Malky79

Hardly, disappointing but we should be sharper next week. Sounds like they are there for the taking though I expect a tight game. They obviously will fancy their chances right now.

Yeah this, as it about the only interesting thing on this thread and also fuck me who really gives a toss about John Porteous going to Hibs. Everyone moves on eventually, sure it's sad to see long serving staff go but if as suggested it's a move cloer to home for probably more money fair play to him. As for Leanne Dempster well who really cares, her job is with Hibs now and it really makes no difference if people leave to go to Hibs or go anywhere else. Porteous will be replaced and life will go on. Same as if she pinches the groundsman or anyone else, I suspect we won't have a mass exodus to Easter Road however so really it's trivial. Like to see this thread reinvigorated by an actual signing or two as that is an area we definitely do need to see some movement on.

Would liked to have seen Clarkson get a friendly game or two before a decision was made but McCall knows what he is doing. Clarkson was never lightning quick, if not a slouch, in his younger days but if he lost a yard or so with injuries in last few years then it probably is the right call. Hope someone else is lined up as McHugh just does not fill me with confidence.

If Clarkson returns and displays the form of his last two seasons with us and we'll have done well. Clearly we have some doubts about that but I trust McCall plenty enough to decide on what he sees in pre season time with us.

I'm not sure Goodwillie was ever a really top class prospect, but he more than looked the part at SPL level in his first spell. Maybe a touch over hyped but lets not rewrite history to suggest he was some jumped up no hoper.

That would be because? Seriously I don't mind a childish insult lobbed back, I did suggest you were possibly off your head on something after all, but at least pad it out some sort of argued point. You see a guy that is one of the few pacy and effective players we have purely as an impact sub? I think you need to justify that point of view a lot more or I'd suggest it is yourself that has been to enthusiastic with the self abuse.

You on crack, Ainsworth who scored double figures from the wing and had a similar amount of assists should be sitting on the bench while what looks like the worlds slowest starting XI possibly Kerr excepted labours around with no width at all.

I think the concern would be that with those two up front they might want to play in similar areas, get more in each others way. We might find a lack of movement means they don't get the chances they need to get the goals they are capable of. Not saying that would definitely happen butjust sticking two good strikers up top doesn't automatically equate to both of them banging them in. I'd prefer we signed someone who looks like a better foil for Sutton that someone in a similar mould.

Yeah shouldn't prejudge any player but a large part of Clarksons game was built around his ability to cover ground and his work rate. I never doubted Sutton would score goals provided we created chances and Clarkson was very much a confidence player and he appears to be in a decline. Hearts just never had the sense to play Sutton half the time so I had very little fears about Suttons ability, although I didn't expect him to bang in more than 20 goals last season either.

Dunno if he warming the bench or not but he has 32 appearances according to wiki page so he is at least getting off it for a run out most weeks. Not expecting him back certainly. Clarkson would seem more realistic if we looking at former strikers and whilst I'd tear your arm off to get back the player Clarkson was when he left I'd have reservations about the current version.

I like Angol, yeah there has been games where you wonder what he is doing out there but there are signs of promise and they may not amount to much but I wouldn't be in a hurry to move him on.

I'd give him another week at least, a lot depends on who else we might be looking at and other options we might have available. Certainly if pre season is starting we should be moving on.

Aye that is the one part I raised eyebrows at, Sutton and Anier as a front pairing fair enough but then what? McHugh who really struggled when given a chance, pretty anonymous essentially. Moore still pretty raw and currently injured and Erwin who I not even sure if he has a first team appearance, maybe now clear of injury he is about to blast his way into the reckoning but really of the 5 I only have full confidence in 2, cautious hopes for Moore when he is back, not a lot of optimism around Boab and nae idea on Erwin. Ainsworth if he signs might be in that 5 but he not really a forward in that mould, I'd have been far happier keeping Faddy on reduced terms than letting him go. I certainly hope he tries his luck outside Scotland so he doesn't come back to haunt us. Despite a slightly disappointing contribution this season if he has the hunger I sure he can come back stronger.

Money attracts money, and just like the gap between the OF and the rest of Scottish football it isn't just down to Glasgow being the biggest town and I do think the SPL is undervalued and how Neil Doncaster has a job in Scottish football I'll never understand. The plot is indeed lost but that goes for loads of things not just football.

Not that I disagree with that but it seems to be a commercial decision. Really they can take or leave Scottish football hence why they only offer very little whilst there is a demand for the English league and they have had to compete with likes of Setanta, ESPN and lately BT to keep hold of it. Make no mistake the rights to the EPL has hugely driven the success of Sky, we are a relative sideshow and nothing is going to change that. Potential audience of 5m compared to 50m in the current climate is a cold hard fact that no amount of quality football in Scotland will ever change. It also a bit like the effect of of the Old Firm being so close to Motherwell. Our proximity means people are lured in by the perceived glamour of the English game and pay less attention to the domestic product. Nevermind the problems it has anyway with the lobsided nature of the Old Firm drawing about 50% of the support of the whole game if not more. We certainly do need a governing body willing to look to the health of the wider game and not believe the myth that what is good for the big to is good for the rest. Trickledown economics working so well in the wider world!

Little point comparing us with any of the big leagues. A comparison with teams from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland would be of more interest.

Thought he was out of contract. Because he was being discussed in this thread. I'd wait and see then.

Can't legislate for a surgeon leaving a bit of plastic in your knee. If he clear of injury now we should offer him another years deal. He is arguably as good a defender as we have and despite some reservations I'd prefer to keep him.

1st goal is all Hutchinson. 2nd commentators blamed Hammell but I thought a hand in the face shove should have been a free kick to us. 3rd I'd say is a combination of McFadden shiting it and Gunnar setting up his wall poorly. At least two were very avoidable and we could probably have done better at the second.

I would say he has regressed. He had something about him when he came into the team. He looked more composed, you wouldn't be surprised to see him pop up in opposition box take down a cross with a good touch and finish. Sure he looked a little rough around the edges but now I think he charges about cluelessly a lot more. I honestly not fussed if he leaves in the summer, he no longer looks like a player waiting for bigger things. Maybe he needs a new challenge who knows but he is a complete liability these days.

Watched it on Alba. Decent first half, pretty poor second. Tidy finish from Sutton, not sure what the keeper was doing mind you. Rushing off his line worried Sutton's blistering pace was going to leave the defenders for dead? Thought Neilson did pretty well, few good saves.

Kinda agree, top 4 should be considered as fine an achievement as any thus far. Top 6 is still worth some quiet praise as I think it's still a little more than job done given the upheaval but can't disagree much on the quality of the teams beneath us.

Spoke to someone who was on duty at the game. Police can only intervene if they see it kick off essentially so he said. I presume that was a match commander type call. Why the stewards didn't insist on clearing the two centre aisles I don't know. That surely presented a health and safety issue potentially and definitely a general pain in arse for other fans wanting to move freely about the stand to toilets/pie stand etc. There was a horrible atmosphere in and around the game and was about as unpleasant a game as I've seen in a good while but I don't think we can be to high and mighty about the damaged seats given we supposedly left a good few damaged at NDP the previous week.

We never had a hope in hell of going forward this season and no manager in the game would have been able to do so with our resources. Doesn't mean I'm not disappointed in what I'm seeing or even that McCall doesn't deserve a bit of criticism. But losing Randolph, Law, Ojamma, Humphrey, Higdon is the single biggest upheaval I can recall. It's an even bigger dent to quality of the squad than the season we lost Paul Lambert and Rab McKinnon at the same time. We brought in some decent looking signings, but it's hard to legislate for nearly all of them not gelling or showing themselves at their best. McManus and Sutton have done alright, but who'd have thought McFadden would be so poor, or that Vigurs would struggle as much as he has. These guys should be offering us the flair and creativity we don't have. Anier and Ainsworth have been hit and miss and Lawson basically very poor. We are doing ok in the league and the next two games are where to really judge where we are in this slump and as to how it wil shape the remainder of our season but McCall has more than earned enough credit in his time here to get plenty more time to fix the many flaws we have. But a sense of perspective needs to be kept, we can't just ring the changes and replace the quality we lost as easily as nipping down the supermarket. It took Tommy McLean years to really get his team together when it was arguably much easier to do so. We even spent money on transfer fees back then.

Yeah I still look forward to Europe even though it is something of a glorified pre season. Would go a long way to being more enjoyable if Uefa sorted it out so it rewarded teams that qualified rather than leaving it a potential financial hazard.