Kmcalpin

Joeboy made this very point a few days ago and I agree 100%. A few years ago I'd have plumped for someone lie Alex Smith short term. If your priority was to avoid the drop and finish 10th he'd have been your man; but don't ask him to guide the team to 9th spot or above. Is there a case for making a short term appointment until the end of the season and then appointing someone else? I'm not wholly convinced of that approach but it has its merits.

Pretty much my view Andy.

Lucky he wasn't handed a yellow card then. I've seen cards dished out maybe 3 or 4 times for that. I've no problem with a bit of banter but referees need to be consistent.

A bit more to it than that I suspect. Reportedly blood was streaming from his nose and he claimed he'd been head butted. Unsurprisingly his manager saw nothing.

I suspect that we'll start out in a notional 3-5-2 formation or in our favoured 5-3-2 version of it. Hopefully we'll cut out individual errors this time. Whatever, we'll need to ensure more than one outball. Will there be room for Bowman as a target man?

I too thought that there was a hint of handball, but none of our lads protested, which maybe tells its own story. When Boyd gets up after scoring he lifts his arm and makes a gesture to our support with his finger(s) - thats obviously why some took umbrage at him and not because of his belly gesture. The penalty was in the extremely soft category - the kind of incident you might see 2 or 3 times in a game and which the ref normally waves away with a smile on his face, leaving players and fans mumbling ach well it was worth a try. Yes, Killie may have hit woodwork 3 times but they can't really claim to be unlucky. I noticed that Pearo played very deep and didn't seem to make many, if any, of his hallmark runs. Either he's not fit, or has been told to sit deeper. Anyway the players seemed to give it their all which is all we can ask. A vital win.

I believe that Kris Boyd riled some of our fans when he scored Killie's only goal by gesturing at them. Did anyone witness what he did? He who laughs last laughs laughs longest eh?

Did Cadden not provide an outball or was he outnumbered as usual?

Excerpt from the Rangers Hamilton game...player involved was Garner (BBC report) "Winding up to lash at the ball, he carried on even when it was out of reach and his kick and momentum carried instead into Imrie, who was felled. It was a moment of rashness and over-aggression that could have had the striker dismissed. Beaton, instead, opted for a yellow card." The very issue we have been discussing on here.

A very important result which will, hopefully, stop the rot. 3 huge points. Couldn't be happier tonight. I'm not sure it was good luck Boyd missing the penalty. Surely its not much to ask that a professional player, and a striker at that, is able to hit the target from the penalty spot, although not necessarily score? If Killie failed to earn the draw then its really their own fault. However maybe thats splitting hairs. For those of us not in Kilmarnock today, we'll be able to analyse the penalty on Alba later. Has Lee MacCulloch been approached by our directors?

We do need to attack but part of the problem so far is that we haven't had the midfield players with the necessary attributes to supply our strikers. Lack of pace and lack of creativity.

I assume, maybe wrongly, that his agent has touted him.

How do we know Lobey? I'm not saying that you're wrong though. A lot goes on behind the scenes that fans know nothing about and clubs often protect players from the public gaze.

Was Pearson fully match fit when he arrived?

I think other sides have the ability to dig in and fight and scrap for 90 minutes. They can get in opponents faces, harry and hassle them. So far we haven't shown much ability to do this. We tend to sit off teams and allow them the time and space to showcase whatever talents they have. This has to change.

Very much so. On paper we are a slightly better side than our league position would suggest, but thats not to say we're too good for the drop. To me that suggests the team hasn't been playing to its potential and it gives me modest optimism that things will improve with a new manager. In short what I'm saying is that mark McGhee may not have been getting the best from the squad for whatever reason.

Both Robinson and Faddy are contracted until the end of the season, so the option would be there to let both of them go, should the Directors wish this. As far as managerial applicants are concerned, the Board must take into account their track records. However that should also be informed by the circumstances of their appointments ie "after taking the job I discovered I couldn't bring anyone in" / "the Chairman micro managed the team and undermined me" or whatever. Joeboy summed up my thoughts exactly in his post this morning "I guess our next appointment is a tough one to balance. Between now and May, we need a motivator who can get the best out of this group of players to keep us in the division. However, beyond May, we really need a man with an eye for a player, as many players in our current squad are either ageing or lacking in ability and need to be adequately replaced going forward. Getting a hybrid of the two at short notice might be a tough ask."

STV evening news last night reported that Mark McGhee himself had asked that Robinson be brought back in temporarily.

An odd comment from Jim Duffy. However why not look at it from a different angle. Is he saying that a club's owners should not be consulted about managerial hirings and firings?

I think McHugh will step back into central defence and that should help a bit. However that means that our central midfield cover will be virtually non existent or considerably weakened at best. Without knowing the nature and extent of their injuries, its possible that either Tait or Hammell or maybe both will return, but what difference will that make? Midfield? A real issue. Cadden wide right; some combination of Lasley/Lucas/Clay or maybe Campbell in the middle; and Pearson playing wide left. I'd like to see Campbell feature at some stage to add a bit of mobile grit and fight. Strikers pick themselves. We have to have 2 outballs on the wings as relying solely on Cadden is ineffective and unfair on the player. Supposedly Stephen Robinson is renowned for his tactical ability, so we'll see how how he organises his charges. I'm hoping Robinson will make some voluntary changes as more of the same won't do.

What has he actually achieved in his managerial career? For some reason, managers with experience in England are relatively well thought of up here irrespective of what they've actually achieved. To some extent names like Billy Davies and Owen Coyle are in the same boat. In the short term we need a good man manager; someone with a track record to dig us out of the hole we're in. Not necessarily someone who has won a trophy. There are different kinds of managers; some need money and lots of it to succeed whilst others wouldn't know how what to do with it if they were given it but can work on a shoestring. I also don't fancy one of the Scottish Old Boys network like Jim Duffy. Like many I know who I don't want but don't know who I do want. Although not a popular stereotype I'd go for someone like Tom Wright, a guy who can take ordinary players and organise and motivate them. I know he way out of our league incidentally. From the scant comments made by the club it would appear they have someone or some names in mind.

Where did you source this information?

A 7-2 hammering at Pittodrie and a 5-1 home defeat to an ordinary Dundee side made me think we couldn't do much worse.

Stephen Robinson may not get much time to prove himself if the club's stated intention is to "appoint a new manager as swiftly as possible". That goes against the club's approach in recent years in taking its time to appoint the right man. You could be right Lobey. Its interesting that when Mark McGhee was appointed, he was approached by the club despite not applying.

In the main I agree, but week after week too many players simply haven't worked hard enough when we don't have possession. With some such as Lasley, Hammell and McManus, its not down to unwillingness but rather age. Opposing teams work damned hard to close us down, harry us and generally make life difficult for us. We simply haven't matched that work rate. Maybe its an attitude thing - who knows?