ballwinningcentrehalf

In the future. He still has plenty of ability but not sure he’ll ever get the pieces together consistently to make much of a go at PL level again.

Todd Cantwell doesn’t even get in Rangers strongest lineup tbf. A player that showed plenty of promise early in his career, fell off the right path and hoped for a new lease of life in a different country. He won’t last a massive amount of time at Rangers and I’d be surprised if he ever has a career above Championship level.

I don’t think it was a terrible decision. If your foot connects with an attacking players knee you are in trouble - however I do disagree with your comment. The game should never have evolved for it to be accepted that any contact makes it okay for an attacker to go down. Something that has been exacerbated by VAR. I don’t think the contact was enough to actually impede Silva, and he’s obviously dived, but in the VAR age it’s a foul.

Because they usually skip the championship? Celtic for instance have sold Jota for big money to Saudi, Starfelt to La Liga, Juranovic and Frimpong to Germany and Ajer, Edouard and Christie to PL clubs. It’s always a tough and non-exact comparison to use though - for instance Celtic have sent a player that can’t get in their team in Mikey Johnston and he’s got 7 in 13 for West Brom! Both would be top end of the Championship, although like most clubs would struggle to compete with EPL parachute payments.

Think both sides would do fine in the Championship at least. Derby matches are always frenetic, but there is still decent enough quality in both sides. Think some people forget the standard we have to watch most weeks at City Think both Celtic and Rangers are much better sides than we are at the moment.

Wilson’s point was that McInnes signed players he knew about from Scotland, players that had largely decent careers, but they were all way past their best by the time they got to City. I can understand why McInnes went down that route - he had to slash the wage bill and hoped they had enough left in the tank to help him get through for a period, but they were all pretty poor. Most disappointing thing is that plenty of other clubs around our level (and above) have picked up decent acquisitions from Scotland over the years, and English clubs now regularly raid really decent youth talent from Scottish clubs. Hopefully our scouting north of the border has improved since then.

It’s a real shame that the club lets this sort of thing happen. Real small operation vibes from an organisation that often says it wants to be at the top. If you’ve ever organised any sort of event you’ll know that if you fail to prepare, you better be prepared to fail. Regardless of how good the intentions were, this stuff is just amateurish. We should be holding the club to a higher standard.

I heard rumours Elon wanted to rebrand the subscription as OTIB Blue, thank god TomF stepped in

The Celtic one is interesting because for me it highlights one of the massive issues at the moment - and that's the laws surrounding handball. This in combination with slow-mo VAR replays is leading to some really harsh decisions. The big thing now with handball seems to be 'the silhouette' of the player - which I understand in theory, that if a player is making themselves bigger with their arms out from their body in a deliberate manner, then it should be penalised - however the addendum of 'natural position' just seems to be completely ignored or misinterpreted. For the current lawmakers and officials, anything other than the arms/hands down by a player's side, regardless of what action he is performing, or what position his body is in, means it is an 'unnatural position' - which is just total nonsense. I think anyone that has played any sort of football knows that if you are running, or jumping, then your arms will move - and for me being penalised for handball (and booked!), when a ball is headed at your arm from a couple of yards, while your arms are swinging naturally from attempting a header, and while you are facing the other way - is a major fault in the current rules. If you look at the Dundee Utd attacker right next to the Celtic player, he's also attempted a header and his arms are in exactly the same position!

While I will bemoan decisions and officiating standards like everyone else, I’m full of sympathy for officials. Easy to see them as the enemy, but the vitriol, venom and scrutiny they face is unbelievable. Let alone the outright abuse and violence many face at amateur level. There may be a few that referee because they want to be centre of attention, but I reckon the vast majority just love the game and desperately want to be a part of it and help. I think collectively that the football world needs to expend less energy targeting the officials themselves, and more having honest conversations about how we can improve things short/medium and long term. Unfortunately, I think the level of abuse and criticism they take has created a defensive mentality from refereeing organisations, which has probably stunted the progress and development of officiating in recent generations.

Could only see the Celtic/Semenyo link being possible if Celtic's £7m deal for Jota is collapsing and he's the first choice contingency - but most reports are still pointing towards that deal being completed.

Celtic aren't spending that sort of money on anyone - let alone someone that wouldn't be straight in as first choice. Disagree that it would be a bad move for him though, plenty of players have gone through the pathway of Celtic to the EPL. That said, I don't think he needs that pathway right now, there will already be top flight clubs wanting to bring him in.

Some of the business Rangers have done in recent seasons has been ridiculous, really. Added experience like McGregor, Davis, Balogun and Arfield - and picked up the likes of Tavernier, Goldson, Bassey, Kamara, Ryan Jack, Lundstram, Aribo and Sakala on free transfers or small fees. Bassey has been great for them this season.

Rangers have done very well. "it's easier because they only play 5 domestic games a season' is one of the laziest cliches around. I'll accept it potentially means some of your players may feel a bit fresher - but to go from being a Rangers/Celtic player domestically, where you get 80% of the ball, every team sits on their 18 yard box and you get 20 chances a game - to then playing in europe against teams level or above you, is very difficult. That in particular is where Rangers are due credit. They've fallen short in the league - but it's impressive the way GvB has adapted his group of players and his tactics to go from domestic games to countering the likes of Dortmund and RB Leipzig.

Matt O'Riley an absolute bargain for Celtic. Great move for the player but really surprised a Championship team didn't jump in there for him.