Dave-IRL

Dont get me wrong, I understood exactly the point he was trying to make. The SFA had never said the words 'lifetime ban'. But to be honest - Smith was splitting hairs. He's trying too hard to be a politician and looks to be way out of his depth to me. He made a fool of himself on Saturday with the way he conducted himself, his choice of words, his stubborness and his complete lack of tact in some instances. He's been a shambles since he got the job.

I heard the whole Gordon Smith phone call live on the radio on Saturday. First thing I said was "He has to go. He's just made a right tit of himself" and thought it would be all over the papers etc yesterday/today. BUt for some reason it was twisted to say he had opened the door for them again!? A quick recap of what happened: Jim Spence, Kenny McIntyre, Tom English and one other jounro were discussing the Scotland campaign so far. When they go to the boozegate issue they all said their piece and that was pretty much that. Then, Gordon Smith, our esteemed Chief Exec, phoned the show in a fit of rage to pick on the journo's and their points of view. Only thing was - he was blabbering complete and utter jibberish and making himself look like a tit! Kept going on about "Its not a life ban, but they will not be chosen again..." Also started jabbering on (this isnt a direct quote but he did say this) about how people dont have careers for their whole lifetime, and if the management of the team/SFA changes in the next 15/20 years they may reverse the decision and say they will be considered for selection. Gordon - i hate to tell you this, but in 20 years time Barry Ferguson will be 51 years old. Gordon - Are you a fucking idiot?

I'm not a Dons fan and even I dont want him as manager at Pittodrie. A selection of his quotes: "Celtic at home is a great draw for us, and everyone at the club is looking forward to the game." - before St Mirren beat them 1-0 in the replay and put them out of the cup! "Top six is our aim, its a quirk of the league that HIbs and ourselves both have St Mirren and Rangers in our last two games. Its going to come down to how many goals we can put past St Mirren..." Hibs 1-1 St Mirren Motherwell 0-2 St Mirren. No Mark. No it wont.

Ginger Bias

Historically this was how football clubs were run - most clubs only really made any money through winning competitions and as such the players were rewarded accordingly with win bonuses. The advent of TV money meant that clubs were earning huge sums without actually winning anything and the players were the first in line to take large swathes of this home to their WAGS. How else do you think Eamonn Bannon played in a UEFA Cup final?

Wouldnt be too sure of that - we're allegedly paying Mo Camara 3.5k a week plus a hefty signing on fee. o_O

Delighted with the capture of Lee Mair, but its no surprise to be honest, rumour had it months ago that he'd signed a PCA with us. Just glad we seem to be getting our finger out and putting a squad together befoer pre season, as opposed to grasping for last minute loan deals. Always thought Lee Mair had a wee touch of quality about him, and at one point he was mooted as a Scotland regular. Hopefully he'll stay injury free and be a good signing for us. Plus anything is better than Pope John Paul Potter. ETA: Other rumoured PCA we've agreed is Higdon from Falkirk, we'll see if that comes to fruition. Oh aye, and its St Mirren

Didnt catch the interview Steve - hope you set them straight on the line up tho Shambles.

Pet Hates Rangers, Celtic. Associated nonsense.

My pet hates: Political Correctness European legislation that stops people selling cakes at school fairs etc cause they werent made by someone who has a cake-baking qualification. Get a grip. The evolution of Reality TV - I'm sure it must have been a good idea at some point. But now its full of wankers and wannabe WAGS. Intelligent people who have a big '0' in the common sense column. Guitar players who dont carry spare strings. Then when one breaks you have to give them one of yours and then you're left with an incomplete set and then they buy you some as replacement but they aren't the same strings as you gave them in the first place! Jesus Yardley Christ boys, if I give you Hybrid Slinkys it means that I use Hybrid Slinkys. That means get me Hybrid Slinkys in return - not an equivalent from another manufacturer!

We played a private function in T2 and found it to be a very pleasant experience. More than adequate for even our overblown set up PA wise, and the stage is deceptively roomy...

Wooooaaaahhhh-oh-oh Temuri Ketsbaia!

cant say I've heard of many on that list - We're playing with Ming Ming and the Ching Chings at Tuts in 2 weeks on the Union of Knives bill, and I've heard My Cousin I Bid You Farewell, but other than that...nada!

Forgot about Sharpie! He played in the Goals Student league on wednesday a few years ago when I was at uni. Played for a team called We Owe Goals, who were by far the best team in the league - we finished 2nd and they humped us rotten with 4 players! Sharpie ran the show for them!

On a slightly related note I recently read 'The Gun Seller' by Hugh Laurie. Cracking book, his only fiction novel as far as I'm aware tho which is a shame. It was written years ago, but somehow I can't picture the main character as anyone other than House! definite similarities in attitude

Nothings been confirmed with regards to us playing Wizard. We had organised a gig in Mambo's previously and guys from Wizard were there and enjoyed it. We wanted to do it again and thought it would be a good idea to get the Wizard name involved to try and promote it a bit better which is where the tie in came from.

Different bands will obviously have different requirements for a soundcheck tho... In our case we have 3 vox, 3 guitars with multi effects, bass, live kit, electronic kit & samples and synth. Its actually quite a simple set up, but obviously quite large in terms of desk requirements. With regards to that we've tried as best we can to have our own dedicated sound man for all our gigs. Its not being big headed in thinking 'we need our own sound man' but more from a practical point of view...if all the equipment is working fine (not always a guarantee with various venues) we can get set up, check each instrument level and blast thorugh a verse and chorus of 2 different songs (we use the same two every soundcheck as they make use of each different element of the set up) in around 20 minutes give or take, depending on how much setting up is required kit wise and PA wise. Sorry - just realised I've quoted the wrong quote but cant be assed changing it, you know what I mean! ETA: THe point about having our own soundman means the whole process is FAR quicker as he knows what to expect, the quickest way of getting everything set up and how the soundcheck songs should sound. Sound guys working with us for the first time must freak out sometimes!

Major beamer on my puss just now - a press release announcing Idlewild at Wizard alongside our event in Mambos! Winner

We actually discovered on or recent wee tour that our bass player Darren is the worlds funniest man during soundchecks. Honestly - giving that boy a microphone is danger! unfortunately I dont think anyone else would get his humour, judging by the bemused looks on the other bands faces as we rolled around in fits of laughter while he yells "TUCK SHOP. TTTUCKKK SSHHHOPPP-PAH. BROOOON SAASSSS FAE THE TUCK SHOP-AH" incidentally Tuck Shop is actually an ideal phrase for soundchecks - "T", "SH" and "P" sounds all in one!

Andrew Bagshaw ran Micah Richards ragged in the Victory Shield - now look at them! The only players I played alongside to get signed were Neil Main who went to ICT for a spell and Craig McKeown and Kenny Tawse who both went to Dunfermline. All cracking players although Craig was the only one who went onto full time football - now at Dundee. Mainser is still playing at Fraserburgh AFAIK, and I dont think Kenny plays much these days, but I bump into him quite regularly around town on nights out.

Yeah for some reason the wizard website hasnt been updated with last weeks announcements of Pwoud Mawy, Vic Galloway etc. Perhaps awaiting a big announcement?

Just out of interest, what would you consider as good in between song banter? Me and Chang have always been pretty rubbish at it and tend to just thank folk for coming, and try and punt some CDs...

Possible sequal to Full Metal Jacket? Hair Metal Racket?

Aye I mind when Cummy and Steven Watt were both down in Englandshire - played against both when they were kids and it was scary how good they were, surprised neither really made it. Theres a wall in the Chelsea museum with a little plaque for every player thats appeared for the Chelsea first team. Was weird seeing Steven Watt's name up there alongside Vialli and Zola!

I'd love to stick up for Ricky. I really would. If he'd never come back to Saints I probably would've as well. He did have a cracking season for us in 00/01, scored 12 goals i think, including a double live on Sky in a crucial game vs Utd that was supposed to decide who went down. We won. But thanks to Alan Main and Paul Hartley's complete incompetence and match-riggery, we went down on the last day. Tom Hendrie would be the Scotland manager by now if wasnt for those two Ricky unfortunately was complete mince the rest of his spell at Love Street. If only he'd went to AC Milan when he had the chance