Kmcalpin

Yes this tipping point is absolutely critical. The club had better have got it right but it seems they've cut it very fine this time.

totally agree. To play 5-3-2 you have to have the right defensive players with confidence they can soak up pressure ad infinitum for 90 minutes plus and have the speed to hit hard to the break. We don't thave either. A tactical mistake today.

I've seen worse in my time like losing 8 goals, and I'll no doubt witness worse again. Irrespective of the team line up today we were always going to get beat. On paper the starting line up looked "reasonable" (it could have been worse), but the fitness of some players must have been in doubt. We also have a very thin squad. Add that together and a heavy defeat was always on the cards. However, playing 5-3-2 at Ibrox with the players we have was asking for trouble. Stuart McCall has come in at a very difficult time and was quite frankly, left a mess to clear up. That said he hasn't shown much so far to inspire me. Early days though. The next 2 home games are going to pivotal to the rest of our season. Aberdeen we can write off.

Aye but in fairness the media and many Well fans have a lot of sympathy for Saints. Unlike us they've had really bad weather and rotten luck. 5 one off incidents.

Good on you Matt. Representation to elected public servants really only works if enough folk do it. If tens or even hundreds of posters hade done the same then you would have seen some action. I politics sadly, might is right. Standing? You have a fair point. Some stewarding is OTT. You either enforce it or you don't. At the recent Killie game, the away support at the south end of the POD Stand stood all game and no-one hassled them. Being selfish, they didn't bother me as they were behind us and didn't obstruct my view.

Some good stuff in this post Gaag and in others, however the effect on JD's simply doesn't come into my thinking nor will it come into the thinking of the vast majority of Well fans or the club. Many of the issues raised need to be directed at organisations other than the club. Some posters on here are desperate for a safe standing area - not my cup of tea but fair enough. This is totally outwith the club's control. Some posters feel very strongly about it and I acknowledge that, but I'll warrant no more than say 6 of you have written to your MSPs/MPs about it or gone to their surgeries to vent your feelings. Ticketing and security - genuine issues. How many of you have written to the police and visited the local officer in charge to put across your views. Its a bit like visiting your local Tescos/Morrisons/Asdas/Sainsburys and complaining bitterly about the rate of VAT to the checkout operator. Travel to games? Yes, its absolutely extortionate in my view. How many of you travel on subsidised Association buses? Many good points in this thread that the club could look at but quite a few too, although genuine issues, are attributed wrongly to MFC.

The club is well aware of this threat, I can assure you. It was discussed at the last AGM. Watching football in pubs is a huge threat to our game. Part of a far wider problem of course (pricing etc).

He's signed for us now so lets give him our backing.

I think he was a full back. If he played for the first team it would just have been for a game or two.

+1 Why should the boozers, and multinational drinks companies benefit from the club's success. They don't give a damn for us only for our hard earned cash.

John Sutton is a decent sort - a good profesional who'll put in a shift but probably not what we require right now. We need far more mobility than he can provide especially if we're playing only one striker up front. Still, a good squad member, if he's prepared to accept such a role.

What happened?

The problem is that the January transfer window is very difficult. Previous managers, including Jim Gannon said that. Most decent players are on contracts until the summer months. If you want to bring in decent talent at this time of year you have to pay a transfer fee. If you lose players they'll be hard to replace. Thats the way it is. The time to judge Stuart McCall, on hs transfer dealings, will be at the end of August.

Agree that you do want a spread of ages, including younger fans, but if I recall rightly the club asked for volunteers. To my knowledge no-one was rejected (does anyone know any different?). If thats the case it implies that no younger folk volunteered.

Thats a point in itself. Ability/effectiveness aside, it might take a few weeks or even month or so to get him match fit. It'll depend on when he last played. If we look back to Alan Gow it was a good 4-6 weeks before he was able to play a full game.

Can I ask how many posters on here have seen Francis Jeffers actually play, as opposed to watching him on the telly. Just curious.

The same was said of Derek Adams whilst he was at Fir Park.

One of many such incidents I'm afraid. He decided to "take one for the team" and rightly paid the penalty for it. No sympathy for him absolutely none.

The problem is we would have to rely on them which is totally wrong. By all means introduce them gradually but we shouldn't be relying on Under 19s. We need a short term solution or it will cost us cash.

Not bad luck just bad decision making by the management team. Stevie Hammell pulled up and indicated he wanted to come off. The management team told him to stay on despite Craigan's pleading. You could see the Killie bench telling Clancy to start bombing up and down the wing and Stevie couldn't track back. The rest is history. Quite a few POD Stand punters weren't pleased at Black & McCall, but everyone is entitled to make mistakes. A bit of a smash and grab last night but the script was obvious early on. A lot of pressure but problems getting efforts on target. Strikeforce was lightweight to put it politely. Killie might be a decent footballing side as the media aren't tired of telling us but they also have a nasty cynical side which wasn't pleasent. Rough justice on Frazer Wright though. He tried to "do" Chris Humphrey, but failed fortunately, then one of our lads took exception and Wright came off worst. Its going to be a long hard run up to the end of the season. On the evidence of the past few games we'll finish about 10th. Off the field issues are costing us dearly.

I saw little over the 90 minutes to encourage me. He contributed little and looked far too lightweight. Still give him another chance.

Pretty much with you on that Al. I'm not for blowing cash for the sake of it, but this smacks of short term gain long term loss. What would it have cost to have brought in a good striker on loan for say 4 months? Maybe 15 X £4,000 a week = £60,000. Now there's no guarantees of course but that could translate into a higher league placing or two worth say £80K/160K + increased crowds. The probability is that it would at worst break even. Thats not even taking into account a decent cup run. As it is I can foresee us finishing in about 9th or 10th place. Our squad was paper thin at the turn of the year and we lost 4 members of that and only replaced two. Its not rocket science to envisage that even one or two suspensions or injuries at the wrong time could be very damaging for us.

Spot on. Sutton: limited and not suited to playing as a lone striker. Murphy: not an out and out striker Casagolda: untried. McHugh: inexperienced, the jury is still out, and he's out for up to 6 weeks. Smith: young and inexperienced. That doesn't fill me with confidence.

Yes Jim. He was an under 19 and thought himself too good for us and couldn't wait for his first team chance. A young man in a hurry.

Couldn't agree more. I can well understand the need for a cautious opening to avoid an early goal but I cannot understand sitting too deeply when opponents are running at your defence. It doesn't matter how poor the attacker's shooting might be in theory, he might hit an uncharacteristic one off thunderbolt, it might take a deflection, the goalie might make an error. You just can't take unnecessary chances - we did and it cost us. Even the poorest of opponents can deliver on target if given sufficeint space and time.