Andy_P

I don't think there was ever any mention of indoor facilities like Ravenscraig but presumably if the mooted Muirhouse Community Hub project came off we would have first dibs on the training facilities there?

Having heard several horror stories from Airdrie mates and with his impact as Airdrie manager there for all to see I wasn't overly pleased when Black was announced as McCall's number two. It puzzled me then and still does puzzle where the connection came from. There was no obvious crossing of paths during their careers and other than both having Yorkshire links I couldn't fathom why McCall went for Black. However I think you would have to say over the piece it was a very successful appointment for both parties. Black leaves with his reputation considerably enhanced from when he first walked into Fir Park as McCall's number two and he played his part in one of our finest periods in years and seems to have been generally well liked and respected by many of the guys who worked under them both. Appreciate his years of service and wish him good luck in the future.

Rangers v Hearts was originally scheduled for a Friday night though...

We did send the likes of Craigan to Blantyre Vics, McCulloch and Denham to Cumbernauld in the 1990's though.

I like my stats too but sometimes if you ponder them overly you tie yourself in knots thinking what's likely to be the outcome.I watched the Sport XV show the other night where the guest Tom English reckoned many of the players would be unaffected by Scotland's awful record against England at Twickenham. They wouldn't know or didn't care being his opinion. You would have to think that with so many newbies on each side that could equally be applied when we play Ross County. They won't give a shit what's gone before, they'll just be desperate to play and win the game.

Nonsense. He didn't refer to him as Vigours.

Not that I'm in anyway giving giving any credence to the suggestion but the location quoted isn't a kick in the arse away in all honesty.

Quick IP check suggests a North Yorkshire based poster.

Well I certainly didn't expect to be writing about getting a point at half-time that's for sure! The first forty-five was awful. From Saints goal where they walked right through us to the sending off to absolutely nothing being created in a positive sense it was just awful. We seemed resigned to our fate from the minute Laing went off. Fortunately St Johnstone seemed to click immediately that we looked resigned to our fate, had they gone in for the kill in that first half they could have put the game to bed 3:45pm without much resistance. And there was the second half. Quite a transformation in attitude and performance. That was really gritty. Often not easy on the eye but some excellent endeavour put in perhaps typified by Lee Erwin and when at last someone was introduced with that little bit of creativity and threat in Dominic Thomas it was enough to get a goal and a precious point. I think most had targeted this one as a game we had to take something and I'm delighted and relieved that we did. We are still going to Dingwall in a fortnight under pressure not to lose but we go there now knowing we've had an improved performance at Tannadice and we've battled hard and come out with a point with 10 men today. It would have worried me knowing they had two weeks to worry about going to play Ross County having lost six on the bounce. Of course these are very modest steps and it's still a scunner that we've dropped to second bottom but there's still life there yet.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Cop out it may appear, but I'm non-committal thus far on how much of a success or failure the manager has been. I like the way he comes across in terms of a positive outlook, I like the sound of his ideas both in terms of how we will look to play and how he'll go for a more home grown ethos in the longer term. Other than the more regular involvement of some younger players has he managed to get that vision across to the players on the park? As yet, clearly not. Six successive losses might have cost Adams and Craig their job but then not so many newly installed managers to get pushed after little more than six weeks in charge. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that the more of his own players he brings in the greater the level of scrutiny of those signings and their impact on the team will be. I'm not so sure he's quite deserving of your attempts to crank up the pressure on him by suggesting his job will be on the line just yet though. The immediate task at hand is to keep us up, no more, no less. Whether he does that by losing 5, 6, 7 or 8 games in a row it won't matter a jot, as long as we manage to stay up. Will he get it right or wrong? Time will tell.

You might well be proved correct aboutBaraclough, I don't know but it always makes me smile when I read you picking holes in whoever the incumbent might be. I just can't shake this mental images of this wee green eyed monster jealous as fuck as that somehow they are constantly overlooked when the time comes to appoint a Motherwell manager, red faced and absolutely beelin with frustration that nobody, but nobody shares your razor sharp insights on how easy a gig it should be.

Good work Ya Bezzer! Got 58 and missed a few, particularly from the Craig Brown era. Also must have wasted about 3 minutes on the boy that got one subby appearance under McCall at Perth one evening! No Michael Fraser though?

For me there's perhaps too much of a focus from some on the age of any potential recruits. Just how many older experienced players does a side need? You've got the likes of Hammell, Lasley, Ramsden, McManus and Pearson to name but a handful who are over thirty. All of those, perhaps excepting McManus have all fought battles against relegation in their time. Sutton went through it at St Mirren too. There should be ample experience in that squad to handle the current situation. What's needed is ability and strength of character and that stands whether the next player that comes in is 17, 27 or 37.

I remember reading a lengthy feature on Hugh Ferguson around the mid-90's - a very, very emotional piece of writing actually. Unfortunately I can't actually remember where. Something in the back of my mind tells me it might have been in a fanzine/magazine of the day (might even still be going for all I know) called The Scottish Football Historian, but I can't mind whether it was reproduced in our match programme or whether a fellow Dosser passed it on to me. So there's certainly more on Ferguson out there if you want to some detective work.

We'll win! I have a sense that the urgency of the situation has at last dawned on some combined with the freshness of a new face and the threat of further competition for places to come. We'll win! (he said half trying to convince himself as much as anything)

Your thoughts and votes please...

Okay if we're playing this game.... Well I got the blown away on the odd occasion bit right! Ha ha! Fail! That's about as close as I've got so far and even that's at a push to argue they've as yet made "a sufficiently good impact". Jeez oh....... The only thing right and it's about Aber-fucking-deen! Aye well... Mental note. Predict nothing.

The further loss of Hammell rankles a bit. Having just come back the week before, when he didn't complete the full ninety, it seemed risky bordering on the downright stupid to play him at Hamilton. And here we are.... ...that is of course working on the assumption its the same injury. But still.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Less than 24 hours to the most unlikely three points of the season. Perhaps.

As we embarked on upgrading Fir Park in the early 90's I can remember having some good natured banter about Broomfield with my Airdrie mates that it was a dump, a relic and not fit for top flight football. They loved the place of course and well knowing it's limitations defended it to the hilt. I would never call Fir Park a dump - that's sacrilege! But with our wooden constructed Main Stand that's around 50 years old and converted terracing of an East Stand that cannae hawd its water and has bits that fall off when it gets windy with each new incident it makes the topic of moving somewhere new all the more relevant. Ofcourse at the current minute all we can do is patch it up as best we can and hope we get as long out of it as we can dilapidated as it may well be in parts. But I tell you what I genuinely fear the day I'm sitting in a soulless shiny new stadium somewhere dreaming of the days that I watched my team in that leaky roofed, cramped, and obstructed East Stand!

I haven't seen Pearson either but like the Golden Child I would rather suspect he'd be different player to the raw, pacy direct youngster that left us under a cloud many years ago. I was as irked as anyone at the way he left - it was apallingly dealt with by Pearson and his advisors - but from interviews with him since he's shown himself to be a bit more mature and shown some contrition for the way he left. And other point for debate that springs to mind - that I'm slightly cautious about airing for obvious reasons - but after a poll on here showed Ched Evans would happily be given a second chance by many of the Steelmen Online patrons after a rape conviction would people be unwilling to offer the same second chance to someone for being photographed wearing another team's shirt hours before a move more than a decade ago?

Disappointed about the postponement but appreciate the early decision that removes all "will it/won't it" doubt for today, not to mention the swift rescheduling.

I think perhaps letting your well documented antipathy towards Stuart McCall over influence your thoughts on this one postie. To suggest he was wasted is stretching it somewhat. There were several times he was on the bench even before his loan deal was made permanent. Following that he had some time out through injury and had additional competition for a place up front from Faddy that hadn't really been there prior to Christmas and the emergence of Craig Moore which gave McCall a variety of options to choose from. And Bob McHugh