Kmcalpin

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.

Seconded, the pitch looked to be in first class condition. Credit to the ground staff.

From a very selfish perspective, an away tie against a team whose ground I haven't visited before. But for the greater good a home tie against a small side from the lower leagues or outwith. We don't get many home ties though.

Just watched the TV highlights to watch key moments in detail. They show what a great goal Johnson scored, by beating defenders and hitting the net from an acute angle. The Heats defenders did little wrong. The challenge on MacDonald - looked a red card. Up front I thought Moult and MacDonald worked like Trojans all day and the former was rewarded with a goal. Johnson had a decent game although service to him at times was poor. Grimshaw had a decent, but not great game, and you certainly couldn't fault him for lack of effort or tenacity. Pearson had a decent game but put in some rash tackles at times and I'm not sure we played him to his best use. Didn't think Lasley played well - too often outmuscled and passing was poor but given his recent absence can't be too hard on him. It was worrying the way our central midfield just disappeared in the last 20 minutes as Hearts put us under the cosh and I doubt if MMcG will have been too impressed by that given his liking for a competitive engine room. We didn't play well at the back although I have a degree of sympathy for Kennedy. He's a big lad but met an even bigger lad who was always going to cause trouble for our central defenders and keeper - we just didn't play him and his annoying sidekick, Delgado, well. Maybe lack of preparation? McManus struggled too. Didn't think either our full backs played well. Stevie Hammell was guilty of bad decision making and gave away too many stupid fouls and a potentially costly and entirely avoidable corner in the late stages. Against a side like Hearts you simply cannot afford to do that - he obviously forgot Jim Gannon's advice. All that said, I don't know who else would have played any better at left back. Both Hearts goals were avoidable as Mark McGhee will be pointing out to his charges this morning. For the first Kennedy was outmuscled not surprisingly but Mcmanus and Hammell looked all at sea with Ripley not covering himself in glory. For the second, a great shot but just look at the space and time the lad had to pick his spot. I counted 5 players round about him but not one made an effort to close him down as they backpedalled - a typical goal that we lose. Overall though not a bad result. I think we have the makings of an 8th/9th/10th placed side if McGhee can instill more organisition and harder working ethos into the players. Some mates I spoke to independently of each other said that at Dingwall last week the home side weren't any more talented than us as individuals but were far better organised and worked far harder off the ball than we did. That also applied yesterday I'd say.