maroon1

Hearts fans hate the Glasgow pair more than we hate Hibs.....unfortunately for the "wee team" we've beaten them so often they're a bit of an irrelevance, which pisses them off, but it's always nice to beat them again to keep them in their place. As for the rest of the Scottish sides, teams like Aberdeen and Dundee Utd are taken seriously as rivals and are good to beat, but the recent "success" of clubs like Inverness and Ross County is quite welcome because we all know it's only gonna be for a short period and they won't actually win anything. Down south, I'm like you and detest Liverpool...don't like Spurs or Chelsea either, Man Utd are fine because of the Scottish connection in Fergie, and obviously continued with DM although I can see why he'll be pissing you guys off a bit now. I'm pretty relaxed about the whole grammar police thing Mike, I'd rather see what somebody actually thinks and wants to say and not have them using other words because they're worried that their spellings gonna let them down

Is there any truth in the rumour that when Real Madrid bought Thomas Graveson they actually had scouted Lee Carsley and really meant to bid for him?

Thanks for that Peter...that's a tidy little ground you've got their, shame about the lack of fans. The standard of football was good and the 3rd AFC goal was a peach. I'll try and keep an eye on them again...and I quite like the orange a yellow strip

Hi Matt I don't think the standard is that bad but of course I'm biased because it's what I watch. As for the domination by a small number of teams...that's pretty much the same for most leagues round the world isn't it?, although I hold my hands up and admit it's perhaps worse up here. I suppose if you've an interest in a league then you kinda ignore some of the deficiencies in it. It doesn't help the image of our game when the games shown are played out in front of sparse crowds, but actually our attendances are the highest in Europe based on our population size

I had a wee look Peter but couldn't find any clips of Hans playing for Hearts, and that's a shame, I did find out that he's now playing poker professionally on the pokerstars circuit, so he must be decent at it. I've a question for you about Swedish Football...about 10 years ago there was a team playing in the Swedish 2nd division called Café Opera, and I followed them for a while but they seem to have disappeared....I think they were named after a bar/nightclub in Stockholm and they played in black.....do you know what happened to them?

Hi Peter Hans Eskilsson is a cult hero at Tynecastle...he wasn't particularly good but he missed an absolute sitter against Partick Thistle once that made us all laugh (eventually) and his hair gave him the inevitable nickname Hair Bear...he didn't stay long but is fondly remembered. Davie Weir was a great player for us and a good servant at Goodison and he played in a Hearts side that contained Neil Pointon, who is another cult hero at our place

It actually ended up 2-2 Kohen...but Caley were 2-0 up at one point and are still top of the league. On any given day every side in the SPFL can, and do beat Celtic...they just end up cutting each others throats tho and nobody can be consistent enough to push them over a whole season.

Aw Cake...first off I'm delighted you posted on the thread, and fair play for your honesty...it's another dagger in my heart for the reputation of Scottish football and that just makes me more determined to educate you guys. At least you've heard of diverse clubs like St Johnstone and Caley Thistle...so that's a start. As for Hearts..we have jettisoned our Balkan bawbag and are consolidating our position as the biggest club outside the Glasgow hatefest, I'll try and illuminate the board with a flavour of our football and fingers crossed you'll see we are valid and interesting

That's a nice insight Tonka and to be fair I haven't looked under the MLS to see what props it up...the sheer size and potential of football in the States is mind boggling but we're way past the point where it's gonna take a serious hold and influence World football, the big sports over there seem to have a death grip on "soccer" and that's a shame

What about the level below the MLS...how good/organised is that...and can you get to a game at that level?

Nice one Louis...Gary came back in the summer to dig us out a hole and help with the youngsters pre-season...he was gonna sign for expenses but our embargo wouldn't allow it....he played a couple of friendlies and he's off to East Fife till January...really good player and unlucky with injuries during his career. Davie Weir is another cup winning player for us and a quality act...I'm expecting him to do well at Sheffield Utd

Fair play Tonka...but Scotland is so much more than Rangers/Celtic and it holds the league back...at the risk of going off topic...whats your MLS team?...I'm hoping it'll be a local side and one you can get to see?

Sounds like there's a bit of history on here... hopefully nothing too serious. It'd be a nice angle for me if there are other Scottish club fans from other sides as surely we could unite behind the Everton banner...but maybe I've got the mood all wrong with that??? anyway let's hear what you've got...Aberdeen ain't one of my favourites but I can see the attraction keep them coming

Just joined and my first thread on here so I'm keeping it local (for me) I'm not sure if we've got a Scottish input on the forum so maybe this has been asked before.....my name is a giveaway and obviously I'm a Hearts fan...my first game was in 1964ish, do any of you have a pet Scottish side you follow?

It was Jock Stein DK, and I had a ticket for the New Zealand game..it was a great World cup. As for McCarthy I think he'll be fine...he's as good as Wilshire and Ramsay at Arsenal. albeit a bit different...he'll have a sell on value so the club won't lose out. Him alongside Gibson should be a good mix...fingers crossed.

Jeezo I was in Spain to watch Scotland at that World Cup...I'm feeling ancient now

I dunno if you want to call Scotland "abroad" but I'm happy to mark your card with everything tartan. My default setting is always to expect the average English fan to be a bit dismissive of our football, and while that grates a little I'm used to it by know and to be fair we are pretty quick to don a hairshirt and decry our domestic leagues ourselves. I'm a real glass half full man tho and I reckon our standard isn't that bad, at Tynecastle we are currently operating under a 15 point penalty and transfer embargo for going into administration during the summer, so times are hard, but we've clawed 7 points back in the first 5 games including wins against the "wee team" Hibs which is always a good day and Aberdeen. We only have two fit players over the age of 21 and our youngsters are an outstanding bunch, we have 11 players away on International duty this week at various age levels who are now performing miracles for the first team and competing with the hammer throwers in the SPFL. Two in particular, I'm pretty sure will go on to emulate what James McCarthy has achieved in the Premiership, Jason Holt, who has been chased by Nottingham Forest over the summer and a 17 year old called Adam King who was the subject of a deadline day bid by Swansea on Monday. Hearts aside there is a plethora of young talent coming through up here, mostly through necessity in these hard financial times, but with that comes the great chance for theses laddies to get first team exposure and the chance to make a name for themselves. I'll keep you posted

Just got a flavour of DK (and others) on the Grammar Nazi thread....jeezo that's a lotta pressure for a newbie ha ha. No worries I'll concentrate on my spelling and punctuation and hopefully my good old Scottish education won't let me down. The Aberdeen thing is a shame Mike, but no need to apologise...there are a few teams worse than them you could have an allegiance to

Cheers Mike...good to get to know the natives

Oooooft, first wind up on the site..nice one DK. As you well know Hibs aren't even the biggest club side in Leith let alone Edinburgh, and Aberdeen??? you've not had much to cheer there for a long time. Nice to know tho you remember back to 86 and Albert Kidd...I'd thought perhaps you'd have enjoyed the Saturday that followed better?? Anyway cheers for the "kind words"....I'll look out for you on here

Cheers Mike...it's good to be on the board and thanks for the kind words about my club, We are still a long way from safety but are rallying well as a fanbase and our young side are putting up a good fight in turning round our 15 point deduction and have managed to claw back 7 points by the end of August so there's still hope the season might not end in relegation. I'm getting a feel for the forum and reading up on some of the threads and I'll be jumping in soon with a few threads to start a wee debate

Thanks for the welcome Tonka and Matt, I'll be chipping in as regularly as I can

I'll echo everything the Hamilton fan said...the laddie is real quality and the better the team he's in the better he'll be. He'll always give 100% and the fans will take to him straight away. You won't get a bit of bother with him as he's no "billy big time". Sit back and enjoy him because it wouldn't surprise me if he did end up at a Real Madrid or Barcelona....he is that good

Cheers Rubecula, and great to see the pics of our hero Alex Young...I just missed seeing him play for Hearts but I was always proud of what he did at Goodison. Our old badge is a cracker and I'm sorry to see what they've done with the Everton one....progress my ass, but I suppose at least you're not faced with a colour change the way Cardiff were ha ha. I'm looking forward to finding my feet here and getting involved....

Nice one zoo...good to be aboard