weeyin

At Fir Park with a crowd I think we'd have had a decent shout.

I was going to say Lee Erwin, but then found out he changed teams again.

I agree with all of that. The one saving grace is that the teams all agreed to play a full season and both the cups in full knowledge that Covid was going to disrupt the schedule. So nobody is in a position to complain when we can't complete all the games. As for teams getting relegated because of Covid, it's not really any different to teams getting relegated due to large numbers of injuries. It wasn't that long ago we were struggling when we had 10 first team players out of action. I suppose other options again would be to extend the season - which raises the previous issue about contract expiration and extension - or allow affected teams to bring in additional players outside the window; but even if FIFA allowed that, it would favour the bigger teams. I would be in favour of a compromise where maybe each team can postpone 3 or 4 games before forfeits kick in and maybe extending the season by a couple of weeks. But again, all this needs to be decided now rather than in April.

You're probably right about the 3 slots. I think it was someone from the SFA I heard originally, but that might have been before they revamped the Betfred Cup format etc. Anyway, I see they are already sounding out the clubs on how they want handle the situation if we end up in the same spot as last season. That's why I'm in favour of awarding games to opponents if a team can't field a team. It's not ideal, but I can easily see a situation where some teams play 5 or 6 games less than others when the season needs to be called. That would make any formula to determine league positions much more problematic. Whatever we do, we need to agree now so everyone knows in advance how the rules will be applied.

I thought Columbus still need to pay us? It's just the amount that is in dispute because the MLS wanted to categorize their teams as Tier 4 and we need to go through the FIFA appeals process (which is slow). Blaming the player is ridiculous. His contract was up and he needed a job. There wasn't exactly a flood of offers and I'd be amazed if a single poster on here changed jobs based on how well-off that would leave their previous employer. (In fact most posters on here didn't know the MLS only signed up for the FIFA compensation scheme in April this year, but now they are all experts in football law and expect Cadden to be the same).

I didn't like Fitzpatrick when he was a player in Fergie's niggly wee St Mirren team and he's an even bigger chancer now.

Likewise. Thought they were at it on Saturday, taking advantage of the fact the SPFL didn't have time to investigate 2 hrs before kick-off, and knowing the SPFL would do nothing afterwards. Still think they were at it. Still think they will get away with it.

I have vivid memories of him causing us problems when he played for Arbroath.

It's not nonsense. The clubs were told that if they want a full season there is only one free weekend in the schedule (and no winter break). It's almost guaranteed there will be games postponed for weather during the winter, and even more likely there will be a spike in Coronavirus cases during that time too. So if there are zero additional cancellations between now and the end of the season we can just about fit them in. We all know that isn't going to be the case. And if there are no consequences, any team that wants to wait until they get key players back from injury can just decide to pull out 2 hours before kick-off.

That's also true. Celtic sometimes seem to buy Scottish youngsters just to stop rivals signing them. Lewis Morgan is another recent example

Turnbull's spent his entire footballing career at Fir Park and his senior career consists of playing in Motherwell systems. Arsene Wenger used to reckon it took a minimum of 6 months for a player to adapt to a new club in the same league, and longer if you switched leagues. One thing he's definitely missing is game time. He hasn't had many competitive minutes since his long lay-off and unlike us, Celtic aren't going to rush him into starting. I still think he'd have been better off switching leagues, but I'm sure he'll do just fine at Celtic.

It's always interesting to see players we bring through that can't quite make the step up to Premiership standard, but do well in the Championship. If someone could figure out exactly what it is that differentiates those players, they'd make a fortunate as a coach or scout.

It's the lateness that prevents any real assessment of the validity of the claims. Coupled with the fact that Goodwin has been moaning about losing 2 big players for the game, you can see why it's pretty convenient to have a game called off with the only consequence being you get to play it when your best players are available. There was no talk of any other issues on Friday, so while it can certainly be the case that somebody reports symptoms on a Saturday morning it all seems a bit off. Anyway, even if it is a legitimate situation (and it may well be) none of this would an issue if the forfeit rule was in place. I said we needed one before the season started and I said we needed one after the Aberdeen and Celtic had their issues. It's the only way we'll get through a season without ending up in the same situation as last season. Either that or we need to reduce the number of games played - but that ship has sailed. Something needs to be put in place soon - maybe setting a maximum number of games a club can postpone before a forfeit - or we could end up in a situation in May where clubs have half a dozen games to fit in over and above the regular fixture list.

I don't think they have the same level of testing protocols in those leagues do they? That's why Danny Johnson missed the cup tie against Spurs. It was Spurs that paid for Orient to be tested and discovered 19 positive results.

Not really. If they say they can't field a team, what do you think the SPFL will do? They haven't awarded any cancelled league games to opponents so far, so there is no reason for St Mirren to think that would happen here without a rule change (that couldn't be applied retrospectively).

Agreed. The loophole right now is "players that need to self-isolate" because that's almost impossible to disprove. And with no crowds, there's no financial penalty for pulling out at the last minute. Without forfeiting the game, St Mirren gain an advantage here. Meanwhile we have to potentially squeeze two rescheduled games into an already packed fixture list through no fault of our own.

According to Doncaster - and I have no reason to doubt him on this point - the SPFL is currently not allowed to award forfeited games to opponents. That power lies with the SFA and there is a process to follow on a case by case basis. When the SPFL Board asked their members to give them emergency powers this season to make decisions without needing a vote every time, one of the powers they would have been granted is the ability to award 3 - 0 walkovers in situations like this. The clubs voted against that option (probably with good reason), but that means we're stuck with this problem for now. It does feel very convenient that yesterday Goodwin was talking about how he had lost "2 big players" and today they need to send just enough players into self-isolation to cause a postponement. It's easy for the authorities to confirm players that test positive. It's a lot more difficult for them to confirm who needs to self-isolate, so this is a get-out-of-jail-free card for teams that don't want to field an under-strength team. Of course, it could all be legit - but then we're back to forfeiting games. The sooner that rule is applied the better.

Unless there is a forfeit rule I can see teams taking advantage of late postponements when they lose a few key players. It's impossible to prove you didn't need to put 4 or 5 additional players into self-isolation.

All we need to do over the next few weeks is say we don't have enough players two hours before every game until we have our left backs fit again.

While I have sympathy for Covid 19 related issues, it seems a bit strange to call off so close to kick-off. The cynic in me thinks they don't want to play with a weakened team and calling off at this stage prevents the SPFL or SFA from having sufficient time to investigate and make them turn out. Regardless, as I said after the Killie game, there needs to be a rule in place otherwise we are going to be back in the same position of having to call the season. Except it will be worse as teams could end up having played 4 or 5 games less than others.

If Robinson plans to use a back 3 I don't think he will get a start.

I can see him going with a McGinley, Gallagher, Lamie back 3 with O'Donnell wingback in front of Lamie on the right,

Official team news so far is Mugabi definitely out (obviously), Gallagher definitely starting, O'Donnell "will be assessed after playing three times in six days for Scotland" - although, to be fair, he did have to cover a lot more ground than Dec. My guess is we'll line up with a back 3, but my guesses are usually wrong.

The rule at Fir Park is that we must injure at least one player per international break.

What does that mean? Aren't the protocols supposed to keep players segregated at their workplace with everything happening in small groups from dining and training to traveling to the match and changing?