13 November ~ The tattered remnants of the Dons may be forgiven for still feeling somewhat dazed as they totter onto the Ibrox turf this weekend. Aberdeen's visit to the other end of Glasgow last week produced the kind of club record nobody wants – their worst-ever defeat, a colossally humiliating 9-0 at the hands of Celtic. As if the BBC's "Nine goals in 90 seconds" clip wasn't bad enough, one Greek TV station apparently felt the highlights worth setting to Benny Hill music. Few in the north-east would have objected to seeing manager Mark McGhee chased around Celtic Park in classic Hill style, provided the pursuers had pitchforks.

12 November ~ There are certain footballing basics that all who play the game are expected to master quite quickly. The trap, for example, is one that I clearly remember my dad drumming into me as a small lad. For hours, it seemed, he would play balls to me in our garden until the simple act of making the ball stop dead at my feet became muscle memory, a force of habit. It is rare to see anyone with any ability above that of a clodder committing cardinal sins like heading a ball with the top of the head. There is a footballing staple, however, that seems to me to be surprisingly common among many adult players, even professionals – the foul throw.

12 November ~ We've long suspected that Wayne Rooney flopped at the World Cup because the planet Saturn was draining his energy, something that could only have been countered by partnering him with a fellow Scorpio, Joe Cole. Now, finally, the astrologer Alan Ayre has produced a book explaining how the constellations can effect the game. This should be compulsory reading on FA coaching courses. Taken from the WSC Weekly Howl 

12 November ~ Ian Plenderleith enjoyed extending his vocabulary in WSC 285

Everyone knows, as the American philosopher Elbert Hubbard once said, that "gossip is vice enjoyed vicariously". Bearing that in mind, the best way to approach a football site like Kickette, where "multi-millionaire football star shenanigans, exclusive WAG gossip and snarky fashion analysis are the reason we exist", is just to enjoy its self-knowing appreciation of semi-clad footballers' torsos, bitchery about the excessive make-up of footballers' wives and up-to-speed information on the latest bordello sightings. Because you really need to see those pics of Carlos Vela hanging loose with blonde transvestite ladies of the Mexican night.

11 November ~ Supporters in England – or even in the SPL – may have been a little taken aback last week at the 25-point penalty handed down to Dundee for going into administration in late October. Unlike the other senior leagues, the Scottish Football League has no set penalty for such offences, instead making them up as they see fit, and there were a number of reasons why Dundee's case was viewed in a particularly dim light. Not only was it the club's second administration in eight years but the circumstances of this one (actually, of both) were perceived as particularly profligate.

11 November ~ This season marks the 100-year anniversary of Bradford City's famous FA Cup-winning campaign in 1910-11. To mark the occasion Dave Pendleton, curator of Bantamspast museum, has written a history of the period 1908-15, when Bradford City were one of the strongest teams in English football. Alongside the book, Glorious 1911, a number of events have also been organised, including a film screening, a dinner, an exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum and a visit to the graves of the club's fallen in the Great War – including that of Jimmy Speirs who scored the winning goal against Newcastle United in the 1911 Cup final replay at Old Trafford. For full details visit Bantamspast.

The new WSC is out now, available from all good newsagents or dispatched on the day of order from the WSC shop. Including:
Is the good start by promoted clubs a sign of Premier League progress?
The charm of Brisbane Road in the 1980s
Difficult decisions to be made at Old Trafford
Malcolm Allison – tribute to a legendary figure
Barcelona can't balance the books
Screensport Super Cup – an failed alternative to European competition
The strange case of Lee Trundle, South Wales superstar

10 November ~ We've all been trapped in social situations where the only way to fill a deathly silence is with mind-numbing small talk. Having suppressed the desire to poke yourself in the eye with a cocktail stick, you instead ask someone what they do for a living. They duly trawl out an explanation, but by the time they stop talking you still have absolutely no idea what their job is. I got the same feeling last week when Toronto FC of Major League Soccer announced that they were employing Jürgen Klinsmann's California-based company Soccer Solutions to "consult on [the] team's soccer operations and manager search".