weeyin

That's not the reason. Unless the law has been changed since its original incarnation, the blinds go down because the law says you aren't allowed a view of the pitch when you are drinking alcohol. I remember trips to Kilbowie where they had a nice wee bar that overlooked the park and people were able to drink there and watch the game. Then the new alcohol laws came in and 5 minutes before every game they had to bring down the shutters.

It doesn't matter what our lineup is - if we continue to ship soft goals, we will lose. The question is, how do you make players concentrate for 90 minutes and execute the basics?

Apart from taking over a bunch of chancers and needing a few weeks to bed in his own signings? There was no chance of us turning into a confident, high performing team between our last game and now. Just because we signed a few fresh faces doesn't mean we don't have a hell of a fight on our hands.

Yes, he has. Centre half is his best position and when he's been given the opportunity, he's done OK there. This season, plenty of players have been total mince, so he's in good company if you think he's had some poor performances.

Not really. Kerr has been decent at centre half most times he's played there. He's just one of those guys people live to hate.

I thought he was a "talented left footed winger" rather than a robust box to box midfielder (at least that is how he is desctibed on some of the Everton blogs). I assumed he was brought in to be creative rather than defensive.

Accies have long had a great reputation for the way the treat the youngsters. Seem to go to great lengths to make them happy and give them real chances of progressing through the ranks. Read this piece in the Herald last year which talks about it in more detail;

Lucky you stopped her before she typed the other 3 letters.

No chance it will all come together in this game. However, if we can refresh the team with a couple of the new faces, plus a couple of the youngsters there may be sufficient improvement to boost the confidence a little and grab a victory. Even a new found competition for places might give the metaphorical boot up the arse required.

Is it questions for 'Flow you want or questions for the Board. I doubt 'Flow will be allowed to answer any direct questions on behalf of Board members. If you want some, here's a few: What's the difference between a GM and a Chief Executive role within the structure at Fir Park? For a while it seemed we were budgeting for a top 6 finish and/or quarter finals of a Cup. Looking back, was that a financially prudent approach? If not, how has the budgeting approach been adjusted? What mistakes did we make that left us with a financial loss in the last 3 or 4 seasons despite league success? Does it still seem like a good idea to have voted in favour of reducing the 2nd place finishers prize money? Why hasn't the club made any moves to replace Neil Doncaster - a man who continues to talk down the game in Scotland and who has consistently failed to even find a league sponsor? What lessons have been learned in the past 3 seasons that will see us move towards a profitable (or just break-even) model? What plans are in place, if any, to bring back the live broadcast of games we had on MFC TV? Does the financial compensation we receive from TV companies make up for the long term damage to the fan base when game times are switched at the last minute? Why do Scottish clubs continue to kowtow to our friends in Glasgow? As GM, does he know is Assets from his EBITDA? Bob Malcolm. Why?

Another European trophy winner. Hope some of that eventually rubs off on our players.

I think the entire team and backroom staff lost their edge this season. I'm sure part of it us psychological. Last season, especially with so many new faces, players had a point to prove and they battled their way to 2nd. This season, I think they lost a bit of drive and whether consciously or unconsciously suffered a bit of "after the Lord Mayor's show" effect. Even successful teams with large budgets and frequent transfers can struggle to maintain a high level of performance, and without many fresh faces over the summer, we lost our focus. No doubt a few players resting on their laurels this season too. At the time I thought McCall was a wee bit hasty in resigning, but looking back, think the timing was right for all concerned. It must have been pretty exhausting to try and sustain a level of success with decreasing resources. He might count himself a little unlucky he didn't get access to the new owners coffers, but probably better the new gaffer gets to play with that anyway.

Did we not have a wee run-in there a few years ago trying to kick out paying customers?

Given our luck with injuries sustained during off-weeks, I'd be keeping our players away from any competitive action.

Aye, I think our "no transfer fee" policy hurt us on that front as often the youngsters cost something to bring in. I could understand that policy given the finances, but sometimes a little bit of cash wisely invested is what's required. Seems like the new owner is keen to adopt the investment approach.

I guarantee you if, say, Sky had to choose between 2 million viewers and a quarter empty stadium and 1.5 million viewers with a full stadium, they will take the 2 million every time and not give a toss. And if football goes down the pan, TV will just move on to another sport they can entice/charge punters to watch. They don't care if they have to show dwarf poodle racing - as long as they can deliver an audience.

It's an obvious conflict of interest, but one that is too late to change - TV companies want more people to watch the game on telly. So whatever they can do to have less fans making the journey and more fans staying at home (or in the pub) the better. Clubs thought, presumably, that getting some financial compensation would make up for the loss of fans. While it may do that in the short term, in the longer term the risk (and reality) is that it is one more thing to drive supporters away from the game.

According to Law 12 (from what I can see) both of the following are Red Card offences: - Denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within his own penalty area) - Denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick

Common sense disappeared from scheduling a long time ago. Unfortunately, we sold any chance of sanity (at an undervalued price) for a short term gain and without any thought to the long term impact of this kind of stupidity.

For all the rights and wrongs, it may have worked out well for us. If we had stayed at 11 men, we might have stuck with the defensive set-up we started off with and ended up losing the game.

Because it's supposed to help players develop their footballing skills, not their cold weather survival skills.

Sounds like one of those "Why the hell are we playing in this weather" games.

Wikipedia has George listed as a "Winger/Creative Midfielder".

From MFC Twitter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6OuPngemvE

Is that just in Scotland, or are there other weird local FA rules like the loan rules in England and differences between Premiership and Championship clubs etc.?