Drew Peacock

Well, from a purely selfish point of view I sincerely hope it's off - i cant make tonight but I might be able to go to the rearranged game. Plus - We've got a squad ravaged by injuries. By the time next week comes we should have most of our guys fit again, Barry Robson and their polish goalie might have fucked off to the bigot brothers, and the game might get televised which will bring in some extra bucks. Bummer for those of you on your way down but uit's better to know now i suppose - by all accounts the prospect of the game going ahead sounds a bit gloomy .

So is the game on the box anywhere in the UK??? i cant make it due to work so i'm hoping that i can get to see it on TV - is there any way of getting Setanta Eire over here / somewhere that has it? Bah!

Fantastic - cheers loon. I must admit i never appreciated just how much of a legend Cruyff was / is over in Holland. Certainly ahead of his time in terms of asking questions of the establishment and making people think differently about things. It's a very clever book - the crossovers between the likes of Dutch art and architecture, and they football they play is not something i've ever heard of before. Plus, it's really well written.

I was the same withe Catch-22 - it's a really good book, and like you say, very funny in places - however, i don't think it's the kind of book you can read in big chunks. I don't know the reason behind that as it's not one of those that loads you with detail until you feel exhausted from reading at the end of a chapter, nor is it anything to do with it being written badly as well, it's written very cleverly. Weird. I've read all three Stuart Macbride books and loved them all - I think I read each one in the space of a week and had difficulty putting them down. I'm now back onto Brilliant Orange by David Winner http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brilliant-Orange-Neurotic-Genius-Football/dp/0747553106 - bought it ages ago (via a reccommendation on a similar thread elsewhere ) prior to getting into the Stuart Macbride books. It got put on the backburner as a result - I've only just started reading it a week or so ago and it's superb thus far. Good insights into the "Total Football" culture and an interesting block about the Dutch hatred of the Germans all coming to a head after losing to them in the 1974 World Cup. Definitely worth a look.

Judging by the quality of our recent forays into the transfer market, i wouldn't get too excited by any potential signings this week....

I personally think Maguire is fucking terrible. I know he's just a young lad, but i just don't see anything with him that makes me think he will ever make it or develop into a decent striker. why we brought him on instead of Lovell on saturday when the hearts center backs were hoofing everyone in sight i really don't know - effectively we were a man down upfront the second that happened. His first touch is almost as bad as darren mackies', and he always looks a light breeze away from falling over. Considine - i don't know. I just think he's too slow - if he made up for that with positional awareness or speed of thought then perhaps he's got a chance. However, these are not things he's got at the moment but they are things that can be coached into him with the correct guidance. Playing at left back however, like he did on tuesday night, will not help his cause one little bit. The jury's out in both cases for me i'm afraid.

Well, i wasn't that much of a fan of Hail to the Thief, and Amnesiac was ok. In Rainbows however, is a belter IMO - Some absolutely brilliant stuff on there.

Bilbo - what would you say Stars are like? I completely forgot, but one of my mates was raving about them a couple of months back - i've not heard any of their stuff yet.

I was thinking the same thing to be honest. Craig Conway aside, i don't think much of the rest of them.

When Miller won that penalty that Seve missed on Tuesday, I forgot how good De Visscher's through ball to Miller was until i saw it again last night. Jamie Smith's free kick was a carbon copy of the one he scored against Motherwell at Todders earlier this season - brilliant effort.

Too fucking right.

Jim Bett is in the process of selling up and moving to Iceland (yes, the country), so whatever he's doing over here he won't be doing it for much longer. His house in Aberdeen just recently came off the market, and him and his wife are going to be taking over his father in law's business over there. He had been doing some media work for the english FA covering scottish games - don't think he's doing the scouting stuff anymore though. Legend.

Patrick Cregg, Ian Black or Steve Hammell Please. Although i get the sinking suspicion it'll more than likely be Scott Wilson, Darren Young or Sol Bamba.

42 minutes of the huns game to be precise. although that included a wankfest over how good Kris Boyd is because he scored a hattrick against the worst team in the scottish leagues. Couldn't believe how bad the coverage was, but then again, i wasn't entirely surprised.

I had a baton rouge once. It was nothing some cold water and cotton wool couldn't soothe though.

I too am listening to Boxer by The National. Bloody excellent it is too - recommend it.

Thats because you only watch us when we're on telly...

The guy can pick a pass, that's for sure. Christiano Ronaldo he aint, but he cartaily provides us with a good option on the right side of midfield. However, Jimmy's preference of playing headless chickens like Young and Clark has been his biggest blocker from getting a starting place.

Given our defensive options, i don't think we have much choice. Also, it's easy to see how much pish the P & J talk - since when has having Byrne, Mair, and Duff out constitute a "crisis". "Blessing in disguise" would have been a better headline. I agree that it's unlikely that Lovell will start but if it was my choice he would. Maguire will probably start alongside Miller... And yes, i sincerely hope De Visscher is in tonights starting eleven.

1. Tonight should be a laugh. I would propose we go 3 at the back, given our lack of defenders avaliable. Something like this: ----------------------Langfield------------------- Considine-------------Diamond---------Macnamara De Visscher---Nicholson------Seve----------Aluko -----------------------Smith--------------------- -----------Miller----------------Lovell------------- 2. Is Jimmy Calderwood incapable of looking past "local lads who are out of contract" or players he's managed in the past when it comes to transfer targets. We need an experienced center half, but does Jimmy have to be so short fucking sighted?!!?! I laughed when Dundee United brought in Darren Dods, but in hindsight, we've been crying out for someone like that to play alongside Diamond this season.

In real life maybe. Attention seeking on internet messageboards however, not so much.

oops - edited. I knew what i meant...

We'll scrape a win against Falkirk in the scottish cup. All depends on the draw provided we beat hamilton in the next round so impossible to predict. We'll get beaten by Dundee United in the CIS semi as Calderwood seems incapable of sussing out Craig Levein's teams (our home game a couple of months ago aside, our record and displays against united are both completely shit.) We'll get beaten by Bayern Munich at home and away. If our defence stays as it is at the moment then it'll be a rugby score. The league is too open to predict IMO. Top six, but given some of our displays and our away form i'm not even sure of that justnow. I'm normally quite an optomistic wee soul, but i think saturday has sapped me of a lot of that...

To be fair, you deserve every one of them...

Aye - all very well and good, but i don't think we'd ever hear of Calderwood coming out and saying this about one of his "favourites". Lovell from what i hear, is a very quiet guy who keeps himself to himself. He probably is getting singled out for attention because he doesn't go balancing buckets of water over the changing room door on a daily basis. And yes, one up front is a farce. That aside, these things should be done behind closed doors anyway.