Kmcalpin

All quiet on the team news front; hopefully we haven't picked up any more injuries in the past week.

There will still be friendlies; all this means is that the close season will get even shorter. Clubs will want to generate revenue and so many such games will be open to the public. From a football perspective few managers will want to go into a competitive game against reasonably strong opposition with an unfit squad. Likewise, if a club like ours needs to make as much cash as possible from a good cup run it doesn't make sense to risk losing a game they should win through players not being match fit. In short we either move to summer football or we don't. No half baked, in between compromise please, which achieves nothing.

Exactly Cap'n. Surely it can't be down to the weather as our winter lasts longer than 2 weeks. Players needing a break? Players down south play more games than we do. Also our season is irritatingly broken up by international breaks meaning that its stop start, stop start ad nauseum. Its very worrying, very worrying indeed, that our owner expressed concern that the proposed break coincides precisely with the time of year that many clubs suffer cash flow problems. Trying to piece together the admittedly scant evidence, would suggest that this particular proposal has been included at the behest of bigger clubs like Aberdeen and Celtic. We all know how the SPFL works with endless bickering/horse trading/behind the scenes deals and compromises. Given that, I'd hazard a guess that Celtic and perhaps Aberdeen have been given this concession as a trade off for some other perhaps totally unrelated concession. Its also significant that Celtic won't be in this season's European competition much longer and could be looking to arrange a money spinning friendly. Might be totally wrong though.

I think Mark McGhee is right. Dom Thomas seems to be hitting a bit of a plateau in his development now. To move up to the next level he needs to bulk up / toughen up (which he himself admits) and to improve his final ball. Mark McGhee and his lieutenants know the lad far better than we do and you have to trust their judgement.

Have the detailed proposals been published yet? Often with these ideas the devil is in the detail.

No problem with that providing we're right.

Les Hutchison is quoted by the BBC as saying "We were not given time to review the impact of such changes on the summer transfer window, the financial impact of a two week winter break when club finances are at there weakest, the impact on pre-season player preparations for the new season and reduced player recovery time. The majority of clubs are run on very tight budgets and need time to review the financial impact of such significant changes." So who exactly took this decision? We are always told by Neil Doncaster that he and his fellow officials don't take decisions but simply implement the wishes of the clubs. Les Hutchison's comment about the financial implications of a 2 week break in January is very well made.

Teams will still want to play friendlies before entering competitive fixtures where money is at stake. The small clubs will still want to put one over the bigger boys who in turn won't want to be caught cold. It'll probably lead to a shorter close season.

I can't see the proposed group format making much of an impact. Friendlies will still have their place no doubt, especially for Celtic and Sevco.

The question is does their ambition match their talent? Very few of young players go on to better things - maybe Steven Lawless is an exception but Alan Martin's career should be a warning to those who can't wait.

Yes, of course. Never made the Inverurie due to bad weather.

Seconded Andy. I've been following the Well for over 50 years and never seen us play a Highland League team. Looking forward to it.

In general terms I'd agree with you - £5.00 would be a reasonable charge for a bog standard SPFL Premiership game, if I had my way. The problem is though that every club in the senior professional ranks charges more, as do some clubs in the lower echelons . Formartine United, for example, charge £8.00 for their normal games and so I really don't think £5.00 is anywhere near a realistic price.

Neither side should be considered to be a pushover... lets do the business on the park first. As far as Formartine's finances are concerned surely they are not sustainable. Their average gate income over a season (net of VAT) will be about £80-90k, which is just over 50% of the transfer fees paid out and mentioned. There may well be other transfer fees. Ok they will have some commercial income from a social club perhaps or advertising or sponsorship but it won't be that much. They will then have a pretty substantial wage bill for a club of their status, plus other running costs for the stadium, taxes, etc etc. they must be getting subsidised by some kind of benefactor. If that was us, much of our support would be up in arms. It would, equivalent to us forking us some £2 million on transfer fees.

Surely the SPFL isn't responsible for distributing Scottish Cup cash? If so, I'm happy to admit I'm wrong.

Didn't know that Iain. Not only that, its payable within 3 days!! In my view whats sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. Now why can't the SFA stump up monies due to clubs within 3 days (as opposed to several months).

Maybe. It was Stewart Robertson who told me there was a 3 way split - perhaps just a rule of thumb division?

So its not just senior and junior clubs that are completely irresponsible with money? Unbelievable.

A good draw for us and I'm quite happy with that. As far as the gate is concerned, I always understood it is split 3 ways: 33% to cover costs, 33% to home side and 33% to away team. Given that season tickets are not valid we should make a modest profit or, at worst, cover our costs.

Presumably the Directors will be quizzed about this next Monday evening, Iain. Maybe matters will be clarified.

Budgetting for a football club is a very difficult exercise given that there are so many uncertainties and unknowns. When the issue of budgetting for a top 6 finish has been aired at previous AGMs, Directors have emphasised this but added that if you budget for a bottom 6 finish then that is, more than likely where you'll end up.

Yes, Dan Twardzik just seems to have disappeared off the radar.

I agree in general with the point you're making, but originally you said "Exactly what I said? No?". I also set the point in a wider context of Scottish football where most clubs experience short term cashflow problems in January. In other words our cashflow problems in January are typical of those of most cots clubs. Am I splitting hairs - yes maybe. Your point about other clubs on smaller budgets outperforming us is well made. Clubs like Inverness and St Johnstone have gone down a different investment route from us. Rather than acquire talented ostensibly talented individuals, as we have seemingly done, they have put more accent on teamwork, hard work and organisation and its paying dividends for them.

Not quite.

I wouldn't read read too much into Partick's performance at the weekend. Yes, winning 5-2 away from home is an exceptional result but by all accounts Killie were appalling.