El Grew

Wellsince75, I appreciate your point but consider this: In the 18-club league, clubs only had to play 4 games against the OF and then with only 2 points for a win the maximum number of points each club could lose to them was 8. Now even if a club misses out on the top 6, the maximum number points they can lose to the OF is 18; and if they do make the top 6 it’s 24. Now I whilst I appreciate that no matter the size of league the OF will still dominate it but if clubs only had to play each of the OF twice in a season it would mean the maximum number of points each could lose would be 12 points. I apologise for taking the long way round to explain that the league is loaded towards the OF before a ball is kicked. Also, although as you say there were ‘meaningless’ games at the fag-end of a season, this gave clubs the chance to introduce younger players to first team football without under pressure.

Grumpy I’d like to say the 42 was a typo but it was my arithmetic to blame. 😉

It’s time splitting the league in half at this stage of the season was scrapped. It’s utter nonsense, and in my opinion achieves nothing and always ends up with some clubs having an imbalance in their home and away fixtures. In my view, a 12-team league doesn’t work. When it first came in, clubs played each other 4 times leading to a 44 game season. It became obvious this wasn’t tenable and that a compromise was needed. Enter the split, which reduced the season to 38 games. While fiddling with the size of the league is undesirable and a pain, something needs to be done. As I understand it there a few options under consideration, including: Option 1: Reduce league to 10 clubs, playing each other 4 times - a 36 game season. Tried and failed as relegation dropped 1 / 2 clubs out at the end of the season - attrition rate of 10%/25% undesirable. Option 2: Increase league to 14 clubs, playing each other 4 times - 42 game season. As bad as the original 12-club league with 44 game season and clubs won’t accept it. Option 3: Increase league to 16 clubs, playing each other 2 times - 30 game season. Personally, I favour Option 3 which I think has a number of good points which I won’t go into here but what do others think?

Great post and well argued. The only ones on your list I’d try to move out (always assuming other clubs would be interested in them) would be O’Donnell, Balmer and Nicholson. I forgot all about Stuparevic. He’s currently on loan at Morton and as I’ve not seen him playing yet I will reserve judgment.

Agreed. And as far as Killie are concerned, their form away from their plastic pitch is dreadful. They’ve only won 2 games away from home playing on grass and oddly enough against Hearts and Dundee.

Jeez, here we go again. Why so adversarial mate? I did not say Hearts were safe ON 40 points. I said I thought Hearts would be safe. It was implied they would gain more points which would make them so.

Very similar to a list I posted recently and an indictment on us as a club - 34 players in our first team squad and as you say this 20 need to be shown the door. To your list I’d add the following 5: Watt O’Donnell Balmer Zadravkovski Nicholson If they all go, it would leave us with only 9 players - 8 if and when Lennon Miller goes. One thing’s for certain, Herr Wimmer and his assistant are going to have a very busy close season.

How do folks think we will fare in our 5 games after the split? Current stats don’t make great reading. BOTTOM 6 Hearts 40 -1 Motherwell 39 -19 Kilmarnock 35 -20 Ross County 35 -23 Dundee 34 -21 St. Johnstone 29 -25 BOTTOM 6 WINS IN LAST 10 Hearts 5 wins (3H,2A) St J’stone 4 wins (3H,1A) Kilmarnock 3 wins (3H) Ross County 3 wins (2H,1A) Dundee 3 wins (2H,1A) Motherwell 2 wins (1H,1A) OUR RECORD V BOTTOM 5 HOME AWAY PWLD PWLD Hearts 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 K’arnock 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 1 Ross Cty 2 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 Dundee 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 St.J’stone 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 TOTALS 8 3 2 3 7 1 5 1 OUR GAMES POST-SPLIT? HOME St. Johnstone Kilmarnock AWAY Hearts Ross County Dundee I think Hearts are safe and that St Johnstone now are too far adrift and will finish in the automatic relegation place. However, the play-off place is still up for grabs and any of the remaining 4 teams could still end up there. Everything being equal, I think we will need at least another 4 points to avoid it. Now where these will come from I’ve no idea but it would be best if we managed to get them as quickly as possible.

FFS wind your neck in! I started the topic by posing what I considered to be a very relevant and legitimate question, i.e. in the event we were to be relegated would the manager stay. I did not question his integrity or his ability. However a few of the usual twats on here jump in and put their own spin on things.

This may or may not be a hypothetical question, but In the event that we do end up being relegated, will Wimmer stay or does he have an exit clause in his contract to cover for such an eventuality.

He saw this coming and that’s the real reason he jumped ship.

Anyone considering putting money into a football club and expecting a return on that money, should seek immediate psychiatric help. Football clubs are just black holes for money.

This is true however I don’t think it’s the whole problem. According to the club website we have a first team squad of 34 players. Thats enough to make 3 teams and with our limited resources it is farcical. We have 10 players on loan: Mair Balcombe Kaleta Andrews Watt Plange Dickson Armstrong Tavares Vale All of them should be out of FP at the end of the season. Now I know opinions will differ on the next bit (hard hat on) but I think we’ve got at least 13 players who are deadwood: O’Donnell Thompson Balmer Blaney Seddon Casey Zadrakovski Halliday Paton Callachan Robinson Nicholson Ebiye I’d be looking to get rid of most of these and if at all possible, all of them. This is a situation that was created by the previous manager. A squad built on quantity, with the majority of the players mediocre at best, instead of quality. Hopefully, we’ll manage to avoid the drop and the new manager will get a chance to rebuild a smaller squad with a bit more quality in it.

FFS yes we beat Rangers but who hasn’t this season!! I never thought I’d feel like this about the team I’ve supported since I went to school over the back of the John Hunter Stand but I really can’t be arsed watching this present shower of shite!

Based on this showing, with the exception of Miller and Slattery I sincerely hope you’re correct.