C&A not the shop

If Alexander isn't here next season it will be because a bigger club have come and taken him from us. I don't see it happening but it's a lot more likely than us getting rid of him. He's done the job asked of him and more, that's the simple truth of it. There's things that we'd like to see more of, youth getting more of a chance and a more exciting brand of football being the obvious ones and I imagine the board would like to see some players being sold for profit as well. So the debate (if there was one to be had) is settled for now, but with that said Robinson had just finished third and had done some excellent transfer dealings with young players to make the club some good money and he was still gone by January. McCall had back to back second place finishes but was gone by January-ish. Right now the manager deserves his plaudits and has a job to rebuild for next year.

Draw dates are weird second qualifying round is 15th June (1st round on the 14th) with the second round draw on the 18th July. Makes the second qualifying round a bit easier to arrange travel for as you get that bit longer between the draw and the game.

Donnelly looked lost first half playing in a back three, was fine second half when we went to a four. First half was generally poor and despite Hearts not really creating much it felt like a goal was coming, the change of shape at half time made all the difference. Thought it wasn't going to be our night when Efford missed that header but they stuck too it and were worth it in the end. Much like the season overall.

Lamie, with honourable mentions to Slattery and O'Donnell. The change of shape and tempo at half time was huge as well but KVV made too many mistakes. Still though his coming on changed the game.

Craig Reid day today according to the club on Twitter. What's more shocking, that squad finishing 2nd or if this one takes 4th?

Apparently the bug is spreading throughout the squad so Alexander is going to pick whatever 11 are fit to play....

If I was being extra picky I'd have County finishing 5th on goal difference so if they lose to Rangers by less than Celtic beat United it would be even better.

United losing to Rangers with Celtic to play on Wednesday is good news. Would rather rangers had taken 6 off them to help with the goal difference but such is life.

Win on Wednesday and assuming they lose to Celtic and Rangers we go in to the last game two ahead of them. We have a very realistic chance of finishing 4th. And an equal chance of finishing 6th....

Bob McHugh with the assist for the Queens Park goal apparently. Also Alan Campbell played for Luton who won and made the play offs. Would love for them to do it and wee Al to be an EPL player.

Ainsworth is a great comparison. On his day he's unplayable, when he's off he's as well not playing. Happy for him to get an extension and ideally we can get more good days out of him going forward.

Huge result. Rode our luck a bit by the sounds of it but we were due a bit. As long as Rangers and Celtic win (tomorrow and Wednesday) then 3 points on Wednesday guarantees us at worst 5th. Massive game Wednesday.

Aye, lose this one and I'm not sure I'd bother going to the Hearts game. Can do without the negativity I my life, and if we do turn in a great performance and get a result it would he even more frustrating. It's the hope that gets you.

With united playing County, Rangers and Celtic and County playing us, United and Rangers there's a very real chance that 6 points would be enough for 5th (possibly even 4th) Wild that for all the shit of 2022 we are still two wins away from what could be a very good season league position wise.

Didn't one of the behind the scenes/interview type videos have someone either a coach or fellow player saying how good McGinley is in training? I may have made this up but I'm sure that was mentioned. Hard as a manager not to reward players that train hard and look good and are just over trying in a game. You always have that feeling that they'll come good.

He signed based on a large squad, I'm saying the extra cash per player from carrying a smaller squad will help with quality and a settled line up will let players know their role better. It's an optimistic way of looking at things, but since we all know he won't be getting bagged it's as well to hope as it is to be miserable about it.

Where I think its worth giving Alexander the benefit of the doubt over the selection and recruitment is the covid factor and the decision to carry a large squad to deal with it. He's said he'd prefer a smaller squad and alot of what we're seeing in terms of selection may be die to him not being able to manage a large squad effectively. He thinks he has to rotate to keep guys happy but hasn't been able to get the balance right. That would also go a way to explaining some of the more industrial performances as he doesn't think the players have the quality required. In the year 2021 Alexander got the third highest points tally of any club. You can cherry pick time periods to make him look the dogs bollocks or dog shite, neither are true though. He's a mediocre SPL manager at a mid sized SPL club. Yet here we are, shocked that we're sitting middle of the table, again.

Did a quick look back over results and if I can count then Dundee United have one more point than us since Christmas. Aye we're shite, but so are they. Next three games are massive. Finish 4th, pocket some money and get as long as possible before the next competitive game so we can go in to the next season with some new faces and a bit of positivity. The chance to seal 4th with a win over Hearts at Fir Park is there, that would be a game that if we won could put alot of this season behind us.

If we finish 4th, (if) the first European game is after the first league game. That let's you get a proper pre season in rather than having to do that weird balancing act with the League Cup groups where its half pre season and half serious Cup game...

What really surprises me about this is the fixtures were announced last Tuesday. Surely Rangers thought they had a chance of going through against Braga so would have known they would want extra prep days for the semi final. If it had been announced with the fixtures everyone would have been happy enough. The lack of foresight and planning is wild, taking things one game at a time is fine for players but you'd think someone higher up would take a longer term view.

Well thats Hibs not winning the cup so 5th gets the 2nd qualifying round for the conference league and 4th goes in third qualifier. The only question I think is what would happen to all the Russian teams slots if they get banned for next season?

But rangers, winning the EL (not happening obviously but if it did) would have no bearing on scottish representation in Europe next year. Its not like the Scottish Cup where it drops down the league places, it would go to third/fourth place I'm France or something to that effect.

I'm not a footballer by a long stretch but it's probably fair to say that there's a balance to be had and Allessio got that balance wrong and focused too much on what he was good with and couldn't identify that there was more required. Thats the great thing about being an assistant, there's someone above you to recognise things like that.

I heard the opposite, the players were off doing running and fitness work on their own cos they were never getting any intense work at training.

I've heard from someone close to a player who was at Killie under him (I know this is getting a bit removed from the horses mouth) that training was nothing but walking pace positional stuff. All structure and shape but never done at pace. Clearly he has something about him to coach/assist at that level, but when he hasn't been the main man anywhere else there's probably a reason for that.