Yorkyred

Most of that will be bonuses paid for getting to two cup finals I would have thought. The basic playing budget before bonuses is not £1.35 million but as they state a modest increase on the previous season. If you count in bonuses then this season will probably see a big drop in the playing budget because we won’t be seeing those bonuses.

It was mentioned by I think Craigan on tv that we were running a very low budget and it was going to be reduced again next season. There was a table lately that showed the playing budgets for each premiership team and while Killies had gone up by 20 odd percent ours had gone down. I’m guessing it’s well down on the budget McGee had. Record turnover is deceiving given expenditure including paying the debt off. It will most certainly not be even close to our record wage bill.

Often did the dirty work in our better performances and never given enough credit in my view, we often looked better with him in the team than out of it last season. Good luck to the guy and thanks for the effort you always put in.

At least half of them have already played this season.

Very tough given the ever lengthening injury list with Hearts very much the favourites. However four points from six from the Aberdeen and Celtic games show we can compete with the better teams so a level of hope.

No comparison to 1991, different football world. For a better comparison look at other teams in this league on a similar budget to ours and the quality of their football, not much in it in my view. As most of us have i’ve seen Livi, Dundee, St Mirren, Hamilton, St Johnstone. Far better technical level ? not really in truth. I don’t agree at all about the statement on lower league football, I see a couple of games a week of local games when available , Thistle, Airdrie, Queens Park, Clyde, Falkirk, Albion Rovers been a few examples and the standard on the whole is shocking. We tend to be quite a bit superior when we play lower league teams in the cup, we walked it against Edinburgh City who are top of league two. Killy are certainly doing well but that’s the exception rather than the rule and they have increased their budget by a good amount.

Average wage at Motherwell 45k , average at Celtic 865k, that tends to get you slightly technically better quality players. That gap is just getting bigger and bigger every season, they could fill our first 11 with players not even making their bench and it would still be a big improvement. We won’t stop chasing shadows against Celtic whoever is in charge with the wage structure at the club these days, Craigen mentioned the budget could actually be cut again next season. Talk of a smaller squad and better quality, great if we don’t get injuries which we have had in spades this season. It’s not an easy balance when you are working with peanuts.

Robinson, the tactical genius.

Afraid I have to agree, this is us at our worst.

Should be two nil, never a foul.

Celtic are strolling this i’m afraid.

Well he’s a brave man because he must have known he was going to get pelters with that line up, genius if we go on and get something from the game.

And that’s it in a nutshell, it’s easy for the likes of Rodgers and Gerrard to look good with their budgets, not so easy paying wages most league one teams in England can beat.

Robinson has pretty much made it clear from the start his teams play as you say “ big strong and hard running” football and that was never going to change. He tolerates ball players as long as they also do the dirty stuff which everyone needs to do if his type of football is to be effective. All our big performances have been when everyone has worked there socks off. As soon as that drops we look awful and sadly when a player like Bigi stops tracking back or loses his man he is done and that’s happened far too often this season. I don’t think that’s using Bigi as a scapegoat, that’s just him not doing his job. As posted elsewhere he can do both as many simular midfielders do. All our midfielders have been dropped at one time or another.

Have you watched Bigi in some of the highlights after poor defeats ?

Bringing those young players though obviously also brings a level of inconsistency. On top of that injuries to key players have not helped, Dunn, Tanner, Carson, Cadden, Hartley, Bowman. Every key player has been out at one time or another.

One of the smallest budgets in the league brings a squad with limited ability, that’s not going to change with a new manager unless they suddenly double the budget. Killy doing well these days but that’s come partly because they have increased their spending by a good 20%, how long before the bubble bursts and they are again in financial difficulty ? I give it a couple of seasons. Problem for me is not ability anyway it’s consistancy, we saw it last season and it’s the same this.

With Carson now out I think you are right with those three.

For me those I would retain. Aldred who is solid enough although not the quickest , Cadden who has not had the best of seasons but has enough quality, McHugh who gets too much criticism at times, I actually prefer him as a defender, and Tanner who has been unlucky with injuries but offers something different. I would give Gorrin and Mbulu the benefit of doubt just now and look again in the summer. I would let the following go. ATS although again that could change if he gets a run in the team when fit, Bigi who for me goes missing in too many games and has cost us a good few goals in my view. Bowman who has never really offered enough since we lost Moult, Frear who is just not good enough, Grimshaw again one good game in six, Main who sadly has gone backwards for no apparent reason and is just not scoring enough goals, Rose who I actually quite like as he offers that physicality at times but not involved enough, Newell, and Sammon who we should never have signed in the first place.

I can’t argue with the reasoning given the opposition and surface, I guess it's one of those where I would not want to be a football manager. Make changes and lose and you upset both supporters and players and are a complete idiot. Make changes and win and you start off an idiot but 90 minutes later you’re a genius.

The problem is Robinson would have been crucified if he had made those changes after such a good performance against what was a very physical Aberdeen team. Rose, Gorrin and Bowman in, Grimshaw, Biggi, Campbell and Johnson dropped. Yes managers have to make decisions but to drop probably three of our best players from last week would have been some decision and i’m not sure how good that is for the changing room moving forward. We can tinker with formations from the comfort of our living rooms but he has to work with these players all week and keep a good working relationship.

Yep, as stated midfield was absolutely none existent yesterday, Biggi another one who stated only a week ago he came here to use us a stepping stone back to the English premier league, keep dreaming. Yesterday was down to the attitude of the majority of players on the pitch. I will say though that Livi have a pitch that should never be allowed in top flight football but don’t want to use that as an excuse for the shambles that followed.

First time i’ve not voted for a player, very dissapointed with them today.

So difficult to understand how the same players can be so good one week and so bad the next. Forget formations some of our players just never turned up and no formation in the world was going to change that fact. They turned over Aberdeen and did exactly the same as they did last season after terrific performances and felt they were better than they were and let themselves down. If you want a perfect example of why Grimshaw is not playing for Man Utd today you had it, terrific last week and absolutely anonymous today. This one is not down to Robinson, the players need to hold their hands up and apologise.

Confident of a win. Take out the Rangers game and we are not conceading goals and Livi have had their good run. We have been the better team team in both games against them this season so why not. A brace from Johnson and 2-0 to us.