Scottish Football Discussion Thread 2010/11 Options

[The Cum Doctor]

Amazingly there IS a reason to start this.

League Cup Draw

Dundee -v- Montrose
Elgin City -v- Ayr United
Dunfermline Athletic -v- Arbroath
Annan Athletic -v- Partick Thistle
Stirling Albion -v- Forfar Athletic
Albion Rovers -v- Airdrie United
Ross County -v- Livingston
Stenhousemuir -v- Brechin City
Raith Rovers -v- East Fife
Clyde -v- Cowdenbeath
Peterhead -v- Berwick Rangers
Stranraer -v- Morton
Queen of the South -v- Dumbarton
East Stirlingshire -v- Alloa Athletic
Inverness Caledonian Thistle -v- Queen's Park

Challenge Cup Draw

North/East Draw

Dunfermline Athletic -v- Arbroath
Peterhead -v- Montrose
Stirling Albion -v- Falkirk
Elgin City -v- Ross County
Raith Rovers -v- Cowdenbeath
Dundee -v- Alloa Athletic
East Fife -v- Brechin City

Bye: Forfar Athletic

South/West Draw

Partick Thistle -v- Clyde
Queen of the South -v- Albion Rovers
Dumbarton -v- Morton
Airdrie United -v- Ayr United
Stranraer -v- East Stirlingshire
Stenhousemuir -v- Annan Athletic
Queen's Park -v- Livingston

Bye: Berwick Rangers

Right, formalities out of the way.

Lennon new Celtic manager.

Smith with Rangers. McCoist and McDowall next season.

St. Mirren are shite.

I think I've got it all covered.

[gary v1]

A very tasty Thistle vs Clyde draw there in the Challenge Cup. Obviously we'll get a doing though.

[The Cum Doctor]

Kevin Kyle is close to agreeing a two-year deal with Hearts, having undergone a medical at Tynecastle.

The 28-year-old striker is available under freedom of contract after an 18-month spell with Kilmarnock.

Hearts manager Jim Jefferies was the man to bring Kyle, capped 10 times for Scotland, to Rugby Park.

Aberdeen had been keen on the tall target man, who scored 10 goals last season, while Brentford and Charlton had also expressed an interest.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ian/8719517.stm

Could be a good signing if JJ can get the sort of form out of him that he showed at the end of his first season, but his form since then really hasn't been good enough.

Celtic have also made a £1.5m bid for Liam Lawrence. Would be funny if McGeady got kept out by him for both Ireland AND Celtic.

[bAzTNM#1]

Celtic have announced Neil Lennon will be their new manager. Finland coach, Stuart Baxter, will act in an advisory capacity. Lennon will be unveiled at 11am at Celtic Park. So stay away from there, if you're driving.

This post has been edited by bAzTNM#1: Jun 9 2010, 7:24

[David]

Motherwell have signed Airdrie 'keeper Lee Hollis on a free, and have lined up friendly games with Brechin, Forfar and Ayr United.

Also;

The full set of new SPL fixtures will be released in 2 weeks time, however the opening day fixtures have been sent off to the ESPN and Sky well in advance. (so they can choose which matches to broadcast live), so here are the opening SPL fixtures of season 2010/11, I got this information from a friend who works at Sky.

Dundee United v Kilmarnock

Hamilton Academical v Celtic

Heart of Midlothian v Aberdeen

Inverness CT v Motherwell

Rangers v Hibernian

St Mirren v St Johnstone

Caley Thistle away in our first game then.

Easy three points there.

[bAzTNM#1]

Don't think that fixture list is quite right there David. Here is the SPL fixtures..

Saturday, 14 August

Aberdeen v Hamilton
Hearts v St Johnstone
Inverness CT v Celtic
Motherwell v Hibernian
Rangers v Kilmarnock
St Mirren v Dundee Utd

Saturday, 21 August 2010

Celtic v St Mirren
Hamilton v Hearts
Hibernian v Rangers
Kilmarnock v Motherwell
St Johnstone v Aberdeen

Sunday, 22 August 2010

Dundee Utd v Inverness CT

Saturday, 28 August 2010

Aberdeen v Kilmarnock
Inverness CT v Hamilton
Motherwell v Celtic
Rangers v St Johnstone
St Mirren v Hibernian

Sunday, 29 August 2010

Hearts v Dundee Utd

Celtic are at home for the Old Firm derbies on 23 October and 19 February, with Rangers at home on New Year's Day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/s...rem/8739842.stm

This post has been edited by bAzTNM#1: Jun 17 2010, 9:52

[Jambo]

Dundee for the fifth season in a row are on a massive away trip on Boxing Day. Dumfries, County, Dumfries, Inverness and Dumfries AGAIN this year. DOn't get me wrong, I quite enjoy a a jolly on Boxing Day, but another 4 hour trip is a piss take.

[martyngnr]

Hamilton away on the Wednesday between Xmas and New Year. Thanks for nothing once again. The SPL is truly hopeless.

[The Cum Doctor]

Stirling at home. Intriguing stuff. Got them last day of the season as well. No game on ICW weekend is good.

[Chaka Demus]

Hamilton away on the Wednesday between Xmas and New Year. Thanks for nothing once again. The SPL is truly hopeless.

Thanks for nothing? You've had us at home during the Christmas period at least a couple of times over the last few years. We can't buy a win up there. Well we can't buy anything but you get what I mean.

[martyngnr]

Hamilton away on the Wednesday between Xmas and New Year. Thanks for nothing once again. The SPL is truly hopeless.

Thanks for nothing? You've had us at home during the Christmas period at least a couple of times over the last few years. We can't buy a win up there. Well we can't buy anything but you get what I mean.

And it's shite for all fans involved. By the same token Kilmarnock are away at Caley the same night. I don't exactly enjoy the drive to Inverness but surely a slight bit of fixture-juggling could have been done.
At least the New Year game is at Dundee Utd again this year.

Seeing as Rangers are up here at least twice next season we will be extremely thankful for the 6 points!

[bAzTNM#1]

That's a reasonably easy first three games for the Old Firm. That home game for the Gers against Hibernian might be tough, but all the rest look perfectly winnable. Happy with that, for both sides.

[Dingbat]

Couple of wee tidbits piqued my interest in today's BBC Scottish football gossip column:

Scotland coach Craig Levein will ask his squad if they want to use the controversial Jabulani ball or another made by sponsors Adidas in their European qualifying campaign. (Sunday Mail)

Personally, if the players can get used to it then I say why not? Might give us an advantage against the other teams in the group who haven't used it. It was used in the Scottish Cup semis and final last year with no complaints or whining, so why not give us a chance if this Jabulani is as bad as everyone says?

Arsenal centre-back Sol Campbell is mulling over two offers - a one-year contract extension with the Gunners and a two-year deal with Celtic.

The Gunners will also attempt to sign Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra once Algeria exit the World Cup finals. (Sunday Express)

As a Rangers fan, I would take a few quid for Bougherra. He's good but complacent, and thinks he's better than the SPL - which is fine, he probably is, but it shows and he can occasionally get caught when attempting to be too adventurous. In the league we're in, the financial state we're in and just generally in the long run, Webster and Wilson might be a better pairing for us next season, with Weir and *gulp* Broadfoot as backup. As for Campbell, I was under the impression Arsenal were releasing him anyway, and if they do plan to bring Boughy in then Sol probably should go to Celtic. I just hope he doesn't!

Rangers owner Sir David Murray rejected Andrew Ellis's takeover bid because the English businessman had enough money to buy the club but not enough to transform it. (Sunday Times)

Wouldn't surprise me at all. The entire Ellis saga had me worried - the club isn't going to be sold any time soon but at least we will have a bit of stability back, with no vital players having left and us apparently having some limited money to spend. Could be alright.

This post has been edited by Dingbat: Jun 20 2010, 23:45

[FUM]

If Craig Levein isn't the manager of either Celtic or Rangers next season i'll eat everyone's hats.

[David]

It's still early yet!