Kmcalpin

I'm really surprised that there's been so much discussion about re-signing Faddy on these Boards. Its all been a complete red herring. According to what I was hearing at the Everton game, there was never at any point any possibility of him re-signing. A nice thought perhaps but thats about it.

Don't forget folks tomorrow is the first home league game of the season.

Shareholders meeting arranged next week to agree Society shareholding.

Very strange. Hearts couldn't afford him.

From a footballing perspective I hope its anyone but Liverpool - we see more than enough of them on the box. Lets meet a team we haven't seen before. From a financial perspective I suspect the club would like Liverpool. .

No I suspect he'll be out for another couple of weeks or so.

Yes, that will be revealing. I really expected United to be on the wrong end of a drubbing at Tannadice. As to ourselves were undone by a mixture of naivety and heat last night. OK we were probably never going to progress but to lose 4 soft goals was very disappointing. Thats something we'll need to address. The other concerning aspect is our tendency to play sterile unproductive possession football. We do require a cutting edge. In the short term I'd move Simon Ramsden into midfield, Jamie Murphy into a left wing role and Nicky Law further forward, with Adam Cummins slotting in at the back. Lets learn lessons from our CL foray and first trip to Dingwall. Keep the heid though folks. Safe journey home for our travelling colleagues.

I've been saying that for a week or two now Haggis. We're badly missing Nicky law further upfield to support Higgy. He might just have made the difference last Saturday.

Its been in decline since way before that.....since John Park left in fact. Chris McCart's success or otherwise will only be known in perhaps 2/3 years from now - so far his tenure isn't looking overly impressive.

There is a meeting of shareholders scheduled for Thursday 15 August to approve transfer of shares to the Society. Its all a bit legalistic but we'll find out more on the night. Things now seem to be moving.

You should be ok ,but as the ticket office is usually busy before games, I wouldn't turn up at 2.55. Give yourself plenty of time.

Presumably too UEFA will be investigating Dundee United as a result of their fans pelting their Russian guests with coins from above.

Not the most riveting game I've ever attended but thats another new ground visited. We secured an away point in very difficult circumstances and thats about it. The team lacked creativity and simply couldn't match Ross County's amazing work rate. Certainly they made it very difficult for us and showed us a lot of respect. At set pieces their height was a real threat but fortunately we managed to hold them out. The central midfield just isn't right in that it failed to compete at times and did not support Michael Higdon. In general he suffered from lack of support. Maybe I'm in a minority of one here but I don't think Jamie Murphy is firing on all cylinders - his roving midfield role just isn't working and is baffling his colleagues. As with last Tuesday he promised a lot but failed to deliver. After doing the hard bit he failed to take the last defender on as we all know he can do. Is it lack of confidence or a fear that he may lose the ball? Hopefully the TV agreement will allow us to sign another combative midfielder. Anyway it was a great day out in good company. Ross County treated us well.

Yes. I rang Ross County during the week. Tickets will be on sale at the ground. The capacity of the away stand is about 1,780 - that should just about accommodate us. --):

A very difficult game and certainly not the one I'd have chosen to open the league campaign. This will be something of a cup final for Ross County, who are my red hot tips for relegation. Even with our very limited squad, I'd hope that Stuart McCall will be able to shuffle the pack slightly.

A bit unfair to single out Ramsden in my view. OK he didn't play well but there were a few others in the same category. Lets focus on the ones who did like Higgy, Lasley and Hutchy. The lads who didn't perform to their own standards last night will be the first to know that and have a great opportunity to redeem themselves on Saturday and next week in Athens.

Maybe you're being a tad unfair. I don't think he played well tonight - he lost his opponent just too often for my liking but he is not a centre back and wouldn't pretend to be. Probably better suited to playing at RB or in midfield. He is doing his best to help out in an emergency.

Certainly the players gave of their best but as can happen in these situations we just blew it. OK Panathanaikos were perhaps a class above us but they didn't have to work very hard for their goals, although their second was well taken. I thought Lasley, Hutchinson and Higdon were the pick of the bunch and didn't look out of place in this game. At the back, too many unforced errors and poor marking cost us. In midfield and up front we lacked penetration and a killer touch. Some poor decision making too. At times our build up was painfully slow when we had the players to hurt them. Felt a bit sorry for Chris Humphrey - he looked to be in the mood early on but poor service limited his involvement. Still on the plus side our lads will have learnt a lot. You don't always have to produce glittering exciting football to win games sometimes being solid and reliable is quite adequate. A great night and the fans turned out in big numbers . A 9,000+ crowd in late July is quite an achievement. The club will have made about £190k from the gate and that can't be bad. If we can just tighten up in defence we can achieve a better result in Athens.

Good news indeed. Well done to all concerned and most of all you, Andy.

It was the Pitch In fund Andy. There was a fund for share purchase and one for general donations/club projects and contributors could choose which one they wanted to opt for. Given the overall numbers it was moderately successful if I recall rightly. Most folk paid in about £10 / £15 per month (that was 10 years ago). This kind of scheme has its place, but I agree with Bop in that monthly sums shouldn't be fixed. Some folk may have a hard month with bills etc. A good idea.

Specialist training Greg - unless you're physically tough you smply won't survive down south in the upper echelons. Just look at Faddy. Not the biggest or strongest of guys when he was with us but within 12 months at Goodison he'd put on a stone of muscle. I was scared stiff when Everton took the field yesterday and I was just watching from the stands. Some very big guys in that side and if they'd wanted to they could easily knock 10 bells out of any Scots side. I saw Adam Cummins and Jelavic together and whilst they were about tthe same height, the latter was about 2 stones heavier. You would not want to mess with guys like Darron Gibson. Everton were not a dirty side and the game was 100% clean yesterday but you knew that the Toffees could take care of themselves if they had to.

For Jamie's sake and the sake of the club, both financially and in a playing sense, now is the right time for him to move on. An English club can toughen him up physically in a way we can't. He has gone as far as he can with us and will not develop any further. The important thing is for us to bring in a replacement who will strengthen the team, at lesser cost.

Both lads are promising but have a bit to go. They are young after all. Stuart Carswell struggled a bit in some games last season and Steve Hetherington looks good going forward but needs to brush up on his defensive skills and positional awareness - if you were at Starks Park last week you'll know what I mean.

I think the club rightly played down the benefits of this game although in fairness they didn't know who we were playing at that time. How many fans would FC Kobenhavn or Dinamo Kiev bring? Don't forget though that if we sell 10,000 tickets HMRC will take their whack in VAT (max £60,000) and a fair chunk of the tickets will be concessions.