So what's been your thoughts on Connor Ronan's time so far at Aberdeen? And also, what was your thoughts on the goal, of course?

I think his contribution overall has been underwhelming and disappointing so far.

And I say that from a point of view of having watched him at St Mirren and really liked him and thought that some of the goals he scored for St Mirren were exceptional.

So I had some excitement about Aberdeen signing him in the summer.

I don't think he's performed as we would hope so far, which isn't to say that he might not come good.

I thought the goal... on Saturday was exactly the kind of goal that you would expect him to give us sometimes.

It was a terrific hit.

Falkirk come to Todry on Wednesday night, just handily after they go and leapfrog us on the table with a 3-1 win over Killie.

So it was, um, it was an important win.

It, it was because I think there would've been a pile-on, to be honest with you, you know, because people would say, "Well, Hampden wasn't great," uh, albeit with the red card being a huge factor.

Um, and then if, if they hadn't dealt with North Macedonia, who people had already made their mind up that they were poor from their earlier results, so we knew that they weren't, they weren't great.

I think there would've been a pile-on on, uh, Paci Gnoli and, uh, you know, as we were talking about briefly before we came on air that, I mean, there is, you know, there are different camps of, of the Scotland support.

Some would've been happy to keep Clarke going.

And, you know, you would've heard it all, you know, why did they make the change or, you know, why this guy, he's inexperienced.

Um, so I think it was a big result for him and for the team.

But it is a very different looking, uh, set of options up front now.

So where are you from? Anything you want the audience to know about where are you on the PCT? This is coming out in about a month, so we won't give away your location.

Perfect.

I'm originally from just outside of New York City.

I studied theater in college in Philadelphia.

And then I've been living in San Diego for the past 12 years.

Absolutely loving the sunshine, the beach vibes.

As far as backpacking, I am very inexperienced, very new to it.

How has the trail changed you this far? This is

What can learners expect when they begin the process?

It's an exciting time at HFMA HQ in terms of how we transformed our learning ecosystem.

And so as far as the learning experience, we really wanted to surprise our learners with much more engaging experience.

We have very engaging digital avatars.

We have interactive exercises.

We have some really good real world case studies and scenarios in which they can apply.

a lot of the concepts that are discussed in the content in real world situations with some really beneficial feedback, some great challenges and a lot of little surprises to just really heighten the learning experience from where it was.

Can you talk a bit about those?

Mm.

Um, so, like, s- when I went to Sri Lanka, I had similar expectations, that it was a similar, like, cultural kind of country, and it blew me away, like how, how different but amazing it was.

Obviously, the geography, it's such a small little island, but the geography has everything.

There are some really cool mountains, tons of, like, national parks.

I saw leopards, wild elephants.

Like, it was insane.

So many cool beaches.

Mm

I wonder if you think we'll maybe miss a bit of Grant Hanley's experience.

Yeah, listen, I mean, Grant is a bit of a kinda whipping boy now because he's probably just, his, his Scotland career probably went on longer than a lot of people wished.

He had a lot of great performances for, for Scotland, you know? And, uh, that's worth remembering and respecting, but it, I, for me, it was time to move on.

Um, you're right.

Uh, you've got Colby Donovan in at right back, uh, as, as an option.

Um, Steven Welsh is in.

Uh, Luke Graham's in.

Do you think the win last night has eased some of the pressure that was maybe building on Stephen Robinson?

A 1-0 scoreline, but do you think the, the performance was maybe better than that would suggest? Do you think Rangers fans will be encouraged by what they saw against Motherwell?

Yeah, I think they would be.

Um, they had kind of scratched out wins at Aberdeen and Falkirk.

Um, but they certainly made a lot more chances at the, at the weekend against Motherwell.

You know, they, they, Kim missed a penalty, but Gasama, Yokata, uh, Penrice all had chances.

Kelsey put one over the bar, as we said.

So I think they made a pretty good job of containing Motherwell, and, and that's a compliment to Motherwell by the way as well about how, how, uh, impressive they are.

But, I mean, Duran's kind of put himself in a position where he's, he's kind of undroppable through that, through that middle position at the moment.

But as he kinda grows into this role and you start to see his team playing the way he obviously wants them to play, how much of a boost would it be to him to get into league f- the league phase of the Conference League?

Yeah, I think it would be enormous if he was to do it.

Uh, it would give him something tangible from his opening weeks.

You know, if you'd said a couple of months ago that, that Hearts could crash through all three tournaments in six weeks under the new manager, you would think, "Well, that, that is just awful, that's horrendous." Um, but there's circumstances behind that.

I mean, Sturm Graz were too strong for them.

New manager straight in, new players, a lot of upheaval, a lot of kinda baggage around the club.

They're still processing the way they end of last season finished, and I think that is, that is an issue, and it's an understandable issue for a team or a club to be dealing with.

Michael, Ryan touches there on the potential need for reinforcements, but do you see this squad being prepared if they do manage to get through tonight to competing both in Europe and domestically? Or do you think, you know, if they get through tonight, they will spend and bring in additions?

I think that shows you, uh, the worth of, of what he feels John McGinn brings to his side.

That point, Stevie, sorry, that point about inviting contact or enjoying contact is, is spot on because, I mean, he's also very good at, at getting fouls, isn't he? I mean, he, he does, he knows how to play for fouls.

He's clever.

I'm sure that infuriates his opponents, you know, but it's great if it's, uh, if it's for your team or it's for Scotland.

You know, he's, he's good at that, and he, and he, that's, that's a part of his game too, and, and it's, it's valuable.

Going back to the, the, the personality, Michael, is that something that managers appreciate, having some, a character with that kind of personality on the training pitch, in the dressing room? Oh, 100%.

How, 100%.

What do you think would have happened if Celtic had signed John McGinn then? How do you think things would have been different for Celtic and how do you think things would have been different for John McGinn?

Michael, from what you've seen from Aberdeen so far, are you-- how confident are you feeling about their, their chances this season?

Um, [clears throat] yeah, yeah, reasonably confident.

I think, uh, they have, they have moved quickly in the market.

I mean, they've got about 10 players in.

There was eight, eight of the team on Saturday were new signings.

Another two came off the bench.

Um, so Steven Robertson has clearly applied pressure to the club to say, "Right, we need g- we need bodies in early." Um, a big turnover of players at Pittodrie this season, this summer.

What did, what did you make of that? I mean, I can't imagine [chuckles] Celtic fans are particularly amused with what he had to say.

It's, it's not easy to say it, but it's true, you know? Um-

Um-So that was a fear that 1-0 against Haiti wasn't going to be enough.

But to be honest, if you watch that match, that was all we deserved.

We didn't dominate that game.

We didn't control that game.

If anything, Haiti shaded it.

You know, so you take it, you take the win and you hope that you might get a point.

What did you make of what he said there? Because he was pretty defiant, wasn't he, in the wake of that defeat?

You know, does the, do the players, do the journalists, does everyone feel like, you know, Haiti was a long time ago?

Yeah, I think maybe for the fans it probably feels longer, Tom.

It's been a busy week for the, for the media pack because we have gone from Boston and back down to Charlotte in North Carolina to be at the camp and then back to Boston.

So I mean, you know, that, that fills days and, and takes up a lot of time.

Um, yeah, I mean, look, listen, the feelgood factor I would say has continued through the week on the back of the win.

You know, there's been a lot of kind of lightness, uh, from the players.

The quotes have been good.

[laughs]

Well, how do you look back on that win and that night now?

Well, I mean, f- uh, fundamentally, Tom, with, with pleasure and, um, no little relief to be honest with you.

Because, uh, I had dreaded, uh, dropping points in that game from a, from a, from a Scottish supporter's point of view, but also from a, a journalistic point of view.

I think it would've become a very difficult tournament to cover, um, if Scotland had immediately dropped points to Haiti.

I think there would be a lot of negativity kind of waving across the Atlantic from home.

Um, and I think it would've just caused real strain on the relationships between the, the media and Steve Clarke and the players and all that.

So, you know, thank God we've been spared that, you know, [laughs] from a selfish point of view.

What, what was it like in the immediate aftermath? Was their feelings relief, or were they able to get into some of the euphoria and elation as well?

So what do you do to help with all that, to understanding it, putting it into practical use for those in the cleaning industry?

I, I think the first thing is a lot of people have used AI and jargon to make it sound complicated and hard, and that you need a specialist to come in and help you with it.

And, you know, "You can't do it, Jeff, but I can." So what we're doing is we're breaking down the barriers to re...

So help people understand this is not actually hard.

You know, jargon is perplexing sometimes.

But what we do with Smart Building Bootcamp, we take the jargon away, and we put AI into practical terms.

So rather than learning everything about AI, and how the data sets are built, and how you train the data, we put it into practical terms of how can you use AI to produce better cleaning schedules.

Wondering whether this training is worth your time, talk about the skills, insights, or advantages that Smart Building Bootcamp will give them.

You teased a few subjects there in terms of what we'll come onto in terms of the analysis, but Michael, what's the mood like over there at the games? Have you met, bumped into many Scotland fans yet? Has the party officially started, as I mentioned in my intro?

Um, yeah, we bumped...

We, we were down in, uh, Fort Lauderdale in Florida for a training camp for a week, so there was no, there were no fans around there obviously.

But when we moved up to New Jersey for the weekend's game against Bolivia, you started to see quite a lot of Scottish fans.

Um, uh, and it really...

it was only Scotland supporters inside the ground.

I think it was difficult to say.

Michael?

What do you think has changed his mind on that front?

Um, yeah, he did.

He said that, uh, Charlotte, and then a few weeks or months later he said he'd kind of revise his own numbers to 50/50, you know.

Um, uh, what's changed his mind on that? I don't know.

We'll, we'll be able to ask him, uh, that later today when he faces the media for the first time since the deal was announced.

Uh, maybe he's just realized that this is a good gig that suits him, you know.

I mean, I'm not saying it's, he's only just realized that 'cause he's been in the job for seven years.

Do you think that's fair criticism?

Is, do you think it, it was those things that were pushing the players to go to places like Parkhead, and to go on this run, and to hold Celtic in and win a league?

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, yeah, I mean, he had players who were exceptionally talented, and a lot of them.

Uh, but they also had a, they had a competitiveness within them.

You know, guys like Willie Miller, and Gordon Strachan, and Steve Archibald, you know, these were guys who would've had brilliant careers regardless.

I mean, Archibald went on to play for Tottenham and Barcelona, you know.

You'll have to fight Johnny Northcroft for that one, but yeah.

[laughs]

...

it, it, it, it's too early to process it and kinda make sense of it.

Um, yeah, it was extraordinary.

Um, Scottish football is pretty insane at the best of times.

It's insanely competitive and passionate and, um, noisy and all the rest of it, you know? But, um, l- last night was a new one, I think, because I was actually thinking about this earlier, that it's...

I, I don't often get involved in matches that are kind of codependent on other matches, if you know what I mean, because I tend not to be doing relegation battles.

I mean, i- is there any, do you feel there's any basis for any of that kind of thing? Or is this just, as Martin said, incompetence?

outside.

Yeah, I mean, Tony Bloom, the Brighton and Hove Albion chairman and owner, he came in last summer and put £10 million into Hearts.

You know, so that gave him a lift, but also he's got this tie-up with the data company Jamestown Analytics.

Now, they're...

Their record on recruitment is really impressive, and it's been especially impressive at Hearts.

So they've brought in some good players, not spending an awful lot of money, and they've also got tremendous performances and consistency out of a lot of Scottish or British players that were already at the club.

So they've been very consistent under manager Derek McInnes, and it's helped them, sure, that Celtic and Rangers have both been unusually weak in the same season.

If you're not a Celtic or Rangers supporter, are you cheering on Hearts or a Hib supporter? Jeez, I better put it down quickly.

Michael, is there an argument now to be made for James Forrest and Kletchi Iheanacho being in the starting lineup?

There is, yeah.

I mean, we spoke to Martin O'Neill after the game when he was asked about, uh, both players and obviously spoke warmly about them both.

Uh, a kind of funny kind of line he said that Iheanacho had said to him, "I'm fit.

You know, I'm fit to be playing every time." And, uh [chuckles] and he kind of smiled and, and kind of smirked a little bit, O'Neill, as if to say, "I'm not sure that I agree with that, to be honest with you." So I'm not sure he does think he's, uh, he's as fit as he could be or as fit as Martin would want him to be.

But yeah, um, I think there's a kind of growing feeling, isn't there, that Iheanacho's the best finisher at the club.

Um, uh, it's not a great season.

Why not Celtic?

And Mike, how about yourself? Talk about your involvement.

I'm a new hire with First Tee, coming from Minneapolis Public Schools as a high school counselor for the last 12 years.

So what you were talking about earlier about the mental process of what golf can present, that's kind of what I'm making sure that I want to connect with is kind of having that mental endurance piece that goes with golf as well.

If you're not paying attention to what you're doing on the golf course, things can go wrong.

When things go wrong, then how do you act? How do you respond to that? I also think of it as with sports, you know, you get a chance to cross the line.

And once you cross that line, you can put kind of life behind you a little bit and focus on what's in front of you.

And in golf, you have to do that.

Mike, how about yourself? Talk about the game and what it means to you.

Where do you think investors are underestimating any of this infrastructure play? Is it the length or how expensive the build-out really is?

Well, unfortunately, the answer is very obvious.

We still have no mass market product to fund any of this.

What the companies have is not defensible.

There's no moat around it.

And therefore, the ROI is very much unknown.

If we take the hyperscaler infrastructure spending that has happened and is planned, it implies $600 billion of amortization expense just by these hyperscalers.

How should investors be thinking about them as it relates to their investments, particularly in the international space? Because we have seen outperformance there.