International week again, which should keep those who don’t like football happy.

Scotland are playing England on Friday night, and whoever thought of that one needs a kick in the goolies, as by the time everyones seen the game, had a few beers and kicked each others heads in London and elsewhere, there’ll be calls for the game to be played a two oclock on a tuesday morning, but live on tv behind closed doors.  ( Viewers in Scotland will have their own programme. )

Although because its the mother coountry Scotland are playing, its live on STV, who are proclaiming it as thpough they thought of it and are showing Sctland, whereas in fact its ITV showing England who just happen to be playing Scotland.

Martin Tyler and Brian Moore will probably be commentating, which at least is a change from Neil McCann.

McCann actually did say that “rangers ” have dominated all their games this season, except for the ones against Celtic, whilst covering the Ross County game on Sunday, proving beyond all doubt that he does watch the games, but doesn’t actually understand whats going on.

The point gained by the Ibrox side in  a 1-1 draw will go towards chipping away at Celtics lead, but presumably no one has explained to the Ibrox club the the current Celtic tally is not the final one, like in cricket when one side is so far ahead they “declare “, and the hoops will actually be adding to what they already have, by roughly three tomes what the Ibrox cavaliers can manage.

There was no diary yesterday, by the way, as I went up to the hospital in the morning to see which bits the doctors would let me keep and which bits they would re[place, but they have decided to wait as the pain has subsded, meaning the disc, which according to the x ray protrudes about halfway into the spinal cord and therefore nerves, may well have popped back in.

Or it could be the tramadol, so by removing the tramadol slowly, they’ll be able to tell.

Clever blokes doctors. Cleverer than me, at any rate.

Last night, the Lennon CSc held its monthly meeting and Lou Macari, former Celtic player and manager, came along as we were discussing the next stage of getting involved in doing what we can to help with his centre for the homeless in Stoke on Trent

Theres a video of the opening of the centre here..

opening-of-the-macari-centre

One of our first tasks will be to set up a justgiving type page where people can donate towards the costs of the centre, which due to a lack of council support is now entirely self funding.

I won’t be helping with that as apparently I’ve made an arse of our CSC  facebook page and on no account am to be allowed anywhere near any such project again, but I am useful if anyone needs a lift.

After other club business, the evening became a walk down memory lane for Lou, as he told many tales of his time at Celtic as a player, his move to Manchester United and his time with the Scotland squad, which used to have some decent players.

It made for very interesting listening, and the tales of life under Stein and Fallon kept us so enthralled we hardly had anything to drink. A first for our club, though its not unusual to see a reluctance to go to the bar, this time nobody was bothered.

Macari has agreed to do a podcast with us, which we’ll sort out soon, and although initially I was interested in his time as a manager, which has hardly been spoken of since, there is little doubt we won’t get beyond his playing days.

Ever wondered why players get so many injuries these days ?

They’re not fit, and they are delicate, sensitive wee souls who don’t need to play every week to pay the mortgage.

Sounds about right if you ask me.

Just the same as you or i will battle to work if we’ve a cold or a dodgy back because we have to, as soon as these guys get a twingy metatarsal, the made up name for one of the bones somewhere near , or in, your foot, its a fortnight off and a couple of weeks convalescence.

One or two do suffer serious injuries, of course, but by and large the increased diagnostic technology these days makes these wee things easier to spot, and because the win bonus isn’t an essential part of a players domestic economy, then he can afford a wee break.

Some, of course, have got it off to an art form, such as Derk Boerrigter, the only player to complain of sunstroke while living in Glasgow.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch Celtic are among the favourites to sign Steven Gerrard, a promising youth player from Liverpool. At just 38 years old, he is tipped to have a great future in the game, and has worked with Brendan Rodgers before, when he was much younger in his early thirties.

Mikael Lustig has withdrawn from the Swedish international squad after he picked up a foot injury in the 3-0 win over Inverness.

“Sorry, I will not being going, I’ll be staying at home in Glasgow. I did a have a scan which showed nothing serious, but it’s bad enough that I can’t play for seven to ten days, 

The SFA have some European money to allocate, for those of you who are researchers..

In 2015, UEFA launched a special edition of the Research Grant Programme to support projects developed for, and in conjunction with, its member associations.

Following on from the success of this initiative, UEFA has retained the same format for this year’s award. 

The UEFA Research Grant Programme was created to support the work of researchers studying for or already holding a PhD and analysing European football from the perspective of a variety of academic disciplines.

The Scottish FA is keen to support further academic pursuits and are seeking interested parties from academic institutions in Scotland to submit potential projects for consideration by our Research Committee. 

The Scottish FA are keen to hear from researchers regarding projects in the following areas:
 
1.     Equality and Diversity
2.     Bridging the gap between academy and first team football
3.     Benefits of football within the wider community
 
Interested parties are asked to refer to the following process:

– Submission of an expression of interest by the 11th November 2016. This should be submitted to: research@scottishfa.co.uk
– Submission of a 2-page summary by the 9th December 2016. 

This document should be sent to: research@scottishfa.co.uk and include the following:

– Brief outline of the project
– Proposed methodology
– Suggested timeline
– Status of ethical approval

The Scottish FA research committee will consider the initial applications. Successful applicants will be notified prior to Christmas. The projects identified will then be subject to the UEFA application process.

Final submission to UEFA is the 31st of March 2017. 

Perhaps someone could look into the benefits of football in the wider community by the en-mass resignation of the SFA. Though you’d have to word the study “All The Great Things The SFA do. ” and just conclude that there aren’t any.

Regan, head of the SFA despite his lack of ability, wonders of a negative psyche is to blame..

“Ultimately when there is someone to blame, it is usually myself,” 

I may be on the point of spotting the reason for that.

I don’t mind that, it comes with the territory. It can be wearing personally at times.

“There are enormous highs and huge lows. I think the national manager feels the same emotional rollercoaster. The difference in attitude and opinion towards the same group of players can be vast. 

Aye, some think they’re crap, and others think they’re really crap.

“I still find it an incredibly negative environment at times.

I don’t know whether it is part of the Scottish psyche, whether there is so much demand and expectation that when things don’t happen, people feel really negative.

I find it very surprising. When I sit at Uefa and talk to colleagues they find it surprising that there is so much negativity in the Scottish media around the national sport.”

If only there was a grant available and I could do a wee bit of research into why Scottish football has a negative aura surrounding it..

For those of you in Fife, and of a certain age, have a look at this appeal.

If you can help, please do.

The written media continue to help deflect the flak froma piss poor ibrox side, who really need to rack up a few points from their “easier “games if they are to qualify for Europe without SFA interference, and the failure to win in dingwall was fully explained by under pressure rookie manager Mark Warburton

Yes, he was. By his own player.

Barrie Mackay, the latest superstar to roll off the conveyer belt at Auchenhowie, and favourite to be sold to keep the lights on this winter, added..

McKay warns Rangers player could suffer a serious injury due to “dangerous” play of Premiership rivals

Or tackling, to give it the proper technical term.

And that doesn’t account for the poor performance referee Andrew Dallas, who despite at least one glaring hnest mistake, may now find himself dropped from the “rangers ” squad as he didn’t give them a penalty and on ly added on five extra minutes at the end of the game.

There were more giggles when this tweet started doing the rouns, hinting at even more financial woes on the other side of the river..

Surely they sold enough tickets to cover it, or did the support know it wouldn’t pay out ?

Sundays caption, this one, has been explained..with an astonishing amount of foresight, and when this fellow puts his lottery on today, i’ll be looking over his shoulder at the numbers…

Brian (not the messiah) November 7, 2016 at 3:40 pm · Edit · Reply 

Caption(winner) (well feck if raplh can vote for himself!!!)

Mike Ashely reveals the real name of rangers to the youth team and joey barton  

Oh, and by the way, you’ll notice all the wee arguing posts are gone now.  There’s a hint..Seventy Four comments chopped, and another half an hour I won’t get back.

Today, we’ve already mentioned how clever the mediacla men are, i wonder if there’s one out there who can explain this…