Partick Thistle 3 Blyth Spartans 1

A bit early for a pre-season friendly, but there you go.

Hibs had a good start I see. What odds Hibs being relegated and Hearts going bust this season.

Who are Annan Athletic? I see they've been elected to take Gretna's League place next season. Have they got a ground with running water?

Yes, but no floodlights yet.

Very tidy ground, and a well organised club half-way between Gretna and Dumfries. The club have made it clear that they are not interested in millionaire businessmen.

8th in the East of Scotland League doesn't point to immediate success. But there is potential there.

Annan (pop 8,800) is a small town. A bit bigger than Brechin and twice the size of Dingwall, home of Ross County. However it is 4 times the size of Gretna.

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:

QUOTE:
Who are Annan Athletic? I see they've been elected to take Gretna's League place next season. Have they got a ground with running water?

Annan Athletic, annoyingly, are based in Annan, continuing this recent trend in Scotland of having a name that alludes to where you’re based. Annan has a population of about 7 families and is in the south of Scotland on the Solway Firth coast so they’ll probably sign most of their players from Carlisle reserves. They’ve been around for a long time and have qualified for the Scottish Cup on a number of occasions. They play in black and gold or blue as is the law in Scotland for 3rd division clubs. Their size, resources and potential support should see them spend most of their time in the 3rd division with the odd foray to the 2nd for a season or two however due to the erratic nature of Scottish clubs, outwith the Old Firm, Annan could well be chasing a Uefa Cup spot in a couple of seasons too. They were chosen for the space in the league as most people in Scotland realised that Edinburgh and Aberdeen can barely be bothered to support the teams they have now so why allow them new ones.

Dundee are in Malta for their pre-season training camp and drew 0-0 with Birkirkara last Friday.

Delighted Annan got in, geographically it made the most sense.

My season starts tomorrow, Dundee at Stirling, Raith's first friendly is at Stenny on Saturday. (Last season I was smallweed, as you probably realised.) Good though the Euros were, and even the tennis, I've been missing it.

We should probably do predictions and stuff, sometime shortly.

OK on we go

My predictions

Premier winnersRangers
Relegated Hamilton

Div 1 winners Dundee
RelegatedClyde

Div 2 winners Raith Rovers
Relegated Arbroath

Div 3 winnersBerwick

Scottish Cup Celtic
League Cup Rangers

Thanks for starting the thread, chippy - I meant to do it myself, but my time on here has been extremely limited recently.

Predictions:

SPL Winners: Either "Youze" or "Us"
Relegated: St.Mirren

1st division winners: Dundee
Play-off: Morton
Relegated: Airdrie

2nd division winners: Raith
Play-offs (up): Peterhead, Alloa, East Fife
Play-offs (down): Brechin
Relegated: Stranraer

3rd division winners: Stenhousemuir
Play-offs: Berwick, Elgin, Albion Rovers

Scottish Cup: Celtic
League Cup: Hibs
Challenge Cup: St.Johnstone
Last Team In Europe: Queen of the South

Never mind this SPL winners crap, let's see some predictions for third place.

OK, SPL 3rd: Hibs.

SPL 3rd place: Dundee United
relegated: Hamilton

1st division winners: Dundee
relegation play-off: Livingston
relegated: Airdrie
top scorer: Colin McMenamin (Dundee)

2nd division winners: Raith
promotion play-off: Ayr, Brechin, East Fife
relegation play-off: Arbroath
relegated: Queen's Park
top scorer: Alex Williams (Ayr)

3rd division winners: Cowdenbeath
promotion play-off: Berwick, Stenhousemuir, Dumbarton
bottom: Annan Athletic
top scorer: John 'The Beast' Gemmell (Cowdenbeath)

both cups: Old Firm

If I'm more confident about Raith this season, it's not because I think we're any stronger, but more that the league is that bit weaker with Airdrie and Ross County gone. I'm not as confident as all that though: Brechin, Alloa and Stirling have all shown what can be done with part-time budgets, Ayr are confident as ever, I'm a bit worried about East Fife, and even Peterhead shouldn't be written off, I think they were the only team to get the better of us over four games last season.

Dundee have had the heart ripped out of their midfield in Robertson and McDonald, but against that they've got more goals in them with McMenamin and Antoine-Curier, they're the team to watch in the First. Buggered if I know what's happening in the Third, but I hope Danny Lennon does well at Cowdenbeath, and there's no reason why he shouldn't.

I missed out on first pre-season run out in the Oban Tournament on Saturday, where we drew nothing each with Dundee Utd and St Johnstone, beat Oban 1-0 and got beaten by Hearts and Hamilton 4-1 and 1-0 respectively.

Then, last night was the first game that I've seen us in and we drew 0-0 with Airdrie at the Recs. We looked fairly solid and played some decent passing football at times but we really lacked pace and any real penetration in forward areas. With pre-season optimism still firmly in place I think we should be good enough to get into the promotion play-offs again.

Now then, predictions:

SPL 1st place: Celtic
SPL 2nd place: Rangers
SPL 3rd place: Dundee Utd
relegated: Hamilton

1st division winners: St Johnstone
relegation play-off: Airdrie
relegated: Clyde
top scorer: Stephen Dobbie (QOS)

2nd division winners: Ayr Utd - although this may change if they lose Ryan Stevenson before the start of the season
promotion play-off: Raith, Stirling Albion, Alloa
relegation play-off: Stranraer
relegated: Arbroath
top scorer: Alex Williams (Ayr)

3rd division winners: Dumbarton
promotion play-off: Stenhousemuir, Montrose, East Stirlingshire
bottom: Annan Athletic - they haven't had enough time to build a teamd for the SFL
top scorer: Derek Carcary (Dumbarton)

Scottish Cup: Hibs - it's got to happen again some time
League Cup: Rangers - they always do
Challenge Cup: Morton

Now, finally, would it be really childish of me to get one of these t-shirts to wear to our first derby game this year?

QUOTE:
Now, finally, would it be really childish of me to get one of these t-shirts to wear to our first derby game this year?

Absolutely, go for it!

And now Dundee have signed Mickey Cameron, who's worth a Robertson and a McDonald put together.

Saw him playing for them in that friendly at Stirling last week, and he's still got it, at 35. Brilliant signing.