Ya Bezzer!

We are on 16 points after 19 matches. So we are going to need 24 points in the second half of the season to get to the 40 points which is generally considered the safe spot. That's a fairly big improvement just to get over the line. My view is that we couldn't attract a good quality manager after Alexander left and we had the whole season ahead of us. Again after Hammell was fired, it was an internal appointment with a spotty record, so presumably we couldn't realistically attract a good quality replacement. If we fire Kettlewell now, who are we going to attract to come in and do a job in this situation when we couldn't do it on the last two occasions? I think that is a very valid argument. However you cannot go 17 league matches and not win. If that happens, Kettlewell should be fired. There is also another point that I sort of alluded to earlier in the week. We have 14 first team players out of contract at the end of the season including most of the first pick type players and I think that is a VERY dangerous situation when you are in a relegation fight because there comes a time when players just think "Well, I'm out of here I'm not going to have to deal with the consequences of this".

Better second half but let's be honest it was probably more due to Rangers going down the gears and just seeing the game out. That said Spencer should have scored. Overall view coming away from that match is that we just don't have enough quality on the pitch to avoid anything other than a relegation scramble. I've supported Kettlewell and said he should get till the winter break. So the winter break is almost upon us and we have two matches left and we absolutely must beat Livingston. Otherwise is must surely be curtains for Kettlewell.

I was expecting us to not concede an easily preventable goal 3 mins into the match.

Here's the rub, Rangers will always have technically better players than we do but off the ball where it's more about work rate, concentration etc Rangers are also much better. They press in three and fours. Our players are like 'someone else is doing it, I don't need to'. Also Georgie Gent has the first touch of a lamp post.

It's who we can get rather than what do we need.

Does anyone seriously think every referee in charge of a Rangers match is a Union Bear member who jeopardises his career in front of the assembled media by awarding dodgy penalties? Out of all the penalties Rangers have had this season only one has actually effected the score line in a meaningful way, the 90th min penalty against Hearts. Otherwise it's a rather bizarre conspiracy that awards penalties when you are already 4-0 up at home to Dundee. Incidentally the last time we beat Rangers at Fir Park we were awarded a penalty, the last time we beat Rangers in the league we were awarded a penalty and the last time we should have beat Rangers we missed a penalty in injury time. What school did Jim O'Brien go to? Eh? Eh? Oh....

Currently we have 7 players that are contracted for season 24-25. And you've named two of them.

I'm pro Kettlewell, in the sense that I think constantly firing managers is one of the factors that's taking the club backwards. However, let's be honest about this, we have to beat Livingston. We can't go 17 without a win and then fail to beat Livingston at home.

Obviously I've made my feelings clear on the quality of Scottish football for a while now. I think it's worth noting though that the number of Scottish players in our league is now less than 40%. About 38% the last time I looked which is an absolute disgrace. Secondly the number of U21 Scottish players that are getting even semi regular football was something like 4. 4 in the whole league. We need to stop importing garbage and start actually focusing on youth development. It's not like the standard of the league prohibits it.

How about seeing it like this?

Poor game, two poor sides. I thought we were the better of the two but we never looked like scoring all day and it was inevitable that we'd give away a poor goal. And then.....yet another late goal. That's 9 goals this season on or after the 85th minute. I enjoyed the Dundee match but today was a tough watch. We look lost and deflated after the Ross County match. Perhaps that late goal will pick us again, we'll see.... Too many experienced players not lifting their heads up, or just aren't good enough. It's a fairly experienced team, not many kids in there. We need more. I think that goal probably keeps Kettlewell in a job but with St Mirren and Rangers coming up perhaps the nail is still rather shoogly.

League runs Hammell was P11 W0 D4 L7 Kettlewell is P13 W0 D5 L8 Hammell of course lost in the cup to Raith Rovers.

It can work in terms of being competitive in the division and the club not going to the wall. Fans however need to manage their expectations. Just think about your own bills and then imagine you were running flood lights and undersoil heating on top of that and you might get an inkling. We are 8th right now and as close to 5th as 12th. That seems well within reasonable expectations. Of course that might change and if we continue to not get 3 points it will definitely change but right now we need to hold steady and support the players and management.

Bevis has been out best defender this season. Should never have been dropped.

I was never in favour of VAR because I was aware that technology would never improve the standard of refereeing and administration in the Scottish game. It's still the same people, or even a further sub stratum, of people making the decisions. I don't have a problem with goal line technology and offsides but re-refereeing every decision and checking every goal is a disaster for football, especially for live spectators. The essence of the game is being torn out.

I mean, I'm old enough to remember the 80's and 90's but in the modern game that is a red card. I think Kettlewell was right to question why Taylor wasn't sent off but I'm more of the opinion that they were both red cards rather than neither of them was. It's still inconsistent refereeing and I don't think anyone would be surprised that it favoured the bigger team.

Every single manager should get at least the first two rounds of matches and that's not taking into consideration any bonus points for past endevours. Our fans need to take a cold, hard look at the reality of fan ownership. What is it you expect the club to achieve? Top 6 every season? Brilliant players, amazing football? Also there is a lot of frankly deluded moaning. Fans were moaning when Alexander got us into Europe. That's where a lot of our fan base is these days. They don't seem to enjoy supporting a town club and everything that goes along with it. And there is plenty of decisions Kettlewell has made that I don't get or flat out disagree with but so what? We are not detached in terms of points, performances, quality of squad. There are things that can be improved but for me we've mostly been competitive. If we are hitting re-start after 14-15 matches every season we are going to have a foundation and no roof on a permanent basis. And the usually suspects complaining that the rain is coming in.

I was hung over, there was drip right above my seat, our winless run continued and there was some fractious moments between the crowd, the manager and some of our senior players but you know what? I actually enjoyed the match today. Open, played at a decent pace, plenty of incident and goals. OK, the overall performance wasn't great, I actually thought Dundee deserved the win, but that doesn't look like a team that's given up to me.

Gordon hasn't been any good for ages. He was shite at Celtic. Roby McCrorie should get himself first team football somewhere and he'll be right in there.

Manger was fuming on the radio and saying a player didn't follow instruction in terms of picking up Rowles at the corner and it had been spelt out to them over and over.

KInda saying the same things every week now which is worrying. Failed to score a first half goal again, 11 out of 13 matches now. Give up the initiative every match and only come into games in the last 15 minutes. Just cannot keep a clean sheet. Manager doesn't understand our strikers, despite bringing most of them in, and consistently plays the wrong formation. Selecting O'Donnell is basically an act of sabotage.

Hearts have been playing 5 across midfield and have better midfielders than us any way so I think they will out compete us in the middle of the park.

I should take a bath at half time more often.

Hearts didn't do very well with Levein in charge. Mugabi got dropped for cos he's not a 'favourite' while Casey gives away goals every week. We play 3 or 1 up front when virtually every striker in our squad is better suited to playing in a 2, except maybe Bair. O'Donnell was given a new contract why? We were shite virtually every time he was in the team last season. Johnston coming in as a first team player or a sub improved us massively every time. Connect the dots. Our entire tactically set up is based on Slattery and Spittal never being off form.

We've scored 1 first half goal since the first match of the season. Or if you like, 10 out of 11 zeros.