CoF

Looks like the club are playing hardball by not releasing Rangers allocation until they know how many we are getting at Ibrox. Decision seems to have been made recently to only sell to 'registered' 'well fans to deal with them flooding the home stands if we give them an equally shit allocation. I could almost understand Rangers' point if they had filled Ibrox against Hibs, but to allocate 950 to them and still have 10'000 empty seats was a piss poor show even by their standards.

I'd love the club to only release 900 to Rangers if that's the case. The only dilema, apart from the financial hit, is that it will absolutely guarantee they'll pack a few thousand into the home ends.

I was there too. Horrible night for many reasons, both off and on pitch and one of my worst as a well fan. I see this as our chance to get back at them.

This. From playing staff to the backroom, there are a lot of people who are still at the club who deserve thanks for giving us 7 years of on-pitch success. Aye, mistakes have been made however the risk here (and this thread will end up being the perfect example), is that the inevitable over simplified analysis will result in scapegoating and blame based on half-truths and skewed perceptions of reality. As always, the truth tends to be far more complex than what's trotted out on here, and probably more complex than those involved at the club and in the game can fathom.

Watt for me but as a few have named already - special menshys to Straker, Laing and Twardzik.

Looks like Hibs have opted for a half empty away stand as opposed to cashing in on a full house. Good on them after the paltry number of tickets given to them by Rangers however hope it's not going to become common practice across the game to deny folk the chance to support their team in any important game. Can anyone hazard a guess as to when our away tickets might go on sale? Can probably only make it to Fir Park on Monday.

No chance. He's better than Aberdeen. If he can knock back a mid table championship club like Birmingham then there's no way they can afford him. He has impressed this season (again) and if Ruddy can end up in the Premiership then so can he.

My thoughts exactly. We couldn't survive that without conceding about 6. Plus, the three games so far haven't been a stroll in the park so Rangers will be nackered by the time they play us. The other thing folk seem to forget is Mccall has that one special thing in his locker that he brings out a couple of times a season.... a monumental fuck-up.

Fair point. The figure most folk trot out as being a fair price for Scottish football is £15 a game. An early bird east stand ticket will get you in at just over £16 a game if we're in the Championship (18 games), and a bit less if we're in the Premiership. Even the standard cooper ticket works out at £18.33 a game if we're in the championship (again, a bit less if we stay up). Where it gets pricey is in the POD, but the alternatives are there. I don't think too many would say those prices are extortionate regardless of what league we are in.

Not sure what your angle is there. The players didn't perform under pressure and Les Hutchison thinks it's because they were so determined to win. It's not hard to imagine that being the case. Appearing calm while playing shite doesn't mean the player doesn't care. Pressure leads to bad decision making and poor football. Yep, might be interpreted by some as 'not turning up', but probably only by those who think determination manifests itself in 60 yard sprints back to do big mad mental slide tackles or players punching holes in the tunnel to psych themselves up before the game. A side note - if that's what Les Hutchison thinks is going on with the team then he needs to lay that right at Baraclough's door. He's the manager, he's the one responsible for managing the mentality of the team.

Why do you think that is nonsense?

Govan... and every other Town within a 200 mile radius of Glasgow. It's a difficult one. I prefer to think they'll knock folk back for looking like Rangers fans. That's a bit more bulletproof.

Unfortunately a sports psychologist wouldn't make much of a difference in the short term. Some players might respond to a few choice words but the real value comes from long term input. Much like physical strength, mental strength takes time to build.

With folk calling for his head after every defeat I thought this thread would be hoachin' with reasonable and well balanced suggestions...

I was thinking about this yesterday - not in terms of the team but the fans. We (the crowd) went into the Partick, Accies and St Mirren games with an expectation that 3 points would be ours. Not helped by a feeling that our club, based on the last few years are far better than 11th. Going into the game with the crowd viewing us as underdogs wouldn't do us any harm at all.

Thought lessons would have been learned from the Pittodrie calamity. Looks like to me like either Long doesn't communicate well with his defenders, or they don't communicate well with him. Don't mind him but for a guy that 'looks' like a keeper, he doesn't dominate in the way he should. Either way, it's cost us points more than once this season.

Heeds burst trying to work out who I'd rather face. I'd say Hibs would be the toughest opponent. Not much between Qots and Rangers, the latter's still a basketcase and liable to fuck things right up but are also the team who would benefit most from the momentum of the previous two rounds. The prospect of facing them is probably the most exciting. The other thing is to consider what kind of championship we want next season if we do go down. Personally I'd look forward to a season with Hibs and Rangers still in the league. That is of course assuming we get our shit together and can put a title challenge in. On the flip side, that scenario makes it most likely that we're down there for a couple of years at least. Rangers coming up would give us the most chance of promotion next year as they'll be far stronger next year regardless of what league they are in. Heed. Burst.

Over 1400 well fans there today. Must have taken close to 5000 to the last 4 away matches and we've seen 45 minutes of decent football. Poor as fuck, but some comments here seem a bit unfair. I thought the fight was there from every player today, we just lacked quality in vital areas. And the lack of urgency is wide of the mark too, rushing things will never get us goals. The fact is, as soon as we come up against a half organised team with a bit of dig we struggle to find a way to goal.

Load of shite in my opinion. All very admirable saying they will both try to win, however if the reality is a 'anything but a loss' game for both teams they are hardly going to be chucking players forward. Not suggesting the game won't be competitive to some extent, but the priority for both teams will be avoiding defeat. When the stakes are this high, anything else would be bad management.

Crikey. Aye, I was there. That's what 6:55am posts look like from me.

Not expecting us to dominate like we did at Fir Park. I can see this being a tighter and nervier game than I imagine most will be expect. Hopefully I'm wrong though, as Ya Bezzer says - you never know. I don't think many would have predicted half the bottom 6 results so far.

How we can take one point from nine from our 'must wins' and still be well within touching distance is almost baffling. Fantastic though!

Much like the last game against Killie, it wasn't always pretty but it had plenty of heart. As a few have said, the biggest plus has to be going a goal down and not hitting the panic button. Without playing amazing football (don't get me wrong, we were very good in spells) I felt like I got my money's worth on Saturday. It was as entertaining a game as any I've been to this season and the ref being shite added to a sense of injustice which actually worked in our favour I reckon.

Me too. POTY.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Purely footballing terms aye, it makes it harder to get up but the competition will make for an exciting year with much media interest. Not quite the endless 'backwater' trips folk were fearing. Assuming we can put a decent challenge in, I'd rather that than mid table Premiership mediocrity. As for finances, I'm not sure how the club would be hit. Depends on a couple of factors including how much the parachute payment offsets the lower championship prize money. The other thing to consider is away crowds at Fir Park, which have been fairly rank this season. I could see all of the above teams bringing a decent crowd if they are in the mix. I could actually see home crowds increase too if the buzz is there.