarus or Kazakhstan, which are all at least as hard as Shkupi. Might get Sligo (nice town) or a bye in Lithuania.

10 days on. Still nobody poking anything above the trenches that might get shot off. Fair play to Bet365 for chalking up on the opening Premiership games within two hours of the fixtures coming out. Not likely to make too many mistakes there, but a welcome show of confidence from D€ni$e's lads. 1/5 Rangers, 10 Livi, 6 draw. 6/5 Dundee, 23/10 St.Mirren, 23/10 draw. 23/10 Ross County, 6/5 The Double Winners, 23/10 draw. 4 Hearts, 4/7 Celtic, 10/3 draw. 8/13 Sheep, 5 Arabs, 13/5 draw. 9/5 'Well, 6/4 Spoonburners, 23/10 draw. Got to edge towards 'Well at that price. Only 1 win v. Hibs in 4 last term and Hibs' 2nd half at Fir Park was arguably their best 45 minutes of the season, but 9/5 looks big. 23/10 Ross might look big in six weeks' time too. They've also chalked up on over/under 2.5 goals. Under 2.5 favoured in all four non-Glesca fixtures. **EDIT** 24 hours on, Billy Hill and Sky have chalked up. Only one sizable difference: Sky go 29/20 Dundee, 8/5 St.Mirren. The 'Dee price looks worth taking. Bet365 now have their usual range of team performance markets up for all 6 games, but no "1st Goalscorer" or other player performance markets... for obvious reasons. **EDIT** I've idly lobbed £50 each at 'Well and 'Dee @ 19/10 and 29/20. I like how Boyle's have gone best price both teams in Gers v Livi - 2/9 and 14/1. I doubt there are many Bears near their Dundalk HQ and Irish punters are presumably unlikely to pile on Rangers, while some of the Celtic-minded brigade might fancy €10 on Livi at 14s.

Fair enough. Memory not what it was. I pay no heed to European club competitions, other than S.P.F.L. & L.o.I. sides. But the Turks are still diddies. As are Blackburn Rovers. And Leicester. And Red Bull Leipzig. And Hoffenheim. And Sampdoria. And Parma.

The pots for today's Q1 draw look standard. Most Northwest Zone teams are in mainly northwestern groups, but there are a few Central and Balkan sides in there. Bala Town are guaranteed northwestern opponents. TNS could go to Andorra and Newtown could go to Slovakia but their other possible opponents are all northwestern. Coleraine could go to Bosnia, Malta or Gibraltar. Larne sort of guaranteed a northwest tie - but "northwest" includes southern Poland, as Slask Wroclaw are in there. Sligo are in the Larne hat. Bohemians & Glentoran are also in the same hat and could go to Gibraltar or Malta. Dundalk could go to Macedonia. The pots for Q2 should be released about an hour after today's Q1 draw - so maybe just before 3 o'clock.

The "pots" or "hats" are out for the Q1 draw, which takes place this afternoon. Generally 8 in each pot/hat, so there are 4 possible opponents (as seeded teams can only play unseeded teams) It looks sort of regionalised, but a few Central Zone and Balkan teams have been placed in Northwest Zone pots/hats. Coleraine's pot/hat is cosmopolitan. Bosnia, Malta, Luxembourg or Gibraltar for them. Section #5 is mainly northern. Sheepshaggers Bala Town are seeded and will go to either Estonia, Latvia or Ireland (Larne or Sligo). Iceland & Faroes teams are in the seeded section of that group, but so are Slask Wroclaw - the one side I would want to avoid in Q2 if it is regionalised (fascinating city historically, but a long way and lots of "traditional" fans) The New Saints might also go to either part of Ireland - Glentoran/Bohemians - with Lithuania & Andorra also on the cards. Newtown are in the 10-team hat. They could also go to Ireland (Dundalk) but have a Slovakian side in there, as well as Faroes, Latvia and Iceland. So it's only sort of half-regionalised for Q1 **EDIT** Three Wales v. Ireland ties, two Ireland v. Iceland ties and Coleraine go to Bosnia. A draw v a Wales/Ireland winner tomorrow will do.

Dundee United's 24 group matches in the League Cup: Arbroath ×3, Cowden x3, E.Fife x2, Kelty x2, Elgin x2, Sainties, Peterhead, Brechin, Hearts, Ross, Alloa, Dundee, Raith, Caley, Pars, Buckie, Stenny. Dundee United's last 24 Scottish Cup ties: Hibs x3, Sheep x2, Caley x2, Partick x2, Celtic x2, St.Mirren x2, Ross x2, Sainties, Rangers, Killie, Stranraer, Motherwell, Airdrie, Montrose, Alloa, Forfar.

...and as a comparison to the 24 League Cup group games... The last 24 Scottish Cup ties Ayr have played v. SPFL opposition go back to the 08/09 season. The list includes 3 occasions when you've come out of the hat against Hibs and 2 ties apiece v. Clyde, Pars, Brechin & Queen's Park.

6th season in this format. Clearly you're never going to switch between zones. Unlike some Central Belt clubs. You've drawn Accies & Albion 3 times; Falkirk, Livi, Embra, Raer & Annan twice; St.M, Killie, Clyde, Sons, Jags, Ton, Stenny & Berwick once. Teams in the South Zone in all 6 years include Airdrie, Q.o.S. & Queen's Park, so you've missed them every year. Accies, Albion, Annan, Embra & Raer have also been in every season, as have Clyde, Ton, Jags & St.M. You've swerved 'Well in all 5 seasons they've played and you've only got Killie, Sons & Stenny once out of 5. Livi have also played 5 seasons. Berwick have been in 4 seasons; Falkirk, Pars & EK 3; Rangers, Alloa, Spartans & Shire once. Maybe you've had slightly less variety than some clubs: you could have played 25 different clubs and you've only played 15 of them... but after three group wins, two 2nds and 4 qualifications out of 5, I don't think you should complain too loudly!

I've just done another nerd stat check. Looking at the clubs who enter in Q2 & those seeded to get there from Q1 and checking their results v. non-Glesca Scots over the past 20 seasons. We don't come out too well. Even against clubs entering at Q1 next month, the comfortable tankings of diddies have been tempered by a few embarrassments. The Gunts losing to Birkakara is the most glaring, but the Sheep have lost to Bohemians and Dundee lost to Vlaznia Shkoder. The Arabs lost to Slask Wroclaw in 2011. Scotland's coefficient may have plumbed the depths quite recently, but Poland dropping to 29th took some doing and means Slask are in Q1. Of 18 knockout ties v. this year's probable Q2 field, Scottish "provincials" (in Recordspeak) have won only 5. The Sheep & Gunts have both beaten Siroki Brijeg, the Sheep have beaten Rijeka, Sainties beat Rosenborg and Motherwell ousted the mighty Breithablik, who are the lowest ranked of this year's Q1 seeds. Steaua, Stjarnan and Hapoel Be'er Sheva have all despatched 'Well. AEK Athens have papped-out the Gunts & Arabs in addition to Hibs - and beaten Celtic too. Maribor have KO'd Hibs & the Sheep... and both erse cheeks. The Sheep have also lost to Rijeka & Apollon. The Pars lost to Hacken in their last Euro foray. Trnava beat Sainties. Hibs are 0-3, with Molde joining AEK & Maribor. There were a couple of wins from 3 games in the "5 teams / 4 games" UEFA Cup groups. Feyenoord beat the Gunts 3-0, but the Sheep beat Copenhagen 4-0 and the Gunts beat Basel 2-1. Both were almost out by the time of those games (the Gunts having their elimination confirmed by a Denes Rosa winner for Ferencvaros at Tynecastle in the final fixture.) The erse cheeks are far from unblemished v. the Q2 field either. The Harland & Wolff Works XI is 8-2, losing to Maribor & Feyenoord. The Romish Ragamuffins' Relief Fund XI is 12-4, losing to Basel, AEK, Maribor and Copenhagen. They were also "doubled" by Molde in a group and lost group games to Copenhagen & Rosenborg. It's a shite state of affairs. I wouldn't be booking any time off in the first half of August just yet.

Unpleasant and Unspoken Realities. Number #396. "The average inhabitant of the Copland Road Stand has more respect for the opinions of the Pope than any coach at any professional UK football club has for the opinions of his club's fans." .... and quite rightly so.