So Lee McCulloch is free to play for Rangers tonight.
How can that be? Wasn't he red carded against St Mirren on Saturday?
That he was. For flinging an elbow. I've seen more heinous crimes on a football pitch. But I'd also say that the red card was justified.
Opinions, of course, are like certain anatomical features.

So Lee McCulloch is free to play for Rangers tonight.
How can that be? Wasn't he red carded against St Mirren on Saturday?
That he was. For flinging an elbow. I've seen more heinous crimes on a football pitch. But I'd also say that the red card was justified.
Opinions, of course, are like certain anatomical features.

Sone Aluko got banned for diving.
Garry O'Connor got away with diving.
Ergo the new disciplinary procedures in place at the SFA are ridiculous and hellbent on making a mockery of the Scottish game. At best.
At worst the new procedures have been all but designed to penalise one team above others.

Sone Aluko got banned for diving.
Garry O'Connor got away with diving.
Ergo the new disciplinary procedures in place at the SFA are ridiculous and hellbent on making a mockery of the Scottish game. At best.
At worst the new procedures have been all but designed to penalise one team above others.

A quarter of the way through. The Red Bull is on ice. And I hope you all had a successful day football watching. Or, at the very least, a not too depressing today.
@Hibernitoon came up with this one on Twitter: Should football be an Olympic sport?
Team GB - and that's a ridiculous name that really gets on my nerves - aren't a big part of this argument.

It's post two of 24. Read, enjoy, debate, donate.
Massive thanks to @BarcelonaNil for the suggestion here.
Foreigners have ruined our game coming across here with their wage demands, their dislike of wet Wednesday nights at Central Park, their blatterish ways.
Nonsense.

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.

That was that then.
A blessing, perhaps, that our agony wasn't prolonged. As Spain attempted to pass Scotland to death in Alicante, Czech Republic had already gone ahead in Lithuania.
When David Silva scored Spain's opener inside six minutes the game was up.
Not the agony of past failures when Scotland have teased us into believing before tripping over their own inadequacies at the final hurdle.

Scottish Football Association have unveiled the brand Scotland 2011/13 home kit. According to the SFA website: The traditional dark indigo colour with hallmark adidas white three stripes has been proudly retained, but the shirt features an array of design innovations. The Badge The new kit crest pays homage to the round badge used on the [.

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Another week, another blatant act of deliberate, cynical cheating. This time the unapologetic offender was the Czech Republic's Jan Rezek, who robbed Scotland of a Euro 2012 qualification game victory after diving to win a penalty in the 88th minute.
Diving is always wrong but what makes some worse than others is when the perpetrator admits it afterwards and shows absolutely no remorse, which is precisely what Rezek did in this situation.

Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam has pulled out of Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Lithuania due to a hip injury, the Scottish Football Association has announced.
Adam picked up the knock during Saturday's 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic at Hampden Park and was forced off the pitch in the 79th minute.

Scotland suffer Adam blow

Scotland's Charlie Adam has been ruled out of Tuesday's Euro qualifier against Lithuania due to a hip injury, the SFA have announced.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2011-09-04 23:14:44 from: Sky Sports

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Rangers crash out of the Champion's League and the chants of "Super Ally" begin to stick in the throats of the faithful.
Ridiculous in the extreme that a new manager should be judged on the basis of four games of competitive football - only one of which ended in defeat.
But life in the Old Firm is a life full of extremes and a life that's often ridiculous.

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 Scottish, Welsh and Irish FAs have denied claims from the British Olympic Association (BOA) that an "historic agreement" for a Great Britain Olympic football side was now in place.

The BOA said this "historic agreement" had been reached with the English Football Association over fielding teams at the 2012 Games.

Rumbling along quietly along in the background, the ongoing argument over whether a Great Britain team should take part in the 2012 London Olympics has been one of the slow-burning debates within British football over the last half-decade or so, but this debate ignited this afternoon after a series of statements, made in turn by the British Olympic Association, the Football Association, the Scottish Football Association and the Football Association of Wales, which already seems likely to turn into a full-blown argument.

When I were a lad summer was a very different beast.
Inspired by Seve we'd take to the fairways, dedicated to mastering the Royal and Ancient game well enough to give Nick Faldo the beating he so richly deserved.
We'd take to the tennis court to out boom-boom Boris Becker.
Football would take a back seat, save for the odd snippet of transfer gossip and the release of the official squad photograph, never fully complete without a sprinkling of mullets and a selection of ill advised moustaches.

"There was an overwhelming desire to follow and be led. There was a real desire among the members for someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and say 'let's change'.
"There was a recognition that we needed to do things differently and there was a real frustration and dissatisfaction with how we were.

"There was an overwhelming desire to follow and be led. There was a real desire among the members for someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and say 'let's change'.
"There was a recognition that we needed to do things differently and there was a real frustration and dissatisfaction with how we were.

Like EastEnders or Coronation Street going on a summer break to Spain, Blackpool or Ireland, the footballing soap opera has upped sticks for the summer.
A cast of thousands, a few suitably over the top villians, a couple of unlikely characters attempting to play the hero and subplots aplenty.

When Ernie Walker was in charge of the SFA everything in the world was perfect.
Obviously it wasn't.
But when I were a lad and Ernie ruled the roost Scotland qualified for World Cups. All the time. Five qualifications in a row he presided over.
Ah, to be back in the day for just one shining moment of optimism.

"It could be a stoater."
That's how I signed off my preview of tonight's Hearts v Celtic game.
We got a rather one sided 3-0 win for Celtic. We got two red cards as the referee stuck rigidly to the letter of the law.
And, above it all, we got someone from a home section of Tynecastle trying to attack Neil Lennon.

A leadership entirely out of touch with the needs of the consumer.
A belligerent refusal to listen to any sort of reason.
An arrogant belief that it doesn't matter how badly you build it, they'll come anyway. Because, hey, that's what they've always done.
A fixation with how things are done "down south" with no apparent realisation that Scotland's experience and England's experience no longer bear direct comparison.

A leadership entirely out of touch with the needs of the consumer.
A belligerent refusal to listen to any sort of reason.
An arrogant belief that it doesn't matter how badly you build it, they'll come anyway. Because, hey, that's what they've always done.
A fixation with how things are done "down south" with no apparent realisation that Scotland's experience and England's experience no longer bear direct comparison.

The SPL's dream of a ten team top league seems ever further away after Dundee United's board confirmed their decision to vote against the proposal.
United chairman Stephen Thompson said:
"We had a board meeting today and as far as we're concerned we're unconvinced that this is the way forward for Scottish football.

The main hazard attached to stridency of opinion is that you are often wrong. Sometimes, my success rate is in line with a stopped clock. And it appears my suggestion that Celtic were more sinned against than sinner in their recent Scottish Cup victory over Rangers was wide of the mark. The Scottish Football Association's disciplinary process has found Celtic manager Neil Lennon to be primarily responsible for the disgraceful scenes during and after the match, scenes that were so shameful they needed a Scottish government summit to sort out.

Scotland officials have denied Brazilian forward Neymar was the victim of racist abuse during the friendly match between the two teams at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Neymar told reporters after the game that a banana was thrown on the pitch in his direction and that he was the target for racist chants during Brazil's 2-0 victory over Craig Levein's side.

For whatever reason, Michel Platini celebrated four more years at the helm of UEFA by pointing to his teeth, which he's apparently quite proud of. They could probably use a touch of whitening, even if it's nice to have the head of an acronym who isn't wholly concerned with the appearance of matters.

I mentioned the other week that I'd been invited to the SFA Grassroots Awards dinner at Hampden. Strange as it may seem the point of the evening was not actually to give me a free feed.
In fact a number of our game's unsung heroes were honoured. So I'm indebted to Steven at event sponsor's McDonald's for providing some info on each of the winners.

To Hampden last night, tuxedo-ed up and on best behaviour.
The SFA Grassroots Awards presented by McDonald's and The Sunday Mail.
Easy to be dismissive of the SFA and it's a target I'm loathe not to take a kick at when I think they deserve it.
Obviously problems with the development of young players persist.

Time to ask for forgiveness? Apologise for being a doubter? Time to all hail, hail Neil Lennon?
Back in December I predicted that Lennon's reign as Celtic manager was facing a January of intense scrutiny, a month that could shape the destiny of his managerial career:
"I wrote after the Old Firm game that Lennon was displaying a worrying habit of losing big games as manager.

CELTIC boss Neil Lennon could find himself in even deeper trouble, after he made further comments about refereeing decisions in the aftermath of Wednesday night's draw with bottom club, Hamilton.

In an ill tempered match, three players were sent off as Celtic left it late to secure a point.

Revolution not Evolution? How to reform Scottish football is a post from: Just Football

Rangers, Celtic, Rangers, Celtic. Is it time for serious structural reform in Scottish football? William Heaney takes us through the options.

Scottish football has a history of missing opportunities and shooting itself in the foot.

Dearie me. Just when you thought we'd all recovered our equilibrium along comes another furore, threatening to turn into a Scottish football civil war.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been hit with a six match ban for losing the rag at Tynecastle after his team were denied what appeared to be a fairly blatant penalty and Joe Ledley was sent off in a 2-0 defeat to Hearts.

Dearie me. Just when you thought we'd all recovered our equilibrium along comes another furore, threatening to turn into a Scottish football civil war.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been hit with a six match ban for losing the rag at Tynecastle after his team were denied what appeared to be a fairly blatant penalty and Joe Ledley was sent off in a 2-0 defeat to Hearts.

Update: Between writing and posting this the English FA seem to have announced that a 2013 home international tournament would be a one off to celebrate their 150th anniversary. Ah, well. Still think I'm right.
And so the home internationals might be on the verge of a return thanks to the money of Vauxhall.