A week away from the blog.
I'd like to explain my absence with exciting tales of derring do. But I can't. The most excitement I got was watching Hibs beat Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup, nailbiting to the end.
No, I've been away largely because I couldn't be arsed for the last week.

Falkirk face Celtic in a semi-final knowing that Kilmarnock lie in wait in the final.
It's the 1997 Scottish Cup all over again. History doesn't repeat itself, does it?
Mind you, Falkirk don't have the best of records in the league cup. They qualified for the second final back in 1947/48 and promptly lost 4-1 in a replay against Second Division East Fife.

Fare ye weel, Davie Weir.
The Scottish Football Blog has often been facetious about the Methuselah of Scottish football.
Unfair that. Davie Weir was playing at the highest level in Scotland in his 40s and I'm often too lazy to play dominoes in my 30s.
Perhaps unsurprisingly Weir and Rangers will part company this week.

A January weekend to cast off the shackles of league pressure and revel in the romance of what is, at this stage, the most egalitarian of our competitions.
A Scottish Cup weekend. Breathe in the fresh air of potential shocks and brace yourself butchers, bakers and candlestick makers making SPL defences look like part-time amateurs.

Day nine of the SPL Advent. Motherwell, the success story of the season so far.
What were we to expect from Motherwell this SPL season?
Stuart McCall's arrival to replace Craig Brown raised more of a shrug of the shoulders than a cheer last season.
But he impressed in taking the team to the Scottish Cup final, an achievement that raised intriguing possibilities about how he'd fare with a close season behind him.

My dad is certainly two things, he is a Glaswegian, and he is a football fan. Nothing strange I know, but his club of choice baffles some, he comes from a family of Celtic fans, but for some reason in the 1960′s he adopted Clyde as his team. This rubbed off on me, and along with my brother we all follow the Bully Wee as well as Newcastle.

Pat Fenlon finds himself in the Hibernian trenches for the first time this evening.
Another SPL Friday night experiment as Hibs take a trip to Motherwell.
Perhaps I'm guilty of misreading his intent but my impression was that Henry McLeish had suggested Friday night football as a way of reinvigorating the lower leagues.

Hibs welcome Pat Fenlon as their new manager.
His task, which he's chosen to accept, involves performing miracles with a squad of Highland dancers.
He's the fifth non-Scottish manager of Hibs.
Following in the footsteps of Mixu Paatelainen, Tony Mowbray and Franck Sauzee.

Per the offal: "Fulham FC can confirm that Keanu Marsh Brown has today left the Club by mutual consent."

Never played a minute for the first team, but was on the bench for those memorable wins over Shaktar, Juventus; a few other random Europa Games. Had a pretty productive spell at MK Dons the second-half of last season, and even played a part in the Dons' playoff run.

The Homeless World Cup and Alzheimer Scotland. Two charities doing fantastic work. You know the donation drill.
Penultimate post time.
A suggestion from @theftblproject just minutes ago planted the seed for this post.
His Tweet read:
"In your very first post you wrote "Maybe Mr Romanov knows where this is going" - Five years on, does he?

As I mentioned in the last hour I've been bowled over by the support I've got from tweetsport.co.uk
So it's a real treat to welcome Eilidh Donaldson of that parish as our final guest debater of the Scottish Football Blog blogathon.
Thanks again Eilidh - @tweetsportcouk
What a way to welcome Sunday's daylight.

Sort of feels like the final furlong.
And who better to join us, at this early hour, than Stewart Weir?
Stewart's seen it all in his long and distinguished career. And that includes some great Scottish footballing moments. And a fair few bad ones.
His weekly take on the world of sport can be found every week at Caledonian Mercury
Follow him @sweirz
First up a massive thank you to Stewart.

A perfect 10. Or an imperfect 10. But I hope you're enjoying this so far.
So @sweirz has set me this challenge on Twitter:
A Scotland international XI made up of players that have never played for the Old Firm. And no Anglos.
So Scotland players drawn exclusively from non-Old Firm Scottish clubs.

Despite the ubiquity of mobile phone cameras, there doesn't seem to be an equal growth in the number of mediums who know when to flick on the record button as something big is going to happen in the next five seconds.

No medium was apparently on hand for a Scottish Cup match which has landed one angry soul a fourteen game suspension.

After two successful seasons together in Carolina, Paul Ritchie knows what Martin Rennie is thinking, and when he's thinking it.
That chemistry is now at the core of the Vancouver Whitecaps' coaching staff. Ritchie was welcomed as Rennie's first assistant on Thursday, the second day of an eight-day mini-camp at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex.

Saturday saw me return to the snooker table for the first time in years.
The results might generously have been described as mixed. But I was always rubbish at snooker.
Incompetence is permanent.
So, we are often told, is class. Saturday offered a chance to put that to the test.

By Chris Wright

Chances are you weren't keeping track of the second round of the William Hill Scottish Cup yesterday, but Auchinleck Talbot thrashed Threave Rovers 8-1 a pasting that was so comprehensive even Talbot's goalkeeper Andy Leishman got his name on the scoresheet, from all of 90 yards.

Edinburgh City v Irvine Meadow in the Scottish Cup today.
And, it seems, a City debut for Russell Latapy.
A remarkable signing. A union, fittingly, sealed in an Edinburgh nightclub.
Follow @scotfootblog for updates from the game.
Donate to the Scottish Football Blog Blogathon, 19 November 2011

An odd thing happened to the prediction that Celtic would break the GI Joe kung-fu grip Rangers have had on the Scottish Premier League trophy the past three years. Quite simply, it appears to have been rather hastily determined based on deceptive appearances alone, or perhaps a notable disappearance from Ibrox.

After an enthralling climax to last year's Scottish Premier League, which saw elder statesmen Walter Smith's Rangers side take the title over newcomer Neil Lennon's Celtic by just a solitary point, hopes were high that this year would also be a season to remember for the Old Firm.

Lennon is in his first full seasonsecond season as the manager at Parkhead, and long-time assistant Ally McCoist has finally taken over for Smith at the Govan club.

Celtic v Udinese Highlights 1-1 Video Europa League 2011 Ki Sung-Yong goal is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Celtic v Udinese Highlights 1-1 Video Europa League 2011 Ki Sung-Yong goal is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Celtic v Udinese 2011 Score and result:- Celtic vs Udinese 1-1 ( Ki Sung-Yong/ Abdi) Parkhead- 29 September, 2011- 18.

For those that are statistically inclined, there's been a new focus on completed passes in Major League Soccer this season. Part of that is the influence of FC Barcelona, felt from the top clubs in Europe, to national teams, to rec sides that like what they see from Pep Guardiola's Barca style.
J Hutcherson writes of the continued influence of Barcelona - both on the world, and specifically on Major League Soccer.

1961. Scotland continue to just about hold their own the world stage. But not when it counts. The Sixties have dawned on the back of two chastening World Cup experiences. The decade will go on to swing but its major championships are denied a tartan tinge.
In November 1961 Scotland travel to Belgium for a World Cup qualification match against Czechoslovakia.

Completing the triangle of opening Saturday fixtures, Stuart McCall's Motherwell host Terry Butcher's Inverness.
The gameTerry Butcher says his team aren't ready. Brutal honesty or bluffing banditry? We'll find out soon enough.
Motherwell lost a Scottish Cup final in their last competitive appearance.

Part one of an entirely prejudiced, unscientific look at 12 players I'll be keeping track of in the SPL this season. Maybe not the biggest stars but a player from each team whose progress I'm interested to follow.
Steven Naismith, Rangers
Steven Naismith turns 25 this September. No longer a kid bursting with potential but a senior member of a championship winning squad with a five year contract under his belt.

Scottish Premier League 2011-12: Season Preview is a post from: Just Football

Barely has the dust settled on our 2010/11 SPL team of the season when Scotland is up and ready to do it all over again! William Heaney reports:

The whole of Europe is eagerly awaiting the new Scottish Premier League season which kicks-off on 23rd July.

Scottish Premier League 2011-12: Season Preview is a post from: Just Football

Barely has the dust settled on our 2010/11 SPL team of the season when Scotland is up and ready to do it all over again! William Heaney reports:

The whole of Europe is eagerly awaiting the new Scottish Premier League season which kicks-off on 23rd July.

Ally McCoist (right) has now taken over predecessor Walter Smith at Rangers

The Scottish Premier League (SPL) returns to action earlier than usual having been brought forward by three weeks. The feeling is that an earlier start to the season will help those clubs who are to represent Scotland in UEFA club competition be more prepared from a fitness point of view as well as make fixture congestion less likely to occur later on in the campaign.

Liverpool aim to fill the vacant left-back spot with the signing of Emilio Izaguirre from Celtic.
The Honduras international has been a revelation in the Scottish Premier League since joining the club for a fee that is officially undisclosed but reported to be no more than £600,000. Such has been his impact in the SPL that he swept the board at the player of the year awards at the end of the season despite his club only picking up the Scottish Cup.

In the not too dim and distant past I used to work for a health charity in Midlothian.
I'll admit I wasn't straight from central casting. The only way I become a poster boy for health and fitness is if you need someone to pose for the "before" section of your "before and after" pictures.
I'm not one of life's joggers, teetotallers or carrot chompers.

Liverpool are being linked with a move for ex-Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc, reports the Daily Mail.
The Polish goalkeeper, currently applying his trade with Fiorentina, earned 79 clean sheets in over 200 matches for the old firm side during a five year spell at Celtic Park.
Boruc left Celtic for Italy to become an understudy to Sebastien Frey and had to wait until November for his first start for the club.

SPL Fixtures 11-12 Opening Day 2011/2012- Rangers to face Hearts is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

SPL Fixtures 11-12 Opening Day 2011/2012- Rangers to face Hearts is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter The SPL fixtures for the 11/12 season were officially released on June 17, 2011.

It is the end, then, of another long, hard season, and perhaps now is an appropriate time to be looking at how those clubs that are owned and run by their supporters trusts this season managed to fair. As AFC Wimbledon paraded the trophy that confirmed their accession into the Football League nine years after their formation, the words of the FA's committee, that a new club in the borough would be, "not in the wider interests of football", have never sounded more hollow.

Bumper goals, international experience and the Scottish Cup 41 Points finished off top place by Blackpool and Birmingham, and were relegated. In 2005 Liverpool finished 37 points adrift, finished fifth (and won Champions League) 2 – Number of teams playing in the Championship next season and in Europe.

The curtain comes down on domestic football for another season.
Yesterday's Scottish Cup will not perhaps be long remembered as a classic. Celtic too often seemed unable to click through the gears, that lent long periods of the game a scrappiness that seemed to offer Motherwell their best hope.

Fraser Forster was in the Celtic side who won the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park yesterday when they beat Motherwell 3-0. Fraser Forster - will get his chance in summer But Alan Pardew has come out today and said that Newcastle have watched Fraser all season long in Scotland, but have been disappointed with the [.

Ki Sung-Yeung's unstoppable 32th minute goal helped Celtic to their 35th Scottish Cup after beating Motherwell 3-0 at Hampden Park. Today It was Neil Lennon's first trophy success as Celtic manager and after the off field situations he's been through already this season it was a welcome success.

GLASGOW, Scotland — Neil Lennon ended a troubled first full season as Celtic manager with glory in the Scottish Cup after his side beat Motherwell 3-0 on Saturday. Ki Sung-yueng and Charlie Mulgrew scored either side of Stephen Craigan's own goal at Hampden Park. Lennon has faced death threats, had parcel bombs sent to him [.

This stunning Sung Yueng Ki goal vs Motherwell was instrumental in helping Celtic beat Well 3-0 in the final of the 2010/11 Scottish Cup. The Ki goal vs Motherwell came in the 32nd minute of the game, with the Korean unleashing a superb long range effort to break the deadlock. Ki's goal against Motherwell was [.

This stunning Sung Yueng Ki goal vs Motherwell was instrumental in helping Celtic beat Well 3-0 in the final of the 2010/11 Scottish Cup. The Ki goal vs Motherwell came in the 32nd minute of the game, with the Korean unleashing a superb long range effort to break the deadlock. Ki's goal against Motherwell was [.