Andy_P

Your thoughts and votes please..

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Kind of sort of agree with most of it. Whilst there weren't fees attached to all of them, and indeed not all of them are English, there have been several who have joined us from an English side and returned to a higher level from where they started so I wouldn't in any way dismiss that route. Off the top of my head Porter come from League One and went back to the Championship for a £400,000 profit. Randolph came from League One and went to a Championship side. Foran came from League One or Two and went to a Championship side for £175,000 profit. Hutchinson came from nowhere and went to the Championship so there is some demand. The very fact the club have based the chief scout in England suggests they believe there is a market to be developed and exploited there in additional to local recruitment and development. There is also a point about youth development which often gets overlooked when it comes to sales is that you might not necessarily make the money would you like off them but in a lot of cases you get a return on the field from them. Jamie Murphy for example wasn't sitting in the Main Stand picking his arse for 6 years. We might only have got something like £100k, £150k or whatever for him but you got 200 games from him and he was there playing his part in Europe, getting to and in a Cup Final, top half finishes etc. Even, since you mention Airdrie, like Marc Fitzpatrick. You got 120 odd games (of varying degrees of quality of course) at first team level from him.

It's a good debate. For me, building upon what Noah has said, a lot of it is down to perception. If you can get that to point where say Hamilton or Dundee Utd are perceived to be at the moment you have a great chance of coining it in. People might not actually know what talent you have now or further down the line but because you've sold in the past and have managed to do some good business you are automatically perceived to be a rich source and so attention is drawn to your club. The other key point is having the financial muscle to hold your nerve if and when the bids do come in. Accies and Utd have been better placed to name their terms because they aren't under the same pressure to sell. They have the proceeds in the bank from previous sales or have utilised their earnings in ways so that they aren't as hand to mouth as many. You contrast them with us over recent years. Everyone club and their dug knew our financial situation - perhaps a down side from the club so being open, honest and transparent with accounts and finances - and as such most offers we would get would be on the low side knowing that we might be more readily tempted. The difference is now that we have that muscle and we are gaining the reputation. The whole ethos has been changed and well documented about developing youth. That young talent at the club has been talked up. Contracts are of a length that will protect us and draw attention - you don't hand out a three-and-a-half year deal to just any kid. I also think back to Hutchinson's interview shortly after the takeover was confirmed. In a very measured and sobre manner he made it very clear that we wouldn't be messed about when it came to bids on our players any longer. As I say I don't think we've moved at all from the plan of being a selling club. Now we just have the tools in place to do it much much more astutely.

I might be off the mark but was it not the case that a number of cricketers latched on to football, particularly so in England, to keep them fit/busy during the winter? And because of those of guys some football clubs were actually formed out of cricket clubs.

Without question if you had offered me 4 points from 6 from the Inverness and Kilmarnock games following the abject misery of the Dundee display, yet curiously in the immediate aftermath of the game today I'm struggling to shake off the feeling that we've fallen just a little short. Ten men; at home; whole second half to play; initiative with you after the goal immediately before half-time. You've got to take full points haven't you? Still, again signs of progress. We lost a goal - and a fine goal it was at that - that we could have made more of a fist of preventing rather than standing back and admiring but I thought we limited Killie pretty well and were generally on the front foot for most of the game, for good spells even before they went down to 10 men. Lots of chances, lots of corners, lots of time spent taking the game to the opposition. It really has been a sea change over the past couple of games. I can only see that continuing to develop as the likes of McDonald and Johnson further integrate themselves into the side. The niggle is that Ross County have rather annoyingly found a rich vein of form at the same time. Still for all that, they are just two ahead and Thistle just six. And ofcourse we're now off the foot of the table Could have been better today, perhaps should have been better, but still progress, still going in the right direction. Still have faith.

Your thoughts and votes please..

At the current moment in time, I'm happy enough that we now have some options and competition for places across several positions. Saturday's bench for example was as laden with options as I can recall for quite some time. Up to the manager to make the right selections from those options.

That was hugely encouraging stuff yesterday after the pitiful effort of the week before. I must confess I thought it was a little bit of another case of chucking it at the wall and see if something sticks with the team selection but by and large Baraclough got it right. From the word go we looked like a team. There was a great tempo about things in the early stages, we looked threatening, creative at times and the benefits of having the personnel to be able to perform the much talked of high pressing game were there for all to see. The worry was that when we were on top that by not getting our noses in front it might come back to haunt us but throughout the game we generally kept Inverness restricted to efforts from distance. They had a couple of chances certainly but weren't cutting us apart that often. Again we started the second half a a good tempo and after so many games where even we've scored we've been chasing a game, what a feeling it was to actually get in front. Great character to come back again when they equalised. When Moore miss-kicked and the ball was taken away from Sutton I thought that was our opportunity gone and but just fantastic to get our noses in front again and then hold out. It wasn't ideal that both St Mirren and Ross County won but I couldn't say that took the shine off it at all for me. If St Mirren were ever going to beat anyone at home given the form they are in currently Hamilton would be a good bet and for all they beat us last weekend Dundee were hardly startling. I suspect our result will have been more a surprise to them, than there's was to us. The fight goes on!

Your thoughts and votes please...

Wee summary of events (and obviously hoping I'm not breaking any confidences by posting) Meeting lasted just over an hour. Usual business of getting the formalities out of the way then the usual questions from the floor. A lot of the chat was stuff that's been released/discussed/aired recently so not too many surprises. Some of what was discussed was along the lines of.... On budgets... It was confirmed McCall had the same kitty to work with as last year, which was actually increased to allow for the Ojamaa signing. Next year's budget will be down by quite a hefty amount (which Baraclough was aware of before taking the job) in part because we'll only have 8 players in contract come the end of the season; because of seeking a more attainable break even figure and because of the change of philosophy towards younger players. On players...Bringing on youth is part of Baraclough's philosophy. He will continue to get youngsters involved be it at Motherwell, or by boosting their development on loan. He feels youngsters have to be given a chance or you'll never know how good they are. Some of them are ready, some not. He used an example that Dom Thomas at the current moment in time may be currently better suited coming into a game later on where the pace of the game at that point is such that he can really exploit his talents, whereas it may be harder for him to do so at the start of the game. On player recruitment...Things are already ongoing for next season. Luke Watt has signed a new deal, Erwin and Thomas are currently in negotiations. The club have a list of players who are out of contract at clubs across the country to consider targets. We have a chief scout in England plus another two there. We've two in Scotland one concentrating on player recruitment and another concentrating on the opposition. There has been an increase in scouting at youth level in Scotland also. On training and match preparation....There has been quite a change and the feedback from players and apparently from those the players talk to has been positive. More preparation work before the actual training sessions. Focusing on strength and conditioning. Lots of work on individual basis on things like analysis and working on the mental side of things. No resistance to the methods with the senior players buying into it for the extra longevity it can bring to their careers. Players working exceptionally hard in training. No lack of enthusiasm despite current predicament. On injuries...Vigurs likely to be out for the rest of the season, Lawson possibly likewise. Hammell possibly back before the end of the season. ZFA doing one-to-one work. Pearson may feature at the weekend. Injuries sustained in recent weeks have been impact injuries and not soft tissue injuries which is being put down to the work being done in training and the methods and work of the physio and the performance coach. On Well Society...There has been an initial loan from Les Hutchinson with further loans from him and the WS anticipated to alleviate cash flow issues. Loan has to repaid within 5 years with an additional proviso that people have to have demonstrated a desire for the WS model to work by signing up in certain numbers. On Community Involvement...Example quoted of English based donor with limited connection to club but impressed with work done and vision so donated a sum of money for an educational programme. Thousands of people go linked to club through community schemes. That's about the bulk of my recollections from my scribbles anything that comes to mind I'll post up.

Seven o'clock start.

Takes me back that. I mind as a wean getting Shoot magazine and practically every week the player profile had... FAVOURITE FOOD: Steak and chips FAVOURITE DRINK: Lager

Yeah, going by the reports from Dingwall he was the player I was most looking forward to seeing but it was basically a 10 years younger version of the maligned Vigurs. A couple of nice passes, couple of nice touches but for the most part anonymity that left the youthful sprightly Lasley to try to start moves, get forward and support those moves, get back and stop the inevitable breaks when those moves went nowhere. In a properly balanced midfield though I still hope to see more of the obvious promise Grant has. .

It was said on the recent By the Min podcast that the money which was earmarked for another member of the media team went into the football budget instead at the suggestion of the GM who would cover both roles. I don't know what the sums involved were but to me the gesture seemed very well intentioned and done for the best reasons.

Ange Ouefio for me.

We can talk hard luck stories about their goal or about Johnson having to off injured but this was a display that offered absolutely nothing to suggest we have a chance of avoiding the drop. In what was being billed beforehand as a pivotal match that would kick-start our season, did we actually have a shot on target? Desperate, desperate stuff when our opposition today were hardly approaching scintillating themselves. I'm wary about being overly critical about a number of the guys still bedding in but today there appeared little discernible difference in quality from anything that's gone before this season. Instead of the supposed lift we hoped to get I get the impression it is more a watershed moment in terms of people losing faith be that in the players or the management. It goes without saying but these are extremely worrying times.

Pish!

I don't know the message seemed fairly clear to me, you've come along on the odd occasion when the times were good, we really need you to come back now that times are hard.

Ha ha! Happy to stand corrected on the order of the scoring. Can only assume I've got the bets confused with the passing of time but I'm not going to forget the ridiculousness on betting Craggs to score and then score again inside the same game - and getting it up!

From memory I don't think there much if any return for the club. They were good whilst they were there though. There was about an 18 month spell where you could almost bank on a return from having Tommy Coyne as first goalscorer. The most ludicrous bet, or bets, I've ever seen come up though was John Bryce, brother of Tony and who both sold the programmes for years, sticking on whatever it was on Craigan to score first in a game against Hibs when Butcher was still in charge. These would obviously be long odds and off he trots gleefully at half-time to pick up his winnings. But fuck me did not stick another couple of quid on Craigan to be final goalscorer and up pops Craigan to score again to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw and give him another lift.

This is quite spooky actually. I recollected in the past an MSP from Fife pushing the issue and that one of the arguments in favour of the re-introduction had collected had actually come from the police themselves, the belief being it would remove the rush from the boozer to the turnstiles in the last few minutes before kick-off. I did a bit of googling to substantiate my recollection before posting a reply and what I did find but this..... From the GLF archives at Fir Park Corner... I wouldn't say my arguments have changed much in the intervening years.

In full agreement that it's a populist ploy by Murphy. He threw in another one a week or two back to tempt Yes voting weegies with talk of revisiting the Glasgow Crossrail plan. No finance to implement the project ofcourse but that's neither here nor there.... That said, leaving the politics of the issue aside in principle I really don't see why not. Adopt a similar proviso to that in England that your consumption has to be outwith the gaze of the pitch then why not give people the choice. And that to me is what it's all about, choice. And the very same goes with the debate about the opportunity to stand, give people choices.

Your thoughts and votes please...

The appointment referred to talked of a chief scout it didn't suggest he was the only scout. Not a leap to assume that if the personnel undertaking the tasks are being reviewed then the processes such as age groups, locations and player abilities and characteristics will be reviewed also.