Prior to writing this article I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have voted for this site in the FBA’s New Football Blog category:
One can vote on both Twitter:
http://www.footballbloggingawards.co.uk/about/vote-football-blogging-awards-twitter/
and the FBA website
http://www.footballbloggingawards.co.uk/about/vote-now-football-blogging-awards/
It’s now apparent that at this stage in proceedings that it is one vote per individual. In the previous round The Clumpany, who is au fait with the rules, pointed out that one could vote on multiple occasions. He also stated that votes cast in the previous round would be carried forward. I hope that’s not the case as any aspiring voter could spend his waking hours voting for his/her site.
I did not vote for my site in this round or the previous round as the concept does not sit easily on my shoulders. It’s for others to decide the merits of any blog. I should stress at this juncture that I will always gravitate to writing about the oppressed and disadvantaged in society, be they Palestinians or Falun Gong practitioners. The state sponsored harvesting of organs from political prisoners is a paradigm shift in human rights abuse. Had it not been for a chance encounter in Regents Park, where I took pause to watch some Tai Chi, my knowledge of political prisoner abuse was primarily drawn from the writings of Solzhenitsyn or the journalists at Amnesty International. By word of mouth I was made aware of the torture of political dissidents at Myanmar’s notorious INSEAD prison, where the enforced re-education includes ECT: Electro- Convulsive Therapy. There is nothing therapeutic about wiping out every memory one has ever had since childhood.
I will continue to write about ‘the entertainment‘ that is Scottish football for as long as I can keep belly from backbone. This site will definitely continue its polemical diatribes until the day after the Football Blogging Awards on the 17th November where 1,000 will gather to honour those who selflessly give thousands of hours to their readers. I note that Paypal is causing some consternation to readers who wish to donate. It is by far the best mechanism to solicit much-needed support. Please exercise patience with this portal for the greater good of your site. I serve at the pleasure of my readers.
Paypal is not a parochial concern; it’s a business. Two individuals donated £1 each yesterday. After commission, the net result was £1.54. I would hope that others would see fit to contribute £20 per month to this site, but at the end of the day it’s a buyer’s market. If these donors take the view that 2,500 hours, fast approaching 7m hits, 600 articles and 20,000 comments is worth 77p, would it be churlish of me to demur?
One enterprising and generous reader will tomorrow donate £300 to this site. I will use £270 of this amount to buy a table at the FBA awards. I have invited The Mensch to the John James Table. No-one has done more to support this site, in both donations and written contributions, than TM. I have also invited Jimbo. Without any prompting on my part, Jimbo donated £27 yesterday for his ticket that I was prepared to provide for free. He instinctively understood that the JJ table is an opportunity to raise funds for this site. Those who wish to attend receive a £30 ticket for £27. After Paypal commission this site will receive £25.88. I will also pay for my ticket. Why should I attend for free?
It’s the perfect time to pay tribute to an initiative that had not occurred to me. The concept of a virtual seat @ £27, from those who cannot attend, is an enterprising idea that has my unequivocal support. It’s a vote of confidence and a desire to commemorate an important milestone in this site’s development as it’s held up to the scrutiny of its peers. There will be one thousand guests on one hundred tables at The Europa Suite in Old Trafford. My first toast of the evening will be to the absent friends sitting at the virtual tables who are willing to personally underwrite their site’s continuation.
For ten long months this site was provided for free and was run on fumes. A club with a much larger demographic than this site is also being run on fumes. Fumes and sophistry. So much so that would anyone be surprised if those resetting denizens of the Blue Room were to slip out their accounts on Hogmanay when the eyes of the SMSM and the football public will on a Rangers v Celtic encounter at Ibrox. I add the caveat that the SMSM don’t have the collective wit to read any financial statement. At Dave King’s Hootenanny, the first on the bill will be Charlotte & The Hun Loving Criminals.
As this site has revealed, the Ibrox supply chain is bearing the strain of unpaid invoices, some of which were due in March. To disguise the financial free fall, the fake accountant and the chartered accountant will revert to what has become known as The Hogmanay Hanky Panky. This artifice entails running the club at a considerable loss, with the holding company and Club Tropicana providing the loans on the never-never. Baron Bouffant and the Jo’burg Scarecrow have joined The Magic Circle:
To assist the Baron and the Scarecrow in their fiduciary sleight of hand they will be assisted by a man somewhat appositely posing as a rat. Step forward Halloween Houston who kindly stepped down for the evening from the pressures of high command at Club Tropicana:
As I started this article discussing awards, it’s fitting that I end it with a lifetime achievement award to the Jo’burg Scarecrow for forty years service as a charlatan and career criminal: