Kmcalpin

100% agree. Dazza played well yesterday and earned his place BUT that meant shifting Jim O'Brien out of position to a position he's not suited to. Apart from the untested Aydilek the only other left sided player we have is Fitzy and he's more of a defensive central midfielder. Midfield was our big problem again yesterday. On thinking things over again, and we're all wise in hindsight, couldn't we have played JO'B wide right and moved Dazza into central midfield to partner Maros Klimpl. The conditions didn't suit Stephen Hughes yesterday and as he's a bit lightweight, Dazza may have taken on the role of a box to box player to support our strikers and counter Accies' "Panzers". Worth a try?

Couldn't agree more Andy. As we all know there's plenty of scope for improvement with the club's admin, although its not all bad. However the Police are exerting more and more control over MFC and football clubs in general. As you say this influence is spreading into almost every aspect of football administration. Its now gotten to the point where its totally disproportionate to any trouble caused. Now if they were to apply the same degree of control of pubs & clubs, they could make a vast difference to our quality of life. When such establishments could open, when they could hold functions, who could gain entry, how many patrons could queue up at the bar at any one time. As I've said before the Police are quite happy to let MFC take the stick from our fans, and many of us are only too happy to dish that out sadly, for their actions & decisions. No sensible fan would suggest that the Police aren't allowed any say but its gotten to the point where they are causing problems for the ordinary fan and the club itself must be sick to the back teeth of it. Its bound to be affecting clubs' finances. I'm sure there are many, many crimes the Police could more profitably spend their time and budgets on cracking down on - using mobiles in cars, drug abuse, violence, vandalism.

I agree with a lot thats been said. We stole the 3 points against a better team on the day. Accies dominated for long spells but lacked a cutting edge up front. We failed to match them physically and they looked far more fired up than were. That said the ref was awful from start to finish and was rightly booed off at full time. Where did the extra 4 minutes come from incidentally? Once again we didn't quite get the formation right. The midfield was distinctly lightweight against Accies' Panzer division. While Dazza put in a good shift on the right, it was at the expense of an out of sorts Jim O'Brien who was forced to play out of position on the left. If someone else starts wide right then Marc Fitzpatrick would have been a better, although not perfect, starting option. Do I feel sorry for Accies? In a word no. We've played well and lost before. They're a big, fit and very physical team. Just too physical - two of their players were very, very fortunate to escape red cards for off the ball elbowing incidents. Billy Reid really needs to stop feeding them raw meat before games and cut out their strongarm stuff. Really felt sorry for Coach being yellow carded after being blatantly elbowed off the ball. That added insult to injury & would have tested the patience of saint. Our best players? Probably Sheridan, who looked sharp, Davie Clarkson for his overall effort and goal, Maros Klimpl for his all action performance and Coach for his unstoppable charges up the wing & exhibition stuff in the first half (fit to grace any World Cup). Dazza too put in a good shift.

A point for some to ponder over. The cost of rectifying our pitch problems and stand maintenance this coming close season will amount to at least £300k, if not a lot more. This money would be far better put towards a new stadium IMHO. FP is a real money pit.

I too think that Jay's line up looks likely. Going through some of the team selections though I'm a wee bit baffled by some selections. Not getting at anyone BTW. Jim O'Brien is not and never will be left sided so why pick him there? Keith Lasley and Maros Klimpl do not play well together as they've already proved. They're both defensive in character. Why play Keith Lasley wide left? He is defintely not a wide player and not left sided. If we go 4-4-2 then the only midfield player who fits the left side bill is Fitzy unless we draft in the untried new lad. Assuming both players make it then, the Maros Klimpl V Alec Neill battle should be something for us to savour.

Exactly. A point ignored by the press and somewhat surprisingly by our own fans. Given that we slashed prices for Celtic fans did they slash prices for us as a gesture of goodwill. Come on now I can't hear you! Charge them £26 I say.

As I see it the team that started was neither equipped to play open football (albeit that would be nigh near impossible on a shocking surface) or equipped to play the long ball. Thats what puzzled me most. I assumed and still do that it was picked with the intention of bottling up midfield. By bringing Keith Lasley in alongside Maros Klimpl that upset the midfield balance. Both are defensive central midfielders and do not play well together. Its not rocket science.

Much appreciated Fraz. Residents were also caught up in the congestion. We've paid for our parking tickets and so intend to use them. If folk like us are put off parking in the club's car parks then the club stands to lose several thousands of pounds annually. A loss it can't afford. An officer on duty for an extra 10/15 minutes is all it would take.

I've emailed the Trust about the post Match traffic arrangements and asked them to take up the issue with the Police. We all know about the car ban in the surrounding streets for 15 minutes after games and like it or lump it thats the way its going to be (I happen to lump it). However, what is happening is that the car parks are emptying later on to Knowetop Avenue. You might reasonably think given the above that the Police would keep an officer on points duty at the its junction with Windmillhill Street until after the traffic has cleared - but NO. Last night, yet again, there was a long line of traffic stretching along down Dalzell Drive, Knowetop Avenue and issuing from the car parks held up at Taggarts garage. Given the volume of traffic in both directions on Windmillhill Street cars simply couldn't get out. Moral of the story...if you must tinker with something make sure you get it right and don't make things worse.

Apart from problems with undersoil heating I'm sure there are still drainage problems. The wing in front of the POD Stand was absolutely sodden. Not conducive to Jim O'Brien's wing play or Coach's runs.

Good post Welldaft. Given Mark McGhee's pre match comment "But we’re not concentrating too much on their (St Mirren's) strengths", I was totally dumfounded by both his tactics and line up. They were more suited to taking on Barcelona at the Nou Camp rather than St Mirren at Fir Park. As soon as I heard the line at 2.20 I feared for the worst. 12 minutes into the game it became obvious to many that our game plan wasn't working and wasn't going to work. Changes should have been made then. We tried to match St Mirren on a very bumpy and sodden surface. The problem is that they put out a team designed to play in such conditions whereas we don't have the players. They've taken 2-3 years to perfect this style of play whereas we had maybe 3 days. The midfield was a shambles with too many not knowing what they were meant to be doing. Despite having 5 in the midfield we still got caught out wide on a number of occasions. Also, the choice of Davie Clarkson as a lone target man??? Keith Lasley and Maros Klimpl, although different are both central defensive players and their styles overlap to some extent. To start with both gives the midfield a defensive look. Stephen Hughes on the left? It was unreal in the first 45 watching us trying to equalise with one lone striker unsuited to the task he was given. The conditions and opposition called for the long ball and both Sheridan and Sutton should have played at least for most of the game. A packed well organised defence calls for an aerial bombardment if you have the players as we do. All too often we tried to walk our way way through the Saints defence with the inevitable result. It took us until the 53rd minute to muster 2 shots on goal. Despite much 2nd half pressure we rarely looked like scoring. A blown opportunity because of off-the-field errors - time will tell. Mark McGhee is a good manager but he got it badly wrong yesterday.

There's absolutely no point in speculating about our finances, as most folk on these Boards have little or no idea what our income is & how it is comprised; and what our expenditure is let alone how that is comprised. Much of that will only become known when the accounts are published prior to the AGM. I'd add that most folk haven't a clue about the costs a football club incurs.

He did indeed and that was before the game. Even in those days he pressurised referees and indulged in all sorts of cons and tricks. St Mirren were well able to look after themselves - they could dish it out but couldn't take it. Typical Fergie approach.

Not sure about that, Super. I could quote you many examples where an organisation has not stood by what one of its employees said to a customer in error. Shops, insurers, banks, local authorities, pubs, clubs, bookies, the Government. I could go on and on. For example earlier this evening the customers in front of me in a superstore queue argued the toss with the checkout operator over a wrongly priced item but in the end they had to shell out full price with no apology given.

Exactly. Time after time our group made new arrangements to travel including re-arranging leave and finshing early over the past week or two. We were all prepared to travel yesterday. However the weather in Fife and Tayside was awful with whiteouts and blizzards. The BBC and Traffic Scotland websites carried severe weather warnings (for the entire east coast including Grampian) and Police requests not to travel unless absolutely necessary. On that basis we took a collective decision not to travel. A football match, however important, is not worth risking life and limb. We were astonished to learn the game was going ahead. Given the level of Police control, some would say interference, over football in Lanarkshire, I was quite convinced that their Grampian counterparts would have ordered Locos to call the game off. Not so. What is clear to me is that the safety and welfare of our fans was a secondary consideration. Just for the record, this was nothing to do with MFC.

Our group of 7 has taken a hit for £105 and none of us made the game. We'll live with it, not ideal, but we'll live with it. Now there may be communication issues here, I can't comment. What is clear to me is that MFC may have tried to do our fans a favour here without the co-operation of either the SFA or Locos. It backfired obviously. I've found myself in this situation before from the other side and learnt to my cost that when a favour goes wrong you get no thanks. Moral of the story - do no-one any favours and give them the minimum standard of service that you can guarantee. Have I learnt this lesson - no. I still try to do my best over and above what is required. What would you rather have A) The club trying its best and making a mistake or B) Simply saying to the customer/fan No No No. Certainly with the latter favours don't go wrong. The old adage comes to mind - "If you don't want to make a mistake then don't do anything, just do nothing".

Not just yet, but I never expected this game to be easy despite predictions of such from some posters. The time to crow about a rout is after the final whistle. We are in control but really need to convert our chances.

Absolutely stupid and avoidable. No need to pick up such silly cards in this game. Cards can be costly if we reach more advanced stages.

We've missed a few chances and could be 3 up according to the radio but only taken the one. Pity that Stephen Hughes isn't playing. Keith Lasley adds something defensively but we'll miss Hughes for his attacking play and pace. We're giving Locos too much leeway in midfield for my liking. Perhaps they'll tire themselves out?

My sentiments exactly. Astounded Police are allowing this game to go ahead. Severe weather warning for Grampian in place and Police advise A96 is tricky near Inverurie. Weather dreadful in Fife and Tayside. On that basis 7 of us have decided not to risk it.

About 2" of snow where I live in Fife this morning, with the prospect of more to come. I'm sure the authorities will also take into account road conditions near the ground and spectator safety. Its not just the pitch. Not looking good.

I don't know much about him but from what I've read this morning this seems to be a reasonable view of him. From what I can gather his detractors are mainly basing their opinions on international appearances, which is unrealistic. Whilst it would be nice to bring someone of true international calibre to Fir Park on loan, I'll be more modest in my expectations and settle for someone of a high SPL standard.

Ditto. All we know is the fee has been described as "undisclosed". It could be anywhere between £30k and £380K with strings attached. What does seem reasonably certain is that Derby will pay us a fee.

Two separate issues here Greg. VAT - No, its just that very few fans appreciate that much of the club's transactions are subject to VAT from the tickets we buy to transfer fees and no-one appear to take this into account. From time to time we've seen various calculations on these boards eg "A 5,000 gate @ £15 a time = £75,000, where did all this money go?" Its not appreciated that of that hypothetical total perhaps £11,000 doesn't go the club at all. I think though that possibly the biggest source of misinformation amongst fans is transfer cash. Understandably these deals are cloaked in secrecy but how many times on these boards has someone asked - "Where did Faddy's sell on money go, why wasn't it spent on a new player?" Your second point, I agree with 100%. Our revenue streams are not what they should be. If the club wants to move forward then it needs to boost income. No argument from me there. You only need to look at clubs such as Falkirk, Inverness and Hamilton and the efforts they have made to strengthen this month although in some cases the term "strengthen" is questionable. It annoys me a bit when I hear peolple like Bill Reid or John Hughes spout forth in December saying that there's no cash for new players - aye right. Finally, and straying a bit off track I know, it worries me to read some threads about our new stadium, whenever that might come to fruition. So much effort, imagination and skill is devoted to new stadia designs (nothing wrong in that by itself) but how are we going to pay for it? I'd guess there will be a massive funding deficit between what we receive for Fir Park, a brownfield site, and what we will need to erect a new stadium.

No one can say for sure of course Stall, but remember that the game at Fir Park was cut price. Say 10,500 punters at £11 = £115,000. Off that deduct say £40,000 for expenses and say £18,000 for VAT. The players and management of course would all be paid handsome bonuses. As far as the club shop is concerned, remember that a fair proportion of the income would be due to Provan Sports. Expenses for travelling to France would not be cheap. If we did make a profit on our travels it wouldn't be much.