I'm slaving away trying to come up with a greatest Scottish league XI for the The Away End's current search for the best of the best.
I've actually already had my vote but now I've been asked to put something down in writing and I find myself with too many names, too many options.
Should I only vote for players I've seen?

If you've got a moment or two to spare might I point you in the direction of The Away End?
They're on the lookout for the 100 greatest Scottish league players of all time.
That is the best players - of all nationalities - to have graced league football in Scotland over the decades.

Outrage reigned last month when the idea of removing promotion and relegation from England's top flight was discussed.
The Guardian reported Richard Bevan, chief executive of the League Managers Association, as saying:
"There are a number of overseas-owned clubs already talking about bringing about the avoidance of promotion and relegation in the Premier League, If we have four or five more new owners, that could happen.

One of the saddest parts of modern football is the way in which the non-Premier League divisions have been neglected and forgotten by the mainstream media. Take a look through some old cigarette card collections or the wonderful Football League Review magazine and you'll find that although not necessarily billed as equals with First Division clubs, many of the smaller lower league sides were included and covered alongside many of the giants of English football.

$2 million for a Summer of Soccer in 1960: several decades before Soccer United Marketing and others figured out the value of bringing Europe's best teams to play in North America during their summer breaks, New Yorker Bill Cox had already given it quite a shot with the International Soccer League.

Scottish Premier League side Hibernian FC has launched a special edition shirt to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of its 1991 Scottish League or Skol Cup win. According to the Hibs website: To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of our famous League Cup victory, Hibernian have today launched a special Skol Cup tribute shirt.

*We might be marveling at the brilliance of Barcelona every time the blaugrana grace the field, and shake our heads at the bottomless bank account of Real Madrid, but the Spanish league is as absurdly top-heavy and devalued as the Scottish league.
The two giants won 5-0 and 6-0 respectively on the opening day of the Spanish season, leaving Villareal president Fernando Roig to exclaim in anguish, "It's a third-world league in which two clubs are sapping the TV money.

Glasgow Rangers has grabbed the unofficial title of Team America on Wednesday after making U.S. national team captain the second American to sign with the Scottish club champions on Wednesday.

Bocanegra joins Rangers via transfer from St. Etientte, and could be in action as soon as Thursday.

Lightning indeed strikes twice in the same spot, but this still remains a less reliable proposition than seeing the Old Firm finishing one on top of another in any given Scottish Premiership season. Despite this, the engagement of a new campaign in the Scottish top flight prompts enough questions in need of answering that makes the competition worth a mention.

The St. Louis Lions, currently in their sixth season in the USL's Premier Development League (PDL), officially announced today that the organization has reached an agreement to affiliate with iconic Glasgow club Celtic F. C.

The Lions are the top of the pyramid formed by the Tony Glavin Soccer Club (youth programs) and the Lions Elite Academy (boys U-13, U-14 and U-15).

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.

And he's cheaper than Bebe Scottish League Two side Stirling Albion have signed a member of the Scotland Homeless World Cup on a one-year deal. The club snapped up full-back Sean Lawrence (pictured, bottom left) after he impressed in a trial on 4 June. He was one of more than 30 trialists who attended the [.

Forster returns to Newcastle United and Pardew has a swipe at Scotland. Fraser Forster is set to return to Newcastle after spending the season in the SPL on loan to Celtic. Pardew took the opportunity to engage in a little Scottish league bashing whilst commenting upon Forster's return: "I think he's coming back to a [.

Heart of Midlothian FC (most commonly referred to as Hearts FC) is a soccer club from Edinburgh, Scotland currently campaigning in the Scottish Premier League. Hearts is one of the two principal clubs in the city along Hibernian. Hearts have won the League title four times, the Scottish Cup on seven occasions, and the Scottish League [.

Word out of Scotland this morning suggests that the old idea of a British League Cup, which would pit English and Scottish League clubs against each other in a Cup style tournament, has been raised again amongst a restructuring plan to take Scottish football forward to the next level. Part of a wider plan for improvement, it certainly perks the interest of many club owners who are desperate to maximise revenues at a time when Scottish football in particular, is struggling to survive financially.

Hibernian have completed the signing of Icelandic youngster Victor Palsson on an 18-month contract from Liverpool.
Skysports.com revealed earlier this week that the 19-year-old midfielder was set to join Hibs after failing to make the breakthrough at Liverpool.
He made three appearances on loan at Dagenham & Redbridge back in November and Palsson is looking forward to his opportunity at Easter Road.

A few notes from this weekend's matches featuring some MNT players across the pond in Europe:
- It's a top three clash in Germany on Friday night, with Steve Cherundolo and Hannover taking on Bayer Leverkusen.
- The FA Cup resumes in England this weekend, with some big matchups for MNT players still in the knockout tournament.

According to this article in the Daily Record, Thai Port have signed Scottish midfielder Steven Robb. The 28 year old has made over 150 appearances in the Scottish League for Dundee, Dundee United, Raith Rovers and St Mirren. Welcome to the Thai Port, Steven!


EX-ST MIRREN STAR STEVEN ROBB CLINCHES DEAL WITH THAI PORT
Jan 13 2011 By Euan McArthur
FORMER St Mirren winger Steven Robb last night revealed he has been the butt of jokes after deciding to move to Asian outfit Thai Port.

Uuuuf - as the Spanish say. In the Riazor stadium (A Coruña) on Saturday night, a lone banner required Deportivo to put up some manly resistance to the might of the visiting Barcelona, so that La Liga would not be converted into 'The Scottish League' [sic - sort of], but it only took David Villa twenty-five minutes to put paid to that idea (the resistance).

Finally the SPL enjoys some time in the European spotlight.
The picture above is apparently of a banner unveiled by the Deportivo La Coruna fans on Saturday night as their team lost 4-0 at home to Barcelona.
A protest against the unfair distribution of TV revenues and the dominance of two clubs, the message is simple:
"We do not want another Scottish league.