CoF

I think most have a fairly rounded view of him. He can be an absolutely incredible asset when he's in his groove. Bit of pace and trickery, ability to get the ball in the box at pace from the tightest spaces anywhere near the by-line, great finisher. That's what gets folk off their seat when he gets the ball. When he's on form he should be playing well above our level. He finds his place at Motherwell by being so inconsistent. There were plenty of times last season where it was clear McGhee was giving him his big chance to prove himself and he was absolute horse shit. He's clearly a player whose performance comes from where his head is at any given time. If he could get even one season of relative consistency he could probably find himself at a bigger club. Instead, he's sitting hoping his contract is renewed with us. Says it all really.

Mind the days when folk were bored of European fixtures?

Good stuff from both interviews. I wonder if investment in the pitch is part of a longer term strategy to make Fir Park the primary stadium in the Central Belt for smallish/medium sized events. Hosting the Challenge Cup this year will have offset some of the costs - do the club hope to get to a stage where the pitch itself is actually turning a profit?

When I heard Robinsons interview I thought he was bang on at the time, but that's a very good point.

I think Bowman definitely has the attributes to be a good player for us. I'm not sure he'll be a prolific goalscorer - despite banging a few in at a lower level, he's had plenty of opportunities earlier in the season to get on the scoresheet and couldn't take his chances. He does however hold the ball up well, does well to get others into play, can be quite clever in his passing and while he doesn't seem blessed with pace he is surprisingly quick over short distances. Add in that he's not scared to get stuck in and I can't see why others can't see him as a useful player to have in the squad.

This is it for me. I want my football to have a bit of edge and over the last 3 seasons that's been building in this fixture. They tend to hold their own against us, and have dished out a few pumpings so fair fucks to them. Shite club, shite stadium, shite fans, but not desperate to see them go down.

Not to be over dramatic, but there was something a wee bit magical about last nights performance. Lasley, Moult, Ainsworth and McDonald all probably played their last games at Fir Park and it would have been a right shame if they had left under the cloud of relegation. Instead, we at least have the memory of probably the best 45 minutes of the season with all of them playing their part. Before the lap of honour, Lasley stopped as he walked out the tunnel and looked around as if it was the last time he would do that as a player. Personally, I think he's still got enough of an engine to be a good squad player but maybe others are seeing things that I'm not.

Yep, he joined Oldham with 5 contracted players and no money. Had to sign 19 players on frees and was expected to have a coherent squad within 4 weeks. Entered the January transfer window unable to make any more signings due to a transfer embargo. Robinson's biggest mistake at Oldham was taking the job in the first place. I have no idea if he's a good manager or not but surely that's an exceptional set of circumstances which gives him a free pass. No idea why folk insist on using it as a stick to beat him with.

Saw a couple of comments so far saying aye which surprised me. Having only played two matches with not a great deal to do it's very hard to judge. If I was forced to pass judgement now I'd he looks like a decent shot stopper however isn't exactly commanding in the box. Sound familiar?

Agreed about the final third chat. The flip side to this is he's definitely cut down the number of goals conceded. 12 in 10 games with our strongest two out for most of that. If you look at the previous 10 it was 26 in 10. Even skipping the 7-2 and 5-1 it's still 20 conceded in 10. The priority was to stop losing goals. Can't argue that he hasn't made progress there. I just hope he's got the knowledge and ability to get us creating in the final third.

Not sure if I misunderstood what was going on, but a guy showed up 25 mins in - the steward found him an unoccupied seat which looked about 15ft away from his allocated seat, however he started filming himself and the steward, holding up his ticket, shouting that he was in the wrong seat then eventually (I think) got huckled out. Bizarre.

That game was saved by the occasion. I've thought this for a few weeks now but we look like we are regressing as a team and seem to have forgotten how to string a couple of passes together. This was evident about half an hour in when we all applauded a 4 pass move when in reality it was basic stuff which, even earlier this season, we were doing on a regular basis. That said, I don't give a fuck just now. That's next seasons worry. Yesterday was absolutely glorious. I can barely remember a player having an affinity with the fans in the way oor boy Louis does. Whenever he goes, he'll leave a hero.

It's an odd situation and I'm finding it hard to assess exactly how Robinson is doing. Looking at it on paper it's not brilliant but not horrendous. - His record is now P10 W3 D2 L5. We haven't been beaten by more than a single goal since he took charge and plenty of those points have been lost due to mad errors. That says to me we are on the edge of clicking and getting some decent results. Add the injury list to the mix and I'd say he's done very well with what he's got. Despite all that, I agree with your point about 'decent football' - on the park we can be absolutely brutal going forward. Considering we are starting with 4 or 5 attack minded players, we can look utterly clueless in the opposition half. Under McGhee we had passages of fluid and creative play however we seem to have lost that completely and are resorting to this utterly frustrating punt up the park. I do think the board rate him and can see him being here regardless of what league we are in. I'm actually okay with that.

What difference does that make?

Absolute belter.

Yep, no problem with what McGhee said. It's just his style and it's given him a career at a decent level of football. Compare it to how McCall's comments when he left us though:- "I struggled to sleep after Friday’s game with St Johnstone then woke up again during the night Saturday into Sunday, thinking about the Dundee United game and I just couldn’t come up with any answers. I felt that with the International break coming up, now would be a good time to step aside to allow the club time." Pure class. I still love Stuart McCall.

Well I'm flabbergasted. My protest flares will be getting worn on Saturday.

Why no flags n shit? If there's ever a time for a footballing spectacle surely this is it?

1700 tickets sold so far.

Compare the average home attendances for seasons we were finishing 2nd and 3rd to any other season. Winning games doesn't grow the fanbase significantly, and it tends to drop right off with an average or bad season so can only assume this is the next strategy to try and get a more permanent connection to the club. Whether it's a worthwhile investment or not remains to be seen, but can't say the club aren't thinking out of the box.

Outstanding. We need fresh thinking like that on the board of directors.

If I'm not mistaken we've won 3 (killie, inverness, county), drawn 1 (Accies with 10 men) and lost 2 (Rangers x2) with McHugh in midfield. The difference isabsolutely clear. He's the guy McGhee certainly wanted to build his team around and we lost him to that injury in the first game of the season. Robinson has had zero opportunity to utilise him in the middle of the park. I've got sympathy for both managers as he will be a huge player for us once he's in right place. If we go down, we'll probably struggle to keep him.

I'd be astonished if we got rid. We're not the type of club who shifts managers quickly, especially one who hasn't had the opportunity to sign a single player.

So it's a 3 horse race to the bottom. Last 10 games - Accies - 11 pts ICT -9 pts Motherwell 8 pts Aw naw.

That should be a sackable offence in itself.